The first few weeks of school are so telling. I am starting my 20th year of teaching...I don't think I am old enough to be an "old teacher" but 20 years says a lot.
I have spent 5 days with all of my classes. They have told me a lot about themselves whether they know it or not.
I have found the "leave me alone...I don't need any help" students.
I have found the "I need help with everything I do" students.
I have found the "You need to watch everything I do or you'll be in trouble" students.
And I still have a contingent of students that I do not have pegged yet but every year some of them just scream their needs during the first days.
I also seem to have the most focused group of 9th graders I have seen in a long time. They have been working like mad all week on their first assignments. They also seem to have very engaged parents who have written me notes and emails about how they like what I am doing.
I feel a good year starting!
Monday, September 2, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Is It Really Broken????
The other day, I was listening to Harvard Ed Cast, a podcast through I-Tunes University and the speaker stated that the public school system is "broken". Is it really broken?
We have served 1,850 +/- last school year. We served approximately 220 students with exceptional/special needs. We will graduated a class of 450+ students. Of those about 50 were students with exceptional/special needs
I work in a public high school.
I don't consider it to be a "broken" place.
It is a first-ring school (a suburban school district that borders a major city) with a significant transient population. Fifty percent of the population qualifies for free and reduced lunches. The city where my school is has also becomes home for refugees from wherever the latest war or genocide has occurred. When I started teaching 20 years ago, there was a significant Arab immigrant population, then an Albanian influx, and most recently, Burmese and Nepalese refugees. These Burmese/Nepalese refugees in many cases were born in refugee camps and never attended school. They are not literate in their native language, let alone English.
We have two classrooms dedicated to students with severe emotional problems. These students have grown up under some of the harshest conditions. The three staff members who work with them provide daily encouragement, paths for helping them make better decisions about their lives, and a place of security when they have made a mistake and need to regroup. Some days, reading, writing and arithmetic are the least of their concerns as they battle addiction, homelessness and mental health issues. They are not the easiest students to work with, but my colleagues are tireless and positive, and see the potential that each of them possess.
Some of these students will be the first high school graduates in their families.
Doesn't sound broken to me.
We have three classrooms dedicated to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. The needs of these students are more than most people can imagine. Some of them are so medically fragile that most of them will never live independently, because their needs are so significant. The teachers and paraprofessionals in these classrooms probably have the most physical teaching jobs, as they change diapers and work on physical therapies - let alone teach content. These staff members work tirelessly to make sure that these students are engaged and active. The ages of these student may be that of their typical peers but their functioning is much like that of lower elementary school students, pre-schoolers or younger. The herculean effort that goes into educating these students is beyond what I could ever do and the staff members in these classrooms love what they do...every day.
Doesn't sound broken to me.
One of the major movements in school today is teaching "21st Century Skills" with and emphasis "Four C's" (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity). My school has piloted a 1 to 1 computing initiative. It has continued over the course of the last three years. Two hundred students, through grant money, were provided with netbooks, access to iPods and iPads. The teachers teaching these students worked to create collaborative opportunities for students to work on projects/problems to be solved. Students were provided opportunities to demonstrate their creativity. With the devices and software platforms they are using, they have been communicating differently. Yeah, I just used all buzz words. But really? Where in life, in what job, are you given a paper to complete that the boss already knows all the answers to?
One year students were charged with developing an Earth Day project that helped with an issue in the community. One of my students showed me his video as he and his group created a game by putting basketball hoops on the trash cans in the local park to entice people to get their trash to the can. Wow...out in the community, talking to people in the park and asking them what they thought.
Doesn't sound broke to me.
This 1 to 1 computing initiative has opened new doors to the entire staff in the district as there have been in house grants to bring netbooks into more classrooms. More and more teachers are getting their hands on the technology and using it with students. More and more teachers are using the technology that real people in the real world use daily. Make a poster? not so much any more...how about a Prezi? Write an essay? How about a Blog that not only the teacher will read but anyone with access to the World Wide Web? You usually put on your best if "everyone" can see it.
These initiatives have been slow to roll but the purchase of technology is becoming cost prohibitive. We are currently engaged in conversation about BYOD/BYOT. But we have come a long way.
Doesn't sound broke to me.
If test scores are a measure of the "broken" public schools, none of this is ever measured on a test.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
It's been a while....
II resolve to post more blogs and then I don't.
I am encouraged by my husband to post my ideas, thoughts, and reactions and then I don't.
So, I am, under the encouragement of my husband, resolving to post more blogs. Let's see how this goes!
I am encouraged by my husband to post my ideas, thoughts, and reactions and then I don't.
So, I am, under the encouragement of my husband, resolving to post more blogs. Let's see how this goes!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Common Core State Standards
Several weeks ago I was able to attend a conference about the new Common Core State Standards. I am very excited at the idea of the teaching not being a mile wide
and an inch deep. I hope that we can see our way out of the page turning mentality and really get to the heart of what students should know and be able to do.
Another idea that caught my eye and is percolating in my mind is the idea that all students are in the general education setting. All teachers are responsible for teaching students and moving them to the next level of knowledge.
The biggest idea I came away with was that ALL TEACHERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LITERACY. ALL meaning ALL.
I hope we can find our way to cross curricularize more units into engaging, knowledge building, creative endeavors!
Another idea that caught my eye and is percolating in my mind is the idea that all students are in the general education setting. All teachers are responsible for teaching students and moving them to the next level of knowledge.
The biggest idea I came away with was that ALL TEACHERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR LITERACY. ALL meaning ALL.
I hope we can find our way to cross curricularize more units into engaging, knowledge building, creative endeavors!
Student Engagement
Well, it's summer vacation and the 2011-2012 school year seems like a distant memory and the soon to come 2012-2013 school year is on the way....way too soon. As a part of summer, I like to increase my participation in the water aerobics classes offered at our local Rec. Center. During the school year, I am only able to take the evening classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During the summer, I can add the Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning class. This morning I had a revelationary moment as I thought about the two different instructors and how they run their classes. The revelation caused me to think about student engagement in the water aerobics class and draw a parallel to student engagement in the classroom.
The Scene: The classes are both taught in the same pool. We use the lap lanes which very gently go from 4 feet to 5 foot 8 inches. The students are kind of centered in the pool. The morning students seem to be a little older and tend toward the shallow end of the pool. The evening students seem to spread across the entire length of the pool.
Instructor AM:
The Approach: Instructor AM generally keeps the class moving between the lane line and the wall. For 80-90% of the 45 minute class. These are short laps maybe about 15 feet each way. Toward the end of the class, maybe the last 3 to 5 minutes, she will move us to the shallow end for stretching and balance exercises.The class starts with laps running, jogging, cross country, rocking horse...we always seem to hit the ground running. The laps throughout the class have a variety of exercises using both arms and legs; back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Generally AM gives us a direction of motion that she is in the pool also doing and after the instruction, we go back and forth back and forth back and forth.....etc. She changes the focus about every 5-10 minutes. Occasionally, she will call a motion that is "double time" fast legs fast arms. These "double time" intervals don't seem to have any set amount of time and sometimes she changes the motion throughout a double time interval. After the instruction is given there are, what seem to be long periods of silence until she shouts the next instruction. Instructor AM always seems to run out of time, like there is more that she has planned that she just didn't get to but she often promises we will do next time.
Observation of the students: Firstly, I think some of these ladies have been in this class for a very long time. They seem to chat about their children, grandchildren and I think I even heard one mention a great grandchild. They are also fond of gambling and exchange tips on the slot machines that pay out at the casinos they frequent. Sometimes, they have such conversation with the instructor. The ladies seem to be trying to do whatever the exercise is but I have also seen women who seem to chat the time away and I am not sure they have done any of the exercises.
Instructor PM
The Approach: Instructor PM seems to have more students in her classes and one of the lap lanes is taken over by the class as the floating divider is moved over. Instructor PM has the class moving from the lane line to the wall and from the deep end to the shallow end and back. During the hour long class PM always starts out slow with gentle movements to get warmed up and used to the water. There is always a start, height of exercise and a cool down with plenty of stretching. Throughout the entire class, PM gives instruction about position, breathing, what you should feel and what you should do if it doesn't fit your ability or range of motion. This is a kind of constant coaching or reminding about what is important.
Observation of the students: The class seems to have some regular attenders but there are new and different people in the class on a regular basis. There seems to be very little conversation among the class as we exercise. With all of the different directions we travel, a missed instruction could result in a crash... not that anyone would be injured but maybe a little embarrassed.
So, what does this say about student engagement?
During instructor PM's class, there are constant reminders about how to do the exercise correctly, how it should feel, how to modify it if it is not feeling right and encouragement to "keep breathing". Instructor AM's class is a 15 second instruction and a long period of silence. With so much time open, it is easy to drift off, miss a quick instructional change, have your body in a bad position. There is no modification or direction about how the exercise should feel. I think some of the women just move and don't know if they are doing what is being asked of them. There is no feedback, no coaching. It also seems like the long periods of silence need to be filled so the ladies have conversations to keep their minds actively engaged as well.
In the Academic classroom
While this observation is based on physical activity, this applies to the academic classroom as well. Have you been in a class where there is instruction given and periods of long silence while students work? How easy does it become to be off task either chatting or wandering off mentally? Have you ever been in a classroom where the teacher gives instruction and continues to give instruction as the work goes on? An observation of an error and a correction given to the entire class rather than 30 times to each individual? What it looks like to do it right. What if feels like to do it right. What do do if you don't have it right, how to change it to make it fit what you know.
The Scene: The classes are both taught in the same pool. We use the lap lanes which very gently go from 4 feet to 5 foot 8 inches. The students are kind of centered in the pool. The morning students seem to be a little older and tend toward the shallow end of the pool. The evening students seem to spread across the entire length of the pool.
Instructor AM:
The Approach: Instructor AM generally keeps the class moving between the lane line and the wall. For 80-90% of the 45 minute class. These are short laps maybe about 15 feet each way. Toward the end of the class, maybe the last 3 to 5 minutes, she will move us to the shallow end for stretching and balance exercises.The class starts with laps running, jogging, cross country, rocking horse...we always seem to hit the ground running. The laps throughout the class have a variety of exercises using both arms and legs; back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Generally AM gives us a direction of motion that she is in the pool also doing and after the instruction, we go back and forth back and forth back and forth.....etc. She changes the focus about every 5-10 minutes. Occasionally, she will call a motion that is "double time" fast legs fast arms. These "double time" intervals don't seem to have any set amount of time and sometimes she changes the motion throughout a double time interval. After the instruction is given there are, what seem to be long periods of silence until she shouts the next instruction. Instructor AM always seems to run out of time, like there is more that she has planned that she just didn't get to but she often promises we will do next time.
Observation of the students: Firstly, I think some of these ladies have been in this class for a very long time. They seem to chat about their children, grandchildren and I think I even heard one mention a great grandchild. They are also fond of gambling and exchange tips on the slot machines that pay out at the casinos they frequent. Sometimes, they have such conversation with the instructor. The ladies seem to be trying to do whatever the exercise is but I have also seen women who seem to chat the time away and I am not sure they have done any of the exercises.
Instructor PM
The Approach: Instructor PM seems to have more students in her classes and one of the lap lanes is taken over by the class as the floating divider is moved over. Instructor PM has the class moving from the lane line to the wall and from the deep end to the shallow end and back. During the hour long class PM always starts out slow with gentle movements to get warmed up and used to the water. There is always a start, height of exercise and a cool down with plenty of stretching. Throughout the entire class, PM gives instruction about position, breathing, what you should feel and what you should do if it doesn't fit your ability or range of motion. This is a kind of constant coaching or reminding about what is important.
Observation of the students: The class seems to have some regular attenders but there are new and different people in the class on a regular basis. There seems to be very little conversation among the class as we exercise. With all of the different directions we travel, a missed instruction could result in a crash... not that anyone would be injured but maybe a little embarrassed.
So, what does this say about student engagement?
During instructor PM's class, there are constant reminders about how to do the exercise correctly, how it should feel, how to modify it if it is not feeling right and encouragement to "keep breathing". Instructor AM's class is a 15 second instruction and a long period of silence. With so much time open, it is easy to drift off, miss a quick instructional change, have your body in a bad position. There is no modification or direction about how the exercise should feel. I think some of the women just move and don't know if they are doing what is being asked of them. There is no feedback, no coaching. It also seems like the long periods of silence need to be filled so the ladies have conversations to keep their minds actively engaged as well.
In the Academic classroom
While this observation is based on physical activity, this applies to the academic classroom as well. Have you been in a class where there is instruction given and periods of long silence while students work? How easy does it become to be off task either chatting or wandering off mentally? Have you ever been in a classroom where the teacher gives instruction and continues to give instruction as the work goes on? An observation of an error and a correction given to the entire class rather than 30 times to each individual? What it looks like to do it right. What if feels like to do it right. What do do if you don't have it right, how to change it to make it fit what you know.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Jury Duty....the saga continues
So the jury duty thing is over and wow what an experience. First, there were about 200 to 250 people there in the “Jury Assembly Room”….As the first morning went on, you would hear strings of names for people selected to be on a jury. At times, there were calls for the juries that belonged in a certain judge’s courtroom. These were juries that hung over from the previous week. At 11:00 am, my name was called. The first on a list of 22 people….this indicated it was a criminal trial. We made our way via 2 secured elevators to the 19th floor of the Justice Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
It was quite a gathering of people as they say “from all walks of life”. Some had served on jury duty before and some had not. The Judge was what I would consider young. He was very thorough. We spent the remainder of Monday, all day Tuesday and half of Wednesday in “Voir Dire” [from Wikipedia web pageVoir dire (English pronunciation: /ˈvwɑr ˌdiər/) is a phrase in law which comes from the Anglo-Norman language. In origin it refers to an oath to tell the truth (Latin verum dicere), i.e., to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both.]. This is the process of jury selection where a series of questions are asked that help the lawyers determine who they do and don’t want on the jury. In this court, the judge was the main driving force in this process and it seemed that he was very thorough. Everyone had an opportunity to speak about their previous experiences with courtrooms, crime and understanding of the law.
Once the 12 were selected, the remainder of the 22 was released back to the Jury Assembly Room where they were again in the pool for being selected to another jury. This was also the place where we gathered in the morning and at lunch time before going up to the courtroom. The people watching in this room was also very interesting (enough so for it to be the subject of another blog).
After the voir dire was complete, we heard testimony and evidence on Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday and the case closed on Thursday. We were late in the day and elected to come in on Friday to deliberate. In my mind, and with hind sight being 20/20, I think we could have deliberated on Thursday and been done. There was not much evidence to convict the defendant and we quickly agreed on Friday morning. It was however nice to deliberate at a leisurely pace without really feeling like we needed to be in other places or beating rush hour traffic.
From the first day in the courtroom, the judge told us the testimony would take about a day and a half and that the trial would be done by Friday. I think that since he had spent what seemed like such a long time on the voir dire process, we were all nervous that it would go longer than the 5 days jury duty is supposed to last. It did indeed end on Friday. To me, this is just amazing, that 200-ish people can be gathered on Monday and business or “court” would be finished by Friday and the next Monday, it would all start over again with another 200-ish room full of people.
It was quite a gathering of people as they say “from all walks of life”. Some had served on jury duty before and some had not. The Judge was what I would consider young. He was very thorough. We spent the remainder of Monday, all day Tuesday and half of Wednesday in “Voir Dire” [from Wikipedia web pageVoir dire (English pronunciation: /ˈvwɑr ˌdiər/) is a phrase in law which comes from the Anglo-Norman language. In origin it refers to an oath to tell the truth (Latin verum dicere), i.e., to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both.]. This is the process of jury selection where a series of questions are asked that help the lawyers determine who they do and don’t want on the jury. In this court, the judge was the main driving force in this process and it seemed that he was very thorough. Everyone had an opportunity to speak about their previous experiences with courtrooms, crime and understanding of the law.
Once the 12 were selected, the remainder of the 22 was released back to the Jury Assembly Room where they were again in the pool for being selected to another jury. This was also the place where we gathered in the morning and at lunch time before going up to the courtroom. The people watching in this room was also very interesting (enough so for it to be the subject of another blog).
After the voir dire was complete, we heard testimony and evidence on Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday and the case closed on Thursday. We were late in the day and elected to come in on Friday to deliberate. In my mind, and with hind sight being 20/20, I think we could have deliberated on Thursday and been done. There was not much evidence to convict the defendant and we quickly agreed on Friday morning. It was however nice to deliberate at a leisurely pace without really feeling like we needed to be in other places or beating rush hour traffic.
From the first day in the courtroom, the judge told us the testimony would take about a day and a half and that the trial would be done by Friday. I think that since he had spent what seemed like such a long time on the voir dire process, we were all nervous that it would go longer than the 5 days jury duty is supposed to last. It did indeed end on Friday. To me, this is just amazing, that 200-ish people can be gathered on Monday and business or “court” would be finished by Friday and the next Monday, it would all start over again with another 200-ish room full of people.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Jury Duty
Today is my first day of jury duty for the Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas. There are probably about 200 people here. We have watched a movie, been addressed by two bailiffs and a judge. So far it has been interesting. Will try to post as able...the most harrowing part so far, has been the trip to downtown Cleveland...new traffic patterns because of construction. it took about 40 minutes during rush hour to make a 6 mile trip...huh!
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