Lean on Me

My school district started classes this Monday, and, oh, what a great week it has been! This is my eleventh year teaching in the public schools of Florida and I have learned how the education system is truly like a roller coaster. Each year there is a new idea, based on someone’s research, that is the most recent approach for improving our teaching, and ultimately student learning. Every year we go through training on implementing some new program. We also get bombarded with new classroom strategies for using the 50 minute period to its fullest—entrance tickets, exit tickets, bellringers, journal writing, reflection writing, focus questions, etc.

For those of us with a few years of experience, these new ideas can be helpful or a hindrance and we quickly determine, within our classrooms, what will or won’t work this year. We have learned that the entrance and exit tickets are not necessarily written “tickets” by students, but rather short activities that activate thinking among our students and allow us to determine the level of learning achieved. Journal writing has a place in my higher level math classes, but not necessarily every day as some education gurus propose. Because of my classroom experience, I feel comfortable making the decisions as to what will and will not be a benefit in my classroom; choosing which new ideas will or will not be implemented at any given time in any given year. Because of my classroom experience, I also feel comfortable that I can justify my decisions to administration if they were to question my motives.

However, there are large numbers of new educators out there who are walking into the classroom with not much more than a degree and a desire to make a difference. They show up a week before classes begin with a bare-walled classroom (if they are even lucky enough to have their own classroom), a computer grading program they have never studied, a curriculum that reads like a car repair manual, and rule after rule after rule of things they are to do in class. They must create a class syllabus, seating chart, emergency lesson plan, bulletin board, reading library, work area, discipline plan, etc. within a week. And, of course, attend all the new teacher meetings that most schools will hold to introduce the teachers to the library or work room or literacy plan or lunch area or PE facilities (because they don’t have anything better to do with their time the first week back).

A friend of mine begins the first year of her teaching career this school year. She came to church the day before school started exhausted and ill—and she had a lot of help getting her classroom put together and plans organized. Yet, she was still overwhelmed by things she had heard in faculty meetings and professional development classes throughout the week. We sat and talked about how to ease her anxiety by taking one idea at a time and testing out its usefulness in her class. We talked about the weekly lesson plans that need to be done and how she can do those with ease by using available tools (and the fact that lesson plans are a working document and are not chiseled in stone!) We talked about the importance of leaving work at work and still having time for faith, family, and fun!

But it has reminded me of my first year when I felt the same way and had no one to lean on. I taught at a school with over 140 full time teachers . . . why was there no one to help me? There was no way I would ask for help . . .that would mean I was not competent enough to do it on my own! Someone should have known that I needed advice on streamlining classroom procedures to ease movement, or suggestions on dealing with misbehavior, or copying files in the grade program from one class to another so I did not have to recreate it each time! As veteran teachers, part of our planning for the year needs to include helping a new teacher making the transition from the college of education to the career of education. We need these new teachers for their fresh ideas and new insights into our students, but we burn them out before they ever get started!

So, this year, if you are a veteran teacher, find a way to help a new teacher. Help create a bulletin board, share lesson plans, share classroom management tips, send a care package of tissues and hand sanitizer . . . anything that can help make their entrance into this new career easier. And don’t forget about them as the year goes on—we all know it gets harder and harder to keep the students interested! And, as the song says “Lean on me, when you’re not strong and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. For, it won’t be long, till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on!” Let’s make a plan to be there for each other, all the time!

Are You a Computer Savvy Teacher?

As the new school year gets closer to beginning, I have set out on a task to offer more technological opportunities for my students. I teach in a rather rural area, so some of my students have limited internet access. However, every year the accessibility increases, so I thought this year would be a good year to get started and take a trial run. I know, for some of you this seems very late in coming, but I still believe there are many teachers out there who have not created classroom websites for a multitude of reasons: not enough time, many web site providers charge high fees, or the technology is too difficult.

I have spent a few days this week creating a website using google sites. (Feel free to check it out at http://sites.google.com/site/khsmdwalls ). Please keep in mind this is still a work in progress. Surprisingly, this free site set-up program is rather user friendly. I am able to create pages for each of my classes and can link notes or calendars to those pages. I can also create pages for the clubs I sponsor. The program offers an area where students can make comments . . . great for an online discussion board. The left navigation bar can be personalized for the highest level of convenience!

I plan on including my website information on my class syllabus that I give out the first day of school. I am also going to take my classes into the computer lab one day during the first two weeks of school to have a “scavenger hunt” of my website. This will allow them to become familiar with the site and with the linked websites that they may be able to use for help from home! I think this will ultimately enhance what I am doing in the classroom by allowing parents to check on assignments, by allowing students to obtain notes even when they are absent, and by allowing other teachers within my department to see the progress my classes are making.

If you are a classroom teacher who has yet to take this leap into technology, this year may be a great year to start. I am certain there are other options out there as well for free, user-friendly web-sites, this was just the one I have experienced. If you are intimidated, find a student who can help you (yes, I did say a student—most of them have way more experience with this type of technology than we do!). The way I see it, my students have nothing to lose and everything to gain by having another tool available to them and their parents. Why not give it a try!

Kudos for Florida . . .Yes, I’m Serious!

OK, I admit, I have had a couple of blogs in the past that have been not so positive towards Florida’s education system.  In this blog, on the other hand, I would like to highlight a major improvement in the Florida standards for education.  Just recently the state implemented a specific department for the advancement of Math and Science education.  I want to commend this department for rewriting the standards by which we will teach our math and science classes beginning this school year . . . they are truly allowing us to teach more depth to our students.

I currently teach Trigonometry and Algebra II; my Algebra II students will feed into my Trig class or into the Pre-Calculus class while my Trig students feed the Pre-Calculus or AP Calculus class (both of which are taught by the same teacher).  So, for the past few years I have worked with the Pre-Calculus/AP Calculus teacher to find out what information my students need to have a strong grasp of in order to be successful in her class . . . these are the standards by which I have taught.  The state used to require us to teach matrices (which most students will not see because they will not be required to take linear algebra unless they major in engineering or math), conic sections (which are extremely difficult for students to grasp, especially when the scope and sequence only allows 8 days to cover the entire unit), and higher level probability (which students will not see unless they take a statistics class in college or become a sports gambler).  If I can be truly honest here . . . I ‘covered’ those topics, but did not teach them.  I would not even test my students on the topics!  I would do just enough that they were introduced to some vocabulary and that was all.  I needed more time to spend on factoring, solving linear equations, simplifying rational expressions, etc.

The NEW standards have removed these exact topics that are time consuming and, for most of the students, not beneficial to their future math success.  Yes, I understand, that a few of the students will need this info for their engineering degree, their math degree, or their gambling habit . . .but they are the exception, not the rule, for most Juniors and Seniors taking these courses.  The state committee did an amazing job pulling out nonessential information that will allow us more time to spend on the essential information!  What a profound idea . . .teach what the students will need, and take the time to teach it well!  Way to go Florida!

Florida’s High Achieving Schools?

Just last week the state of Florida released their “school grades” for the 2007-08 school year. A summary of these grades was included in a press release (http://www.fldoe.org/news/2008/2008_07_08.asp). I am very excited . . .my school was an “A” again, which means we should receive bonus funds for the upcoming school year—pending budget issues, of course. If we get the money, I intend to buy a SmartBoard . . .but I digress from the true topic of interest for this blog.

I am interested in the press release linked above that suggests “Florida has more schools earning “A’s” and “B’s” than ever before according to the 2008 school grades results . . .”. I am interested in this statement because I am a math teacher. As such, I have the obligation to question data presentation in the media. I have certainly studied my fair share of statistics and data analysis. I also understand that in an election year, image is everything! So, does the higher number of “A” and “B” schools mean that our schools are doing a better job educating our students or that the state has done a better job skewing their data results?

Now, don’t get me wrong . . .the teachers and students in these schools have worked very hard to obtain their grades. However, the state prepares the tests. The state prepares the test scorers. And the state determines the criteria that must be met in order to obtain a school grade of “A”. All classroom teachers know that by shifting criteria in our grading (making tests worth 60% instead of 50%, for example), we can shift the overall grades in our class—to obtain more “A’s” and “B’s”, or to obtain more “D’s” and “F’s”. Likewise, when we are grading a test or assignment, we can change the weights of certain problems to obtain higher (or lower) overall scores. Is it any different on the FCAT?

I have sat through numerous training sessions on how the FCAT is scored. The scorers are given anchor papers with which to compare answers . . . so by adjusting the anchor papers, the overall scores could easily be adjusted. This would then carry over into the number of students performing on grade level or the number of students showing growth, and these are some of the categories used in determining school grades!

Next year will we see a dramatic decline in scores? Will the number of “A’s” and “B’s” decrease since the criteria to maintain those grades gets harder and harder! What ultimately happens when a school narrows in on its goal of 100% of students reading on grade level? How will the state grade the school’s growth? If 100% of the students are reading on grade level, how does the school grow?

So, are our schools doing a better job? Are our teachers, students and parents to be commended for a job well done . . .very well done . . .to have 55 % of our schools rated as “A” schools? Or are we just being set up for disappointment in future, non-election years? Is the state playing the role of the “nice” teacher who inflates grades for an underlying purpose?

Their Independence Day

As a high school teacher for the past 11 years, I have had the opportunity to become friends with many of my students after they graduate. I think that is one of the benefits to teaching high school . . .my students are adults before they graduate and upon graduation, my relationship with them is no longer one of teacher-student, but adult-adult! At graduation they reach their day of independence. I know all teachers enjoy hearing from their previous students in quick updates about their career and life choices, but I prefer to actually become friends with many of my students. I don’t just want to hear about their choices, I want to be a part of those choices—whether as an invited guest to their wedding, another opinion in which job offer to accept, or the friend they call for parenting advice.

The reason I mention that is because the past 3 weeks have been overwhelming to me, in regard to my relationship with my students. I feel it is worth sharing here for new teachers not knowing how much is too much, and for the veterans who feel like they just haven’t yet connected with their students. The first experience I will share is coming to an end today . . .my first trip to New York! My husband, who I have been with since high school, has been a New York Yankees fan for as long as he has known the sport of baseball. He has spoken many times of wanting to watch a Yankees game at Yankee stadium. Well, for those of you who aren’t sports fans, New York is building a new stadium for next season so it was now or never. In addition, I have taught a student for the past 3 years (he was in my Geometry, Algebra II, and Trigonometry classes) who is also a huge Yankees fan. So when we decided to go to New York this summer, the only logical thing to do was ask this student if he wanted to go also . . . and he did!

So last Saturday, we loaded up (my husband, my daughter, my recent student and myself) and drove for 2 days to New York. On Monday and Tuesday evening, after long days of sightseeing in Manhattan, my husband and this student realized their dream of watching the Yankees play at Yankee stadium. And, what a great experience for me! I sat there watching the two of them side by side discussing coaching decisions, players from the past, and cheering on their favorite team. Even my daughter enjoyed the company in the backseat for the long road trip from Florida to New York and back! How exciting to share such wonderful experiences and memories with a new friend! But what if I had put up the boundaries that so many teachers feel are essential? Would this student have had this experience, and more so, would I have had this experience?

My next experience is much harder for me to discuss. I found out in early May that my husband and I were expecting our second child (after 8 years of trying). After our first doctor visit I shared the news with my students (remember I teach Juniors and Seniors, split pretty evenly). They were all very excited for me, and my seniors assured me they would come visit me after the baby was born.

Well, God’s will was that I not have a baby at this time and on June 17th I miscarried. As if that wasn’t hard enough, I had to have emergency surgery, a blood transfusion, and spend 2 days in the hospital. My students found out through my church what was occurring and surrounded me with calls, prayers and cards. As I have seen them in the grocery store and restaurants in the past few weeks, they have offered their condolences, hugs, and offers of assistance to my family. Such adult behavior for such young adults! Again, what if I put up the boundaries that so many teachers feel are essential? Would I have received the extra support that I needed to get me through this experience?

So, on this Independence Day, I am thankful for the independence my students receive upon graduation that allows us to continue a relationship as friends! Obviously, there are certain behaviors that would overstep the line of professionalism for teachers. However, we have a lot to offer our students, and they have a lot to offer us once they are no longer our students. Remember that even though you are hired to teach a specific subject matter, your students are always learning more from you and that is the education that will remain with them through life.

National Board Blues

Well, for those who visit this website often, you probably read my much earlier blog on “Pursuing National Board Certification”. I have since completed my retake small group portfolio and submitted it to National Board. Now I am waiting anxiously, yet patiently, for the end of the year when results will be posted. However, the state of Florida has managed to reduce my excitement over receiving this certification because of budget constraints.

A lot has happened during the last few months in Florida to wreak havoc on our state budgets. The main culprit is the housing market slump which has home values quickly declining, coupled with a new amendment approved by voters in January which temporarily reduces the taxable values of homes; both of these basically dropped the bottom out of our real estate taxes which have been a key mainstay for education funds. So, the legislature had to slice and dice programs . . .one of which being the National Board program.

Florida had been one of the leading states in applicants and recipients of this program. The legislature had previously allocated funds to help offset the application fees (around $2250) which was very helpful in allowing teachers to begin the process. They also had money set aside to pay for one retake ($350) for each teacher. They offered a guaranteed bonus equal to 10% of the state’s average teacher salary to all National Board Certified teachers, and offered the opportunity to obtain a mentoring bonus of the same value for completing a certain number of hours mentoring other teachers! In addition, these bonuses were included in salary for the purposes of determining retirement. No wonder we had so many teachers taking part in this wonderful program and had the highest number of teachers receiving certification in 2007.(see http://www.nbpts.org/about_us/news_media/press_releases?ID=339 for more information).

Unfortunately, the changes approved by Florida legislation will greatly change the future of National Board in Florida. Gone is the application help . . .gone is the retake help . . . gone is the mentoring bonus . . . gone is the retirement. The only thing that remains is the guaranteed 10% bonus, but it is limited to the initial 10 year certification, so those who renew their certification will not receive this bonus!

What message does this send to teachers across the state? How many of these National Board certified teachers that the state has invested so much in already will transfer to other states where their credentials are still valued?

Personally, I could not have completed the application process without the state provided assistance . . .my personal budget is too tight to spare that kind of money. However, completing the program has helped make major improvements in my teaching. The continuous reflection that the National Board process requires forces teachers to justify “why” they do what they do in class. This is something that all teachers (I think) know they should do, but don’t generally make the time to do in their crazy lives of preparing, teaching, completing paperwork, parent meetings, field trips, etc. Sometimes we just keep doing, doing, doing, and never stop to reflect on if the doing is really doing anything worthwhile for our students!

Likewise, the National Board teachers with whom I have had the experience of teaching have always done above and beyond the call of duty with their students . . . spending more than enough time and effort to justify the bonus they received from the state. When many districts are paying signing bonuses for new teachers ( a quarter of whom will not return for a second year), should there not be a bonus for the teachers who have spent their own time and efforts to prove their high level of competence and effectiveness in the classroom, and continue to make a difference in our childrens’ lives!

As a parent in Florida, I am disappointed in this new policy. I understand that money must be pulled from somewhere, but there are better ways—reducing the assistance and the bonuses without getting rid of them completely is one way. Maybe by reversing the use of lottery money and substantiated budgets so that our educational system will have guaranteed funds and not have to rely on the gambling habits of Floridians, we would not have to play a guessing game each year with our schools. I don’t have an exact answer, but there has to be a better way!

Praise for Alternative School

The school district in which I currently teach is rather small (we only have 6 high schools) when compared to the school district in which I started my teaching career (they have over 40 high schools). I had the experience this past semester of having a student removed from my high school for unacceptable behavior and placed in our county’s alternative school.

This particular student is a junior whose biggest downfall is his immaturity. He is very bright, taking all advanced courses, but has not grasped appropriate social behaviors! So, as his Analytic Geometry teacher, I was concerned how he was going to complete the appropriate credits. The alternative school employs a curriculum based on “regular” studies because the school works as a revolving door—kids are always coming and going. How could they keep this student challenged through his last quarter of school? How could he earn his credits so he could remain on pace to graduate next year, since he is coming back to the local high school next year?

The guidance department at the alternative school recognized that they did not offer the appropriate courses and, in some cases, did not have teachers who could teach the subjects he needed. So they did the most amazing thing! They contacted this student’s old teachers and asked for them to send notes, work, tests, study aides, etc. Now, I’m sure some teachers disliked this idea . . . why should they have to spend more time pulling together assignments for a student who misbehaved! But I welcomed the idea that this student could independent study my course and still receive the appropriate credit.

I quickly pulled together copies of notes, worksheets, quizzes, tests, and created a list of helpful websites. The alternative school created a schedule that allowed him to have access to a computer for my class period; he could even e-mail me with questions! They administered all the assessments, including the final exam, and just forwarded them to me for grading! The process was so smooth and I actually think he probably learned more through this method because he had to teach himself. He finished the quarter with a 74% and obtained an 80% on the final exam.

I praise the alternative school for truly holding up to their mission—to help “rehabilitate” the students’ behavior and return them to their regular school assignments—not penalizing them any further for their mistakes. In my old school district, the students who attended alternative schools would find themselves quickly falling behind in credits, which, if they even made it back into the mainstream, just discouraged them emotionally and encouraged further misbehavior!

I have spoken with this particular student numerous times, and he is so thankful for what the alternative school and his teachers did. He recognizes how his misbehavior could have cost him a lot more, like an extra semester in high school, but completely understands his mistakes and already seems more mature for having served this punishment. As a teacher, I think it is worth the little extra time and effort to make the difference in just one child’s life!

Public vs. Private?

OK, before you decide to skip this blog . . . I am not talking about vouchers, academic offerings, or teaching. This blog is geared towards athletics in the schools because my public school has had a very emotional year athletically. My school is located in a rather rural part of Florida and is a Junior-Senior High School (we cover grades 7 through 12). Our total school enrollment is around 1400 students, yet we only have 1200 residents listed as living within our city limits (the local tax base)! We pull students from the rural areas that the other schools in our county don’t want to bus from. So, where athletics are concerned, we are already at a disadvantage because we are classified based on total school enrollment, even though our Varsity teams consist of students in the upper grades. When we should be Class 1A if classified by “high school enrollment”, we are always lumped into Class 2A or 3A depending on the sport.

If that is not enough of a disadvantage, our students must then compete against private schools in their divisions!!! Now for those of you who are not sports fanatics, this has been a concern for years because private schools do not have to follow the same rules as public schools. For example, public schools can only allow students to play if they are legitimately assigned to that specific school (based on boundary lines or special pupil assignments). To have a student play for your team who does NOT live within the boundary would mean certain death! The school can be disqualified from an event, fined by the state association, or even banned from certain competitions for excessive amounts of time. Private schools, on the other hand, can recruit. That’s right . . .they can pull students on their teams from anywhere . . .and they do. We compete against private schools that have on campus housing and recruit students from all over the world to come play for their teams! Our school’s so small that every player on our football team has an offensive and defensive position!

I bring up this issue because in the past two weeks, my little rural high school’s varsity baseball team made an unbelievable run for the state title. They were the only public school to make the regional tournament (8 teams total). They won and were then the only public school to make the state tournament (4 teams). As I was watching the semi-final game (which we lost 5-2), I was so proud of our kids! None of our students have yet signed with a college (very few colleges have ever heard of our little town). None of our students have been coached by professional players (our head baseball coach has been so for the past 16 years and 2 of his assistants are school alumni). Our team doesn’t get new equipment or new uniforms every year–they even had to take two rental vans to the state competition because a charter bus was too much for the budget!

Yet, the private school they were playing already had 5 players signed with colleges. The private school that had won the earlier game had 11 players already signed with colleges. The background of the coach sounded like it came off a MLB trading card . . .farm league play, rookie season, etc. This team looked like a college team with their bright uniforms and matching shoes, shiny bats and personalized batting helmets.

I did a little research on public vs. private across 5 major sports: football, girls and boys basketball, softball, and baseball. This year, in my school’s division, 68% of the teams making the regional tournament were private schools, even though only 26% of the total schools in the division are private. From there, over 80% of the teams making the state tournament were private and, of all five sports, only 1 had a public school achieve the state title!

In an educational system where we have No Child Left Behind to try to create an equal standard of academics for all children, how can we keep allowing such a clearly unfair practice in our athletics! College scouts don’t have the time to attend every regular season game . . . they wait for the regional and state tournaments to scout talent . . . and our public school children are being overshadowed because of bad policy.

In Florida, legislators have been faced with the proposal to separate the athletic programs of public and private schools, and have tabled the issue twice. Of course, when many of the legislators’ children attend those private schools, I understand the conflict! I just hope that one day something will be done to give these girls and boys–who have been playing sports in their community leagues from the age of 4, who play sports with their schools as a way of giving back to their local community– the same opportunity for their future that the private school students receive.

How does character count?

One of my students asked me today to summarize the “character” of the outgoing senior class. Whoa . . . what a loaded question! I sat back for a moment and thought about the previous two senior classes I have had the pleasure of teaching at my current school and tried to create a quick comparison of their “character”. I then began my all too honest answer: this class just seemed to “be”. In this class there are truly no overachievers, there are also no real troublemakers. Most of the students would try to obtain an “A”, but would be completely satisfied with a “C” if it meant they did not have to do extra studying or extra work. Overall, they are not big dreamers–many plan to work through college, begin families, and work at otherwise secure jobs (government, education, etc.)

So this student and I (and the other 6 who were in attendance today due to a field trip removing much of my class) began discussing the reasons for this “character”. One brought up the current economics of our country and how this class seems to be planning the safe route for their lives. Another brought up the effect of 9/11 on this class, most of whom would have been around 11 and fully capable of understanding the scenario. However, they still would have been young enough for their parents to comfort them. Still another pointed out the demographics of our little town and how many of the students graduating this year are rather “new” to our area (having been here for 5 years or less).

I interjected my thoughts here and there, but mostly sat listening, amazed, as these juniors talked about adult issues as though they had lived on their own for years. And really understanding how events in our history can effect the overall “character” of an entire class of students . . . or an entire generation! As a math teacher, I am usually not afforded the opportunity to have class discussions of this sort with my students . . . at least not the way an economics or psychology or business teacher would. But, today, for at least one hour, I was able to see into the deep thoughts of my students and the fears they have about facing the world that will one day be theirs to lead!

These students made me rethink my initial response to the question: the character of this class? Maybe it’s not just to “be”. Maybe it is to be a mom or a dad; to be an employee who helps others, but doesn’t sabotage them to get ahead; to be satisfied no matter what the circumstances; and to be happy in the face of uncertainty.

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!