Anyone who has watched Donald Trump’s television show, The Apprentice, knows that business and business people can be ruthlessly competitive. That is not always the case.
Life is too interesting to have only one career. In addition to teaching and writing, I owned (OK still do on a part time basis.) and operated a full time wedding and portrait photography studio. In that industry, while competition for clients is strong, the overriding attitude, even between direct competitors, is that of being colleagues. If a photographer experiences a natural disaster, or has a piece of vital equipment break, it is more likely than not that the person who comes to the rescue will be a direct competitor/colleague.
What does that have to do with the book Adding Value?
If you go to Amazon.com and google (or would it be amazoogle?) my name, you will see Mystery Disease & Mystery River. However you will also see three or four photography books, written not by me, but by Patrick Rice, a colleague in Northern Ohio. Why does that happen.? It is simple. Patrick understands that no one teacher (in his case - photography teacher) has all the answers. His photography books feature contributions from colleagues around the world.
Adding Value will be unique among books of its kind, because it will be a collaborative book. In addition to the chapters I write, it will feature strategies, techniques, worksheets, contracts, surveys, rubrics and other tools to related to each chapter. These will be tools that are contributed by REAL TEACHERS, who are already using them to add value to multiple groups of students at the same time.
You can also share your successes. Tell me about the things you are already doing – either in a reply to this post or in a separate e-mail. I’ll post great ideas and give you the credit. With your permission, I’ll include *your ideas, (* things you have created or significantly modified to meet student needs) with a credit to you, in Adding Value. Worksheets, rubrics, surveys, contracts, or anything else you use to differentiate instruction, may be sent as e-mail attachments to Mark@AddingValue.net.
If you have been published before, you know that being published adds credibility both to you and to your program where you teach. Sometimes being published can even be the tipping point in decisions involving your program or class at school.
If you have never been published, here is your chance to be a collaborative contributor to a significant book in the education w0rld.
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"Of grains of sand are mountains made."
Charles Willson Peale
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
ADDING VALUE - A Commitment
A chicken and a pig were discussing the farmer’s favorite breakfast – ham and eggs. The chicken insisted that the farmer was great and wise in his choice of breakfasts, and that the rest of the community should follow his example. “That’s fine for you,” replied the pig. “in your case, breakfast is a donation; In mine, it’s a commitment.”
Teaching is like that. Meeting the needs of all students is not the result of donating, or “putting in” your time. Adding Value to your students’ school year is a commitment. Some days it may seem like you are giving it ALL – that you’re the pig and this is the end of you.
However, even though Adding Value to your students will always be a commitment, there are simple things that you can do to keep that commitment reasonable – something well to this side of the supreme sacrifice. I’ll be sharing some of those ideas – things you can use in your classroom right away, both to add value to your students’ school year and to make your life simpler and easier.
You can also share your successes. Tell me about the things you are already doing – either in a reply to this post or in a separate e-mail. I’ll post great ideas and give you the credit. With your permission, I’d like to include your ideas, with a credit to you, in Adding Value. More about that next time.
Teaching is like that. Meeting the needs of all students is not the result of donating, or “putting in” your time. Adding Value to your students’ school year is a commitment. Some days it may seem like you are giving it ALL – that you’re the pig and this is the end of you.
However, even though Adding Value to your students will always be a commitment, there are simple things that you can do to keep that commitment reasonable – something well to this side of the supreme sacrifice. I’ll be sharing some of those ideas – things you can use in your classroom right away, both to add value to your students’ school year and to make your life simpler and easier.
You can also share your successes. Tell me about the things you are already doing – either in a reply to this post or in a separate e-mail. I’ll post great ideas and give you the credit. With your permission, I’d like to include your ideas, with a credit to you, in Adding Value. More about that next time.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
ADDING VALUE - The Purpose
The Audience
There are over 2.6 million public school teachers (grades K-8) in the United States. Many of them are experiencing job related stress, and much of that stress may be directly attributed to new accountability (value-added) standards. No longer can a teacher rest, knowing that, on average, her students are able meet some standard of proficiency for their grade level. In the past if a teacher had the standardized test scores of a few high ability students to balance those of a couple of low achievers, all was well. On average, the class was proficient.
The paradigm has changed.
Value-added assessment dictates that a teacher must add a year’s worth of academic growth, over the course of a school year, to each student. If Johnny enters 4th grade with the skills of a beginning 3rd grader, then he must leave that school year with (at least) the skills of a beginning 4th grader. On the other hand, if Maria, enters the same teacher’s 4th grade classroom with the skills of a beginning 5th grader, then she must leave that school year with (at least) the skills of a beginning 6th grader. Compounding that teacher’s task is the fact that Jasmine is “above grade level” in one subject, “at grade level” in another subject, and “below grade level” in two others. The teacher must add a year’s worth of academic growth, over the course of a school year to each student, in each subject area.
A Need
For many teachers, this is a recipe for stress, frustration, and an early exit from the teaching profession.
The Purpose
Adding Value offers simple, practical, proved strategies, and action steps that teachers can easily use to meet the varying needs of multiple groups of students, at the same time, in an efficient manner, and do so with less personal stress.
There are over 2.6 million public school teachers (grades K-8) in the United States. Many of them are experiencing job related stress, and much of that stress may be directly attributed to new accountability (value-added) standards. No longer can a teacher rest, knowing that, on average, her students are able meet some standard of proficiency for their grade level. In the past if a teacher had the standardized test scores of a few high ability students to balance those of a couple of low achievers, all was well. On average, the class was proficient.
The paradigm has changed.
Value-added assessment dictates that a teacher must add a year’s worth of academic growth, over the course of a school year, to each student. If Johnny enters 4th grade with the skills of a beginning 3rd grader, then he must leave that school year with (at least) the skills of a beginning 4th grader. On the other hand, if Maria, enters the same teacher’s 4th grade classroom with the skills of a beginning 5th grader, then she must leave that school year with (at least) the skills of a beginning 6th grader. Compounding that teacher’s task is the fact that Jasmine is “above grade level” in one subject, “at grade level” in another subject, and “below grade level” in two others. The teacher must add a year’s worth of academic growth, over the course of a school year to each student, in each subject area.
A Need
For many teachers, this is a recipe for stress, frustration, and an early exit from the teaching profession.
The Purpose
Adding Value offers simple, practical, proved strategies, and action steps that teachers can easily use to meet the varying needs of multiple groups of students, at the same time, in an efficient manner, and do so with less personal stress.
ADDING VALUE - A Mission
Mission Statement
The Book as Book:
Adding Value will be the standard by which teachers plan to better meet the needs of several diverse student populations at the same time, within a heterogeneous classroom. It will provide multiple approaches to teacher/student success in a high stakes, value-added, K-8 educational environment. Adding Value will give teachers practical, proven strategies for getting more done, in less time, with less personal stress.
The Book as Outreach
Adding Value will serve as the platform from which I will reach out to K-12 educators with professional development opportunities such as workshops, seminars, consulting, coaching, paid website subscription, CD, or DVDs, and additional subject or grade level specific books in an “Adding Value” series.
The Book as Book:
Adding Value will be the standard by which teachers plan to better meet the needs of several diverse student populations at the same time, within a heterogeneous classroom. It will provide multiple approaches to teacher/student success in a high stakes, value-added, K-8 educational environment. Adding Value will give teachers practical, proven strategies for getting more done, in less time, with less personal stress.
The Book as Outreach
Adding Value will serve as the platform from which I will reach out to K-12 educators with professional development opportunities such as workshops, seminars, consulting, coaching, paid website subscription, CD, or DVDs, and additional subject or grade level specific books in an “Adding Value” series.
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