Author Archives: Nancy

Five Ways to increase Teacher Planning Time

Posted by on
Teacher Leadership

J0403204[1]
By Nancy

This past week I witnessed a teacher meltdown during a staff development workshop; after a day of training on a new curriculum, she asked the presenter how she and her teammates were supposed to assimilate all the new materials when they had only 30 minutes a day to prepare for 6 hours of instruction. The large group training venue was not appropriate for this teachers’ meltdown, but her question was valid. Everyone in the room felt the same stress and frustration.

According to a report by Stanford and the National Staff Development Council, in which they compared the US teacher workload with other top-performing countries, a US teacher on average only gets 3 to 5 hours per week of planning time, compared to 15 to 20 hours per week for teachers in other nations to prepare lessons, meet with parents and students, and work with other educators. US teachers also have far more direct student contact time than any other nation. The report shares some specific examples of what other top-performing nations provide for their teachers. For those of us teaching in the US, the examples from places like Korea and Singapore sound like a fantasy fulfilled by Oprah.

Continue reading →

Do Schools need Internet Filters?

Posted by on
Uncategorized

By Nancy

Noevil Educators are urged to bring 21st Century skills into their classrooms, and the world wide web has become part of our lives. Teachers are charging ahead, pushing out the classroom walls, and You Tube, Facebook, Flickr, and blogs provide a wealth of resources that are timely, engaging, and free. So the debate comes up at every gathering of educational tech users: how much should districts filter the internet? Or should districts filter at all?

Continue reading →

School Boards: Time for Change

Posted by on
Education Policy

Judge3 By Nancy

I attended a school board meeting a couple years ago, along with dozens of parents, teachers, and students, when our school district was considering the elimination of all elementary school librarians. The seven board members appeared to listen thoughtfully. Everyone left the meeting that night with a sense that voices had been heard, and that school librarians were valued and would be saved. The board and the superintendent moved on to their closed door executive session.

You guessed it: librarians were eliminated. 

More recently, our school board hosted a series of community meetings to gather input about a long list of potential budget cuts. These community meetings were well organized, well-attended, and resulted in a complex tally of votes that represented each special interest group's favorite line item. The process was completely transparent, and stakeholders felt great about their ability to contribute to the final budget decisions.

You are right again: in the end, the original prioritized budget list did not change.

In both cases, the school community realized that they actually had little influence on school district decisions. And huge questions came up: should seven community members, from all walks of life and usually having no training in education, be the final authority in our public schools? Should a 7-member board have the ultimate power to affect thousands of lives? Shouldn't education reform start with reforming the school board system?

Continue reading →