My colleague Beth Benzinger, has organized two student forums. These forums tackle difficult issues that are important to students but do not happen to come up inside the classroom. The format reminds me of Oprah, in that you have four student panelist who each talk about five minutes on the topic. When they are done talking they then open up the microphone for questions from the audience. After about fifteen minutes of questions and answers we then breakout into classrooms for more discussions.
What is great about these forums besides Beth's upfront organization, (which is tremendous), the forum is really run by the students. They are the expert panelist, they ask the questions and then finally we have students leading the discussions in the classroom breakout sessions.
What has impressed me so far is the maturity of the questions and the discussion on these controversial topics. In our breakout groups we literally have to ask students to leave at 4:00. They are putting in 90 minutes of extra time for no grade, to discuss issues that are important to them.
It demonstrates that they have a spark within them we as teachers need to know how to start it and keep the flame on fire. In a school of 1800 students we had 330 attend our forum on race and 135 attend our forum on gender.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Can we bring Buck into the classroom
Here is a post from Roch Kubatko;s blog. What continues to amaze me is how Buck has set an environment that self regulates. The veterans sit to the front of the meeting. While in school teacher's usually assign seats would our best students pick the ones up front? Secondly, again he talks about self-regulating. Do our best students regulate the behavior of other students? Would they say we do not write on the bathroom walls? We do not cheat? Is this possible to get us all working together to make the school house the best it can be? Do teachers try to cultivate this climate in their classrooms? or should they? Finally, do we as teachers want to be challenged? Do students feel free to question our motives and what we assign? Let's have an honest discussion
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RASOTA, Fla. - You probably figured out a long time ago that manager Buck Showalter is on top of everything. Nothing gets past him, including the little things that mean more in the big picture.
A few days ago, Showalter noticed how the first row of seats for a team meeting was occupied by guys like Matt Wieters, Jason Hammel, Darren O'Day, Jim Johnson and Pedro Strop. That's leadership.
Here's another example:
Kevin Gausman, taking part in his first major league camp after being the fourth-overall pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, stepped off the mound during a drill last week on one of the back fields at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. Apparently, that's the way Gausman did it at LSU. Apparently, that's not how the Orioles do it, and Johnson immediately pointed out the mistake to him.
"J.J. said, 'No, get back up there. We don't do that. You've got to do it this way.' Matter of factly, nothing mean," Showalter recalled.
"Believe me, Gausman doesn't need much adjustment. But it's good-natured. It's not hazing. It's 'Hey, you're wearing our uniform. Let's go.'
"This isn't the kind of team that sits in the back row much. When you say, 'Does anybody have any ideas or any questions,' they're going to put a hand up, and I appreciate that environment, that they feel comfortable talking. I invite 'Why?'
"I'd like to have a good reason why I do things a certain way, and if you've got a better way, we tweak it. Most of it comes from players' suggestions, because they're the ones who have to play the game."
Adam Jones has emerged as the most vocal leader in the clubhouse, and if you read his tweets, you pretty much find daily examples. But there are quite a few guys who are taking on that responsibility, much to the delight of their skipper.
Asked whether there's a different vibe in camp this spring, Showalter replied, "It would be easy to say, 'Yeah,' but I told some of our people before that I had a good feeling with our guys last year at this time. I don't see anything to make me feel any different.
"I don't think anybody is that good to sit here in February to say this is happening, so that's going to happen for seven months. They're human beings, it's human nature. You just assume the position, see where it takes you.
"I trust them. It's a group that's very easy to trust
.
RASOTA, Fla. - You probably figured out a long time ago that manager Buck Showalter is on top of everything. Nothing gets past him, including the little things that mean more in the big picture.
A few days ago, Showalter noticed how the first row of seats for a team meeting was occupied by guys like Matt Wieters, Jason Hammel, Darren O'Day, Jim Johnson and Pedro Strop. That's leadership.
Here's another example:
Kevin Gausman, taking part in his first major league camp after being the fourth-overall pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, stepped off the mound during a drill last week on one of the back fields at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. Apparently, that's the way Gausman did it at LSU. Apparently, that's not how the Orioles do it, and Johnson immediately pointed out the mistake to him.
"J.J. said, 'No, get back up there. We don't do that. You've got to do it this way.' Matter of factly, nothing mean," Showalter recalled.
"Believe me, Gausman doesn't need much adjustment. But it's good-natured. It's not hazing. It's 'Hey, you're wearing our uniform. Let's go.'
"This isn't the kind of team that sits in the back row much. When you say, 'Does anybody have any ideas or any questions,' they're going to put a hand up, and I appreciate that environment, that they feel comfortable talking. I invite 'Why?'
"I'd like to have a good reason why I do things a certain way, and if you've got a better way, we tweak it. Most of it comes from players' suggestions, because they're the ones who have to play the game."
Adam Jones has emerged as the most vocal leader in the clubhouse, and if you read his tweets, you pretty much find daily examples. But there are quite a few guys who are taking on that responsibility, much to the delight of their skipper.
Asked whether there's a different vibe in camp this spring, Showalter replied, "It would be easy to say, 'Yeah,' but I told some of our people before that I had a good feeling with our guys last year at this time. I don't see anything to make me feel any different.
"I don't think anybody is that good to sit here in February to say this is happening, so that's going to happen for seven months. They're human beings, it's human nature. You just assume the position, see where it takes you.
"I trust them. It's a group that's very easy to trust
Monday, February 11, 2013
One Stat
In education we are now filled with data. At the high school level we keep track of our state mandated testing, AP Scores, SAT scores, GPA etc. To me what we really need to do is focus on what percentage of our students are graduating college within six years. Who cares if you have SAT scores that a great if you did not graduate college.
Whenever, I have posed this to a colleague their first remarks are that they most students probably drop our due to financial reasons. While I am sure that this happens to some students we really have not statistics on what causes our students to not graduate college. Also should it not be part of our responsibility to help guide the student and their parent to an institution that they can afford.
In reading Paul Tough's book, "How Children Succeed" (a must for all educators) he talks about important non-cognitive factors such as GRIT. Students with a high GRIT score manage to work around the problems of lack of finance by finding scholarships, jobs or loans to keep their college dream alive. Our school which is probably one of the leaders in Baltimore County has about 48% of our graduating seniors finish college within years.
The challenge is how to we increase this number.
Whenever, I have posed this to a colleague their first remarks are that they most students probably drop our due to financial reasons. While I am sure that this happens to some students we really have not statistics on what causes our students to not graduate college. Also should it not be part of our responsibility to help guide the student and their parent to an institution that they can afford.
In reading Paul Tough's book, "How Children Succeed" (a must for all educators) he talks about important non-cognitive factors such as GRIT. Students with a high GRIT score manage to work around the problems of lack of finance by finding scholarships, jobs or loans to keep their college dream alive. Our school which is probably one of the leaders in Baltimore County has about 48% of our graduating seniors finish college within years.
The challenge is how to we increase this number.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Respect for the game
In watching Ray Lewis throughout his career I have never heard him talk negatively about another team or other players. It appears that Ray has learned how hard it is to play the game of football at the professional level and he has respect for all of those who do it.
As educators we have to bring that same respect for the game to our job each and everyday. We need to realize how hard it is to be a student, and show real respect for them each day they enter our classrooms. In order to keep me on track I have developed a transformational statement.
I am a transformational teacher who has a position of responsibility that lends
me a platform where I can be an example for students to reach their full
potential both academically and as a person, through mutual respect,
openness, perseverance, and commitment.
Three core values
belief in students
perseverance
commitment
In shaping this statement, I had some of my students look through the statement and help me focus it. They changed the order of the statement, one wanted me to add the fact that my job was to make them a better person, and finally I replaced the word power with responsibility. As a student pointed out to me that teens hear the word power and they want to revolt.
I have sent this statement out to the faculty and told them to hold me accountable for the statement. If they hear that I am not holding up my end of the bargain to call me out on it. I am also going to post it in my room so my students can see it and also hold me accountable.
Teaching is a journey, which I love. The great part for me is that there is tremendous room for improvement.
As educators we have to bring that same respect for the game to our job each and everyday. We need to realize how hard it is to be a student, and show real respect for them each day they enter our classrooms. In order to keep me on track I have developed a transformational statement.
I am a transformational teacher who has a position of responsibility that lends
me a platform where I can be an example for students to reach their full
potential both academically and as a person, through mutual respect,
openness, perseverance, and commitment.
Three core values
belief in students
perseverance
commitment
In shaping this statement, I had some of my students look through the statement and help me focus it. They changed the order of the statement, one wanted me to add the fact that my job was to make them a better person, and finally I replaced the word power with responsibility. As a student pointed out to me that teens hear the word power and they want to revolt.
I have sent this statement out to the faculty and told them to hold me accountable for the statement. If they hear that I am not holding up my end of the bargain to call me out on it. I am also going to post it in my room so my students can see it and also hold me accountable.
Teaching is a journey, which I love. The great part for me is that there is tremendous room for improvement.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Thinly disguised contempt for students
In my last blog I talked about how upper management often shows thinly disguised contempt for teachers. While it really pains me to write negative comments about teachers I thought it would only be fair to ask students to give me examples of how teachers show contempt for them. So here is a list of things that my students pointed out to me.
1. Assigning a paper and then just giving it a check mark with no comments
2. Giving them a textbook and telling them to take notes in class. Students felt that they should be doing this at home not in class
3. Giving them a ten minute activity but allowing them 30 minutes to do it.
4. Not being available for extra work.
5. Showing no empathy to how much work students might have during the course of a week
6. teachers rolling their eyes, making you feel uncomfortable when asking questions,
7. Not knowing your name with a month left of school
8. Telling students that they hate their job
One of the things that I asked my students is "how does it feel to be taught by me" It is a scary but important question for all of us to ask. One of the saddest comments I received was "you are one of the only teachers who seems that they are not teaching to pay the rent but that you actually care about us" While I think most of our teachers care about students they are not doing a good job showing it. The responses to the question, the feedback of thinly disguised contempt makes me think harder, about how much better I need to be with my students.
1. Assigning a paper and then just giving it a check mark with no comments
2. Giving them a textbook and telling them to take notes in class. Students felt that they should be doing this at home not in class
3. Giving them a ten minute activity but allowing them 30 minutes to do it.
4. Not being available for extra work.
5. Showing no empathy to how much work students might have during the course of a week
6. teachers rolling their eyes, making you feel uncomfortable when asking questions,
7. Not knowing your name with a month left of school
8. Telling students that they hate their job
One of the things that I asked my students is "how does it feel to be taught by me" It is a scary but important question for all of us to ask. One of the saddest comments I received was "you are one of the only teachers who seems that they are not teaching to pay the rent but that you actually care about us" While I think most of our teachers care about students they are not doing a good job showing it. The responses to the question, the feedback of thinly disguised contempt makes me think harder, about how much better I need to be with my students.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Thinly disguised contempt
When I worked in private industry we often talked about thinly disguised contempt for the customer. It was little things that a company would do to show that it really did not care about its customers. Not keeping the bathroom clean, and putting customers on hold were examples we often used.
Now in the wonderful world of teaching I realize that there is thinly disguised contempt for teachers. When you look at the reform movements they are not led by teachers (sorry Michelle Rhee is not a teacher) They are led by business men and politicians who for some reason feel they know more about teaching than the teachers. Nowhere do I find a teacher leading the reform movement in education.
On the more local level it seems apparent to me that administrators have thinly disguised contempt for the teachers. Why else would our copy machines not have staples in them for week. How else can you explain pulling kids out of my class for band rehearsal, pulling kids out to give other kids tours, and just calling into my room looking for someone. What all this says to every teacher in the building is that everything is more important than your class.
If people really cared about what goes on in the classroom they would not interrupt looking for a child (unless it was an emergency). They would get parents or someone to give these tours. They would take a video of the marching band so that they would not have to miss school when people came to visit. They would take things off my plate instead of piling it on.
I will finish with Buck one more time. He does everything in his power to make sure that his players can focus just on the game of baseball. He knows that it is a long grind and masters all the details so that when his players come to the park all they do is think about baseball. He has the ultimate respect for the profession, now when is that going to happen to teachers.
Now in the wonderful world of teaching I realize that there is thinly disguised contempt for teachers. When you look at the reform movements they are not led by teachers (sorry Michelle Rhee is not a teacher) They are led by business men and politicians who for some reason feel they know more about teaching than the teachers. Nowhere do I find a teacher leading the reform movement in education.
On the more local level it seems apparent to me that administrators have thinly disguised contempt for the teachers. Why else would our copy machines not have staples in them for week. How else can you explain pulling kids out of my class for band rehearsal, pulling kids out to give other kids tours, and just calling into my room looking for someone. What all this says to every teacher in the building is that everything is more important than your class.
If people really cared about what goes on in the classroom they would not interrupt looking for a child (unless it was an emergency). They would get parents or someone to give these tours. They would take a video of the marching band so that they would not have to miss school when people came to visit. They would take things off my plate instead of piling it on.
I will finish with Buck one more time. He does everything in his power to make sure that his players can focus just on the game of baseball. He knows that it is a long grind and masters all the details so that when his players come to the park all they do is think about baseball. He has the ultimate respect for the profession, now when is that going to happen to teachers.
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