Visual Representations

As my mind twists and turns around the Logic Models I have found myself visualizing the life of the grant over the next five years in my mind.  In my attempts to get these thoughts on paper, I have turned to a couple of web-based tools.

One of these was Webspiration.  This allowed me to see the goals and objectives in a format other than a list or table.  If you are interested in seeing this the link is:
http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/625548a87cd

Then I turned to a tool that was introduced to me by my GWAEA colleague, Erica.  The Mindomo tool has many options.  My "mind map" is still in development as there are many things yet to place on as inputs, activities and outputs but this initial draft shows a large part of our current status of our work in progress on the grant.  If you are curious:  http://www.mindomo.com/edit.htm?m=af6c605a15684e13b40f90ebdd9dcbb6

Mary is in Kansas City today presenting about this and Nadene is in San Diego as part of the TPAC training.  

Over the last week I have seen several articles and references from other states (see below for two such links) talking about teacher evaluation and effective instruction.  Here we are, right in the midst of the national transformation.  Sort of exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2010/11/teacher_evaluations_shoud_be

_m.html

http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2010/10/22/pilotassessments.html?tkn=ZNYDpvo1ApI9NZ%2F3CJYT2LRfTJrvQkI3N9ja&intc=es

I am now going to do some reading.  On top of the list is an article by Linda Darling-Hammond entitled "Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: How Teacher Performance Assessments Can Measure and Improve Teaching", October 2010.