Educator Effectiveness

Teachers' Top Three from ESE - October 13, 2016

1. The Buzz: October is Connected Educator Month
   October is Connected Educator Month, which means lots of organizations and individuals have resources to share about additional ways to thoughtfully integrate technology into your classroom or use it to connect with peers or communicate with parents. Connected Educators offers a full calendar of events; Massachusetts Computer Using Educators has their fall conference coming up in Foxborough on Oct. 19 and 20; and ESE's Office of Digital Learning offers a variety of resources, including a recent blog post on blended learning. In addition, two members of ESE's Teacher Advisory Cabinet recently published pieces about ways they use technology: In Harvard Graduate School of Education's Usable Knowledge blog, Jessica Lander writes about how an app lets her text parents in their own language to keep them up to date with what's happening the classroom, and in SmartBrief, Maureen Devlin writes how interacting with other educators through online networks increased her confidence in trying new ideas and strengthened her teaching.

   On a related note, district teams are invited to the free Boston Future Ready Summit on Nov. 14–15 at the Education Development Center, 43 Foundry Ave, Waltham. Future Ready Schools, an organization supported by the U.S. Department of Education and the Alliance for Excellent Education, assists districts implement digital learning strategies to help personalize education. Registration is open online.

   If you have other resources to share related to Connected Educator Month, tweet them and include the #Top3fromESE hashtag!

2. Teacher Reflection: Connecting Students to the Globe
   Jeffrey Shea, a social studies teacher at Belmont High School and the 2015 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year, has used a variety of projects to build on his students' interest in addressing global challenges. Here's one example:

   I start every school year excited about the prospect of working toward my lifelong goal of providing all students with global competencies. They need these more than ever in the increasingly interconnected world in which we live. The endlessly curious students I teach are the reason for my excitement, as it is fun to see them trying to figure out how they will make a difference in the world.

   Tapping into student eagerness to explore global problems, I connect the curriculum in the Global Leadership elective I teach to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. These 17 goals, which the UN put forth a year ago, can be connected to any discipline and to any age group. The goals range from ending poverty to creating sustainable cities. Students love to debate the degree to which achieving these goals is realistic, to explain how certain goals relate to other goals, and to consider how global issues like gender inequality relate to their own lives.

   To foster student creativity and problem-solving, I decided to host a social business un-conference in January 2016 for all 55 students in my Global Leadership classes. Via Skype, they heard from Kimberly Jung, an Afghan war veteran and co-founder and CEO of Rumi Spice, a Chicago-based company run by veterans that sells saffron directly from Afghan farmers to order to spur economic development in that country. Afterward, students proposed their own ideas for social businesses before finally forming social business teams. Over the next two weeks, they wrote business plans, coming up with innovative solutions to local and global problems alike. The students' ideas included concepts like Liberation Station, a restaurant that would be located at UMass Boston and would hire former criminals and provide them with an education. Students had to identify a problem to solve, develop a budget, and create a marketing plan and social media campaign. It was inspiring to see what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time, and it left me thinking that I must seek even more opportunities to make learning more student-centered.

   I always love hearing about the innovative ways that other teachers are breaking down traditional classroom walls and engaging students in real-world learning. Please join the conversation and share your ideas on Twitter using the hashtag #Top3fromESE!

3. New Resource: Instructional Support e-Newsletter
   In addition to Teachers' Top Three, which is aimed exclusively at teachers, ESE will publish its first Instructional Support newsletter in the coming weeks. This bi-monthly publication will update you about educator effectiveness, literacy & humanities, STEM, English language acquisition, inclusive practice, educator preparation, and licensure. Please sign up to receive it!