Haiku for a Disappointed Parent

Every day is a new day. Every day is a new chance to be better.

A D? (Hmm, your child
Didn't use the study guide
or look at his notes...

...He didn't ask questions
Or write out practice answers
the way others did....

.....I sent you notice
of what would be tested, and
essay questions, too....)

You "know he can do
better--he wants a retake--
Can he please have one?"

Oh, dear parent friend
This is not a driver's test
A D won't kill him

Do you know what? I
know he can do better, too.
ON THE NEXT TEST. Watch.

I do believe in
second chances; just
not on the same test.

Huh? Whah?

Julian Treasure, an advertiser whose expertise is sound, fears we are losing our listening skills and wants us to teach listening in schools. In his TED talk, he gives a few tips after he explains the dynamics of listening. He begins by noting that our ability to record (writing and sound waves) has drastically reduced the premium on listening.

Julian Treasure gives some sound advice

Inattention isn't just a problem in the classroom; for those of us who make a living through communication, it's the quintessential obstacle we must overcome. And today we have more competition for attention than ever before. Ever deliver a lesson to someone whose head was bobbing and fingers were drumming, and realize he is listening to a song in his head, and you'd have to repeat everything? Ever try to get someone's attention only to notice that she was wearing earplugs, forcing you to flap your hands about, and then feel as if you are an intrusion?

These past five years as a teacher, I've noticed a shift in the level of imagination that kids bring to the table. They are as exuberant as ever, as intelligent as ever, but when you turn the thinking over to them, many seem truly lost. Are we also losing the ability to listen to ourselves? Isn't that what thinking is?

I have a friend who said she couldn't fall asleep unless the radio was on. Her eight hours were infiltrated by all kinds of lyrics and commercials that seeped into her brain at some level.

I have a friend whose television is always on, loud enough to compete with our conversation, though no one is watching it.

My uncle leaves NPR on in the car, even though he has lively conversations with his passengers.

Mr. Treasure suggests three minutes of daily silence and notes incidentally that nearly every spiritual tradition has contemplation as a component of its practices. Three minutes off the grid with only our thoughts to occupy our minds--could you do it? Could our kids? Would that be "a waste of time" or part of a true education?

Testing...testing...1, 2, 3, 4 days of testing!

The state's high stake test
comes more than a month before
school actually ends

The test tests learning
of content that they haven't 
had a chance to learn

Gratitude and Remembrance

Sometimes a picture

is a far better teacher

than any lecture

I don't know who took this picture, but it is beautiful. Teachers often speak in military terms about our profession: long time teachers are "veterans", resource teachers aren't always considered "in the trenches" by regular classroom teachers, teachers swap "war stories" in the lounge, some "battle" for or against special testing of students. Unfortunately, there are teachers whose classrooms are emotional battlefields where children are casualties.

When dealing with difficult kids, resistant learners, I must remain conscious of what I fight: IGNORANCE, not a child; AN AMORAL CULTURE, not a child; APATHY, not a child.

Ephesians 6:12 puts it this way:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Let the dedicated teachers soldier on, fighting the good fight.

I wonder...

Is the CST

valid? Critical thinking

and problem solving,

creativity--

are these measurable by

multiple choice tests?

a "value-added" issue--uh oh...

I just got my kids' CST scores. Two kids earned perfect scores in history. Two kids missed one question out of 75. Remember, the history/social studies portion of the CST tests students on history stretching from Early Man to 1900, stuff they learn over three years right as puberty hits them hard.

Consider: there is no room for improvement for the perfect scorers, and not much for those who missed just one or two questions. Won't the next history teacher who has them look bad if someone uses "value-added analysis" to measure her effectiveness?

In a way, it will probably be easier to show gains--value-added proof-- with students with Far Below, Below, or Basic scores the year before. Teachers of the gifted may not look so shiny with value-added scores. Do you think Usain Bolt's sprint times could improve as much as mine could?

Does the value-added analysis account for the fact that the higher the score the previous year, the less room for improvement there is? Dun dun dunnnn!

Market-driven?

California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss: "Publishing this data is not about demonizing teachers," Reiss said. "It's going to create a more market-driven approach to results."

Market-driven?

In the business world, poor service/products generally lead to the death of a company, but there are plenty of other companies happy to swoop in and fill the vacuum. That's because a company affords the opportunity for the entrepreneur to access wealth and autonomy, despite the enormous startup costs (time, money, energy, etc) and the lack of guaranteed success.

But who will swoop in to fill the vacuum of teachers at the bottom of the Times list who may lose their positions?

Don't get me wrong, there are teachers who should get the heave-ho. This list will be a wake-up call for some, and a confirmation of sinking suspicions for others. (I'm all for abolishing tenure as it currently operates, but that's for a later post.)

It's just that teaching as it is perceived by the public affords neither of the incentives the business world offers, neither wealth nor autonomy.

Because of budget cuts, there are many new teachers itching to fill the classrooms of the bottom listers. But a huge percentage of newbies drop out after less than five years. Some leave because they realize that even with the two months' vacation that lured them, there is still more work than a 9 to 5 position. Some leave because of the shock to their system that school isn't "Saved by the Bell." Some leave because it takes more than patience and love of children and good intentions to do this job. Some leave because the money disparity is silly, particularly for those with science degrees. Many leave because working conditions and demands are often ridiculous.

"Market-driven" implies supply and demand, and it works two ways in the education world. Is there a supply of teachers? Is there a supply of BETTER teachers? Has the certification process changed to reflect the realities of public school education and the findings of research?

Is there a demand for new teachers that is more than wishing? What I mean is, the public WANTS great teachers like teenage boys WANT Corvettes, but do you see teenagers driving Corvettes? No, you see middle-aged people driving them because they finally can afford to. Is there money to pay for the great teachers the public WANTS, or is the public just so many wishful teenage boys?

On the other hand, is a great teacher one who works for money? And that raises all other sorts of issues about human motivation and how that connects to the supply of teachers. As things stand, top grads tend to choose fields other than education, but some trickle into the classrooms because any profession that directly works with improving others is something of a calling. (And that's the subject of a later post, as well.)

There is no question that a great teacher is valuable, worthy of wealth and autonomy; our current system does not reflect that truth, rewarding equally the effective and the ineffective.

Maxwell Smart Would Be Jealous

May 2010: It's the first morning of the almighty CST's test week. Kids are a little nervous; we teachers are supposed to help them be calm, but the high stakes of this test series and the many disqualifiers are enough to make anyone's heart beat a bit faster today, and we are just as nervous. The personalized bubble sheets are passed out, the number 2 pencils all pointy-tipped and the candy, er, brain boosters I'd distributed are unwrapped and at the ready.

I begin The Script, the same one read aloud to all California eighth graders. And then I hear tell-tale ringing. If anything can disqualify a test, it's a cell phone; it could send or receive answers, tips, photograph the test, and so on, and I am miffed. Cell phones are to be turned off every school day, let alone this one. I pounce.

"Are you kidding me? Whose phone is that?" D. is melting in his seat, his face as red as his Filipino heritage will allow. "All righty, D., hand it over."

He mumbles something, and I just catch, "It's not a phone, it's my shoe."

"Excuse me, D., but I must have misheard you. It sounded like you said the ringing is your shoe."

Sure enough, his left shoe is also flashing a red LED light to accompany the ringing. He squeezes the tongue of the shoe and the ringing stops. It's not a shoe phone, not this year, but next year I'll add "Wear your boring shoes" to the list of test preparation tips.

Visitors

Last week, ten minutes before the last class of the day let out, a bunny hops up the ramp to the classroom, frightened by an errant 6th grader. Someone notices him and announces it like the Second Coming: "A RAAABBIT!" and of course with all the chair scraping and requisite "Awwwwwww!"s that burst out, the rabbit shoots to the far corner of the room. Barking like a New York cop, "FREEZE!" and then like a New York librarian, "HUSH!" the rabbit only poops a little before I am able to get it hopping toward the--dang it! Bunny makes a right instead of a left and now he's in a corner clogged with bean bag chairs, books, and years of detritus!

A quick call to the custodian, and up the ramp comes K. with a broom in his hand and a smile on his face. "We have a wascally wabbit," I inform him. I am glad he has his Wabbit Wemoval Bwoom with him. We (well, K. does, anyway) have to maneuver a bookcase out of the way, but the rabbit does find his way back out the door.

This morning in the middle of high stakes testing (more on that in a future post), a honeybee finds its way into my first period class. I have to give the kiddos loads of credit. As calmly as he would have informed me that he needed paper, R. says "There's a bee in here." Not one shriek--A. looks panicky and asks to move because, as she puts it in a rushed sentence, "Iamdeathlyallergicandcoulddieifitstingsme." Yes, yes, and she swiftly puts herself as far away as the room size allows. I tell them the bee is cheating; the kids say, "How?" "It's telling you the answer is 'b' !" Some giggles, some groans, and a few beats later, K. guffaws, "I get it now!" so we all laugh again. We turn off the lights, close the blinds, open the door, and eventually we (well, I do, anyway) persuade the bee it's better off outside. A. recovers her breath, I close the door, and testing goes on. (The state of California should give them extra credit for their calm reaction!)

Then, during the ten minute nutrition break, about fifty kids are circled around the corner of a neighbor's bungalow, and the excitement is unnerving--the word "rattlesnake" is on everyone's lips. I try to prevent kids from mobbing, I try my NY cop bark, and I watch the words bounce right off of their ears onto the blacktop. Mr J and Mr P successfully nab the baby snake (but not before idiot kids throw pieces of Chex mix at it--I swear, this many centuries later we are in no position to judge the Romans for their bloodthirst) and return it to the canyon.

And finally, Ms A. comes up the ramp during the second half of the high stakes test, motioning me onto the balcony, pointing at something to the west. We live next to a naval air station, so I worry it's a plane crash. No--it is a SWARM of bees not fifty feet away from my door. I let them finish the test before informing them.

People think that owl cam is so cool (and it is: http://www.ustream.tv/theowlbox)--but maybe we need a kid cam at school...