KidBiz3000 (continued...)

In my last post, I mentioned a little bit about my school's effort in the use of KidBiz3000 (a product of Achieve3000), an online non-fiction reading program. Read my last post if you would like to learn more.

It has now been 6 days since I e-mailed my students their first news article, and it has been mostly a success. I say mostly, but not at the fault of KidBiz3000, but at the lack of my students' ability to think critically and write an appropriately formatted e-mail.

However, I continue to see much potential in this program and the doors that could be opened once this program is used in full force. For example, with the constant e-mailing and replying that my students and I are conducting, it almost feels like a wiki in the works. I could give my students a news article to read on KidBiz3000, then post a response question on the classroom wiki and let my students converse, debate, and validate their ideas until their hearts' content. They could further research the topic posed in the article and post their findings for other students to view on the classroom wiki, as well.

I've been so fascinated by the potential of a classroom wiki and can't wait until I get one started. KidBiz3000 might just be my doorway to this new adventure.

Require teachers to work without pay? I don't think so.

Star Bulletin (Nov. 7, 2008): DOE pitches 6-day closure to cut spending

Our faithful superintendent, Pat Hamamoto, proposes that the DOE require employees to work for four days for free in order to save money next year. A boss should never suggest that his or her employees work for free. That is horrible work ethic.

Another proposal is to take away all teacher work days, rather, professional development days. Not only are we already facing a loss of professional development (workshops, guest speakers, conferences, etc.) due to budget cuts, but now we might lose our only days in which we can have professional development. How does the DOE expect us to improve our quality of teaching if they take away our time to make those improvements?

What made me laugh hysterically was that Pat Hamamoto said that her favorite plan was the "work for free" plan. Because we should dedicate our time to helping our students whether we get paid or not. I'm all for helping my students succeed, but I need to be able to afford my bills first if I'm going to direct my attention towards my students.

I'm eager to see how this plays out with the union and fellow educators. Might we have another strike on our hands...?