B-Tech Staff Meeting Notes 5.2.08

Here are some notes from our school's professional development meeting (5/2/08):

Everybody's feeling the "end of the year blues" including low student morale, increased drug/alcohol usage, drug deals, no work, cutting, insults toward each other,

Main issues we need to address:
*How to get to June w/health and integrity (adults)
*Students' Behavior
*Superintendent coming Wed.

Suggestions for writing:
1. Have students record their ideas (paragraph by paragraph) on GarageBand and then transcribe their work into a draft.
2. Show them how an essay can "grow" on an LCD screen for all to see.

1st Period Elective Class: will modify next year

Superintendent Coming next Wed. 5/7--Be Prepared to discuss all your issues!
1. Forced to choose: Guidance Counselor vs. Support Services Director
Academic Credit Analysis vs. Barriers to learning
Mention tedious tasks
2. School Safety: need more folks, consider population

Entrypoint

This is the point of entry. Though I have already been teaching for almost 2 full years, I'm just starting this "Urban Teacher" blog. I've grown a lot better at reflecting on my practice without turning it into a personal attack on myself. Thus, I feel more comfortable sharing my thoughts and reflections on what's happening in the microcosm that is my classroom, and the more macrocosmic setting that is this country. Of note, I'm especially concerned with African-American students, who are just failing in the system as part of the status quo, and am trying to discern ways to truly turn this misguided ship around, somehow.

I have several other blogs, but this will be the one that I share with others, mainly because this one will be focused on chronicling my current musings on Education, and more specifically Urban Education. The others (which I WILL share one day, though most likely not as a blog) are more metacognitive--representing that funny little pattern I have of thinking about how I'm thinking, why I'm thinking, and what my thinking will probably lead to (among other thoughts). Just too much thinking, lol. So here, I will keep it coherent. Not too many stream of consciousness-type writings.

May this be the beginning of a beautiful readership :)