A letter to the New York State Thruway!

On 5/27/2012 I was leading a trip of two passenger vans on an annual excursion to Quebec Canada with 10 school students. We were driving from West Chester, PA., and I needed to meet a parent in Newburg, New York to ease their commuter portion of the trip. Our school vans are not equipped with easy pass technology. When I approached the exit coming from the south to Newburg I was very focused on finding a way to get off the thruway and meet a parent at a restaurant in Newburg. I saw a sign that stated “local access” and followed it assuming that there would not be local access in the other direction of the fork in the road. Unfortunately, this was a mistake on my part.

After I realized that I had made a mistake I attempted to pay the toll by parking both vans and walking to two different toll booths. The toll taker told me that they could no longer accept my ticket. I spent approximately 45 minutes trying to correct my mistake. This is an injustice in the system. When a person who makes a logical mistake is not allowed to correct it, then I believe the system is broken. The toll takers should be empowered with the discretion to right wrongs. If that were not the case, then you should remove them, and automate every toll booth. On that day I was very sorry for what I had done, but I had no alternative to correct it. My school received the ticket and informed me of my poor decision.

I am grateful to pay my toll which I attempted to pay twice before this point. I appeal the $50 fine for the following reasons.

1. I feel the sign “local access” mislead me.
2. I am double paying a fine because an innocent driver in the other van followed me in my mistake because I was leading them.
3. I believe that this mistake should have been able to be resolved by the competent toll takers who should be paid to make these kinds of judgments.

Forbidden City?

My students and I just got back from China. While we were there I was told we would be visiting the Forbidden City. I thought that would be great, but what I really wanted to visit was the Imperial Palace. I believe I am not the only westerner who is confused about this. The Forbidden City and the Imperial Palace are the same thing. The different names assign a different meaning to the palace complex.

From a Chinese perspective the Imperial Palace was where the emperors of China's past reigned from. There were 24 emperors who ruled from this location. The purpose of the great wall was to protect the Imperial palace from invaders. Sun Yat Sen is considered the father of modern China because he overthrew the Qing Dynasty and removed the emperor from power. Mao Zedong is considered the last great emperor because he united China as the emperors of old were able to do. China is one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the world. The country has 55 different ethnicity s according to Wikipedia, but I always hear about 57 from the Chinese themselves.  The Chinese know that without a strong leader there would be much conflict and even civil war. They respect someone who is able to unite them. This is why Mao's picture appears on the entrance of the Imperial Palace.

The Forbidden City is a westerners view of the palace complex. What is forbidden about the city? A number of things are forbidden. You could not enter the city unless you were a feudal lord, or lady. You could not leave the city if you were chosen by the empress (or principal wife)  to be a concubine for the emperor. Perhaps you remember the gilded cage at the back of the palace complex. The concubines spent there entire lives in this garden, and where never permitted to leave. So from a western perspective there were many things forbidden. From the Chinese perspective things are controlled and orderly to maintain peace and harmony. The Chinese Characters at the top of the pagodas reflect this theme of harmony and peace.

What happens when this order is overturned? Perhaps one of the most interesting stories in Chinese history is the story of how one concubine  became empress and ruled China. Here is a link to her interesting story. 

Please enjoy the video of our visit to the Forbidden City and shopping near this historic area of Beijing. 

Are you looking for Grad credits that align with the new core PA standards?

April 12, 2012

I hope you are well and doing well as an Entrepreneurial Educator.

When we consider all the challenges facing the American Educator today, we can say the times are trying.  But when we look to the Future, what an exciting vision we can embrace and it’s nearly in our grasp!  The 21^st Century is HERE, and along with it, all the amazing things we have been calling 21^st century technologies, skills, dynamics and opportunities are upon us. 

The time was never better to learn something new – something to recharge your own thinking, reconnect you with your passion for teaching, and help you inspire your students in their learning.

The time was never better than now to join the 3E Institute for a summer graduate course or two:

·        EEE500 Entrepreneurial Educator helps you turn your big idea for a learning project into a reality, including planning, making connections, goal setting, aligning standards, getting buy-in from others.  

·        EDE563 Teachers as Leaders will be delivered fully ON LINE, featuring both synchronous and asynchronous learning and interactions.

·        EEE504 21^st Century Educator Externship will also complete its migration to ON LINE soon.  Study a 21^st century workplace up close and learn what opportunities and requirements your students will experience as new hires. New companies include Bentley Systems, American Helicopter Museum, or the company of your choosing, if you sign on early enough.

·        EEE501 Emerging Science and Technologies will feature a NEW SCENARIO based on the Marcellus Shale energy situation.  This course will also be migrated to ON LINE format later in 2012.

·        MAT595 Quantitative Literacy gives a very APPLIED experience in decision making using data and numbers and features teacher devised, technology assisted projects that emphasize the practical applications of mathematics. 

·        EEE503 Applied Learning Seminar is an opportunity to create your own PBL’s using technology and benefitting from colleagues’ feedback and interaction.

If you are going for the new 18 graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurial Education, you may pick up to 6 credits in electives from the entire WCU graduate catalog. Contact us at 3E Institute to discuss or just sign up…TODAY…PRE-REGISTER.

 We look forward to seeing you at a 3E Institute this summer.

Patricia L. Beneš, Executive Director

3E Institute

610-738-0582   www.3einstitute.org

What impact will a union have on PALCS?

It has been said, ‘be careful what you wish, lest it come true.”  Just as a dog chasing a car finds the goal of its pursuit disappointing, the teachers and staff at PALCS will find that their goal in pursing a union will produce disappoint results. Here are several pros and the unexpected cons that may result from this change.

Unions will give teachers higher wages. (On average union employees make 20% more than non-union employees.)

The school will be forced to lay off employees.

Unions will give the teachers more say in the administration of the school’s money.

The school administration will make decisions based upon what they view as what is best for the school. If they are pressured to direct the resources in a certain way, then they will allocate resources in a way that can produce adversarial results. In other schools this has resulted in larger class sizes, and hurt the quality of instruction.

A union will give our school stability.

The PSEAA has not been our friend when it comes to lobbying. If the union members were successful there would not be cyber schools. The early faculty at PALCS saw the unions as an enemy not a friend. If every cyber school is unionized, then what will be the outlook for state wide cyber schools? It is not a reach to predict that state wide cyber schools will become extinct.

A union will give me job security.

This may be true for some teachers. Teachers who choose to be union members will be protected by longer term contracts. Staff on the other hand will be at risk. It is conceivable that some jobs will be contracted out to save money in the interest of guaranteeing jobs and wage increases. New teachers are not likely to be hired. Once again larger class size will hurt the quality of education.

A union will guarantee benefits

This is also true, but at what cost? I read the union contract of Upper Darby School District this past summer. The percentage for tuition reimbursement was much higher at Penn State than at other schools. So unless you wanted to attend Penn State you probably would not further you education. These are the kind of compromises that are made when administration and the union are pushed into a corner. These compromises are made in order to fulfill a contract. The only problem is if you are not the one negotiating, then you are not represented well.

Unfortunately, guaranteed benefits will also reduce flexibility. Options for health care plans will not exist. Parental leave will likely follow the letter of the law, and flex time will no longer be available.

Should cyber charter schools have a union?

Cyber charter schools represent innovation in the charter school movement. Cyber charter schools like regular charter schools operate apart from local politics. This gives them the freedom to try out new strategies of education to increase student achievement. Cyber charter schools are only bound by their charters. They represent a least restrictive environment to many students who struggle with public alienation or bullying. When we place a union into this type of environment, it might be compared to placing an electric motor into a model T automobile. It may fit in the space, but there is nowhere to make the connections. The working conditions of a cyber teacher differ vastly from a traditional teacher in a brick and mortar environment. Teachers in a cyber environment typically work in the cubical farms of corporate America, have larger class loads, and respond asynchronously to instant messages all day from their students. In traditional education teachers’ work in classrooms, have smaller class loads, and work simultaneously with a class in a group environment with little time for individual interaction. These working conditions are different. The structures supporting them should be different also. When an organization representing millions of people attempts to represent these constituents, there is likely to be misrepresentation and, at the minimum, a great deal of confusion.

Why people don’t like social media!

Here are three reasons that people do not like social media.

1. Some people prefer a private life and not a public one.
2. Some people prefer to separate their personal lives from their professional lives.
3. Some people fear being taken advantage of.

This BLOG post looks at each of these reasons and analyzes them.

Many people are very public about their personal lives. The ultimate example of this might be an exhibitionist like…Lady Godiva, who bared it all in the streets of Coventry England. Many people choose a more private life. They are not people who want the limelight. They prefer to be in the shadows. It is not that they do not want recognition. They just have calculated the disruption of notoriety, and prefer a quieter life. I know this because I married a private person who is different from me.

Social media is a form of communication that gives people like me an opportunity to influence public policy debate. Andy Carvin the twitter extrovert who organized an army of tweeters is a great example of this. The Guardian Newspaper labeled him as, “the man who tweets revolutions.” The power to influence public policy debate motivates many of us to tweet, post, and lead people who follow us. People who were once in the background, locked out of the political process can now persuade a following with a lap top, smart phone and internet connection. The megaphone of social media has created a community of political activists who at one time could only write letters to the editor, or run for committee person. Now these people have been empowered to fuel the fires of an Arab spring. To a person driven by causes this can be the closest thing to heaven on earth.

Some people prefer to separate their private lives from their professional lives. My wife does not like to mix these things. She also does not use social media. She only joined my protected Linkedin Group because I asked her. She likes the fact that it sends emails to her inbox, which she can manage better than the wild west of tweets, posts and connected groups. I even have to pull her towards my lap top to see pictures of our grandchildren posted on Face Book. She is not a public person. She prefers privacy and peace. She does not want to be hassled with the unsettled business of public policy debate. Today my boss told me, “If I do not have time to call my daughter, then I do not have time for social networking.” All of us separate our public and private lives by varying degrees. What is the escape valve that regulates this balance? Perhaps, our discomfort when the things that we care about are put at risk. Our aversion to risk or the embracing of it can have an impact on our desire to be public people. This balancing act of risk and security is at the root of us becoming public people. This may vary in every person based on the topic, audience or our perceived competence at the time when we become more public.

Many of the teachers at my school feel that their work is not to be shared. When students share their work with one another or their answers from a test it is considered Plagiarism. Plagiarism is something that our teachers consider stealing. When our students steal others’ ideas without properly giving credit we teach them that it is no different than taking money from our wallet when our backs are turned. There is a thin line between collaboration and plagiarism. The tipping point is when we choose to take advantage of someone else’s hard work, and take credit for it. Then we are no longer collaborating, instead we are exploiting the trust of others.

Some of us prioritize our time in different ways. The saying goes, “Time is Money”. Is it possible that some of us itemize our time? If something takes our attention away from something we care about, then it can appear as a thief of attentiveness toward the things that we most value. Each of us has differing aversion to the betrayal of our ideas. When we strike a balance between our desire to share and aversion to being taken advantage of, then we have a discovered a threshold to regulate our risk and maximize our collaboration.  

These are just three reasons that some people do not like social media. I am sure there are more. As technology increases and our emotional intelligence catches up to it, then perhaps we will bridge the gap between the risk takers and those who avert risk for security.

Guide on the side not sage on the stage!

 

 

The comment "guide on the side" prompted me to post. I first mis-read it as "guide on the slide". The difference one letter can make on a word!

When I discussed it with my wife who is also a teacher, we both decided we liked the later better. When I worked in an urban school district in Philadelphia, my administrator used to tell me that it was the job of student to fight me trying to teach them, and it was my job to get that information into their heads against their wills if necessary.

There are two sides to this. For some schools where students elect to choose the school; students can be self motivated no matter what the methodology. For students in a public school setting it is crucial that we use student directed techniques to engage and motivate our students.

From a school principal perspective in an urban environment I think Guide on the slide is a more fitting saying than guide on the side. :)