EdCamp Citrus 2011

Attention Citrus educators…   EdCamp Citrus 2011 will be taking place on October 15h, 2011 from 8:00am to 4:00pm at Citrus High School in Inverness.  They have some great sponsors already lined up and it is shaping up to be an amazing event. Please join, Registration is now open at www.edcampcitrus.eventbrite​.com!!!!!

EdCamp Citrus 2011 is an unconference, inspired by similar events being organized around the country. The goal of edcamp Citrus is to bring educators together to discuss technology that works. It’s a conference for educators, by educators, and the presenters are the people that show up to the event. If you want to present, you just write your name on the board and you present for an hour. If people get something out of it, that’s great. If not, participants are encouraged to vote with their feet. So the event is as good as the people that show up to participate.

While there will be organizers for this event, we only provide the basic framework. Teachers and educators like you show up and decide what is going to be discussed. No longer are you stuck with sessions that have been determined months ahead of time in which you have no input. If you do not see something that is helpful, create your own session and share what you know best. Feel free to contact the organizers of EdCamp Citrus at any time with questions or ideas:

Email: edcampcitrus@gmail.com
Twitter: @edcampCitrus

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No… Not Yet!!

“Saw this today (July 6th) at Wal-Mart…  This is just too early and too wrong!” ~Thomas

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“As I have shared before, I am not a believer that American public schools should follow practices of other schools in other developing countries.  We as Americans are very unique and among many of our great beliefs and cultures is that we believe in schooling ALL children.  We also fund our public schools using local tax dollars.  That said, this editorial below about Finland’s public schools from a recent USA Today has some information we should seriously ponder.” ~Thomas

Education in Finland

An Excerpt from USA Today Editorial: America can learn from best practices abroad

In a 2009 international assessment of math proficiency, American students ranked 32nd, behind virtually all developed countries. In second place stood Finland, a country that also used to languish in mediocrity.

Finland, which like the U.S. funds its schools locally, does a lot of things that American leaders should consider. Among them, it starts its kids early, with state-run, high-quality day care beginning at six months. This ensures that children are ready to learn when they reach kindergarten and first grade.

Finnish schools frequently employ a second teacher in the classroom to focus on the struggling students. This allows those students to get specialized attention while remaining in the same class as their peers.

Most remarkably, Finland appears to have solved the problem of teacher burnout that plagues our system. In the USA, roughly half of all new teachers quit in their first five years. Too many of those remaining lose their passion for the profession but are almost impossible to fire.

Finland avoids this by getting the best teachers and giving them tools they need to thrive. It subsidizes the education of would-be teachers, helping to attract bright students who can begin their careers debt-free. It then puts them through a battery of tests, training seminars and internships to make sure that they are ready before they step into the classroom.

Once approved, Finnish teachers are given much greater leeway to teach, including the ability to select their own textbooks in many cases. They are highly respected in society, receiving the kind of acclaim that is common in the USA for military personnel, firefighters and police officers.

All of this has helped to make Finland a pilgrimage site of sorts for education leaders from around the world who hope to emulate its successes. The United States would do well to learn in its classroom.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE…

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