For March 16, 2010
In the local news on the morning of Tuesday, March 16, 2010, there was a report from School District U-46, the second largest school district in Illinois (after the Chicago School District). The School Board, in a unanimous vote, laid off 1,079 employees of which 732 were full-time teachers. These layoffs are effective at the end of this school year in June.
Many of these cuts were caused by the withdrawl of $44 million in funding from the state of Illinois. The same news report says that class sizes are expected to grow to 37 next year. I taught in School District U-46 for four years and was a middle school teacher working with English language learners (ELLs) for three years. 37 students in a classroom with mixed learning levels (33 students in ELL classrooms because of a 10% dispensation in class size) does not allow students to learn what they need to learn. The district serves an approximate 40,000 students from kindergarten through high school.
The budget cuts also apply to programs and support staff. The end result is that students whom President Obama expects to be ready for work or college upon high school graduation will have even more challenges and less opportunities to learn what they need to learn.
Businesses lay off employees when facing budget crunches. The concern for school districts--with this type of experience taking place throughout Illinois and the rest of the USA--is that not only is the education of students put at risk, qualified teachers are out of work. The more highly qualified a teacher may be due to advanced degrees (with accompanying student loans), the higher their salaries (per union contracts) and the less likely they are to be hired by another school district facing budget shortfalls themselves.
This is certainly a "Catch 22" situation (a reinforcing problem without ready solution). Again, due to the economy and high unemployment, residents cannot come up with more property taxes or higher income tax to fund local school boards. Teachers (already dealing with low pay scales) cannot afford to take wage cuts and still pay their bills.
What does this mean for the future of education in Illinois? While I cannot speak to the situation in the schools, I can say that both universities and businesses are going to have to gear up to help entering employees build learning skills they will not have picked-up by the time they graduate from high school.
(That type of learning happens to be one of my specialties.) As a professional educator for businesses, I can see that, again, with this economy, businesses are not gearing up to meet what will be a greatly increased demand.
Showing posts with label national reserve of teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national reserve of teachers. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Human Computer Interface and Learning--New Working Paper
Human Computer Interface and Learning
Today I was asked for a publication I have completed on human computer interface (HCI) and learning. In looking at my research to date, I found that I didn't have one on that topic. Most of my education research focused on best practice, curriculum, and assessments. I have done a lot with Web2 and Wikispaces over the past year and just had never had the occasion to document what I had done.
After doing a little research on HCI, I created a new working paper today and have published it on my research page as the last article/working paper. It's pretty short and I may revise it before I send it on to the Education Resources Information Center for publication.
I'm attaching the figure from the working paper here to give you an idea of what the launching page for students looked like last year. You can visit it at http://drmontgomery.wikispaces.com.
(Click on the image below to make it larger.)
Today I was asked for a publication I have completed on human computer interface (HCI) and learning. In looking at my research to date, I found that I didn't have one on that topic. Most of my education research focused on best practice, curriculum, and assessments. I have done a lot with Web2 and Wikispaces over the past year and just had never had the occasion to document what I had done.
After doing a little research on HCI, I created a new working paper today and have published it on my research page as the last article/working paper. It's pretty short and I may revise it before I send it on to the Education Resources Information Center for publication.
I'm attaching the figure from the working paper here to give you an idea of what the launching page for students looked like last year. You can visit it at http://drmontgomery.wikispaces.com.
(Click on the image below to make it larger.)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
H1N1 Flu Vaccination Update
I live in Kane County, Illinois. I waited in line for just under two hours Monday evening at the St Charles North High School for a flu shot to protect against Swine flu (the H1N1 virus). They ran out of shots and gave me an appointment today at the Kane County Fair Grounds to have the injection. I arrived early and was out the door by five minutes after my appointment time.
The Kane County Health Department, Emergency Workers, police departments, and volunteers all did a wonderful job processing the crowds and demonstrating caring and respect for everyone. One of the health care workers told everyone today that more doses are expected to arrive in late November or early December. When this greater number of doses arrive, they can be available from doctors' offices. Several insurance programs have already agreed to underwrite the full cost of the vaccine--including any normal "copays."
My mother (age 94) will have to wait awhile. One way to look at this protection is that the same people who are encouraged to get a seasonal flu shot probably need to get the H1N1 shot as well. Children and people under 24 seem not to have much immunity to the virus and it has a strong effect on pregnant women.
In the lines I saw parents and teachers among the crowd. Lots of people are exposed to the virus and health care workers and all the other people I see certainly need the protection the shots (or injections of live virus for people who can deal with that) provide.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now have two web pages. One for the H1N1 (Swine) Flu and one for the Seasonal Flu.
In an earlier post to this blog, I made some suggestions for teachers to get vaccinated against both types of flu this year. I'd like to extend that to everyone else who reads this blog unless an allergy or something else makes you not a good candidate to take the vaccinations. I still believe it is also part of basic preventative medicine.
The Kane County Health Department, Emergency Workers, police departments, and volunteers all did a wonderful job processing the crowds and demonstrating caring and respect for everyone. One of the health care workers told everyone today that more doses are expected to arrive in late November or early December. When this greater number of doses arrive, they can be available from doctors' offices. Several insurance programs have already agreed to underwrite the full cost of the vaccine--including any normal "copays."
My mother (age 94) will have to wait awhile. One way to look at this protection is that the same people who are encouraged to get a seasonal flu shot probably need to get the H1N1 shot as well. Children and people under 24 seem not to have much immunity to the virus and it has a strong effect on pregnant women.
In the lines I saw parents and teachers among the crowd. Lots of people are exposed to the virus and health care workers and all the other people I see certainly need the protection the shots (or injections of live virus for people who can deal with that) provide.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now have two web pages. One for the H1N1 (Swine) Flu and one for the Seasonal Flu.
In an earlier post to this blog, I made some suggestions for teachers to get vaccinated against both types of flu this year. I'd like to extend that to everyone else who reads this blog unless an allergy or something else makes you not a good candidate to take the vaccinations. I still believe it is also part of basic preventative medicine.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Creating Conditions for Quality and Value
There have been years of debates about “nature vs. nurture” with numerous points of view. To put this age-old debate into modern terms, each of us has gifts and talents which can come forward to be shared to benefit others with environmental conditions are right for the sharing of those gifts. Most of us have experienced frustration when we had something we thought was valuable to be shared and the environmental conditions either made the sharing less than effective or stopped it completely.
Teachers often have great lesson plans that never seem to be fulfilled because of the environmental influences of the school and the students and the teacher when he or she attempts to implement these lesson plans.
In business, a thought leader will have a wonderful idea for the organization—only to find that the environmental factors influencing the organization diminish or negate the value of the idea.
The phrase “an idea whose time has come” evokes a sense of enthusiasm and excitement over something new that is about to unfold. Often ideas come at times when they cannot be effectively implemented. When times change and become more favorable, those ideas are frequently no longer available.
Leaders need to be aware of this challenge and to go about creating conditions for quality and value--finding the talents and valuable contributions that can come from others and molding the environment to be supportive of the sharing.
We also need to look for environments where we can bring forward these same talents and valuable contributions. It is a rare organization that creates this type of environment on an ongoing basis that can accommodate the range of diverse talents and values of the people working with it.
Teachers often have great lesson plans that never seem to be fulfilled because of the environmental influences of the school and the students and the teacher when he or she attempts to implement these lesson plans.
In business, a thought leader will have a wonderful idea for the organization—only to find that the environmental factors influencing the organization diminish or negate the value of the idea.
The phrase “an idea whose time has come” evokes a sense of enthusiasm and excitement over something new that is about to unfold. Often ideas come at times when they cannot be effectively implemented. When times change and become more favorable, those ideas are frequently no longer available.
Leaders need to be aware of this challenge and to go about creating conditions for quality and value--finding the talents and valuable contributions that can come from others and molding the environment to be supportive of the sharing.
We also need to look for environments where we can bring forward these same talents and valuable contributions. It is a rare organization that creates this type of environment on an ongoing basis that can accommodate the range of diverse talents and values of the people working with it.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
When do we look for a mentor or guide? Why invest in mentorship?
Shortly after graduating from college I had the opportunity to travel for a few weeks in Europe--I was a graduate counsellor at Florida State University's Study Center in Florence, Italy, and had a couple of weeks off in the summer. I went to Switzerland, and did some labor in return for room and board at an inn in Zermatt, on the side of the Matterhorn. In my spare time, I hiked up the Matterhorn as far as someone could go without a guide and climbing gear. Should I have wanted to go to the top, I would have needed a guide--someone who had been there many times and knew what I needed to do--and wear--to achieve the goal. At the time I didn't have that kind of money, so I got as far as the climbers hut that is the starting-off place for a real ascent of the mountain.
In the U.S. Army, on my way to Vietnam, I became a paratrooper. In three weeks at Fort Benning, GA (at the age of 22), I went through lots of hands-on-practice guided by experienced instructors. As an officer, when we made our first five jumps at the culmination of the training, I was the first to leave the plane. A colonel had spoken to us before our first jump, reminding us that, after we opened our parachutes, if we saw anything other than a circle of white above us, use our reserve parachutes. When I jumped, a panel melted in my parachute and I had a circle of white above me with a big patch of blue (a blown gore). I used my reserve parachute and remembered what my mother taught me about putting sheets on a bed--that's what I had to do to get the air under the reserve parachute. I landed just a little faster than normal with both parachutes fully open. (I later learned that experts use parachutes designed to be the way mine was.) At the time I was very thankful to have had a mentor whose advice I followed less than 30 minutes after receiving it. (I only had 10 jumps in my career and loved them. After I left the Army I found it hard to justify the risk, though it is fun!!)
When I have sought to engage in other work that I perceived as challenging, I have sought mentors. I invested $4,000 as a discount price to be a protege of a mentor who I believed had some real insights that would help me in book publishing and in building net worth.
School districts frequently have mentoring programs for new teachers--someone who is an experienced teacher who can guide new teachers through the challenges of the first few years of teaching.
Three years ago I registered on the Federal government database to be a contractor and recipient of grants. As a full-time teacher, I didn't have the time to follow-through with any. This summer I renewed my registration and also registered with the ORCA (word for Shark) database--another government-required registration site. President Barack Obama, in his Recovery Act program, has improved two federal websites to help people and small businesses find government contracts and grants. These websites are FBO.gov and Grants.gov. By following the instructions and registering on the federal CCR database--first obtaining a DUNS number individuals and organizations can be ready to do business with the Federal Government. ORCA registration is another step to take after the CCR registration is complete. The Business Partners Network is designed to be a "single source for vender data for the Federal Government.
To be successful with Federal Grants, all the "i's" need to be "dotted" and the "t's" need to be "crossed." I applied for a Federal Education Grant this summer and had only a few hours to complete the Letter of Intent (LOI). The Grant Administrator called to my attention that the project I proposed (or the way I had proposed it) didn't match the Grant Application Requirements.
For contracts, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as its guide. If a bid for a contract does not meet all the requirements for that contract as listed in the FAR, it will not be considered.
Needless to say, working with the Federal Government either looking for grants or bidding for contracts seems to be as complex as climbing a mountain. Of course a mentor would be helpful. The challenge is to find a mentor who will add value and who will not require an "up front" payment. By this I mean that someone working with me to secure a grant is entitled to some of the moneys secured by his or her efforts to secure the grant. It would be built into the grant proposal. The same concept applies to a mentor for federal contracts. It's much better if the mentor can share the risks and rewards with the mentee.
In the U.S. Army, on my way to Vietnam, I became a paratrooper. In three weeks at Fort Benning, GA (at the age of 22), I went through lots of hands-on-practice guided by experienced instructors. As an officer, when we made our first five jumps at the culmination of the training, I was the first to leave the plane. A colonel had spoken to us before our first jump, reminding us that, after we opened our parachutes, if we saw anything other than a circle of white above us, use our reserve parachutes. When I jumped, a panel melted in my parachute and I had a circle of white above me with a big patch of blue (a blown gore). I used my reserve parachute and remembered what my mother taught me about putting sheets on a bed--that's what I had to do to get the air under the reserve parachute. I landed just a little faster than normal with both parachutes fully open. (I later learned that experts use parachutes designed to be the way mine was.) At the time I was very thankful to have had a mentor whose advice I followed less than 30 minutes after receiving it. (I only had 10 jumps in my career and loved them. After I left the Army I found it hard to justify the risk, though it is fun!!)
When I have sought to engage in other work that I perceived as challenging, I have sought mentors. I invested $4,000 as a discount price to be a protege of a mentor who I believed had some real insights that would help me in book publishing and in building net worth.
School districts frequently have mentoring programs for new teachers--someone who is an experienced teacher who can guide new teachers through the challenges of the first few years of teaching.
Three years ago I registered on the Federal government database to be a contractor and recipient of grants. As a full-time teacher, I didn't have the time to follow-through with any. This summer I renewed my registration and also registered with the ORCA (word for Shark) database--another government-required registration site. President Barack Obama, in his Recovery Act program, has improved two federal websites to help people and small businesses find government contracts and grants. These websites are FBO.gov and Grants.gov. By following the instructions and registering on the federal CCR database--first obtaining a DUNS number individuals and organizations can be ready to do business with the Federal Government. ORCA registration is another step to take after the CCR registration is complete. The Business Partners Network is designed to be a "single source for vender data for the Federal Government.
To be successful with Federal Grants, all the "i's" need to be "dotted" and the "t's" need to be "crossed." I applied for a Federal Education Grant this summer and had only a few hours to complete the Letter of Intent (LOI). The Grant Administrator called to my attention that the project I proposed (or the way I had proposed it) didn't match the Grant Application Requirements.
For contracts, the Federal Government relies on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as its guide. If a bid for a contract does not meet all the requirements for that contract as listed in the FAR, it will not be considered.
Needless to say, working with the Federal Government either looking for grants or bidding for contracts seems to be as complex as climbing a mountain. Of course a mentor would be helpful. The challenge is to find a mentor who will add value and who will not require an "up front" payment. By this I mean that someone working with me to secure a grant is entitled to some of the moneys secured by his or her efforts to secure the grant. It would be built into the grant proposal. The same concept applies to a mentor for federal contracts. It's much better if the mentor can share the risks and rewards with the mentee.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
What if—everything were perfect—just the way it is?-- Unemployed teachers vs. a National Reserve of Qualified (and Vaccinated) SubstituteTeachers
Many teachers find themselves without teaching positions at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. School districts released teachers at the end of the 2008-2009 school year and have fewer positions to offer in this school year.
While frustrating to many, this situation may lead to a greater quantity of qualified substitute teachers available this year—a time when the nation is gearing up to confront the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus. The Centers for Disease Control want schools to stay open and infected students and staff to stay home. There may be a greater need for qualified substitute teachers than in many previous years.
Of course, those substitute teachers need to get their flu vaccines (starting today), to register as substitutes, and to stay healthy. Imagine, rather than being an unemployed teacher, these unemployed teachers may be part of a national reserve of healthy, certified, substitute teachers available to help meet a potential crisis in our nations’ schools.
Thanks, teachers, for being part of this national reserve. Now make sure you are registered as substitute teachers and get your vaccinations as soon as you can.
While frustrating to many, this situation may lead to a greater quantity of qualified substitute teachers available this year—a time when the nation is gearing up to confront the H1N1 (Swine flu) virus. The Centers for Disease Control want schools to stay open and infected students and staff to stay home. There may be a greater need for qualified substitute teachers than in many previous years.
Of course, those substitute teachers need to get their flu vaccines (starting today), to register as substitutes, and to stay healthy. Imagine, rather than being an unemployed teacher, these unemployed teachers may be part of a national reserve of healthy, certified, substitute teachers available to help meet a potential crisis in our nations’ schools.
Thanks, teachers, for being part of this national reserve. Now make sure you are registered as substitute teachers and get your vaccinations as soon as you can.
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