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Author: Beth Knittle

A Teacher’s Thoughts on Testing

A Teacher’s Thoughts on Testing

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A colleague of mine shared with me An Open Letter to American From a Public School Teacher, by Michael Mau.  It is a really is a good read and gets you thinking. I know many educators who are questioning why they are still in education. The classroom educational experience has undergone many changes in the last couple of decades and teachers feel they are being pulled in conflicting directions increase personalized learning and creativity and increase standardized testing.  Not that…

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Degrees of Urgency: Some Thoughts

Degrees of Urgency: Some Thoughts

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The state recently released “a report to the people of Massachusetts from the Massachusetts department of higher education Oct  2014” It is a pretty lengthy read on why we need more graduates particularly in the STEM fields of nursing and computer science.  The background context is colleges are underfunded.  There was much discussion on how to get graduation rates up and in less then 6 years.  The report was also looking at ways to keep students in state schools and…

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The Power in Connections

The Power in Connections

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After Hurricane Sandy effected the northeast I headed down to NJ to lend my folks a hand.  The main highway I would normally take was closed in many spots so I had to drive north, across Massachusetts and then south.  On my way I passed convoy after convoy of tree service, fuel tankers and power line crews from Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.  Some had banners hanging off the sides of the trucks. “NJ here we come.” “NY you are…

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Value Added Models: Where are we headed?

Value Added Models: Where are we headed?

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Many public school educators have begun transitioning and adjusting to new educator evaluation procedures.  These evaluation tools are to included test results for students and a statistically generate Value Added Measure.  In my state we have not yet fully moved to this as many districts need to determine what District Determined Measures (DDMs) they will we use to measure teacher performance in each subject area. There are also a variety of statistical models to determine the Value Added by a…

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Education vs Regurgitation

Education vs Regurgitation

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As a brand new teacher I believed I could go thorough my scripted lesson plan, and point like a conductor to select students who I could guide through to the desired out comes.  I believe that if they played along, paid attention and did the work I provided they would all learn and be successful on the tests. If we all just followed the lesson all would be well. But…. there was always the fidgety kids in the back who…

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Supporting Complex Change

Supporting Complex Change

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Integrating technology, project based learning, personalized instruction, etc all require a change in a teacher’s pedagogical practice.  That is a pretty complex change as there is nothing simple about people, teaching and learning.  The teachers I support are my ‘students’. I need to know what is not working or missing to help them achieve success as they continually fine tune and perfect their craft.  Over the years I have used Knoster’s thoughts on managing complex change. There are various versions…

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Thinking about Professional Development

Thinking about Professional Development

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Summer is a time for relaxation and renewal for educators.  It is the season where we recharge the batteries, reflect on our success and failure and rethink what we will do next year.  During this “down time” many educators participated in curriculum writing and professional development.  Tim Holt recently shared his thoughts on professional development are we preparing cooks or chefs? They echo some of my thinking. I dislike the term “training”  I am often asked if I will be…

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