As I was reading the sports page in the Bismarck Tribune yesterday, Steve Thomas wrote a column entitled All About the Team. I don't always agree with Steve Thomas with what he writes or his style of writing, but I applaud his efforts to report sports fairly and accurately. I know that it seems unusual to discuss a sports story as having an impact on education, but he made some very good points that reflect the very same issues we see in education with today's society.
Steve starts out discussing the success of Bismarck High football as a result of selflessness and putting the team ahead of personal glory. He then cited the following quote, which really got me thinking: "That conversation came just a few days after the subject of self-centeredness sprang up in the Bible study I attend. It's long been my feeling that a person can't live a meaningful life until he realizes there is something bigger than what he wants." He then discusses how this was especially true during the Great Depression and the World Wars. What individuals wanted often was secondary to raising your family or defending your country. That is still true today with the military.
Steve mentions that this is true in sports today. I don't agree that it is true in all locker rooms, but I agree that it is true in the locker rooms of most teams that win championships. He also makes reference to a book entitled I Am Third. This is the autobiography of Gayle Sayers, written in 1970, and was the inspiration for the movie, Brian's Song which is about the tremendous relationship between Gayle and Brian Piccolo who died at a young age (27) from cancer. The story chronicles their friendship and the incredible courage of Brian, but the reference Steve makes is to Gayle Sayer's philosophy, "The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third."
The point Steve is making, and I believe that we have lost this mentality on most of our youth and their parents, is the importance of putting the team or the task ahead of our own personal wants and needs. Steve finishes by saying "Our chances as a nation will be a lot better when the 'what's in it for me' attitude is supplanted by a big picture outlook." That says a lot about the challenges we encounter in the classroom for all phases of classroom management.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Banned Books
An article was written for NEA Today on October 2nd entitled "It's Banned Books Week!" The story discusses various banned books and the struggle by educators to fight censorship nationwide. I was amazed to see such classics as Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being banned from school libraries. Also included in the list is the Harry Potter series. The article states that over 500 books were challenged for classroom reading or attempts to remove them from libraries in 2008. It is estimated that 70-80% of attempts to ban books are never reported, so the total is likely much higher than that. Reading the article brought back memories of reading Fahrenheit 451 while I was in high school. Can we really have that many people in America that believe censorship is right?
I agree that care should be taken by educators that we expose our students to educationally appropriate materials. However, part of the decision must be the educational value of books, not just whether the contents of the book might offend some people. A parent should have the right to monitor the books their children are reading if they find them objectionable. However, they should not have the right to make that same decision for all the other children in their school. If a parent objects to an assigned reading, give that student an alternative assignment rather than punishing all the other students.
Another point the story makes is about human nature. The best way to increase anybody's interest in reading a book is by telling them they can't. We have seen many instances of sales for a book or movie increasing dramatically by somebody making a public objection to the contents. This is especially true for students-they often want to do something even more after they have been told they can't. Hopefully people will soon see how damaging censorship can be.
I agree that care should be taken by educators that we expose our students to educationally appropriate materials. However, part of the decision must be the educational value of books, not just whether the contents of the book might offend some people. A parent should have the right to monitor the books their children are reading if they find them objectionable. However, they should not have the right to make that same decision for all the other children in their school. If a parent objects to an assigned reading, give that student an alternative assignment rather than punishing all the other students.
Another point the story makes is about human nature. The best way to increase anybody's interest in reading a book is by telling them they can't. We have seen many instances of sales for a book or movie increasing dramatically by somebody making a public objection to the contents. This is especially true for students-they often want to do something even more after they have been told they can't. Hopefully people will soon see how damaging censorship can be.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Time Considerations of Lesson Planning
In chapter four of "Teaching Strategies: A Guide to Effective Instruction", the authors list six questions that need to be answered to begin planning lessons. I strongly agree with the questions listed, but would like to talk about one-time considerations.
One of the first lessons I learned once I started teaching is that I like to plan how much time each lesson is going to take for each class. I found that by the time I taught a lesson for the third time, I pretty well knew how long a lesson should take to be completed. So, the the last twenty years, I have spent part of my summers creating calendars for each class. These calendars define what lesson or chapter we will be working on each day, when to expect quizzes and tests, and when projects will be due. I give my students a calendar on the first day of each semester so they know what my expectations are.
I understand that we as teachers need to be flexible. I tell the students when I give them the calendars that they are not set in stone, that we will adjust as necessary, especially for unforeseen circumstances that will arise. I do not tell them I will adjust for slower students. I have found that they will try to manipulate your time if they think it is necessary. However, I do leave myself flexible for reteaching or taking extra time if students are not learning the projected outcomes.
What has become difficult for me the last five or six years is the increased disruptions to the learning cycle. We are almost to the end of the first quarter, and some classes haven't really been able to reach the rhythm that allows us to learn in an efficient manner. We barely get started and along comes homecoming. The state-mandated junior testing is about ten days away, and that will be the third time already this year that class schedules have been disrupted by standardized testing. We have also had classes disrupted for class meetings and a lyceum. To help achieve AYP, there are additional demands on our class time. This is in addition to all the normal disruptions such as sickness, various activities, and such. The last few years I have often found myself a full week or more behind where I was just a few years ago. Sometimes this has been a result of adding an additional lesson or having to slow down for a group of students, but as a general rule it is the result of all the other demands on my class time. Why are our students struggling? I believe part of it is all the extra disruptions and demands being placed on the educational system. How do the rest of you feel?
One of the first lessons I learned once I started teaching is that I like to plan how much time each lesson is going to take for each class. I found that by the time I taught a lesson for the third time, I pretty well knew how long a lesson should take to be completed. So, the the last twenty years, I have spent part of my summers creating calendars for each class. These calendars define what lesson or chapter we will be working on each day, when to expect quizzes and tests, and when projects will be due. I give my students a calendar on the first day of each semester so they know what my expectations are.
I understand that we as teachers need to be flexible. I tell the students when I give them the calendars that they are not set in stone, that we will adjust as necessary, especially for unforeseen circumstances that will arise. I do not tell them I will adjust for slower students. I have found that they will try to manipulate your time if they think it is necessary. However, I do leave myself flexible for reteaching or taking extra time if students are not learning the projected outcomes.
What has become difficult for me the last five or six years is the increased disruptions to the learning cycle. We are almost to the end of the first quarter, and some classes haven't really been able to reach the rhythm that allows us to learn in an efficient manner. We barely get started and along comes homecoming. The state-mandated junior testing is about ten days away, and that will be the third time already this year that class schedules have been disrupted by standardized testing. We have also had classes disrupted for class meetings and a lyceum. To help achieve AYP, there are additional demands on our class time. This is in addition to all the normal disruptions such as sickness, various activities, and such. The last few years I have often found myself a full week or more behind where I was just a few years ago. Sometimes this has been a result of adding an additional lesson or having to slow down for a group of students, but as a general rule it is the result of all the other demands on my class time. Why are our students struggling? I believe part of it is all the extra disruptions and demands being placed on the educational system. How do the rest of you feel?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
As the President-elect of our local teacher's union, I had a meeting with our superintendent and school board president yesterday. During our discussion, a situation was discussed that alarms me tremendously. As our busses pick up and drop off students, the flashing red lights are turned on. By law, all traffic is supposed to stop for the safety of the students. We have a part of town where cars are not even slowing down, much less stopping. As this is reported to the local police department, our police have not been willing to cite the violators. They say it is an inconvenience for a busy section of town. This is very disturbingto me, as the law is there to protect the safety of the school children in our town.
As we discussed this, it was brought up that there are other parts of the state that have had the same conflict with local law enforcement. They claim that the students are not at risk, so therefore it is too difficult to enforce. As teachers and parents, I feel it is very important for people to be aware of this issue, and if the law enforcement in your area is not enforcing the law the people of the town need to pressure them to change their ways.
As we discussed this, it was brought up that there are other parts of the state that have had the same conflict with local law enforcement. They claim that the students are not at risk, so therefore it is too difficult to enforce. As teachers and parents, I feel it is very important for people to be aware of this issue, and if the law enforcement in your area is not enforcing the law the people of the town need to pressure them to change their ways.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation
A news story came out this week that bothers me. It was in the local newspaper earlier this week, and I had a student send me a link to the story on Yahoo News. President Obama apparently thinks that our students' scores are lower than students in other countries because we are not in school long enough. I have mixed feelings about these claims.
I had a conversation this week with our principal. One of the topics we discussed was the maturity level of our students today. There are a lot of things different with teenagers today than there was twenty or thirty years ago. We discussed several reasons for this, such as the increased number of single-parent households and the increase in two wage-earner households. Part of the discussion raised the question, "Are we pushing our youth so hard that they aren't allowed to have a childhood?" Of course, there aren't any studies that look at that as a possible consequence of increased teaching in preschool and all day kindergarten. I know I have read several studies that question if all day kindergarten provides an advantage to students over the traditional half-day kindergarten. Most studies agree that there is a temporary advantage, but question whether that advantage continues throughout elementary school.
I can see the value of having additional instructional time, but also recognize that students will struggle with the additional burdens of more work. I also know that as a teacher, it is difficult to keep up with the prep work and grading papers with the current schedules. Many of us use evenings, weekends, and summers to better prepare for our classes. Adding additional classroom time will lower the time we have to attend conferences, update our lessons, and keep up with updated technology. If teachers cannot better prepare themselves, how can they improve their lessons and bring in new material?
I also question the cost of adding more classroom time. As I negotiated our current negotiated agreement this summer, we added salary to the 2010-11 schedule for the additional day mandated by the legislature this past year. For the Mandan Public Schools, the cost of an additional day for teacher salary was over $160,000. President Obama stops short of saying how much time should be added, but schools in Massachusetts are adding 300 hours to some schools as part of a pilot program. That equates to somewhere between 40 and 50 additional days. That equates to between $6 and $8 million each year just in teacher salary. Where is that money going to come from?
Finally, the tone of the article led one to believe that this idea is as much about providing a safe environment for children in inner schools and to help parents not have as much child care as it is about sound educational ideas. I believe that educational reform should be about better learning practices, not helping the working class with daycare costs. I would be interested in hearing how others feel about this.
I had a conversation this week with our principal. One of the topics we discussed was the maturity level of our students today. There are a lot of things different with teenagers today than there was twenty or thirty years ago. We discussed several reasons for this, such as the increased number of single-parent households and the increase in two wage-earner households. Part of the discussion raised the question, "Are we pushing our youth so hard that they aren't allowed to have a childhood?" Of course, there aren't any studies that look at that as a possible consequence of increased teaching in preschool and all day kindergarten. I know I have read several studies that question if all day kindergarten provides an advantage to students over the traditional half-day kindergarten. Most studies agree that there is a temporary advantage, but question whether that advantage continues throughout elementary school.
I can see the value of having additional instructional time, but also recognize that students will struggle with the additional burdens of more work. I also know that as a teacher, it is difficult to keep up with the prep work and grading papers with the current schedules. Many of us use evenings, weekends, and summers to better prepare for our classes. Adding additional classroom time will lower the time we have to attend conferences, update our lessons, and keep up with updated technology. If teachers cannot better prepare themselves, how can they improve their lessons and bring in new material?
I also question the cost of adding more classroom time. As I negotiated our current negotiated agreement this summer, we added salary to the 2010-11 schedule for the additional day mandated by the legislature this past year. For the Mandan Public Schools, the cost of an additional day for teacher salary was over $160,000. President Obama stops short of saying how much time should be added, but schools in Massachusetts are adding 300 hours to some schools as part of a pilot program. That equates to somewhere between 40 and 50 additional days. That equates to between $6 and $8 million each year just in teacher salary. Where is that money going to come from?
Finally, the tone of the article led one to believe that this idea is as much about providing a safe environment for children in inner schools and to help parents not have as much child care as it is about sound educational ideas. I believe that educational reform should be about better learning practices, not helping the working class with daycare costs. I would be interested in hearing how others feel about this.
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