Thursday, June 4, 2020
Friday, February 8, 2019
Words, Actions, and the Culture They Create
These days in Education, and honestly in the USA in general, there's a lot of talk. We talk about everything...but what do our actions show?
We talk about how we want our students to "advocate for themselves" and we talk about how parents do everything for students and the students don't know how to do anything, but when students go to their counselors to change schedules because they have decided they don't want to take a class, or can't handle that work, or it just simply isn't what they want, they get told to "deal" or just plain "sorry" until their parents call or email and suddenly the class changes. Students can literally spend 3 weeks "advocating for them self" only to have a parent phone call or email do in 5 minutes what they have been using their time trying to do and stressing out about in their hard-earned, over-scheduled time.
We talk about how we want to raise kids to make their own decisions, but when they make a decision about what class to take or what extracurricular activity to do, we question it at every turn. "Are you sure you want to take French 4? You should take AP or honestly just drop language all together and take AP Bio." Why do we do this? There is a difference between, "Hey look, you're good enough to take AP French. Is there a reason you're taking French 4?" and "Look, if you aren't going to take AP, then it isn't worth it and you should take this science course that you never even mentioned wanting to take." The difference is listening to the student. Students are smarter than we give them any credit for. Personally, I hear a lot of, "I want to take Latin 4 because I really love Latin and want to continue it, but I don't feel like I can really commit to AP. I mean, I'm already taking 6 APs!" Aside from the fact that feeling like they have to take 6 AP classes is probably bad for students' mental health, why are we asking them to drop something they love and draw pleasure from to take something they don't?
I have watched several students literally cry in my classroom because their parents are questioning their college choices. While I understand that the parents are paying for it, and all issues of financial ability aside, this is the place a person is going to spend 4 years of their life and learn and get ready to jump into the world. There is all kinds of research that says a student is not going to learn at a place they aren't comfortable, so why are we trying to make them go somewhere they aren't comfortable?
Ignoring students' wishes and their attempts to self-advocate is creating passive, uninterested young people. And then society as a whole has the nerve to blame the students, rather than examine what we are really teaching them with our actions. We are teaching them to settle. We are teaching them that well enough is fine, no matter how much we say that they have to be perfect. We are teaching them that their happiness does not matter.
And yet, the expectations placed on students are unreal. As adults, we have what we call our 'bad days.' Students are not allowed to have 'bad days.' They are reminded all the time how one 3.5 rather than 4.0 will completely erase their chance of ever going to college. And it has carried over and up. I watch as my generation (I'm 34) and the generations below us have "learned" that we are not allowed to make mistakes. We feel so much guilt when we mess up anything. Perfect is the name of the game, folks. We have to literally work ourselves to death or we will never amount to anything.
THIS. IS. NOT. HEALTHY. It isn't healthy for us, for our students, for our families, for our relationships, both with our peers and our own families.
No one will ever give you the tools you need to overthrow them. We need to realize this. It is hard to stand up for yourself, especially when you are trained not to. But it's time to take it back, to realize that we matter, that our students matter. Overthrowing this toxic culture certainly is not going to happen overnight, but we need to START. Everything begins somewhere.
We talk about how we want our students to "advocate for themselves" and we talk about how parents do everything for students and the students don't know how to do anything, but when students go to their counselors to change schedules because they have decided they don't want to take a class, or can't handle that work, or it just simply isn't what they want, they get told to "deal" or just plain "sorry" until their parents call or email and suddenly the class changes. Students can literally spend 3 weeks "advocating for them self" only to have a parent phone call or email do in 5 minutes what they have been using their time trying to do and stressing out about in their hard-earned, over-scheduled time.
We talk about how we want to raise kids to make their own decisions, but when they make a decision about what class to take or what extracurricular activity to do, we question it at every turn. "Are you sure you want to take French 4? You should take AP or honestly just drop language all together and take AP Bio." Why do we do this? There is a difference between, "Hey look, you're good enough to take AP French. Is there a reason you're taking French 4?" and "Look, if you aren't going to take AP, then it isn't worth it and you should take this science course that you never even mentioned wanting to take." The difference is listening to the student. Students are smarter than we give them any credit for. Personally, I hear a lot of, "I want to take Latin 4 because I really love Latin and want to continue it, but I don't feel like I can really commit to AP. I mean, I'm already taking 6 APs!" Aside from the fact that feeling like they have to take 6 AP classes is probably bad for students' mental health, why are we asking them to drop something they love and draw pleasure from to take something they don't?
I have watched several students literally cry in my classroom because their parents are questioning their college choices. While I understand that the parents are paying for it, and all issues of financial ability aside, this is the place a person is going to spend 4 years of their life and learn and get ready to jump into the world. There is all kinds of research that says a student is not going to learn at a place they aren't comfortable, so why are we trying to make them go somewhere they aren't comfortable?
Ignoring students' wishes and their attempts to self-advocate is creating passive, uninterested young people. And then society as a whole has the nerve to blame the students, rather than examine what we are really teaching them with our actions. We are teaching them to settle. We are teaching them that well enough is fine, no matter how much we say that they have to be perfect. We are teaching them that their happiness does not matter.
And yet, the expectations placed on students are unreal. As adults, we have what we call our 'bad days.' Students are not allowed to have 'bad days.' They are reminded all the time how one 3.5 rather than 4.0 will completely erase their chance of ever going to college. And it has carried over and up. I watch as my generation (I'm 34) and the generations below us have "learned" that we are not allowed to make mistakes. We feel so much guilt when we mess up anything. Perfect is the name of the game, folks. We have to literally work ourselves to death or we will never amount to anything.
THIS. IS. NOT. HEALTHY. It isn't healthy for us, for our students, for our families, for our relationships, both with our peers and our own families.
No one will ever give you the tools you need to overthrow them. We need to realize this. It is hard to stand up for yourself, especially when you are trained not to. But it's time to take it back, to realize that we matter, that our students matter. Overthrowing this toxic culture certainly is not going to happen overnight, but we need to START. Everything begins somewhere.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Too Busy to Learn? To Busy to Care?
It's been a long time since I have posted here. Almost a year, to be honest. But now I do so again to share some observations that I have made over five years of teaching in Virginia.
Everywhere we look these days, we see articles about how busy today's students are and how busy today's teachers are. We read about and hear about how destructive it is to students and to teachers. Yeah, yeah, I know. You've heard it before.
But I want to take this apart a bit and look at this from the point of view of a "non-core" teacher. I am a Latin teacher. Not only is this a somewhat overlooked program because it isn't "core," but it is also overlooked because there are many who still believe that Latin is irrelevant. But I am not here to talk about that.
What if I told you that today's students are too busy to learn? And not just that, but also that they are too busy to care about learning, or anything, honestly? "But," you say, "my students are getting great grades! They are totally learning and they care about it because look at how much they study for those grades!" Here is my response to that:
Every day, I watch my Latin Classes. They diligently take notes and do work in class, but every day, I watch them dash through assignments so that they might have a prayer or studying for their test next period for math, or so that they can start their English homework, because they won't get home from sports until 9 PM and they have 5 hours of homework for other classes. Recently, one of my classes begged me not to have to do anything for Latin that day because they had SO MUCH WORK for other classes. At first, I didn't believe them. But then they showed me. I decided to try something. "Alright," I told them. "We won't do anything today. You can use this time to work on work for other classes." I watched them. I really thought they were playing me. Walking around the room, all I saw was work. Every single student was actually diligently working on something that they needed to do for another class. I didn't see a phone the whole class--they were so focused on getting their work done.
Here's something else I hear a lot: "Well, it's not good at all, but if I pass, it's fine." I once asked a student who said something like this why she had not done her best. "Well," she told me, "I don't have time to do my best. I have at least 7 hours of homework per night and I have music and sports after school. There simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to care enough to do my best."
At this point, students don't even have time to do things they WANT to be doing. I have a student who is a Section Leader in Orchestra, a Consul in Latin Club, and in NHS. They give up their lunches to do do Section Leader Stuff, get to school early to help with NHS stuff, give up their time during the day to tutor for NHS, run around and get dates for fundraisers and information for Latin Club business. They have no time to just drop into my classroom to say hi anymore, or even just to relax. Sure, I would do the Latin Club stuff for them, but with all the duties assigned to teachers and lack of sufficient planning time in which to do them, I can't really do that either. So, I have to use my officers to do that...and I feel horrible doing so.
Recently, I was at a conference and was talking with a few other Latin teachers over breakfast. One of them said the following, "I just keep thinking about how inhumanely we treat students. In Elementary school, the need for one to rest, to socialize is at least remotely valued. As they go up to Middle and High school, it is no longer even allowed." This stuck with me. It's true. Students have no time in or out of school to rest, relax, or recharge. One cannot learn like that--it goes against Maslow's basic hierarchy of needs. We as a society have created a bitter, competitive culture where the only reinforcement students get is to compare themselves to others. This is not healthy nor is it worthwhile. Students are robotic--they do what they have to do to get through the day and get good grades and do every single possible thing that they are told to do so that they get into a good college. In this process, they lose themselves.
Students are trained, conditioned to give signals that they are "fine." But get past that and listen to how they actually talk. Fatalism pervades their speech, and anxiety creeps into much of what they say. Here are five links about that, but there are several more!
I write a lot about teachers and how we are over-scheduled and treated unfairly, but we need to think about the students too. The Education System in this country is doing no favors for anyone.
Everywhere we look these days, we see articles about how busy today's students are and how busy today's teachers are. We read about and hear about how destructive it is to students and to teachers. Yeah, yeah, I know. You've heard it before.
But I want to take this apart a bit and look at this from the point of view of a "non-core" teacher. I am a Latin teacher. Not only is this a somewhat overlooked program because it isn't "core," but it is also overlooked because there are many who still believe that Latin is irrelevant. But I am not here to talk about that.
What if I told you that today's students are too busy to learn? And not just that, but also that they are too busy to care about learning, or anything, honestly? "But," you say, "my students are getting great grades! They are totally learning and they care about it because look at how much they study for those grades!" Here is my response to that:
Every day, I watch my Latin Classes. They diligently take notes and do work in class, but every day, I watch them dash through assignments so that they might have a prayer or studying for their test next period for math, or so that they can start their English homework, because they won't get home from sports until 9 PM and they have 5 hours of homework for other classes. Recently, one of my classes begged me not to have to do anything for Latin that day because they had SO MUCH WORK for other classes. At first, I didn't believe them. But then they showed me. I decided to try something. "Alright," I told them. "We won't do anything today. You can use this time to work on work for other classes." I watched them. I really thought they were playing me. Walking around the room, all I saw was work. Every single student was actually diligently working on something that they needed to do for another class. I didn't see a phone the whole class--they were so focused on getting their work done.
Here's something else I hear a lot: "Well, it's not good at all, but if I pass, it's fine." I once asked a student who said something like this why she had not done her best. "Well," she told me, "I don't have time to do my best. I have at least 7 hours of homework per night and I have music and sports after school. There simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to care enough to do my best."
At this point, students don't even have time to do things they WANT to be doing. I have a student who is a Section Leader in Orchestra, a Consul in Latin Club, and in NHS. They give up their lunches to do do Section Leader Stuff, get to school early to help with NHS stuff, give up their time during the day to tutor for NHS, run around and get dates for fundraisers and information for Latin Club business. They have no time to just drop into my classroom to say hi anymore, or even just to relax. Sure, I would do the Latin Club stuff for them, but with all the duties assigned to teachers and lack of sufficient planning time in which to do them, I can't really do that either. So, I have to use my officers to do that...and I feel horrible doing so.
Recently, I was at a conference and was talking with a few other Latin teachers over breakfast. One of them said the following, "I just keep thinking about how inhumanely we treat students. In Elementary school, the need for one to rest, to socialize is at least remotely valued. As they go up to Middle and High school, it is no longer even allowed." This stuck with me. It's true. Students have no time in or out of school to rest, relax, or recharge. One cannot learn like that--it goes against Maslow's basic hierarchy of needs. We as a society have created a bitter, competitive culture where the only reinforcement students get is to compare themselves to others. This is not healthy nor is it worthwhile. Students are robotic--they do what they have to do to get through the day and get good grades and do every single possible thing that they are told to do so that they get into a good college. In this process, they lose themselves.
Students are trained, conditioned to give signals that they are "fine." But get past that and listen to how they actually talk. Fatalism pervades their speech, and anxiety creeps into much of what they say. Here are five links about that, but there are several more!
I write a lot about teachers and how we are over-scheduled and treated unfairly, but we need to think about the students too. The Education System in this country is doing no favors for anyone.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Consolidating Some Thoughts about Teaching
I want to start off by saying that I truly and utterly LOVE my job. However, nothing is without its flaws. Some of this, I’m sure you have seen before; some you may have not. But I want to make some things clear.
What do we as teachers actually do?
As teachers, we put in hours each day planning lessons. No, that does not mean “just tossing some stuff together and handing out worksheets.” That means finding sources, critically examining what we want our students to get out of what we are doing, and making it meaningful to them. It means writing specific, detailed plans and notes. It means trying to make difficult information easy for students to grasp. To you, this might seem easy. However, the truth is that it takes literal hours. While it does get easier after the first few years, it never takes less time. Different classes require different kinds of activities and explanations. Even if you are teaching the same class twice, you might need to do so in two completely different ways. After all of that prep, we arrive at school. Our school starts at 8, so we are expected to be there by 7:30, although we are technically only paid for the time from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. However, many teachers come early to help students or give them time to retake quizzes or have professional meetings, such as with their own team of teachers who all teach the same subject. Teachers use that time to make copies for their classes, often waiting in lines because there are so few copiers in the building and heaven help you if one isn’t working!
With copies having been made, students helped, and meetings had, we then spend 7 hours teaching. Remember, this is not, “Do the worksheet.” This is active stuff, carefully prepared so that students actually get something out of it. It’s discussions and debates, assisting each student if they are doing individual work, or executing an activity that will help your whole class understand the Future Tense. We are supposed to have 1.5 hours of “planning time” per day. However, this time is often taken up with meetings, or other administrative demands, such as data logging, IEP paperwork, answering emails, phone calls, or other duties, such that most of us are honestly lucky to get time to use the restroom.
At the end of the day, do you think we just leave? Nope! We spend hours after school providing extra help to students, giving them time to retake assessments, and being there as club sponsors, something for which we do not get paid. Yet, we do it. Because all of this time supporting our students is worth the lasting relationships we build with them. It’s why we go to their athletic events and their concerts. It’s why we make sure we arrive early and stay late. We LOVE our students and we love what we do.
What does our salary get us?
I’m going to be honest. No one has ever taught for the money. With that said, however, it is nigh impossible to live in Fairfax County on the salary of an 8-year teacher with a Master’s Degree, especially if you are single. Does that look like a lot of money? It’s ok to say yes. But start looking around. Rent will literally eat half your paycheck. You can choose to live farther away, but it isn’t necessarily cheaper, and then you pay for gas. It doesn’t even out. There is not a way to make it work easily. Many, but not all, other surrounding counties have higher pay scales, which make it remotely viable for their teachers to live in them. Many teachers I know have had to take out personal loans so that they can make it and most of the ones I know live paycheck to paycheck, making it impossible for them to save money.
As teachers, we are expected to “Dress Professionally.” I want to unpack this for a minute. Clothes cost money. Good, nice, “professional” clothes cost even more money, especially for female teachers. Female teachers especially have lots of eyes peering at them and how they dress. There are many more requirements made by society on what they can and can’t wear. This needs to be taken into account. I am not asking in any way that female teachers be paid more. That’s ridiculous. However, I am asking that the costs of food and housing and clothing and gas and child care/pet care be factored into these decisions. I also ask that people THINK for just a second about what we say about teachers. "They only work for 9 months and get the summers off." Did you ever think that we only get paid for 9 months too?
My mom is a lawyer. She made what I make now when she was just starting out. Ok, I’ll be fair. She had to go to school for longer. And pass a really hard exam. But wait...the requirements to become a teacher, are also quite stringent. And it is state-mandated that we do continuing education at our own expense. “But doctors save lives.” So do teachers. We listen, we help, we coach. I have had several students tell me with and without tears but always sincerely that they would not have made it through high school without me. We are literally educating our country’s future. Yeah yeah, you’ve heard it. But I’m asking you to stop for a second and actually think about it. What does that actually mean?
Why the “well why don’t you….”s don't work.
“Just get a roommate”
This one simply isn't always an option. It also doesn’t necessarily cut costs. More people need more space. More space is more expensive.
“Get another job”
Teaching is NOT a part time job. We can’t plan effectively or get anything done that we need to do with another job. One simply cannot be a truly effective teacher with another job, even one on weekends. We are human too. We have families. We need time for ourselves, so that we can recharge and be good teachers. It is downright unfair to ask this of us.
Oh and Families….
I’m not even going to get started on what it means to be a parent and a teacher I have had so many people try to tell me how we should be saving money for college or even feeding our families. Simply put, if the other parent gets laid off, our salaries are not livable. If you are a single mom, you are in even more dire straits. But we’ll save that for another time.
I do not write this to complain. I write to inform. I really do want people to think critically about what they say to teachers or how they support teachers. We don’t want your “thoughts,” “prayers,” or “blessings.” We need funds and supplies to make our work possible. If you want educated students, perhaps paying a bit more for a meal to support education in the county might not be too much to ask. With that said, it would behoove the county to truly put their money where their mouth is. I will close this with a quote from one of my own students, a Sophomore at the time they wrote this. Reflecting on education in our County and our Country, they said, “"You (the county) preach that the educations and futures of the students are at the heart of your ideals. Then how are you considering cutting jobs in the schools which will most directly affect the teachers and their families, whose children are probably going to school at the school you just cut their guardian from, but the colleagues as well, who have lost a set of hands and eyes with which to double check projects and work. You talk about cutting electives, throwing around the future of the things most students drag themselves out of the house in the morning simply to come to school to play an instrument or to cook or to practice medicine or to learn how to use computers more efficiently. You toss it around as if it is some toy with which you have become bored. But you don't realize that this is what keeps the system alive. Electives teachers far outnumber most other teachers in the school. Do you know why? Because math, history, science, and English are not the only facets of the world in which we live. Cutting electives will not make things better. Not wasting money on superfluous things like new couches for a rec center and instead using it to bolster the education system will actually solve the problems we have, instead of just putting them off for another generation to handle."
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Summer "Schedule"
Greetings, Loyal Readers!
Summer has begun! So, the schedule will be a bit irregular. My Summer schedule consists of a trip to ACL in Memphis, a vacation to Maine, two weeks at Rusticatio and Pedagogy Rusticatio in West Virginia, and then a trip to San Antonio for Worldcon with Sassafrass at the end of the Summer.
I will have a lot to write about, but not all that much time to write it....So, I will post when I can. Sorry for not having a more defined schedule! However, if I don't post for a bit, I am not dead. :)
Hope you all are having a great start to Summer!
~Emily
Summer has begun! So, the schedule will be a bit irregular. My Summer schedule consists of a trip to ACL in Memphis, a vacation to Maine, two weeks at Rusticatio and Pedagogy Rusticatio in West Virginia, and then a trip to San Antonio for Worldcon with Sassafrass at the end of the Summer.
I will have a lot to write about, but not all that much time to write it....So, I will post when I can. Sorry for not having a more defined schedule! However, if I don't post for a bit, I am not dead. :)
Hope you all are having a great start to Summer!
~Emily
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Change
Over Reunion Weekend, I spent much time exploring the campus of my old school and catching up with my classmates. Since we've left, many changes have taken place at the school.
The Leadership changed. When that happens, you know changes are in order, for good or for ill. A new headmaster, who is an alum, came in and made sweeping changes to the Deans, the academics, the college process, and the school design in general.
The "new" headmaster has now been there for seven years. In those years, he has turned the design of the school we knew on its head. Good thing, too. The school we knew was a strange place. The priorities were strange. A disproportionate amount of energy and resources were spent on Athletics, while music and theater struggled. Education, too, was strangely funded and cared for.
For the students, we have had a hard time getting "over" the experiences we had with the Dean of Students that came in our Sophomore year. That had been an extremely unwelcome change...and dealing with her was like dealing with a Dementor--she just sucked the life right out of you and the school in general.
But now? The students are happy! They say hi to you and hold doors--something, I am ashamed to say, we never would have even considered doing. The faculty, too, seem happy. The interior of the school received a much needed update two years ago, and yet, still retains the classic feeling that the Main Building once had.
Good Change at a place like that requires careful, thoughtful people who are invested in the school or the company they work for. You have to change an entire culture, create a community where there was none, and turn a place of low expectations on everyone's part into a place of high expectations.
So how does one do that? The answers are both simple and complex. You don't come in waving your agenda around as the cure-all. You meet the people--the students, the faculty, the staff. You listen to their concerns. You take walks around the campus and become a presence in the life of the school. You reach out to the alumni. Above all, you remember that this is a process and takes a huge amount of work and time and energy. You look at the faculty and the leadership and you may need to make a bunch of difficult decisions about who stays, who goes, and what you want the leadership to look like.
But it all takes me back to a few simple questions: How do you make Good Change happen at a company, school, or in general? What are the steps that make it different from "bad" change? Obviously, these are a bit subjective, so here's an example: One could argue that the INTENTIONS behind No Child Left Behind were good ones. The implementation, however, was poor. What could have made it a good change rather than a bad one? Is there anything?
That's a lot of questions, I know, but I would love your thoughts on it all!
The Leadership changed. When that happens, you know changes are in order, for good or for ill. A new headmaster, who is an alum, came in and made sweeping changes to the Deans, the academics, the college process, and the school design in general.
The "new" headmaster has now been there for seven years. In those years, he has turned the design of the school we knew on its head. Good thing, too. The school we knew was a strange place. The priorities were strange. A disproportionate amount of energy and resources were spent on Athletics, while music and theater struggled. Education, too, was strangely funded and cared for.
For the students, we have had a hard time getting "over" the experiences we had with the Dean of Students that came in our Sophomore year. That had been an extremely unwelcome change...and dealing with her was like dealing with a Dementor--she just sucked the life right out of you and the school in general.
But now? The students are happy! They say hi to you and hold doors--something, I am ashamed to say, we never would have even considered doing. The faculty, too, seem happy. The interior of the school received a much needed update two years ago, and yet, still retains the classic feeling that the Main Building once had.
Good Change at a place like that requires careful, thoughtful people who are invested in the school or the company they work for. You have to change an entire culture, create a community where there was none, and turn a place of low expectations on everyone's part into a place of high expectations.
So how does one do that? The answers are both simple and complex. You don't come in waving your agenda around as the cure-all. You meet the people--the students, the faculty, the staff. You listen to their concerns. You take walks around the campus and become a presence in the life of the school. You reach out to the alumni. Above all, you remember that this is a process and takes a huge amount of work and time and energy. You look at the faculty and the leadership and you may need to make a bunch of difficult decisions about who stays, who goes, and what you want the leadership to look like.
But it all takes me back to a few simple questions: How do you make Good Change happen at a company, school, or in general? What are the steps that make it different from "bad" change? Obviously, these are a bit subjective, so here's an example: One could argue that the INTENTIONS behind No Child Left Behind were good ones. The implementation, however, was poor. What could have made it a good change rather than a bad one? Is there anything?
That's a lot of questions, I know, but I would love your thoughts on it all!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Reunion
This past weekend was my high school reunion. I had a really good time seeing old friends, meeting spouses and babies, and networking with members of my class and older classes. I sang for the retirement party of my old Choir director, who was truly amazing and will be sorely missed.
There were lots of moments that made me think--especially in light of my posts about dress codes and school. Many members of my class hold clothing in high esteem. I realize that clothing is a status symbol and all, and that at reunion you want to look good. I, personally, had spent quite a while picking outfits and making sure I had a dress for each night and that they were the appropriate level of formal. I tried to make sure they were tasteful, while still being fun.
Believe me, I was pretty damn surprised to see one of the women, who has a 4 month old baby, show up wearing a silk dress. Now, to be fair, she looked fantastic in it. I hope I, too, will look that good when my hypothetical baby is 4 months old! However, this woman quickly proved that she was still as spoiled as she always had been, because she was a) surprised and b) ran off crying when her 4 month old baby spit up on her dress.
There are many things I could say about this. I do not have children, but many of my friends do and I babysit for them a lot, so that my friends get breaks. However, I guess what it made me realize, even though I knew this theoretically, is that I think practically, learned to laugh at myself, and don't run away from my problems. This is clearly something that this particular woman never learned to do. She had always struggled with it in high school, and I guess I had always assumed she would grow out of it. I felt badly for her husband, who had not gone to school with us and was a stranger to us and to the culture, left alone with a crying baby, while his wife fled her problems and wept inside.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at such childish, petty behavior from an adult...I mean, I see it every day. But I try to hope that people will grow up. But this one little incident left me thinking the whole weekend about learning to function as an adult human being in the Real World. We don't do a great job teaching students how to do so.
Instead, we teach them that you can hide from your problems, that it's OK to do something as long as no one sees/finds out, that everything is high stress and high stakes. Instead, the real life skills are that you have to think practically, and that you have to learn to take life with a sense of humor.
I guess, the best place I can take this is to two simple words that adorn the front wall of my classroom: DON'T PANIC. Approach things rationally. So, how do we teach our students and our children and ourselves to do this? What are the steps and lessons that we should teach?
There were lots of moments that made me think--especially in light of my posts about dress codes and school. Many members of my class hold clothing in high esteem. I realize that clothing is a status symbol and all, and that at reunion you want to look good. I, personally, had spent quite a while picking outfits and making sure I had a dress for each night and that they were the appropriate level of formal. I tried to make sure they were tasteful, while still being fun.
Believe me, I was pretty damn surprised to see one of the women, who has a 4 month old baby, show up wearing a silk dress. Now, to be fair, she looked fantastic in it. I hope I, too, will look that good when my hypothetical baby is 4 months old! However, this woman quickly proved that she was still as spoiled as she always had been, because she was a) surprised and b) ran off crying when her 4 month old baby spit up on her dress.
There are many things I could say about this. I do not have children, but many of my friends do and I babysit for them a lot, so that my friends get breaks. However, I guess what it made me realize, even though I knew this theoretically, is that I think practically, learned to laugh at myself, and don't run away from my problems. This is clearly something that this particular woman never learned to do. She had always struggled with it in high school, and I guess I had always assumed she would grow out of it. I felt badly for her husband, who had not gone to school with us and was a stranger to us and to the culture, left alone with a crying baby, while his wife fled her problems and wept inside.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at such childish, petty behavior from an adult...I mean, I see it every day. But I try to hope that people will grow up. But this one little incident left me thinking the whole weekend about learning to function as an adult human being in the Real World. We don't do a great job teaching students how to do so.
Instead, we teach them that you can hide from your problems, that it's OK to do something as long as no one sees/finds out, that everything is high stress and high stakes. Instead, the real life skills are that you have to think practically, and that you have to learn to take life with a sense of humor.
I guess, the best place I can take this is to two simple words that adorn the front wall of my classroom: DON'T PANIC. Approach things rationally. So, how do we teach our students and our children and ourselves to do this? What are the steps and lessons that we should teach?
Friday, June 14, 2013
Distractions, "HIdden" Messages, and Culture, Part II
Following up on yesterday's post, I want to discuss the many issues these articles and the ensuing discussions raised.
There are SO many issues at play here--there is our Culture, race, gender, class, religion. I want to start with Culture.
As we are probably all aware, the culture for girls and women these days is intensely sexual. Clothing, especially for young women, is becoming increasingly skimpy. We know this. Everything--from makeup to clothing to how young women are taught to act--is incredibly sexual and objectifying.
But we know this already. We have to make a choice of what to DO with it.
Let me start by saying that I went to a school with a strict uniform. I liked it, honestly. It made my life easy. I didn't have to worry about buying "the cool clothes" for school. To be honest, I wasn't even comfortable in those "cool" clothes. I will say that I am, in general, a semi-conservative dresser. I was raised to think about the messages I send with my outward appearance--both by my parents and my 3-8th grade school.
I'll bring the issue of class in here for a minute. The schools I attended through High School were private institutions. My 3rd-8th grade school's imposing a strict uniform leveled the playing field in terms of what one would see of someone's socio-economic status. No one had to know that the girl who sat next to me was on financial aid. No one had to know that the girl who sat on the other side of me was the heiress to a huge fortune. Instead, that outward visible "class" was a non-issue in school. One of my friends commented that this made us ALL more comfortable. No one had to worry about showing off and trying to show others up.
On the other hand, my High School was a different story. We had a dress code, but it was that...not a uniform. It became quickly apparent to me that the nice, quality clothes I had, with moderate length skirts and reasonable v-neck shirts just was not going to do. I did not have "the cool clothes" and I looked "like a grandmother," as one girl notably put it to me. Now, I don't know about you, but My grandmother wouldn't dress like this. This is too young for her.
It also became quite apparent to me that if you were a friend of the Dean or were an extremely attractive girl, the dress code meant nothing. No one asked THOSE girls to cover up. No one asked the athletic boys--the jocks with the muscular arms--to put a shirt on over their "wife beater." No one.
I asked a friend of mine who went to the same school about this issue. She WAS one of Those Pretty Girls. Most of the time, she was reasonably dressed, but I do remember one time that she wore a strapless dress "just to see what would happen." She never got asked to cover up, never got sent to the office, but remembers that "all the male TEACHERS stared at me as I walked down the hall. Not the male students. The Teachers."
So, perhaps we really need to look again at our culture. What are we telling the students? What is with our lack of self control? Why do we expect our students to have it when we don't have it ourselves? And how are we helping our students by "removing temptation," when that temptation won't be removed in the "real world" and in college?
There are SO many issues at play here--there is our Culture, race, gender, class, religion. I want to start with Culture.
As we are probably all aware, the culture for girls and women these days is intensely sexual. Clothing, especially for young women, is becoming increasingly skimpy. We know this. Everything--from makeup to clothing to how young women are taught to act--is incredibly sexual and objectifying.
But we know this already. We have to make a choice of what to DO with it.
Let me start by saying that I went to a school with a strict uniform. I liked it, honestly. It made my life easy. I didn't have to worry about buying "the cool clothes" for school. To be honest, I wasn't even comfortable in those "cool" clothes. I will say that I am, in general, a semi-conservative dresser. I was raised to think about the messages I send with my outward appearance--both by my parents and my 3-8th grade school.
I'll bring the issue of class in here for a minute. The schools I attended through High School were private institutions. My 3rd-8th grade school's imposing a strict uniform leveled the playing field in terms of what one would see of someone's socio-economic status. No one had to know that the girl who sat next to me was on financial aid. No one had to know that the girl who sat on the other side of me was the heiress to a huge fortune. Instead, that outward visible "class" was a non-issue in school. One of my friends commented that this made us ALL more comfortable. No one had to worry about showing off and trying to show others up.
On the other hand, my High School was a different story. We had a dress code, but it was that...not a uniform. It became quickly apparent to me that the nice, quality clothes I had, with moderate length skirts and reasonable v-neck shirts just was not going to do. I did not have "the cool clothes" and I looked "like a grandmother," as one girl notably put it to me. Now, I don't know about you, but My grandmother wouldn't dress like this. This is too young for her.
It also became quite apparent to me that if you were a friend of the Dean or were an extremely attractive girl, the dress code meant nothing. No one asked THOSE girls to cover up. No one asked the athletic boys--the jocks with the muscular arms--to put a shirt on over their "wife beater." No one.
I asked a friend of mine who went to the same school about this issue. She WAS one of Those Pretty Girls. Most of the time, she was reasonably dressed, but I do remember one time that she wore a strapless dress "just to see what would happen." She never got asked to cover up, never got sent to the office, but remembers that "all the male TEACHERS stared at me as I walked down the hall. Not the male students. The Teachers."
So, perhaps we really need to look again at our culture. What are we telling the students? What is with our lack of self control? Why do we expect our students to have it when we don't have it ourselves? And how are we helping our students by "removing temptation," when that temptation won't be removed in the "real world" and in college?
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Distractions, "Hidden" Messages, and Culture
Inspired by a fascinating discussion my friends and I had about These Articles.
I was quite intrigued by the messages of these two articles. As a teacher, we spend a lot of time "enforcing dress codes." It is just something we get asked to do. But what are the messages we are sending when we do so?
I see so many sides of this issue. I have seen girls' clothing, specifically listed in student and parent handbooks as "distractions to other students" and even "distractions to boys." I find it frustrating that these are the reasons given for not wearing certain clothing.
See, I am not in favor of wearing inappropriate clothing to school for EITHER gender. However, I find the reasons often given for not wearing such clothing to be inappropriate. As one of my friends pointed out yesterday, "Everyone needs to learn that clothing is about self presentation. What messages do people send when they wear certain clothes?"
This is the way to pitch dress codes. Not the "distraction" mentality. By adopting the distraction mentality, we are doing everyone a disservice. We are saying that no one has impulse control. We are not even bothering to teach impulse control. We are perpetuating the "she was asking for it by what she was wearing." And that takes me back to thinking about infantilization and false control.
Many years ago, I taught at a private school. There was a piece of the dress code that forbade frayed skirts. There was one day that one of my advises had worn a frayed skirt and she needed to see the Dean about a club she was running. She comes running up to my room during my free period and starts folding up her skirt and pinning it with thumbtacks. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Ohhhh, Ms. L, I need to go see Dean C and I have a frayed skirt." I sighed. "No, J," I told her. "Paper clips. Not thumbtacks. It is less painful and looks like a fashion statement." And lo and behold, it worked.
Why, one might ask, did I knowingly help a student "skirt" (hahaha) the dress code? Because her skirt was the proper length, it wasn't "inappropriate," and seriously, who cares. It was a tasteful skirt with some fringe on it. This takes me down the false control road, but I have already been there, and may go there again tomorrow.
There was a bit in the discussion where a friend of mine said that her school had a dress code "to protect the teachers." While I do kind of see this point, what I see in this is the infantilization of teachers! "Well, they have no self control and students don't have to either!"
So this is a rough sketch of where I might focus some attention for the next few posts. False control, self control, objectification, and the multitude of separate issues contained in this issue (race, class, gender, and more!)
So, friends, what are your thoughts on the articles? Keep the discussion going!
I was quite intrigued by the messages of these two articles. As a teacher, we spend a lot of time "enforcing dress codes." It is just something we get asked to do. But what are the messages we are sending when we do so?
I see so many sides of this issue. I have seen girls' clothing, specifically listed in student and parent handbooks as "distractions to other students" and even "distractions to boys." I find it frustrating that these are the reasons given for not wearing certain clothing.
See, I am not in favor of wearing inappropriate clothing to school for EITHER gender. However, I find the reasons often given for not wearing such clothing to be inappropriate. As one of my friends pointed out yesterday, "Everyone needs to learn that clothing is about self presentation. What messages do people send when they wear certain clothes?"
This is the way to pitch dress codes. Not the "distraction" mentality. By adopting the distraction mentality, we are doing everyone a disservice. We are saying that no one has impulse control. We are not even bothering to teach impulse control. We are perpetuating the "she was asking for it by what she was wearing." And that takes me back to thinking about infantilization and false control.
Many years ago, I taught at a private school. There was a piece of the dress code that forbade frayed skirts. There was one day that one of my advises had worn a frayed skirt and she needed to see the Dean about a club she was running. She comes running up to my room during my free period and starts folding up her skirt and pinning it with thumbtacks. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Ohhhh, Ms. L, I need to go see Dean C and I have a frayed skirt." I sighed. "No, J," I told her. "Paper clips. Not thumbtacks. It is less painful and looks like a fashion statement." And lo and behold, it worked.
Why, one might ask, did I knowingly help a student "skirt" (hahaha) the dress code? Because her skirt was the proper length, it wasn't "inappropriate," and seriously, who cares. It was a tasteful skirt with some fringe on it. This takes me down the false control road, but I have already been there, and may go there again tomorrow.
There was a bit in the discussion where a friend of mine said that her school had a dress code "to protect the teachers." While I do kind of see this point, what I see in this is the infantilization of teachers! "Well, they have no self control and students don't have to either!"
So this is a rough sketch of where I might focus some attention for the next few posts. False control, self control, objectification, and the multitude of separate issues contained in this issue (race, class, gender, and more!)
So, friends, what are your thoughts on the articles? Keep the discussion going!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Appreciation, part 2
Remember that post I wrote about Appreciation?
As the school year wraps up, I come back to that again. See, we have this week, and then finals, and then we're done. Yay summer!
I've been receiving gifts from students and reading the cards. One common line that I see in all of them is something along the lines of, "Thank you so much for being a beacon of sanity in the madness that is this school," or "Thank you for making this year bearable." Yes, these are actual lines from student cards.
I found these cards exciting but also sad. Exciting because I did my job well (yay!!!). Sad because one teacher and one class should not make your school day "bearable." There should be no need to make school "bearable."
Tuesday was also the day that I saw a colleague that I don't normally see. She, a Spanish Teacher, told me that she and another Spanish teacher had a meeting with the Superintendent about Latin. The Superintendent evidently expressed the opinion that SHE thought Foreign languages were important--it was the Assistant Superintendent who didn't like them. My colleague was beside herself. No one in Central Office had appreciated that one of her students had been the highest scorer in Massachusetts on the National Spanish Exam. No one.
My colleague told me that the Central Office Folks are so insincere and unappreciative. Even if you teach Science and Math (the "important" subjects), they don't appreciate you. But Foreign Language, my colleague said, is the ugly stepchild. And yet, we are expected to come into school every day with a sincere smile.
So, I got to thinking: We make the school "bearable" for the students. Who makes it "bearable" for us? Is that our poor Admin's job? How can we make school "bearable" for the students if we aren't appreciated?
As the school year wraps up, I come back to that again. See, we have this week, and then finals, and then we're done. Yay summer!
I've been receiving gifts from students and reading the cards. One common line that I see in all of them is something along the lines of, "Thank you so much for being a beacon of sanity in the madness that is this school," or "Thank you for making this year bearable." Yes, these are actual lines from student cards.
I found these cards exciting but also sad. Exciting because I did my job well (yay!!!). Sad because one teacher and one class should not make your school day "bearable." There should be no need to make school "bearable."
Tuesday was also the day that I saw a colleague that I don't normally see. She, a Spanish Teacher, told me that she and another Spanish teacher had a meeting with the Superintendent about Latin. The Superintendent evidently expressed the opinion that SHE thought Foreign languages were important--it was the Assistant Superintendent who didn't like them. My colleague was beside herself. No one in Central Office had appreciated that one of her students had been the highest scorer in Massachusetts on the National Spanish Exam. No one.
My colleague told me that the Central Office Folks are so insincere and unappreciative. Even if you teach Science and Math (the "important" subjects), they don't appreciate you. But Foreign Language, my colleague said, is the ugly stepchild. And yet, we are expected to come into school every day with a sincere smile.
So, I got to thinking: We make the school "bearable" for the students. Who makes it "bearable" for us? Is that our poor Admin's job? How can we make school "bearable" for the students if we aren't appreciated?
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Winning and Losing
I had a conversation with a friend this weekend about winning and losing. He commented to me that he had spent most of his life trying not to lose rather than trying to win. There is, obviously, a fundamental difference between these two. So I started thinking about the various games that we play each day--the game of work, the game of school, the game of life.
These days, we all spend time trying not to lose. This seems to show one of two sides of people. It can breed in some a competitive side that people often call "playing to win," but it isn't. It's trying to screw others over so that YOU don't lose. The other side of trying not to lose is giving up so much, because "you're going to lose anyway."
Trying to win is an interesting concept. People define it in many ways. Many think that eliminating all competition is winning. They will do it by whatever means necessary! If it means tattling, they will tattle. If it means screwing others over, they will. If it means putting on a nice face and feigning politeness, they'll do that too. Anything. Literally.
But the way I look at it, winning may mean eliminating the competition. But I see it as eliminating the competition by altruism and collaboration rather than by screwing others over, or just trying to be "the best." See, true winning is done by honest means, not by witholding the notes your classmate asked for, because they were sick that day, just so that you can score higher on the upcoming test. True winning is done by learning from your mistakes, so that you don't make the same mistake twice. True winning is collaborating with your competitors, so that together, you all bring a piece to the puzzle and build the best thing possible.
Schools these days don't breed that. SURE, we talk about collaboration, but do we do it? No. Teachers don't collaborate (Latin and History could do something together...Latin and Science....etc...), and we don't encourage it among our students either. As long as they are getting The Grades, we don't care.
The paradigm IS shifting though, especially among newer teachers. We are beginning to encourage true winning now--building community and sharing and collaboration. What have you done to encourage this? What steps can we take to keep encouraging true winning, rather than fear of losing? How can we shift the paradigm to playing to win rather than trying not to lose?
These days, we all spend time trying not to lose. This seems to show one of two sides of people. It can breed in some a competitive side that people often call "playing to win," but it isn't. It's trying to screw others over so that YOU don't lose. The other side of trying not to lose is giving up so much, because "you're going to lose anyway."
Trying to win is an interesting concept. People define it in many ways. Many think that eliminating all competition is winning. They will do it by whatever means necessary! If it means tattling, they will tattle. If it means screwing others over, they will. If it means putting on a nice face and feigning politeness, they'll do that too. Anything. Literally.
But the way I look at it, winning may mean eliminating the competition. But I see it as eliminating the competition by altruism and collaboration rather than by screwing others over, or just trying to be "the best." See, true winning is done by honest means, not by witholding the notes your classmate asked for, because they were sick that day, just so that you can score higher on the upcoming test. True winning is done by learning from your mistakes, so that you don't make the same mistake twice. True winning is collaborating with your competitors, so that together, you all bring a piece to the puzzle and build the best thing possible.
Schools these days don't breed that. SURE, we talk about collaboration, but do we do it? No. Teachers don't collaborate (Latin and History could do something together...Latin and Science....etc...), and we don't encourage it among our students either. As long as they are getting The Grades, we don't care.
The paradigm IS shifting though, especially among newer teachers. We are beginning to encourage true winning now--building community and sharing and collaboration. What have you done to encourage this? What steps can we take to keep encouraging true winning, rather than fear of losing? How can we shift the paradigm to playing to win rather than trying not to lose?
Monday, June 10, 2013
To Be Rather Than To Seem
On Thursday Morning, I was chatting with C, my assistant principal. She mentioned that she had to go do some walkthrough observations. I nodded knowingly. "Don't worry," she said. "I won't bother you. Your students are always on task, even when they aren't."
I found that statement interesting. "How so?" I asked. C didn't hesitate. "They are always having discussions related to what they are doing, and they are always listening to each other and learning from each other. They help each other, they talk each other through issues, and they make sure that their groups understand. In another class, that might be shut down as 'needless chatter' but, as I said in your evaluation, you encourage related conversations."
This, to me, was interesting, but not surprising. Too many of my students come to me from classes where they are chastised for asking a question, for helping a friend, for turning a lecture into a discussion. Let's be fair here, even I would put an end to my students chatting, say, about their weekend plans, and sometimes they do need that direction. But that is why listening to the conversations happening in your classroom is so important--so that you know when to let the conversations continue and when to end them.
But so many teachers have not learned to listen. Their job is to dispense knowledge and the students' job is to passively absorb their words of wisdom. The students can "look" On Task, with their noses stuck in packets and reading textbooks, but are they really? What are they actually learning--not memorizing so that they can regurgitate it on a test--but learning so that they can use it in the real world?
The great Roman statesman Cicero famously wrote about Cato the Younger the words "esse quam videri," commenting that Cato preferred "to be, rather than to seem." How can we make sure that On Task means that the students are actually working with the material? What can we do to facilitate that transition from looking On Task to being On Task?
I found that statement interesting. "How so?" I asked. C didn't hesitate. "They are always having discussions related to what they are doing, and they are always listening to each other and learning from each other. They help each other, they talk each other through issues, and they make sure that their groups understand. In another class, that might be shut down as 'needless chatter' but, as I said in your evaluation, you encourage related conversations."
This, to me, was interesting, but not surprising. Too many of my students come to me from classes where they are chastised for asking a question, for helping a friend, for turning a lecture into a discussion. Let's be fair here, even I would put an end to my students chatting, say, about their weekend plans, and sometimes they do need that direction. But that is why listening to the conversations happening in your classroom is so important--so that you know when to let the conversations continue and when to end them.
But so many teachers have not learned to listen. Their job is to dispense knowledge and the students' job is to passively absorb their words of wisdom. The students can "look" On Task, with their noses stuck in packets and reading textbooks, but are they really? What are they actually learning--not memorizing so that they can regurgitate it on a test--but learning so that they can use it in the real world?
The great Roman statesman Cicero famously wrote about Cato the Younger the words "esse quam videri," commenting that Cato preferred "to be, rather than to seem." How can we make sure that On Task means that the students are actually working with the material? What can we do to facilitate that transition from looking On Task to being On Task?
Friday, June 7, 2013
One Mistake is OK
Before one of my classes yesterday, I was sitting in on the Mandarin class at my school. "Ms. Y," one of the students asked, "Can I pleeeeease retake the test now?"
Ms. Y looked confused. "K," she replied, "You only made one mistake on the test. You don't need to retake it! One mistake is OK!"
"No it's not," M protested. "I can't believe I messed that up!" He continued to beat himself up for the one tiny mistake he made, resulting in him getting a 98 rather than a 100. Ms. Y refused to argue with him. One mistake was OK, and she was sticking to that. She told me later that she has been working with this student all year on being able to make mistakes.
And this brought me back to Perfection. I have spent a great deal of the year teaching my students that I am not looking for *perfection.* Instead, I am looking for proficiency, and a willingness to learn from their mistakes. I am not looking for the student who can memorize everything and spit it back at me, but the student who knows what questions to ask. That's what I care about.
I want to see their BEST work. Their best work is not Perfect work. Your best can always be better--otherwise 'improvement' would not exist as a word. If you don't get a perfect score, read the comments, ask me the right questions, and learn why. Maybe you'll do better next time. Don't ask me the "Why didn't you give me a 100?" question. Ask me "Why is this incorrect? Did I need to use the subjunctive here?" I'll happily walk you through it!
The advice I gave to my Seniors as they prepared to head to college, was the following: "Take risks. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. When you do make mistakes, learn from them. I know everyone tells you this, but I think, and I hope you do too, that we lived it in this class, and I hope you all can apply it to the college world." My students agreed.
How do we learn that mistakes are OK? What can we do to encourage risk-taking and learning from our mistakes?
Ms. Y looked confused. "K," she replied, "You only made one mistake on the test. You don't need to retake it! One mistake is OK!"
"No it's not," M protested. "I can't believe I messed that up!" He continued to beat himself up for the one tiny mistake he made, resulting in him getting a 98 rather than a 100. Ms. Y refused to argue with him. One mistake was OK, and she was sticking to that. She told me later that she has been working with this student all year on being able to make mistakes.
And this brought me back to Perfection. I have spent a great deal of the year teaching my students that I am not looking for *perfection.* Instead, I am looking for proficiency, and a willingness to learn from their mistakes. I am not looking for the student who can memorize everything and spit it back at me, but the student who knows what questions to ask. That's what I care about.
I want to see their BEST work. Their best work is not Perfect work. Your best can always be better--otherwise 'improvement' would not exist as a word. If you don't get a perfect score, read the comments, ask me the right questions, and learn why. Maybe you'll do better next time. Don't ask me the "Why didn't you give me a 100?" question. Ask me "Why is this incorrect? Did I need to use the subjunctive here?" I'll happily walk you through it!
The advice I gave to my Seniors as they prepared to head to college, was the following: "Take risks. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. When you do make mistakes, learn from them. I know everyone tells you this, but I think, and I hope you do too, that we lived it in this class, and I hope you all can apply it to the college world." My students agreed.
How do we learn that mistakes are OK? What can we do to encourage risk-taking and learning from our mistakes?
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Giving a Damn
Yesterday, I had my "End of year performance evaluation" with my assistant principal. As part of my evaluation, she had read the student evaluations I had had my students complete, both about my class and also about themselves and their participation in my class. She got first crack at them--I hadn't seen them yet. These were evaluations that I had written for them--there are not school wide evaluations.
Anyway, she looked at me with a smile and said, "I am SO glad to know that you give a fuck about your students." Surprised, as anyone would, I think, be at that statement, I simply blinked at her. With a laugh, she produced an evaluation from the top of the pile. Written in the space under the question 'What could Ms. L do to help you out more?' was the following answer: "Nothing. Ms. L is an incredible teacher. She is strict, but she is strict because she gives a fuck about us. Like, she actually cares--none of this "yeah I really care about you all" crap."
In case you are curious, the evaluation was great! I was pretty excited about that.
But that's not the point of this post. I couldn't get the words written by my student out of my head. My assistant principal and I talked a lot about forming bonds with students. But I guess what really got me on this is that this was not the only student who realized that my strict boundaries and rules applied to ALL of us in the class, me included, and it was me showing that I cared about them and wanted them to take safe risks and make good choices. Not only that, but it was not lost on the students how much some other teachers' lying words of caring were untrue. NEVER would I say that I am the only teacher who cares for her students at this school. NEVER. Don't read it that way.
What I am saying is that the way to show students we "give a fuck" about them is to set rules and boundaries and to make sure that they apply to YOU as well as to them. Don't set up the oft-seen "us vs. them" mentality. If you listen to the students, they are more likely to listen to you in return.
How do you show students you care? Did you have a teacher who was really good at showing they cared? How did they show it?
Anyway, she looked at me with a smile and said, "I am SO glad to know that you give a fuck about your students." Surprised, as anyone would, I think, be at that statement, I simply blinked at her. With a laugh, she produced an evaluation from the top of the pile. Written in the space under the question 'What could Ms. L do to help you out more?' was the following answer: "Nothing. Ms. L is an incredible teacher. She is strict, but she is strict because she gives a fuck about us. Like, she actually cares--none of this "yeah I really care about you all" crap."
In case you are curious, the evaluation was great! I was pretty excited about that.
But that's not the point of this post. I couldn't get the words written by my student out of my head. My assistant principal and I talked a lot about forming bonds with students. But I guess what really got me on this is that this was not the only student who realized that my strict boundaries and rules applied to ALL of us in the class, me included, and it was me showing that I cared about them and wanted them to take safe risks and make good choices. Not only that, but it was not lost on the students how much some other teachers' lying words of caring were untrue. NEVER would I say that I am the only teacher who cares for her students at this school. NEVER. Don't read it that way.
What I am saying is that the way to show students we "give a fuck" about them is to set rules and boundaries and to make sure that they apply to YOU as well as to them. Don't set up the oft-seen "us vs. them" mentality. If you listen to the students, they are more likely to listen to you in return.
How do you show students you care? Did you have a teacher who was really good at showing they cared? How did they show it?
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Conversations
Yesterday morning, my students and I had a conversation about gaming. Yes, that really happened. We talked about game design, rules of games, games we played, how we liked them, and why. In case you haven't guessed, I LOVE game design and gaming. But the cool part for me is that I didn't even initiate the discussion. M was just wondering about how to get past something in Bioshock....and she asked J...and off went the conversation.
The students needed to get work done on a project, but they were able to get done what they needed to get done and have an interesting and much needed conversation. They were tired--it is, after all, the end of the year--but somehow, we still managed to both get our work done and have some fun.
Making connections with students is important. Through those "random, disruptive conversations," you learn, if you listen to them and take time to think about them, what makes students tick. Especially now, at a time when EVERYTHING is either a "review packet" or "just one more thing before the final," these conversations are SO important. For one thing, they relieve some tension. For another, they show that I the teacher respect them the students. For another, they show that they the students respect me the teacher enough to HAVE that conversation, while getting their work done at the same time. And they even asked my opinion. For the first few minutes, I had just been listening.
So, I take these conversations and listen to them. I mull them around in my head and get ideas from them--ideas for games for use both in and out of class, for class activities, for ways to engage those students who need it, and even get the whole class engaged in an activity. So, why is it that we squash them?
Because we have "so much to cover," or "if The Powers That Be walk in and we aren't 'learning'." But I find that we all learn more from the conversations.
How do we demonstrate to both the Powers That Be and to our fellow teachers that these conversations are both useful and necessary for real learning?
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Dropping the Ball
This week is a screwy schedule at school. No day is a "normal" whatever-number-day-it-is schedule. We're doing the last round of MCAS testing, and there there are a bunch of assemblies. So times are changing, periods moving, and classes being relocated.
On Monday, P, one of my students who is partially home-schooled and only comes in for two periods of the day, came running in to class 20 minutes late. "I'm so sorry, Magistra," she panted, "They neglected to tell me about the schedule change!"
She was, understandably, peeved. As a new teacher at this school, I understand her frustration. Too often, changes are not communicated well, because "everyone just knows" what they are and will be. So, I find myself having to ask about them. All the time. But I can figure these things out because I have a vague idea of when testing sessions, etc... are. A partially home-schooled student has no idea.
As it turned out, NONE of the students knew of the schedule change. No one had bothered to tell them. Only the teachers knew. And of course, they didn't tell the students. They didn't even bother to POST IT in the hallways!! So, my period 4 students showed up to my class, when they were supposed to be at period 6. And I was left being the person to tell them all of this.
In the case of "serving all students" or "making sure all faculty have the correct information," the School has dropped the ball. Both of these quotes are taken directly out of the information that the school distributes. This is not the first time this has happened. In fact, it has been happening all year to poor P and to me and to other new teachers.
What is the message that we, the new teachers, and students like P have been receiving? This might be a self-evident answer, but as P put it, "Yeah, they don't really care about me. They don't communicate with me or my family at all."
My full-time students were frustrated. "No one tells us anything!" complained M. "Well," J said, "This might be the first time the teachers have known something about actual school operations that we did not know!" (Usually, we teachers don't know about schedule stuff, but if you ask the students, they do!)
So, today, I think about messages once more, specifically in connection with administration and "the powers that be" Dropping the Ball.
How can we create clear communication channels? Who has had an experience similar to this? How did you handle it?
On Monday, P, one of my students who is partially home-schooled and only comes in for two periods of the day, came running in to class 20 minutes late. "I'm so sorry, Magistra," she panted, "They neglected to tell me about the schedule change!"
She was, understandably, peeved. As a new teacher at this school, I understand her frustration. Too often, changes are not communicated well, because "everyone just knows" what they are and will be. So, I find myself having to ask about them. All the time. But I can figure these things out because I have a vague idea of when testing sessions, etc... are. A partially home-schooled student has no idea.
As it turned out, NONE of the students knew of the schedule change. No one had bothered to tell them. Only the teachers knew. And of course, they didn't tell the students. They didn't even bother to POST IT in the hallways!! So, my period 4 students showed up to my class, when they were supposed to be at period 6. And I was left being the person to tell them all of this.
In the case of "serving all students" or "making sure all faculty have the correct information," the School has dropped the ball. Both of these quotes are taken directly out of the information that the school distributes. This is not the first time this has happened. In fact, it has been happening all year to poor P and to me and to other new teachers.
What is the message that we, the new teachers, and students like P have been receiving? This might be a self-evident answer, but as P put it, "Yeah, they don't really care about me. They don't communicate with me or my family at all."
My full-time students were frustrated. "No one tells us anything!" complained M. "Well," J said, "This might be the first time the teachers have known something about actual school operations that we did not know!" (Usually, we teachers don't know about schedule stuff, but if you ask the students, they do!)
So, today, I think about messages once more, specifically in connection with administration and "the powers that be" Dropping the Ball.
How can we create clear communication channels? Who has had an experience similar to this? How did you handle it?
Monday, June 3, 2013
Feeling OLD
On Thursday, I got together for lunch with some former students of mine, now in college. All three of them will be Juniors next year and are Classics majors at three different colleges.
All three of them had the same thing to say: "I didn't learn to think like I needed to for college in High School."
We talked about working with students and learning to think like one would need to for college, for the real world. Two of them are thinking about teaching as a career and the other one is probably headed to Law School. K complained bitterly about how no matter WHERE they went or WHAT they did, they would need to know how to think. They were just expected to know how to think in College, but it was a skill they had never learned.
"Where would we have learned it?" asked G, the only guy in the Lunch Bunch.
L shook her head. "Certainly not at our high school. No one knew how to think there. Be glad you got the hell out of there, Ms. L!"
I took the opportunity to direct the conversation. "What would have helped?" I asked them. "How would you help your students learn to think?"
"Having real discussions," G offered. "Like we're expected to do in college. Not being TOLD what the book means, but actually talking about it."
"Not doing 4 bazillion packets," said L. "Those are the most useless things ever."
"Teachers and Admin being Honest with students. Admin being honest with teachers. Well, Honesty in general," K shared. "Honesty is what puts the trust to share, to think in the right place. I'm always honest with my study group students."
I put this to you, loyal readers, because this makes me feel so old! These are my own former students talking about helping future students and learning from what happened to them as students.
What would you add to their list? How can we teach up and coming generations of students to think?
All three of them had the same thing to say: "I didn't learn to think like I needed to for college in High School."
We talked about working with students and learning to think like one would need to for college, for the real world. Two of them are thinking about teaching as a career and the other one is probably headed to Law School. K complained bitterly about how no matter WHERE they went or WHAT they did, they would need to know how to think. They were just expected to know how to think in College, but it was a skill they had never learned.
"Where would we have learned it?" asked G, the only guy in the Lunch Bunch.
L shook her head. "Certainly not at our high school. No one knew how to think there. Be glad you got the hell out of there, Ms. L!"
I took the opportunity to direct the conversation. "What would have helped?" I asked them. "How would you help your students learn to think?"
"Having real discussions," G offered. "Like we're expected to do in college. Not being TOLD what the book means, but actually talking about it."
"Not doing 4 bazillion packets," said L. "Those are the most useless things ever."
"Teachers and Admin being Honest with students. Admin being honest with teachers. Well, Honesty in general," K shared. "Honesty is what puts the trust to share, to think in the right place. I'm always honest with my study group students."
I put this to you, loyal readers, because this makes me feel so old! These are my own former students talking about helping future students and learning from what happened to them as students.
What would you add to their list? How can we teach up and coming generations of students to think?
Friday, May 31, 2013
Reasons
There are many excellent lines in Sassafrass' song My Brother My Enemy--a song that talks about Loki and Odin's reasons for turning on each other. At the end of the day, it is a song about reasons.
Reasons are OH so important for helping students to understand what they are supposed to do and why they are supposed to do it. They're essential for faculty too. Honestly, if you want someone to do something, the best way to get them to do it is to give them a *real* reason for it.
Today, my remaining students and I were discussing Finals. (Our seniors have already left! Thus, I have a month with my non-seniors!) "Magistra?" asked M, "This is a really bad question, I know, but do we have a final exam?"
I explained that not as such. Their project was their final exam. Their Mythology project shows off their research skills, English writing skills, Latin composition skills, all of their grammar and vocabulary they have learned this year, and their Roman Culture knowledge.
"Yeah, you bet it does. I've had to think more on this project than I ever have," commented J.
So, I explained, the project would be their final assessment. It was important to me, I told them, that their final be meaningful and synthesize the information they learned, not that they vomit information back onto a page.
My students were relieved. K commented, "This has honestly been the most meaningful thing I've done all year." "I'm really glad we did this," A noted. O, tiredly, complained that although he should technically, gradewise, be exempt from his History final, he wasn't. When he had inquired why, his teacher had given him the 'reason' "Because that's the way I've always done it." O said that he would have understood if he had received the reason, "Because I have this meaningful assessment that will really show me what you have learned this year and I could use it to improve how I structure my class." But that was so not the reason. I mean, come on. Couldn't the teacher have said something better than "It's the way I've always done it,"?!?!
Reasons are excellent and useful things. Sadly, we, as a culture, are quite poor at using good, real reasons. Instead, we settle for excuses and 'reasons' that promote fear and lack of true knowledge.
How will we promote the use of true reasons in our classrooms and our daily lives?
Reasons are OH so important for helping students to understand what they are supposed to do and why they are supposed to do it. They're essential for faculty too. Honestly, if you want someone to do something, the best way to get them to do it is to give them a *real* reason for it.
Today, my remaining students and I were discussing Finals. (Our seniors have already left! Thus, I have a month with my non-seniors!) "Magistra?" asked M, "This is a really bad question, I know, but do we have a final exam?"
I explained that not as such. Their project was their final exam. Their Mythology project shows off their research skills, English writing skills, Latin composition skills, all of their grammar and vocabulary they have learned this year, and their Roman Culture knowledge.
"Yeah, you bet it does. I've had to think more on this project than I ever have," commented J.
So, I explained, the project would be their final assessment. It was important to me, I told them, that their final be meaningful and synthesize the information they learned, not that they vomit information back onto a page.
My students were relieved. K commented, "This has honestly been the most meaningful thing I've done all year." "I'm really glad we did this," A noted. O, tiredly, complained that although he should technically, gradewise, be exempt from his History final, he wasn't. When he had inquired why, his teacher had given him the 'reason' "Because that's the way I've always done it." O said that he would have understood if he had received the reason, "Because I have this meaningful assessment that will really show me what you have learned this year and I could use it to improve how I structure my class." But that was so not the reason. I mean, come on. Couldn't the teacher have said something better than "It's the way I've always done it,"?!?!
Reasons are excellent and useful things. Sadly, we, as a culture, are quite poor at using good, real reasons. Instead, we settle for excuses and 'reasons' that promote fear and lack of true knowledge.
How will we promote the use of true reasons in our classrooms and our daily lives?
Thursday, May 30, 2013
An Ass Out Of U and Me
In his post yesterday, Justin addressed just a few of the problems with making assumptions. This is something I run into a lot--from students, colleagues, administrators, members of Sassafrass, and really just people in general.
So, if I haven't mentioned this already, I am the one of the logistics people for Sassafrass. My job is to communicate things very clearly to those outside of Sassafrass what we want and what we need. I need to communicate to those within Sassafrass what those outside of Sassafrass need and want from us. And I get to make things like travel arrangements and hotel reservations for the group as well. It's a bit crazy, right? However, when you do a job like that, you can't make assumptions about anything. No matter how sure you are that people know something, you make sure to say it anyway and be super clear about it.
Problems arise when people don't read what is sent out fully and carefully. I know it is not just my students who have issues reading directions. When I was a student, one of my English teachers would write directions like this on tests: "Please answer the following questions in 2-3 complete sentences. Stand up, turn around 3 times, and sit back down." Then, she would sit at the front of the classroom and watch us. If we did not stand up, turn around 3 times, and sit back down, she took points off.
It drives me CRAZY when teachers get in students faces, make assumptions about why they didn't do work, yell at them for not doing the work or for forgetting to turn something in, and yet, these teachers are the ones who don't turn their grades in, or read the memos fully and carefully, resulting in "forgetting" to cover a testing room, or to remind their students of some important information, that the Office asks teachers to disseminate to students.
Our culture teaches us to make assumptions. It does not teach us to ask questions, to think critically, to think logistically. And yet, when students "dare" to assume something, teachers get in their face for not thinking critically or asking for help.
Why is this? Perhaps we know the answer to this. Perhaps we only know part of the answer. But how will we start to reverse the unspoken rule that it is alright to make assumptions rather than clarifications?
So, if I haven't mentioned this already, I am the one of the logistics people for Sassafrass. My job is to communicate things very clearly to those outside of Sassafrass what we want and what we need. I need to communicate to those within Sassafrass what those outside of Sassafrass need and want from us. And I get to make things like travel arrangements and hotel reservations for the group as well. It's a bit crazy, right? However, when you do a job like that, you can't make assumptions about anything. No matter how sure you are that people know something, you make sure to say it anyway and be super clear about it.
Problems arise when people don't read what is sent out fully and carefully. I know it is not just my students who have issues reading directions. When I was a student, one of my English teachers would write directions like this on tests: "Please answer the following questions in 2-3 complete sentences. Stand up, turn around 3 times, and sit back down." Then, she would sit at the front of the classroom and watch us. If we did not stand up, turn around 3 times, and sit back down, she took points off.
It drives me CRAZY when teachers get in students faces, make assumptions about why they didn't do work, yell at them for not doing the work or for forgetting to turn something in, and yet, these teachers are the ones who don't turn their grades in, or read the memos fully and carefully, resulting in "forgetting" to cover a testing room, or to remind their students of some important information, that the Office asks teachers to disseminate to students.
Our culture teaches us to make assumptions. It does not teach us to ask questions, to think critically, to think logistically. And yet, when students "dare" to assume something, teachers get in their face for not thinking critically or asking for help.
Why is this? Perhaps we know the answer to this. Perhaps we only know part of the answer. But how will we start to reverse the unspoken rule that it is alright to make assumptions rather than clarifications?
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Success!
I have returned from Baltimore! All of the craziness and rehearsals before the trip and the rehearsals and craziness once we got to Balticon PAID OFF. The whole weekend was fantastic, and the performance was, dare I say, epic. The entire team of Sassafrass came together in the most incredible way! This includes our friends and Sassafamily, ran around and got us food, played Pack-Mule, did our makeup, and kept us relatively sane for 4 crazy days at Balticon, and WELL before, as we prepped for everything.
Sundown the Musical was EXTREMELY well received, and I wish I could provide a review for you. However, having been in the musical, I am probably not the best person to ask for a review! Gary, our Incredible Convention Liaison, had promised us that, if we had time for an encore, he would hold up a piece of paper saying so at the end of the Musical. I will never forget the image of the audience giving us a standing ovation, with Gary at the front, applauding wildly, while holding in his mouth a piece of paper with the NASA symbol on it.
I can say that I had people I didn't even know, as well as people that I did, coming up to me and saying how amazing Sundown was and that they wanted to see it again. We got invitations to perform it at other conventions, and the panel we gave about the creation of the musical was PACKED. Standing room only. Success.
The feeling of success after such a long, often difficult and stressful preparation is one of the best feelings ever. Success is not always, or, in this world, often a feeling we get to feel. When we get that feeling, we need to cherish it and remember how we got there--with hard work, persistence, sometimes tears, but never, ever, giving up.
Sundown the Musical was EXTREMELY well received, and I wish I could provide a review for you. However, having been in the musical, I am probably not the best person to ask for a review! Gary, our Incredible Convention Liaison, had promised us that, if we had time for an encore, he would hold up a piece of paper saying so at the end of the Musical. I will never forget the image of the audience giving us a standing ovation, with Gary at the front, applauding wildly, while holding in his mouth a piece of paper with the NASA symbol on it.
I can say that I had people I didn't even know, as well as people that I did, coming up to me and saying how amazing Sundown was and that they wanted to see it again. We got invitations to perform it at other conventions, and the panel we gave about the creation of the musical was PACKED. Standing room only. Success.
The feeling of success after such a long, often difficult and stressful preparation is one of the best feelings ever. Success is not always, or, in this world, often a feeling we get to feel. When we get that feeling, we need to cherish it and remember how we got there--with hard work, persistence, sometimes tears, but never, ever, giving up.
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