Bill Gates on State Budgets, Education, and Economic Hardships [VIDEO] General by Joel Wagner - March 5, 2011March 5, 20110 The good news: Texas is ranked #1 in the country as far as education spending goes. The bad news: Many school districts are on the brink of cutting numerous jobs to keep their budgets in line. * Additional bad news: Texas is #50 as far as Medicaid spending goes. The worse news: Not all of you are fortunate enough to live in Texas. I see news articles posted on Facebook every week about the impending job cuts that are in the plans for next year in the Dallas and San Antonio areas. I'm sure this is a pretty universal thing this year. I know the budget shortfalls have been a big problem in recent years, but I guess I have been more or less
Less Stress: Reduce Responsibilities Stress Reduction by Joel Wagner - October 16, 2007July 5, 20100 Time is a commodity where everyone is equal. But some people seem to do a whole lot more with their time and others seem to do a whole lot less. But we all stay busy. The problem is that some people choose how to fill their lives and other people allow their lives to be filled. It's so easy to get into the trap of agreeing to do everything that anyone asks us to do. Ever wonder why it is the youngest teachers who end up doing the most work in many schools? It's because the experience teaches us that our class suffers when we take on too many responsibilities. Basic time management List your responsibilities Prioritize your list,
Weekend Wrapup 08/20/07 Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - August 20, 2007July 5, 20102 Happy Monday morning. I begin staff development this week. School begins in Texas next Monday. This spring, I began to make myself familiar with the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach to personal productivity. My views on effectiveness went into overdrive this summer as I read The 4-Hour Workweek. Timothy Ferriss has recently posted The Not-To-Do List, 9 things to make you more productive. Just a Substitute Teacher points us to an article in USA Today that has a great list of things that some school districts or schools do to get more subs. Check out How to Lure Substitute Teachers. Athena gives us a list called 10 Things I Learned In My First Year of Teaching. How many of us
To Shut Up Or Not To Shut Up? That Is The Question General by Joel Wagner - July 20, 2007July 5, 20105 So I wrote Shut Up And Teach! yesterday and have gotten mixed reactions from it. Some have argued that my points were good while others have complained that I am advocating tying the hands and muzzling educators to prevent them from fighting for social justice. People have even gone so far as to write articles in response. Whatever the case, I enjoy the conversation that has developed. This tells me one of two things. Either: I am completely wrong and totally out of line I am at least partially right and hitting too close for comfort Investigating the arguments I am completely wrong and totally out of line These arguments include the facts that some school
Valid Reasons Teachers Quit Why Teachers Quit by Joel Wagner - July 8, 2007July 5, 201034 For another look at quitting teaching, see my article 9 Reasons To Quit Teaching (And 10 Reasons To Stick). One of the most popular search queries that has sent people to my blog lately has been "why do teachers quit?" Doing a quick search of my site tells me that I have a number of articles that reference this idea, but have not yet explored exactly why it is that many teachers choose to quit teaching. This weekend, I will write two articles on that very topic. Today, we'll consider the question Why Do Teachers Quit? and explore some valid reasons they do so. Yesterday, we considered the same question and explored some of the invalid reasons for quitting. Next
Creating Additional Income While Teaching Personal by Joel Wagner - June 27, 2007July 5, 20101 I know that some school districts pay their teachers for 10 months and then don't pay them throughout the summer. As far as I know, every district in Texas pays throughout the year. The district where I presently teach pays me twice a month, so I get 24 paychecks a year. To my knowledge, most other districts pay monthly. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of the various pay structures. The largest disadvantage I see to being paid on a 12-month contract is that it becomes WAY too easy for me to sit around and do nothing in the summer. On the other hand, I have free time to be able to plan, reorganize, and set up the classroom