Education News in Alabama

February 14, 2007 (archive)

By Sallie Owen

SOPHISTICATED TEACHING AND LEARNING IN BIBB, TALLADEGA COUNTIES

Blogs and wikis have become a normal part of the routine at two schools participating in the Alabama Best Practices Center’s 21st Century Learning Project. The project provides teachers with professional development to learn how to use technology to engage students and deepen student learning.

In just a few months, teachers from Fayetteville High School and West Blocton Elementary say they have improved their teaching practices, helped students learn safe and appropriate Internet usage and begun to acquaint parents, who are in many cases cautious and reluctant, with technology.

Fayetteville, a K-12 school in Talladega County, uses a professional development blog (http://fhsprofessionaldevelopment.blogspot.com/) to foster teacher collaboration and professional growth. The school has also offered community workshops on technology use.

High school teacher Jennifer Barnett prefers the easy-to-update wiki format. Using these tools, “students own their own learning,” she says. The Wolf Pack News, the school newspaper, is more informative now that it is published online at http://wolfpacknews.wikispaces.com/, and some student writing assignments are posted to a wiki. Students asked her if they could post class notes online to share with classmates.

Though classroom behavior still varies, widely at times, Barnett said she has not had a single problem with students acting inappropriately in school-related online work. And students take more care with their writing when they know their peers can see it too, she says.

The school’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter coordinates activities through this wiki http://fhsbusinessmeeting.wikispaces.com/. And the school’s Web site has one too http://fayettevillehighschool.wikispaces.com/.

Most of Amanda Spurling’s fourth- and fifth-graders have e-mail accounts through Gaggle, which offers strictly protected e-mail accounts for teachers and students. She said she can monitor all the messages, which has lead her to disrupt some gossip sessions. Here’s her class wiki http://spurlingscience.wikispaces.com/.

The same kinds of changes are also happening at West Blocton, a K-4 school in Bibb County. Kindergarten teacher Amanda Johnson’s said student work has improved since she started posting class projects on her blog  (http://www.missjohnsonsjoeys.blogspot.com/). After the school principal posted a comment, the kindergarteners “just thought it was awesome that the principal was looking at their work.”

Second-grade teacher Vicky Parker said her class blog (http://parkerexpress.blogdrive.com/) is useful for helping parents keep up, and it gives her a chance to explain how activities tie in with the curriculum. She also uses Web quests, which are structured “scavenger hunts” for information online.

Dianna Bush treated her fourth-graders to a whole day without books. Researching moon phases on a NASA site was “way cooler than the new science textbook,” she said. That day, “I had kids sitting up reading online, biting their nails” they were so engrossed, she said.

Advertisement-free blogs and wikis are often available to schools and educators at no cost.

More online projects created by schools in the 21st Century Learning Project can be viewed at http://del.icio.us/abpcjohn.

Educators presented their work to civic, business and education leaders on the A+ Education Foundation Board of Directors. A+ is the home of the Alabama Best Practices Center, www.bestpracticescenter.org.

RECRUITING FUTURE EDUCATORS THROUGH CAREER/TECH

Shelby County High School in Columbiana is leading the way with its teacher academy, where students can take a multi-year curriculum that starts preparing them to be teachers. The Birmingham News wrote about the program (http://snipurl.com/futureteachers01) during “Growing Our Own Week,” a joint promotion by the Alabama State Department of Education and the Alabama Education Association.

The organizations are collaborating to recruit teachers amid a nationwide shortage. An estimated 2.5 million additional teachers will be needed in U.S. classrooms by next year. Starting pay for teachers in Alabama’s public schools is $33,737 this year.

AEA runs Future Teachers of Alabama clubs at schools throughout the state (www.myaea.org/studentprograms.htm). And Tuscaloosa County school officials are considering adding teaching courses next year. (http://snipurl.com/futureteachers02)

RESEARCH FINDING:
TEACHERS REPORT RECORD JOB SATISFACTION

Some 56 percent of teachers are very satisfied with their careers, according to the latest MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. That figure marks a 20-year high.

The finding may surprise some considering the increased demands of No Child Left Behind. And the good news is tempered by the fact that, amid a national teacher shortage, one in four respondents is likely to leave the classroom in the next five years.

Other noteworthy findings include:

• Teachers are driven to leave by unmet expectations, lack of preparation, and lack of support from colleagues and their principal.
• Many teachers feel shut out of decision-making at school, though having input on school policies is closely linked to job satisfaction.
• Professional prestige for teachers is on the rise.
• Mentors help keep teachers in the profession.

More information about the survey is available from http://snipurl.com/tsurvey.

TIMELY INSIGHT ON SCHOOL FACILITIES

There’s broad support for a state bond issue for school construction, and the Smart Growth & Schools Summit next week could affect decisions about how and where new schools are built.

Organizers say, “While a first-rate education in a safe facility must always be the primary consideration when making school spending decisions, a growing number of communities are using these investments to meet multiple goals -- educational, health, environmental, economic, social, and fiscal.”

The summit is set for Feb. 19-20 at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law in Montgomery.

Free registration is available for teachers and principals from Alabama, and reduced registration is available for some public officials.

For more information, please visit http://snipurl.com/smrtskl.

TALLADEGA COUNTY LISTENS TO STUDENTS

“You are here, and I want to get your thoughts on what’s working and what’s not working,” Superintendent Cindy Elsberry told a group of students the other day.

The Talladega County superintendent organized student forums throughout the system, and she is listening to voices that are often overlooked in education discussions. The Daily Home thought it was a good move too, according to this editorial http://snipurl.com/studentvoices01.

5TH GRADERS THINK NANOTECHNOLOGY COULD HELP DIABETICS

Three fifth-graders conceived of a pain-free way for diabetics to test their blood sugar, and they are pitching the idea to the American Diabetes Association and an engineer from Georgia Tech.

The students go to Chaffee Elementary, a Huntsville City school. Their concept was created for a robot contest that required entrants to incorporate nanotechnology. Here’s a Huntsville Times article about their work http://snipurl.com/dnano.

This instructional approach is called project-based learning, which is an excellent way to teach higher-order thinking skills. Tackling real-world problems in class can help students grow up to be better citizens, experts say.

Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, has more information about the power of project-based learning http://snipurl.com/projbl.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION UPDATE

The Alabama State Board of Education met Feb. 8. All members were present except the governor and Randy McKinney.

In addition to honoring several educators and schools (see Examples of Excellence below), the board helped kick off the annual State Superintendent’s Visual Arts Exhibit at the state Capitol. Art from more than 200 students, grades K-12, is displayed in the Old Supreme Court Library through Feb. 22. The Capitol is open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays.

State Superintendent Dr. Joe Morton announced that he will meet with all local superintendents Feb. 23 to discuss a proposal for the state to borrow money for school construction. Alabama’s K-12 schools have $4.3 billion in facilities needs.

EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENCE

• Evergreen Elementary, a Conecuh County school, and Huxford Elementary, an Escambia County school, were among 64 schools named National Title I Distinguished Schools. Evergreen was selected for closing learning gaps between groups of students, and Huxford for exceptional student performance for at least two years in a row. A book profiling the award-winning schools is available for download here http://snipurl.com/tibook. Both schools cite the Alabama Reading Initiative as part of their success.
• Michelle Gay of Foley Intermediate, a Baldwin County school, and Kathy Ann Self of Trace Crossings Elementary, a Hoover City school, have been selected as science finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
• Shane Callans of Greystone Elementary, a Hoover City school, and Hope Sawyer of the Fairhope K-1 Center, a Baldwin County school, have been selected as math finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
• Paggie McSpadden from the Alabama State Department of Education was named distinguished supervisor of the year by the Southern Business Education Association. She spearheaded the effort for Alabama’s Career/Technical Education programs to gain ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification.

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The A+ Education Foundation, based in Montgomery, publishes Education News in Alabama twice a month. A+ is a nonprofit organization that advances policies, programs and initiatives in Alabama's K-12 education system that result in high achievement by every child.

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