Weekly Tech Tip: Making and Using Infographics

I am sorry it has been so long since my last Weekly Tech Tip but we have been doing state testing this month. This eats up district bandwidth so most use is prohibited for both students and teachers. Use of the Internet interferes with the ability for Pearson Education to deliver online assessments for both Math and Science and since we can only test a handful of kids at time (due to how much bandwidth it uses) it takes nearly the whole month to get all these students tested. As a result, most of this week's tech tip had to be done without the use of the Internet. I have also been assigned to proctor these tests so I couldn't talk while making this week's tech tip. I apologize for the lack of narration. Anyway, this week's tech tip is on infographics and how they can be used to help students make sense of numbers while analyzing complex problems using data and statistics. Since I have been knee deep in state testing I thought data regarding testing would make for an appropriate data set for this tech tip. Enjoy.

Weekly Tech Tip:


related links:

• Infographic Generators:

StatPlanet

Gapminder World

ManyEyes

Wordle

Visual.ly (Still in Beta)

• More botched tests by company that scored FCATs turn up: The testing company that has come under fire in Florida is also having problems in Minnesota. (Miami Herald)
• KEEPING PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC: Testing Companies Mine for Gold (Rethinking Schools)
• Inside the multimillion-dollar essay-scoring business: Behind the scenes of standardized testing (City Pages)
• Standardized Testing: A Decade in Review (Huffington Post)
• Computerized State Tests – Is Paper Better? by Jen Hegna on Grin and Bear I.T.
• South Korean Official Advises Caution in Following His Country's Model (Education Week)
• Poor Teaching for Poor Children …in the Name of Reform by Alfie Kohn
• Bubble sheet season by Joe Bower on For the Love of Learning
• Standardized Students, Silenced Teachers: The Un-American Education Agenda
• Victims of standardized testing Poem by Ruslana Westerlund
• SCHOOL LIFE IN JAPAN
• How Social Media is Changing the Education Industry [INFOGRAPHIC]
• Bloggers Challenge President on Standardized Testing (NYTimes)
  

Video Festival:

• Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Link Stew:

• Editorial: School integration is still a worthy goal (Star Tribune)
• Bill introduced in Colorado to repeal NCLB
• Teaching A People's History - Zinn Education Project
• Detroit schools send layoff papers to all teachers (Associated Press)
• The Test Generation (The American Prospect)
• Teach for America alum: TFA’s impact on my school (The Washington Post)
  

Blog Carnival:

• The “New” Normal by Will Richardson on Weblogg-ed
• Things May Not Get Better! by Gary Stager on Stager-to-Go
• The Contraband of Some Schools is The Disruptive Innovation of Others with BYOT (Bring Your Own Tech) by Tim Clark on The Innovative Educator
• I’m no better than a high school drop out by Lisa Nielson on The Innovative Educator
• Student Driven Learning by Josh Stumpenhorst on Stump the Teacher
• Conventional Education Will Go the Way of Farming by Doug French on Ludwig von Mises Institute
• Passion-based learning in the 21st century: An interview with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach by John Norton on Powerful Learning Practice
• Dear parents, yes, we do filter websites at our school! by Scott McLeod on Mind Dump
• Generation Z could be the key to driving change in an outdated educational system by Lisa Nielson on The Innovative Educator
• Is Plato's Cave a Classroom? by Greg Kulowiec on The History 2.0 Classroom
• Testing cannot be anything but political - and abusive by Ira Socol on SpeEdChange
  

Retweetable Tweets:

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Where there are standards, there's standardized testing.less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyJoe Bower
joe_bower

@DianeRavitch Principal of my child's NYC charter school has asked the Board to change her title to Chief Education Officer - yes, CEO.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet ReplyClub des Cordeliers
cordeliers

Here are some amazing videos related to mathematics. http://bit.ly/gc9muG #edchat #mathchatless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replydavidwees
davidwees

@markgarrison "'tchr wanted to know if they learn schoology today, are they going to have to learn something new in five years.' I hope so"less than a minute ago via Power Twitter Favorite Retweet Replysmbeaverson
smbeaverson

Dewey: what the best and wisest parent wants for his child is what we should want for all children...anything less..destroys our democracyless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyDiane Ravitch
DianeRavitch

On CNN just now, @m_rhee just said that the impact of a great teacher is "immeasurable." She said it herself.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyJonathan Becker
jonbecker

. @techlearning The "pro-teacher" language of individualism & personlization is code for drill & a steady diet of standardized testing.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyGary Stager, Ph.D.
garystager

@garystager it's staggering to think abt the cost of testing in US- supposed to be cheap, efficient- NOT.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
pammoran

@DianeRavitch Maybe it's time to inform #parents that they can opt their kids out of #standardizedtests -- especially unreasonable onesless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyBob P
2011teacher

Minnesota GOP Education-Health Care Double Standard: Evoking the 10th Ammendment

The political climate in Minnesota right now is toxic, especially around the issue of education. The legislature recently passed it's omnibus spending bill, a bill with deep cuts and many changes to public education. These cuts and changes, should they become law, would directly effect the district I currently work for in a big way as much of our funding comes from an item targeted by Republicans for cuts: integration revenue. Needless to say, between this and the high stakes testing that is at our doorstep things are not very pleasant around the office.

Another thing in the cross hairs of the Republican controlled House and Senate is funding for the Minnesota Department of Education. In recent testimony regarding the House version of the bill, Commissioner Dr. Brenda Cassellius had the following testimony:

This bill will affect MDE’s ability to properly account for and manage public money and hold other education entities accountable, both academically and financially.

· $11.25m cut in this biennium represents a 34% cut below the base state appropriation and could eliminate 50 of approx. 200 state funded employees. As we testified at an earlier hearing, the agency is already 60% federally funded because of years of cuts to the agency. A reduction of this nature in the agency’s state workforce would seriously hamper our work.

· If we add in the unfunded mandates in this bill for new tests, Q Comp expansion, early graduation scholarships, and teacher and principal evaluation proposals, the real cut to MDE is even greater - and our ability to deliver on our promise of better support to school more severely diminished

This was eye opening for me in a few ways. First, I did not realize that the MDE was already 60% federally funded. This, despite the fact that most of our school funding comes from state revenue from property taxes and only a small percentage of funding for Title I programs and federal grants comes from the fed means that most of the oversight of how we spend our education dollars and how we educate our kids is done...federally. So, if these cuts to MDE find their way into the final bill, which I don't think they will at these numbers at least, then lets do the math:

50/200=25% cut in current funding to MDE from the state. If 200 employees currently represent 40% of MDE staff then:

40/100=200/total number of current MDE employees

total number of current MDE employees=500

total number of federally funded MDE employees=300

now, with the cuts,

% of state funded MDE employees/100=150/450

% of state funded MDE employees=33%

which means that now 66% or 2/3 of oversight of how Minnesota spends it's own state's tax money on public education will be overseen by federally-funded employees. People tend in their jobs to be accountable to those who are funding their positions. These people at the MDE would then be accountable to the federal government and not the people of Minnesota. This seems to me like it is an open door policy for the deployment of national standards and Common Core Curriculum.

What boggles my mind is that the same party that is quick to stand up for state's rights and smaller federal government is so quick here to increase the influence of the federal government in our pubic schools.



The problem with the tenth amendment is that it is so vague. It's language opens it up for great interpretation, as do many of the other amendments in the U.S. Constitution. I guess this is why the party of No can evoke it when trying to deny health care coverage to residents of the state and at the same time sit back and let their schools be taken over by the federal government and federal policies. Seems like a double standard to me.