Blake: Work Priorities

What’s New?
New tools for cataloging learning resources and correlating them to your state core academic standards are now available through the Gateway. State affiliates can make appointments to view a web based demonstration and training of using the tools to create your own searchable records on the Gateway. To arrange your demonstration, contact brucew@jesandco.org and get your members started down the path to the 21st Century vision of learning resource cataloging and searching.

NEA has partnered with the GEM Exchange, Gateway to Educational Materials, and JES & Co to support Gateway to 21st Century Skills, a website that combines state-of the art search technologies and a complete database of state academic standards for core subjects. The Gateway is your link to the resources you need to make learning meaningful and fun for your students.

NEA and your state affiliate recognize that great public schools are the result of motivated students, involved parents, and well-prepared, innovative educators. The Gateway is a great opportunity for educators to expand their professional repertoire, exchange ideas, and individualize instruction.

Did You Know?
The Gateway to 21st Century Skills provides access to the Achievement Standards Network (ASN). The ASN is a digital representation of each states core academic standards. The ASN was developed by JES & Co., a non profit organization, utilizing funding from the National Science Foundation and other sources. Metadata describing learning resources on the Gateway can use the ASN data to provide alignment information that will allow teachers and others to search for items by standards.

Students, others use the internet as a means to grieve

From eSchool News staff and wire service reports; April 19, 2007

Almost immediately after the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech University on April 16, Virginia Tech students created an "I'm OK" page on Facebook to let one another and their loved ones know that they survived. Other students posted photos and cell phone videos on their own sites, or shared them just hours after the shootings with news organizations.

Thanks to the portability and speed of today's technology, the students' shots are likely to become some of the "defining images" of the tragedy, says Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which monitors high-tech culture.

And nowhere, she says, has the impact of the internet been seen more than on social networking sites, most often frequented by young people.

April's Academy has come to a close. And, as I usually do, I like to review statistics related to numbers of visitors who access content from the Academy blog--pre, during and post training.

This last class of 20 participants is, in my opinion, perhaps the most blog savvy group we've had since the academy started. They "got it." Two frequent questions were "once we leave, how long will we be able to access the blog?" and "can you add information about what you just said to the blog?"

Below, I've included a statistics file that shows the number of individuals who've accessed "www.donblake.com/theacademy" since January 1, 2006. These statistics only show those who searched Academy content from this specific URL (the Academy has 8 blogs total and some folks enter the Academy content directly through one of these other blogs).

In short, the main Academy blog receives slightly over 2,500 visitors a year from folks reviewing and downloading resources. The site averages 5 visits every day.

I provided Kathleen Lyons with a few more sheets of detailed statistics related specifically to numbers of folks who accessed the Academy site during and months between January's and April's training.

[view stats page]

Striking teachers in Hayward, California have taken their fight to the internet. Jesse Russell reports.

In what is becoming an increasing trend with organized labor, teachers with the Hayward Education Association who have been on strike for eight days have taken their fight to the internet. The group has been posting videos on the video file sharing website YouTube and emailing them out to friends and supporters. One video called “The Truth” has been viewed nearly 4600 times. Another video allows a teacher to speak her mind without the filter of the media:
[YouTube teacher]: Hayward school teachers are looking for a fair contract and we need one immediately so we can get back in the school room and give our students of Hayward a quality education. Not only do we need a fair contract, we also need respect and Dr. Vigil is not showing us respect. When he disrespects the profession of teaching, he disrespects the community and devaluing the students. Dr. Vigil and the Board of Education please get back to the table and resolve this immediately.
The teachers are seeking a 16 percent raise over two years in current contract negotiations.