Yesterday I unveiled Moodle with my AP World students. I had expected a little difficulty getting student accounts inputted, teaching them the basics, and getting them to explore the site.

But something complete different happened. Once everyone logged in, I stood and watched in amazement. They picked the system apart, finding every feature, clicking on things I hadn't even explore yet. Soon I saw pop-up windows all over the room, - Moodle apparently has a messenger component. I don't think it is as efficient as instant messaging, but it was close enough for them. This process was repeated each period.

By the end of the day, I was speechless.

At the last four workshops I taught, I discussed with fellow teachers the concept of the "Internet as a community builder." Tools like de.licio.us, flckr, and even QuestGarden revolve around this idea. My primary example, however, was blogging. I consider myself part of an edublogging community. I also mentioned that the students are already doing this. The have accounts with MySpace, LiveJournal, and DeadJournal. They know how to do this stuff. I told other teachers that we need to harness this energy and these skills for good!

For that reason, I expected that the students would take to Moodle. But they were practically cheering and doing summersaults. Their enthusiasm was amazing. It was fun to watch. We will see if it has staying power, but I think that if I make them use for various assignments, the community part will naturally come with it - because they are know this stuff.

I get to watch from sidelines and cheer them on. I love technology, actually, I love seeing technology change.

For the first time in at least five or six years I have a class that is out of control (well, was out of control). It is at the end of the day (classes in this timeslot have always been tougher) and I have had a tough time connecting with them. A big part of it is that I can't seem to get their attention long enough to build up a rapport.

Now my classroom management style is pretty relaxed. I demand an environment of mutual respect - especially with the potential topics that always arise. I don't write many behavior referrals to the vice principal's office. Only a couple in the last two or three years and those were ones that had to be written - the students were caught cheating, one student was subconsciously flicking his lighter in the middle of class, and two guys were seconds away from trying to hurt each other. If I have a few students who are pushing it, I pull them aside and have a chat. I usually see a dramatic improvement.

This class is different. One on one, I have no problems with these students. They are not troublemakers or openly defiant. Their crimes are indifference and an inability to stay focused because they are talking to their neighbors or making hand signals to their friends across the class.

A couple days ago I had enough. I implemented a policy that I had successfully used when I taught freshmen nine years ago. If they are off task, talking, or being disrespectful in some manner (we had a nice discussion about this), then they got a check by their name on the seating chart. Three checks = a lunch detention with me (a fate worse then death). Two detentions mean a referral and a call home (another dreaded punishment). Guess what, two great days in a row and only three kids got a check. We will see how it works over the next couple of weeks.

I probably should have started this policy a month ago, but I kept hoping it would improve (as it had before) and we were doing a lot of group work and individual projects that minimize that part of the problem.

With the start of this school year, I had planned to implement Moodle, a learning management systems that allows teachers to broaden the range of online activities to include forums, chat, etc. It also allows me to easily include documents (readings, powerpoints, worksheets) and links. After eight years of a traditional classroom web site, I have grown tired of using Dreamweaver to constantly edit documents. Just yesterday, I linked a powerpoint to my AP class calendar in Dreamweaver, updated the calendar online, but then forgot to upload the powerpoint - until a student (desperately studying for today's exam) sent me a panicked e-mail.

Back in August two barriers finally derailed me from installing and using Moodle. First, I couldn't easily customize the design. I could use their templates, but other then this blog, I don't use templates (and even this will have a new look within a month). I like putting my own mark on my web pages. Heck, I have made a number of web pages as side jobs and have made a decent amount of money doing it. Designing web pages is one of the things I love to do. In many ways I traded my young adult semi-professional hobby of photography for web page design. Both allow we to compose a frame of some sort and be creative, without actually have to draw or paint (for which I have not talent). Every time I start a new class I spend a considerable amount of time designing the web page for the class (i.e. CP World History, AP World History, Humanities, CP U.S. History). I know I can do some customization, but I just don't have time to figure it out right now.

Second, it doesn't have blogs. I have wanted to implement a blog-based activity for some time and thought Moodle would be the ideal answer. I can register people, easily keep track of their posts, and easily delete anything inappropriate. I can close the system off to just my classes or keep it open for the world to see. Either I will put off my idea, use another service like Blogger, or adapt the idea to the Moodle forums.

So now, three months later, I have accepted that it won't look as cool as my other sites and that I can live without blogs, for now. I am officially a Moodler. I think I can even buy a t-shirt. Cool.

In both my U.S. and world history classes, I have always told my students that within the United States the issue that will continue to define us as a nation is race.

This was certainly exemplified by Hurricane Katrina. The nation was exposed to the dramatic inequities within American society. At my high school we have had a race problem since I was hired ten years ago. About eight years ago this manifested itself when an African American marine was paralyzed in a fight at a local party. Before his friends were able to grab his broken body and take him to a hospital, a ring of young men (a number of them had attended the high school I teach at) yelled racial slurs as they kicked the life out of him. The school responded by starting a massive stop the hate campaign. It promoted tolerance, understanding, and actively fought against the white supremacist groups that had infiltrated the campus. While it didn't fix the problem completely, outward gestures of racism practically disappeared. However, over the years, a number of students confided in me that they were harassed for any number of reasons, including race.

We knew it didn't disappear. In the last ten years the student population has diversified, if only slightly. The Caucasian population decreased to just over 80% of the school (down from the mid-90's). Tensions between different racial groups have increased. A couple weeks ago an off-campus incident involving a local white supremacist gang and a minority student resulted in a massive police presence. Twelve police officers patrolled the campus during lunch.

Within my classroom, tolerance is an ongoing theme all year long, but in both my courses I spend a considerable amount of time in one unit exploring this issue. In U.S. History it comes during the Civil Rights unit and in World History it takes place in my Holocaust unit. A couple years ago, to my amazement, I actually had a student argue that the facts I was teaching regarding the Holocaust were wrong. He claimed the Holocaust was an exaggerated event coordinated by Jewish leaders for financial gain. He brought up several points, each of which I was able to dismiss through a thorough knowledge of the subject and the denial/revisionist arguments. Strangely, I actually had a decent rapport with the student, even after calling people who believe in this sort of ideology to be fundamentally un-American (I added a word or two to emphasize my point). He later argued that others stereotyped him for having certain beliefs and a shaved head, he was just doing the same thing they were.

This ramble was sparked by a very powerful and intense movie I saw this weekend called Crash. Ideas of race, racism, and interaction among people of different ethnicities were crafted together to show how groups are stereotyped and discriminated against in a way that is almost natural. Ironically, most of the individuals that were wronged because of their race, wronged another.

This movie reminds me of the importance of what good teachers do. We are on the front lines of this battle. We have to fight traditions, cultures, parents, friends, and stereotypes. We do it through example and through our lesson plans. Can we win? I think I convinced that student the Holocaust did occur, but does he still hold his racist beliefs? Probably.

This is a letter I sent to the board president and superintendent.

Last week you visited West Hills and spent almost ten minutes in my AP World History class. While I appreciate the visit, I question your timing and motives. Why haven’t you visited classrooms before? Granger Ward visited my classroom unannounced on three different occasions.

Mr. Kelly, three years ago, when you were on the County board, you went out of your way to pass a county resolution congratulating me on receiving the Internet Educator of the Year from Classroom Connect. While I was grateful, I had received a lot of attention already and attempted to “get out of it.” In the end you insisted that I make the board meeting and on that evening you presented me with a beautiful award that still hangs in my classroom. You praised me for my efforts to go above and beyond with my students.

Today, it appears, that I am the enemy. Your appointed representative dismisses my contributions and my efforts.

In ten years of teaching at West Hills High School, I have changed prep periods seven times. Just this year I added Advanced Placement World History. I have spent literally thousands of hours working outside of my contracted day. I have continued to integrate technology within my classroom, incorporating digital video and the Internet on a regular basis. I update and maintain a web site for my students and their parents. I e-mail parents about upcoming events, grades, and other relevant information. Plus, I am currently finishing a challenging masters program in Educational Technology at SDSU that has allowed me to strengthen and expand my teaching skills.

The only priority above my day-to-day interactions with the 180 students, who walk through my class doorway each day, is my family. My wife and I decided that she would stay home with my two young sons (ages 2 and 4) until they were in school. Financially, it has been an immense struggle for a family of four to live on $55K annually. I have had to take on additional responsibilities at school and find side jobs just to make ends meet. One of the major components of the decision to expand our family further is the ability to pay for the added expenses on top of the already rising day-to-day costs.

At this point, I know you are thinking that Dan McDowell is not the problem. He is not the enemy. The union is. Well, I am part of the union. I know that the union is fighting for the best interest of the teachers. Bruce, Linda, and the others are finding themselves having to fight tooth and nail for something that should be a given. I am tired of having to fight to be fairly compensated, but I will continue to do it. I will continue to support my union representatives.

When you attack Bruce and Linda, you attack me. And my office partners and the teachers at ALL of the sites. If you have a problem with the union leadership, then you have a problem with all of us. We are motivated, intelligent, educated, passionate, and insightful. We are religious, spiritual, well meaning, and dedicated. We are unappreciated, underpaid (in comparison to other jobs with a similar education level), and overworked (I currently have 115 AP essays which I will grade entirely on my own time).

We see that the district received almost 4% last year and 5.5% this year in a COLA. Teachers make up about 40% of the budget. Therefore, 40% of that money should be passed on to the teachers. Don’t argue about it being one-time money, it’s not. Make an honest, fair, and straightforward offer. Make teachers a priority; we are the ones that connect with the students every single day. Don’t try and play games by raising co-pays or making “off the salary schedule” offers. When you do that, you insult our intelligence.

So in the end, I have to ask why fight this battle. By not moving on your offer, in fact, by making it worse (the department chair issue, academic control, and union president release time), you are pushing the teachers towards a strike. Why? Why put the students in between. You will cause a wound that will take years to heal.

While I cannot afford a strike, I will if I have to. I know that I give something valuable to the children of East County. I know I am a good teacher and I demand to be treated fairly. No doubt the students will suffer in some respects, and for that, I blame you, the board and the superintendent. You have a chance to end this, but you refuse. You will not meet the union in the middle. Your final offer showed no sign of compromise, in fact it showed a malicious side of the administration.

This year I am seriously considering leaving the district, as are many others. In the last three years I have had two opportunities to leave. Both times I decided that staying in the district I graduated from and in the community in which I live was a priority. No longer is that the case. I would rather leave the field of teaching altogether or find a district where the board and administration are willing to work with teachers and meet them at a middle ground. I deserve to be paid what I am worth, as do others, and if leaving Grossmont Union High School District is the means to that end, then so be it.

The ball has been in your court for some time. It is time for you to make this right.

Dan McDowell
AP and CP World History Teacher
West Hills High School
http://www.ahistoryteacher.com