Teachers behaving badly

In Tom Hoffman’s Ed-Tech Insider’s Best Practices blog, he writes:

A Little Tip
If you're a teacher and you want to keep your blogging identity anonymous, don't quote your school website, even if it seems like an innocuous snippet.

I replied

Hi Tom,

I'm looking for an example in which it would be professional/ethical (even necessary) for a teacher to blog anonymously. I can't think of a circumstance.

I can think of lots of circumstances in which anonymous blogging by a teacher would certainly be unprofessional or unethical.

By offering such a "tip," are you enabling unprofessional behaviors?

All the best,
Doug Johnson, MANKATO AREA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
...and who had never published anything anonymously in his life.

I admit that my imagination is limited (at least in some areas) and would welcome any readers of the Blue Skunk to also come up with circumstances under which anonymous blogging is professional or ethical. (I promise to share them with Tom, too, and eat my crow with relish.)

I am coming to the conclusion that any revision of my ethics book will need to contain scenarios of teachers, as well as kids,  behaving badly. Like it or not, my position’s job description, under "other duties as assigned")  includes “ethics and copyright police” – not a job I relish nor always feel very comfortable performing. Among the never-ending and seemingly fruitless practices I try to curb in my district are:

• The use of copyrighted characters painted on walls.
• The use of videos for entertainment/reward purposes without obtaining public performance rights.
• The use of school e-mail accounts for conducting personal business (especially when obtaining a personal account is free and easy.)

Trust me, I don’t go out running around looking for these sorts of things. When I do see them, I am kind and try to explain, in writing, why the bad behaviors are indeed bad, and emphasize that setting a bad example for kids is even worse than being caught and fined. (I keep a copy of the message for what I call my “due diligence” files.)

So what bad teacher behavior bothers you – and how do you try to curb it?

______________

A side note… The LWW has a family in her school who have named their sons Hunter, Trapper and Fisher, which I think is pretty cute. I wonder if they named their daughter Shopper?

Quit reading this blog!

Quit reading this blog right now and go to John Peterson's K-12 education, learning and getting on the cluetrain right now.

John, you’ve made me realize I am old mindset educator trying to make yesterday’s rules fit a new model of learning. You’ve just expanded my mind. YOU could and should have given David Weinberger’s keynote at NECC!

And to think, you're a Minnesotan - sorta.  

When the gods wish to punish us

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. - Oscar Wilde

Mankato Area Public Schools (my district) passed both its referendums yesterday. One, for $6M, replaces roofs, boilers, and adds some classrooms. The other, for $3.5M ($500,000 a year for 7 years), is for technology. Our tech budget, in essence, almost doubled overnight. Oh, both referendums passed by big, big margins.

It will difficult to use "lack of funds" as an excuse for anything in the department anymore.

I have visions of "smart classrooms," big Internet pipes, and massive staff development initiatives dancing in my head. But like all tech planning in the district, this will be a truly collaborative effort involving our district advisory committee creating the overarching framework and every building articulating individual plans tied to building learning goals.

I'm excited.

_______________

In continuation from yesterday, this is what Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde in Best Practices: New Standards for Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools 2nd ed. Heinemann, 1998 look at as common recommendations(best practices)  from national curriculum reports:

• LESS whole-class, teacher directed instruction (e.g., lecturing)
• LESS student passivity: sitting, listening, receiving and absorbing information
• LESS presentational, one-way transmission of information from teacher to student
• LESS prizing and rewarding of silence in the classroom
• LESS classroom time devoted to fill-in-the-blank worksheets, dittos, workbooks, and other “seatwork”
• LESS student time spent reading textbooks and basal readers
• LESS attempt by teachers to thinly “cover” large amounts of materials in every subject area
• LESS rote memorization of facts and details
• LESS emphasis on the competition and grades in school
• LESS tracking or leveling students into “ability groups”
• LESS use of pull-out special programs
• LESS use of and reliance on standardized tests
• MORE experiential, inductive, hands-on learning
• MORE active learning in the classroom, with all the attendant noise and movement of students doing, talking, and collaborating
• MORE diverse roles for teachers, including coaching, demonstrating, and modeling
• MORE emphasis on higher-order thinking; learning a field’s key concepts and principles
• MORE deep study of a smaller number of topics, so that students internalize the field’s way of inquiry
• MORE reading of real texts: whole books, primary sources, and nonfiction materials
• MORE responsibility transferred to students for their work: goal setting, record keeping, monitoring, sharing, exhibiting, and evaluating
• MORE choice for students (e.g., choosing their own books, writing topics, team partners, and research projects)
• MORE enacting and modeling of the principles of democracy in school
• MORE attention to the affective needs and the varying cognitive styles of individual students
• MORE cooperative, collaborative activity; developing the classroom as an interdependent community
• MORE heterogeneously grouped classrooms where individual needs are met through inherently individualized activities, not segregation of bodies
• MORE delivery of special help to students in regular classrooms
• MORE varied and cooperative roles for teachers, parents, and administrators
• MORE reliance on teachers’ descriptive evaluations of student growth, including observational/anecdotal records, conference notes, and performance assessment rubrics*

Which of these does tech support ... and how?