Education Triage and Competition

An important post from Barto's World on special education programs and competition. It is something that is worth reading. My favorite line:

We are in the age of No Child Left Behind, yet this is now combined with a Race to the Top for state education departments. Doesn't a race mean there will be some left behind? Using the word competition indicates that there will be a loser.

2009 Special Education Policy in Review

A good overview from Special Needs Truth.

11-year-old charge with felony assault in Arkansas

An absolutely deplorable situation. Pictured above is Zakhqurey Price, a boy whose life is being ruined by a poor school administration team.

The History and Problems with Teacher Unions in Special Education

This comes from KPS4Parents. I will say that I have heard a number of negative things about teacher unions, and understand the frustration many have with them. I proudly belong to the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA), and have no problems so far with how my local union represents itself. Nonetheless, I believe these issues should be discussed, and teachers should always keep an open mind to how unions effect the bigger picture of special education.

Professional Development and Blogging

As a first year special education teacher, updating and maintaining on a regular basis is not going to be an easy task. I cannot promise that I will be able to write something every day, but I hope to give relevant postings as much as possible.

One way to help post regularly is to have a good source of websites to go to for relevant information. But having good access to resources is not only important to me as a blogger. It is also important as a professional teacher who wants to continue to grow. I am finding more often than not in this job that it is too easy to slip into lazy routines and outdated methods of teaching. This is not to say there is anything wrong with "old school" methods to teaching. One of the most common phrases in teacher college is that "you don't have to reinvent the wheel".

But since society changes, students change, and thus, teachers need to change (transitive property in practical usage). Many teachers feel that there are way too many professional development activities they must go through. I understand the massive amount of time that PD takes up, but I tend to take a contrarian viewpoint in my profession. I believe a good teacher is always one that is looking for new ideas and ways to reach students. This is not only true of the education profession, but in any profession. In addition, because we are in the business of education, it only makes sense that our education is always ongoing. Teacher education never ends.

One good source I just found is a list of the "50 Best Blogs for Special Education Teachers", put out by OnlineUniversity.com. I have visited a few of these sites before, and look forward to perusing through the other sites.

Welcome!

Here is my first post on this new blog. This is not the first time I have tried out a new blog, and I don't want to spend too much time explaining who I am and what this blog is. But I feel I should do some explaining here in my first post.

First, let me give some background information about myself:

• I teach special education at a high school in Northeast Kansas. I work with students at both an adaptive level (Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder, etc.) and a functional level (Intellectual Disabilities, Mentally Challenged, Autism). This is my first year of teaching.
• I live in Johnson County, KS with my lovely wife and our dog.
• Although I live in Jayhawk/KC Royals territory, I am originally from Central Missouri. Thus, I am fans of both the Missouri Tigers, and the St. Louis Cardinals.
• I am very liberal, some might say almost socialist, in my political views. I would prefer to think of myself as a "democratic socialist" if the "s" word has to be applied to me at all. I currently do not belong to any political party.
• Although I am a Christian, I would describe myself as a Unitarian Christian (although I don't currently have a regular church I attend).

I would like this to primarily be a blog about education and policy matters. Sometimes, posts will be about interesting articles I have found surfing the internet or doing research. Sometimes, they will reflect what is going on in my own professional career. And although this blog is primarily about education and policy, I will not rule out posting non-education items that reflect my interests. Above all, I want this blog to create a dialogue with web-surfers about topics and ideas pertaining to both education and non-education related issues. This requires not only me expressing my own views, but hearing the views of others in both comments on my posts and e-mail feedback. As I tell all of my students, teachers aides and co-workers, if you have any suggestions to help make this a better place to learn, please let me know. I crave feedback!