#21 I am a hero and a parol officer all in one

This past week I got to experience the ultimate Monday. As I was making my rounds picking up students on my bus a fight broke out in the back. I was forced to slam on the brakes and run to the back to break up to grown boys beating the tar out of each other. This may seem like a common thing to most bus drivers that drive the roughest kids in their school but for me it was the first fight I had on my bus in my six years of driving. The boys were neighbors and fighting over an XBOX that one of them had stolen and not cut the other one in on when he sold it. Yeah I know, they are real winners and in my class too. Well anyway, this started the week off with a bang. That afternoon a student from another bus choked on a piece of candy and I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on the young man before we pulled off of the campus. All in a days work I guess. Controlling the criminals and saving lives. Hard to believe that all of this happen and I did not even wear my cape that day.

#20 Barriers

The problem with technology in education is that we have to many barriers in our way. We have funding issues that don't allow us to buy the needed technology. Then when we get the technology we are so protective of what the students can do with it that we really don't let them explore all the things that it is capable of. As teachers we are not given the proper training on how to integrate the technology into the curriculum (present class excluded). The main barrier that we face is the fact that we don't know how to use it to produce results. We can buy every kid a laptop or ipad and it does not mean that their test scores are going to improve. It just looks cool in the newspaper. We need technology that produces results.

#19 helping or hurting

I think technology is both helpful and harmful when it comes to literacy. Having technology at a student's finger tips allows them to gain knowledge from a multitude of sources rather than just one book in the library. Students have access to anything they want when writing papers and researching topics. The problem with technology is that texting and social media have ruined everyone's ability to write a grammatical sentence. It has not ruined mine because mine was not good before I got a cell phone. But today's youth are writing research papers with "u" instead of "you". They have resources at their finger tips but are struggling to translate it into a readable form. When is the last time you received a written letter from someone? I received one recently from a friend of mine that was in basic training. It was like I had received a written text message. All of the words were misspelled and the handwriting was barely legible. We as a society rely on technology way to much. I often ask why we even bother teaching grammar anymore because no one uses it.

#18 Recent Article

I recently read an article about how technology is taking over every aspect of our lives. How we as a society spend more time texting each other than speaking to each other. The importance of this article was to show that students learn better by reading the information digitally rather than hearing it from a teacher. It made me think about how we are always hearing about students having different learning styles. Technology seems to be turning the majority of them into the same. If I could teach my kids through their cell phones I would be a genius. But I cannot so I need to figure out how to use the cell phone to get their attention.

#17 Standards

Whoever came up with these leadership standards has too much time on their hands. I mean who comes up with these descriptions. No normal person can really grasp what they are asking for. The purpose of the standards should be to guide students to be better leaders. These standards seem like the state department wants to see how many hoops they can make us jump through. 62 standards seems like a bit much don't you think? It would benefit me more to to have a longer internship. Just a thought from a guy who does not like portfolios.

#15 Special Olympics

I had the pleasure a few weeks ago of attending the Special Olympics at Milton Frank Stadium in Huntsville, AL. This event is a very special event and one that is very close to my heart. My wife and I got to attend together and transport students from Buckhorn High School to the event. The day was beautiful and the students that were competing were extraordinary in every aspect. Both of us work closely with our learning community and have a passion for helping these students.

The amazing part of the day is seeing how the Madison County School Family came out in full force to support the students. I saw the superintendent, directors, principals, teachers, students, and maintenance workers stop by to participate. This says a lot about the people I work with and the people that make the decisions about the well being of our kids. Our bosses took time out of their day for a good cause and to have a little fun. Special Olympics brings out the best in all of us. It is something that I recommend everyone attend.

#16 Old Technology

What do we do with old technology? We first need to determine if the old technology is still viable or has a practical use for us. Just because the technology is deemed old does not mean that it can not still be helpful in the education process. Too many times we are quick to dismiss things that are useful because it is not the latest and greatest. If we find the technology to be outdated and of no use to us than we should look for ways to upgrade it or recycle it. I am sure that we throw a lot of good things away that others would die for. As an administrator I think that a policy should be established in the school that addresses these matters. I would create a rubric to assess the viability of the technology. Questions would include:
1. Does the teacher use the technology?
2. Is the technology helping to enhance learning?
3. Is replacing the technology cost effective and beneficial?
4. What does research say about the old technology?