The School District of Philadelphia

I left school today, walked down the ever so slippery when wet marble steps out to my car and drove to our School District Headquarters at “440.”
I’ve been there a few times, but today was different. It felt like an art museum. Art was everywhere, in every window three stories high, in every corner, on every wall, in the atrium, in the conference room, in the wide expansive hallways. Magnificent art work and what a climate, what a sense of peace it created.
To bad my school doesn’t have art, neither does my wife’s. I can’t tell you how many schools don’t have art but I know it’s a lot. I can tell you, our administrators are out of tune with the schools they supervise.
Of course I knew that the first time I went to the bathroom in that building. It had soap and paper towels. Oh and the winner of the Home and School Council Award was a painting of an over-reacting angry man. The canvas portrayed only 2/3 of a distorted face silently screaming and it stopped me in my tracks….for so many reasons. I only hope my words can give the reader a sense of the palpable resentment so many teachers have for an administration which blindly implements strategic visions. But it was the parents who selected this painting.…and what did it do for them, but perhaps express similar thoughts.
A picture is worth a thousand words, a thousand thoughts, but I pray for a thousand meaningful actions.

A TEACHER’S COMPASS: Five Essential Elements of Exceptional Teaching (Part 3)

This is the third of five essays over the next few weeks.  The first two, Release Your Personality and Tap Their Spirits have been posted previously and can still be viewed on this blog.  Collectively, the five essays in A Teacher’s Compass were born of my attempt to conceptualize in plain language the essential elements of exceptional teaching.  They comprise my credo of teaching, my best advice to the novice and veteran teacher alike.  (Each element is discussed more fully in a book I am writing; these essays here are short summaries of the elements.)  As always, I encourage replies.

#3 Engage Their Minds. When all is said and done, this is the point of education.  Nothing else really matters; if we fail at this, we fail – period.  It is never enough to have students do, if what they are being asked to do is not accompanied by thinking.  The litmus test must be what and how much students are learning at any given time in any given class.

We sometimes confuse the how with the what and how much:
•    The how is comprised of the means by which learning is apt to occur.
•     The what and how much are the ends, the actual learning.

When we confuse these, we find ourselves doing things that, while research supported and possible avenues for learning, may or may not be achieving the end result of significant student learning.  For example, we put kids in cooperative work groups, assign time-consuming projects, or have them perform with manipulatives or other “hands-on” tasks even when the work groups may be dysfunctional, the projects may contain trace amounts of substantive content and the “hands-on” activities often have no benefit of being “minds-on” or have no connection in the students’ minds with the concepts they are supposed to be learning.  There are countless examples of cases where we focus on the means – often because of administrative insistence – and forget all about what the students are actually learning, the true ends.

It would be wrong to suggest that these things never engage minds or impact real learning.  It is to say that these strategies are not the goal in and of themselves and that we must not lose sight of the true goal.  Done well, all of these things can cause a great deal of learning to occur.

Engaging their minds means putting content in relevant, student-meaningful contexts.  It means exploring and exploiting their natural curiosities.  It means pushing them to think about ideas, to grapple with various perspectives and solutions, asking “What if…?”, and doing so with rich, complex tasks that are very often messy and may well raise more questions than they answer.  It’s hard work for them and for us.  But the multiple choice questions they may face on state tests in May are no match for students who have basic knowledge and have been taught to think.   Engage Their Minds.  dven.

(to be continued…)

“Be Nice and Work Hard,” Lessons from Rafe Esquith

Have you read Rafe Esquith’s Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56?

It stands as a testament that a good teacher can help kids become excellent human beings. Along the way, Rafe’s students get a true general education. They do all sorts of whiz-kid real-life mathematics; they make gorgeous art projects out of real materials; they mount a full production of a Shakespeare play and compose and perform music to go with it. They do really interesting work in science.

These are fifth graders. Rafe has taught this way for over twenty years in an inner-city LA school.

Any teacher would love to have Rafe’s academic results. However, he has achieved something far greater, in my opinion. He teaches his students how to be good human beings, with good moral judgment, kindness for others, and maturity dealing with people and situations. He takes his inner-city fifth-graders on a big trip to Washington DC once a year.

Before they go, he trains them:

• They know how to plan and pay for a route on public transportation.
• They know how to check into a motel room.
• They know how to order a meal, pay for it, eat it nicely, and tip afterward.
• They know how to plan a tour with just enough stops to internalize what they are seeing and not get too tired.
• They know how to tip hotel staff for cleaning and other services.
• They know how to call or visit  Information Services in a location to get help.
• They know how to go to bed early enough for plenty of rest to enjoy the next day’s tour experiences.
• They know how to be quiet and respectful in a hotel.
• They know how to help each other and others when needed.
• They know how to count their money, give the appropriate amount, and receive correct change.

If you have ever taken a class on a field trip, you might be reading this with your jaw on the floor.  Many adults can’t function this well.

What Rafe teaches me with his stories is that students can behave well. Students can embody courtesy, kindness and gentility. Rafe shows us that it can happen. I believe that teaching good behavior, detail by detail, is a big key here. I imagine that Rafe never allows even one subtle violation of his well-established code of courtesy. I also imagine that all the students help keep each other in check.

Rafe Esquith provides a wonderful personal model for this higher way of being. Although his achievements are stunning, he always responds with modesty when people compliment him. He summarizes his approach simply:

“Be nice and work hard.”

What Gives

As a teacher I want to work in an effective school where children learn. I dare say the ability for children to learn is the most important determinant of job satisfaction, more important than salary and benefits, and more important than union membership, (though these are required elements for survival in today’s bitter political scenario regarding education, especially so in Philadelphia).
An important skill I am developing is to read between the lines when digesting the outcomes of research articles. The two quotes below are from a recent article regarding Chicago Charter Schools.

1. ”It finds that attending a charter high school in that city boosts a student’s chance of graduating from high school by 7 percentage points and increases the likelihood that a student will enroll in college by 11 percentage points.”

2.“But it also finds that students in Chicago’s charter schools don’t appear to make any greater learning gains than their peers in regular elementary and middle schools.”

So what gives? Charter Schools are not producing better learning outcomes for students, but perhaps, by manufacturing data such as higher graduation rates and college attendance they are winning the PR wars, which will shape the future of education.

Clearly, equal learning outcomes should produce equal High School graduation rates and similar college attendance rates. Are Charter Schools based on educational outcomes and isolated financial debacles joining Edison Schools as the new Enron of education?

Do I Have To?

Do I have to take math next year? This is a question I have grown to love. My answer is always an emphatic “yes”!

Why wouldn’t a student want to continue their studies in math? Why wouldn’t a parent encourage their child to take a math class their senior year? Of course the requirements for graduation only require three years of math, but how can a student be successful in a college math course if they have not studied the subject for over a year? How can they expect to score well on the math portion of the SAT or ACT without keeping that part of their brain active? Certainly they have to take a math class!

“But, I hate math!” is the response, or “Math is my worst subject”. My response is usually, “Good, then you might want to consider doubling up on your math efforts to help find success so that it becomes easier and more enjoyable.” After three years at my current school, students whom I have had in past years will answer the question for me. “Do I have to take math next year?” “Not technically, but Mrs. Walls is NOT going to let you get out of it!”

This concept does not just apply to math, but all academic subjects. Our highest achieving students (those going straight to a 4-year university) are going to take the extra classes anyway because they know they need the academic credits on their transcripts. But the large group of students beginning at the local community college may consider taking the easy route their senior year (English and Government/Economics only). However, these students need the math and science courses even more to help them become successful in college. They still have to complete the core curriculum at college where they will face all the academic subjects again, like it or not. So why would I, as a teacher preparing students for their future, allow them to skip out on a year of math? I won’t and I don’t, and I make sure my students understand why!

Sometimes it is hard . . .I’ve had to call parents and explain why I believe their child should take a course like Trigonometry even though the direct subject matter may not help in their future career as a politician, day care provider, or professional performer. And I don’t always win. But I have had numerous students return and thank me for “making” them take the extra course; they are starting to see my reasoning in their lives.

So, don’t give in! Do they have to take that next course to graduate? Maybe not. Do they have to take that next course to prepare for their career? Maybe not. Do they have to take that next course? YES, they do!

One Success at a Time

As a teacher for ten years, I have many fond memories of students and activities and have learned to enjoy successes one child at a time.  Well, last night I was able to enjoy a success 50 students wide and 40 teachers deep . . . we called it the Senior Girls Banquet.  This year, at the urging of a few students, I agreed to sponsor a club called the “Senior Girls Club”.  This position is considered non-supplemental and sponsors in the past have done so out of the goodness in their hearts because the club has been around as long as our school!  So, I became the sponsor.

The Senior Girls Club was founded as a social club–you know the type–basically a sorority at the high school level.  The club used to have initiations (the leaving members terrorize the proposed members for a week) and only a fixed number of girls could get into the club.  The only activities in which the club participated were to the benefit of the club members.  Well, times change, and the club is now a service club and may hold no initiations because of hazing concerns.  So this year I ended up with 54 girls in the club–that represents half of the female members of the senior class.

At first look, what a blessing!  Fifty-four girls to use for service activities!  Then reality hits . . .I’m responsible for controlling fifty-four senior girls during service activities for the next year . . .and I don’t get paid for this?  The year began with an induction party, then a skit for the homecoming football game.  We painted a sidewalk at the school which had previously been covered in graffiti.  We sponsored a faculty lunch, filled shoeboxes for the needy at Christmas, and collected Teddy Bears for the American Cancer Society.  It was, in my opinion a successful year . . . I thought we were done!

Some of the girls suggested an end of year banquet and I selfishly thought, “Do you have any idea how much time that takes to plan?”  But they were persistent so I began planning the “Senior Girls Banquet”.  I found my support system at my local church where we could hold the event for no charge and there were individuals available to help me cook and serve.  We planned a menu of pasta primavera, caesar salad, garlic bread, and strawberry shortcake.  Total cost was about $5 per person, but at this time of year even that amount is excessive for a senior student.  They have grad night, senior pictures, prom, senior night, graduation, etc.  So I e-mailed the female teachers at our high school and the two local feeder elementary schools and asked for sponsors who would attend the banquet and enjoy the meal with their student; they would pay the fee for themselves and their student!

I was not sure what type of response I would get . . .but I quickly found out.  Less than a week after my initial e-mail, I had sponsors for all 54 girls!  We all met at the church hall at 5:30 in the evening and enjoyed dinner together.  Sponsors were seated with their senior girl with four pairs to each table.  The conversations covered topics from elementary school to high school, parents to boys, and current grades to future educational endeavors.  Here we were, half adults and half students about to enter the adult world, talking and laughing like old friends.  To look out over the little hall decorated in bright pink and green tablecloths, with a dash of flowers, you couldn’t help but notice the glow in the room from these young ladies who are about to reach adulthood and begin life on their own and the adults who, not because of parental obligation but because of career choice, helped shape many of them into the young ladies they are today!  Many of the participants commented on how they enjoyed the evening–great food, great program, great company! 

However, I think I enjoyed it the most . . .I was able to see 54 senior girls blossom into adults right before my eyes, right in that room.  They were sitting with  those teachers who had set them straight (more than once), who had disciplined them when they needed, who wouldn’t let them take the easy way out, yet, they were equals.  If only for a little while, the age barriers and societal barriers were removed and we were all equals!  I cannot vouch for any others in attendance, but I know I was changed by the experience!  No matter how much we do in education, there is always one more step we can take to improve a life.  It might mean getting over selfish tendencies, it might mean not receiving a supplement, but it might also mean one less teen pregnancy after prom, one less student drinking, one more student finding her direction in life!  What extra step can you take?  You may be surprised that your students aren’t the only ones who learn from it!

“Will I use this in my later life?”

We are using grids a la Brunelleschi to do self portraits. I took a nice three-quarters photo of each student, printed it out 8-1/2″ by 11″ in color on photo paper, and put a grid on top. Then we put a grid between white paper, with drawing paper on top. Render what is in each square, including subtle values, and you’ll end up with an accurate and gorgeous self-portrait.

There’s one thing wrong with this project, though. It is hard.

It takes time and focus to really render accurately what’s in each grid square. That’s all that is hard about it. In terms of technical expertise, it’s actually quite easy. Just copy what is in the grid square.

A girl, one of these students with kute names like Kylie, Kammie, Karilynn, or Krystal, tells me it is too hard, and then she asks me The Question.

“How is this going to help me in later life?”

My first response is to say something mean, like, “Well, it probably won’t help you,  because you are going to spend your adult life behind a dusty cash register in a Maverick somewhere, and then go home to your seven lean, dusty children and cook Hamburger Helper for dinner.”

I’ve had my moments, though, with Kimmie-Krystal or whoever she is–and her dad. Papa wants Kimmie to succeed in art and he wants her to be respectful to me. The least I can do is try to return the favor, so I say, “I don’t know, Krystal. Life is long, and you are very young. You still have so much ahead of you. . . .”

In truth, there is no way to know how Shakespeare, Mozart,  Brunelleschi, Annie Dillard, or Frank Lloyd Wright will help any particular student in his or her later life. We adults know that bits and pieces of our educations pop up at very odd times to save or inspire us.

In the meantime, we teachers chant to ourselves, “Patience, kindness, courtesy. . . ” and try not to explode when a youngster pops The Question. Perhaps our restraint, in itself, will be a lesson in itself, for “later life.”

 

The Most Important Quality

As an inner city teacher I won’t pretend to be an expert on suburban or rural teaching. From what I’m told and have read, the subject matter is comparable, the top down authoritative style is similar and also occasionally naïve: but the children are very different because they have very different parents. In my first year as an inner city teacher 50% of my students were in foster care, and I experienced the first murder in my student family. (A student’s brother in an intact family was shot and killed).
After 13 years in the inner city I reminded a colleague the most important quality in our business is the ability to forget. She wholeheartedly agreed.
Kids are kids. They can be rude, disrespectful, outlandish, and display unacceptable behavior. They frequently test their power and often, unfortunately, without limits at home, our classroom organization is where they learn about what is and is not acceptable.
Of course the same kid whom frays your last nerve can also be sweet, honest, and the most in need of our supervision. Frequently I think our guidance, our structure is more important than the subjects we teach.
So I have learned, even though I may huff and puff, and even though I may blow their doors down, I never completely become the big bad wolf. And when there is an opportunity for learning experiences, the only thing I want to remember is how to build on the previous one: and since I am now teaching the Civil War, I’ll put it this way: “with malice toward none, charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in.”

A TEACHER’S COMPASS: Five Essential Elements of Exceptional Teaching (Part 2)

This is the second of five essays over the next few weeks.  The first, Release Your Personality, has been posted previously and can still be viewed on this blog.  Collectively, the five essays in A Teacher’s Compass were born of my attempt to conceptualize in plain language the essential elements of exceptional teaching.  They comprise my credo of teaching, my best advice to the novice and veteran teacher alike.  (Each element is discussed more fully in a book I am writing; these essays here are short summaries of the elements.)  As always, I encourage replies.

#2 Tap Their Spirits. This is akin to releasing their personalities.  My first essay in this series, Release Your Personality, was about you.  The focus here is on them.  Adolescents have such abundant spirit.  Isn’t that partly why we chose to teach in the first place?  We like the age.  If we didn’t we’d sell houses or something.  Truth is, teachers spend a great deal of energy trying to suppress teenagers’ spirits.  And this is done often for good reason.  But mostly, we choose to oppress it rather than tap into it.  Their spirits are a great source of enthusiasm and curiosity, if we know how to tap them.  For example, consider the following list.
Most teenagers like to talk.
Most teenagers like to talk about themselves.
Most teenagers appreciate sincere compliments.
Most teenagers like to move around.
Most teenagers like to text message.
Most teenagers like to be on the computer.
Most teenagers like to create things that reflect their developing identities, such as MySpace or FaceBook pages.
Most teenagers want to look good in front their peers (physically and otherwise).
Most teenagers like to laugh.
Most teenagers have an opinion.
Most teenagers want to feel like their voices are heard.
Most teenagers like to be better at something than other teenagers.
Most teenagers have expert hypocrisy-radar.
Most teenagers are curious about your life.
Most teenagers want an adult in their lives who they can trust, someone who     resides in that place between parent and peer.

So the question becomes:  How can I arrange my instruction so that these things they want and like are encouraged but also channeled into the content and structure of my course?  How can I engage students in activities, for example, that get them to talk about themselves while building community?  Or allow them to move around during a controlled activity that is embedded in content?   Teenagers have opinions but they are more afraid of being wrong in front of classmates than they are interested in sharing those opinions.  So, how can we build safety into our lessons so that they can freely share opinions or answers but be protected by validation or anonymity?

One way is to have them write a question they are having about the topic being discussed on an index card.  Then collect the cards and read a few aloud, without names, and answer these questions for the benefit of the whole class.  This allows students to ask questions anonymously – without fear of appearing dumb – and allows you to clear up misunderstandings that many students may be having.  When I have used this, I’ve noticed that I get way more questions than when I publicly ask the class “Does anyone have a question?”.

I use index cards for lots of things.  I use them to allow students to give me suggestions about how to make our class run better.  They fill them out whenever they wish and leave the cards in a Suggestion Box in the back room labeled RESPECTFUL SUGGESTIONS CONSIDERED.  Every few weeks I read a few aloud and announce changes to how we will operate as a class based on their suggestions.  This builds tremendous community and lets them know their voices are heard.  Of course, if I don’t agree with a suggestion I might still read it aloud and tell them why that suggestion isn’t feasible.

There are lots of ways to tap their spirits – too many to mention here.  I tell them about my life, I laugh at my own human frailties, I tell them something dumb my dog did, or what happened when I was in line at Wal*Mart.  And when I do, I find that my captive audience is feeling good about me, our relationship and our class, and I seize the moment to infuse my subject matter.  They become primed and ready and the research shows that learning and retention are highest when students feel good about their learning community.  It costs me nothing and the dividends are high.

I have discovered that a class’ collective spirit is directly connected to my enthusiasm, my ensuring safety at all costs, and the degree to which I nurture that spirit.  It burns brightest when I feed it.  And once the spirit is high, I can do anything.   Tap their Spirits. dven.

(to be continued…)

Generation Me

I just read Generation Me by Jean Twenge, subtitled ” Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before.”   Every teacher needs to read this one–in fact, anyone who deals with young people at all ought to take a look. Twenge admits that she herself is a generation-me girl herself: She was born in 1971, and her definition of generation me is anyone born after 1970.

Using research but writing engagingly, Twenge describes Generation Me-ers. They believe that they are “special,” which means that they don’t show up for work when they don’t feel like it; they don’t complete their degrees when they don’t feel like it; they believe that they will be the one to get the “big score,” or in other words, become the top rock star, the famous, rich athlete. How could they possibly work for menial minimum wage when they are so special?

What has caused this rampant narcissism? Twenge suggests that even good parenting has been trumped by the “you are special” culture. Kids are enculturated to believe they’re excellent just because they exist, rather than becoming excellent through effort. Kids are raised to expect to feel good even though they don’t do anything particularly good. You’d think that all this high self-esteem would result in people really feeling great, but they don’t. Instead, this generation has the highest rate of depression ever. They drop out of college at the drop of a tear. More and more adults are living at home with their parents than ever in the history of our country. Parents of thirty-somethings are calling employers to intervene with their children’s work.

This is a book based on a huge longitudinal study resulting in hard statistics. (It is charming and readable, though, so don’t get put off.) The statistics play true in every geographical area except where Asian Americans predominate, because their culture insists on hard work without self-assertion. I am wondering if the next generation of political leaders will be Asian Americans.

Anyhow, these self-indulgent young people are becoming parents now, and their undisciplined children are showing up in our classrooms. Teaching these students can be a nightmare, because when they feel like it, they blatantly disregard instructions, work sloppily, and ignore authority.  I saw an example of this in a buffet restaurant the other day. The parents, obviously generation-me-ers, were getting food for their five-year-old.

“You want a muffin?” they coo.

“YUCKY!” yells the child.

“You want some cereal?”

“YUCKYYY!”

“You want some toast with nice jam?”

“YUUUUUCKY!!”

What that child needed was a plate of food in front of him, and everyone to start eating–no silly catering to imagined dislikes.

What do you do with the college freshman who thinks she sings like God’s gift when she has no musical skills and no vocal control? What do you do with the young man who plagiarizes and then hauls his parents into the dean to cry prejudice against the teacher? What do you do with the teenage girl who’s always weeping in the sick room instead of sucking it up and going to class? What do you do with the senior who comes up short with credits in May and demands extra-credit work to be able to graduate with his class?

Well, Twenge has no real answers and neither do I. I tend to take a hard line with unreasonable demands: smiling, firm, no do-overs. Students receiving this treatment tend to blame me and hate me forever, along with their parents.

But what else can we do?