KDSL September/October/November 2009 Newsletter

KDSL Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 3
September/October/November 2009

KDSL Current and Recent Projects

Schools Need Teachers Like Me. I Just Can Stay

The Anatomy of Open Education

KDSL Information

 

KDSL Current and Recent Projects

KDSL Current Projects:
GEMS World Academy, Primary Years Programme (Dubai, UAE)
UAE Education Group Meet Up
Center for Educational Improvement (http://www.edimprovement.org/)

KDSL Recent Projects:
TEDxDubai Conference
(Official Blogger/Tweeter, http://www.tedxdubai.com/blog and http://twitter.com/tedxdubai/)

 

Schools Need Teachers Like Me. I Just Can Stay

Recently I read an article entitled Schools Need Teachers Like Me. I Just Can’t Stay and was quite perturbed after being a teacher and consultant for ten years. I am not from Teach for America or a Teaching Fellow Program and did not have a long line of educators in my family. I am not from an Ivy League background, did not enter the field feeling like I needed to “save the children”, or give back. Teaching is a calling and when I was called I accepted. This calling occurred in 1995 while working with the Young Spartan Program at a Lansing Public School with a group of first and second graders who struggled with mathematics. When I was able to see their smiling faces due to learning addition and subtraction through an interactive game I rejoiced too. My moment of obligation to work in education began before applying and being accepted into Michigan State University’s number one rated and highly competitive education program in 1996. Yes, some were shocked since I was pre-law and now added elementary education into my studies. Never did I defend my calling or purpose to them. I never felt (still today) the need to explain this to people. They can think what they want to think-they are going to anyway with or without my help. One of my favorite quotes by T.D. Jakes says “Don’t allow other people to breathe their plans on you.”

 Entering the field of education has been a door to many opportunities. I have been able to travel the world teaching and consulting, start my own business, work on a variety of projects, and gain a more global sense of education. All of this exposure and these experiences feed back into the work I do-whether in Washington, D.C. or Dubai. Also, I have ventured out of the classroom and back into the classroom since I am an educator first. My work has been in the suburbs and urban areas, public and private industries, and with international and charter schools. So this is how I keep the flame burning instead of being burned out. Education is always changing and evolving. Educators must change and evolve as well. Policies change, presidents change, priorities change, students change, passions change.

So why am I staying? There is much work to be done.

-Literacy rates worldwide are not where they should be

-Many teachers in developing countries are beginning education reform work and highly skilled educators are working as coaches and mentors

-A new teacher just started in the field and needs a top notch mentor

-I have two mentees in the field of education. One just started and one is about to finish his education administration degree

-Students need GREAT teachers

-Education is about more than the classroom

-Committed males in education are rare

-I am where I am today because of education and teachers

Schools Needs Teachers Like Me. I Just Can Stay.

 

The Anatomy of Open Education

Anna Batchelder is CEO and Founder of Bon Education. With experience leading education product development, professional development and online community initiatives for leading academic institutions and companies including the UAE Ministry of Education, the International Society for Technology and Education, Wireless Generation, SchoolNet, Columbia University, Kaplan and ECC Foreign Language Institute (Japan), she is passionate about improving education for all and developing technology solutions that significantly improve learning and access to educational resources.

 Anna has hosted numerous workshops on how to incorporate technology tools into the classroom across the Middle East, North America and Caribbean. She is author of the blog Literacy is Priceless and regularly guest blogs for Curriki. Anna holds an MA in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University, Teachers College, a BA in Economics from the College of William and Mary and is a former English teacher (Osaka, Japan).

“The advent of the Web brings the ability to disseminate high-quality materials at almost no cost, leveling the playing field. We’re changing the culture of how we think about knowledge and how it should be shared and who are the owners of knowledge.”
- Cathy Casserly, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

With an increasing number of educators putting their lessons, curricula and learning objects online for others to use, customize and share, the open education movement is at a tipping point. That said, with so many educational resources available on the Internet, how does one go about finding the “perfect resource for class tomorrow” without losing too much time, money or sleep. Before we get to the answer of this question, it is important to take a quick step back and understand “the anatomy of open education”…

What is Open Education?

Open education is a term that refers to education in which knowledge, best practices and learning objects (lessons, units, etc.) are shared freely via the Internet for others to use and under many licenses to modify and re-share.

Why Open Education?

The benefits of open education are many (customization, cost-savings, freedom to innovate, etc.), but one of the primary advantages of the open education movement is that of access. Anyone who has an Internet connection via computer or mobile phone can access millions of readings, videos, simulations, lesson plans, interactive courses and more… all for free!

Open Education and Teacher Effectiveness?

Research shows time and time again that teachers have the greatest potential to influence a child’s education (North Central Regional Education Laboratory 2009, McKinsey 2007). Furthermore, the literature indicates that effective teachers tend to exhibit commitment (to help every child succeed), information-seeking (intellectual curiosity), flexibility (willingness to differentiate), and passion for learning (drive to support student learning) amongst several other traits (UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning 2004, Kemp & Hall, 1992). Luckily, the ethos of open education goes hand-in-hand with these findings, enabling educators endless opportunities to improve their craft. Thanks to the millions of people actively engaged in sharing their ideas and content online, teachers today have 24-7 access to continued learning opportunities, professional development, lesson planning guides and resources for differentiation. Take one look at sites like Edutopia (edutopia.org), Discover Ed (discovered.creativecommons.org), and Connexions (cnx.org) and you will be blown away by the number of free resources available to help educators continuously improve the content area knowledge, skills and expertise they bring to the classroom.

Where to Start?

Finding the Perfect Open Education Resources for your Classroom The following is a curated list of open education resources targeted at helping K-12 teachers find classroom and professional development resources quickly, easily and for free:

Curriki.org – “Curriki is a social entrepreneurship organization that supports the development and free distribution of open source educational materials to improve education worldwide. The online community gives teachers, students and parents universal access to a wealth of peer-reviewed K-12 curricula, and powerful online collaboration tools”.

FreeReading.net – “FreeReading is a high-quality, open-source, free reading intervention program addressing literacy development for grades K-3. Schools and teachers everywhere can use the complete, research-based 40-week program for K-1 students, or use the library of lessons to supplement existing curricula in phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. The site is also filled with free, downloadable supplemental materials including flashcards, graphical organizers, illustrated readers, decodable texts, audio files, videos and more”.

OERCommons.org - “OER Commons has forged alliances with over 120 major content partners to provide a single point of access through which educators and learners can search across collections to access over 24,000 items, find and provide descriptive information about each resource, and retrieve the ones they need. By being open, these resources are publicly available for all to use, and principally through Creative Commons licensing, many thousands are legally available for repurposing, modifying and improving”.

To find additional open education resources of note, visit Bon Education: http://boneducation.com/edtech-resources/open-education-resources

The Future Cost of Education

A recent post on Mashable, titled, “In the Future, the Cost of Education will be Zero,” author Josh Catone shares a recent statement by VC and “Hacking Education” organizer Brad Burnham. He writes: Knowledge is, as the economists say, a non-rival good If I eat an apple, you cannot also eat that same apple; but if I learn something, there is no reason you cannot also learn that thing. Information goods lend themselves to being created, distributed and consumed on the web. It is not so different from music, or classified advertising, or news.

 A nice notion indeed! To the sharing of knowledge!

Anna Batchelder
Founder, Bon Education
www.boneducation.com

 

KDSL Information

KDSL was started by Kevin Simpson in 2007. The mission of KDSL is to serve organizations, schools, and teachers worldwide by providing high quality, sustained professional learning connected to student achievement. KDSL values Knowledge, Achievement, Action, and Relationships.

 Kevin Simpson has been in the education field since 1998. He has taught in parochial, public, and international schools located in Washington, D.C., Michigan, Virginia, Laos, Qatar, and Dubai. Simpson has also served as a countywide elementary social studies curriculum teacher, preschool to twelfth grade curriculum coordinator, and elementary math specialist. He was a National Consultant with the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative which provides effective, research-based practices to educators across the country. Simpson specializes in teacher education, school improvement, curriculum writing, and data-driven instruction. He believes that providing teachers with high quality, collaborative professional learning is essential to student achievement. Educational Consulting Services Services are individualized and tailored to the needs of the schools, teachers, grade level teams, and student achievement data. KDSL firmly believes the best professional learning is ongoing and sustained. Therefore, schools must commit to working with KDSL one or more times each marking period throughout the academic year. No one shot deals.

Got History?
Math that Works
Assessment: The Remix
Learning While Doing: Teachers as Readers
Show Me Don’t Tell Me: Modeling and co-teaching lessons
Same, Same. Differentiate, Differentiate: Differentiating Instruction
Follow the Curriculum Map Road: Curriculum Mapping, Planning, and Pacing
Show me the Data! Accessing, analyzing, and acting on numbers
Somebodys Watching Me: Peer observation and feedback
Hands-on, Minds-on: Instructional Strategies that Work
The Secret: Teacher Collaboration

Other Services Available:

Curriculum Writing
School Improvement Plans
Instructional Walkthroughs
Education Branding