J.P. Prezzavento - The Bits and Bytes of Education:

Dear Teachers, We know that you have a difficult job.  From what we hear, grading homework and tests, planning activities and going to meetings takes up a lot of your time.  In addition, we know that we can be a handful at times, too. While we may not always show it, we really respect what you do, and no, we can't do your job even though at times we say and act otherwise.  With that being said, there are a few things we would like you to keep in mind when you are planning lessons and interacting with us throughout the school day: 1.  Please consider toning down the amount of homework you assign us each night.  We know that when you assign homework you don't mean to keep us busy all night, but if you give a half hour of homework and so do our other six teachers, that means that we will have 3 1/2 hours of homework each night.  After we finish practice, dinner, and a spend a little time on Facebook, the only way we can get that much homework done is by s...

What resources do you use while planning lessons?  Do you consult your Twitter feed?  Ask members of your digital or face-to-face PLN what works and what doesn't work?  What about your students?  How often do you ask them for input on instruction?  If your answer is "not often" or "not at all" I recommend that you start asking them now.  Student voice and choice is the missing piece of the academic puzzle.  Our students are starving to give us feedback on our lessons and how those lessons can better suit their needs.  All we have to do is give them a time and place to share those thoughts. I recently finished my freshmen research project.  For the first time, I decided to include a technology element to the project.  I had the students create a Glogster instead of a poster or PowerPoint presentation to share their findings.  Throughout the project I was constantly reflecting and thinking about how I will be able to improve the exp...