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Dallas school employees must receive gender equality training after a U.S. Department of Education investigation into the district’s boys-only field trip in February to see the war movie Red Tails.
Not a bad idea. I’ve been through gender equity training a bunch of times, and it doesn’t hurt.
Last year, the district sent out a story that offended several women on my campus and our poor principal was quite confused, as a woman had given him the materials.
I’m going to present a workshop on using RobotC to program Lego Robots to do autonomous stuff at TCEA
§ Details of Session
Session Number: 133149
Session Title: Using RobotC to Program an Autonomous Robot
Track: Technology Applications
Date: 2/7/2013
Time: 1:30:00 PM to 4:30:00 PM
Format: PC Workshop
Will be putting it on my staff development Moodle so if you sign up for it, email me at kathleen @ kweaver dot org and I’ll put you on the moodle.
Starbucks just finished up another Donor’s Choose project for me. That’s 4 projects this summer. Two for my classroom, two for the Robot Team. The last project was on the site for two weeks and was for almost $300.00
I really urge other teachers to join, and I really urge you to look at my projects and see what I’ve done.
I’m not sure what my magic is exactly but it works.
Email me at kathleen at kweaver.org as I have a Staff Development website where I discuss fundraising.
I have two friends that don’t, but I do.
Especially during the school year.
Monday is when I get to see my kids again. I get to find out what they did on the weekend and we usually start usually do something new on Mondays.
I miss school Mondays.
Right now, Monday is just when I don’t see my husband again for 5 days.
And I just posted this to make them mad.
I got an great phone call this morning. One of the members of the Junior League of Dallas called, and she let me know that they were funding the Robotics team again next year. It's not ALL the money we need, but it's a major chunk!
She said that they really enjoyed helping us last year, and wanted to again.
Please join my Moodle group, and I'll be happy to share my Junior League experiences.
You'll find the posting here:
I like my job, and god and my boss have told me to stay there today. (Long story for another post).
This could be a game-changer for the right person, if you are patient. This could be a position that will allow you to make computer science more important to a major district. However, there isn't a lot of money in Texas for education.
Email me at kweaver at dallasisd dot org if you have questions, and you will have my full support, in changing the game.
Things I’m liking about him:
From the DaMN (my favorite way to spell Dallas morning news):
– What he expects from parents: “We want no excuses around three things” : 1) Get their kids to school on time, every day. 2) Have their kids read every day, even if it’s not in English and even if it’s a TV Guide, comic book or cereal box. At every age. 3) Get them to do their homework. Set up a quiet place at home for study, the kitchen table for example.
DISD Superintendent Mike Miles on finances, teacher pay, top worries
Yep, I’ll go with that.
– On whether he expects each teacher’s evaluation grade to be publicly available: “I try to do things that help the education institution, that helps kids. I’m not sure that the public always understands the numbers. … That’s a lot of information for the parent to absorb. If there’s not a good explanation, data is misused, the teachers get hurt for no reason. …”
On of the issues with my numbers, is that my sample size is so small. I have about a 33% passing rate of students who take the AP exam without taking PreAP. Sample size of 3. I have a 100% passing rate of students who take the AP example with taking the PreAP. Sample size of 30 over 20 years. Not really useful numbers.
The thing I don’t like is the expectation of teacher turnover. I am really proud of the fact that I’ve taught in the same room for 20 years. However, I’ve changed my curriculum and adapted to my students, and I certainly haven’t taught the same subjects in that room. I’ve taught:
Next year I’ll be teaching:
Something I don’t get. This is 2012. You are teaching students with 1-to-1 computer technology. Why would you ever not take advantage of it?
Seriously.
I use technology to train my dogs, manage my diabetes, cook, and never have paper on me. I usually the pieces I have and less rarely have a pen on me. Usually because some kind sole has given me a “swag” pen.
This is the only issue I have with the Exploring Computer Science program. I know the people who put it on, and I respect them highly, and I know that they often like to use other technologies than computer technologies.
We had this discussion last year during a PBL workshop I went to put on by TI. The facilitator of the workshop insisted on using lower levels of technology.
We all agreed that there are different levels of technology:
Now I am very comfortable teaching with computers. I use Moodle as a classroom and curriculum management tool, and have my students do their work completely electronically.
Hey, I even had that discussion with one of my colleagues today when we were discussing the curriculum I am developing for the Computer Science Fundamentals jokingly acted as if I was afraid of paper. And no, I didn’t take the receipt from Starbucks.
I choose deliberately to use technology throughout the course, but will reserve a few lessons from CS Unplugged just in case the power goes out or we get kicked out of the lab.
But hey, if you want to use another technology have it, just don’t expect me to play with you.
What I am trying to get across, is that there are people out on the internet who want to help education, and CS education in particular.
I am inviting other educators, especially CS educators, in learning how to expand our fund raising capabilities. I have a Moodle set up where I have links, tips and tricks out there, and I am inviting teachers to join me in and hope to share my ideas and techniques.
Can’t promise you any computers, but can help you get peripherals and curriculum materials.
If you are interested in HOW I raise money, email me, and I’ll add you to the Moodle where I have all my resources.
For those who don’t know, I am wildly successful at raising money for both my robotics team and my classroom. I did a presentation on this at CS&IT but unfortunately I was up against two other popular presentations and buried in a back corner.
I have been able to get at least one paying staff development a summer for the past summer. For example, last year Texas Instruments paid me to learn more about PBL, something I am implementing for my district.
This summer I am getting paid to go to another one.
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I have gotten local mini-grants to support my robotics team, and have one a very large award from district. As a result, I obtained $5000 for my classroom and $5000 for my classroom. I am now on the selection committee and have helped others gets that award.
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Finally I have had over 20 projects funded on Donor’s Choose.
Now, I can’t guarantee that you will equally successful, but I think by working together we can increase the odd.
Email is at kweaver at dallasisd dot org