MY THOUGHTS

DIFFICULT CHOICES TO MAKE

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:56:23 PST

I have some really difficult choices to make over the next few months about my future as an educator. As I discussed in my 2/12/10 blog BUDGET CUTS AND HOW IT MIGHT EFFECT ME, there is a possibility that I might be laid off after this school year, as I am the bottom of any and all seniority lists of all the teachers in my district.When the Superintendent announced this budget shortfall in

DO THOSE THAT SHOW-UP MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE?

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:13:18 PST

Cross-Posted at Shelly Terrell's Teacher Reboot Camp on 3/6/10, that I have updated a little bit and want in my blog for future reference. :)I was following my Twitter stream the other morning and saw a Tweet go by from Shelly Terrell.and I responded back withWhen I say "backroom" what do I mean? To me the backrooms include public employees' offices, at some level of government (local, state or

TO TEACH OR WALK AWAY

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:34:14 PST

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about how all of these new/semi-old laws, rules, regulations and guidance in educational policy are going to affect how teachers teach in the classroom over the course of the next few years. This thinking on my part has brought up more questions and concerns than it has answers. As teachers we have to follow the laws, policies and guidelines that

Tom Whitby's - Lead Us Into Reform

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:02:49 PST

I was reading Tom Whitby's latest blog on Lead Us Into Reform His blog article was spot on and I made the following comment and didn't want to loose it, because I felt what he said was very important and wanted to remind myself of where I read this. My comment here is not as important as reading Tom's blog.Well said...leaders and administrators/managers exist in all professions and but the

TEACHERS NEED TO BE ACTORS TOO!!!

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:41:55 PST

This is one of those nights when this usually upbeat and positive teacher is simply tired. Not physically tired, but mentally tired, drained, empty, caput are all words that describe how I feel tonight. The tank is empty, I don't feel too great and just want to whine. It has been a loooooonnnnngggg week. Today was tougher than usual, my first block was so obnoxious that I had to resort to

WHAT DOES 21ST EDUCATION MEAN TO ME?

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:49:12 PST

I posted the following in response to the Whitehouse.com request for input on:21st Century Education means that students are prepared to use the tools and have the necessary skills that will be pertinent tomorrow, not yesterday or even today. What do I mean by that? Technology is growing exponentially and whatever tools we use today are going to be obsolete in a short while therefore we need to

MY FAVORITE BLOG POSTS FROM THE LAST YEAR

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:43:51 PST

I got this idea from Karl Fisch to pick one post per month from your blog, that I really thought was my best post from that month, not necessarily the most popular. I have been a bit of a wastrel in my blogging over the past year and have at least 3 main blogs during that time and a job change. But each time I come back to Blogger for various reasons...maybe it would be better to just stay here

CENTRAL FALLS HIGH SCHOOL & THE NUCLEAR OPTION

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:22:46 PST

I have been going back and forth, trying to get this straight in my head and just had to do it this way - writing about it in my blog. I know that my view on something as important as this, matters very little, but it was important to me to get a handle on it, as it is a big topic of discussion on the internet and at my school. As I wrote this post (which I started on Friday) I changed my

GREAT WEEK IN THE CLASSROOM

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:20:46 PST

This has been a really great week in the classroom.On Tuesday, I had my gang of three ask if they could read for 5 more minutes and when I said yes, they actually went back to reading and read for the full 5 minutes. These are 3 very hyperactive boys who fought me tooth and nail about reading at the start of the year!!!!We had a new student come into the mix and he appears fitting in pretty well.

STANDARDIZED TESTING - THE REALITY

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:48:05 PST

I think that anyone who has read my blog over the past couple of years, knows that I am not a supporter or fan of Standardized Testing. I strongly believe that it does not measure student progress appropriately and using it to measure of schools or teachers is misuse of what the tools were originally designed for.Unfortunately, the reality in the United States is that Standardized Testing is a

FINALLY, I HAVE COMPLETED THE TRANSFER

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:15:05 PST

There that chore is done, transferring my blog posts from Resource Room 220 back My Thoughts. I the started transfer (copy and paste) of selected blog posts back on 2/21 and feel pretty good about it. I can tweak, put in widgets and change themes to reflect what I want my blog to look like. For a while I will leave it in this configuration, it suites me today. I am having some problems

HOW MANY STUDENTS HAVE YOU GIVEN UP ON?

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:05:41 PST

Posted on February 19, 2010 by resource220 This is a subject that I have given a lot of thought about and it is something that needs to be discussed. It is also an issue that we could write a book about, but I am going to only skim the surface of. A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with another teacher about a student and it was evident that that teacher had given up on that student. To

I LOVE MY MACBOOK PRO

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:03:08 PST

Posted on February 19, 2010 by resource220 I have been a MacBook Pro owner since the end of December. To say that I love my Mac would be an understatement. I was going to write about all the different things that I love about a Mac, but I have not decided that I am not going to repeat all the things that others have probably written and said about switching from a PC to a Mac. All that I

ARE WE LEADERSHIP OR JUST AN ECHO CHAMBER

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:02:04 PST

Posted on February 18, 2010 by resource220 This has been a great vacation week, I have taken part in several online discussions about education and attended several Webinars, the one’s with Alfie Kohn and Daniel Pink being the standouts so far, tonight is going to be Clay Shirky, so we shall see. But I am starting to notice something that can be interpreted as either really great or very

WHY DON’T STUDENTS LIKE SCHOOL – BOOK REVIEW

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:00:44 PST

Posted on February 16, 2010 by resource220 I just finished reading Dan Willingham’s “Why Don’t Students Like School”. I have to admit throughout the book, I just felt as though I was missing something and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Then as I reflected on the title “Why Don’t Students Like School” and believe it was much more provocative than the content. In my opinion Dr.

THREE MONDAYS – TWO TOO MANY

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:30:36 PST

Posted on January 23, 2010 by resource220This was a week that was, we had three Mondays this week. The real Monday was MLK Day, which made Tuesday this week’s Monday, then we had a snow day on Wednesday which made Thursday another Monday. Stop and think how each of us react and moan or groan about having to be at work on a regular Monday, then multiply it times the number of students in a

DO SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS REALLY NEED TO HAVE GRADES?

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:28:50 PST

Posted on January 21, 2010 by resource220 While I was out snow blowing today I had time to think about lots of things while walking behind that dreaded beast. Today I thought about why do we grade Special Education students who are in a Resource Room and are being provided “Specialized Instruction” in a subject directly in accordance with their IEP.We are required to measure their progress for

MY DECLINING POLITICAL AWARENESS

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:26:33 PST

Posted on January 18, 2010 by resource220 Something I have noticed since I have returned to teaching is that I am much less politically active. What do I mean by that? While I was working for the State, I always had my radio (in the car or office) turned to NPR and my feeds in gReader were much more politically based. I actually read the bills that were going before Congress or the State

MY OLD HP 2510 TABLET PC – THE MOTHERBOARD COOKED

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:25:18 PST

Posted on January 17, 2010 by resource220 I gave my HP Pavillion 2510 Tablet after Christmas to my step daugter, just before I got my Mac, so that I would have to focus on using the Mac and not go back to what I am familiar with – the HP Tablet PC. Well I found out this week that it was a good thing that I got all of the data off it when I did. A couple of weeks after I gave it her, the

STEPS IN THE IEP PROCESS – HOW MANY ARE THERE?

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:18:00 PST

Posted on January 13, 2010 by resource220 I have been meaning to do this for quite a long time, write down the steps involved in a creating an Individual Education Plan. A lot of people don’t realize how involved the process actually is and just assume that the meeting is the only thing that happens of note.The meeting is usually lasts between 30 to 60 minutes, but it is usually what everyone

REBOOTING THE MAC

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:16:18 PST

Posted on January 11, 2010 by resource220 There I did it again!!! I tried so many different settings and software that I couldn’t get my Mac to connect to the internet with anything but Firefox. I didn’t break anything, but things were sure working “wonky” on the MBP yesterday afternoon.I figured I would back up everything that I actually needed and re-boot the system. Actually I made it longer

FOCUSING ON WORK

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:15:01 PST

Posted on January 9, 2010 by resource220 In light of my last blog entry on Internet Attention Disorder, I significantly decreased the amount of time that I spent on blogging, using Facebook and following Twitter this week. I also choose not to click on too many links that sounded interesting, when I was on Twitter and just read through my Google Reader articles without following any links,

INTERNET ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:46:17 PST

Posted on January 3, 2010 by resource220 I have been attempting to do school work and classroom planning to get a good handle on the direction that my class needs to go, this whole vacation. Instead most of my vacation I have found myself going down too many “rabbit holes”. These simple side jaunts down paths that are really interesting to me, but not what I need to get done. I find they become

CONVERTING TO THE CULT OF MAC WAS THE RIGHT DECISION

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:44:24 PST

Posted on January 2, 2010 by resource220I have been working on my new MacBook Pro for five days now and it simply is the best computer I have ever used.Switching over from the Windows world was extremely easy – once I made the choice to do. I think that my previous resistance was more about loyalty to Windows (having been there since Windows 1.0), not wanting to learn a new operating system and

HOW I DID ON MY 2009 GOALS

hshawjr@gmail.com (Harold Shaw Jr.) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:42:18 PST

Posted on January 1, 2010 by resource220 I was thinking about what I want to accomplish this year and thought that I needed to look at my last year’s goals: 1. Increase the amount that I run. I didn’t keep a log of how much I ran this year, but I ran a lot more than I did in 2008 and was much more active with Kyaking, hiking, etc. My body has healed as much as it is going to after the roof