Dr.Ries and proposed legislation

 Attached you will find a link to an interesting article found in the online Star Ledger.   New legislation is being proposed in order to determine how much our students have NOT learned during the past 9 months.    Read the article.  Have you learned anything new by having read the article?    Any thoughts with regard to this proposed legislation?   What recommendations would you give to the state legislators as they move forward?

https://www.nj.com/education/2020/11/how-much-are-kids-learning-nj-must-find-out-asap-lawmaker-says.html

Dr. Ries 

Danielle Jackson asks us to plan ahead. Are you?

 Is there anything you plan to change for the second half of the school year in order to better prepare yourself and the students to better address the curriculum? Will you be making any changes with regard to teaching strategies and delivery systems? Will your proposed changes create a more successful second half of the year? And finally, are you concerned about the possibility of remote instruction continuing into the next school year, 2021-2022? If that happens, do you think that you, personally, will be better prepared to have a more successful year? 

Lynn is sharing a possible new schedule for the spring

 Many schools are currently going all remote,  due to the high cases of covid.  Teachers have now spoken out about the workload that is connected to online teaching.   They are saying that the workload is overwhelming and hard to handle at the moment.   I have recently heard that some schools have announced that in order to ease the workload, they have designated that there be no homework for the weeks of the holidays.   I have also heard that schools are designating mental health day for teachers by giving them Fridays off,  starting in January. 

Are all schools following in suit? If not why not? What is your school doing?

Ray poses a question about teachers' present professional goals and ability to adapt to changing times.

 As present-day and future educators, we are rapidly approaching the end of the first marking period of the 2020-2021 academic school year. I'm sure that we are doing all that we can to stabilize things and provide structure for ourselves and our students during this educational process. 

However, as I have previously stated in class, the only certainty of this school year (thus far) is uncertainty!!!! This, of course, makes things tougher to manage on all accounts. With that said, I pose the following questions: 

1. What are you doing to keep yourself motivated professionally and personally? 

2. How are you managing to balance the ever-changing climate of our current state of life..............both student teachers and under contract, full-time teachers?

The New Jersey School Boards Association has just released a report that addresses the issues of virtual learning.    The report highlights four areas of concern on the part of the districts surveyed.   Please read the article and let us know if you agree or disagree with the findings.   Why do you agree?   Why do you disagree?   Is there anything else that you would like to add to the concerns expressed here?   Is there something that the NJSBA is missing?   

https://www.nj.com/education/2020/10/online-learning-isnt-going-away-can-nj-make-it-better.html 

In addition,  you may wish to react to the article that introduces us to our new boss.    Any comments?    Any suggestions?   Any words of advice for the new leader? 

https://www.nj.com/education/2020/10/nj-gov-phil-murphy-to-name-new-education-commissioner-how-to-watch-live-today-oct-20-2020.html

Cori and Back-to-School Night

 Last week we had a virtual back- to-night. During the evening, we spoke to parents but our discussions were mostly about what they would be seeing and experiencing when we eventually went back to school. 

In my opinion, we should have been talking to parents about what they should be seeing, expecting, and helping with during this period of virtual teaching and learning, not about what to expect when we get back to school. 

What do you think about this approach to back-to-school night?  What do you think our responsibility is to parents during this time of COVID-19?   How is your school dealing with parents and how are you keeping them updated as to what is needed during this period of time?   How did your school structure its back-to-school night?    What type of outreach has your school done in order to keep parents updated?   

Dr. Ries present a controversial topic

 Arnold Glass, a psychology professor at Rutgers University, has written an op-ed article in which he laments the use of cell phones by students for homework assignments.   He believes that retention of material for exam preparation is of utmost importance and that we should discourage students from relying on this "pocket encyclopedia" for homework help.   Read the short op-ed article article.   The link follows: 

https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/10/hey-kids-dont-use-your-smartphone-to-do-your-homework-opinion.html

Do you agree or disagree with the professor?   Why?