#RuralEdChat is a chat that focuses on the needs of the rural educator. This chat has been revised by Tammy Neil (@MathNeil), John Martin (@edventures) and Natalee Stotz (@nataleestotz).
Hey #RuralEdChat - I'm Matt, a volunteer as a part of a program doing online teacher/teacher training for HS CS. Currently teaching a couple seniors in a special topics course #RuralEdChat
Huggins from Lake County in NoCal here. Remember last week when I was dodging your snowballs because #CaliforniaWeather ? We had to start school late today at 10am because of...snow! #RuralEdChat
A1: OH GOSH EVERYTHING. My day job is software development, and that's been lots of long hours recently. I read an article today that equated "education reform" with "vouchers", and have a lot of feelings. My program is doing my classroom observation tomorrow. #RuralEdChat
Lots. 1. Publishers. I just don't feel they are truly dialed into the needs of on-the-ground teachers. 2. Time. I don't have nearly enough of it. Your thoughts? #RuralEdChat
More on my pub rant...if our admins R 2B believed, publishers lock us in2 oddities like inconvenient purchase/delivery schedules & locked bulk purchases. I tend 2 harbor ill will there because it is such a high $ industry & I feel I should feel more concierge-luxury. #RuralEdChat
I’m baffled at my 10th. They should have written 5 annotated bibliographies. They were “confused”... how are you confused about writing an mla citation and a summary? #RuralEdChat
A1: How #ELL is still a difficult topic in #RuralEd classrooms. How so often political ideology dictates good teachers’ thoughts on teaching students who are from other countries. It’s a language barrier not a disease.
Uh let’s just say I’ve never worked at a district that’s provided a curriculum. I look at what people are having to do and I’m like “that’s dumb” #RuralEdChat
Learned helplessness. Lack of personal motivation. Drives me nuts & I teach 2nd grade. Some kids just want you to download directly into their brain or get out of their way so they can talk & play. Major mindset shift to instill desire to think. #RuralEdChat
I do have a textbook this year for one of my classes. Normally, I do all the research and create the lessons myself. No copyright issues here. #RuralEdChat
I create a lot of my own content, but that's because I am CRAZY. #RuralEdChat That & I 'm deeply dissatisfied by the shiny, but ultimately disappointing pub content. Also, they give us 9 mos of content & 9 hrs 2 review it.
My name is Nina Trevino. I am from Michigan and I am a preservice teacher! I am excited to be exploring the different chats for educators! #RuralEdChat
We have "Regional Managers" that are a program staff person who oversees an area and all of the schools in it. One of the RM's duties is observing usually 1-2 classes a year (pretty much what our principal does). More meant to be informative rather than evaluative #RuralEdChat
1. Glad UR & feel blessed. 2. Why do y'all not have current pub content provided by district? 3. Does district compensate for teacher-created content? #RuralEdChat
We are a title 1 school. Those funds cannot be used to purchase curriculum. At the high school level we are told to teach the standards. That’s it #ruraledchat
Going to have our students demo their first projects which they wrapped up, then talk about their plans for project 2, which they just finished writing the proposals for. #RuralEdChat
We'R Title 1 2, but we have other funds 4 curriculum purch. Different $ buckets & sources. We're a low socioeconomic school district, but will say, we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes 2 ELA & Math pub curric. It's almost, no it is, problematic other way. #RuralEdChat
A2: Keeping parents involve - I am not a teacher yet, however I am going into the secondary level. I think keeping parents involved is SO important. The first step is opening that door and welcoming them in. As teachers, we open that door to involvement first. #RuralEdChat
@SHuggins67 I get the feeling your district is probably larger than ours. I’m the only 10th grade ELA teacher in teaching district. I have all but 20 or so of the 9th #RuralEdChat
I could dig up the doc. It's a work in progress, since it's my first year running the course, and a lot of the projects involve a lot of things they don't know, so part of it is a list of questions they need to research. #RuralEdChat
My biggest issue is that as students get older, parents pull back more and more. I understand this, however, having that involvement is such a game changer. #RuralEdChat
I enjoy doing that kind of thing as well. Just wish I had more time for it. How about a 4-day school week & 1-paid day for lesson planning & content creation on Fridays? Who's with me?! #RuralEdChat
I definitely can see that. My own parents did that! They started to pull back and were not involved as I progressed through school. I think, however, they would have been more involved in my schooling had the teacher reached out to them first! #RuralEdChat
A2: Also on my mind: "cross curricular assignments are great!" Yeah, and when the heck do I have the time to talk to the teacher in the other subject area and do meaningful development of that? #RuralEdChat
Not an easy task. Best way I found is to focus on their kids - they need to know you care about them. This comes through word of mouth - words spoken at a dinner table as the kids describe their experiences (good or bad) in your classroom.
#RuralEdChat
I tried to reach out to teachers on my staff. Everyone is so busy. Even though my students can write code to help, when they don't have time to collaborate. #RuralEdChat
I get that feeling too. I mistyped earlier. Middletown High School is 9 - 12 with less than 500 students. Middletown Middle School is about 250 - 275 students grades 7-8. So yeah, bigger. #RuralEdChat#BrainFart
Hello Everyone! I just finished my Internship at Pilot Butte School, Saskatchewan, which is a small town/rural community. I am completing my PreK-5 Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Regina. Can't wait to chat with you all tonight. #RuralEdChat
Welcome Kenzie! We're mid chat and having a conversation tonight just about what's on everyone's minds. Feel free to jump on in with what's on yours! #RuralEdChat
Also on my mind: I'm gonna miss my seniors. I've taught them for 3 years now (out of the 4 I've been helping with this program). I've grown so much with, and because of them. #RuralEdChat
A1: Hmm, well I recently just got hired as a casual educational assistant through Prairie Valley School Division just to get my foot in the door. I am really struggling with how I am going to go from being in that "teacher role" to being in an "EA role." #RuralEdChat
It may take a bit to get comfortable with the role, but if you have good teachers to work with, they will see all you have to offer. So many opportunities are going to come your way. #RuralEdChat
Use that time to learn as much you can to increase your understanding of the connections needed to really make teaching/learning meaningful. Later, when you are once again in that teacher role, you will be amazed with what you will bring from this experience.#RuralEdChat
