Reflections on Teaching

Disclaimer

I am a full-time employee of Sacramento City Unified School District. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own, and may not reflect the opinions and policies of my employer. I always aim to be discreet in posting about events in my professional life, and when relating examples they must first provide some illumination for those reading this blog, or assist me by sharing a problem I am looking for an answer to. The descriptions should be generalized enough so not only will those outside are unable to recognize who I’m discussing, but the principal actors as well.

Commercial disclosure

I receive reduced and free online services from a number of providers that are available to me as a teacher, and all teachers, or public school teachers.  Below is a list of services that are specifically given to me as an individual:

1. Edublogs Campus – I administer a campus site, http://sacschoolblogs.com/ for Larry Ferlazzo, and a number of blogs tied to my professional work are on that site.  We have been given the site as a gift because of the outstanding work that Larry does with the immigrant community he works with and with no expectation that we will promote Edublogs or Edublogs Campus. I do like Edublogs and think it’s a really great service. I continue to pay for a “supporter” subscription out of my own pocket because I do trainings and recommend Edublogs to others, and I want to make sure I’m aware of the cost and value of that extra service. I occasionally, through my own efforts, have won contests on Edublogs and received supporter subscriptions as a prize. I usually give them away at trainings I conduct.
2. Edutopia – I receive free membership at Edutopia in consideration for my work there as a moderator at one of their online groups.
3. Almost anytime I am presenting at a conference, big or small, I will get the admission charge waived, but I usually have to pay for membership in the hosting organization.  I like conferences, so that’s why I write nice things about them, and the free admission is but a small part of the costs of attending them.

Other employment/compensation

1. I used to work as a freelancer writer  for the Instructify site, which is run by University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, but that relationship ended in May of 2009 due to the budget crunch in that state.  I loved doing the work, and miss working with Bill Ferris, so I have only nice things to say about their site and work.
2. I have been doing similar freelance writing for MyCTAP, the California Technology Assistance Project.
3. I do projects afterschool for WALKSacramento, as part of a Safe Routes to School grant administered by my county. I teach students how to make video documentaries that are used as part of the report to the funding agency (the county) about what improvements need to be made. WALKSacramento is also my husband’s employer, where he is a community organizer.
4. I have worked in the past as a coordinator for an SES tutoring provider under NCLB. I liked that employers approach, although the execution was not flawless. I remain very unimpressed with some other tutoring providers and how it’s been implemented overall.

Comments and contact can be made with me here.