Getting field reports from the trenches, and gems of advice

I hope Jeff and Kristen don't feel slighted by our classes' enthusiasm for meeting recant MAC graduates. Although it is interesting to hear about the technology (and to stumble and fumble and mess up the tech), we really were excited about hearing new applications in classes of teenagers. The stories we heard, while not specifically geared to only educational technology, we answered to our long held fears and aspirations. There, in front of us, were three amazing teachers, and they were once as we are now. It remeinded me of the cohort meeting held in April, before we began any classes. It that meeting, 30 or so of us (SMAC-2010), met with about 30 current SMAC students, and we really had no idea what to ask. We were just panning the surface with large nets. It almost came to, "Do you have any advice, anything at all?", without specificity.

On our last Friday, we had a real discussion, with questions that had been building for the 2 months, and fears we needed to be answered. It was disenheartening to hear that new teachers will have such a pay reduction, and I wonder if we as senoir teachers in a union, would attempt to do the same to teachers who would be replacing us. I hope not.

It was very interesting that the three speakers, Daver, Lauren and Kevin, had such different experiences getting jobs, and with the job search process, and very good to know that the on-line applications take 8-10 hours to fill out. I asked if we could use Google to update us when new jobs are posted, but for now it is not available. The only option to look for jobs is to scan district websites, bookmark the new job page, put those bookmarks in a special folder that you open every day. It looks like jobs go very quickly, and there are multiple applicants for each.
The application of technology was very impressive with Daver. He used clickers and wrote programs for clicker tests for the classes, a very good way to assess student learning and attention. He also got into a postition in his new school by being an "early adopter", one who took the time to learn and adapt new tech to classrooms, and as a helper to all of the other teachers. That is a great way to be seen as valuable in a time with high layoffs. Although, he did say, even though he did all that, he was still pink-slipped last year, and only saved by the district-union-county negotiations, nothing to do with his excellent performance. His other piece of golden advice was to not get discouraged. He filled out all the online apps, and got not a single nibble. That he was an excellent teacher was immaterial to the application process. So don't get discouraged, try other avenues, charter schools, etc., because if it can happen to him, it can happen to you.

We also learned about our new projects! Internet filtering! I have a lot to learn, and am very interested in the topic, as I am sure it will be a problem I will have to get around in my placement. Biology, I would imagine, wouild be subject to unnessessary filtering, given the obsession with protecting children from understanding human reproduction.....Arrgh!