First, I make no bones about it, I created this blog, to sell a book I have written. The book is full of short stories that put forth methods to be a great educator, it's not published yet, but it will be shortly! This site was also created so we can talk about pertinent issues in education. There is a huge problem with politicians, who have never taught or run a school, making disastrous decisions in education policy. There are also multitudes of instructive methods and anecdotal stories that can be shared, discussed and enjoyed by all.
I was a student teacher in 1996, and taught in the regular education classroom for eleven years. In 2008 I "joined the dark side," and became an administrator. Other teaching experiences include teaching the percussion section of Madison High School marching band for seven years; I've also had a teaching role as a land surveyor for the Forest Service for fifteen field seasons. All these experiences have revealed useable methods that are effective when teaching others. The book is titled, The Real Deal with Education, How to be a Great Teacher and Save the World at the Same Time. It's a short narrative, and can be described as: humorous, enlightening, realistic, honest, heartbreaking, entertaining, instructive, gritty, personal, and immediately impactful. Yes, all those descriptors are accurate!
I realize the title sounds over-the-top, but the truth is the amount of time children spend in school does greatly impact their development academically and behaviorally.
thank you for your blog. I will be curious to see how Luna's plan affects the Arts. Are the Fine Arts programs in our school part of the plan? Will we be taking band 'online' in two years. :)
ReplyDeleteThough just a joke, I can see that to save a few million dollars a year I wouldn't put it past him to begin fazing out programs... via attrition. Then they just fade away and nobody blames it on him. At what point do Idaho teachers determine that working in Idaho is detrimental to there ability to have a successful and rewarding career? I accept the responsibility of my comments and the reality that I don't have answers to tough questions that they are trying to work with at the state government level. I do know that throwing out random solutions that don't make any sense in the real world classroom is not the best way to resolve the problems with Idaho education.
-Dave
Hey B.,
ReplyDeleteWe both know, sadly, politicians do not listen to research. You can bet the fine arts get the shaft.