I just made a Voki as an announcement feature for a website. See it here:

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Failing Schools - My thoughts

Helping students learn…it is not without its frustrations. Over the past decade, I have witnessed erosion within the education process. As a product of the Catholic school regime, I was not well versed in the public school system...until my daughter entered high school.

Despite the many slams on private, Catholic education, I have realized, since moving beyond high school, that the nuns and brothers truly did prepare me for my post-secondary paths. I successfully passed the Praxis exam because I was able to draw huge amounts of content learned during my k-12 years. My early years in education involved parental expectations, drills, rote memorization, tons of English grammar (realize that half of my early years were dedicated to learning English, French was my first language), spelling, writing, spelling and vocabulary as well as science, math, art, civics. I can't remember exactly when my school day was transformed into all English, perhaps around grade 4, this is when curriculum was reversed to only one class of French, everything else, in English. And so it continued through secondary level of schooling. You may think that this would have been a huge disadvantage for students wanting to get into college, but in truth, I think our college acceptance rate was in the mid to high 90 percentage range.

Why would such a huge percentage of students succeed in their goal? Self-motivation? I am convinced that it is not only due to the amazing foundation built at the elementary level but it also includes the involvement and nurturing relationship between parents and teachers. You may retort...but today all parents are busy trying to earn a living for their families! Well, my sister and I were raised by a single Mom. We did have the help of grandparents, but the bottom line, Mom was sole parent, making sure we did our homework, meeting with teachers, etc. Why am I bringing all this up? Life is very different nowadays and education must adapt to accommodate some of these changes.

Somewhere in the last 15-20 years, educating students seems to have lost its priority. In my opinion, the family nucleus is now focused on survival, sometimes requiring the adults to work several jobs to make ends meet. Checking up on homework is not high on the home TO DO list inadvertently shifting this responsibility to schools. 

School Administrative Offices appear to be more focused on pushing paperwork, rubbing elbows with people in the know, fighting for funds to stay afloat, and less involved with supervising the process of teaching students. Within the schools, we seem to concentrate on teaching to tests and getting administrative "stuff" completed such as updating paperwork to pass accreditation, reformatting the existing syllabus, filling out endless documentations to prove that the institution is meeting with Learning Results and No Child Left Behind criteria, and participating in endless meetings telling teachers what they need to do to be effective, without the proper training, support, and tools in which to accomplish the tasks. At the end of the day, after jumping through all the "must do" items, teachers usually are left to wonder when they will finally be able to get back to the job of teaching students. 

As most of my teaching career has been at the secondary level, my perspective primarily comes from 9-12 end of the education process, yes, that's right, I said education process. Ideally, each year, the student builds on the previous year’s content. Once that content is mastered, the student is promoted to the next level. Not all content at each level is mastered, but if enough is grasped, you can indeed be pushed through. Fair? Not so much. This means, that each year, each gap the student experiences, accumulates and creates a bigger divide for that learner. With each new school year, teachers from all disciplines comment about the consistently decreasing level of motivation, discipline and readiness of the incoming freshman class, worse than last year’s class! In my mind, it's like trying to assemble a vehicle in an assembly line, and every year, they omit yet another integral part needed for an effective end product but the expectation for the end product remains the same: having a fully functional vehicle. Not quite realistic!

How can we fix the education process....grassroots? Back to basics? Modernization? Adaptation? Money alone is not the answer, though it will certainly help to be able to afford professional development, staff, updated textbooks, media, etc. I also feel reform needs to be comprehensive, beginning maybe even around pre-k, and then k-12. We must include current tools while implementing all the best proven practices. We must include family, student, administration and teaching staff in the process. We need to motivate, to reward student successes and to make them accountable with consistent consequences as needed.

• Parental involvement and support is a must.
• Students must become engaged and understand and feel the consequences of disrespect of family, rules, educators, and the education process.  
• Administrators need to support the educators, to stand tall between nonsense being pushed down to the staff and the task of teaching. How many times does a syllabus need to be resubmitted in how many formats?? Really? 
• How many times do teachers have to participate in ineffective workshops...to listen to pep talks about effective education, to "discuss" how to reach all learners? 
• When will professional development include time and tools for learning new effective methods, time and tools for some hands on learning and time and tools to apply the process directly within respective disciplines? 
• Extended days should be available to students needing the extra time for homework help or for not having completed an assignment. A learning center and support staff till 5 p.m. could be the resource needed to fill that homework gap from home.
• Computers as educational tools should be allowed and Internet access should be restricted to educational purposes only. Positioning a teacher in the back of the room able to view all monitors would be a strategic monitoring move.
• In my mind, the single most important change has to happen in uniting the curriculum progression from kindergarten through 12th grade. You cannot continuously have gaps in the education process of each learning unit (student) and expect the student to perform efficiently toward the end of the assembly line.

I lost my teaching job at the high school level last year. Currently, I'm at the post-secondary level at two local universities. Unfortunately I am seeing a huge percentage of post grads with:

• ineffective sometimes non-existent time management skills,
• inabilities to read, to analyze and to apply directions to a task independently,
• low motivation to push themselves to achieve to their maximum potential.

The education system must be fixed or our children/students will continue to suffer real life consequences for the rest of their lives. We are not doing them a favor by passing them on without addressing the gaps within their learning process. Additional steps and tools must be made available to close these gaps.

The "buck stops here" is a must have motto when we are discussing the education of our students. Reform is a must....but it must be approached holistically, a mission involving parents, administrators, k-12 teaching staff as well as our students. The assembly line must include all disciplines focusing on meeting all the needs of all students. Finger pointing will not fix the assembly line, a cooperative process will. To the 2011 list of failing schools in Maine, I say grab the opportunity, turn things around, become the best of the best for our leaders of the future.

Tablet or not to tablet...

As a technology junkie, I've been conducting endless online research on the new tablets available for about 6 months now. I'm hooked, but trying to justify spending money I don't have and matching it with the tablet I won't be bored and dissatisfied with in a short amount of time is truly a challenge.

I actually physically went into the local Apple store, mistake #1, the service/information received was wonderful. I also visit Apple online just to continue my electronic love affair with the Ipad. It appears to the epitome, in my opinion, of the tablet/reader/laptop world of today. If I had $500+ to spare, I would not hesitate to purchase this item. So, now reality.

At a recent Kaplan University (South Portland, Maine) faculty meeting I attended, I noticed that one of my colleagues was sporting the Kindle. I strolled next to her to ask if she was enjoying her new "toy". Well, enjoying is certainly an understatement. She was not able to list one single "con" from the features to the cost.

The Kindle, with its zippyness, is said to be the best e-reader on the market today! Short list of reasons to pick the Kindle: has built-in wi-fi to download ebooks, has a 6" display, is very light with ink quality, no glare screen, and long battery life. Visit Amazon for a more comprehensive list. It is quite impressive if you are looking for an affordable electronic book reader which will offer a few games too. This item might find its way to my daughter's house for her birthday.

Or, should I invest a little more money and purchase the NookColor by Barnes and Noble???? The Nook is half the price and size of the Ipad, with many of its features making it a cross between a reader and tablet. It does give you web browsing capabilities, but the prime focus is that of a reader, with anti-glare assistance which does not meet the standards of the Kindle. See both the b/w and color versions with wi-fi and 3g capabilities at Amazon.

If you go to a Best Buy store, you can touch, feel and test drive both these models. Keep in mind your end usage focus and a decision will come more easily...

Networking

New phase....networking electronically. FaceBook, move over, LinkedIn is taking over. So far, I've viewed tons of relative resources yet untapped! Filtering and deciphering will be challenging...I'm up to the challenge, it's not just about your experience, education, skills, work ethics, interests, etc. but also about WHO YOU KNOW!

Life's Events, the beginning.

Strange how life happens. As an idealistic teen, I thought the world was at my feet, I could conquer anything I wanted to. So, did I?

Well, I certainly have experienced many things I'm happy about and a few...not so much. UMF is my first regret. That's right, as an 18 year old, I decided to attend a "teaching" college. I wish I would have given that school a little more time. Was one semester enough time to be able to know whether the school was a good fit for me? Ummmm, I thought so.  I left, and every now and again, I wonder how different my life would be today had I persisted. In retrospect, I was academically ready, but I don't think I was mentally prepared for

• moving away from home (omg, an hour away)
• life on a fairly remote campus
• no mobility....no wheels meant I was limited to walking distance or bus
• classes in general were not really any different than high school, and I had really hoped it would be
• an extraordinary amount of availability of drugs and alcohol, not my cup of tea!

Enter the decision to not waste tuition dollars on an education that did not appear to fit "me".  Going on my education "roundabout" to a career has helped me to become the person I am today. Right? Still, I just wonder...? Next stop, medical secretary. From UMF, I transferred to a business college. Thought it was the place for me. Get an education that leads to a career in two years and get on with life. Never having experienced a business course in high school, I learned lots of new things, like, how to type! Quite a challenge followed by immediate gratification every time you shave an error off or increase your gwam stats. Ok, that's what I'm talking about! I excelled at Anatomy and Physiology, medical terminology, etc. I didn't like Western Civilization any more than I liked history as a junior and I found Art Fundamentals tolerably enjoyable. In the end, I ended a successful term in my new business school. I would say, I made an easy transition, enjoyed living at home, commuting daily to classes, 3 miles away and learning new things. I looked forward to the next term eagerly.

Mid-August, letter arrives from Bliss College. I ripped it open thinking it contained my new class schedule. Not quite. It was a letter announcing that the college had filed for bankruptcy and would not be opening its doors in September. Mom and I scurried. We brought transcripts to Auburn Maine School of Commerce and the good news, they admitted me into their program. The not so great news, it would still take two years to earn the certificate. I felt like I had just wasted a year of money, time and energy.

One year out of high school and I am entering college number 3. This school had a nice small campus, dedicated teachers and the classes were mostly interesting, though I really never used "shorthand".  Two years later and I feel prepared for a career as a medical secretary. I interned at St. Mary's Hospital and enjoyed every minute of it. Upon graduation, they hired me as a summer relief for medical records and radiology. I also floated into the Laboratory Department. By fall, I was offered full time status in the Lab as their medical secretary. It was a great place to work and the Director and Pathologists were inspiring. I worked diligently putting my best foot forward daily. Only drawback...every other Saturday morning, one of my tasks was to check the morgue, to see if a pathologist needed to be called in. Not a task I took to, but week after week, as I slowly opened the door to check, that slab was empty. My luck ran out about two months into the job. I opened the morgue door and there was a huge person with a white sheet covering him. I could NOT bring myself to go in and to check if an order existed for an autopsy. I walked back to the hematology department, the lead technologist was happy to "accompany" me for moral support. I walked all around the body and could not find the chart. I had to look under the sheet for it. Yes, I had to call a pathologist in. Needless to say, I was at the receiving end of many remarks that morning.

Regular work went well. My documents were professionally and accurately typed and filed. I greeted and processed patients needing blood work, life was good and wedding bells were ringing. About year later, however, I was in trouble. A nurse appeared at my office door with a pink bundle in her arms. I assumed a baby girl. I was excited and she quickly told me the baby was stillborn. My heart sank to my feet. An autopsy was needed. Nope, this is not what I want.

Year two at the hospital was one of reflection. I loved working in the hospital environment. I did not love working in the basement with morgue patrol as part of my duties. What was I supposed to be doing with my life? The Director and I had many conversations. We shared an office space. She was a wise woman. She said life was like stones across a stream. You pick and chose which rocks to use as you trek across the stream, and when to jump.

Blogging as part of the curriculum

I have found that blogging brings in mixed reviews. Some students actually dislike the blogging process. They find it tedious. Some actually opt out from this assignment all together. While about 75% truly enjoy the interaction, it is still considered a chore for several of my students. Of course, these same students consider coming to school quite tedious. However, I was truly hoping that this web 2.0 would entice them to "get connected" to their education. I have not yet seen this as true.

New adventure...

I've been researching for several years trying to link my passions with an ability to earn extra money from home. Ok, I bet the rest of the universe is doing it too! I'm hoping I'm just a late bloomer and I will successfully take off in my new adventure. Yaro Starak's site really was quite informative and easy to read and understand. Coupled with a search for freelance blogging work...there's hope for me yet.


I'm a teacher, we all know that teaching is NOT a get rich career path, so why you ask do you travel that road? I stumbled on it inadvertently. I was a self-employed realtor in the 80's and 90's. When the market took a downturn, I started subbing to supplement my income. It was quite ideal actually. I was a mom of 2 at the time, both were school-age. So when snowdays occurred, I did not have to worry, I was off as well, summers off, holidays off, you know the drill.


I subbed for 7 years. My kids were heading for college when I decided I wanted to go back to school too. Becoming a student really helped me to transition through the empty nest syndrome and my recent divorce. In 18 months I earned my Master's in Computer Technology Education and with the help of a wonderful friend, I was hired as a full time teacher, with the condition that I needed to also earn a teaching certificate which meant 6 education classes.


Teaching has been wonderful. I've loved every minute of my 10 years and I am astounded with the wealth of information I have learned over these years as a teacher. The students continue to energize me!

Well, I'm now in my second half century of life and realize that my finances are not what they should be. I also would like to use my tech, writing and teaching passions to see if I can earn money from home part time.


So it is now time for me to take the plunge and to apply my hours of internet research, marry it to my thirst to use technology with my new goal of getting "published" and hopefully earn some extra money for my "golden years".