teaching

A Nation Still at Risk: Real Education Reform Needed Now

Victor Lana — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:34:00 -0700

In 1983 the landmark publication of the report A Nation at Risk seemed to shake our nation from its slumber regarding the scary truth about education in America. It detailed how there were serious problems in schools in this country and recommended fixes for what ailed schools. Unfortunately, twenty-eight years later there are still many things that are wrong in education, despite George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind program and President Barack Obama's drive to improve our nation's schools.

Recently Mr. Obama said, "In the 21st century, it's not enough to leave no child behind. We need to help every child get ahead. We need to get every child on a path to academic excellence." Of course, that is a terrific sound bite, but we have to wonder if it has teeth. We have to see real proactive measures taking place here and now, not in some nebulous and undefined future place.

The problem now is that there are too many schools seen as "failing" schools. This number continues to rise. Here in New York City, there have been schools closed because of failing grades. New ones (especially Mayor Michael Bloomberg's darling charter schools) have risen to take their place, but students are still struggling. Statistics are not conclusive about the effects of smaller schools (like charters), but the reality is that more schools than ever before are seen as failing here in New York (and across the country). As the state looks to make evaluation of teachers more stringent, and with the new Common Core Standards looming, it is likely that more than ever before we will be faced with schools that are seen as lacking or failing.

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What is actually wrong with our schools? An easy out is for one to look to the classrooms and blame teachers. For me, this is what is wrong with what has been happening for years. Instead of addressing many other larger and more important concerns, the easy fix has always been to target the teacher and look for ways to replace him or her. Things like "merit pay" or tying teacher evaluations to standardized test scores only exacerbate this problem.

"Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world." Sound familiar? These are the opening words of the 1983 report. It is worth noting that this was a time before the Internet connected world of today; the time of the Soviet Union and other supposedly nefarious countries and people wanting to destroy us. This was pre-September 11th and all the concerns of terrorism that haunt us now. If I didn't know those words were written in 1983, I'd wager they were composed yesterday about our current state of education and place in the world.

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And things are not getting better. A Nation at Risk cited some very mind-numbing statistics, including 23 million functionally illiterate adults, 13 percent functionally illiterate 17 year olds, 17 year olds lacking "higher order" thinking skills, and American students many times placing last amongst the nations of the world in achievement (based on data from other industrialized nations). Today about 45 million adults are functionally illiterate, so despite an increase in the nation's overall population, it is apparent that the warnings of this Reagan-era report were not in any ways tangibly effective, nor has No Child Left Behind and the current efforts of President Obama's administration.

Why is this happening? If standards are increasingly more stringent, shouldn't we have an upturn in achievement? Where is the smoking gun in the death of what once was the finest education system in the world? The answer is that American education has been undone by endless bureaucratic minutiae, the drive for testing without a concern for other meaningful instruction, and a feeling like the baby has already been thrown out with the bath water, so why not just give up on the baby?

The most terrifying thing about No Child Left Behind wasn't that it didn't work very well, but rather that it worked at all. While it seems Bush's mandate on the surface should have been a good thing (who can argue with an "all children can learn" philosophy?), the problem is that while all children should learn, many of them learn differently. The core problem is that differentiated instruction is not at the heart of many of these initiatives, and the only way that all kids are going to learn is via it.

The reality is that now students are not reading, writing, listening, or speaking any more than they did in school back in 1983; in fact, with the Internet, video games, i-Pods, cell phones, and a host of other electronic distractions, they are probably doing much less of this. Reading a story? Reading a poem? Reading a complete book? The harsh reality - and I have asked students about this - is that many students have not read a book from cover to cover by the time they are in eighth grade. This slap in the face may be news to some of you, but couple that with less time for homework due to more time needed for texting and video horseplay, and you can get an idea of how high the deck is stacked against us.

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Some teachers are definitely the problem too. Many are not comfortable with reading long selections (let alone writing long responses). I have spoken to English teachers who have never taught writing because they are intimidated (or too afraid to mark the papers because they themselves are not sure about grammar). That is indicative of the greater problem: teacher preparation is not what it should be in this country, and because of that prospective teachers, students, and current teachers continue to suffer.

Since we are still indeed a nation at risk in terms of education, what can we do to turn things around? There are no easy answers, but someone has to be honest here. It is one thing to say a child is going to learn; it is another thing to get him or her to do it. Overwhelming teachers with standardized tests that are unrealistic, poorly constructed, and yield terrible results is one of the biggest issues. Making teachers drop their normal curriculum to teach to the test is another. Of course, in a world ruled by the test makers, the exception is becoming the rule: teaching to the test has become a normal part of the day in many classrooms.

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Teachers want to keep their jobs, so they understand the game, but there is much more at stake than districts being able to gush about their high test scores. High test scores are nothing more than window dressing. You can very likely dig under them and find nothing of substance beneath. This is because in teaching to the test teachers are training students to take that instrument and succeed. This has nothing to do with higher order thinking, with true understanding of concepts, or a lifelong affinity for the learning process. When a teacher is done grinding the students into standardized test robots for one year, they are not going to retain much of anything for next year, which means the rote process of teaching to the specific test has to start all over again. In that type of scenario, when does the real teaching ever get accomplished?

If so many adults are functionally illiterate, there must be a way to stop things and say, "This is criminal and this system is corrupt." Of course, I am not expecting that to happen today or tomorrow, or maybe even when all the agreements with standardized testing companies expire for these districts. But someone has got to stop the express train to disaster that we are all riding on right now. We will never stop being a nation at risk until people like the president and many others shake the education system to its core.
The best thing we can do is try to find time to teach instead of trying to find time to test.

We need to stop beating teachers into becoming slaves to the test scores, and we need students to be opened up to a wide range of possibilities beyond assessments. As a teacher I always loved teaching the subject; I never enjoyed sitting there and watching students take tests. We need to move away from that testing obsession and move toward multiple types of assessment that extend over weeks, months, or even whole semesters. We need to get back to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. We need to teach phonics and math and art and music and science, and then after all that the kids need to get on their gym clothes and run and play and compete on the field.

I have so much hope for American education because I know at the heart of this whole thing are the good teachers, the ones who want to make a difference. That's why any of us went into teaching in the first place. It was because we cared and we thought that the way to help the bigger picture was to smart small, in the classroom, one child at a time. In fact, that should be the name of Mr. Obama's new education initiative: One Child at a Time. In that way no one is left behind, everyone will be taught based on individual needs, differentiated instruction will be dynamic and meaningful, and we can move away from worrying about test scores.

Maybe we can one day say, "We are no longer a nation a nation at risk," but until that time we must do something meaningful about education and it has to be done now, not tomorrow or next month or next year. Now is the time, and the proverbial clock is ticking.

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Should Students Be Able to Grade Their Teachers?

Liz Dwyer | GOOD Magazine — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:21:00 -0700

My first year teaching in Compton, California, I asked some of my students who they thought was the meanest teacher in the school. The consensus was unanimous: "Ms. Wysinger is SO mean! She makes you do all your homework. If you don't, you miss your recess. And she's always giving quizzes. And you can't talk in her class." After a few minutes of venting, the students conceded, "Yeah, I guess she's cool sometimes." I spent lots of time in Ms. Wysinger's room learning from her because indeed, she was serious about teaching—and her students' grades and test scores were correspondingly phenomenal. So when I recently read about a new teacher evaluation plan approved for the Memphis Public Schools where student opinions will now count for five percent, I couldn't help but wonder how students would mark the no-nonsense teachers like her.

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Student opinions are important, of course. An effective teacher is going to regularly take the pulse of her classroom to make sure all kids feel comfortable asking questions, feel like they're part of a classroom community, and feel respected and valued. But, when it comes to formal evaluation, it seems a little odd to give a children the responsibility of evaluating a teacher when they might not actually have the skill or the maturity to recognize a good one.

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Keith Williams, the president of the Memphis Teachers Association, told the local paper, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, that he wonders, "How well can a first- or second-grader do on this? Will it be favoritism? Will it be based on popularity or will it be some objective data?" It's a good question, and it certainly seems that some students might take advantage of the fact that they have the power to affect whether their teacher has a job. Can't you just hear an angry student telling her teacher, "I'm going to give you bad marks on your evaluation!"?

It would be better to have a principal observe the interactions between teachers and students, and poll parents about their children's experiences. However, Memphis says they can't include parent opinions because they don't have accurate contact information for most of them. Really? Maybe instead of asking students to grade their teachers, getting on top of connecting parents to the classroom would be a better use of time and resources.

Of course, I asked my fourth-grade son what he thinks of this and he disagrees with me. He believes that students would be fair and would be able to help get "the bad or mean teachers" out of the classroom. I can't help but wonder if he'd consider Ms. Wysinger one of the mean teachers and give her low marks, thus helping usher an incredibly effective educator out the door.

Talk back in this discussion now.

Liz is GOOD's education editor. She taught in Guangzhou, China and Compton, California, and worked for Teach For America. She's written for Good Housekeeping, Parenting and numerous online publications.

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Should Businesses Be Run Like Schools?

Ruby Payne — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:39:00 -0700

If businesses operated like schools, we would first need to break the United States into geographic areas. It would be the responsibility of the businesses in that area to hire every adult in the area between the ages of 18 and 65. The businesses would have to hire everyone: the medically fragile (and provide nursing care), the developmentally delayed, those with special needs, individuals who didn’t speak the language. This would include any adult with a drug addiction, criminal record, or mental illness—or who suffered abuse or was homeless.

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Furthermore, it would be the responsibility of the businesses to provide motivating work for each individual. For any individuals who could not speak the language, it would be the responsibility of the business to teach them. If it was an engineering company, all would need to be taught to be engineers, remediating those who needed it and providing enrichment activities for those who excelled.

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Childcare would need to be provided for those who had children, and lunch would have to be made available to everyone. It would be expected that the business would provide sports programs, music programs, and extra activities. If an employee was not motivated to work, it would be the responsibility of the business to find work that was motivating to the employee. No employee could be suspended for more than three days, unless he/she had a weapon, and then it would be necessary to have a hearing to truly expel the employee.

Each business would then be tested for its level of expertise. These results would be printed out and broadcast to the public for review and comment. And each employee would be tested by age for appropriate knowledge of that business. Never mind that the employee might be very talented in music. If it was an engineering firm, then the testing would be for engineering. If it was a music business and the employee was a gifted chef, it wouldn’t matter. He/she would be tested for music, not for crepes suzette flambé.

Businesses would be given a cutoff for the level of knowledge that each employee had. Businesses would be rated as an A, B, C, or D business based on the employees’ knowledge. (The productivity of the employee or what they could do would seldom if ever be tested. Only the knowledge base of the employee would be tested. It wouldn’t matter that there is a direct correlation between what you know and what you produce.) Businesses would then be identified as failing or exemplary. If a business was in a geographic zone where there happened to be an unusually high number of employees with strong resources, that business would be touted as exceptional.

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Each boss would be assigned 30 employees to oversee. They would all work in one room so he/she could watch them. Out of 30 employees, there could be five non-English-speaking individuals, two autistic employees, three developmentally delayed workers, four gifted individuals, two homeless adults, two bullies, five employees who only wanted to socialize (and had no desire to work), eight employees who were really interested in working and producing, and miscellaneous others.

If the bullies started a fight, work would be suspended until the matter could be addressed, the gifted would be assigned to help the developmentally delayed, and the autistic employees would periodically scream. But it would be the boss’s job to make sure all employees were working and loving the work. The boss wouldn’t be allowed to put anyone out of the room for any period of time. The boss would have to make a specialized plan for the special-needs employees and adapt the work to their individualized plans.

To govern each business, there would be an elected board of directors from that geographic area. This board would be elected by the individuals who were working in the geographic zone (who were also in the business). They could vote to generate more money for the business by raising taxes. Many times they would be reluctant to do so because it also would mean less money for them.

These elected individuals wouldn’t need to know anything about the business; they would only need to get elected. By the very nature of their election, they could then make the decisions about the business, even though they knew very little about it. They also could use their influence to get their relatives hired and promoted to better positions that paid more. In addition, they would make sure their favorite projects had business funds spent on them: sports facilities, lunches, music uniforms, etc.

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The board of directors also would hire and fire the business’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer. So if the CEO and COO did something the board members didn’t like, they would just fire them. This could be done because the CEO and COO didn’t come from that geographic zone. (Individuals could go to different zones for work; the business had to hire all of those in that zone who did not choose to go elsewhere for work.) Some boards would spend most of their time fighting each other, so very few substantive decisions would be made about the business.

Reports would be made and printed out in the newspapers and reported in the electronic media about how and why the businesses in America weren’t competitive in the global market. Comparisons would be made about the amount of subsidies the businesses got from the government. Managers and bosses would be verbally abused at every turn for failure to be competitive. Never mind that in other countries of the world businesses were allowed to operate differently. In other countries of the world, it wasn’t expected that businesses would employ everyone in their geographic zone—or that they would be responsible for the homeless, the mentally ill, the medically fragile, those with special needs. It also wouldn’t be expected that everyone in a given business would be engineers. Furthermore, in other countries of the world, if an employee created disturbances at work, he/she was fired. Most businesses elsewhere in the world were allowed to specialize and select.

The government could put pressure on the businesses by saying it was mostly the fault of the businesses that corporations in America weren’t competitive with others in the world. Managers and bosses would be to blame. Boards would be exempt from the blame as would the employees. The managers and the bosses would be videotaped to see how they interacted with the employees. Again, there would be little attempt to look at productivity—what the employees actually did. But the businesses would give a paper/pencil test to the employees to test their knowledge. Some of the employees would speak a different language, would have only been working in the business for a couple of months (anyone in the geographic zone had to be employed immediately), and perhaps could not even read the test—no matter.

If the United States were to adopt this model with corporations and businesses, think about how much money could be saved. No unemployment! No welfare! No prisons! Hospitals could make a profit on their emergency rooms because the corporations would be providing nurses. Never mind that the businesses themselves would be having difficulty making a profit. All the government would need to do is tell them the amount of profit they should have. If they failed to make that amount of money, the government could chastise them in the newspapers and the electronic media for their failure to turn a profit.

Last but not least, school people could serve as consultants to businesses and show them how to improve their profit margins. What a blessing that would be for the businesses of America.

The point is this: Schools are inclusive and relational. Businesses are competitive and autonomous.

It is almost impossible to make the two compatible. Is it even desirable?

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Teacher Accountability Does Not Equal Evaluations Tied to Test Scores

Victor Lana — Tue, 31 May 2011 08:29:00 -0700

Here in New York State, Governor Cuomo is making it his business to tie teacher evaluations to standardized test scores. The teacher’s union is fighting it, and well they should, because judging teachers on their students’ test scores is about as fair as judging Cuomo on the state’s economic condition. In both cases no one would get rehired, and that is because you are evaluating a person on things beyond his or her control.

As an educator, I welcome the drive for teacher accountability. Just like a doctor should be accountable for his patients, a teacher is responsible for the well-being of the whole child. Because of this, there should be a wide range of evaluative criteria used to give a teacher a formal review at the end of the year. What has the child accomplished in this classroom? Is there a portfolio of his or her work? How far has he or she come in speaking, listening, reading, and writing? What mathematics skills is he or she coming away with? And, perhaps most important of all, does the child leave that class more than ready for the next grade on a social as well as an academic level?

Assessments are fickle things. Over the years I have had parents come into my office upset about a child’s state test score. The child has always been an “A” student (this I know is true from his or her records). How could he or she have done so poorly on the state test? They are upset and don’t like the “stigma” of the child now needing “academic intervention” when he or she does so well otherwise, but the score makes it a requirement.

Why did this child do poorly on the state test? The answers are many. For one thing, a child can wake up and have a bad day. The child may not feel well; the instrument itself may be less than it should be; the day may have been too hot or cold, or maybe the child didn’t eat a full breakfast. The list can go on and on. One test given on one day is what it is: a measure of the child’s performance on that day. It should not be seen in the big picture as proof of the child’s total ability, and it certainly cannot be tied to a teacher’s evaluation with ramifications affecting employment.

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As an educator I have had many students return to see me over the years. I have also run into former students on the subway, at a Mets game, on Jones Beach, or even in a movie theatre. When I see them smiling, feel them shaking my hand and talking about my class affectionately, I know they are not thinking about what they got on an assessment ten or fifteen years ago. They are thinking fondly about an experience that goes well beyond the minutiae of state testing results being used by school districts for promotional purposes.

When I look back over my own years as a student, I have fond memories of certain teachers. You probably do too. The ones who made a lasting impression on me did so because of their ability to connect with me on many different tangible and intangible levels. I have no idea what score I had on tests in those classes, but I remember the profundity of the impact they had on my life.

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Even now I remember some of the things those teachers said (and have honestly used them myself in the classroom as a teacher). The impact of those words reverberate over time and space, affecting not just my life but the lives of my students and then, perhaps, the lives of many other students who may have some of my former students as teachers. The rock tossed into the pond comes to mind, and the ripples are memories that never fade. State assessments can also be compared to rocks, but ones thrown into the ocean – they sink to the bottom and are never thought about again.

Please let me say again that I believe in teacher accountability. This has to do with many things beyond preparing students for a state assessment every year. Teacher accountability has to do with knowing best practices (and using them); it entails intimate knowledge of the curriculum, state standards, and having the skills to deliver superior instruction. It also has to do with knowing that what happens in the classroom is not about the teacher but about the student and his or her success, but that success is fluid and should never be tied to one assessment given on one day, rather it should be based on a myriad of things that will gauge performance over an extended period.

Being a teacher is truly a calling, and the person who steps into a classroom must take on everything that came before him or her, all that is going on in the present, and needs to be aware of all things coming up ahead (like common core standards). Good teachers never stop learning and never stop doing, and I bet that the ones you remember most fondly probably never sat at a desk. You cannot teach from behind a desk any more than a doctor can operate from behind one.

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The message here is simple: make teachers accountable for things they are responsible for doing, but do not place the heft of unreasonable expectations tied to test scores on their shoulders. Evaluations of teachers should include many elements besides state assessment scores, and there should be a direct correlation between the students’ total accomplishments for the year and teacher ratings.

Using test scores is an obvious and poor attempt by New York State to try to rattle the union, get rid of teachers with higher salaries, and shape schools to resemble a corporate mentality that has no business being in education. Teachers are standing up for their rights here in New York, and it is time for the public to have awareness of the reality of what is happening.

I doubt that we will reach a time when former students go to a reunion and talk about their test scores instead of the great teachers they had; however, if that ever happens, then the governor’s push that is brewing now will have done more than just ruin the lives of many hard working teachers, it will be a travesty that changes the face of education in New York State in a nefarious and disastrous way forevermore.

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The Modern Educator is More Than a Teacher

Liz Dwyer | GOOD Magazine — Tue, 31 May 2011 08:28:00 -0700

Why do classrooms and schools operate almost the same way they did 100 years ago? A group of middle schoolers from the Dallas-Fort Worth area began asking themselves this question during a class discussion of Orson Scott Card's science fiction novel Ender's Game. More importantly, they began to wonder, "Could children, using the internet, have a dramatic impact on the world around them? Could they influence public opinion, and make a mark on their world?" Thus began "Education Evolution," a class video project that brings a student perspective to what's going wrong in the modern classroom, and offers up ideas of how it can be fixed.

The students began working on the project back in January, generating ideas, storyboarding scenes, and dividing the work into groups. When you watch the product of their months of work, the video above, it's easy to think they simply want more technology—more learning via laptops, tablet technology, and software—in classrooms. But it's also clear that they're clamoring for an end to a factory-based model of education. No more sitting in rows facing forward while a teacher lectures at a whiteboard, no more rote memorization and multiple choice testing. Instead, they want collaboration, learning driven by student interests, and project-based tasks.

But why listen to what a bunch of seventh and eighth graders think about schools? Their teacher, J. Fletcher, recently wrote on the project blog that his beliefs about teaching and learning have changed because of his students.

These students really are right. Educational needs aren’t the same as when I was in middle school twenty years ago. The modern educator is a facilitator, an organizer, and a guide—the modern educator is NOT a teacher. We are no longer (or should no longer be) in the business of giving information. The information is out there, easily grasped. It’s our job to present it to the students in a way that makes them want to learn themselves. That’s basically what this video—and this whole project—is about. We’re still using exactly the same methodologies—with, in some cases, niftier tools—that we used twenty (one hundred!) years ago. Lecture and listen. Drill and kill. Review and test, always test, again and again. Repeat with next unit. That was onerous and tired twenty years ago when I was a student. Why are we still using it now?

Fletcher and the students hope their video goes viral and that it sparks conversation and real change in the way teachers and schools operate.

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What Teachers Can Learn from Hip-Hop Culture

Liz Dwyer | GOOD Magazine — Tue, 24 May 2011 10:16:00 -0700

I love hip hop, and when I was a classroom teacher, pretty much all of my students loved hip hop, too. So it's not far fetched to suggest that teachers working with low-income black and brown kids could learn a thing or two from the genre.

At least, that's the thinking of teacher, hip-hop artist, and author Sam Seidel, who believes that "the brilliance that created hip hop music and culture offers crucial lessons for our education system." His upcoming book Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education suggests that instead of educators looking at their students through a deficit model—and listing out all the things wrong with them and the music they love—we need to incorporate hip hop's "culture, creativity, and entrepreneurship" into classrooms. After all, there's a reason why Jay-Z made it, and it's not just because he's a great lyricist.

What I especially appreciate about Seidel is that he believes teachers need to move past merely bringing in hip-hop lyrics to relate to students and should instead use the principles behind the music to catalyze student learning and entrepreneurship. Seidel breaks down his theories and provides examples of how this can work in the excellently animated video above. After watching it, I can't help but wonder, what it would really take to get more teachers to see hip hop—and student culture—as an asset instead of something negative that has to be left outside the classroom?

Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education from sam seidel on Vimeo.

Share below. What do you think your students can learn from the culture that surrounds them?

Why Twitter is a Teacher's Best Tool

Liz Dwyer | GOOD Magazine — Tue, 24 May 2011 10:12:00 -0700

Teachers are increasingly bringing the real-time communication power of Twitter into the classroom to help students learn. But I've come to the conclusion that it's great for helping teachers learn as well. Twitter has simply become one of the best places for teachers to collaborate, share solutions to common classroom problems, and discuss education policy. In fact, it might just be the best forum teachers have ever had.

As a classroom teacher I remember going across the hall to ask Mr. Sally for tips on getting kids to learn their times tables. His ideas were fine, but what if I'd been able to crowdsource my question to the global community of educators on Twitter? A teacher who engages with other educators on Twitter essentially has a 24/7 open door policy. Type the hashtag #edchat in the search box, and you'll see a real-time stream of discussion about an unlimited number of educational topics. It's pretty clear teachers are collaborating with each other by sharing solutions to their challenges—links to articles, resources and practical ideas:

Educators can also use Twitter to keep up with education policy. Before Twitter, educators often had no idea what the big players, like the Department of Education and the Secretary of Education, were up to on a daily basis. Now one can just scan the Twitter timelines of the DOE and the department's press secretary, Justin Hamilton. And it's not just a that teachers are able to stay up-to-date; there's also more conversation between educators and the DOE. In the wake of Arne Duncan's recent open letter to teachers expressing his appreciation for their hard work, which was not well received by many educators, teachers took to Twitter to let Hamilton know their displeasure. And, because of the nature of Twitter, he had to respond.

Not all teachers have totally embraced Twitter. Some are a little tech-phobic. Those that aren't are sometimes concerned about sharing information in public when their colleagues are getting fired for what they write on personal blogs and Facebook pages. If a teacher is honest about the challenges at her school—say she tweets about possible cheating on standardized tests—a vindictive administrator could make her life miserable for “airing dirty laundry.” But many avoid the pitfalls of public information-sharing by simply using anonymous identities on Twitter. And good for them. America's students deserve teachers who've been taught well themselves, and right now, Twitter is the best way for educators to get a continuing professional education.

photo (cc) via Flickr user Creative Tools

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Gates & Pearson Education Team Up for National Curriculum

Patrick R. Riccards — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:40:00 -0700

In case you missed it, about two weeks ago the Pearson Foundation announced that it was receiving funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create a national K-12 curriculum. Gates ponied up $3 million to have Pearson develop 24 courses, 11 in math and 13 in English-Language Arts. At the announcement, both foundations positioned it as the next logical step in the adoption of Common Core State Standards.

The announcement seemed to go over with a bit of a thud. First, it met some people's fears that a Common Core would undoubtedly lead to a common curriculum. And for the growing chorus that believes in local control and local decisionmaking, having bureaucrats in Washington (or even with a non-partisan foundation) determine what fifth grade math needed to look like on the third Tuesday of March just reeked of the nationalism folks have pushed back on for decades (or even since the creation of public education in the United States itself).

Others were concerned by the implications of Gates and Pearson Foundations working together. After all, was the Pearson Foundation simply developing curriculum, on Gates' dime, that the parent company, Pearson, would then turn around and sell? After all, who better to "align" with a common curriculum than the company perceived to develop the curriculum itself? Isn't it logical that Pearson's textbooks and PD and turnaround services and testing would then get the seal of approval from the Gates/Pearson Foundation partnership?

While the head of the Pearson Foundation told EdWeek "no firm exclusivity agreement" was in place with Pearson, it hardly takes a Ph.D. to realize that Pearson, and not McGraw-Hill or Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, would have the inside track to the Pearson Foundation's new course sequence.

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This, of course, followed on the heels of the Al Shanker Institute announcing its "Call for Common Content," what some saw as the siren song for a national curriculum (but which Eduflack saw as more of a muddying between standards and curriculum).

If the Shanker Institute was the serve from the left, we now, most certainly, have the return from the right. Over the weekend, the K12 Innovation Manifesto was released. Citing concerns with national assessment consortia, national curriculum guidelines, national curriculum models, and national curriculum materials, the group objects to "transferring power to Washington, DC." Specifically, the latest group to weigh in on the nationalization of American education highlights:

* There is no constitutional or statutory basis for national standards, national assessments, or national curricula

* There is no consistent evidence that a national curriculum leads to high academic achievement

* The national standards on which the administration is planning to base a national curriculum are inadequate

* There is no body of evidence for a "best" design for curriculum sequences in any subject

* There is no evidence to justify a single high school curriculum for all students

This latest manifesto is led by Bill Evers, the former assistant secretary for policy in President George W. Bush's Education Department. Signatories include names like Doug Carnine, John Chubb, Will Fitzhugh, Jay Greene, Charles Miller, Grover Norquist, John Silber, Sandra Stotsky, Bob Sweet, Abigail Thernstrom, and Richard Vedder. (So it is safe to say we won't be seeing this on HuffPo any time soon.)

This could shape up to a little more than just some East Coast/West Coast dueling education manifestos. The Al Shanker Institute is very much offering the music that Senate Education Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (IA) loves to hear. Meanwhile, Evers and the K12 Innovation crew are singing from House Education Committee John Kline's (MN) hymnal. So this could very well be one of the first meaningful ESEA reauthorization fights shaping up.

After all, it has everything we need. Ideology. Dollars. For-profits. Big brother. Local control. Good data. Squishy data. And a soapbox that virtually anyone can stand on. I smell a series of DC-based education blob forums in our future ...

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28 Ways to Build Persistent & Confident Students

Julia G. Thompson | Teaching — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:46:00 -0700

One of the most frustrating situations for any teacher occurs when seemingly capable students won’t finish simple assignments or, even worse, won’t even attempt assignments that appear to be even slightly challenging. Students who stop working at the first moment of perceived difficulty are even more perplexing because their lack of persistence is often confused with laziness. While it may be tempting to just advise students to keep trying, this advice seldom resolves the problem.

There are many reasons for the unwaveringly feeble effort that many students present at the first sign of a challenge. For many students, the fear of their work not being “good enough” is paralyzing. Rather than earn a failing grade from a teacher, they give it to themselves by just not doing the work.

Other students are so accustomed to overly helpful adults who respond to their learned helplessness with so many hints and clues that they do not really have to think for themselves. Unfortunately, this pattern of behavior is all too recognizable. These are the students who ask others for the page number rather than check a table of contents, ask dozens of anxious questions rather than read the text for information, of who put their heads down on their desks rather than work independently for any length of time.

Whatever the reason, it is possible to mitigate the patterns of learned helplessness. Below is a list of strategies that you can use to help your students develop into persistent and confident learners.

1. Start a unit of study by activating prior knowledge. Students who can connect new learning with previous knowledge will be far more likely to persist in facing learning challenges than those students for whom each concept in the material is unfamiliar.

2. Begin a unit of study or even smaller assignments within that unit with work that easier than it will be near the end of the unit or assignment. Once students see that they can do the work, they will be less intimidated.

3. Break longer assignments into smaller, more manageable ones so that students won’t be overwhelmed at the thought of a long task.

4. When students work in pairs or triads on even part of an assignment, they tend to do well. Working with a study buddy allows instant support when students are not sure of an answer or a procedure.

5. Nothing succeeds like success. Design activities where your students can shine, and they will want to continue the positive feelings generated by that success. Use differentiation techniques to reach as many learners as you can.

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6. Help students see the connection between effort and success. Often less persistent students believe that good students somehow are just smarter or find the work easier than they do. Learning that everyone needs to work hard at times can be an epiphany for some students.

7. Teach students how to accurately estimate the time that it may take them to complete a task. Students who think that it will take them hours and hours to do their homework will be far more prone to quit than those students who realize that a shorter time commitment is required.

8. Offer plenty of rubrics, models, samples, and demonstrations so that students know when they are on the right track.

9. Have students set reasonable goals and work to achieve them. When students work to achieve a personal goal, they have a vested interest in working.

10. When you see students struggling with an assignment, use one of the most powerful questions in your teacher’s toolbox: ask, “How can I help you?”

11. All learning should have a clear and pragmatic purpose. Students who know why they have to complete an assignment will be more willing to do so if they know how it will benefit them now and in the future.

12. Have students write their questions during independent work in a certain area of the board or on the Smartboard. Answer these questions at predictable intervals.

13. Formative assessments serve a dual purpose. They not only let you know what your students do and do not know, but they can be useful tools in making sure that your students know exactly how to proceed to be successful. Frequent small formative assessments can be very useful tools in helping students stay on track.

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14. Teach your students that their work does not always have to be perfect to be acceptable. Sometimes “good enough” is really good enough.

15. Harness the power of peer pressure. Having students work together in a class challenge to reach a specific goal can encourage those students who are willing to shortchange themselves, but who don’t want to let their classmates down.

16. Many teachers find that stopping periodically and having peers make brief checks of each others’ work can help students stay on the right track.

17. School success is not a big, flashy event. Rather, academic success lies in a pattern of small accomplishments. Work with your students to help them internalize this idea though brief class discussions, reflections, and other shared conversations.

18. Some students benefit from seeing a visual representation of the sequence of assignments that they are required to do. A bar graph or chart with spaces to be filled in as students complete the various steps of a unit of study will make it easier for students to persist until they complete the big task.

19. Frequent praise and even more frequent encouragement will keep students on task far longer than brusque corrections will.

20. Careful and close monitoring of students as they work will allow you to catch problems when they are manageable. Small problems are not roadblocks to confidence building—big problems are, though.

21. Encourage students who are working independently to signal that they are having a problem and then to keep working until help arrives. Some teachers offer a desk sign that is red on one side to signal for help and green on another to signal that they are on the right track.

22. Some teachers do not answer oral questions when students are working independently except at set intervals. Used correctly, this technique encourages students to keep working because they know that their questions will be answered at a predictable time.

23. Offer students time to reflect at the end of a lesson. Have them write responses first and then encourage them to share what went right and what caused stress during an assignment. Sharing the results of their metacognition can be a powerful way for students to learn how other students overcome their learning problems.

24. Often older students who have mastered the material current students may find difficult can be helpful resources. They can offer quick, informal advice and encouragement from a student’s point of view.

25. Providing opportunities for students to look back on how far they have come in their learning--to review their past success—allows students to see the big picture of what they have already accomplished and encourages them to continue.

26. Be sure to offer a sufficient amount of appropriate practice before moving on to the next topic of study.

27. Offer a variety of different activities to review material. At the end of each class, when you provide a quick review of the day’s lesson, use a variety of different activities that appeal to the various learning styles among your students.

28. Work with your students to focus on their strengths. Once they know what they are doing right, what individual study techniques work well for them, then students will be able to use those techniques and strengths to work quickly and efficiently.

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All About Class Blogs

Kelly Tenkely | Teaching — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:19:00 -0700

What it is: Class Blogs is a fabulous new way for you to easily create and manage FREE classroom blogs! What makes Class Blogs so wonderful are all the extras that are built in. For example, with Class Blogs you can create a virtual classroom space. With just a few simple steps, you can create an online meeting space for your students to learn and discuss in. Blogs can be used to post assignments; when you post an assignment to your teacher blog, students can submit the assignment and a pingback will be sent to your blog. Class Blogs even has features that utilize SMS so that you can send a text message to students and the ability to host lesson plans complete with supporting resources! Class blogs really offers more than just a blogging platform, it offers many Learning Management System (LMS) solutions making it a great all-in-one tool! Here are just a few of the ways you can use Class Blogs:

How to integrate Class Blogs into the classroom: Class Blogs has features that make it wonderfully useful for any classroom. Blogging gives your students a place to write where they have an authentic audience. An audience of one (the teacher) is SO 1995. To limit your students to that audience is a disservice. I find that when my students write in blog form, the enthusiasm to write increases, the richness of language increases, and the ideas are communicated clearly. Obviously that is a bit of a generalization, I have also had students who don’t want to post for an audience, it makes them nervous to reveal themselves to their classmates in that way. I let those students blog about topics they are “experts” on as they are building confidence in their learning process. Students can blog to reflect on learning; write creatively; write as if they were a historical character, famous inventor, or a favorite literary figure; to chronicle learning (e-portfolio style); or to invite others on a journey of inquiry with them.

Using this type of social media in the classroom is important. It helps students learn digital citizenship, Internet safety, and netiquette in an authentic environment that goes beyond the rules and actually lets them practice it.

The additional features of Class Blog make it the perfect place to organize your classroom. Post assignments in Class Blogs as a learning log, as students respond, your original post will get a pingback making it easy to track students progress. Class Blog also makes it easy to extend learning beyond the four walls of your classroom using the virtual classroom features. Create meeting rooms to extend classroom discussions, offer additional learning support, or as a place to prepare students for learning. Class Blogs makes it easy to include podcasts, videos, webcams, private chat areas, desktop sharing in your virtual classroom.

Tips: Class Blogs does not have an age requirement, this means that it is available to k-12 (and beyond) education. Registration does require an email address. If your students do not have email addresses, you can create accounts on their behalf. With Class Blogs you can create unlimited class and student blogs, unlimited free classes/courses, and unlimited free virtual classrooms. Be sure to check out the feature page for a comprehensive list of the awesome features on Class Blogs, you won’t believe what all is included!

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy & Your Students: "I Knew You Could Do It!"

Julia G. Thompson — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:44:00 -0700

Although most teachers are aware of their responsibility to serve as role models, counselors, and advocates, we tend to underestimate the effect that we can have on our students. The reasons for this lie in the daily struggles that happen in classrooms everywhere. We work in a formidable flux of constant decisions, difficult demands, and hard-to-manage problems. With all of these facing us as soon as the bell rings, it's not always easy to remember that your attitude about your students can really change everything.

You have enormous power over the lives of your students. In fact, you can make the children in your classroom into successful students or you can make those same children into failures. Your beliefs about your students create this power in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The self-fulfilling prophecy begins with the expectations you have about your students. These expectations are your unconscious as well as your conscious attitudes about your students’ ability to succeed. You constantly communicate those expectations to your students in many subtle ways such as though your body language, the assignments you make, the language you use, and how much time you spend with individual students.

Because humans tend to behave as they are treated, your students will react to the way that you communicate those expectations to them. If you think highly of your students, they will tend to behave better for you than for the teachers who obviously do not enjoy being with them. If you act with a calm assurance that conveys your belief that the students in your class are capable of good behavior and academic accomplishments then your students are highly likely to behave well and strive for success.

If you doubt this power, consider the alternative. Why would students struggle to learn, to behave, to come to school without a caring adult who appears glad to see them succeed? For some students, a teacher is their only lifeline.

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How can you use your expectations to create a self-fulfilling prophecy that can create a classroom climate for success? Every day, you can pass along transmit your belief in the abilities of your students in a variety of ways.

• Start with assignments that your students can achieve with ease. Success builds upon itself. When students see that they can accomplish what you ask of them, they will want to continue that success.

• Celebrate often with your students. After all, their successes are your successes.You do not have to dedicate lots of time to formal celebrations. A simple posting or display of good news, a class signal that allows classmates to acknowledge each other in positive way, or a quiet word with individual students will all establish a positive tone.

• Be as consistent and as fair as you possibly can. Students of all ages are quick to react negatively when they detect even a small hint of suspected unfairness. They will shut down quickly when this happens.

• Post motivational signs, mottoes, and other messages to encourage students to give their best effort.

• Reward effort as well as achievement. It is important to make sure your students see the link between success and effort.

• Create an risk-free environment in which students can risk trying new things without fear of failure or ridicule.

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• Tell your students about your confidence in their ability to succeed. Tell them this over and over.

• Teach your students how to set measurable goals and how to achieve them. Model this for students. Set goals as a class and have students set small daily or weekly goals until it is a habit and part of the culture of your classroom.

• At the end of class ask students to share what they have learned. Often, they are not aware of how much they have really actually achieved until they have the opportunity to reflect.

• We all know that open-ended questions and assignments can serve as sparks to deepen critical thinking skills. They can also serve to motivate students to work hard because of their intrinsic interest and risk-free nature. Open-ended questions and assignments are a respectful way to demonstrate your faith in your students' ability to tackle tough work.

• Teach your students how to handle the failures that everyone experiences from time to time. Help them understand that they can learn from their mistakes as well as from their successes.

• Formative assessments can be helpful tools for those teachers who want to empower their students to believe in themselves. Use a variety of assessments to help students evaluate their progress and determine what they need to accomplish to finish assignments.

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Teacher-Proofing Education Reform

Patrick R. Riccards — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:12:00 -0700

"There is no way you can say teachers are underpaid. At first I believed it, then I looked at the numbers. Teachers get paid for just 1,500 hours a year, not the 2,000 hours I have to work. And they CHOOSE to defer a third of their compensation for when they retire, getting a pension I never get. If anything, teachers are overpaid."

No, this isn't a spoof of a discussion coming out of Wisconsin this past week. It is a real conversation Eduflack had with a real adult about the real issue of teacher compensation. And it points to a real problem that has surfaced in our battle for education reform, school improvement, justice, and the American way.

Without question, teachers are central to most of the issues discussed in modern-day ed policy issues. Performance pay. Achievement gaps. Last in, first out. Qualified and effective teachers. Turnaround models. you name it, teachers are central to it.

In years past, teachers were considered central to the discussion. The thinking was you couldn't enact real, meaningful change in the classroom without winning over the hearts and minds of those classroom educators who had to put it into practice. Then along came NCLB, and an Administration that focused on "teacher-proofing" the curriculum. Today, we have movies, governors, and segments of the media that identify the teachers' unions as public enemy number one when it comes to school improvement.

For the record, I believe in pay for performance. Years ago, I worked with New Leaders for New Schools on their TIF-funded model, and have the privilege of working with and learning from the folks out in Denver who established the ProComp system. ProComp is one of the only successful incentive pay programs in the United States, and for good reason. There, the superintendent (now U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet) worked WITH the local teachers union to build an merit pay system that was beneficial to both the school system and the school teachers. The union was at the table. And with both sides collaborating, there was one clear winner — the students.

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Yes, we have much work to do to provide a high-quality, effective education for all students. We need better-trained, better-supported teachers in the classroom. We need to shift from a culture of tenure to a culture of performance. We need to focus on the outcomes (student learning and student performance) and not just on the inputs (teacher ed programs and praxis exams). And we need a major shift toward a consumer-based system, where all those involved recognize that needs of the customer — the student and the family — are being met.

But we also need to realize that the strongest path to getting there is collaboration and partnership. Teachers want to see their students succeed, so what is preventing it from happening at the expected levels? The answer to that question doesn't come from attacking the teachers unions, stripping teachers of collective bargaining rights, or ranting about teachers only working three-quarters of a year or getting their summers off. The answer comes, as it did in Denver, by finding that common ground where the school system, the taxpayers, the teachers, and, yes, the students all win.

Otherwise, we are doomed to repeat what we have seen for decades in "education reform." New ideas and new programs coming down from on high, with teachers shutting their classroom doors, ignoring the reform, and just doing what they've always done.

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Three Ways to Cut Down On Grading

Free Things for Teachers — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:43:00 -0700

Grading is one of the most time consuming parts of teaching. The average high school teacher probably collects about 450 assignments per week! (90 students X 1 assignment per day)

If you cut down on the amount of student work that you grade, then you will have more time to do such things as create engaging lesson plans, or you may actually get to spend your weekend spending time with the ones you love.

Here are five ways to cut down on grading:

1. Completion Grades For homework assignments that aren’t weighted as heavily, it is perfectly okay to give completion grades. Sure there are some teachers who will tell you that this is a sin, but they are the same teachers who always appear as if they are on the verge of a nervous break down. Keep the following in mind for completion grades:

A.These assignments should be routine assignments. At the beginning of the semester, youshould grade these thoroughly. As the semester continues, students will have gotten into the habit of completing these assignments thoroughly. For instance, I assign vocabulary word maps every week. At the beginning of the year, I grade them more thoroughly. After I know students know how to do them properly, I am able to give completion grades.

B.You don’t have give a completion grade for every homework or routine assignment. For example, let’s take the previously discussed word maps. Some weeks I may choose to give completion grades, and some weeks I may grade them thoroughly. The students don’t know beforehand how I will grade them; this keeps them on their toes.

2. Make tests and quizzes account for approximately 80% of the student’s grade. This way, routine assignments only count 20 %.

3. Notebook Quiz To prevent having to grade my daily warm-ups, journals, worksheets, etc., I tell students to keep all assignments in their notebooks. At the end of the week, I give the students a notebook quiz, in which they are able to use their notebooks.

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Relationships in the First-Year Teacher’s Classroom

Claire Pentecost | Aha! Process, Inc. — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:39:00 -0700

As my first year of teaching moves forward, I am beginning to see the impact of relationships I have with my students. We all know from personal experience and moving stories we’ve heard that a relationship between a child with few resources and a teacher or coach who can provide some stability can affect the course of that student’s life. To me, it sounded wonderful, and it was a goal I aspired to, but when I had to worry about the everyday nuts and bolts of teaching language arts and running a classroom, many of those hazy aspirations flew out the window. I started seeing every day as a battle to be fought, both academically and morally.

It is important for my classroom to be built on routines that the students can count on. The classroom runs on procedural and academic processes for building grammar, spelling, reading, and writing skills. Beyond these rules and routines, though, we are a living group of people who have to meet together every day and function in a positive way to build each other up and meet our goals. For example, I now make a point of having students replace negative comments, even those said in jest, with positive statements about others. Even when it begins as an awkward formality, the atmosphere of the classroom slowly changes and new habits begin to form, at least inside the classroom. I also see this as part of building that second set of rules that students can then choose to use.

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I realized the way relationships were forming, too, over the Christmas break. I welcomed the opportunity to step back and think instead of running in survival mode, and I realized shortly before it was time to return to school that I missed my students. I had been focusing so much on getting through each day, finding ways to get my students to understand concepts they would be tested on, and—most of all—classroom management issues (first-year here!), that I hadn’t noticed how much I was getting to know the students and how much I cared. As we’ve been approaching the writing TAKS test, I am in a privileged position of getting to know them even more through their writing. Even students who struggle through other skills and multiple choice assessments surprise me with their ability and desire to express themselves when given the open-ended opportunity.

As my classroom management skills have improved through the school year, I more often am able to take a moment or two to pull individual students aside and have a conversation about what each of us can do to improve the learning experience. I truly treasure getting to know them, and I care very much about their continued success after they leave my classroom. I can see that having this motivation inspires me to do my job better and to give them tools they need beyond the seventh grade. Research such as that cited in Chapter 9 of A Framework for Understanding Poverty tells me that it is making a difference in my students’ lives as well.

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The Ten Principles of Motivation

Julia G. Thompson | Teaching — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:00:00 -0700

Motivating students is a complicated business no matter what age they may be. When students want to complete their work and want to succeed, things will go well in your classroom--they will learn and you will have a rewarding day at school. Here are ten very brief ideas that I find useful in my teaching practice.

1. All learning must have a purpose. Teachers and students should work together to establish long-term goals so that the work is relevant to students’ lives and driven by a purpose. I have rarely met a student who wanted to work just for the sake of working.

2. Students need the skills and knowledge necessary to complete their work and achieve their goals. Help students achieve short-term goals to develop the competencies they need to be successful. Keeping binders in order, learning to listen carefully, paying attention...these are just some of the skills that students need to make learning accessible.

3. Specific directions empower students. When students know exactly what they must do to complete assignments, they will approach their work with confidence and interest. Giving good directions is an art form. Keep them simple, brief, and logical.

4. Students want to have fun while they work. Teachers who offer enjoyable learning activities find that students are less likely to be off task. (Teachers also want to have fun when they work!)

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5. Offer activities that involve higher-order thinking skills. Students find open-ended questions and critical thinking more engaging than activities involving just recall of facts. Rote drills do have a place in any learning environment, but few kids are really inspired by them. Work that requires higher-level thinking skills will move your students in the right direction.

6. Curiosity is an important component of motivation. When students want to learn more about a topic, they will tackle challenging assignments in order to satisfy their curiosity. Even something as simple as asking a provocative question to get students thinking in a new way can spark curiosity.

7. A blend of praise and encouragement is effective in building self-reliance. Teachers who offer sincere praise and encouragement establish a positive, nurturing classroom atmosphere. When students know that they are on the right track, they will want to continue.

8. A combination of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards increases student focus and time on task behavior. When used separately, both types of rewards motivate students. However, when teachers combine them, the effect is much greater.

9. Involve students in collaborative activities. When students work together, motivation and achievement both soar.

10. Students tend to work harder when they believe that their teacher likes them. This is probably the most important principle of motivation. Why should students work for a grouchy teacher? If your students know that they matter to you, then they will be much more inclined to stay on task than if they believe that you are not invested in their success.

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How to Give Students Meaningful Feedback

Nina Smith — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:09:00 -0700

Being a teacher means that you are wearing many hats at the same time. One part of a teacher’s job is to help students build reliable self image. It is being like a mirror for students, so that they can reflect themselves and see a clear and correct picture. How would students otherwise know where they should improve their learning, or what is already going well?

Being a teacher means wearing many hats at the same time. One part of a teacher’s job is to help students build reliable self image. It is being like a mirror for students, so that they can reflect themselves and see a clear and correct picture. How would students otherwise know where they should improve their learning, or what is already going well?

Feedback is a tool for reflection. Informal, timely and accurate feedback in your classroom makes learning much easier for your students. Giving effective feedback is not always easy. But it is a skill that can be learned (and taught).

The very first thing in feedback is to have a clear focus where to target it and also an understanding about the desired outcome. If the objective is to write a story with a good plot, there is not much sense in giving feedback about poor handwriting, or even the grammatical mistakes (while, of course, when practicing grammar, it would be insane to praise the good cursive skills, right?).

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Targeting the feedback to help students achieve the learning objective of the day is a god place to start. (Objective must be shared with students, of course, and preferably have it visible during the day, for example written on the board). Here is a bunch of thoughts about how to build an effective and emotionally safe feedback structure that guarantees better co-operation and thus deeper learning:

• Choose neutral words that are not loaded with value or judgment

• Only focus on the product !

• Use the objective as a framework in targeting the feedback.

• Focus first on something positive within the framework.

• Never criticize personal shortcomings that cannot be controlled.

• Give a suggestion for improvement and ask if the student agrees with you.

• Check understanding by asking your student to explain his/her plan for improvement.

The last point is very important, because it clearly places the responsibility for improvement to students. Unfortunately our student assessment systems too often focus on skills instead of the process of learning. That is why it is so essential to have strong informal feedback system in classroom to support the meaningfulness of learning and teaching.

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Dear Julia Advice for Teachers

Julia G. Thompson | Teaching — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 06:10:00 -0700

Dear Julia,

I am currently in the military and I plan on getting out and going to school starting next fall. Couple questions: How hard is it to teach and coach a high school sport at the same time? I really want to coach soccer. Also, I love math, but I don't think I could take all the math classes that would be required for a math degree to eventually teach it. So I was looking at History with a minor in math in order to be able to teach either subject. Would I still be able to teach math classes with a minor? Or should I look at getting a bachelors in math instead of History.

Sincerely,

Letownse

Dear Letownse,

First, thanks for planning to be a teacher after a military career. What service you will give to your country! I’ve known several teachers who went right from the military to a Troops to Teachers program and then to the classroom. They were wonderful teachers!

To answer your questions:

1) To coach and teach at the same time is not easy. Coaching is one of the most rewarding professions that there can be—and one of the most demanding. The time commitment can be quite demanding. Most successful coaches love their sport, however, and don’t mind the time and energy they spend.

2) While you are trying to decide which discipline you want to teach, you need to consider which one you would like to spend your life doing. Both, while very different, are equally tough and equally rewarding. At this point in the economic mess that we are in, you may want to consider that it is generally easier to obtain a math teaching position than it is to be a history teacher. The question of whether or not you can teach with only a minor varies from state to state. You need to check out the Website of the department of education where you want to live to make this decision.
Thank you again for your current service to our country. You will be in my thoughts tomorrow morning when our school holds it daily moment of silence.

Best Wishes,

Julia

Dear Julia,

As an aspiring high school math teacher, I need your help.

I am currently taking a college course classroom management for future teachers and just completed reviewing an article by Marvin Marshall entitled "Discipline without stress, punishment or rewards." As I have no teaching experience, I wonder whether his approach is "pie in the sky" or if it works in the real "public school" world?

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The central theme of the article is that offering choices to students engenders ownership and personal responsibility where as attempting to control, coerce or manipulate student behavior produces a temporary solution at best and leads to feelings of student resentment. Superior teachers practice positive verbal communications, offer choices and raise questions inviting personal reflection. Superior teachers also create structure, procedures and routines which are taught, practiced and reinforced with students resulting in the foundation of classroom management.

According to Mr. Marshall, students like teachers make conscious decisions about their behavior. Student behavior can be influenced but not controlled and the opportunity to make choices empowers students and can lead to lasting changes in social development. The author uses a “Raise Responsibility system” to reflect the hierarchy of social development. By employing the three practices of superior teachers, the teacher promotes responsible student behavior and produces better outcomes than the traditional adversarial and negative approaches.

Is this classroom model being used successfully by high school teachers today? Or, is this a utopian view from an academic?

Thank you for your assistance,

Dale

Dear Dale,

I wish that classroom management is a simple issue. The three strands in the model that you mention are significant ones that hold true in classrooms everywhere. Where I personally differ from the approach you mentioned is that I believe that an orderly classroom is a complicated issue that should be developed from a multifaceted approach. I personally believe that the creation of a classroom community that is orderly and safe is easier if the teacher and students work together.

In my experience, I work to solve problems, not just enforce rules. Rules, policies, and procedures do need to be in place in every classroom, though. Students see it as their job to test every boundary possible. When those boundaries are well-established, then things run smoothly.

I also believe that students work better for teachers that they believe like them. If students believe that a teacher does not care about school, their class, their success, or even the subject, then nothing much will work productively in a classroom. When a problem arises in my class, I try to see past the behavior to the child. Knowing why the child behaves the way he or she does is the first step in keeping that child working successfully and enjoying school.

One more thing—I strongly believe that students need to be taught two life skills to be successful in school and in life. First, I think teachers should teach social skills—courtesy, impulse control, cleaning up after themselves, just to name a few. Also, I think students should be taught how to create and work to accomplish goals. When kids are courteous, goal-oriented, and working with a teacher whom they trust, then a classroom is much more likely to be productive than one where students are unruly.

Best Wishes,

Julia

Hi, Julia!!!

I currently work as a teacher in a charter school. In New York, to become fully certified, you must take 2-3 state exams...the L.A.S.T, being one of them. There is a fee for each one. Are there any programs that would help upcoming teachers pay for these exams? I am also interested in furthering my education by going for a Masters degree, but financial aid in NY is very limited for a second degree. Do you know of any programs that can assist me? Thank you so much for your help!

Ruthie

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Dear Ruthie,

You are facing the same problem that many teachers everywhere face. I do not know of any programs that assist you in New York, but I can offer two places where you may find some answers. The first is UFT. The UFT in NYC is a really, really helpful organization with a great deal of information and support for teachers. I would contact them with your concerns first. If you don’t find the answers you need, then you could try the New York state department of education. They have a good Website that is pretty user-friendly. You may find at least a lead to an answer there.

In any case, I hope you can become fully certified and get that second degree soon. You are absolutely right in seeking both of these.

Best Wishes,

Julia

Dear Julia,

Hello! Well to start off I have been having a very difficult time deciding whether I want to become an Elementary Education teacher, or a secondary English teacher. I adore little children, and think that it would be a very fun and rewarding job. On the other hand, I exceed at English, and feel that I would love to teach English at the secondary level. This is something I have been contemplating for two years. After job shadowing and switching my major back and forth, I still cannot decide. I was thinking about double majoring in both degrees so that I wouldn't have to decide anymore. Of course the problems that can occur with this are prolonged school time and costly student loans, but I really don't know what else to do. In case this information would be useful, I am a freshman in college and live in Indiana. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Tiffany

Dear Tiffany,

I am a high school English teacher. I love my job. I love the kids, and I love the material that I teach. I love planning neat lessons that will make my kids happy and my classroom buzz with excitement. While I don’t like leaving my snug bed each morning to go to school, I do love my career. I feel lucky to have the career that I have had.

I do have a massive paperwork load with the essays that I have to grade, but the recordkeeping that elementary teachers have to do is even more staggering. I admire elementary teachers because they lay the foundation for the student success that I can enjoy. I stand on the shoulders of giants, that’s for sure.
So, consider this—when you dream of your teaching career, where will you be able to say the same thing that I can say? Where will you be challenged and happy for years? Where will you be able to do the most good in the world? No one but you can make that decision for you.

When it is right, you will know. Trust me, you will know. Keep exploring for now. You are on the right path to figuring it out.

Best Wishes,

Julia

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Dear Julia-

My provisional certfication has expired,Can it be renewed? If so,how long can one renew it for? Do I have to take the test over again? Can I apply for the renewal, or does a principal that is hiring me do it? Is this a catch-22,where I can't get a teaching job without it,and can't get certified without a teaching job(offer)?

Dear HB,

I am sorry to hear that you are in such a jam. I can’t really answer your questions because the requirements for provisional certification vary so not just from state to state but from locale to locale and in different content areas. Begin by looking at the Website for your state department of education. They have lots of information. If you are still not sure of the requirements, make an appointment with an certification specialist in your district to learn what your options are.

I wish you the best in this quest, HB.

Julia

Teaching is Not a Four Letter Word

Pat Hensley — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:29:00 -0700

I recently won a copy of Teaching is Not a Four Letter Word: How to Stop Worrying and Love the Job by Tom DeRosa by entering his blog contest (Check out his awesome blog I Want To Teach Forever). I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book and I’m ashamed to say I might not have if I hadn’t won the contest.

I would like to encourage my readers to find a copy of this book and read it. It is a fast and easy read but it is absolutely inspirational. I think many new teachers would benefit from reading this as well as those teachers who need a reminder about how wonderful teaching is. Mr. D. gives lots of great suggestions and strategies that make a teacher’s life easy. Some of the lessons mentioned are ones that I do but had forgotten how important they were and that others needed to know about them too.

I also think it would be a great book for a faculty to use as staff development. At the end of the 70 lessons, there is a self assessment to find out where the reader stands. After doing the self assessment, it would be a wonderful way to open discussion as a faculty. I feel self assessment should be done on a regular basis so can make sure that we are doing the right things for the right reasons.

I plan to share this many of my friends who are teachers and hope they pass it on to others. I hope those that do not have a copy of this book consider getting one. You can find it on Lulu for $12.99 or file download for $6.25. It is also available for the Kindle for $6.25.

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Preparing for a Substitute

Pat Hensley — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 06:20:00 -0800

As spring gets near, allergies can wreak havoc on my body. If I am going to be absent, this time is probably harder for me than the winter months. I do many things to prepare for days that I am out which helps my students and my substitute.

Throughout the year, I try to meet the substitutes at come to my school. I try to get a feel for their personalities to see if I think they would be good with my students. As a special ed teacher, many subs won’t work in my class so I find the ones who are willing to do this. Once I find the ones that I like, I get their contact information for the future.

I invite subs to come observe me so they can see what procedures I follow and meet the students. This really helps for the future also so this person is not unknown to them. My students have a difficult time with new people and new situations.

I have a 3 ring binder that is designated as the “Substitute Book.” This binder has several sections designated in it.

1. One section holds seating charts, copies of attendance rosters, locations of important places and things (faculty restroom, asst. principal offices, cafeteria, and emergency bag for fire drills).

2. One section labeled “For Help” contains the teachers nearby including names and locations that the sub can go to if help is needed. I also include names of trusted students for each class that can also help the substitute with the daily routine and locating places and things.

3. One section is for my class rules and consequences (along with behavior referrals for the office).

4. Another section holds the emergency lesson plans. I keep a copy of lessons for each class/subject that can be used at any time of the year. This may cover some new information but does not teach any new skills. It is more of a review using skills they already know. I don’t feel this is a waste of time or busy work as long as they are practicing skills that they have learned this year. It never hurts to practice them.

5. One section holds a copy of the routine procedures that is also posted on the wall. I have routine procedures for the subjects I teach. This routine is very helpful to my students also. Even though the content matter will change, many of the routine classroom procedures are the same on a daily basis.

6. One section is just blank sheets of paper for the substitute to leave me any notes about the students, the lesson, or anything in general.

7. The last section holds the student copies of any material needed in the emergency lesson plans.

A lot of this take times to plan and prepare but it is well worth the effort. The students and the substitute will appreciate this in the long run. It also makes my life easier when I return to the class.

What do you do to prepare for a substitute when you are absent? Does your school require certain things?

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Five Resources to Find Funding for Your Classroom

SchooDoodle — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:33:00 -0800

As our technology and innovation develops, there are more options than ever to provide our students with a sensational classroom experience. The downside however, is new technology and resources costs money- and with widespread education budget cuts, teachers have been stretched to their limits as they try to provide for their students. Many teachers will resort to reaching into their own pockets to help their students.

We understand the ongoing struggle educators face as they search for funding to incorporate innovative educational resources, games and technologies into their classrooms. Here are some resources teachers can turn to for possible solutions:

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1) Grants.gov

www.grants.gov This resource lists and tracks grants in all 50 states as well as federally funded programs. In response to The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or Recovery Act, many Grant-making agencies are posting Recovery Act specific grant opportunities on Grants.gov

2) DonorsChoose.org

www.donorschoose.org This site connects teachers with potential donors across the country who are interested in sponsoring educational projects. The concept is simple: teachers submit their classroom project ideas and donors contribute to their fund. According to this post on TeachersDiary.com, - 80% are funded within the first month or two that they are up.

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3) Foundationcenter.org

Foundationcenter.org The Foundation Centers’ site features an interactive map that displays state by state different funding options from an estimated 550 foundations. It also helps teachers searching for funding options associated with ARRA.

4) Adopt-a-Classroom

www.adoptaclassroom.org Like Donors Choose, this is a
funding system that is based on donations. It connects classrooms in need with donors so their school projects can plans for innovation can be fulfilled. 100% of all donations go to the classrooms.

5) My Class Essentials

www.boxtops4education.com This is a helpful resource that is based on the same idea as a bridal or baby registry. This site allows K-8 teachers to create a list of all the supplies their classroom needs (can choose from over 6,000 student and classroom materials) and encourages parents, PTAs, and other community-support organizations to make donations to help fulfill the classroom needs.

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