Learning about Education and Reform

Hi, it's been a great while. I am almost an old, old teacher these days, but I am still constantly learning and considering. In the past couple of weeks, I have read John Merrow, Neil Postman, Mike Rose, Alfie Kohn, and assorted other authors about how education has never been defined in a non- controversial way. I would like to apply some of my new found learning to what I believe the purpose of education should be.

With the current trends in education, we are desperately measuring preset standards and trying to get every last child to fit these preconceived notions of what adults believe they should be. This is akin to banging one's head against a brick wall repeatedly for no good reason. If we re-adjusted our idea of education as a means for helping every person become the best that he or she as an individual is capable of being, we would be starting on the right track. This concept of education would be dangerously "radical" and probably challenging, but it would be doing right by our new generation. We need to listen more and lecture less. We need to encourage questions, not demand answers. We need to allow for thinking and to guide it toward new roads, not to the roads we are familiar with. We need to acknowledge that just because a child is not on grade level, that child is still valuable and not a failure. Grade levels are artificial constructs- they are economical, but they are not necessarily educational. We can demand compliance all we want, but unless the customer is told why, compliance will not occur.

We need to start treating students with respect for who they are, not with contempt for what we think they're not being or should be. We need to offer challenges and support growth. We need to stop testing concepts we don't have time to teach.

A New Year- Middle of the Year?

I am embarassed that my last post was in October. Fortunately, my portable doesn't stink anymore, but it does get very, very warm, and then the air comes on and it gets very, very cold. This is not a good thing, but due to the infinite wisdom of the energy conservators at the district level, I am incapable of controlling my climate in my room. The computer has control- "I'm sorry I can't do that, Dave." I guess the future is here and now.
I have just enjoyed two weeks out of school, and I am gearing up for the big return. I know that after the first day back it is going to seem like I never left, but I am looking forward to the energy and enthusiasm that so many of my students carry along with them. I am also looking forward to hearing my colleagues holiday stories, and finding out what all has gone on while we have been away. I am also looking forward to having my "office" back, even it does blow hot and cold intermittently.
The new year brings promise. Mid year brings stress. The dichotomy between the calendar year and the school year seems especially obvious this time of year. The world is all shiny and new as the calendar page gets flipped, but the school year is heading into testing, and the downhill slope of the journey. I enjoy this dynamic tension, and I am hoping that the optimism of new beginnings will successfully fuel the conclusion of the school year!

It's Friday and My Portable Stinks!

OK, Friday is supposed to be a wonderful day. We are heading for two days away from school, and the kids are generally happy, I'm generally happy, and all is usually right with the world. Well, this Friday, I opened the door of my portable, and I was met with a horrible stench. The custodial staff had cleaned my carpet, and there had been no ventilation all night!!!!! We are currently shutting down air conditioners when people aren't present to save the district money on utilities. The room was damp, smelly, and airless. I opened as many windows as I could, and I opened both of my doors. My son refused to come in saying, "It smells like they cleaned with bat guano!" My daughter came in and suffered with me, but when my first period class showed up, it was chaos. The kids were feeling ill, and they wanted to get out! The media center is not available. Fortunately, it is smelling a little better, but it does not make sense with the weekend coming that they did this to me on a Friday!

My classes are reading an abridged version of "Frankenstein" right now, and they seem to be enjoying it. It is a story that middle schoolers resonate with. The outcast who only wants to be loved and listened to. How sad how many of our kids feel like they don't have anyone who really cares about them. We adults get so busy, or we assume the kids know how we feel, or we are just not very good at showing how we care. It is amazing how many kids make it through without turning into "monsters."

Sunday Night Thoughts

When you are a teacher, Sunday night has a special place in your life. You are winding down the weekend and gearing up for the week. You are apprehensive about what lies ahead and feeling like you didn't accomplish as much as you should have, but you also are eager to get back to the classroom to share in the energy of your students and the atmosphere of learning. Oh, dilemmas!

I have had a good weekend, and I am ending it by sort of watching the 6oth Emmy Awards- more interested in seeing the dresses than knowing who wins. I have put down plans through the first 9 weeks in my plan book, and I am thinking about how our Monday morning will go. I baked muffins earlier today so that we will have an easy breakfast in the morning. Once the roller coaster of the week gets started, I will be on my way, and planning will take a backseat as I navigate through the days.

Middle schoolers are not generally good at planning ahead, and maybe a little bit of that spirit is rubbing off on me. We as teachers spend a great deal of our time asking our students, "Why can't you be more organized?" Poor students- we need to recognize that even all grown-ups are not organized. How much more can we expect of them?

Courage to Move On

It is a sad fact that human beings hunger for new things but run from change. We get tired of the status quo, but we are afraid of novelty. We doubt that we are up for the challenge of a new opportunity, but we feel stale in our current situation. Maybe that is the human paradox.

Part of what makes teaching Middle School so challenging is that you are dealing with a large group of people who are constantly changing and constantly wishing things could stay the same. Their lives, bodies, and minds are changing, and they need the confidence and courage to move into those changes--to fight the desire to run away from those changes.

Currently I am also fighting the fear of change. Our school is being impacted by budget cuts, and we are going to lose teachers. I could be one of them. I know I should welcome the opportunity to expand, but I tend to feel the need to mourn the loss of what was, and then move on. We'll see what the future holds. What really upsets me is that rather I am directly impacted or not, my students are going to have to deal with yet more change. Sigh!

Remembrance

Will anybody forget what they were doing on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001? My two children had both been delivered to their respective schools. I had made an early morning run to the grocery store, and was on my home with the radio on when I heard the first report. I brought my groceries home and went to a rehearsal for a play I was doing. When I got to the theater, the radio was on and we heard the reports of the second plane, the plane in DC, and the one in Pennsylvania. It seemed weird and surreal. We cancelled our rehearsal and went home. One of my friends was visiting from out of town, and he called me and told me to turn on the television. I did. The images are still in my head.

It was so difficult to be watching something so horrible that was so far and yet so close. I wanted to pick up my children. I wanted my husband to be home. My parents were overseas on a European trip, and I started to worry that they wouldn't be able to get home if the governments shut down the airways. What a morning- what a terrible waste.

The students I am teaching now have only vague memories of that horrible morning. They were 6 and 7 year olds who now live with the aftermath of terror. Waiting in long security lines at the airport is commonplace for them. Using airplanes as weapons is also a concept that is familiar.
I am asking my students this morning to write about what freedom means to them. It should be interesting to find out.

Wow, I've Got a Lot to Learn

I went looking at some other blogs, and boy, this is boring in comparison. Where do people find the time to add the doodads and thingy-dingies?

Anyway, the school where I teach is a gem. We have a smaller than average middle school population and an administration that is committed and caring. I don't think I could have landed in a finer patch of clover.

I liked school when I was younger, and I still like school today. I like the rhythms of the school year, I like the camaraderie, and I like the energy of possibility. The wonderful thing about middle school students is that every day is a new day. In some ways, middle school teaching is similar to training puppies. They are clumsy, in-between childhood and adulthood, frequently eager to please, but often unsure how to do it, and life is difficult to imagine beyond today.

The students I feel sorry for are the ones who have been turned into adults by unfortunate circumstances. I feel sorry for the ones who have parents in jail, who need to take care of younger siblings because mom (or dad, or both) have to work two or more jobs and are out of the home for 11-12 hours a day, and I feel sorry for the ones who are dealing with homes that are being strained by alcohol or drug abuse. These kids are growing up, but they are often forced to grow up way too fast and with too little guidance to help them keep to the paths that will take them somewhere better.

When I get the opportunity to get to know my students better, I admire their strength and resilience, and I go home and thank my parents for my "normal" upbringing.