Legal Brief

Citation: Pickering VS. Board of Education

Topic: Teacher’s First Amendment Rights

Issue: Marvin L. Pickering was a teacher in the Will County, Illinois Township High School.  The district was trying to pass several bonds and tax increases to build schools and fund education.  One of the bonds passed, but neither of the tax increases passed.  When trying to pass the tax increases the school published letters and articles saying how much the district needed the money and how the money would be used.  After the tax increases failed Pickering wrote and published a letter saying that the teachers had not been allowed to speak out against the bonds or tax increases and that the district had gone about proposing them in the wrong way.  The board of education saw the letter has a type of harassment and had Pickering dismissed. 

Facts:

• Before the vote to increase taxes articles were published to push the passage of the increase by saying that a failure would produce a lowering of educational quality.

• After the increase failed Pickering published a letter saying that the teachers had not been allowed to speak out against the bonds or increases and that the school had used some of the bond money for athletics instead of education.

• The Board of Education dismissed Pickering for his letter saying it put the district and administrators in a bad light and that many of the allegations were false.

• Pickering said that his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated and that there were no grounds for dismissal.

Findings:

• Circuit Court of Will County affirmed the dismissal

• Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed the dismissal

• Supreme Court of the United States agreed that Pickering’s First Amendment rights were violated and reversed the previous decisions

Rationale: The court found that many of the allegations in the letter were false, but that the letter never harmed anyone that would make work or other teacher relationships uncomfortable.  The letter was seen to not impede the function of Pickering as a teacher or the operation of the schools. Pickering’s First Amendment rights to make statements about public concerns even about their superiors were protected under Garrison vs. Louisiana and Wood vs. Georgia.

Implications: For educators this meant that they had the right to speak out against their district, schools, and superiors.  This was reversed in Garcetti vs. Ceballos in 2006 that ruled that public employees have no first amendment protection when making comments about their employment. 

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/pickering.html

Good Presentation Techniques

Here is a short list of good presentation techniques.  These techniques were discovered through observation and an oral presentation class. 

~ Good eye contact, using the triangle method helps (focusing on each wall for a few seconds

~ Loud, clear voice with well articulated words

~ Hand gestures that fit in with the presentation

~ Good posture, standing straight, legs a should length apart, knees bent

~ Knowledge of audience (know what they know, what they don't know, what their interests are, what their objections are, what their interests are)

~ Knowledge of material (be interested in the material and be well researched in the material)

~ Knowledge of technology (know how to use any technology required and make sure that any technology is relevant and helpful in the presentation)

~ Relevant Props (props need to be used in the presentation, not an after thought and should not take away from the presentation)

Article on Using Technology for Writing Instruction

Jessica Miller

EDMS 350

Mr. Becksfort

            “Writing for the Instant Messaging and Text Messaging Generation: Using New Literacies to Support Writing Instruction” is written by Sheelah M. Sweeny.  Sweeny is a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and has done extensive research on technology and how it is enhancing writing in the classroom.  The article focuses on reviewing how technology has evolved and how the present generations are more comfortable and learn more by using technology.  Sweeny uses the comparison of “students being digital natives and teachers as digital immigrants” to show the gap in the generations and to show that difference in learning techniques (124).  The article even includes some typical technology content standards.  The journal focuses on four uses for technology in the classroom.  The first is using authors as mentors.  There are many videos online of professional authors talking about their writing processes or how they get ideas for their stories.  The second is using technology for editing and revising.  There are many sites that have editing suggestions as well as checklists to use when editing.  A third is using text messaging, email, IM, or Twitter. One example that was given was a teacher that would text a short assignment, like a one sentence summary, to the class and they would text back their answer.  The final use mentioned is online forums.  The focus is on blogs and Wiki, where students are able to share and comment on each others work while the teacher can monitor what is being said. 

            This article was well written and had a lot of information about new technologies, how to use them, and where to go to find them.  It is very current and can be used in most present day classrooms.  I found the article to be very useful and have been able to explore a number of items that I would like to use in my future classroom.  I have even been able to develop some assignments and lessons that I would like to use in the future.

            I think that by making writing and research more web and technology based students will become more interested in what they are learning, but they will also enjoy the work more and perhaps even be able to put forth a higher effort, since they are so well acquainted with technology already.  Not only this, but students will be better prepared for their future and higher learning at the university level.  Many jobs are being technology centered and many more use tech every day through presentations, emails, conference calls, etc.  By including technology in the classroom, teachers are better preparing their students for the new workforce. 

            In my future classroom I definitely want to use some of the newer technologies for projects and assignments.  I would like for students to research two authors, from authors that have posted their writing processes online, and compare the two processes.  Then present the two methods to the class telling which they like better and why.  Then as a final application they have to do a paper comparing the two processes, but using the process that they preferred.  Another tool that I would like to use is Wiki.  I want students to post their work that is in the process of completion and then to have their classmates edit and make constructive comments to help each other.  This not only makes the editing process a collaborative effort, but it is more of a learning experience.  It would replace the teacher having conferences and “fixing” a students paper without really allowing the student to learn from their mistakes.  I believe that there are major changes coming to the classroom and to teaching and I think that technology is going to make a big difference in the life of teachers and students. 

Journal Article:

Sweeny, Sheelah M. “Writing for the Instant Messaging and Text Messaging Generation: Using New Literacies to Support Writing Instruction.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 54.2 (2010): 121-130. ERIC. Web. 17 January 2010.  

My First Blog

Hi Bloggers,
I am so excited to get started, but I may be more excited about designing my blog rather than typing in it. Enjoy the Pride and Prejudice reference. It will be the first of many!