Thursdays are my long days. I get a 30 minute break and start the day with meetings. Unlike my other life where I could always leave to decompress a little, Thursday's are filled to the top with things to do. Today's topic was enforcement of school policies. We sat around and had the AP's explain to us why we needed to enforce the dress code and the rules. This meeting was only 30 minutes before we went to yet another meeting that was another 40 minutes about TAKS review (a topic for another time). One thing that I do not miss about the corporate world is the meetings. Every Thursday reminds me of the insane amount of time that I used to spend in meetings that happened at least 3 times a week.
The problem with the meeting today was consistency. In the school world, consistency is important. If you are enforcing a rule that someone else does not you come out looking like the bad guy. Being fair and just every time grants you respect, but can lose you a lot if you are slack off just once. This happens quite a lot in schools. The kids do not like to wear their ID's and I make them wear them. After they leave my class they often take them off because their next teacher never checks. There are some rules that I disagree with, but that is not up to me nor is it up to a kid to bend or break that rule because it is outdated or is just unnecessary. I have told them before and will tell them in the future "if this rule inconveniences you so much then do something about it." Unfortunately apathy usually wins, and they just grumble under their breath.
Authority is a tricky thing. I get authority by being respectful to the kids and by the position that I hold. Sometimes other teachers undermine my authority by not following the same rules as I do, but sometimes it is the assistant principals themselves that undermine the authority of the teacher. The AP's are suppose to safeguard that authority. If they are not willing to hand out the consequences for a rule that is broken then the rule becomes powerless. Follow through becomes important. Other teachers have turned in cell phones only to have the phone returned with little or no consequence.
We are sending a bad example if we are not consistent in our dealings with students. My profession is one of the few that really requires you to be at your best every single day, and consistent 100% of the time. We are all human and we may slack here and there, but a school and a society are made by the enforcement of the rules. Education parallels society in this case as in many others. As a society we have placed different levels of severity on the crime depending on the person. Stars get in trouble for drug possession all of the time, but the average person ends up going to jail for it. How many times has Lyndsey Lohan gotten in trouble with the law, and what would the average person have been put through by now? We send a message that the rules of society are negotiable. We lose sight of the fact that most of the time there was a good reason for that rule in the first place. If we do not like something we have the power to change it. Education parallels society, so it is paramount that we create an environment that is as consistent as possible and has avenues for change.
Until tomorrow,
"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."
-- Henry Brooks Adams
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Working 9 to 5
Today I gave the kids a project workday in one of the three courses that I teach. Some kids spent the day working, but others worked on their social skills, or homework for other classes. Where is the motivation? Where is the longing to be better and to do better than other? Where are our motivated learners ready to face the challenges that the day offers?
My project that I gave is due on Friday. If I get 50% of the kids to turn it in then it will be a good day. A lot of them will not and then wonder about why they are failing. This is par for the course for the last 2 weeks. This is the worst that it has been though. Even the higher level classes are trying to grind themselves to a halt. All teachers are having this difficulty in their classes. Motivation of the kids is at a minimum. This motivation problem has permeated into the grading scheme. Back when I was in school turning it in gave you some points, but rarely was your grade passed on completion. Now, a lot of teachers have a minimum grade of a 70 if the kid turns in a paper. This is a reward for putting more work in then your classmates. This is not a way to teach kids. We are setting themselves up for failure by doing this and I am as guilty as any for doing it. The minimum effort is the entire goal of most of these kids.
The education that I have received on how the community wants to deal with this lies with teachers. They make sure that the teachers are making every lesson as fun as possible so that the kids are entertained. The corporate response to people being unmotivated is to motivate them with a write-up or a firing. In the corporate world you can fail, but in education failure is not an option. How is this teaching a lesson to kids about the real world? Why does Texas have one of the largest drop out rates in the country? It is not because we are too hard on the kids. If anything the grading has gotten easier since I was in school. All of these problems stem from motivation. Kids skip and miss school for any reason. Some miss because they go on vacations during the school year. Some make up work, most don't. The typical response is to look at the teacher, or to create a rule where the student gets another chance. What good is a bandage going to do a person that is hemorrhaging?
The solution is simple, and it is one that I will bring up over and over again. We have to give the kids a reason that they should learn. A reason to go to school and work hard. The answer is a vocational program that combines high school with a program like a local community college or ITT Tech. In middle school, the student should get a test that places them in a program for high school. These tests are used by other developing countries (the ones that score higher than us on tests.) Europe's system separates at the high school level into a vocational program and an academic program. When the student finishes their vocational program they are actually prepared to enter the work force with a certification like an electrician. This program would help to prepare those to move into the world and become a contributing member of society. These programs would be challenging to the kids in their own way. The academic programs would prepare the students for college.
Could a vocational person enter community college? Sure, with some extra course work. What stands in the way of a program that helps prepare students for a vocational program is the legislature. Again, the government has said that 100% of the kids need to go to college. As an educator, and a supporter of higher education, I completely think that is a great goal, but it is not realistic. The reason is not ability but a combination of various factors like family life, willingness, and financial ability. We need to create a system where the average kid that is not looking at college has the ability to support himself after school has ended. We need to start being realistic. There is no reason for some of these kids to take 4 years of science, or Pre-Calculus. Students need a strong foundation, and there are some of them that are working night and day to help support their families. Why can we not try to provide the education that will help them? We need to tailor our education system to them, not the other way around. By providing a purpose we will find motivation.
Motivation is a key to success. You can have all the intelligence in the world but if you do not have the motivation to succeed you will not ever live up to your potential. We are trying to tailor everything to the individual. Why are we not taking the same approach to education. Should the system not change to the need of the populace? Education should be dynamic not stagnent. We can place higher expectations on everyone, but without the motivation to succeed our expectations fall flat.
Until Tomorrow,
"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
--George Bernard Shaw
My project that I gave is due on Friday. If I get 50% of the kids to turn it in then it will be a good day. A lot of them will not and then wonder about why they are failing. This is par for the course for the last 2 weeks. This is the worst that it has been though. Even the higher level classes are trying to grind themselves to a halt. All teachers are having this difficulty in their classes. Motivation of the kids is at a minimum. This motivation problem has permeated into the grading scheme. Back when I was in school turning it in gave you some points, but rarely was your grade passed on completion. Now, a lot of teachers have a minimum grade of a 70 if the kid turns in a paper. This is a reward for putting more work in then your classmates. This is not a way to teach kids. We are setting themselves up for failure by doing this and I am as guilty as any for doing it. The minimum effort is the entire goal of most of these kids.
The education that I have received on how the community wants to deal with this lies with teachers. They make sure that the teachers are making every lesson as fun as possible so that the kids are entertained. The corporate response to people being unmotivated is to motivate them with a write-up or a firing. In the corporate world you can fail, but in education failure is not an option. How is this teaching a lesson to kids about the real world? Why does Texas have one of the largest drop out rates in the country? It is not because we are too hard on the kids. If anything the grading has gotten easier since I was in school. All of these problems stem from motivation. Kids skip and miss school for any reason. Some miss because they go on vacations during the school year. Some make up work, most don't. The typical response is to look at the teacher, or to create a rule where the student gets another chance. What good is a bandage going to do a person that is hemorrhaging?
The solution is simple, and it is one that I will bring up over and over again. We have to give the kids a reason that they should learn. A reason to go to school and work hard. The answer is a vocational program that combines high school with a program like a local community college or ITT Tech. In middle school, the student should get a test that places them in a program for high school. These tests are used by other developing countries (the ones that score higher than us on tests.) Europe's system separates at the high school level into a vocational program and an academic program. When the student finishes their vocational program they are actually prepared to enter the work force with a certification like an electrician. This program would help to prepare those to move into the world and become a contributing member of society. These programs would be challenging to the kids in their own way. The academic programs would prepare the students for college.
Could a vocational person enter community college? Sure, with some extra course work. What stands in the way of a program that helps prepare students for a vocational program is the legislature. Again, the government has said that 100% of the kids need to go to college. As an educator, and a supporter of higher education, I completely think that is a great goal, but it is not realistic. The reason is not ability but a combination of various factors like family life, willingness, and financial ability. We need to create a system where the average kid that is not looking at college has the ability to support himself after school has ended. We need to start being realistic. There is no reason for some of these kids to take 4 years of science, or Pre-Calculus. Students need a strong foundation, and there are some of them that are working night and day to help support their families. Why can we not try to provide the education that will help them? We need to tailor our education system to them, not the other way around. By providing a purpose we will find motivation.
Motivation is a key to success. You can have all the intelligence in the world but if you do not have the motivation to succeed you will not ever live up to your potential. We are trying to tailor everything to the individual. Why are we not taking the same approach to education. Should the system not change to the need of the populace? Education should be dynamic not stagnent. We can place higher expectations on everyone, but without the motivation to succeed our expectations fall flat.
Until Tomorrow,
"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
--George Bernard Shaw
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Helter Skelter
One of the things I set up when I started this blog was to bring the world of education in the perspective of business. I think most can agree that anything that has to do with the government is a completely different world than the corporate one. When I worked for the petrochemical company we had plenty of projects that the company abandoned. It reached a certain point where the money was going into the project just did not make anyone any money. Now if we took this approach with kids, we would have even more that are left behind and just disregarded. A kid's future really boils down to whether that teacher, aunt, uncle, mom, or dad makes an impact on that kid. It is also a function of their environment.
I have a friend that I have recently reconnected with. (Facebook is a great thing.) His job is at what we call in my district an alternative stool. This strikes a cord with me as one of the kids in my Astronomy class has just been accepted into a program like this. He has a rough home life and does not really try at school. The purpose of these programs is simple. They take the kids that are at risk of not finishing school and give them an environment where they can focus in smaller classes and get credit. These kids typically have a rotten life outside of school. They deal with gangs, drugs, and parents that are either never there or have left them to deal with life themselves. Some of them have literally grown up on the streets. Recently my friend gave me a breakdown of his day. It shows his determination to really help these kids. In his message he told me about a fight that he broke up. In the excerpt below this is what happens when the outside world and the world of education collide:
I and another teacher went to stand between them when we saw the looks back and forth. Just when we thought they had settled because of our presence, a little girl starts instigating and calling for them to act like men-- they proceed to act like children. The other teacher went to remove the one male student who seemed most determined to fight, while I stayed behind to calm the others. One group had numbers on the other and was fanning out to surround them. I cut them off and was moving them back toward their own table when the first male student broke free from the other teacher and charged a group of students. I made a judgment call that if I could stop this one student the rest would not follow into chaos. I put down my cup and intercepted the kid. I bear hugged him and turned him from the other table of students he was about to attack. I was disregarding that I am recovering from a major surgery and a hit to the face could send me to the hospital- a fact that would get me chided by my coworkers later. I felt I had to act as the situation was headed for a racial fight that would involve over a dozen students.
I was able to hold the kid (only about a 150 lbs of him thank God) until several other staff members could intervene. Within a minute or so the kid was grounded, and others were being escorted one by one form the room. I was very pleased to see that several students stepped in to try and keep the peace. Several of the students are being dealt with through the appropriate courts, and I hope will be placed temporarily in the jail school for the safety of our campus. For the moment the are suspended.
My friend's story shows the other side of being a staff member at any school in an area with at risk kids. Sometimes we have to play referee to kid's conflicts that extend beyond the home front. It is these kids that have gotten left behind by society. It is the teachers at these institutions that are our last line of defense. We have fights at the school I work with and the end of the year is prime time for it. I saw a fight in the cafeteria on Monday as well, the security at our schools stepped in immediately. These fights are part of being a teacher. Our district has rules on who can step in to help break up a fight to prevent injury to teachers. Poverty is a cycle. It is perpetuated by a low education level. The low education level prevents the parents from getting jobs and places a financial strain on the family. This strain forces mosts kids to either quit school or if they graduate force them to go to work instead of to college. Then the cycle starts for the next generation. The only hope we have as a society is to reach these kids and hopefully break the cycle. Coming from a district that has about 60% of kids on free and reduced lunch, I can relate to the struggle to teach them and to impart the importance of education. Students are willing to give up education to settle a score that most of the time is over something that is by adult terms not worth it. Not all teachers have to put themselves on the line. My friend does. He does this not because of the money, but because he wants to make a difference.
I was able to hold the kid (only about a 150 lbs of him thank God) until several other staff members could intervene. Within a minute or so the kid was grounded, and others were being escorted one by one form the room. I was very pleased to see that several students stepped in to try and keep the peace. Several of the students are being dealt with through the appropriate courts, and I hope will be placed temporarily in the jail school for the safety of our campus. For the moment the are suspended.
My friend's story shows the other side of being a staff member at any school in an area with at risk kids. Sometimes we have to play referee to kid's conflicts that extend beyond the home front. It is these kids that have gotten left behind by society. It is the teachers at these institutions that are our last line of defense. We have fights at the school I work with and the end of the year is prime time for it. I saw a fight in the cafeteria on Monday as well, the security at our schools stepped in immediately. These fights are part of being a teacher. Our district has rules on who can step in to help break up a fight to prevent injury to teachers. Poverty is a cycle. It is perpetuated by a low education level. The low education level prevents the parents from getting jobs and places a financial strain on the family. This strain forces mosts kids to either quit school or if they graduate force them to go to work instead of to college. Then the cycle starts for the next generation. The only hope we have as a society is to reach these kids and hopefully break the cycle. Coming from a district that has about 60% of kids on free and reduced lunch, I can relate to the struggle to teach them and to impart the importance of education. Students are willing to give up education to settle a score that most of the time is over something that is by adult terms not worth it. Not all teachers have to put themselves on the line. My friend does. He does this not because of the money, but because he wants to make a difference.
Today we live in a society that often puts forth the idea that violence is necessary. How many movies does the good guy go through and try to resolve the conflict with words instead of bullet? On shows like Jersey Shore
Until tomorrow,
He who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~Victor Hugo
Monday, March 28, 2011
Just another manic monday
Monday's are hard for everyone. The weekend teases things like sleep and relaxation, but Monday comes along to takes those away. In office space the famous line says “it looks like you have a case of the Mondays.” This week is a hard week for a lot of teachers. This is the week that some find out whether they have jobs next year or not. The state requires that the districts give at least 45 days notice if they are not renewing a contract and that day is Tuesday. All across the state, school boards are meeting and deciding without all the facts how many teachers and support personnel have to go. It is why this week is a double edged sword. We are just a few weeks away from TAKS and the pressure is on; add to that a little job insecurity and you better buy stock in junk food and alcohol.
This last week Dr Otto the superintendant of Plano ISD appeared on a Dallas radio station (KRLD for those local to the Dallas
We have a responsibility as a state to provide a quality education to all of those children that live within our state lines. If that is not a priority then we need to change to a state that has a fully private school system. I am reminded of a story that a friend told me just after the finance debate began to show itself. My friend has a son that use to intern for a state representative. This son worked for the representative over a semester and at the time the issue of state education funding came up. When the friend's son asked about why they do not fix it. The representative smiled and said "son, we can fix education tomorrow, but what will platform will we have left to run on." The solution to the problem is not an easy one. How about the legislature brings in teachers to help identify places that could cut money? If we have to use the bureaucracy, why not use it to help identify places where districts have been successful and places where they are not. Doesn’t it make more sense instead of blindly cutting money to analyze what money should be cut? Dr Otto says that 90% of Plano Austin
Here is the link to the article on the Plano Superintendent.
Until Tomorrow,
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, Friday, Friday.....
There are only a few professions that I can think of that require ongoing training, doctors and lawyers. Teachers are the profession tat most people are not aware of that require development after their degree is conferred. In fact for most teachers that have received their degree they have to get 150 hours of training over 5 years. I am lucky to work in a disctrict that really asks for you to expand yourself. It is this reason that I write this blog from Austin tonight in preparation for the training that I will attend tomorrow. It is also because of this reason, and a talk that I had with a veteran teacher, that have really inspired tonight's post.
I spend the last three hours with one of the nicest people that I have met. Her determination after 40 years in the classroom is an inspiration to everyone. She has a great outlook on life and a really practical approach to teaching. We talked about a lot of things. The thing that really inspires me though is the fact that she constantly attends training. Her attitude is that she can always learn something. She views this as a profession, and despite the fact that teachers have now become those that "could not do." She takes it as serious as a doctor takes his development. I feel that as an educator this provides a glimer of hope that you will not become a bitter old educator that does not feel there is any hope left. A lot of teachers by the time they get further along in their career become jaded and cynical towards kids and other educators. It is refreshing to see someone that is so ready to embrace education for themselves and to further themselves in the career. Sometimes I feel that there is not a lot of hope. The negativity gets to me, like it does to others.
This week has been a tough one. A week after a vacation is always tough, but when you take your corporate week off you have to multiply it by 105 kids that I teach and that is the result. The kids were tired and I was tired. The hope for the week was that they learned something. If nothing else, by the end of the week no matter how good or bad I know that I am there and that is more than some of them have at home. Hopefully, there is one person this week that I have made an impact on. For I am not just an educator, sometimes I am the only stable force in some of these kid's lives.
Well that is it for my first week. I hope that you have enjoyed it or at least it has been educational. Until Monday goodnight.
Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. ~Abraham Flexner
I spend the last three hours with one of the nicest people that I have met. Her determination after 40 years in the classroom is an inspiration to everyone. She has a great outlook on life and a really practical approach to teaching. We talked about a lot of things. The thing that really inspires me though is the fact that she constantly attends training. Her attitude is that she can always learn something. She views this as a profession, and despite the fact that teachers have now become those that "could not do." She takes it as serious as a doctor takes his development. I feel that as an educator this provides a glimer of hope that you will not become a bitter old educator that does not feel there is any hope left. A lot of teachers by the time they get further along in their career become jaded and cynical towards kids and other educators. It is refreshing to see someone that is so ready to embrace education for themselves and to further themselves in the career. Sometimes I feel that there is not a lot of hope. The negativity gets to me, like it does to others.
This week has been a tough one. A week after a vacation is always tough, but when you take your corporate week off you have to multiply it by 105 kids that I teach and that is the result. The kids were tired and I was tired. The hope for the week was that they learned something. If nothing else, by the end of the week no matter how good or bad I know that I am there and that is more than some of them have at home. Hopefully, there is one person this week that I have made an impact on. For I am not just an educator, sometimes I am the only stable force in some of these kid's lives.
Well that is it for my first week. I hope that you have enjoyed it or at least it has been educational. Until Monday goodnight.
Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. ~Abraham Flexner
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Working hard for the money
I am exhausted. Today was one of those days that just wears you out and makes me consider bed as a good option at 8:30. This week has been tough anyway with the adjustment of coming back to work from vacation, but somehow Friday is right around the corner. The reason that I am so exhausted is that I left work at 3 pm to go get all the materials that I need for tomorrow's lesson. In this lesson I am teaching about gravitational fields, and saw a great demonstration one time with a simple hula hoop and some spandex fabric. So, since the science department is broke at our school, I went out into the world and found hula hoops and the fabric. I ran to several different places as no one place had everything that I needed. I ended up getting home at 7:15.What I failed to mention in my first post was the amount of outside work that a teacher puts into their job. I am always looking to make things better, and as some of you that read this are aware, I can be a little bit of a perfectionist with some things. I spend and research hours trying to prepare the best lesson that I can, which most of the time requires me to be creative with the resources that I have. There is nothing more challenging then trying to find the best way to demonstrate why planets orbit a star or any other concept to a bunch of kids that have never really been exposed to it before.
I have a friend who teacher English that spends most of her time creating really innovative lessons. She has a Masters in curriculum development and excels at creating things that I would even like to do. Her last really cool lesson was a comic book to summarize the opening letters of Frankenstein. She incorporates film and music into her lessons on a regular basis. She is really good at what she does. I am not as inventive but feel just as determined to give the kids the best bang for their parent's dollar. Afterall the parents are paying us to teach their child something useful, it might as well be educational and fun for all involved. She comes up with these cool lessons, and other friends that I have that work themselves to the bone for Yearbook or for Math UIL. These are dedicated people, but these teachers are worried about their jobs. The government has decided that it needs to pull funding, and because of teacher's contracts only the tenured teachers are safe. The younger teachers, the teachers that spend hours trying to get everything to work after school and stay late for tutorials, are the ones on the chopping block.
I came into education to make a difference. To provide a civil service, but also to give that one kid a spark that says that he or she likes Science and could see themselves in it as a career. We have all had a good teacher that has impacted us in our life. I have had several that have stuck out, including a young government teacher that allowed me to step outside the box for my projects. He embraced creativity and made government fun.
Think for a second about the teacher that made the most difference in your life. Did that teacher make an impact on you and how you felt about school? I am not saying that I am a great teacher, by no means do I qualify to say that, but I am saying that I have the drive to be a good one. My friend that is an English teacher is a good teacher, and is on her way to greatness. She needs the security of knowing that her job is safe. Lessons are hard to write. They require work and a little effort outside of the normal school day. Some teachers don't bother. Some feel that the lesson they taught for the last 5 years is good enough, or a simple 5 minutes before class starts is all you need. For me, and for others, it is the strive to get perfection that will motivate us to always change our lesson and make it better. If the younger teachers that have that drive go, who will bring that determination and that passion into the classroom?
Thanks for Reading, and have a good night
The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have a friend who teacher English that spends most of her time creating really innovative lessons. She has a Masters in curriculum development and excels at creating things that I would even like to do. Her last really cool lesson was a comic book to summarize the opening letters of Frankenstein. She incorporates film and music into her lessons on a regular basis. She is really good at what she does. I am not as inventive but feel just as determined to give the kids the best bang for their parent's dollar. Afterall the parents are paying us to teach their child something useful, it might as well be educational and fun for all involved. She comes up with these cool lessons, and other friends that I have that work themselves to the bone for Yearbook or for Math UIL. These are dedicated people, but these teachers are worried about their jobs. The government has decided that it needs to pull funding, and because of teacher's contracts only the tenured teachers are safe. The younger teachers, the teachers that spend hours trying to get everything to work after school and stay late for tutorials, are the ones on the chopping block.
I came into education to make a difference. To provide a civil service, but also to give that one kid a spark that says that he or she likes Science and could see themselves in it as a career. We have all had a good teacher that has impacted us in our life. I have had several that have stuck out, including a young government teacher that allowed me to step outside the box for my projects. He embraced creativity and made government fun.
Think for a second about the teacher that made the most difference in your life. Did that teacher make an impact on you and how you felt about school? I am not saying that I am a great teacher, by no means do I qualify to say that, but I am saying that I have the drive to be a good one. My friend that is an English teacher is a good teacher, and is on her way to greatness. She needs the security of knowing that her job is safe. Lessons are hard to write. They require work and a little effort outside of the normal school day. Some teachers don't bother. Some feel that the lesson they taught for the last 5 years is good enough, or a simple 5 minutes before class starts is all you need. For me, and for others, it is the strive to get perfection that will motivate us to always change our lesson and make it better. If the younger teachers that have that drive go, who will bring that determination and that passion into the classroom?
Thanks for Reading, and have a good night
The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Because the world is not enough
We are working to compete in an ever connected world. Recently earthquakes rocked Japan, and the price for oil dropped here because of it. Stock markets had huge losses all over the world.The US has moved from a country that was pretty much on it's own to one that is part of a wide and diverse economy. This simple global economic connection is something that I find truly fascinating. Today we are faced with a virtual Mount Everest in education, how do you prepare the kids for an economy that is just as affected by what happens in Japan as in Louisiana? There is not an easy answer for this. In yesterday's post I talked about what happens to us when we start making concessions for our kids and not hold them to the same standards that society holds them to. Today, I want to pose a simple question. If we are so connected via an economy, is it not reasonable to think that our actions in education will have an impact on the world? My best weapon in preparing them is to show the kids that patience and determination are the keys to being a prosperous individual in our society.
My Astronomy class today dealt with black holes and used the Hubble space telescope website. This lab consisted of several steps and questions to answer along the way. It used this website as a learning tool and lab since it is a little difficult to create a black hole in the lab. Some of these questions made them think, which they shy away from. I would go even farther and say that some of them required you to take information on the website and make inferences. Most kid's raised their hands and asked questions, so that I could give them stem questions, and hopefully they would then provide me an acceptable answer. Some kids went to Google, and had trouble sifting through that minefield and others just gave up. This to to me highlights a fundamental problem with our education system. Students need to be able to think and act for themselves, take information that is given to them and make something out of it. The simple quest for knowledge has been one that has moved us forward as a species, and has made America the country that it is today. I am doing all I can to challenge them, as are a lot of my colleagues at the senior level. At some point everyone from kindergarten to first grade must be on board. In my last class for the day I had a kid actually say "I got really frustrated with the website." I asked him why, and he said "because it would ask me a question, and I would look at the website and read everything but not be able to find an answer to it." Others told me that the assignment was too hard. This is not the first lab that they have been given to do, and definitely not the first time that they have been asked to think for themselves.
This exchange did highlight the massive job as educators that the community has. For these kids to be successful members of our society we have to constantly challenge them, and push them to use their minds. We need an education system that emphasizes this from the beginning. This ever changing economy that we live in is creating a world that expects us to make decisions and come up with solutions to problems on the fly. As a country we should be focusing more on asking the question "how can we make this better?" As John F Kennedy said about the mission to the moon "we do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard." Our mission to the moon in education is helping mold a child that can think for themselves. I am dedicated to trying to make this better, dedicated to trying to prepare the kid's for their inevitable role as leaders of tomorrow. Our responsibility to produce productive members of society is not just important to America but important to the world.
Until tomorrow,
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
John Dewey
My Astronomy class today dealt with black holes and used the Hubble space telescope website. This lab consisted of several steps and questions to answer along the way. It used this website as a learning tool and lab since it is a little difficult to create a black hole in the lab. Some of these questions made them think, which they shy away from. I would go even farther and say that some of them required you to take information on the website and make inferences. Most kid's raised their hands and asked questions, so that I could give them stem questions, and hopefully they would then provide me an acceptable answer. Some kids went to Google, and had trouble sifting through that minefield and others just gave up. This to to me highlights a fundamental problem with our education system. Students need to be able to think and act for themselves, take information that is given to them and make something out of it. The simple quest for knowledge has been one that has moved us forward as a species, and has made America the country that it is today. I am doing all I can to challenge them, as are a lot of my colleagues at the senior level. At some point everyone from kindergarten to first grade must be on board. In my last class for the day I had a kid actually say "I got really frustrated with the website." I asked him why, and he said "because it would ask me a question, and I would look at the website and read everything but not be able to find an answer to it." Others told me that the assignment was too hard. This is not the first lab that they have been given to do, and definitely not the first time that they have been asked to think for themselves.
This exchange did highlight the massive job as educators that the community has. For these kids to be successful members of our society we have to constantly challenge them, and push them to use their minds. We need an education system that emphasizes this from the beginning. This ever changing economy that we live in is creating a world that expects us to make decisions and come up with solutions to problems on the fly. As a country we should be focusing more on asking the question "how can we make this better?" As John F Kennedy said about the mission to the moon "we do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard." Our mission to the moon in education is helping mold a child that can think for themselves. I am dedicated to trying to make this better, dedicated to trying to prepare the kid's for their inevitable role as leaders of tomorrow. Our responsibility to produce productive members of society is not just important to America but important to the world.
Until tomorrow,
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
John Dewey
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Bills, Bills, Bills
It is no secret that everyone has their own way to fix education. Ask anyone and they have an answer. Some say that private education is the answer, or a public education system that is closer to Europe or China. These varied opinions make their way to the state, and eventually some of those are turned into potential laws. Everyone wants to improve the experience that out kids have while they spend 13 years in school, so we naturally build laws to improve their experience.
A recent Star Telegram article talked about a few laws that are on the table to help with education. The article talks mainly about a minimum grade law. This is a new law that was implemented for this school year and mandates that there should not be a minimum grade forced on teachers by a district. What is that you ask? Well, a good example is that you have a kid take a test and get a 25. They have scored a 25 on everything and get an average of a 25 for the grading period. Some districts use to mandate that you give that child a 50 or a 60 so they have a chance to pass the class. This extends even above tests and goes to progress reports, report card grades, and even final semester grades. Before this law was passed it was impossible to get below a 50 in a class for the 1st or the 4th grading period in my district. Teachers are divided on whether this is a good thing, but a minimum grade was the policy at most districts for a long time . Districts have challenged this law and taken the state to court to prevent this from applying to tests, report cards, and progress reports. Now the state has a law on the table that says you cannot force a teacher to give a minimum grade on anything.
Districts are pushing back, they are passing their own regulations to allow students to retake tests to get that coveted 70. Your failure rate has always been important, but you are counseled if it is to high, and ask to create an intervention plan for the failing students. These get around the issue, not requiring a minimum grade, but label you as a "bad teacher" if you fail to play by the district rules. Should we enact these regulations at the district level to protect the kids from teachers that are out to get them?
Why do districts go through the trouble; why do they not let the kid's fail? The answer comes down to parents. Texas passes a law that says that it is not a requirement to have minimum grade and a kid can get a 25 in a class and fails that class. The teacher has a class full of kids that did not turn in a research project and fails 25% of the kids in her class. The district then has to deal with the parents. The most popular phone or email response by a parent is "why is my kid failing your class he or she has never made less than a B in any class before." If you go to a store and buy a TV and it does not work you talk to the salesman. If he cannot help you, then you go up the chain until someone can. Parent's use this same tactic with their kid's classes. It is at this point that instead of fixing the issue and pushing education that most districts give up and put sanctions on teachers avoiding the issue of failure entirely. I love random statistics, so let me throw one out there now. 25% of kids that start college actually finish it. This was a study done by the College board to tout the importance of having kids in at least one AP class. (If you want the study I can send it to you.)
We have become a nation that has asked not "what did I do," but "why did you do that to me." Kid's do not ask "what can I do to be better," but instead "why did you fail me." Parents call assistant principals, academic deans, and teachers to call them out and declare them bad at their job. I think that everyone should have a chance to turn their life around, to become someone better, but it is a delicate balance between a way of redemption and one of excuses.
Thanks for reading, check the article out as it some other laws in it that are insane!
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
A recent Star Telegram article talked about a few laws that are on the table to help with education. The article talks mainly about a minimum grade law. This is a new law that was implemented for this school year and mandates that there should not be a minimum grade forced on teachers by a district. What is that you ask? Well, a good example is that you have a kid take a test and get a 25. They have scored a 25 on everything and get an average of a 25 for the grading period. Some districts use to mandate that you give that child a 50 or a 60 so they have a chance to pass the class. This extends even above tests and goes to progress reports, report card grades, and even final semester grades. Before this law was passed it was impossible to get below a 50 in a class for the 1st or the 4th grading period in my district. Teachers are divided on whether this is a good thing, but a minimum grade was the policy at most districts for a long time . Districts have challenged this law and taken the state to court to prevent this from applying to tests, report cards, and progress reports. Now the state has a law on the table that says you cannot force a teacher to give a minimum grade on anything.
Districts are pushing back, they are passing their own regulations to allow students to retake tests to get that coveted 70. Your failure rate has always been important, but you are counseled if it is to high, and ask to create an intervention plan for the failing students. These get around the issue, not requiring a minimum grade, but label you as a "bad teacher" if you fail to play by the district rules. Should we enact these regulations at the district level to protect the kids from teachers that are out to get them?
Why do districts go through the trouble; why do they not let the kid's fail? The answer comes down to parents. Texas passes a law that says that it is not a requirement to have minimum grade and a kid can get a 25 in a class and fails that class. The teacher has a class full of kids that did not turn in a research project and fails 25% of the kids in her class. The district then has to deal with the parents. The most popular phone or email response by a parent is "why is my kid failing your class he or she has never made less than a B in any class before." If you go to a store and buy a TV and it does not work you talk to the salesman. If he cannot help you, then you go up the chain until someone can. Parent's use this same tactic with their kid's classes. It is at this point that instead of fixing the issue and pushing education that most districts give up and put sanctions on teachers avoiding the issue of failure entirely. I love random statistics, so let me throw one out there now. 25% of kids that start college actually finish it. This was a study done by the College board to tout the importance of having kids in at least one AP class. (If you want the study I can send it to you.)
We have become a nation that has asked not "what did I do," but "why did you do that to me." Kid's do not ask "what can I do to be better," but instead "why did you fail me." Parents call assistant principals, academic deans, and teachers to call them out and declare them bad at their job. I think that everyone should have a chance to turn their life around, to become someone better, but it is a delicate balance between a way of redemption and one of excuses.
Thanks for reading, check the article out as it some other laws in it that are insane!
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Monday, March 21, 2011
Back in the groove and did they really say that?
Today was a long day, not only was last week the beginning of daylight savings time, but it was the first day back from spring break. A little while ago Fox News ran some rather unflattering reports of what a teacher's day looked like. Apparently, both Fox News and the Tea Party (both of which I use to be supporters of) believe that I spend only 1/2 my day at my job and the rest sipping courvoisier in my smoking jacket. OK, maybe I embellished a little bit, the smoking jacket was over the top. So without further adeu here is what my day consisted of.
5:25 am I woke up. Not quite bright eyed and bushy tailed, but at least I was out of bed. Frankly I rise like most zombies do crawling out of the sheets groaning at how early it is and my need for brains.
6:15 am I am picking my friend up that needs a ride as he and his wife only have one car, sipping on coffee trying to wake myself up. (Not a morning person)
6:25 am I arrive at work and head up to my room. From roughly 6:25 to 7:00 I spend on getting my grades done because today is progress report day. Usually this time is spent getting ready for the day. Putting on the war paint, arming myself with knowledge.
7:00 I work on getting what I am teaching for the day done because at 7:30 it is time to start.
From 7:30 to 11:45 I do not take a break, or stop until I take lunch. This means that I do not even check email. What I do is teach (a rather broad term) Today I taught my astronomy classes what is a Neutron Star, Pulsar, and we defined some properties for each. In Physics we starting talking about electricity (creating simple circuits and introducing them to the wonderful world of Van der Graaf generators and the Mrs Frankenstein hairdo.
11:45 to 12:45 Lunch. Finally a break that I use to check email, look into my afternoon schedule as I have AP Physics and that requires some serious brainpower.
12:45 to 2:45 Finish teaching my classes and at 2:45 take a deep breath (one more day down)
2:45 to 4:00 Check email, look into tomorrow's plan, and see how I stack up with my lesson plan that I had to file last week.
So you look at this and you do the math (this was actually an eary day for me as most days I stay until 4:30 or 5. I started work at 6:30 and worked until 4 that is 9 and a half hours subtract the hour for lunch and that is 8 and a half hours.
I often think about this job as it compares to my last one (a product manager for a pertrochemical company). What I come up with is that I work twice as hard, there are no 1 or 2 hour meetings (no breaks to go get a soda, and definately no lunch time trips to cheesecake factory. I am just saying that when people make rash generilizations about how long someone works they need to do their homework. The only teachers that I know that go home at 2:45 are those that have an appointment, or those that have not changed their class in years and do the same thing over and over again.
And now for something completely different:......
Until tomorrow let me leave you with this quote:
"Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their concerns are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. "
Franklin D. Roosevelt
5:25 am I woke up. Not quite bright eyed and bushy tailed, but at least I was out of bed. Frankly I rise like most zombies do crawling out of the sheets groaning at how early it is and my need for brains.
6:15 am I am picking my friend up that needs a ride as he and his wife only have one car, sipping on coffee trying to wake myself up. (Not a morning person)
6:25 am I arrive at work and head up to my room. From roughly 6:25 to 7:00 I spend on getting my grades done because today is progress report day. Usually this time is spent getting ready for the day. Putting on the war paint, arming myself with knowledge.
7:00 I work on getting what I am teaching for the day done because at 7:30 it is time to start.
From 7:30 to 11:45 I do not take a break, or stop until I take lunch. This means that I do not even check email. What I do is teach (a rather broad term) Today I taught my astronomy classes what is a Neutron Star, Pulsar, and we defined some properties for each. In Physics we starting talking about electricity (creating simple circuits and introducing them to the wonderful world of Van der Graaf generators and the Mrs Frankenstein hairdo.
11:45 to 12:45 Lunch. Finally a break that I use to check email, look into my afternoon schedule as I have AP Physics and that requires some serious brainpower.
12:45 to 2:45 Finish teaching my classes and at 2:45 take a deep breath (one more day down)
2:45 to 4:00 Check email, look into tomorrow's plan, and see how I stack up with my lesson plan that I had to file last week.
So you look at this and you do the math (this was actually an eary day for me as most days I stay until 4:30 or 5. I started work at 6:30 and worked until 4 that is 9 and a half hours subtract the hour for lunch and that is 8 and a half hours.
I often think about this job as it compares to my last one (a product manager for a pertrochemical company). What I come up with is that I work twice as hard, there are no 1 or 2 hour meetings (no breaks to go get a soda, and definately no lunch time trips to cheesecake factory. I am just saying that when people make rash generilizations about how long someone works they need to do their homework. The only teachers that I know that go home at 2:45 are those that have an appointment, or those that have not changed their class in years and do the same thing over and over again.
And now for something completely different:......
Did they really say that?
Any person that has ever walked the earth knows that you are often unwilling to start work after a break, imagine for a second 6 classes of at least 25 people that do not want to start or for that matter even continue working on Science. This combined with the conversations that I heard all day about how kid's spring breaks went really start to wear you down. Perhaps I was sheltered, or was just nieve, but I do not remember talking with my friends about getting wasted over the weekend in high school within earshot of the teacher. I like to remind them sometimes that I do in fact have ears. A few notable things that I heard today "got wasted" was a popular one, as well as "got high," and what I really loved was "I have not had to work today so far so I am looking to keep up the streak." These kids enjoy parting and who can blame them, but when it comes to education there is really not much emphasis. Often I was met with resistance because I wanted them to work. I teach seniors that all say they are college bound, but their work ethic is just not there. My question to everyone is what have we done wrong, and what can we do to fix it?Until tomorrow let me leave you with this quote:
"Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their concerns are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. "
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Welcome: A mission statement
Two years ago in February something fundemental happened to me that would forever change my life, I was laid off. So I began a journey that started my evaluation of whether the job that I had or the career that I was in was in fact right for me. This soul searching, gut wrenching, process lasted 3 months until May of 2009. I decided that I was going to go into the world of education and become a high school science teacher, something that deep down I had always wanted to do. It was this decision that has really changed my life for the better, and helped to push me where I needed to be. This has given me a unique perspective into education. I spent almost 4 years in the young corporate culture, and then moved to the world of education. For those of you that are not familiar with it it is an entirely different animal. Tomorrows posting will cover what it is like to be on the front lines.
So, my goal is to take this unique picture of the world and to relate stories to everyone whether they are in education or not. I want to help others understand what teachers get right, and help expose what we get wrong. I ask you to join with me as I share with you the daily life of a teacher, how do our decisions impact children and teachers, what are unions and how do they hurt or help. We hear so much in the media, Fox News, CNN, and everyone seem to have an expert yet I have not seen one of them have a teacher on to talk about the issues. Each day I will post with a topic and a little story from the day to help you understand what it is really like on the front lines. Feel free to comment, as I am working to try and make the system better, through discourse we open ourselves up to new ideas and experiences.
So, my goal is to take this unique picture of the world and to relate stories to everyone whether they are in education or not. I want to help others understand what teachers get right, and help expose what we get wrong. I ask you to join with me as I share with you the daily life of a teacher, how do our decisions impact children and teachers, what are unions and how do they hurt or help. We hear so much in the media, Fox News, CNN, and everyone seem to have an expert yet I have not seen one of them have a teacher on to talk about the issues. Each day I will post with a topic and a little story from the day to help you understand what it is really like on the front lines. Feel free to comment, as I am working to try and make the system better, through discourse we open ourselves up to new ideas and experiences.
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