Friday, April 29, 2011
An uncensored copy of Dorian Gray?
How much more profane and controversial could it get? Even today in a rather tolerant society when I used to teach it in Brit Lit, the kids still picked up on the homosexual undertones. Could you imagine what his contemporary Victorians thought?
That Time of Year
It's spring. The final month of school, actually. And this is the time when a teacher is ground to a pulp. It's not just the classroom load that wears me down (but there's plenty of that. I have rite of passages to grade, two themes in CC2, and another in CC 1). Whine, whine, whine, right?
Maybe.
But it's not the correcting and lesson planning I'm complaining about. Really, I guess, I'm not complaining about anything. Just stating the obvious: this is a damn busy time to be a teacher.
This year has just seemed - more than any other - to be full of meetings.
As well intentioned as those meetings may be (and dare I say some are vital), they still detract from my time that I can devote to teaching.
Some of this is certainly my fault. I chose to run for co-president of our Education Association - and I'm paid well for the position. But that's one meeting a month. I was in our building leadership team - two meetings a month - but that just became too much for me. Now, add to those three meetings a month, the once a month morning PLC meetings the entire staff has, our common prep meetings every other week, and then our department meetings - as well as budget meetings with the superintendent, the curriculum committee I'm on meets once a month, and then there is the newly formed technology committee that I was asked to join which just met all day yesterday . . . and all those little things suddenly add up to a lot of stress.
It honestly seems like I can't show up to school without a sinking feeling that I'm missing out on a meeting I'm supposed to be in (and that happens more often than not).
Now through on top of these meetings, students being gone for spring sports and the task of make up work, and things get even trickier.
For example - next week I have meetings/dinners three nights of the week (a dinner on Monday with the NCTC board where they will recognize some of our college in the high school students; a dinner Tuesday for the Kramer Brown chapter that will recognize our union retirees; and on Thursday a dinner to recognize our honor students) and that's in addition to our common prep meeting and a PLC coming up.
Whew. I need a break from just blogging about all that.
Makes me miss the slow and methodical months of winter. Well, I guess if we get the snow we're supposed to this weekend, it may well look and feel like winter even if it's supposed to be spring.
Maybe.
But it's not the correcting and lesson planning I'm complaining about. Really, I guess, I'm not complaining about anything. Just stating the obvious: this is a damn busy time to be a teacher.
This year has just seemed - more than any other - to be full of meetings.
As well intentioned as those meetings may be (and dare I say some are vital), they still detract from my time that I can devote to teaching.
Some of this is certainly my fault. I chose to run for co-president of our Education Association - and I'm paid well for the position. But that's one meeting a month. I was in our building leadership team - two meetings a month - but that just became too much for me. Now, add to those three meetings a month, the once a month morning PLC meetings the entire staff has, our common prep meetings every other week, and then our department meetings - as well as budget meetings with the superintendent, the curriculum committee I'm on meets once a month, and then there is the newly formed technology committee that I was asked to join which just met all day yesterday . . . and all those little things suddenly add up to a lot of stress.
It honestly seems like I can't show up to school without a sinking feeling that I'm missing out on a meeting I'm supposed to be in (and that happens more often than not).
Now through on top of these meetings, students being gone for spring sports and the task of make up work, and things get even trickier.
For example - next week I have meetings/dinners three nights of the week (a dinner on Monday with the NCTC board where they will recognize some of our college in the high school students; a dinner Tuesday for the Kramer Brown chapter that will recognize our union retirees; and on Thursday a dinner to recognize our honor students) and that's in addition to our common prep meeting and a PLC coming up.
Whew. I need a break from just blogging about all that.
Makes me miss the slow and methodical months of winter. Well, I guess if we get the snow we're supposed to this weekend, it may well look and feel like winter even if it's supposed to be spring.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
It's finally happening
My essay "The McEssay" is getting closer to seeing daylight. A few weeks ago, I got the proof of my essay. Today I got this from the editor:
On Failure . . .
JK Rowling gives the commencement address at Harvard and focuses on the fear of failure.
J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.
Sir Ken Robinson must be proud.
J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.
Sir Ken Robinson must be proud.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Marvin's draft picks
Let's take a look at Marvin Lewis's luck with first round draft picks.
Here we go.
2003 - quarterback Carson Palmer. A. Sure, he wants out now, but there he is the best of that quarterback class. By far. Who knows what would have happened in 2005 had he not blown his knee out after sailing a beautiful 66 yard pass to Chris Henry on the game's second play of their opening playoff game against eventual Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
2004 - running back Chris Henry. F. I'd give this pick a G grade if there was anything lower than an F. Marvin traded down with the Patriots at the bottom of the round to get more picks, but he passed on the premiere runner in the draft, Stephen Jackson. Had Marvin landed Jackson to go with Palmer, things might have panned out differently in 2005.
2005 - outside linebacker / defensive end David Pollack. F. I loved Pollack. He was maybe the greatest defensive player in the history of the SEC while at Georgia. But a neck injury early on in his second season effectively ended his career. What adds insult to injury is that many of the players picked in this draft led the Bengals to the division title in 2005, but they are long gone by now - some of the low lights (ILB Odell Thurman, out of the league after alcohol problems, Chris Henry, deceased after being suspended several times, Tab Perry, out of the league after hip injury, Adam Kefit, never played a down after injury in training camp).
2006 - cornerback Jonathan Joseph. A. One of the best cover corners in the league. If the Bengals won more often, he'd be a perennial all pro. This is one of their better drafts netting us our left tackle (Andrew Whitworth) and one of our best defensive linemen (Domato Pecko).
2007 - cornerback Leon Hall. A. He pairs with Joseph to form the strength of our defense. The rest of the draft is long gone, though. The heart breaker is the second round pick (Kenny Irons), a running back who tore his ALC in his first preseason game and never played a down in the NFL.
2008 - outside linebacker Keith Rivers. D. He was supposedly the safest player in the draft, but he has been injury prone and has made one big play (an interception against Dallas his rookie year). A waiver wire pick up, Brandon Johnson, has been far more production. Not what you want from the 10th pick in the entire draft.
2009 - offensive tackle Andre Smith. F. He ran into trouble at the end of his junior year at Alabama for contacting an agent. He spent much of that year rated as the top player in the country. He got fat and out of shape but rebounded some prior to the draft. The Bengals gambled on being able to motivate him and coach him up. But on his first day of training camp - after a long contract dispute - Smith broke his foot and has barely been on the field since. Not what you want from the sixth player taken in the entire draft. Now, they are even talking of moving him to guard. Not what you want from the sixth player taken in the entire draft.
2010 - tight end Germain Gresham. A. Led all rookie tightends in yards and catches. Is a weapon. He leads a very impressive draft class. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap in the second round led the Bengals in sacks (9.5) and broke the rookie record for sacks in a season. Third round pick WR Jordan Shipley is a stud, leading all AFC rookie WRs win catches and yards. Fourth rounder defensive tackle Geno Atkins also rushed the passer well and could start next year. With another solid class like those of '10 and '06, the Bengals might be able to be more consistent.
Overall grade, C.
There are some home runs, but there are some glaring misses too.
Here we go.
2003 - quarterback Carson Palmer. A. Sure, he wants out now, but there he is the best of that quarterback class. By far. Who knows what would have happened in 2005 had he not blown his knee out after sailing a beautiful 66 yard pass to Chris Henry on the game's second play of their opening playoff game against eventual Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
2004 - running back Chris Henry. F. I'd give this pick a G grade if there was anything lower than an F. Marvin traded down with the Patriots at the bottom of the round to get more picks, but he passed on the premiere runner in the draft, Stephen Jackson. Had Marvin landed Jackson to go with Palmer, things might have panned out differently in 2005.
2005 - outside linebacker / defensive end David Pollack. F. I loved Pollack. He was maybe the greatest defensive player in the history of the SEC while at Georgia. But a neck injury early on in his second season effectively ended his career. What adds insult to injury is that many of the players picked in this draft led the Bengals to the division title in 2005, but they are long gone by now - some of the low lights (ILB Odell Thurman, out of the league after alcohol problems, Chris Henry, deceased after being suspended several times, Tab Perry, out of the league after hip injury, Adam Kefit, never played a down after injury in training camp).
2006 - cornerback Jonathan Joseph. A. One of the best cover corners in the league. If the Bengals won more often, he'd be a perennial all pro. This is one of their better drafts netting us our left tackle (Andrew Whitworth) and one of our best defensive linemen (Domato Pecko).
2007 - cornerback Leon Hall. A. He pairs with Joseph to form the strength of our defense. The rest of the draft is long gone, though. The heart breaker is the second round pick (Kenny Irons), a running back who tore his ALC in his first preseason game and never played a down in the NFL.
2008 - outside linebacker Keith Rivers. D. He was supposedly the safest player in the draft, but he has been injury prone and has made one big play (an interception against Dallas his rookie year). A waiver wire pick up, Brandon Johnson, has been far more production. Not what you want from the 10th pick in the entire draft.
2009 - offensive tackle Andre Smith. F. He ran into trouble at the end of his junior year at Alabama for contacting an agent. He spent much of that year rated as the top player in the country. He got fat and out of shape but rebounded some prior to the draft. The Bengals gambled on being able to motivate him and coach him up. But on his first day of training camp - after a long contract dispute - Smith broke his foot and has barely been on the field since. Not what you want from the sixth player taken in the entire draft. Now, they are even talking of moving him to guard. Not what you want from the sixth player taken in the entire draft.
2010 - tight end Germain Gresham. A. Led all rookie tightends in yards and catches. Is a weapon. He leads a very impressive draft class. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap in the second round led the Bengals in sacks (9.5) and broke the rookie record for sacks in a season. Third round pick WR Jordan Shipley is a stud, leading all AFC rookie WRs win catches and yards. Fourth rounder defensive tackle Geno Atkins also rushed the passer well and could start next year. With another solid class like those of '10 and '06, the Bengals might be able to be more consistent.
Overall grade, C.
There are some home runs, but there are some glaring misses too.
A Plug
I am going to be - hopefully - teaching two technology courses this summer at the NWSC. If you are interested, sign up by June 1.
Podcasting. ~ All day, June 14th.
Using Cell Phones in the Classroom: If You Can’t Beat ‘em, Join ‘em. ~ All day, June 15th.
Podcasting. ~ All day, June 14th.
Using Cell Phones in the Classroom: If You Can’t Beat ‘em, Join ‘em. ~ All day, June 15th.
2011 Draft
How nice has this off season been? With the NFL lock out, there's been no free agency and nothing for reporters or the NFL Network to blow out of proportion. It's been grand.
Secretly, I'm hoping there is no 2011 NFL season. How nice would that be? I wouldn't have to get angry at the Bungals and jump ship after week five. We could just enjoy college football on Saturdays and relax with no frustrations on Sundays.
We can still hope, though, as talks aren't going to resume between owners and players until the middle of May.
But the draft is almost here, and I can't wait. After all, hope always springs eternal with the draft. And after an uncommon year of doing well and having a late first round pick last year, the Bungals are back to familiar territory, a top five draft pick this year.
With Carson Palmer ready to retire after nearly a decade of misery in the Queen City, it appears the Bengals are going to grab a QB with their fourth pick overall. But no so fast!
Their history at the QB position in the first round is terrible. Greg Cook was a home run until he crushed his shoulder against Kansas City during his phenomenal rookie year. Jack Thompson, the Throwin' Samoan out of Washington State, never panned out - though we did trade him to Tampa Bay for a first round draft pick that should have been Steve Young (but he vaulted for the USFL). Thompson's claim to infamy is that he was that he was one of two QB's taken ahead of Joe Montana (Phil Simms was the other, but he panned out at least). Then came the two biggest blunders of all: David Klingler with the 6th pick in 1992 and Akili Smith with the third overall pick in 1999. Each player set the franchise back a decade.
* As a side note - those damn 49ers won't stop haunting us! Who was Greg Cook's offensive coordinator during his phenomenal rookie year? Bill Walsh. Who did we skip over for Thompson? Joe Montana (who would kill the Bungals in two Super Bowls, '81 and '88)? Who did we try and select only to have him jump to the USFL for more money? Steve Young (who would back up Montana in the '88 Super Bowl and then win one himself in '94). And in '85, what WR did we select in the first round (though the 49ers tried desperately to trade up to get him)? Eddie Brown! Who did the 49ers have to 'settle' for in the first round when they couldn't move ahead of the Bengals for a WR? Someone named Jerry Rice. Oh the horror! The horror!
It wasn't until 2003 that the Bungals had Carson Palmer sitting there for them at #1 that they finally got their much sought after franchise quarterback. He (and Marvin Lewis) are the sole reasons the Bengals have actually won two division titles over those 9 years.
But now he wants out and is ready to retire rather than play another down for the Bungals.
So that leave us with the top two QB prospects: Cam Newton (another Akili Smith?) and Blaine Gabbert (another David Klingler?). The similarities are frightening. Newton had a stellar year culminating in the Heisman. But last year was his only good year. Smith didn't win the Heisman, but he was phenomenal in one year with Oregon and that never translated to the NFL. Will Newton pan out? Hard to tell.
Gabbert comes from a spread attack much like Klingler did coming out of the University of Houston. He was never comfortable under center (it didn't help that Klingler played behind the worst line in the NFL either) and never panned out.
I don't think the Bengals will take either one at four. Basically, because neither might be there!
But if they do, there is some hope. If you want to have a franchise QB, you have to take him high in the first round. That's a fact. Look at the best QB's in the game, other than Brady and Brees, all are high first round picks (Manning, Rivers, Rothlisberger, Vick, Flacco, Ryan, Rodgers . . .). Plus, three of those QBs reached the playoffs in their rookie years (two - Flacco and Rothlisberger) actually reaching the AFC Championsip games! So going with a rookie QB is no longer a death sentence for the upcoming season.
But the Bengals will likely take a QB with their second round pick (35th overall). Their best round has always been the second, where they nabbed two of their best QBs, Kenny Anderson and Boomer Esiason.
So look for the Bengals to go WR with #4 (AJ Green out of Georgia) and then go QB at either #35 or with a trade up back into the first round for any one of these guys (Ryan Mallet, Christan Ponder, or Andy Dalton).
If they Bengals don't go WR - and that's a bit dicey as many WR's take high don't pan out (Roy Williams, Reggie Williams, Charles Rodgers . . .), they could go with the safest pick of all, CB Patrick Peterson out of LSU. While many QB's taken high pan out, - there are many that don't: Erik Couch, Cade McNown, Jim Drunkenmiller, Byron Leftwich, Alex Smith, Kyle Boller, and Rex Grossman. But most of the CB's taken high pan out (Champ Bailey should have been the Bengals selection in 1999 and Troy Vincent should have been their selection in 1992. Maybe the third time will be a charm). It doesn't look like the Bengals will spend the dough to keep their best corner, Jonathan Joseph. So why not replace him with Peterson, who many think is the best player in the draft. He can play the nickel corner (behind Leon Hall and Adam Jones) and pay immediately dividends as an outstanding punt returner.
Another option is Von Miller - a hellacious outside line backer who would bring a nastiness to our defense. But he'll be gone.
In an interesting twist of fate, could the Bungals land two Heisman winners? If Newton falls, the Bengals will scoop him up at four. No question. But what if Mark Ingram slides into the second round (as running backs tend to slide)? Could they scoop him up at #35? Imagine landing the last two Heisman winners in the same draft?
Secretly, I'm hoping there is no 2011 NFL season. How nice would that be? I wouldn't have to get angry at the Bungals and jump ship after week five. We could just enjoy college football on Saturdays and relax with no frustrations on Sundays.
We can still hope, though, as talks aren't going to resume between owners and players until the middle of May.
But the draft is almost here, and I can't wait. After all, hope always springs eternal with the draft. And after an uncommon year of doing well and having a late first round pick last year, the Bungals are back to familiar territory, a top five draft pick this year.
With Carson Palmer ready to retire after nearly a decade of misery in the Queen City, it appears the Bengals are going to grab a QB with their fourth pick overall. But no so fast!
Their history at the QB position in the first round is terrible. Greg Cook was a home run until he crushed his shoulder against Kansas City during his phenomenal rookie year. Jack Thompson, the Throwin' Samoan out of Washington State, never panned out - though we did trade him to Tampa Bay for a first round draft pick that should have been Steve Young (but he vaulted for the USFL). Thompson's claim to infamy is that he was that he was one of two QB's taken ahead of Joe Montana (Phil Simms was the other, but he panned out at least). Then came the two biggest blunders of all: David Klingler with the 6th pick in 1992 and Akili Smith with the third overall pick in 1999. Each player set the franchise back a decade.
* As a side note - those damn 49ers won't stop haunting us! Who was Greg Cook's offensive coordinator during his phenomenal rookie year? Bill Walsh. Who did we skip over for Thompson? Joe Montana (who would kill the Bungals in two Super Bowls, '81 and '88)? Who did we try and select only to have him jump to the USFL for more money? Steve Young (who would back up Montana in the '88 Super Bowl and then win one himself in '94). And in '85, what WR did we select in the first round (though the 49ers tried desperately to trade up to get him)? Eddie Brown! Who did the 49ers have to 'settle' for in the first round when they couldn't move ahead of the Bengals for a WR? Someone named Jerry Rice. Oh the horror! The horror!
It wasn't until 2003 that the Bungals had Carson Palmer sitting there for them at #1 that they finally got their much sought after franchise quarterback. He (and Marvin Lewis) are the sole reasons the Bengals have actually won two division titles over those 9 years.
But now he wants out and is ready to retire rather than play another down for the Bungals.
So that leave us with the top two QB prospects: Cam Newton (another Akili Smith?) and Blaine Gabbert (another David Klingler?). The similarities are frightening. Newton had a stellar year culminating in the Heisman. But last year was his only good year. Smith didn't win the Heisman, but he was phenomenal in one year with Oregon and that never translated to the NFL. Will Newton pan out? Hard to tell.
Gabbert comes from a spread attack much like Klingler did coming out of the University of Houston. He was never comfortable under center (it didn't help that Klingler played behind the worst line in the NFL either) and never panned out.
I don't think the Bengals will take either one at four. Basically, because neither might be there!
But if they do, there is some hope. If you want to have a franchise QB, you have to take him high in the first round. That's a fact. Look at the best QB's in the game, other than Brady and Brees, all are high first round picks (Manning, Rivers, Rothlisberger, Vick, Flacco, Ryan, Rodgers . . .). Plus, three of those QBs reached the playoffs in their rookie years (two - Flacco and Rothlisberger) actually reaching the AFC Championsip games! So going with a rookie QB is no longer a death sentence for the upcoming season.
But the Bengals will likely take a QB with their second round pick (35th overall). Their best round has always been the second, where they nabbed two of their best QBs, Kenny Anderson and Boomer Esiason.
So look for the Bengals to go WR with #4 (AJ Green out of Georgia) and then go QB at either #35 or with a trade up back into the first round for any one of these guys (Ryan Mallet, Christan Ponder, or Andy Dalton).
If they Bengals don't go WR - and that's a bit dicey as many WR's take high don't pan out (Roy Williams, Reggie Williams, Charles Rodgers . . .), they could go with the safest pick of all, CB Patrick Peterson out of LSU. While many QB's taken high pan out, - there are many that don't: Erik Couch, Cade McNown, Jim Drunkenmiller, Byron Leftwich, Alex Smith, Kyle Boller, and Rex Grossman. But most of the CB's taken high pan out (Champ Bailey should have been the Bengals selection in 1999 and Troy Vincent should have been their selection in 1992. Maybe the third time will be a charm). It doesn't look like the Bengals will spend the dough to keep their best corner, Jonathan Joseph. So why not replace him with Peterson, who many think is the best player in the draft. He can play the nickel corner (behind Leon Hall and Adam Jones) and pay immediately dividends as an outstanding punt returner.
Another option is Von Miller - a hellacious outside line backer who would bring a nastiness to our defense. But he'll be gone.
In an interesting twist of fate, could the Bungals land two Heisman winners? If Newton falls, the Bengals will scoop him up at four. No question. But what if Mark Ingram slides into the second round (as running backs tend to slide)? Could they scoop him up at #35? Imagine landing the last two Heisman winners in the same draft?
Senior Skip Day Sucks!
Ever since a senior from my home town was killed in a drunk driving accident on his senior skip day, I am worried all day long for my seniors.
Teacher Effectiveness
This should come as a surprise to no one --
Imagine that! Yet I went a good four or five years where I was observed maybe - and that's a huge maybe - twice a year. If that.
Let's just say under new leadership, I've been evaluated more - even if it's just a quick drop in from the boss - in two years than I have been in the past decade.
Yet, we want to dump billions in other areas to improve education when all you need is a system that allows for administration to effectively evaluate their teachers. Better yet, let other teachers evaluate teachers and allow time for discussion and development. That is a million times better than wasting thousands upon thousands of dollars on what currently passes for 'professional development.'
What is more interesting about this study is what they found - specifically two things -
1. The teachers who improved the most all had at least five years under their belts. So much for the idea that rookie teachers are the savior of our profession.
2. Teacher evaluations were used to evaluate teachers and not just high stakes test scores (a good reason why - most teachers don't teach subjects that culminate in high stakes tests - and please God don't let them try to have more high stakes fill in the bubble tests. Could you imagine judging a choir or orchestra or artists that way?)
In addition to effective evaluations, let me posit two other points for improving teaching.
First, don't hire teachers to simply coach. Hire the best teacher. Period. If they can coach, wonderful. If not, find a member of the public to coach. Exclamation point. The bottom line is you will impact thousands of more kids through teaching than you ever will via coaching. Plus, are you more effective in your classroom in front of 30 kids or being on a bus to a game while those same 30 kids watch a movie with a sub?
Second - and out district has already done this - put an end to bogus 'educational leadership degree' programs. Now, this is not to say that all are bogus, but after listening to one staff member who I greatly respect talk about his experience earning his master's ("I had to buy two books total . . . "), it was a joke. Yet, some of the people in the most powerful positions in our district earned those bogus degrees. What sense does that make?
Is our education system as broken as the media proposes? No. But it sure could be fixed a lot quicker than "Waiting for Superman" or "Race to the Top" would have us believe.
In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, economists Eric Taylor and John Tyler used data from Cincinnati, Ohio to look at what happens when teachers are actually evaluated. Taylor and Tyler tracked teachers during the year they were evaluated and the following years. They found that not only did performance (as measured by math achievement of students) increase during the evaluation year, but the gains were sustained in subsequent years. That's a big deal - it means teachers were not just responding to being evaluated but using the feedback to improve their work.
Let's just say under new leadership, I've been evaluated more - even if it's just a quick drop in from the boss - in two years than I have been in the past decade.
Yet, we want to dump billions in other areas to improve education when all you need is a system that allows for administration to effectively evaluate their teachers. Better yet, let other teachers evaluate teachers and allow time for discussion and development. That is a million times better than wasting thousands upon thousands of dollars on what currently passes for 'professional development.'
What is more interesting about this study is what they found - specifically two things -
1. The teachers who improved the most all had at least five years under their belts. So much for the idea that rookie teachers are the savior of our profession.
2. Teacher evaluations were used to evaluate teachers and not just high stakes test scores (a good reason why - most teachers don't teach subjects that culminate in high stakes tests - and please God don't let them try to have more high stakes fill in the bubble tests. Could you imagine judging a choir or orchestra or artists that way?)
In addition to effective evaluations, let me posit two other points for improving teaching.
First, don't hire teachers to simply coach. Hire the best teacher. Period. If they can coach, wonderful. If not, find a member of the public to coach. Exclamation point. The bottom line is you will impact thousands of more kids through teaching than you ever will via coaching. Plus, are you more effective in your classroom in front of 30 kids or being on a bus to a game while those same 30 kids watch a movie with a sub?
Second - and out district has already done this - put an end to bogus 'educational leadership degree' programs. Now, this is not to say that all are bogus, but after listening to one staff member who I greatly respect talk about his experience earning his master's ("I had to buy two books total . . . "), it was a joke. Yet, some of the people in the most powerful positions in our district earned those bogus degrees. What sense does that make?
Is our education system as broken as the media proposes? No. But it sure could be fixed a lot quicker than "Waiting for Superman" or "Race to the Top" would have us believe.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Best Assignment of 2011
Who would have thunk it, but a little poetry assignment has turned out to be one of my most effective and engaging assignments of the entire year.
We have been studying poetry. Right now we've been studying the language of poetry. We began with "Out, out--" and then read "The Road Not Taken" and "The Ex-basketball player." We've been analyzing personification, rhyme scheme, alliteration . . . all that stuff.
One thing I've done to emphasize rhyme scheme and imagery is to chop up Frost's "Stopping by Woods" line by line and then putting the 16 lines into envelopes, sealing them up, putting students in groups, and then telling them to use rhyme scheme and imagery to try and re-assemble the poem.
In the past it has been just okay. People actually just tried to piece it back together (this time I actually took great pains to make sure they couldn't do that). Amazingly, know one thought to google the poem on their phones.
The entire class is engaged and working and discussing . . . even students who never buy in to what we are doing.
So I do what I do best - I am getting the hell out of their way and hoping it lasts!
We have been studying poetry. Right now we've been studying the language of poetry. We began with "Out, out--" and then read "The Road Not Taken" and "The Ex-basketball player." We've been analyzing personification, rhyme scheme, alliteration . . . all that stuff.
One thing I've done to emphasize rhyme scheme and imagery is to chop up Frost's "Stopping by Woods" line by line and then putting the 16 lines into envelopes, sealing them up, putting students in groups, and then telling them to use rhyme scheme and imagery to try and re-assemble the poem.
In the past it has been just okay. People actually just tried to piece it back together (this time I actually took great pains to make sure they couldn't do that). Amazingly, know one thought to google the poem on their phones.
The entire class is engaged and working and discussing . . . even students who never buy in to what we are doing.
So I do what I do best - I am getting the hell out of their way and hoping it lasts!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A Trip Down Amnesia Lane
Who would have thought a trip to the mall during the 80's would look so bizarre now?
You have to click on the slide show. It's so worth it. Especially if you ever had a mullet, wore shoulder pads, had a pair of Guess or Girbaud jeans, wore BUM, shopped at Vanity or County Seat, or wore a fluorescent tank top in public.
You have to click on the slide show. It's so worth it. Especially if you ever had a mullet, wore shoulder pads, had a pair of Guess or Girbaud jeans, wore BUM, shopped at Vanity or County Seat, or wore a fluorescent tank top in public.
Apples to Apples and Oranges to . . . well,
This?
When it comes to taxes, the Good Book had it all figured out all along. Who knew? Well, apparently this guy did.
When it comes to taxes, the Good Book had it all figured out all along. Who knew? Well, apparently this guy did.
The Future
Why we don't do all of this now is beyond me. We could. It would be neither easy nor painless, but it would transform an education system that is too often boring, frustrating, and irelevent to too many students.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Nobodies are the new somebodies
Guy Kawasaki hits it right on the head. It used to be that innovators had to sell their ideas to CEOs. Not the case anymore. Word of mouth is king. Only it's not word of mouth anymore in the digital age. It's world of twitter, facebook, youtube, blogging . . .
Kawasaki notes that whatever product or idea you are trying to sell, you don't have to convince CEOSs to approve. Rather, you need to get your product idea out there for the nobodies to see, the - as Kawasaki puts it - "lonelyboy47" to like and then tell 20 other people via twitter or facebook. Then things grow exponentially. This is how ebay and twitter erupted. Just try to find a business week or wallstreet journal article that says "Ebay and Twitter" are the next big things. You can't. That's because they grew via word of mouth in the digital age. Thus, the nobodies are now the somebodies!
Kawasaki notes that whatever product or idea you are trying to sell, you don't have to convince CEOSs to approve. Rather, you need to get your product idea out there for the nobodies to see, the - as Kawasaki puts it - "lonelyboy47" to like and then tell 20 other people via twitter or facebook. Then things grow exponentially. This is how ebay and twitter erupted. Just try to find a business week or wallstreet journal article that says "Ebay and Twitter" are the next big things. You can't. That's because they grew via word of mouth in the digital age. Thus, the nobodies are now the somebodies!
A Great Way of Looking at Failure
Why can't students (and teachers) look at grades this way?
That, in fact, is what I learned to do in college in order to thrive. That lesson wasn't learned easily. But it made all the difference.
That, in fact, is what I learned to do in college in order to thrive. That lesson wasn't learned easily. But it made all the difference.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
52 different tests to judge teacher effectiveness?
It has come to this. A superintendent unveils his 1.1 billion dollar spending plan. And it includes a range of 52 tests to judge teacher effectiveness.
Why waste that much money, especially when the school district already has to cut teachers because they are over 100 million dollars in the hole? That's right. One hundred million in the hole. Yet, they are somehow going to come up with a billion to spend?
Where they hell did they learn math?
Why waste the money indeed when all you need to do to judge effective teaching is to watch any teacher in a number of the classes they teach - some observations should be planned, but most should be impromptu. Then talk to the students. Then talk to the parents. How hard is that?
I like what one teacher had to say --
Why waste that much money, especially when the school district already has to cut teachers because they are over 100 million dollars in the hole? That's right. One hundred million in the hole. Yet, they are somehow going to come up with a billion to spend?
Where they hell did they learn math?
Why waste the money indeed when all you need to do to judge effective teaching is to watch any teacher in a number of the classes they teach - some observations should be planned, but most should be impromptu. Then talk to the students. Then talk to the parents. How hard is that?
I like what one teacher had to say --
Retired science teacher John Mock said that, in its quest to grade teachers on a more businesslike model, the board has alienated its workforce and frustrated parents.
He asked board members: "Just whose business model are you using? Enron?"
An Education Bubble
There has been a great debate recently, sparked by comments made by PayPal guru, Peter Theil, in which he declared that graduating seniors should really second guess attending college.
Here's a sample -
But Thiel’s issues with education run even deeper. He thinks it’s fundamentally wrong for a society to pin people’s best hope for a better life on something that is by definition exclusionary. “If Harvard were really the best education, if it makes that much of a difference, why not franchise it so more people can attend? Why not create 100 Harvard affiliates?” he says. “It’s something about the scarcity and the status. In education your value depends on other people failing. Whenever Darwinism is invoked it’s usually a justification for doing something mean. It’s a way to ignore that people are falling through the cracks, because you pretend that if they could just go to Harvard, they’d be fine. Maybe that’s not true.”
But he argues that it isn't. It used to be.
As Sir Ken Robinson used to state, during the Baby Boomer generation, a college degree automatically meant a job and that you were set for life.
Not so today. In fact, in 2004 the number of college grads without jobs was actually higher than the number of high school drop outs without jobs. That's scary.
So what is Theil's solution?
Here's a sample -
But Thiel’s issues with education run even deeper. He thinks it’s fundamentally wrong for a society to pin people’s best hope for a better life on something that is by definition exclusionary. “If Harvard were really the best education, if it makes that much of a difference, why not franchise it so more people can attend? Why not create 100 Harvard affiliates?” he says. “It’s something about the scarcity and the status. In education your value depends on other people failing. Whenever Darwinism is invoked it’s usually a justification for doing something mean. It’s a way to ignore that people are falling through the cracks, because you pretend that if they could just go to Harvard, they’d be fine. Maybe that’s not true.”
But he argues that it isn't. It used to be.
As Sir Ken Robinson used to state, during the Baby Boomer generation, a college degree automatically meant a job and that you were set for life.
Not so today. In fact, in 2004 the number of college grads without jobs was actually higher than the number of high school drop outs without jobs. That's scary.
So what is Theil's solution?
Thiel’s solution to opening the minds of those who can’t easily go to Harvard? Poke a small but solid hole in this Ivy League bubble by convincing some of the most talented kids to drop out of school and try another path. The idea of the successful drop out has been well documented in technology entrepreneurship circles. But Thiel and Founders Fund managing partner Luke Nosek wanted to fund something less one-off, so they came up with the idea of the “20 Under 20″ program last September, announcing it just days later at San Francisco Disrupt. The idea was simple: Pick the best twenty kids he could find under 20 years of age and pay them $100,000 over two years to leave school and start a company instead.
But as many critics are now charging, it's quite one thing for a billionaire like Thiel to argue students should drop out. It's quite another for a kid with nothing to actually drop out.
But it's also one thing for someone who took college seriously and was fortunate enough to be able to earn a degree and find a job they love to advise going to college. It is another for a student who isn't ready to practice the delayed gratification it will take for four or five years in college to persevere and earn that degree to enroll in college . . . even when they still might not find a job.
Here is a great rebuttal to Thiel.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Best Compliment of the School Year
Third block I was introducing "Young Goodman Brown." We were discussing all of the religious symbolism in the story. We were talking about the Garden of Eden and how humans were set up to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, specifically if God set humans up to fail. And if so, what does this reveal about God?
It was at this point that a student began rubbing her forehead and said, "Why do you always do this to us?"
"What's that?" I asked.
"You know . . . make us think all the time!"
My year is made!
I'll take that over any stellar results on fill in the bubble sheets any day!
It was at this point that a student began rubbing her forehead and said, "Why do you always do this to us?"
"What's that?" I asked.
"You know . . . make us think all the time!"
My year is made!
I'll take that over any stellar results on fill in the bubble sheets any day!
The Ugly World of Glenn Beck
After experiencing even an hour of his show (and I confess I've endured more than that), who could see this coming?
Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System | Common Dreams
Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System | Common Dreams
That article is just too damn good not to post the entire thing here (with some of my thoughts too).
That article is just too damn good not to post the entire thing here (with some of my thoughts too).
A nation that destroys its systems of education, degrades its public information, guts its public libraries and turns its airwaves into vehicles for cheap, mindless amusement becomes deaf, dumb and blind. It prizes test scores above critical thinking and literacy. (Isn't it ironic how I'm administirting the MCA's right now? Thank you NCLB. We can try and sell it all we want, but high stakes tests don't motivate kids the way getting up early to get the first set of prom tickets does nor does it motivate students like starting the first game of the year does either. Kind of sad. Thank you high stakes tests.) It celebrates rote vocational training and the singular, amoral skill of making money. (And Trump wants to run for president? I think he epitomizes (and stress the word 'pit' in there) this concept. Teachers are hammered daily in newspapers for the failures of their students - and some of that certainly rests on the shoulders of teachers . . . don't get me wrong - but have we forgotten about all the financial institutions that damn near put us in another great depression? Why don't they or why didn't they get hammered the same way as teachers are now?) It churns out stunted human products, lacking the capacity and vocabulary to challenge the assumptions and structures of the corporate state. It funnels them into a caste system of drones and systems managers. It transforms a democratic state into a feudal system of corporate masters and serfs. (And one has to ask, is this not what big business wants? I'm aware that the Phylis Schlafly's of the world warn that our liberal textbooks want to churn out just the opposite product, drones who rely on big government to do every thing for them).
Teachers, their unions under attack, are becoming as replaceable as minimum-wage employees at Burger King. We spurn real teachers—those with the capacity to inspire children to think, those who help the young discover their gifts and potential—and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests (Thank you Michelle Rhee and Paul Vallas and Arne Duncan). These instructors obey. They teach children to obey. And that is the point. The No Child Left Behind program, modeled on the “Texas Miracle,” is a fraud. It worked no better than our deregulated financial system. But when you shut out debate these dead ideas are self-perpetuating.
Passing bubble tests celebrates and rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence (hello, Ken Robinson. who's book, The Element, says the same thing, and whose TED Talk calls it on the carpet). This kind of intelligence is prized by money managers and corporations. They don’t want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures and assumptions. They want them to serve the system. These tests produce men and women who are just literate and numerate enough to perform basic functions and service jobs. The tests elevate those with the financial means to prepare for them. They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay deference to authority. Rebels, artists, independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts—those who march to the beat of their own drum—are weeded out. (and don't let this go by as conspiracy theory. Why were schools organized into specific periods with bells and routines? To prepare students for industries and production lines. Now that such a way of life is gone in America, we need a new system to replace it. Instead of installing the type of system that fosters creativity and inventiveness, we are implementing the system the author states above . . . all to serve the needs of big business . . . just like the old system.)
“Imagine,” said a public school teacher in New York City, who asked that I not use his name, “going to work each day knowing a great deal of what you are doing is fraudulent, knowing in no way are you preparing your students for life in an ever more brutal world, knowing that if you don’t continue along your scripted test prep course and indeed get better at it you will be out of a job. Up until very recently, the principal of a school was something like the conductor of an orchestra: a person who had deep experience and knowledge of the part and place of every member and every instrument. In the past 10 years we’ve had the emergence of both [Mayor] Mike Bloomberg’s Leadership Academyand Eli Broad’s Superintendents Academy, both created exclusively to produce instant principals and superintendents who model themselves after CEOs. How is this kind of thing even legal? How are such ‘academies’ accredited? What quality of leader needs a ‘leadership academy’? (That is brilliant. I've long seen this type of thing happen, especially in education where you have these parasites who live off of this type of buracracy. Here's an example : Several years ago we had a lady come in to talk about reading across the curriculum (I think). She had a captive audience of teachers who HAD to be there because NCLB was looming and we had to listen to this authority tell us how to teach. Yet, if this lady knew so much and was so damn great at teaching, why was she on the presenter circuit? That's easy to answer. She had become a parasite. She was probably a lousy teacher whose kids ate her alive. Since she couldn't hack the real world of the classroom, she probably got a bogus degree where she attended weekend ITV classes that met for half an hour and then went out for drinks after. I see these parasite everywhere in education.The next time you have a presenter (and I present once in awhile myself), just ask yourself as this person is talking, why are they here and would I ever want my kids to have them for a teacher? I'm betting the answer is most often no. These parasites only exist because our system is so dysfunctional). What kind of society would allow such people to run their children’s schools? The high-stakes tests may be worthless as pedagogy but they are a brilliant mechanism for undermining the school systems, instilling fear and creating a rationale for corporate takeover. There is something grotesque about the fact the education reform is being led not by educators but by financers and speculators and billionaires.” (Hello, Bill Gates and all of his money).
Teachers, under assault from every direction, are fleeing the profession. Even before the “reform” blitzkrieg we were losing half of all teachers within five years after they started work—and these were people who spent years in school and many thousands of dollars to become teachers. How does the country expect to retain dignified, trained professionals under the hostility of current conditions? I suspect that the hedge fund managers behind our charter schools system—whose primary concern is certainly not with education—are delighted to replace real teachers with nonunionized, poorly trained instructors (or just someone who could coach). To truly teach is to instill the values and knowledge which promote the common good and protect a society from the folly of historical amnesia. The utilitarian, corporate ideology embraced by the system of standardized tests and leadership academies has no time for the nuances and moral ambiguities inherent in a liberal arts education. Corporatism is about the cult of the self. It is about personal enrichment and profit as the sole aim of human existence. And those who do not conform are pushed aside. (okay, that's a bit touchy-feely for me. But to truly teach is to motivate, inspire, and to have fun . . . and to make it applicable to the real world. In other words, to truly teach is to make personal connections with kids and then get them to connect with the subject matter. That is tough to do with 'canned' or 'teacher-proof' curriculum where everyone does the same thing at the same time.)
“It is extremely dispiriting to realize that you are in effect lying to these kids by insinuating that this diet of corporate reading programs and standardized tests are preparing them for anything,” said this teacher, who feared he would suffer reprisals from school administrators if they knew he was speaking out. “It is even more dispiriting to know that your livelihood depends increasingly on maintaining this lie. You have to ask yourself why are hedge fund managers suddenly so interested in the education of the urban poor? The main purpose of the testing craze is not to grade the students but to grade the teacher.”
“I cannot say for certain—not with the certainty of a Bill Gates or a Mike Bloomberg who pontificate with utter certainty over a field in which they know absolutely nothing—but more and more I suspect that a major goal of the reform campaign is to make the work of a teacher so degrading and insulting that the dignified and the truly educated teachers will simply leave while they still retain a modicum of self-respect,” he added. “In less than a decade we been stripped of autonomy and are increasingly micromanaged. Students have been given the power to fire us by failing their tests. Teachers have been likened to pigs at a trough and blamed for the economic collapse of the United States. In New York, principals have been given every incentive, both financial and in terms of control, to replace experienced teachers with 22-year-old untenured rookies. They cost less. They know nothing. They are malleable and they are vulnerable to termination.”
The demonizing of teachers is another public relations feint, a way for corporations to deflect attention from the theft of some $17 billion in wages, savings and earnings among American workers and a landscape where one in six workers is without employment. The speculators on Wall Street looted the U.S. Treasury. They stymied any kind of regulation. They have avoided criminal charges. They are stripping basic social services. And now they are demanding to run our schools and universities.
“Not only have the reformers removed poverty as a factor, they’ve removed students’ aptitude and motivation as factors,” said this teacher, who is in a teachers union. “They seem to believe that students are something like plants where you just add water and place them in the sun of your teaching and everything blooms. This is a fantasy that insults both student and teacher. The reformers have come up with a variety of insidious schemes pushed as steps to professionalize the profession of teaching. As they are all businessmen who know nothing of the field, it goes without saying that you do not do this by giving teachers autonomy and respect. They use merit pay in which teachers whose students do well on bubble tests will receive more money and teachers whose students do not do so well on bubble tests will receive less money. Of course, the only way this could conceivably be fair is to have an identical group of students in each class—an impossibility. The real purposes of merit pay are to divide teachers against themselves as they scramble for the brighter and more motivated students and to further institutionalize the idiot notion of standardized tests. There is a certain diabolical intelligence at work in both of these.”
“If the Bloomberg administration can be said to have succeeded in anything,” he said, “they have succeeded in turning schools into stress factories where teachers are running around wondering if it’s possible to please their principals and if their school will be open a year from now, if their union will still be there to offer some kind of protection, if they will still have jobs next year. This is not how you run a school system. It’s how you destroy one. The reformers and their friends in the media have created a Manichean world of bad teachers and effective teachers. In this alternative universe there are no other factors. Or, all other factors—poverty, depraved parents, mental illness and malnutrition—are all excuses of the Bad Teacher that can be overcome by hard work and the Effective Teacher.”
The truly educated become conscious. They become self-aware. They do not lie to themselves. They do not pretend that fraud is moral or that corporate greed is good. They do not claim that the demands of the marketplace can morally justify the hunger of children or denial of medical care to the sick. They do not throw 6 million families from their homes as the cost of doing business. Thought is a dialogue with one’s inner self. Those who think ask questions, questions those in authority do not want asked. They remember who we are, where we come from and where we should go. They remain eternally skeptical and distrustful of power. And they know that this moral independence is the only protection from the radical evil that results from collective unconsciousness. The capacity to think is the only bulwark against any centralized authority that seeks to impose mindless obedience. There is a huge difference, as Socrates understood, between teaching people what to think and teaching them how to think. Those who are endowed with a moral conscience refuse to commit crimes, even those sanctioned by the corporate state, because they do not in the end want to live with criminals—themselves.
“It is better to be at odds with the whole world than, being one, to be at odds with myself,” Socrates said.
Those who can ask the right questions are armed with the capacity to make a moral choice, to defend the good in the face of outside pressure. And this is why the philosopher Immanuel Kant puts the duties we have to ourselves before the duties we have to others. The standard for Kant is not the biblical idea of self-love—love thy neighbor as thyself, do unto others as you would have them do unto you—but self-respect. What brings us meaning and worth as human beings is our ability to stand up and pit ourselves against injustice and the vast, moral indifference of the universe. Once justice perishes, as Kant knew, life loses all meaning. Those who meekly obey laws and rules imposed from the outside—including religious laws—are not moral human beings. The fulfillment of an imposed law is morally neutral. The truly educated make their own wills serve the higher call of justice, empathy and reason. Socrates made the same argument when he said it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.
“The greatest evil perpetrated,” Hannah Arendt wrote, “is the evil committed by nobodies, that is, by human beings who refuse to be persons.”
As Arendt pointed out, we must trust only those who have this self-awareness. This self-awareness comes only through consciousness. It comes with the ability to look at a crime being committed and say “I can’t.” We must fear, Arendt warned, those whose moral system is built around the flimsy structure of blind obedience. We must fear those who cannot think. Unconscious civilizations become totalitarian wastelands.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,” Arendt writes. “For human beings, thinking of past matters means moving in the dimension of depth, striking roots and thus stabilizing themselves, so as not to be swept away by whatever may occur—the Zeitgeist or History or simple temptation. The greatest evil is not radical, it has no roots, and because it has no roots it has no limitations, it can go to unthinkable extremes and sweep over the whole world.”
Monday, April 11, 2011
An interesting assignment
The Atlantic has a new feature, "What America Looks Like." Quite interesting. What does America look like to us here in northwest MN? I hope not like cooked rabbit on the freaking lunch table in the staff lounge!!
Coolest thing ever
This site has lego inspired products.
Note the cool Lichtenstein painting in the background. Only someone uber-cool would actually own both!
A Lego candle! Amazing.
The Lego wallet. Brilliant.
The Lego toy box. Kenzie would go nuts!
And the COOLEST of all! The Lego watch!!!!!!!
Note the cool Lichtenstein painting in the background. Only someone uber-cool would actually own both!
A Lego candle! Amazing.
The Lego wallet. Brilliant.
The Lego toy box. Kenzie would go nuts!
And the COOLEST of all! The Lego watch!!!!!!!
How do you know You're in Red Neck Territory?
There is a free sampling of rabbit on the table in the teachers' lounge!
Thursday, April 07, 2011
A Shock
I remember reading a lot of outrage from educators when the mayor of NY appointed a publishing giant (as opposed to someone who might even remotely be tied to education) as head of the NYC schools.
And look what just popped up on the news -
The city's school chancellor resigned Thursday after three difficult months on the job, a defeat for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his decision to install a publishing executive with no experience as an educator to lead the nation's largest public school system.
What a shocker!
We all like to toss around ways to fix education (school vouchers, pay for performance, tracking, charter schools, get rid of teacher unions, end tenure, more high stakes testing, national standards . . . ), but it'll never happen.
I have come to believe that our schools (and the problems that plague them) are simply symptomatic of larger problems that plague America as a whole.
First, get rid of the bullshit.
That means cut from schools everything that isn't devoted to the intellectual life of kids. That means athletics, prom, homecoming, social services . . . Chuck it.
If you don't believe me, ask yourself how much attention the European and Asian schools we hold up as the Holy Grails of education pay these factors.
Sports are - for the most part - all league sports. They are not tied to school in any way.
Why do this? Simple: it's too much to ask for a head coach to also be a highly effective teacher. And by 'highly effective' I don't mean handing out worksheets and then doing stats or practice plans on the computer. Now, I don't mean to imply all coaches are not effective teachers. But just quiz yourself on who were your absolute best teachers who challenged and pushed you. Did they do that because they had plenty of time to prep for their classes? I find it hard to believe a teacher can do that when they miss two days a week in the spring for sporting events.
All the extras - prom, homecoming . . . - those are nice, but what impact on our adult lives do they have? Now if you are a cynic and you come back with, well what impact does an English class have on our future adult lives . . . well, you have just proven my point. Ask a classroom full of Indian or Chinese students that . . . and you'll see them mastering our own language (and how many Americans can master any other language than our own - and that is tenuous at times!) in order to steal our jobs. Yet, we have students missing school to tan, go to Fargo to get a dress, get their hair done, or plan the skits for coronation.
All the social services schools have to provide (though well intended) are not the school's job! It is not the school's job to try to make up for the miserable lives parents provide for their kids when not in school. It's admirable that schools try to put a bandage to this gaping wound, but at what cost to student learning?
Finally, hire the best and the brightest. Quick. Think of the worst teacher you've ever had. Or think of a class you took where you got an A and learned absolutely nothing. How can this happen? Because we don't hire the best and the brightest. What would happen to a hospital if they hired whatever doctor chose to apply? And then allowed that to just prescribe whatever he wanted or treat illnesses however he wanted (or better yet, just tell everyone they are fine or give them whatever meds they desired)! Yet, that's what happens in many schools.
Simply put - we are too busy doing other stuff, that we neglect the intellectual lives of kids. Worse yet, this is then reinforced through our culture. Instead of having a serious talk about the nuclear calamity in Japan, one could have a serious talk about the Twins pitching rotation. Instead of having a serious talk about the looming government shut down, we could have a great debate on who best deserves to be this year's American Idol. Instead of having a discussion on what is transpiring in Libya, we could watch E! and talk about Dancing with the Stars. Even when there are supposed 'serious' political debates, they are about such stupid things as whether our president is a citizen or if climate change is real.
We have become soft and complacent. In short, we live in the land of the lotus eaters. It's more fun to cheer for your team than it is to take an earnest interest in world affairs. It's more fun to watch TV than it is volunteer or play with the kids. It's more fun to shop and gossip with your kids and live vicariously through them than it is to sit them down and discuss with them what they learned (and didn't learn) in school and demand they do their work and get an actual education (rather than passively earn a degree).
But this will never happen. The only hope is that China and India will rise up and America will become the has been England became when America usurped her spot as the strongest country in the world. Maybe when (or if) that happens, our grand kids will get the kick in the ass that our grand parents (or great grandparents) got when they pulled themselves out of the great depression to become the greatest generation.
I guess there is a hope after all.
And look what just popped up on the news -
The city's school chancellor resigned Thursday after three difficult months on the job, a defeat for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his decision to install a publishing executive with no experience as an educator to lead the nation's largest public school system.
What a shocker!
We all like to toss around ways to fix education (school vouchers, pay for performance, tracking, charter schools, get rid of teacher unions, end tenure, more high stakes testing, national standards . . . ), but it'll never happen.
I have come to believe that our schools (and the problems that plague them) are simply symptomatic of larger problems that plague America as a whole.
First, get rid of the bullshit.
That means cut from schools everything that isn't devoted to the intellectual life of kids. That means athletics, prom, homecoming, social services . . . Chuck it.
If you don't believe me, ask yourself how much attention the European and Asian schools we hold up as the Holy Grails of education pay these factors.
Sports are - for the most part - all league sports. They are not tied to school in any way.
Why do this? Simple: it's too much to ask for a head coach to also be a highly effective teacher. And by 'highly effective' I don't mean handing out worksheets and then doing stats or practice plans on the computer. Now, I don't mean to imply all coaches are not effective teachers. But just quiz yourself on who were your absolute best teachers who challenged and pushed you. Did they do that because they had plenty of time to prep for their classes? I find it hard to believe a teacher can do that when they miss two days a week in the spring for sporting events.
All the extras - prom, homecoming . . . - those are nice, but what impact on our adult lives do they have? Now if you are a cynic and you come back with, well what impact does an English class have on our future adult lives . . . well, you have just proven my point. Ask a classroom full of Indian or Chinese students that . . . and you'll see them mastering our own language (and how many Americans can master any other language than our own - and that is tenuous at times!) in order to steal our jobs. Yet, we have students missing school to tan, go to Fargo to get a dress, get their hair done, or plan the skits for coronation.
All the social services schools have to provide (though well intended) are not the school's job! It is not the school's job to try to make up for the miserable lives parents provide for their kids when not in school. It's admirable that schools try to put a bandage to this gaping wound, but at what cost to student learning?
Finally, hire the best and the brightest. Quick. Think of the worst teacher you've ever had. Or think of a class you took where you got an A and learned absolutely nothing. How can this happen? Because we don't hire the best and the brightest. What would happen to a hospital if they hired whatever doctor chose to apply? And then allowed that to just prescribe whatever he wanted or treat illnesses however he wanted (or better yet, just tell everyone they are fine or give them whatever meds they desired)! Yet, that's what happens in many schools.
Simply put - we are too busy doing other stuff, that we neglect the intellectual lives of kids. Worse yet, this is then reinforced through our culture. Instead of having a serious talk about the nuclear calamity in Japan, one could have a serious talk about the Twins pitching rotation. Instead of having a serious talk about the looming government shut down, we could have a great debate on who best deserves to be this year's American Idol. Instead of having a discussion on what is transpiring in Libya, we could watch E! and talk about Dancing with the Stars. Even when there are supposed 'serious' political debates, they are about such stupid things as whether our president is a citizen or if climate change is real.
We have become soft and complacent. In short, we live in the land of the lotus eaters. It's more fun to cheer for your team than it is to take an earnest interest in world affairs. It's more fun to watch TV than it is volunteer or play with the kids. It's more fun to shop and gossip with your kids and live vicariously through them than it is to sit them down and discuss with them what they learned (and didn't learn) in school and demand they do their work and get an actual education (rather than passively earn a degree).
But this will never happen. The only hope is that China and India will rise up and America will become the has been England became when America usurped her spot as the strongest country in the world. Maybe when (or if) that happens, our grand kids will get the kick in the ass that our grand parents (or great grandparents) got when they pulled themselves out of the great depression to become the greatest generation.
I guess there is a hope after all.
First morning
Monday morning, our first official morning in our new house, Kristie and I were up early getting used to our new routines (she now has to leave earlier than me). Kenz was up too. As we stood in the kitchen, we spotted a deer grazing in the field beyond out back yard.
We pointed this out to Kenz, who wasn't too excited about it.
Then we noticed four other deer meandering through the field. A few fawns even ventured into our yard. Kenz thought that was pretty cool.
We didn't see that in our other home. That's for sure.
We pointed this out to Kenz, who wasn't too excited about it.
Then we noticed four other deer meandering through the field. A few fawns even ventured into our yard. Kenz thought that was pretty cool.
We didn't see that in our other home. That's for sure.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
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