Leadership in our Schools

 A leader, as defined by Howard Gardner, “is an individual (or, rarely, a set of individuals) who significantly affects the thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors of a significant number of individuals. Most acknowledged leaders are ‘direct’. They address their public face-to-face” (2003). I found this the quote while working on my personal philosophy of education, and I really like it. Teachers do many of these things because of the nature of their job and I would say are required to be leaders. 
Working in our school system today we have an array of many different teaches, and they all bring to their classroom an assortment of qualities that are hopefully beneficial for their students. I believe leadership is one quality that teachers need to have just to be successful at what they are doing. I really found it insightful how leaders are involved in face-to-face communication, and don't shy away from the opportunity to speak with people. I know in the past that some teachers don't enjoy parent teacher conferences because they must speak with all of the parents, but what a better way to really educate and let the community know what they are doing in class. I think it is great.

References

Gardner, H. (2003). Leading minds: An autonomy of leadership. Retrieved from http://www.newhorizons.org/trans/trans_review_gardner_2.htm

Identifying Passive Aggressive Behavior in the Classroom

I have chosen to create a post on passive aggressive behavior because students manifest this type of behavior so consistently. The following is a brief list of passive aggressive behaviors so commonly manifest in our current student population.

"Hall pass abuse - Sleeping - Swearing - Texting - Late Work - Strange Noises - Coming to class unprepared - Habitual Absences - Lack of personal accountability - Put Downs - Drug Abuse - Disrespect - Keeping off Task - Excessive Chatter - Complaining - Being Messy - Not Participating - Rudeness - Noises - Out of Seat - Taking others' Property - Sneaky - Play Fighting - Teasing - Calling "Teacher" instead of using name - Name Calling - Throwing Objects - Talking Out of Turn - Whining - Drama - Kids who say "I Can't" - Kids who won't listen - Side Talking - No Responsibility for Actions - Calling Out - Clicking Pens - Playing in Desk/Pencil Box - Tapping Feet - Humming - Whistling - Arguing - Complaining - Doing work too fast - Bullying - Writing and Passing Notes - Defiance - Lying - Cheating - Meanness - Leaning back in chair - Noise making - Tardies - Students doing nothing all the time - Getting up and going over to friends to chat - Cell Phones - Class Clown - Asking, "Do We Have To?" - Hand Signals - Passing Notes - Reading Book During Lecture Time - Late - Slamming Books - Violation of Dress Code - Popping Gum - Mumbling - Writing on the Desk - Forging Notes - Drama to get Hall Pass - Blurting Out - Ipods - Sitting Doing Nothing - Disrespect of other Students - Calling out, "Teacher, teacher" - Not Listening - Dirty Looks - Silent treatment - Eye Rolling - Tipping Chairs Back - Making Fun of Others - Feet on Desk - Excusses - Pouting - Whining"

Hopefully this list can help us identify many of the annoying/distracting behaviors teachers must deal with in the classroom. If you want to list any more please comment. The big problem with many of these behaviors is that they can seriously frustrate the learning environment of the classroom, and many times these behaviors foster similar behaviors. One leads to another, and this is no exception for the unprepared teacher. In the next post we will talk about how we can effectively respond to these behaviors.
This list came from a document I was given in a Professional Development meeting. The document was called Techniques for tough times. It is references below.

References
Vandenakker, L., & Threet, G. (2009). Techniques for tough times

Classroom Management

I'm sure that most educators have some great advice to give teachers on classroom management, and so this post is all about that. This is only my fifth year teaching and so I have a lot to learn, but there are a few things that I have learned.
One of those things is the importance of keeping a professional relationship with the students. I have noticed that if I ever just joke around  with the class it has a tendency to create a casual feeling in the room. Students will sometimes take advantage of this, and  a casual attitude manifest by the teacher can cause some to become casual in their educational efforts in class.
I have also seen importance of always responding to students in a positive and constructive way. If a teacher uses passive aggressive behaviors to respond to the students passive aggressive behavirors then the classroom becomes a struggle between the teacher and the students. It also creates a very negative feeling within the classroom. The classroom was never meant to be this way. It should be a place where students come to learn and teachers come to teach, and both are working together for this purpose.
I learned this year to cease the warnings. Giving students warnings for misbehavior is just telling them that they can go just that far next time, and they are okay because you will give them a warning before they have gone too far. Anyway here are a few thoughts on Classroom Management. Please contribute your own thoughts.

My Experience Giving Tests and Quizzes

I used to give paper tests, but seeing how I have an available computer lab I have used a variety of computer technology to administer my quizzes and tests. The first type of computer exam I used was a paper test, but the students entered their answers in to a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. It was a lot easier to grade seeing how all the answers were on one page, and were right next to each other, but I did have issues with some of the questions. I tried to make this test into a self grading test, but it didn't work too well. The second type of quiz I used with the help of a computer was just a Microsoft Office Document that included combo boxes where the students could select their answer. Each box would included around four answers students could choose from. There were only 15 questions on these quizzes and the students had to print them out when they were finished and hand them in. I would then grade them by hand or give them to an aide to grade them. Not quite as laborious as paper tests seeing how I didn't have to pre-print the entire tests and staple them together before I gave the test, but it still involved repetitive and time consuming work. Then I gave online quizzes using Google forms, and when their answers were uploaded to my Google spreadsheet I would past them in an excel document that I had prepared to automatically grade them. It work great, and was much faster then the other quizzes and tests, but didn't give the students any feedback about which answers they missed. I have finally found the program I like the most. Exam View it is an e-instructional program that my students can access at the school and take, retake, quizzes and tests depending on how you set them up. It automatically grades them and gives them feedback about their answers. It's been great.

Standards & Objectives

State and national standards shape our public education, but what we get isn’t always what we wanted, or what is best. No doubt there is a place for state and national standards and I feel like they give us valuable direction in education. Thomas J. Sergiovanni put it this way, “one cannot legislate or mandate superior teaching and learning or other aspects of quality education. These result from the efforts of competent and committed professionals” (Sergiovanni, Kelleher, McCarthy, & Fowler, 2009). I question how much influence legislation and mandates should have upon our classrooms, and upon our teachers. I have seen a few specific lessons created by our state that have been mandated lessons. One in particular is a mandated video they require to be shown in CTE Intro. It is part of a Cyber Careers lesson. The video was probably good when they first introduced the lesson, but it is outdated now, and still rather boring to many seventh graders. I disagree with the idea of having mandated curriculum, and instruction, and am glad things haven’t gone too much farther in that direction. I am satisfied with the standards that have been created for the classes I teach, but some classes have redundant standards. I don’t think that is entirely a bad thing; because students learn by repetition, and some concepts and skills need extra attention over time. It’s the standards that don’t require extra attention that concern me. One state or national standard does affect a lot of people. What do you think about Standards and Objectives?

Reference

Sergiovanni, T. J., Kelleher, P., McCarthy, M. M., & Fowler, F. C.(2009). Issues Shaping School Policy and Administration: Educational Governance and Administration, 50.

Instruction

I have wondered how I might improve the instruction in my classroom. I know that technology is fundamental to my classroom because I have a computer lab to work with, but what are some of the best ways we can present the core to the students? My students are in a very large room so I usually speak to them with a sound system. This cuts back on the exhaustion my voice sustains after speaking to my students without a sound system. I have also used a classroom projector to display instructive materials for my students on a large screen in front of the classroom, be even this at times can seem far away to the students in the back of my room. Last year our school purchased a site license for LAN-School. It has helped me give instruction because my students can see a presentation I may give on their own computer screen. This has done away with the students in the back not being able to see. I find that I show a lot of powerpoint presentations, and don't get me wrong I love powerpoint presentations, but I would like some more ideas to add more diversity to my instruction. I have also been successful at developing some good demonstrations which is interactive as I require the students to follow along on their own computers, save each demonstration, and I score their work at the end of the term. Anyway I know their are plenty of other ways to provide students instruction. What are some things that have worked well for you?

Starting an Educational Blog

Since this is a blog which may be accessed by anyone in all the world; I want to extend the invitation for participation. I really am enthusiastic about education, and realize that my ideas are not always the best ideas, so please help me understand how we can improve education in our schools.