I chose the Purple Press Blog, “Freshmen Update: Middle School Tutors”, from the Phoenixville Area School District because I am interested in students tutoring other students. I have worked in the AVID Program and we have successfully incorporated seniors as tutors for our freshmen. In our current budget crisis this is working out nicely, for a number of reasons; we don’t have to pay for outside tutors and our seniors are gaining experience, skills and pride with their mentorship. I would like to see this extended to an elective class across the board for all our core subjects. I realize training, leadership and assessment would have to be part of the program. However, I feel the results and strides from mentees and mentors would be astronomical. That is what drew me to this blog. As for my professional interest, my AR/CBL Project based on remedial tutoring; perhaps I could persuade a senior to help tutor these students after school.
In reading the blog, The Gradebook: School News from Tampa Bay, Florida, I was interested to see editorials about achievement gaps, test scores, cultural diversity, attendance re-zoning, exit exams, online education, drop out rates, standards, bullying, parent involvement, budget issues and community involvement. This blog should help my professional development and AR/CBL Project because it lends a new perspective; many of my critical friends and peers from FSO are from Florida and it is relevant to see the educational concerns they are experiencing across the nation. California is encountering many of these same obstacles; I feel it is reflected in my tutoring program by my failing students. I hope to find ideas to help them from this blog.
The Edutopia blog contains a plethora of articles pertaining to my subject area. They are timely, controversial, significant and thought provoking. Topics ranging from Waldorf Method Schools to banning hugs and books; charter school results and YouTube classroom use; digital textbooks and the digital divide; social networking, Twitter and other Web 2.0 technology in the classroom. In particular, psychologist Maurice Elias’s blog about Hawaii’s academic year being shortened by 17 days and the quality of its education remaining intact was very enlightening and all the responses gave me a lot to ruminate about.
The First Tutors Blog pertains to tutees parents and tutors signing in and signing up for tutoring in all subjects for assistance for a fee. There are tutorials and questions, essays, problems and tests available. I think this would help in my tutoring program.
The final blog that I visited for this week was The Top 101 Web Sites for Teachers, which seemed to be a one stop-shopping trip for someone who needs fresh ideas for the classroom. There are resources about American writers, book talk ideas, writing prompts (always wonderful) and literacy skills. I am so glad I happened upon this blog as it looks to be a gold mind for my low achieving readers and writers.
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