Week 5 Blog

1- Do prisons use third grade reading scores to predict how many prison beds they'll need?

http://readingpartners.org/blog/do-prisons-use-third-grade-reading-scores-to-predict-the-number-of-prison-beds-theyll-need/

In a district that has more than 75% of it's students that qualify for Free and Reduced lunches there is always a concern that as a district leader you're not doing enough for your kids. I've tasked our district leaders to ensure that every 1st grade student will leave that grade level reading. If not, we want to know every student that does not meet that goal and set them up with the appropriate intervention.

The article basically states there is no scientific research that supports that this is how prisons determine where they are built or how big the prison shall be. There is a scary coincidence that 70 % of prisoners read below grade level and 40-50% were high school dropouts.

I do feel that districts should keep this thought in mind regarding the importance of early literacy and how, if done correctly can significantly reduce the drop out rates and save districts millions in intervention programs that are being used at the intermediate elementary and secondary levels.

2- Linked Learning underway in 26 pathways

http://sdedsynergy.org/category/news/

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2a7e3239a29e7c616c6c0c2b5/files/LLSD_Pathways_2014_2015_10_20_2014_01.pdf

Although this isn't an article what the Energy Synergy Alliance represents is a non profit organization that focuses on Career Technical Education through a process called Linked Learning (http://linkedlearning.org/about/). It's focus on rigorous academics, real world job applications and career based learning. With schools across the country focusing in on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) it's important to note that Career technical education is a major focus area of the CCSS.

Week 4 Blog

A Day in the Life of a Teacher
http://teachingquality.org/content/blogs/paul-barnwell/day-life-teacherpreneur

This article is one of high interest to me as I am strongly considering hiring a teacher to teach part time and then begin putting together a Community School plan together for our entire district.

In this article a teacher describes a day as a "teacherpreneur". His district has allowed him to teach part time and the rest of his day is spent planning for the district's virtual learning platform. Because this is such a new concept it's no wonder colleagues question whether this teacher really is earning his pay as a "teacher". This article is an example of of the concept of innovation within in the educational environment. In education, we must begin to think as innovators, not traditionalist. Not saying the traditional ways things have been done has no more value, it does. If public education is to keep up with the pace of innovation it MUST begin to think, act and implement as an innovator.

Obama unveils Immigration plan, lifts Deportation Threat for millions
http://teachingquality.org/content/blogs/paul-barnwell/day-life-teacherpreneur

So how does this latest move by our president have anything to do with education? In our public education system we take everyone who needs to be in school. We do not deny students that may or may not have the legal status to remain in our country. I still don't understand how our military will accept immigrants that are not actually US Citizens and allow them to fight and in some cases die for our country. In a district that serves a large population of english learners, primarily those students who were brought by family members to our country, those of us don't understand the fear that many families have due to their legal status. Many of our families limit their participation in our schools so as not to bring attention to themselves because they are not legal residents in our country. Personally, I know this doesn't affect all of our families but to those that do my hope is that they will get more involved in their child's education.

Podcast

https://archive.org/details/OsidePromi

Week 3 Blog

1- "Facebook takes Stab at Anonymity with Rooms"
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/23/facebook-new-app-rooms

My brother is a former law enforcement officer. He's definitely been in situations where he's either had to take a life or put someone in jail/prison. He no longer is in this profession but must keep his identity as confidential as possible in case those he has dealt with in the past decide they want to revisit him. Our family is one that is enormous and we've found it's best to use Facebook to communicate with family when there are events or important information that everyone needs to read. My brother uses a different name which only our family knows of. He's developed the identity and never divulges his real identity. He sends pictures, messages all of us through this FB page.

2- "ATT Ruins Apple's SIM Bid In War on Carrier Choice- http://readwrite.com/2014/10/24/at-t-locks-ipad-sim-apple

Well, this article is a bit confusing. ATT decides to lock the SIM card when a customer buys an iPad 2, 3. The reason isn't clear and based on the comments no one seems to understand why except ATT being greedy or just causing an unnecessary hassle for customers that may want to switch carriers. The weird thing is that the SIM is locked but a customer could just replace the SIM with another carrier?

Flicker Assignment

1- Assignment- research and identify the type of butterfly and describe it's lifespan and area of the world it can be found.
Retrieved on November 6, 2014 from:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/f-winter/15720503422/in/explore-2014-11-05

2- Assignment- describe how bubbles are formed and what types and amounts of ingredients are needed to make bubbles.
Retrieved on November 6, 2014 from:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/weavster/15533560347/in/explore-2014-11-05

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Week 2 Blog Post

Week 2 Blog Post:

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms:

There are 23 schools in the Oceanside Unified School District, Oceanside, CA. Of those 23, there are 16 elementary sites. Last year we began Oceanside 2.0, which began our journey in implementing devices (iPads) in our teachers and students district wide. We began with only those elementary sites that showed staff wide support to be a part of the first pilot phase. The original goal was to spend half the year providing professional development to teachers in how to use the iPads, Apple TV’s, and video projectors to help enhance student learning in the classroom. In January of that same year we were going to then hand iPads to every student of those teachers trained. We partnered with the University of San Diego (USD) to provide research methodologies and embed a monitoring and evaluative process as we trained our first cohort.

As we began the 2013-14 year it was evident in November that the majority of teachers needed more professional development. We decided that we would not hand out student iPads until this year, and only to those teachers that felt comfortable having the devices in students hands during class. This year, 2014-15 we began our next cohort of elementary schools (remaining 8). The data we’ve collected from the first year in the process has been invaluable in beginning this next phase.

Richardson implies this new learning environment is about being able to construct, develop, sustain and participate in global networks that render time and place less and less relevant (loc 308 of 3663, Kindle version).  Teachers will need to understand the pedagogical shifts that must take place not only in their classroom but for them professionally as educators.

Richarson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Chapter 1.

The Fire Phone May Have Cratered, But It Hasn't Dented Amazon's Tech Delusions

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, is an innovator, and innovators often know how to fail. Although the Fire Phone  has been a huge flop I have no doubt Bezos will find another niche that will prove to be hugely successful. Even though as of yesterday, October 24, Amazon yearly income report fell short 427 million dollars!! I’m not hearing much panic for Bezos, and my feeling is we won’t. I think we will see him take this failure, learn from it and move this to another project that may be the next “Amazon” concept. Stay tuned for things ahead.

http://readwrite.com/2014/10/23/amazon-earnings-jeff-bezos-fire-tv-phone-delusional.