Today and tomorrow are early release days at our school. Today we had faculty and department meetings from 1:30 until 4:00 this afternoon. Tomorrow the meetings start again at 1:30 and last until .... It's anyones' guess how long we'll work. And what are we working on you might ask? Well, we are working on ... I'm sure most of them know what we're working on but it's largely a mystery to me. Educators have a language all their own to which I have not yet been able to cracked the code. I feel like I'm in a foreign country when I am with my co-workers because I do not yet know the language.
In medicine there many abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols. It is understood that there is a learning curve and that it will take time to learn. I remember the struggle I had in nursing school trying to learn medical terminology. However, just like a tourist to a foreign country carries a dictionary to help with interpretation, I kept my medicine dictionary readily available. It was an invaluable resource. In education it seems that no one remembers that new teachers (especially those who haven't had the benefit of a degree in education) do not yet have the skill needed to decipher their codes. It is assumed that everyone knows what they are saying when educators throw around all their terminology.
I wish there was a resource for new teachers. It would defined acronyms and terminology, identify DOE programs, organizations, and explain other important miscellaneous items so one could look them up a time or two or three until they were solidly known and understood when used in conversation. I realize the resource would have to be revised every month or two because that is how often the state seems to come up with new and wonderful ideas to change how things are done. This has become a real struggle for me. Never mind that I have trouble processing normal language; I hve grown weary of interrupting meetings to ask for yet another explanation of an acronym or program. Does anyone else struggle with this or is it just me?
To tell you the truth I had no idea what an IEP was for the better part of last year. I thought it was just a new way to call students special ed. Like really special ed. Well come to find out it means Individual Education Program and it can be set up for almost any one from ADD, dyslexic down to autistic children. So yea it’s for the learning disabled but also new students transferring in to the area that may be behind because their school system is not on par with ours and there may be no learning disability.
ReplyDeleteI have other teachers say stuff to me in acronyms and I have no clue what they are saying. So I just smile with vapid stare like a ditz and agree with whatever their saying.
I think someone needs to come up with a little pocket cheat sheet that lists the acronyms and issue them to all the new teachers upon them being hired. We then can stick them in our wallet, purse or pocket to have as a reference at a moments notice. It will defiantly save time and save face. It is rather embarrassing after all.
I am right there with you. At quite a few faculty meetings, I come away feeling the same way, frustrated. A few times I decide to brave it and ask what the acronym stands for and what it means to me, but I never get a response that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing about a resource book or packet of some type after last weekend's TIEGA conference. For instance, this past TIEGA conference, we were suppose to register with TIEGA and then unbeknown to me - I was suppose to log on to a totally different website with a totally different acronym (which I can't remember) and register with them to receive a certificate of attendance. How insane is this? Does this make any sense to anyone?
I thought maybe this summer if I have time I was going to compile a list of important acronyms that would be useful for career technical teachers. Also, some registering protocols for some of these conferences.
You guys start jotting down all the acronyms you come across for your technical area and any other “heads-up” advice and I'll try to put something together for future beginning teachers like us.
I am glad to see that I am not the only one feeling the need for a "Teaching Terminology for Dummies" book. This is my 8th year working in the school system and while I may know what the acronym stands for, I don't have a clue what it means or how it applies to me. The Special Ed ones I have know backward an forward but everything else is totally in code. Mostly, I want to know how it applies to me. So I think that this "2006-2007 NTI class" can leave a "class gift". I will defiitely get my list ready for publication.
ReplyDeleteI'm not usually much of a visionary so I can't help but get excited that others see the potential for this idea. Thanks Nat and Jan for wanting to grow this seed. I also love Jan's title, only make it for CT teachers. This would mean more work that I have no idea how we could possibly fit in to our current schedules but if everyone contributed, including our instructors, it could be done. Many hands make light the work.
ReplyDeleteSo, Jessie and Dr. B., is it possible to do something like this on Whiteboard as a work in progress to which everyone could contribute or does Whiteboard not work that way? Ideally it would have to be a format that we could all edit and save. What a wonderful legacy for our awesome NTI group to leave for all CT educators. I would love to see links to all the organizations, descriptions, where to find standards, and more attached to this as well. Dr. Burns: maybe Tony's uncle would like to see the finished product.
We could do this easily using Google's Writely. I've included a link to it on this blog--look on the right hand side under "Links to Instructional Technology Resources". You only need a Google account to access these resources, and since you've all joined this blog, you now all have Google accounts.
ReplyDeleteBasically, Google's Writely allows multiple authors to have access to and update any type of Word file. Go check out their site to see what I mean. I could get things rolling for us if you like.
As s Police Officer/ Teacher I have never in my life seen so many acronyms. I wonder who at the school system had the time on hand to sit and think " What word or words today I can make acronym?" I am slowly making the change and adjustment. We are also using acronym in law enforcement, maybe they were already there and I didn't know them. Someday I may come up with acronyms.
ReplyDelete