MAKING THE GRADE

Every Sunday, without fail, I make a point of purchasing "The Record" newspaper.

Why you ask? Well, there is a special segment dedicated to Education [Making The Grade]. The weekly segment focuses on teachers going "above and beyond" their defined scope of responsibilities in assuring they are meeting students' needs.

As educators, I find the readings indispensable on several fronts:

• Highlights effective "best practices"
• Fosters idea sharing
• Pinpoints successful teacher traits and teaching methods
• Speaks to shared experiences

This Sunday and perhaps ongoing, I suggest you purchase a copy and let me know what you think.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I do not work for, nor do I have a stake in the newspaper.

WEBQUEST

In reviewing Dr. Luongo's below posting to another student's blog, upon further reflection, her comments hit the mark:


"Even if you never use one again! Another thing you can take from the experience is the self-awareness of how frustrating it can be for your students when they are forced to learn something new."


If one of the desired goals was to put us in the students' shoes [when faced with a new challenge, or attempting to complete a very daunting assignment], from my perspective, mission was definitely accomplished!

WEBQUEST

Let's see now, where do I begin?

Here we go, in the spirit of taking a diplomatic, but also an honest stance on this assignment, this by far, has been an extremely daunting experience!

As a first timer to WebQuesting, but someone that is always up to the challenge, at first glance I said to myself: "There is no way I will be able to accomplish this assignment". In perusing the innumerable samples, along with the plethora of sites and tutorial, it just seemed overwhelming!

With all that said, once I actually delved into the assignment, I actually grasped the concepts fairly quickly. Although WebQuesting is a very time-consuming process, the positive outcome [once you look at the end product] is immeasurable!

Without giving any mixed messages, overall, this was a very rewarding experience. However, if I understand the functionality of Quest Garden accurately, the only downside is, after one year, after putting so much effort into this assignment, my WebQuest will be deleted forever.

ADVER-TESTING

It's a Saturday night @ 10:00 P.M. More specifically, it's 2/14/2009 [Valentine's Day] and I'm watching the channel 5 10:00 P.M. news. You may ask why am I watching the 10:00 P.M. news on Valentine's Day, well that's another story.

Now on to the more important story. While watching the news, there was a very interesting segment on education. The segment focused on a California H.S. math teacher, particularly as it related to budget constraints and funding. Due to continued tough economic conditions, the teacher was only allotted $300.00 for the year to cover classroom expenses for his students. As you might imagine, this was not nearly enough to cover his classes for the entire year.

So, using some very interesting creativity, the teacher came up with the concept of "Adver-Testing". The concept entails reaching out to local business owners, and offering them the opportunity [for small donations] to advertise their business services on the students' test papers.

The marketing idea [which was a overwhelming success,] affords the local business owners to effectively reach out to their community and market their services, while at the same time helps provide much needed funds to the school. As a result of the initial success, other teachers within the school are using this same method to raise funds.