Stimulus

The big, bad stimulus package has been approved and should be showing up at a school near you.  In the meantime our localities have already begun to hunker down for the economic storm.  In my area this means buying out veteran teachers who are near retirement.  In some areas that means teachers with as little as TEN years experience.  Other economic factors have been drawing experienced teachers away from the area for years.  Most notably, nearby districts that pay sometimes one-third more in salaries which makes driving daily out of the hometown an attractive prospect.  

OR, even more horrible than than losing teachers - headlines have been made because localities want to cut SPORTS - (gasp!)

But back to stimulus.  I'm particularly interested in tracking the plans for the 4.3 billion earmarked for Professional Development.  From the White House website, it looks like most of it is planned for mentoring new teachers.  I'd like to see a comprehensive PD program that imbeds continual learning in the job, close to students and teachers, and geared to improving the work of both - with time provided.  Time does cost money so the money will be needed to make big changes.

For those unfamiliar, right now PD is a grapeshot affair.  Teachers elect to chose their own PD because they often have to pay for some or all of it.  Not a happy prospect for those who can barely make ends meet as it is.  Additionally, teachers are rarely identified and subsequently encouraged to be potential leaders. Resultantly, buildings and systems can sometimes be led by those who hope to (either, both, or sometimes) just get out of the classroom, just take home higher pay, or actually make a difference.  Not a formula for getting the best and the brightest.

Worse yet, however, would be a trail of cronyism.  Board certification, by outside evaluators who are unaware of who is being evaluated, has been the best work-around to local politics.  It, too, has some drawbacks but I've yet to see a better plan.

Time Periods

We've been outlining the literary time periods in class, looking at historical events and the philosophic discussions of the time that emerge in literature and art.  A hopeful way of focusing on the big ideas rather than the details (which seem hard for my aging brain to hold on to anymore!).

Made me consider the eras I've lived through.

After a couple of  years it seemed clear that school children tend to distill the national conversation to broad axioms as they parrot what they hear at home - using pithy arguments to bolster their own when they are trying to make a point.  Looking back on 30 years, I see definite trends.

When I first taught in the late 70's, many kids would, at some point or another, declare "I've got my rights!"  I heard this many times from students, usually when they were in trouble over one infraction or another.  It was their version of the civil rights discussion.

Gone from the classroom through most of the 80's I have no idea what emerged as the comment-du-jour ("I want big hair!" ?)  but for the last dozen years I've heard the same refrain: "I want to be rich!"  If I had a dollar for every time a student stated this as their goal....  

Along with that statement was the unstated: "I'll be rich at any cost."  With the current meltdown, and the tide going out as Warren Buffet mentioned, it seems that many fortunes were made just that way: any way - cheating, inflating worth, passing the buck, etc. etc.  In the classroom cheating has soared as getting into a good college in order to get a good job and there fore get rich became the over arching goal.  Its been kinda hard to make the learning-for-learning's-sake argument when worth has been measured in dollars for so long.

I think this "I want to be rich" refrain has just come to a screeching halt.

The Big Apes

Nature's recent program on Snowflake the albino gorilla got me thinking about, you guessed it, school - and teenagers.  Yeah, I know, teens - apes ha, ha.  But actually, it made me think about my own unending need to be stimulated.

The caging of this snow white ape lead to big differences in how all our captive animals are treated.  

Anyone as old as I am can remember what sad places the zoos used to be.  Barren cages generally held slow moving, obviously bored, unhappy, and often unclean animals who stared at us as we stared back at them.  

The adoring throngs of this unusual gorilla could see the animal's obvious intelligence and that eventually led zoologists to spend millions constructing enclosures that mimicked a more natural habitat.  And, to supply the animal's need for variety and intellectual stimulation, feeding more resembled the animal's daily foraging activity and natural diet.  Instead of plopping all the food down at one prescribed time, food was varied and hidden so the animals had to look for it, feeding not only their bellies but their need to problem-solve and encounter both frustration and delight.

Hmmmm.......

I like those things too, big ape that I am.  My mind gets restless when all the problems are solved and I've fallen into routine.  That can easily slip into a low level depression which I kick out of by taking on some new challenge.

Hmmmm......

Teens sometime stare dumbly back at us, suffer depression, look for stimulation in the wrong places (speed, alcohol, drugs, etc.).   Hmmm..... maybe school needs to more resemble their natural habitat.

Choice is one of the ways kids can get re-engaged in intellectual problem-solving - so is inquiry based learning.  Bubble sheets?  Not so much.

Snow Day

After working in the private sector (part time between teaching appointments) I have come to appreciate snow days even more. One day the boss calls off work. Its amazing. For the kids it is, undoubtedly, the best days of the year. Few of them use the time to catch up on the school work that sometimes grinds them down in their hyper-preparation for college. It is as if everyone goes into suspended animation.
The American personality is one of a workaholic- until these magic days. I've often wondered, if we can all call it quits every-once-in-awhile is it really necessary to move at the breakneck speed we usually assume? Are we all as important as we think we are? Our schools do little to keep kids from thinking that all work and no play is the national expectation. Or else why would we pay any attention to this study?

Inauguration Day

Today is a school day. I walked my usual route an hour later since snow has delayed the school opening. Because of the delay, the tests that were originally scheduled -high stakes, end-of-course tests for many of our students - have been postponed. A light snow fell yesterday covering over all the rough places as only new snow can, making them a shimmering, blanket of white. The sun is shining. The air is cold and clear.
Providence is at work.
At least that is the way I choose to view these serendipitous events that make it possible for our students to view history being made. Our first African American President is being sworn in at noon.
My students need to see this.
I need to see this.
It is the culmination of all the reasons we toil in classrooms every day, living the promise that is America. It is what I believe school is all about. Education: free to whomever wants it. Education: the great equalizer. We can BE our dreams.
I'm sure I'm going to cry today.
Though our new president has many hopes riding on his shoulders, I cannot bring myself to give up on the hope that this man will be an icon for so many of the disenfrachised youth we serve, those who have shown up for school, but for whatever reason, have been unable to take what is there for the claiming. If he does nothing else, my hope is that the representation of dreams realized through his presidency will inspire legions of children to take their place in creating a better world. It is the lesson I learned as a child in school. I want it to be true for all of our children.
Today, the lesson is: We Are One

Sidwell Friends

So...the President-Elect's children started in a new school yesterday. Everyone can relate to that. As an instructor of journalism I would have never taken a pass on this story. It has everything: cute kids, timeliness, wide appeal to every parent, pathos - all you need to build reader interest.

But this is a special school - a private one. Sidwell Friends is a Quaker school. (As a disclaimer, it is not far from where I grew up. My first cousin sent all five of her children there. Three attended the school while Chelsea Clinton was in attendance.) If I were President of the United States with a ten and seven-year-old child I would NEVER consider sending my children to a public school, so I don't fault the Obamas for their decision. I would make the same one. The safety of my children would supercede any other consideration - including how it might be perceived by the general public. I also applaud Obama for setting a great example for parents everywhere - arranging your work schedule around what is best for your children and making sure they had a smooth beginning to an important transition.

But President Obama has stated publicly that he wants the same thing for every child that he wants for his own: a good education with well trained teachers. Ever wonder what that is?

The Sidwell Friends website states a philosophy that fits with what I would want for all the children that I serve now. For instance: The faculty works to instill a feeling of self-worth and self-confidence in each student while also requiring that he or she recognize the needs of others. The atmosphere is relaxed and informal with a balance between freedom and discipline.

And: All classes, with the exception of one third grade class and one fourth grade class, have team teachers. Individual class sizes range from one teacher for every ten students in the lower grades to one teacher for every sixteen students in some fourth grade classes.

And: We offer these students a rich and rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum designed to stimulate creative inquiry, intellectual achievement and independent thinking in a world increasingly without borders.

Out of curiosity, I put the word "tests" in their search engine and could find no schedule of standardized testing with the exception of the SAT test. Sidwell serves as a testing site for the area.

The school sounds wonderful. The Quakers have always believed in quiet reflection and serving the surrounding community. I think all schools should be like that. In addition, there are many PDF files attached with great information on what to expect from developing children. My favorite was an outline on how to stretch teenagers without stressing them since academic pressures have an inverse effect on a teenager's well being.

Sigh.

Check it out here for yourself if you want to know what the President would like for every child in the United States. They are currently advertising for two PE teachers and an Art teacher ;-)

No gas

If you want to feel ten years old again, ride a bike. Its like flying! On the bike, you re-live that free feeling you had when school was out, the air was fresh, and all you had to do to escape was hop on the bike and take off.
That's what I've been doing every day. I ride a bike to school. It takes about two minutes, max. Really. I have to pedal up one hill and then glide down to the school. And since school is still under renovation, and somebody dragged away the bike racks, I take the bike inside the ground floor door, down the hall, up the elevator and park it in my room.
That's been an interesting experiment.
For three weeks the bike has sat in the room along one side. Most students have paid it little attention. Probably because they haven't noticed it. Here's how its gone:
Third block, after two weeks: "Hey! There's a bike in here! What's that bike for?"
Fourth block, week three: "That bike's in here every day. What's that for? Do you ride that bike?"
"Yes. I've been riding my bike to school."
Muttering to himself, "I could ride my bike to school."
I like the idea of modeling a healthy lifestyle and an alternative to the fuel crisis. Teaching doesn't have to end at paragraphing and punctuation.
It also reminds me that I used to teach my journalism students to be good observers of their environment. Especially if they wanted to be good reporters. To show them what they'd miss, I'd put box right in the entrance to the door. Students couldn't get into the room without stepping over it, around it, or moving it out of the way.
After the usual starting routine to class I would quiz them: "What kind of box was in the doorway?"
EVERY time I did the exercise, the response of the students was: "What box?"
Amazing.