The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers

From The NY Times...

The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: July 27, 2010

How much do your kindergarten teacher and classmates affect the rest of your life?

Economists have generally thought that the answer was not much. Great teachers and early childhood programs can have a big short-term effect. But the impact tends to fade. By junior high and high school, children who had excellent early schooling do little better on tests than similar children who did not — which raises the demoralizing question of how much of a difference schools and teachers can make. There has always been one major caveat, however, to the research on the fade-out effect.

Continue reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html?_r=1&ref=education

Top 10 Spelling Errors in Law Papers

Here's my list of mistakes that students (and attorneys) make all of the time

1- File a mew (new) motion
2- Going to trail (trial)
3- Singing (Signing) an Agreement
4- The Compliant (Complaint)
5- Tired (Tried) to flee the scene
6- Breech (breach) of contract
7- Statue (statute) of limitations
8- Legal principals (principles)
9- The principle point (principal)

10-Recover principle (principal), court costs, and interest

Honorable Mention…
A faulty (faculty) member – maybe the student got this one right

Painful Mention...

An attorney filed a Motion in court asking the judge for more time due to his upcoming back disk surgery; however, he mistakenly placed an unfortunate "c" where the "s" should be in the word "Disk."

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Mara Mooney

Welcome to The Inspiring Teacher Series - a tribute to inspirational K-12 teachers and college professors, and what we can learn from them and each other about the craft of teaching. Now let's meet...

Mara Mooney, J.D.
Assistant Professor of Legal Studies
Clayton State University

Morrow, GA

Ms. Mooney is a graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, PA (B.A., cum laude, Government & Law; Phi Beta Kappa) and Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, GA (Notes & Comments Editor, Emory Law Review; Dean's Fellow in Legal Research and Writing). She is the author of the textbook, Fundamentals of Georgia Real Estate Law, and co-author of the forthcoming article, “Assessing the Role of Personality Traits in Student Performance in Traditional, Hybrid, and Online Classes.” She has been teaching at the university level since 1996. Ms. Mooney is a full-time assistant professor in the ABA-approved Legal Studies Program and Paralegal Certificate Program at Clayton State University. She was instrumental in developing the program’s four-year bachelor’s degree in legal studies, and she is in the process of developing a minor in legal studies. Ms. Mooney is an active faculty member at Clayton State, where she has served on several university committees, such as Faculty Council, the University Hearing Panel, and the University Curriculum and Planning Committee. Prior to joining the faculty at Clayton State, she practiced law with Alston & Bird, LLP in Atlanta, GA, where she represented national commercial real estate clients. She also taught at two ABA- approved paralegal studies programs in Pennsylvania. At Clayton State, Ms. Mooney teaches traditional, hybrid, and online courses in Introduction to Law & Ethics, Legal Research & Writing, Real Estate Law, Contracts & Torts, Law Office Skills, and Homeland Security Law.

What inspired you to teach?
The hope that I could make a difference in people's lives inspired me to become a lawyer, but it also inspired me to ultimately become a teacher. My former life as an attorney was rewarding in some respects, but I felt that the long, solitary hours toiling away in a high rise office building, one cog in the corporate wheel, wasn't my true calling. I did a lot of soul searching, thought about the values and human interactions that were important to me, and realized that I was meant to be a teacher. Over the last ten years, I can truly say that the time I spend with students in and out of class, is the most rewarding and enlightening part of my professional day. I am so fortunate to have found a career that combines my two loves, law and teaching.

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students towards their
goals?
The teaching methods I find most helpful are to be active, engaging, and enthusiastic in my classes. Our students crave as many hands-on activities as possible. The more we can give students an opportunity to experience the actual type of work they will be doing, the more the students feel energized to achieve their professional goals. Students also respond well when current events are used as a catalyst for discussion in class. Finally, I believe that most students perform at an optimal level in class when their teacher promptly replies to emails and conducts him or herself in a fair, yet approachable manner. I once had a law school professor who made me feel incompetent for coming to his office with a question about civil procedure. As a result of that unpleasant experience, I realized the power that teachers have over their students' achievement in school. I try to serve as an example to students by treating them in a respectful, encouraging manner.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?
I am an organized person, and yet, I never have enough time to make those tweaks and improvements to my classes that I always say I am going to do, but never seem to have time to address before the next semester begins.

What skills should be emphasized in high school to succeed in your college class?
Writing, writing, writing! Poor written communication skills will translate to lower grades in school, but students may not realize that a poorly written cover letter or resume will also be a barrier to entry into their chosen career. I constantly tell students to read aloud what they have written and to proofread their work. There is an excellent book, written in an engaging style, entitled “Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English” by Patricia O’Conner, that can help. Students should understand that people will form professional impressions based solely on the quality of someone’s written work.

What is the one thing you wished you would have known when you started your teaching career?
I wish I would have known how rewarding it is - I would have started teaching even sooner!

Why It's So Hard to Teach for America

From The NY Times:

A Chosen Few Are Teaching for America

HOUSTON — Alneada Biggers, Harvard class of 2010, was amazed this past year when she discovered that getting into the nation’s top law schools and grad programs could be easier than being accepted for a starting teaching job with Teach for America.

Ms. Biggers says that of 15 to 20 Harvard friends who applied to Teach for America, only three or four got in. “This wasn’t last minute — a lot applied in August 2009, they’d been student leaders and volunteered,” Ms. Biggers said. She says one of her closest friends wanted to do Teach for America, but was rejected and had to “settle” for University of Virginia Law School.

Continue reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/education/12winerip.html?adxnnl=1&ref=homepage&src=me&adxnnlx=1279303377-lPYYIqulcG+KpQPsB0DEFg

On Facebook, Telling Teachers How Much They Meant

Great article in the NY Times:

On Facebook, Telling Teachers How Much They Meant

Darci Hemleb Thompson had been on the lookout for Alice D’Addario for many years. From her home in Hampton, Va., Ms. Thompson, 49, who is married and has a 12-year-old daughter, was determined to find Ms. D’Addario on the Internet. She tried every search engine and networking site she could find.
About 18 months ago she hit the jackpot.
“Nice to see one of the greatest teachers of all time on Facebook!” Ms. Thompson wrote on Ms. D’Addario’s wall. “I love to go to your page just to see your smiling face. Even your eyes still smile. You are an amazing person!”

Continue reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/nyregion/14facebook.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&hpw

Read comments from AJC Education writer Maureen Downey and her readers:

http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2010/07/14/adults-use-facebook-to-find-and-celebrate-former-teachers/

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Greg Henley

Welcome to The Inspiring Teacher Series - a tribute to inspirational K-12 teachers and college professors, and what we can learn from them and each other about the craft of teaching. Now let's meet...

L. Gregory Henley, Ph.D.
Director, International Center for Entrepreneurship

Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA

Bio
Dr. Henley is the director of the Herman J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. His passion is to help entrepreneurs succeed and his experiences have prepared him to do so. With a BS from MIT and an MBA and Ph.D. from Columbia University, he’s been blessed with opportunities in both business and academia. Prior to joining Georgia State University, Dr. Henley taught at the University of South Florida’s (USF) Center for Entrepreneurship, helped start the entrepreneurship undergraduate major at the University of Tampa. He worked in the Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia University while pursuing his Ph.D.
Dr. Henley’s entrepreneurial experience includes starting a mortgage company, an investment advisory firm, acquiring a community bank in Alabama and another community bank in Florida. Although he began his career working for large companies, including Procter & Gamble, Chemical Bank, and New England Telephone Company, entrepreneurship has always been his passion. Dr. Henley has held positions of President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. His consulting assignments included evaluating bank acquisitions, working with de novo banks, E-commerce start-ups and implementing the installation of a web site for a bank client. He is an active investor in small businesses and real estate.
He is interviewed frequently for his views on a wide-range of entrepreneurship topics by the media and has been quoted in media outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Christian Science Monitor to Heart & Soul. Dr. Henley also wrote a monthly entrepreneurship column for Business-to-Business, an online publication for Atlanta executives.
Community involvement is an important part of Dr. Henley’s life. He is an active member of St. James United Methodist Church. He has served as a judge for business plan competitions for organizations including the National Black MBA Association’s Entrepreneurial Institute, the Youth Entrepreneurs of Atlanta at Morehouse College, and the Future Business Leaders of America. Dr. Henley also speaks to youth organizations throughout the nation and recently has addressed the Piney Grove Baptist Church youth program, the Atlanta After-School All-Stars, the Montgomery, AL chapter of Jack and Jill of America and M3Boys in Berkeley, CA.
He has begun a multi-year initiative, “Dr. Henley’s Road Trip,” in which he intends to interview entrepreneurs in all 50 states for a book. His goal is to also host the monthly entrepreneur forums that he currently hosts in Atlanta during his trip around the country.

What inspired you to teach?
During my business career, I noticed that a lot of people, especially people of color, have started businesses. However, many of the same people seemed to have trouble running the businesses effectively. I thought that I could help people (of all colors) run businesses more effectively, so went back to school with that objective in mind. Since my Ph.D. program, I have been teaching entrepreneurship and business strategy at business schools and, hopefully, my students can run a business better than if they hadn't taken my class.

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students towards their goals?
In the classroom, since I teach business courses, I try to relate everything back to the real world so students can relate to something they are familiar with. This includes bringing in businessmen, using case studies and talking about some of my business experiences. In addition, whenever possible, I like students to reach out to the business community. Examples of this include assignments for students to interview entrepreneurs and internships. For business classes, application of the material is critical to prepare students for the real world. So, telling them something and asking them to take a multiple choice question may be good for some things, but is a poor method for many business concepts. Getting the students to apply what they've learned is a goal. Often, this can be done via case studies and sometimes by working on projects for businesses. Some of the more challenging (for me and the students), but rewarding courses I've taught involved students working for real businesses. The students are able to apply business concepts, but see how businesses are actually run - the good, the bad and the ugly.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?
It's very important that I reach the students on their level. If I can get their attention, then I can teach them. Improving my teaching requires that I get constructive feedback to insure that what I'm doing is working. As I get older, using tools that are consistent with the way students learn can become more challenging, so I need to work to make sure that I'm communicating in ways they grasp. So what I'd like to improve is my knowledge and understanding of what is important to our students.

What skills should be emphasized in high school to succeed in your college class?
The skills that should be emphasized are certainly business skills. But, more broadly, I'd like for students to be able to think more analytically and in more depth. Other specific skills are a basic grasp of math and, importantly, writing skills.

What is the one thing you wished you would have known when you started your teaching career?
The value of testing early whether the students understand the material I'm presenting. In one of my first classes, I presented the material and got the verbal feedback I hoped for when I asked questions that indicated the students understood what I was telling them. However, when it came to apply the material for an assignment, the students did poorly - and my hopes and expectations were dashed. What I learned is that some of the early exercises, questions and tests that I needed to implement should be better tied to what I expected the students to learn. Also, that I needed to implement those exercises, questions and tests earlier in the semester so that I have time to make adjustments if I need to. The other thing I learned is that quite a few students are in the class to get a grade, but not necessarily to learn. This is in contrast to me whose primary reason for being in the classroom is because I want to teach.

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Jody Blanke

Jody Blanke
Professor of Computer Information Systems and Law
Director of Undergraduate Programs
Stetson School of Business and Economics
Mercer University
Atlanta, GA

Bio
Jody Blanke has been a full-time college professor for the past 27 years. He earned a B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology and an M.S. in Computer Science at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a J.D. at the Emory University School of Law. After practicing law and clerking for a judge for several years, Blanke starting teaching full-time at St. John’s University in Jamaica, NY. After two years at St. John’s, he came to Mercer University to chair the Computer Science Department at the College of Arts and Sciences in Atlanta. After five years there, he moved to the School of Business and has been there ever since.

Blanke has had law journal articles published in the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review, the American Business Law Journal, and the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, among others. His main areas of research are privacy law and copyright law. He is currently serving his second stint as Director of Undergraduate Programs at Mercer. He is most proud of twice receiving the Outstanding Faculty Award, which is bestowed annually based primarily on the voting and comments of graduating students.

What inspired you to teach?
I don’t believe that there is any one thing that I can point to. During my school years, I always seemed able to explain things well to my fellow classmates. While I was in graduate school, I had an opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant and I enjoyed that a great deal. After practicing law for a few years, I looked into the possibility of teaching a course or two as a part-time instructor. As it happened, St. John’s was looking for a full-time instructor and I gave it a shot – no master plan here.

When I look back at teachers I had when I was in school, two names pop out at me. The first was an Earth Science teacher I had at Linden Junior High School – Harvey Moder. He was a retired fireman and was very dedicated to his students. I happen to have him the year of the Teacher’s Strike in New York City. We missed almost two months of school. He invited students to his house during the strike so that we wouldn’t get too far behind. He also arranged a trip to a science lab at his alma mater – Hofstra University. It was the first time most of us had been to a college campus. He went out of his way to help us learn.

The second great teacher I had was Robert Greenman at Madison High School. He taught English and Journalism. He also went way beyond the job description in his teaching and his supervision of the publication of the school newspaper. Back in those days, we had to bring the content to a typesetter to set up the pages for publication. He would drive a few of us to the printing press in Manhattan and we would spend many hours laying out the pages. Mr. Greenman cared greatly about his students. In thinking back on it today, I realize that he understood that each student was different and that he needed to treat each student differently.

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students towards their goals?
One thing that I have come to realize is how differently people learn. There is no “One Size Fits All.” There are visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners and probably other types as well. It becomes particularly challenging because most of my delivery comes by way of four-hour lecture periods. It helps to have PowerPoint presentations for people to read, but it is absolutely necessary to get students engaged in the discussion.

I generally start off all my law lectures with Legal Show and Tell. Students are supposed to bring in stories about legal news that they read, heard or saw during the past week. For the most part, these are about current events, about which many students have at least some interest. And almost always, I can tie the legal issues to some topic that we will be exploring. It also helps to get as many students as possible involved in the discussion.

I like to teach by example. I think it is much easier to understand an idea if you can see it in action, rather than merely in the abstract. Quite often you can discuss the nuances of the topic by simply varying the facts of the example. Also, I believe that it is imperative to explain why we have certain laws and rules, rather than merely what they are. It is much easier to learn something if you understand the rationale behind it.

And finally you must not lose sight of the forest for the trees. It is very difficult to learn about something in a vacuum. You must be able to step back and look at the big picture, to understand how and where the rule fits in. I try to do this as often as possible in each lecture.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?
One of the biggest challenges I face is to keep the material fresh and entertaining. The last thing I would want someone to say about my class is that it is boring. When I first started teaching, I taught probably 8 or 9 different computer science courses each year. I much preferred that to teaching the same course over and over again. I was continually learning new material and changing my courses because the subject matter changed so rapidly. For the past 15 years or so, I have pretty much been teaching the introductory legal and ethical environment course in our various business degree programs – the BBA, the MBA, the Executive MBA and the Professional MBA. While each course is somewhat different, the basic topics in law remain very similar.

I think it was Joe DiMaggio who, when asked why he always played baseball so hard, responded that someone at the game might be seeing him for their one and only time, and that he wanted to make sure that that person saw him play the game the way it should be played. Before I teach something like contract law – which I could probably start teaching within seconds notice if awoken at 3:00 in the morning – I have to get myself excited about the subject. I have to realize that my students probably don’t know much about contract law and that I have to bring energy and enthusiasm to the classroom to make the subject as interesting for them as it is for me.

What skills should be emphasized in high school to succeed in your college class?
As a college professor, I have to emphasize how important it is to be able to write clearly and succinctly. It is extremely important. But I also would like to mention two other skills – probably more accurately described as traits – but traits that can be learned and honed. The first is inquisitiveness. Asking questions is of utmost importance to successful learning. You must ask questions in order to learn. The second is persistence. To truly learn something you must never give up. If one approach to learning something doesn’t work, try another approach. (And by the way, one of the most effective ways to learn something is to have to teach it.)

Do you have any last bits of wisdom?
Yes. For those high school and college students who do not yet know what they want to major in – don’t worry! Take a variety of courses. Take courses that sound interesting to you. Ultimately, you will be most successful in learning about something that interests you or for which you have a passion. Try something different!

Teaching Justice in Class through Documentaries

When my class studies The Buffalo Creek (coal mine) Disaster in West Virginia from the 1970's, I try to bring the book to life in my Introduction to Law class with clips from a documentary on the subject.

As an extension of that book, we also follow the plight of Marsh Fork Elementary School, and how a grandfather in West Virginia took it upon himself to move a school (which sits downstream from a river of coal sludge held back by a dam) away from danger. See my March 25 post: Move Elementary School out of Harm's Way .

Now, a new documentary highlighting the efforts of that grandfather (Ed Wiley) is available, and I will be sure to add this doc to my class on teaching justice: http://www.oncoalriver.com/

Mr. Wiley's efforts took awhile, but the forces of justice, leverage, and political embarassment eventually led to funding for a new school:

Goodbye Massey Coal Dust: Welcome to the Ed Wiley Elementary School!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/goodbye-massey-coal-dust_b_559167.html

There has always been a "marriage" between Justice and Documentaries - the latter serving as a slow vehicle of change for the former. The documentary referenced above (On Coal River) was screened at the AFI/Discovery Silver Docs conference in June. The conference featured several workshops including this interesting sounding session which should be taught in every film school:

TEACHING FILMMAKING, TEACHING JUSTICE: CONNECTING STUDENTS TO THE GREATER COMMUNITY

The University of Alabama–Birmingham works with students across the arts and sciences who have never picked up a camera for anything more serious than a snapshot. They use a collaborative critique process to hone their eye and encourage a community co-authorship process to help them shape their stories. This session will give participants a look at new pedagogy on student civic engagement and techniques for introducing and incorporating filmmaking in all subjects. PRESENTER Michele Forman, co-director, University of Alabama, Birmingham Digital Community Studies Program

http://silverdocs.com/conference/about-conference/

Never-say-quit teacher leaves a final lesson

Quick to smile, always armed with a sense of humor, a tireless advocate for children’s education and the “best teacher ever,” students and faculty say. On June 17, [Steve] Birdsall will stand in front of his fifth-grade classroom for the last time. He is retiring after a 23-year career in the Issaquah School District — 21 of those spent at Maple Hills....

But unlike other classrooms, this teacher stands in front with a walker.
Birdsall, 51, was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease, known as multiple system atrophy, last fall.

CONTINUE READING: http://www.issaquahpress.com/2010/06/15/never-say-quit-teacher-leaves-a-final-lesson/

Never-say-quit teacher leaves a final lesson

Chantelle Lusebrink: clusebrink@isspress.com

Elementary School Teacher Publishes Reading Response Activity Sheets

Erica Bohrer (who graduated from my alma mater, Binghamton University) published her first teacher resource book Just-Right Reading Response Activity Sheets for Young Learners: 50 Reproducible Graphic Organizers That Help Children Write Meaningful Responses to the Books They Read (Scholastic, 2010). She sells lessons and teacher downloads online at teacherspayteachers.com. Erica is a first-grade teacher for Lindenhurst Public Schools on Long Island, and an adjunct off-campus professor at Brooklyn College.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Just-Right-Reading-Response-Activity-Learners/dp/054513370X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1276804984&sr=8-1

Amazon Product Description:
Help kids extend and deepen their reading experiences with these delightful, comprehension-boosting graphic organizers. Designed for use with fiction and nonfiction books, the simple formats help young readers really think about what they read and record their thoughts in an organized, meaningful way. Topics include identifying story elements, sequencing events, drawing conclusions, summarizing, making connections, examining words, and more. Encourages critical and creative thinking! For use with Grades K–2.