iPods in the Classroom, and the travesty in Chicago

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iPods in the Classroom, and the travesty in Chicago

Let’s start off with good things. I got a very pleasant surprise from my Head of School today! She found an article in the New York Times about using iPods to teach foreign languages, copied it off an put it in my mailbox. I can’t tell you how excited I was because this is something I’ve been looking at for a couple months now. In fact, the main reason I began podcasting was to see whether this was something we could be using in our Jewish Studies classes. Just last week, I had a meeting with the Jewish Studies Department Head and was telling her about some of the opportunities there. So this is a subject that’s been fresh on my mind and is something I’d love to jump on. And the nice thing is, it ties in perfectly with blogging! So in a word, Yay!

Speaking of blogging, Steve Burt has put me in touch with a private school in Colorado that is going to begin blogging soon, so hopefully someone there will be willing to converse with my Head of School. Also, I’ve exchange a couple emails with Mario from Institut St-Jeosph, who has agreed to help me out as well. I’m going to be speaking to him next week. I know his school speaks French primarily, and that it’s in another country, but it seems as though they’ve faced similar issues. So I’m hoping that some of these leads pan out and will help me make my case for blogging at the Day School.

It’s funny because one of the arguments that my Head used against blogging was that she’d spoken to various superintendents and administrators in the Chicago area and none of them were blogging at all. It doesn’t seem like too valid an argument to me, almost like saying that I shouldn’t drive at all because I spoke to 5 people without a cell phone and none of them think cell phones are that big of a deal. But that aside, there was an article posted yesterday on the National School Boards Association’s website with the title “K-12 superintendent blog is a solid read”. Guess where that superintendent lives? That’s right, Chicago! How’s that for karma? I’m hoping that the author of the blog happens to be someone she knows. That would just be peachy!

Finally, there was another article on the NSBA’s website that I have to point out. You can find it here. It has to do with Chicago’s funding for afterschool tutoring getting yanked because of No Child Left Behind. Here’s what it boils down to: since the Chicago school disctrict has failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress for two years in a row, the government wants to yank their funding for after school tutoring UNLESS CPS begins hiring private tutors instead of using school teachers. Unfortunately, as Arne Duncan says “It costs the district $300 to $400 a year to tutor a student, but outside providers charge $800 to $1,500. Do the math, he says: Tens of thousands of students will lose out.” Therea re currently 80,000 students recieving afters chool tutoring. He isn’t kidding when he says tens of thousands would lose out. At best, it would be 40,000 students getting left behind as a result of No Child Left Behind. It’s pretty said. I’ll keep you posted on the situation as it developes. The funding is scheduled to be yanked in January, right in the middle of the school year. Hardly a time to leave thousands of students stranded. I’ll also try to post some ways that we can help out, who we can write to or call and such.

That’s it for now, except for one last piece of housekeeping. I downloaded Skype yesterday and am giving it a try. I put a Skype Me logo under my rectangular things section, so feel free to drop me a line if you have Skype!