I hope the title stresses the point that I am in no way claiming to be any sort of economist.
I had a thought while waiting for my car to get serviced this weekend. Nothing like the smell of gasoline & motor oil to get the thought juices flowing....
Showing posts with label general. Show all posts
Showing posts with label general. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Teachers, the biggest obstacle to integrating technology...
Yes. They are. I would agree with that.
You could have a brand new lab of 30 pristine Macs, but if there in no one qualified to use them they become giant, shiny, expensive game consoles and internet boxes.
A SmartBoard just takes up space unless utilized by the teacher.
I think the human element is the obstacle to almost anything. In general, regardless of the topic, venue, device, etc it is usually the reluctance or aversion of the person which prevents proper use, integration, etc.
Example, from my own teaching experience:
For 1 teacher I got 8 clamshell Mac Books (circa 2001) up and running (2010), with a basic browser and an old MS Office suite. They weren't fast or great, but they worked and she used them daily. Another teacher has 2 brand new iMacs in her room. She checks email, prints out homework, etc. The students don't use them.
The 9 year old, obsolete dinosaurs get more use and impact teaching, and learning, far more than the 1 year old iMacs simply because the person using them is excited about the possibilities and knows how to effectively integrate the available resources into the teaching day.
I believe the old saying is "It's not the arrow it's the Indian" and I would agree with that. Don't blame the tool, blame the user.
I've always said, the problem with education is the teachers...
You could have a brand new lab of 30 pristine Macs, but if there in no one qualified to use them they become giant, shiny, expensive game consoles and internet boxes.
A SmartBoard just takes up space unless utilized by the teacher.
I think the human element is the obstacle to almost anything. In general, regardless of the topic, venue, device, etc it is usually the reluctance or aversion of the person which prevents proper use, integration, etc.
Example, from my own teaching experience:
For 1 teacher I got 8 clamshell Mac Books (circa 2001) up and running (2010), with a basic browser and an old MS Office suite. They weren't fast or great, but they worked and she used them daily. Another teacher has 2 brand new iMacs in her room. She checks email, prints out homework, etc. The students don't use them.
The 9 year old, obsolete dinosaurs get more use and impact teaching, and learning, far more than the 1 year old iMacs simply because the person using them is excited about the possibilities and knows how to effectively integrate the available resources into the teaching day.
I believe the old saying is "It's not the arrow it's the Indian" and I would agree with that. Don't blame the tool, blame the user.
I've always said, the problem with education is the teachers...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Should every teacher use technology?
Yes, technology should be used in every classroom.
Which technology? That, in my opinion, is up to the teacher. A teacher can use a laptop and SmartBoard to project lessons, student work, etc. Minimal technology as far as integration goes. Passive from the student standpoint.
Another teacher might have a website (a free Wikispace site) and a blog. They post homework, the students can post writing samples and help edit other's work. That is very engaging. Is it "in the classroom"? No. It's all after-school, at home engagement. It does, however, make this teacher look like they are integrating technology 100%. Engaging, no passive, involvement of both teacher and student.
Building a free website using a tool like Wikispaces.com or Blogspot.com is a good way to easily "integrate" technology into your class. Post homework, have your students contribute and edit pages, etc. It can all be done from home so it is not an issue if your room doesn't have computers/internet. It makes you a cutting edge, tech savvy, engaging teacher, without even needing a classroom computer. How's that for innovative?
You could also get some iPads, a laptop, projector, SmartBoard, teach with nothing but technology and have everything done digitally. I know teachers who aspire to and work towards a total digital classroom.
To each their own. Using technology in the classroom is only as effective as the teacher's ability and willingness to integrate it.
Start small and work your way up. No harm in using technology. Missing out on opportunities if you don't...
Which technology? That, in my opinion, is up to the teacher. A teacher can use a laptop and SmartBoard to project lessons, student work, etc. Minimal technology as far as integration goes. Passive from the student standpoint.
Another teacher might have a website (a free Wikispace site) and a blog. They post homework, the students can post writing samples and help edit other's work. That is very engaging. Is it "in the classroom"? No. It's all after-school, at home engagement. It does, however, make this teacher look like they are integrating technology 100%. Engaging, no passive, involvement of both teacher and student.
Building a free website using a tool like Wikispaces.com or Blogspot.com is a good way to easily "integrate" technology into your class. Post homework, have your students contribute and edit pages, etc. It can all be done from home so it is not an issue if your room doesn't have computers/internet. It makes you a cutting edge, tech savvy, engaging teacher, without even needing a classroom computer. How's that for innovative?
You could also get some iPads, a laptop, projector, SmartBoard, teach with nothing but technology and have everything done digitally. I know teachers who aspire to and work towards a total digital classroom.
To each their own. Using technology in the classroom is only as effective as the teacher's ability and willingness to integrate it.
Start small and work your way up. No harm in using technology. Missing out on opportunities if you don't...
Sunday, November 14, 2010
My thoughts on the new Chancellor
Cathie Black was appointed Chancellor last week. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has mayoral control over the school so he has the ability to appoint as he sees fit. And he did. No search. No public announcement until it was done. Outgoing Chancellor Joel Klein didn't know who his replacement was until 30 minutes before the public announcement.
So now everyone has their opinion. In general it is disapproval with the private selection and the "education is not a business, a business leader should not be Chancellor" kind of sentiments. Google turns up over 4,500 results for "chancellor cathie black"
Here are my thoughts:
1) Education is a business. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. The education industry is huge. Textbooks, software, notebooks, pencils, consultants, lobbyists and on and on. And that is not even considering the staff, employees of education companies as well as teachers, administrators, support staff, etc. If it's not a "business" it certainly has many of the characteristics of a traditional business.
2) The NYCDOE is big business. The NYCDOE has a budget of $23 billion, yes, billion with a B. As of 2009 here are the official stats of the NYCDOE:
Total Register: 1,038,741 (students)
Total staff: 139,207
Sites: 1,582
I realize you can't treat students as products and we can't treat every aspect of education like a business, but I don't know how you can deny the business aspect of the NYCDOE when looking at over 1,000 sites with 100,000+ employees, working with over 1,000,000 students operating on a budget in the billions, larger than most countries GDP (Iceland & Jamaica to name 2). If it can't be compared to a business what would you compare it to? It's own nation?
3) Cathie Black may not have education experience but she does have experience running a large corporation. You can't discount managerial experience when dealing with the numbers the NYCDOE is comprised of. What educational "expert" has had any managerial experience at even a fraction of the level the DOE runs at?
4) If the Chancellor should have an education background shouldn't the President of the Teachers Union too? How can the UFT or AFT be adequately run if not run by a teacher? Oh, wait, what is that you say? Michael Mulgrew of the UFT and Randi Weingarten of the AFT (and formerly of the UFT) have little to no educational experience?
Ok, Mulgrew was a substitute teacher and eventually a high school teacher for a few years, so he has more credentials than Weingarten. Randi went to work as a sub after she started working for the UFT (as council to the UFT president). She worked 122 days over 3 years. 40 days a year. As a substitute. She then became a full time teacher. She taught for 6 months. Then she left to "join" the UFT full time. To me that is making a half-hearted attempt to gain experience but looks more like covering herself for her future political run as the president of the Union.
As of now I have more faith in a business manager to run the massive NYCDOE than I have faith in the AFT president who taught only to put "teaching" on her resume to adequately represent me (Mr. Mulgrew has been in charge of the UFT just long enough to be completely irrelevant, who knows how he will represent, I see no viable record thus far).
5) Maybe the problem with education has been the educators. Maybe teachers should do what they do best, teach. Get a business leader to handle the payroll and budgets and let teachers teach. If public school systems, especially enormous urban one, have been "failing" for so long maybe a different approach at the top is a good thing. If educators as Chancellors do nothing to improve the schools why would appointing another educator be a better idea than a business leader?
I say give her time. Everyone thought Bloomberg taking control of the schools was a mistake. Among other things teacher salaries have gone up over 40% since he took over. Not so bad. Everyone thought Klein wouldn't know what to do but he brought flexibility in school budgets, hiring practices, and a measure of accountability (sure it's not a perfect form of accountability but accountability isn't a dirty word and there was none before Klein).
Cathie Black may work out well. We don't know, and we wont until we give her some time.
A parting thought, what if Bloomberg appointed Black as a setup? His comment at the end of this NY Post article makes me think he already has someone in mind behind Black:
Does that mean he has someone in mind in case Black is "hit by a truck" (possibly not granted the waiver by New York State perhaps?)
Someone like Michelle Rhee might sound a lot better following a Cathie Black flameout/backlash then she would as the first choice....
... just something to think about....
I'm looking forward to seeing what Chancellor Black can, and does, do....
So now everyone has their opinion. In general it is disapproval with the private selection and the "education is not a business, a business leader should not be Chancellor" kind of sentiments. Google turns up over 4,500 results for "chancellor cathie black"
Here are my thoughts:
1) Education is a business. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. The education industry is huge. Textbooks, software, notebooks, pencils, consultants, lobbyists and on and on. And that is not even considering the staff, employees of education companies as well as teachers, administrators, support staff, etc. If it's not a "business" it certainly has many of the characteristics of a traditional business.
2) The NYCDOE is big business. The NYCDOE has a budget of $23 billion, yes, billion with a B. As of 2009 here are the official stats of the NYCDOE:
Total Register: 1,038,741 (students)
Total staff: 139,207
Sites: 1,582
I realize you can't treat students as products and we can't treat every aspect of education like a business, but I don't know how you can deny the business aspect of the NYCDOE when looking at over 1,000 sites with 100,000+ employees, working with over 1,000,000 students operating on a budget in the billions, larger than most countries GDP (Iceland & Jamaica to name 2). If it can't be compared to a business what would you compare it to? It's own nation?
3) Cathie Black may not have education experience but she does have experience running a large corporation. You can't discount managerial experience when dealing with the numbers the NYCDOE is comprised of. What educational "expert" has had any managerial experience at even a fraction of the level the DOE runs at?
4) If the Chancellor should have an education background shouldn't the President of the Teachers Union too? How can the UFT or AFT be adequately run if not run by a teacher? Oh, wait, what is that you say? Michael Mulgrew of the UFT and Randi Weingarten of the AFT (and formerly of the UFT) have little to no educational experience?
Ok, Mulgrew was a substitute teacher and eventually a high school teacher for a few years, so he has more credentials than Weingarten. Randi went to work as a sub after she started working for the UFT (as council to the UFT president). She worked 122 days over 3 years. 40 days a year. As a substitute. She then became a full time teacher. She taught for 6 months. Then she left to "join" the UFT full time. To me that is making a half-hearted attempt to gain experience but looks more like covering herself for her future political run as the president of the Union.
As of now I have more faith in a business manager to run the massive NYCDOE than I have faith in the AFT president who taught only to put "teaching" on her resume to adequately represent me (Mr. Mulgrew has been in charge of the UFT just long enough to be completely irrelevant, who knows how he will represent, I see no viable record thus far).
5) Maybe the problem with education has been the educators. Maybe teachers should do what they do best, teach. Get a business leader to handle the payroll and budgets and let teachers teach. If public school systems, especially enormous urban one, have been "failing" for so long maybe a different approach at the top is a good thing. If educators as Chancellors do nothing to improve the schools why would appointing another educator be a better idea than a business leader?
I say give her time. Everyone thought Bloomberg taking control of the schools was a mistake. Among other things teacher salaries have gone up over 40% since he took over. Not so bad. Everyone thought Klein wouldn't know what to do but he brought flexibility in school budgets, hiring practices, and a measure of accountability (sure it's not a perfect form of accountability but accountability isn't a dirty word and there was none before Klein).
Cathie Black may work out well. We don't know, and we wont until we give her some time.
A parting thought, what if Bloomberg appointed Black as a setup? His comment at the end of this NY Post article makes me think he already has someone in mind behind Black:
"I'm always trying to think if any of our commissioners or deputy mayors, the way I phrased it is got hit by a truck, just as a euphemism, I know pretty much who I would make my first call to see if we can get somebody to fill in right away," he said.
Does that mean he has someone in mind in case Black is "hit by a truck" (possibly not granted the waiver by New York State perhaps?)
Someone like Michelle Rhee might sound a lot better following a Cathie Black flameout/backlash then she would as the first choice....
... just something to think about....
I'm looking forward to seeing what Chancellor Black can, and does, do....
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The pen is mightier than the digital sword...
Recently I have noticed a proliferation of "embrace the tech or you are a dinosaur" type articles and blogs.
It seems as though the current voice in tech ed, or at least the voices promoted by the mainstream publications such as Tech & Learning Magazine, take the cry from the mountain top of "you are not innovative if you don't embrace everything tech!"
This concerns me greatly. Tech is great, I love it. I have 2 active blogs. A website, wiki, Delicious and Diigo accounts. I use Twitter daily. Between the desktop, laptop, Blackberry and iPad I'm very rarely disconnected. However I feel this new wave of tech ed voices are losing the forst for the trees and being a bit to strong on the evangelism at the detriment of realism and practicality.
Tech is here to stay for sure, especially in education, no denying that. I love the fact that it is. However I don't think we need to forget the technology that has gotten us here, forsake our past in the name of your future.
It seems as though the current voice in tech ed, or at least the voices promoted by the mainstream publications such as Tech & Learning Magazine, take the cry from the mountain top of "you are not innovative if you don't embrace everything tech!"
This concerns me greatly. Tech is great, I love it. I have 2 active blogs. A website, wiki, Delicious and Diigo accounts. I use Twitter daily. Between the desktop, laptop, Blackberry and iPad I'm very rarely disconnected. However I feel this new wave of tech ed voices are losing the forst for the trees and being a bit to strong on the evangelism at the detriment of realism and practicality.
Tech is here to stay for sure, especially in education, no denying that. I love the fact that it is. However I don't think we need to forget the technology that has gotten us here, forsake our past in the name of your future.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Homemade spacecraft
I love this story/video/idea for 2 reasons:
1) It uses cutting edge technology to give the DIY'er a chance to be NASA
2) It uses age old ingenuity and, what some might consider "obsolete", technology
It merges the old and new to literally take us to a place we've never been. New tech is great, but never underestimate the analog brilliance of ingenuity, helium, and some latex...
This is a video a local father and son made. They wanted to see what space looked like so they create their own spacecraft and set off for the stars.
No, the father and son were not on their homemade spacecraft, they put a video camer on it to record the journey and an iPhone so they could use the cell-GPS to locate the camera when it returned to earth.
If it a great example of the fun, homemade science projects you can create. A little imagination and some help from parents can get you your own images of space. And the trip up and back.
Enjoy the video. For my 3rd-5th graders, does it inspire you in any way for your own Science Fair project?
Cross posted on Mr. Casal's Computer Lab blog for my students...
1) It uses cutting edge technology to give the DIY'er a chance to be NASA
2) It uses age old ingenuity and, what some might consider "obsolete", technology
It merges the old and new to literally take us to a place we've never been. New tech is great, but never underestimate the analog brilliance of ingenuity, helium, and some latex...
This is a video a local father and son made. They wanted to see what space looked like so they create their own spacecraft and set off for the stars.
No, the father and son were not on their homemade spacecraft, they put a video camer on it to record the journey and an iPhone so they could use the cell-GPS to locate the camera when it returned to earth.
If it a great example of the fun, homemade science projects you can create. A little imagination and some help from parents can get you your own images of space. And the trip up and back.
Enjoy the video. For my 3rd-5th graders, does it inspire you in any way for your own Science Fair project?
Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.
Cross posted on Mr. Casal's Computer Lab blog for my students...
Saturday, January 30, 2010
What is The Casal OS?
Welcome to The Casal Operating System (OS).
What is The Casal OS? This blog is about my profession and how I view and shape the job I do and love,teaching; my experiences in the classroom, within the school, and general musings and observation regarding the educational field overall.
As I write this I am in my 8th year as a Computer teacher for the New York City Department of Education. I have taught both middle and elementary school. From a SURR (corrective action) school in Bed-Stuy to an A-rated school in Park Slope. I have a Masters in Educational Administration (School Based Leader), and Masters in Instructional Technology, as well as a Masters of Science in Teaching (MST) Grades K-6.
Between the various degrees, diverse school and neighborhood settings, countless students & colleagues, and all the things in between I have decided to document how I've gotten to where I am, the things that keep me going and push me to move forward, and the way I see education in this this era.
I've had a class website for years. My students have been involved in my site, classroom blog and wiki page as part of things work in my lab. Everything I've done online to this point has been for my students. This is the first time I've created a space for me, about my craft.
This is what makes me tick. This is what makes me run. This is my operating system.
This is The Casal OS...
What is The Casal OS? This blog is about my profession and how I view and shape the job I do and love,teaching; my experiences in the classroom, within the school, and general musings and observation regarding the educational field overall.
As I write this I am in my 8th year as a Computer teacher for the New York City Department of Education. I have taught both middle and elementary school. From a SURR (corrective action) school in Bed-Stuy to an A-rated school in Park Slope. I have a Masters in Educational Administration (School Based Leader), and Masters in Instructional Technology, as well as a Masters of Science in Teaching (MST) Grades K-6.
Between the various degrees, diverse school and neighborhood settings, countless students & colleagues, and all the things in between I have decided to document how I've gotten to where I am, the things that keep me going and push me to move forward, and the way I see education in this this era.
I've had a class website for years. My students have been involved in my site, classroom blog and wiki page as part of things work in my lab. Everything I've done online to this point has been for my students. This is the first time I've created a space for me, about my craft.
This is what makes me tick. This is what makes me run. This is my operating system.
This is The Casal OS...
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