Teachers don’t trust research, and understandably so. There’s a lot of shoddy research that supports fads. Experienced teachers remember that “this year’s method” directly contradicts the approach from three years ago. So they’d rather go it alone. Newer teachers pick up on the skepticism about research from the veterans.

Unlike medical research, teacher research rarely examines possible side effects, and whether they are short-term aggravations or can be expected to persist.

via Studying Teacher Moves : Education Next.

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The demand for technology in classrooms has given rise to a slick and fast-growing sales force. Makers of computers and other gear vigorously court educators as they vie for billions of dollars in school financing. Sometimes inviting criticism of their zealous marketing, they pitch via e-mail, make cold calls, arrange luncheons and hold community meetings.

via Silicon Valley Wows Educators, and Woos Them – NYtimes.com.

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McClelland looked into the head wound. Stray hairs at the back of the head covered parts of the hole, as did bits of bone, blood, and more blood clots. He watched as a piece of cerebellum slowly slipped from the back of the hole and dropped onto the cart.

via D Magazine : The Day Kennedy Died.

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There must be at least two measures for each educator: either two district-based measures or one district-based assessment and one measure of trends in MCAS Student Growth Percentile Scores (for the 17 percent of teachers for whom those scores are available) or on the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment. A trend is defined as at least two years of scores; MTA will advocate that local associations bargain a three-year minimum at the local level. The educator’s impact on student growth will be deemed to be low, moderate or high.

via The Massachusetts Teachers Association – State board adopts new evaluation regulations.

I can’t wait to see what kind of assessment my district will have to develop for technology use. With iPads coming in next year, anything we’d develop this year would already be outdated.

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Students would take new district-wide tests to help evaluate teachers who do not teach grades or subjects tested by the MCAS.

via Mass. board approves new teacher evaluations – Boston.com.

RRRAAAAARRGGGHHGAHAGAHGHGHGHGAAAARRRR!!!!

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Word’s breaking out on Twitter that Attorney General Martha Coakley has recently been saying some ignorant things.

Needless to say, I have a problem with this.  First, I will let it be known that my school district has a very progressive view on the use of cell phones in school. At the high school, students are allowed to openly carry cell phones and teachers are encouraged to use them in class. I was just talking to a high school teacher who referred to PollEverywhere as “the best thing ever.” That rule is a decision made on the local level, based on the needs and wishes of the building administrators and the school board.  I have no doubt that the rules could change over time or have some added flexibility for other new tools.  We already provide some of that, as students are now at least free to have their phones and use them after school as needed.  Martha Coakley’s proposed changes to the law would take that flexibility away from us.  According to this proposal, with few notable emergency exceptions, students would not be allowed to ever bring a phone to school for any reason whatsoever.

Five years ago, I wouldn’t have thought this a big deal, but to take away the option of teachers allowing cell phone use in their classrooms to me now seems especially ludicrous.  Right now we are experiencing a major shift in computing resources available to students in their pockets, with phones as powerful as a computer from only a few years ago.  People who want to ban these tools really need to check out Cell Phones in Learning.  Honestly, if you think we really want you to take away more teaching options from us, you’re sorely mistaken.

As a starting point to work to stop this proposal, I recommend contacting your state legislator and the Attorney General’s office.

Here’s something to make you happy:

Full size image is available by clicking through the image to Flickr.

I’m really glad I took that picture four years ago.

My wife was out of town for the weekend, and a good friend of mine just so happened to be going to DC for the annual American Library Association conference. He had an extra bed in his paid-for by work hotel room and invited me to join him. One bus trip later, and I’m in DC.

Something many people don’t know about me: I was a teenage librarian. In high school I spent a year working after school in my high school’s library, and then two years working in my town’s public library in their children’s department. It was a formative experience that definitely helped set me on my future career path as an educator. Given that, I spent the $25 for the exhibits floor pass.

In a lucky coincidence, I saw that Melissa Techman was going to be in DC on Saturday for the conference. A year ago at NECC, I went down for a day and had lunch with a bunch of special educators and a few other “friends of sped,” Melissa being one of said friends. In some nice symmetry, this year I got to go out to lunch as a friend of libraries with Melissa, Diane Cordell (a long-time Twitter friend that I finally got to meet in person), Gretchen Caserotti, Cathy Jo Nelson, and Kathy Ishizuka. We had plenty of good food and better conversation, as was the case last year.

Kathy is the Technology Editor for the School Library Journal, and later wrote me an e-mail asking for my impressions of the conference. Here’s what I wrote in reply:

It’s funny, this is the second year in a row that I’ve been to the Washington Convention Center and only been able to see the exhibits floor for a conference. The floor is pretty much like the floor of any other large convention: it’s heavy on the free stuff and phony marketing interactions. On the plus side for ALA, this convention didn’t seem to have any strange cult-like booths like the SMART booth at NECC last year.

As a special educator,I was really disappointed on the floor by the assistive technology pavilion, which didn’t seem to really have much in the way of assistive technology at all that I could see. I’d imagine that people with reading difficulties are one of those underserved populations that could stand to have more opportunities for access, and there wasn’t much of that there.

I noticed a definite trend toward making friendlier spaces for the visiting public. Lots of furniture and shelves that look cozy and inviting. I noticed in one booth they were featuring gaming stations to try and get the teenage demographic back into libraries. In the same tone, it was nice to see a good-sized presence of companies that produce comic books and graphic novels there.

On a side note: I’m somewhat surprised by the number of companies that specialize in moving libraries.

Just from the bits and pieces I picked up on from talking to some people and listening in on some others, it’s interesting to see many of the same shared anxieties that teachers and librarians share right now. Increasing technology and decreasing tax revenues are big stressors on both groups, and I very much get the feeling that we’re in the midst of a major reordering of the way the world works for all of us. I think the concern for both groups at the moment is to get out in front of the changes to help guide them in a positive fashion.