Class Dismissed

The state of Oklahoma now has more than 1,400 emergency certified teachers. It's a problem that is due in part to teacher retention. Burnout is suspected as one of the factors for poor retention.

Our guest in Episode 15 explains that teachers have greater demands and less control than ever before.

Dr. Thomas Skovholt is the co-author of "The Resilient Practitioner: Burnout Prevention for Counselors, Therapists, Teachers, and Health Professionals."

In Episode 15, Dr. Skovholt speaks with Class Dismissed about the warning signs and steps you should take if you're burning out on your career.

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Oklahoma now has more than 1,400 emergency certified teachers. In mid-August the Oklahoma board of education approved 574 new emergency certificate request, bringing the state's total to  1,429.

Oklahoma's old record of 1,160 was set just last year.

It seems clear that the teacher shortage is a real issue for many states. In Episode 14 we speak with Desiree Carver-Thomas with the Learning Policy Institute about just how bad this crisis is.

The Learning Policy Institute just released new research and their findings indicate that students returning to school this year are entering one of the more than 100,000 classrooms across the country staffed by an instructor who is not fully qualified to teach.

However, there may be a fix. The Learning Policy Institute believes that if states can address attrition rates, the trend could be slowed and possibly even stopped.

In high-performing schools in Finland, Singapore, and Ontario, Canada—only about 3 to 4% of teachers leave in a given year.  For the past decade, that number has been hovering around 8% here in the United States.

Tune in to learn more from the Learning Policy Institute.

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Every school year, sometime in October or November, thousands of new teachers hit a wall.  They're sleep deprived, they've made a few mistakes, and they start to question whether or not they picked the right career.  It's known as the disillusionment phase.

Roxanna Elden knows about the disillusionment phase because she lived it.

"I had to pull over into a Burger King parking lot, and I cried for a few hours.  I couldn't get back on the road. Even now I still get emotional thinking about that day."

As a result, she wrote a book about her challenges with the hopes of inspiring other teachers to push through the hidden challenges educators face. "See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers By Teachers" is the book that deals head-on with the problems that are not necessarily covered in new-teacher training manual.

Elden says her book is not Chicken Soup for the Teachers Soul.  It's Liquor for the Teachers Soul, and she has some tips for us in Episode 13.

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Personalized Learning

A small town in Idaho is allowing their students to learn at their own pace.  If a student walks into a class and wants to study math, they pull out their iPad and begin a math lesson. No lectures from teachers, just mentoring and guidance.

Meanwhile, another student may not be interested in doing math at the moment. That student may have been inspired them to write because they saw something on the way to school. So the student walks through the door and begins writing.

This new form of education is known as personalized learning and Superintendent Jeff Dillon in Wilder, Idaho says it's the result of the best year in education of his life.

While it may sound like the students are in control of their learning, they are, at least partially.  Students still have goals and if they don't keep up, they can fall behind and have to work extra hard to make-up for lost time.  It's what Dillon calls "failing foward".

We talk with Dillon about the challenges and benefits of rolling out a personalized education program in his public schools.

Pushing back the start of the school day?

A report in U.S. News and World Reports says that schools in at least 19 states are planning to start the school day later this year.   The report cites some schools shifting their start time from  7:10 am to 9:30 am

The push for the later start time is related to the changing sleep pattern of children when they hit puberty.

We discuss if this is a needed change or are we bending over backwards to accommodate today's students.

Google Scanned 25 Million Books. So where are they?

In 2002 Google started the ambitious project of scanning millions of books into a database. So what happened to all that information?  We'll give you an update.

Transforming a Mall into a department store

School officials in Montgomery Alabama needed a new facility for a Magnet High School and rather then build a new structure, they renovated and old department store.

WSFA News reports that the 82,000 sq. foot school houses 30 classrooms, 5 labs, and a gymnasium.

The mall was reportedly built in the 1960s and was vacated in 2008.

During the podcast we inadvertently say the school was located in Birmingham, AL.  That is incorrect.  The school is located in Montgomery, AL.

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The Overpriced Calculator 

In a world where Apple and Samsung are expected to innovate and manufacture amazing new products every 12 months, the graphing calculator remains an anomaly.

For decades Texas Instruments has controlled the market with their line of "TI" graphing calculators. Since the 1990s the technological advancements of the TI calculators have been limited; with little advancement in the low resolution screens and minimal onboard memory.

Meanwhile, the cost of the calculators remains inflated. As of this writing, the price of a new TI-84 calculator hovers just over $100 on Amazon.

A software company named Desmos is trying to disrupt the Texas Instruments monopoly.  The San Francisco based start-up has created a web-based calculator that is free for teachers and students.

Learn more about the Desmos disruption in Episode 11 of Class Dismissed.

Teaching with dyslexia 

In our Bright Idea segment this episode we have Dr. Jim Gentry. Dr. Gentry is a college education professor in Texas who is dyslexic and he’s dedicated his life to teaching future educators how to help kids like him learn.

 

 

A science teacher wanted his students to experience the outdoors and wildlife, but because of budget constraints and logistical challenges it made field trips very difficult.

James Jubran teaches aquatic sciences at Alief Elsik High School in Houston Texas. Jubran was determined to find a way to inspire his students about wildlife, so he applied for a $25,000 grant from State Farm.

"We teach in an inner city setting, where a lot of the students they grow up and they don't get to get out of this environment that they live in and see the natural world and see wild places, wild waters. So I wanted to introduce them to that," Jubran said.

Jubran took that $25k and built an 1,100 gallon aquarium that mimics the Amazon river. With water, fish, and rocks the tank weighs about 13,000 lbs and is on display in the school cafeteria.

Jubran tells 'Class Dismissed' how he pulled off the ambitious project.

Books on Bikes

Some educators in Charlottesville Virginia have come up with a creative way to prevent the "summer slide", tendency for students, to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year.

A group of teachers and librarians outfitted several bikes with special cargo carriers, and they now deliver books in neighborhoods when the school libraries are closed. 'Books on Bikes' uses creative methods to draw students away from the video games and towards reading.

Rebuilding with Donors Choose

Budgets are tight at school districts all over the country. However, don't let that stop you from fighting for direct funding for your classroom. More and more teachers are leaning on donorschoose.org for help.  We'll tell you about the origins of donorschoose.org, as well as some major success stories that you can duplicate.

Which states pay teachers the most and least? 

A new list posted by CNBC ranks highest to lowest paying states for teachers.  Some at the top and bottom of the list may surprise you!

Principal of the year...Not really

A district investigation in Florida reveals a principal assigned his teachers to complete his son's school work! So what did the district do about it? We'll tell you in episode 09.

 

“3D Printing”

This week we have special guest Jayda Pugliese, Ms. Pugliese fought to get a 3D printer for her classroom and what she did with it is extraordinary.

Due to the work of Pugliese and her students, a 4-year-old girl now has a prosthetic hand.  Pugliese and her 5th graders at Andrew Jackson Elementary in Philadelphia, PA took on the ambitious task of designing the prosthetic hand because insurance companies often don't cover the cost of prosthetics for growing children.

Finnish Kindergarten

Kindergarteners in Finland are focused on playtime, Does that mean the United States is pushing their Kindergartners to hard?

The Secret Code

Teaching kids the language of coding is often applauded in the classroom, but a recent New York Times article is crying foul.  What does SchoolStatus software developer Russ Davis think?

The Curse

Sometimes we do not remember what it is like to not know what we are trying to teach. It's known as the curse of knowledge and it may be impeding on educators ability to teach their students.

The first step combatting it, is awareness.

 

 

"HipHoponomics"

This week we have special guest Greg Caskey, Mr. Caskey is teaching his students economics through rap.  His curriculum is called HipHoponomics and he's gained some notoriety from a well known economist.

Digital dollars to the rescue? 

Silicon Valley billionaires are donating millions to help school districts, but can all that money make a dent? Russ breaks down some of the numbers and finds that throwing money at a problem is not always the solution.

Online Supply Swap

Back in Episode 5 we told you about a Teacher Supply Swap in Baltimore, in Episode 07 we'll update you on a similar service created by teacher, except this one is online and available to anyone.

Teacher Residencies 

We all know that physicians have to complete a residency, but what if the same applied to teachers. Some educators think it's the right thing to do, but will it work?

 

 

 

The Great American Eclipse is just over a month away, but just how significant of an event is it? We speak with astronomer and  eclipse chaser, Dr. Glenn Schneider. Schneider has viewed 33 total solar eclipses. Tied with just two other people for most viewings of all time.

There’s a place in Alabama that may offer the best professional development for teachers.  We’ll tell you how you can get in on the action

Plus, A new report ranks states on their ability to identify homeless students. Who’s doing it right and who’s not.