teacher mrw

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Archive for the tag “education”

19 Feb 2012

It Depends On How One Views the Situation

Tablas de Lotería (Lotería boards).

Image via Wikipedia

or…a teachable (anti-racist) moment for teachers.

I’ve recently become a fan of a teacher blog, whose target audience is language teachers.  I enjoy most of their posts and ideas.  But, the one promoting a Mexican Lotería app isn’t one of my favorites.  The reason?  Some of the game board images are stereotypical, even downright racist.

My point? Some think along those lines, those like me, and others, well…do not think along those lines.

My second point: If a teacher is going to use the traditional Mexican Lotería game, laden with its stereotypical and even downright racist images, then a teacher should be well-equipped to use it as an opportunity to teach students that stereotypes and racism exist in every culture, even in Mexico.  After all, Mexico produced this as well.

If I were teaching Spanish 4 or 5, I might use the app.  And, I am well-equipped.

Now, before anyone gets all agitated, and accuses me of having called the bloggers of the blog in question racist: STOP.  Given my orientation, such things are more obvious to me.  Perhaps by my having pointed out the issues with said Mexican Lotería game, there will be greater awareness for the bloggers in question.

That is all.  You may proceed.

Posted in Eracism, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
21 Jan 2012
2 Comments

I’m Done

Are you able to recall an incident which greatly disappointed you, but, logically, it really should not have greatly disappointed you?

My eighth grade Onesies greatly disappointed me recently, and, the situation is one that I really should not have taken so personally.

The Situation:  Approximately 50% of the class (there are 13 enrolled in said class) did not fully complete the assignment due, or completed none of it at all. The culprits: Two major assignments for two other courses due on the same day.  But, the larger issue, at least to me, is ineffectual time management, organization, planning, initiative and follow-through.  This particular group of students as a collective seems to be weak all of the aforementioned areas.

The Problem, #1:  I allowed The Situation to impact me to such an extent, I took it personally.  I really should not have, because, at the end of the proverbial day, it its the academic progress and results of the students in question that is going to suffer.  Until they get tired of low scores, perhaps at that time they’ll raise an eyebrow and make the necessary changes.

The Problem, #2: Where are parents in all of this? Learning support specialists cannot do it all, no more than the subject area teachers can.  Mel Levine once said, and I paraphrase here, getting the schoolwork completed is the job of the parent, and not the job of the teacher.  Naturally, I am in whole-hearted agreement with this statement, but frankly, too many parents are not doing their jobs.

I discussed the situation with my Dear Brother, who said that the reason I took the situation so personally is because I care.  But, at the same time, he agreed that the students in question need to get their ish together.

Anyway, short of after-school homework detention club (which doesn’t currently exist at my place of employ, but ought to), and communicating with parents when the work is completed (I send so many homework-related emails that it isn’t funny), the situation is really beyond my control.

So, short of what is within my power to control. I AM DONE. And, it is only January.  ::SIGH::

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door and tagged , , , , , , ,
04 Dec 2011

Where One Hopes for The Best, and Often Gets the Worst

Well, perhaps the second part of my post’s title is saturated in a bit of hyperbole. But, I’m going somewhere with this. So, please bear with me.

Things in my corner of the world are going pretty well.  As I tweeted yesterday morning to a FL colleague who teaches at an independent school in Charleston, SC, I am finding more and more students have less and less stamina for learning in general, and for foreign language in particular.  What’s more, it can be attributed to the all of the things that a lovely, smart, bright , talented and intelligent colleague of mine, Ellen Shrager, discusses in her wonderful and powerful little book, Teacher Dialogues: A Survival Guide to Successful Dialogues with Low-Performing Students, Indulged Students, and Enabling Parents.  All three elements predominate in my corner of the world, albeit a private school.
I am currently reading, Teach Like A Champion.  Although the message of the book is directed primarily at public school teachers teaching students of color in low-performing inner-city schools, I think said message can be universally applied, even to independent schools such as the one where I teach.  It outlines 49 simple yet highly-effective strategies for: planning and implementing a lesson; engaging all students; creating a positive classroom culture; establishing effective discipline in students – not punitive strategies, but daily habits of mind; and warm yet strict classroom management practices.

Teach Like A Champion has been a great read thus far, and I am really enjoying it.  However, it would be interesting if my school would be open and receptive to the message of the book.  I think that it would be an effective summer professional development read for the faculty and staff.  Yet, many who teach at progressive schools seem to think that everything with respect to teaching and learning begins and ends with them, when, in actuality, there has been little in the name of innovation that is truly new under the sun that has emerged from so-called progressive schools in quite some time.  Additionally, I happen to feel that privilege breeds laziness and complacency and sloppiness, which in turn diminishes high expectations for teachers and students alike, and, ultimately, measurable progress and strong results.

At a school where the vast majority of my students this year have one or more learning disability, it seems that the things that Teach Like A Champion promote would work just as well in my classroom as it would in a low-performing inner-city classroom.  It seems to me that order, structure, strong habits of mind, and high expectations are what my students need, and yet, they are demanded on an irregular and inconsistent basis.

Thus, in schools such as mine, one often hopes for the best.  Instead, we need to plan for the best, and demand the best.

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door, Independent School, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
23 Nov 2011

The Bane of My Existence

Fair & Balanced graphic used in 2005

Image via Wikipedia

As a teacher, two things I detest the most are marking student work, and, computing end-of-trimester grades.  Along with lost keys and mislaid eyeglasses, they are the bane of my existence.

As much as I strive to be fair and balanced in my approach to assessment and evaluation, I feel that I always somehow fall short.  I tried Proficiency-Based Grading for a time, but, it hasn’t proven to be a successful approach for me.  While I embrace its philosophy, I haven’ been able to come up with the requisite number of assessments for the various skill and content areas.  BTW: Scott Benedict, is a sweetie, and has provided me with ideas and support with respect to grading and alternative assessment. I then happened upon this website, and this document guidelines_instructors(2), which offers another approach to assessment and evaluation.  Again, the philosophy supporting it intrigues, but, I would perhaps need a summer’s worth of time to plan the appropriate assessments.

The evaluation dilemma always seems most prominent when it is time to compute end-of-trimester grades.  Perhaps I stress too much about such things. But, a conversation about the same with my Dear Mom prompted me to reflect, investigate and then reflect again. My goal is to move away from the traditional grading categories, e.g. tests, quizzes, homework, etc. and move towards performance-based grading categories.  Additionally, I want to integrate greater use of authentic assessment.  Both of these shifts would enable me to assess more accurately what students know and are able to do.

My dilemma, and the musings that it prompted, led me to re-visit Ken O’Connor’s writings on the subject of grading.  I say, re-visit, because I purchased one of his books several summers ago. So, I did have good intentions and great expectations.  Having done this re-visitation has allowed me to begin to devise a system of assessment and evaluation that I can live with, and that will be of greater benefit to my students.

Although I have a long proverbial row to hoe, I’ve at least begun to dig.  I think so many of us in the teaching profession aren’t really taught how to grade, how to assess, and therefore, how to devise systems that promote effective teaching and learning.  Moreover, those of us who were taught were indoctrinated into traditional approaches.  Neither of the aforementioned, by the way, work very well.

It seems that with every dilemma, there comes with it more thinking, and, subsequently, more work.  That’s the way life is. That’s the way teaching is.  I am hoping that my current dilemma with assessment and evaluation will eventually become more gratifying, and less the bane of my existence.

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door, The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
13 Nov 2011
1 Comment

The Culture of Expectation

I was talking with a friend recently – my asthetistician, to be exact, but I also consider her a friend – while getting my monthly professional facial treatment.  We talked about the recent days-long power outage, our parents – hers about the same age as mine- and life in general.  We then somehow got on the topic of high school, class reunions, and school life back in the day.  She and I are also about the same age.  I mentioned to her the struggles that I have with providing students with extra help.  There seems to be no culture of extra help at my place of employ.  I am constantly telling my students that there is rarely a time when I am not available to them for extra help.  However, students typically don’t seek me out on their own initiative.  Instead, they come by way of teacher or parent fiat.  Additionally, there isn’t time built into the school day for extra help, or after school for that matter.  Conversely, when my asthetistician and I were in high school, life after school was bustling with clubs, extra help, sports and band practices, and students doing research in the library or hanging out with their favorite teachers.  The “late bus” – the bus that served those who stayed after school – was even a culture all to its own.

Perhaps extra help just doesn’t happen in so-called, self-identified, progressive schools.  My previous place of employ was a progressive school, and there was no culture of extra help, or after-school activities, for that matter, save play rehearsal and sports, the two things which seem to dominate after-school life at my present school.  Mind you, my asthetistician and I attended garden variety, albeit good, public high schools, and extra help was a constant and regular part of the school day – before, during and after.  So, one would think that at an expensive, private, college-preparatory school, the same would be true.

Extra help, given the competing forces, seems to be offered on the proverbial catch-as-catch-can basis.  Do individual teachers offer extra help? Of course they do.  However, when there is no culture of extra help, how does this impact the culture of expectation for students and teachers?

Jaime Escalante, the great Bolivian-American educator who brought AP Calculus to an East Los Angeles high school populated largely with economically-disadvantaged Latino students, reportedly said that students will rise to the level of expectation that teachers set for them.  Mr. Escalante clearly had extremely high expectations for the students, despite the immense barriers the students faced on the basis of their race, ethnicity, linguistic heritage, and socio-economic status.

So…what are the barriers for well-to-do, predominately White, upper-middle class students who attend a very expensive, college-preparatory school? The dominant culture, i.e. White male culture, is a bankrupt culture in many respects.  Despite the immense privilege such a culture offers, it is fraught with a compromised value system, misplaced priorities, and ineffectual parenting which values neither education nor personal responsibility and accountability.  Therefore, extra help isn’t seen as  a way of doing better because it is the right thing, but more as a safety net for when things become so bad that extra help is the eleventh-hour solution.  Schools reflect the culture of the society in which they reside.  Private schools, despite the bubble shield they evoke, are not as immune as we may have been led to believe.  All of society’s ills exist with us as well.

I realize that my school isn’t going to resolve society’s many problems.  However, I would like for my school to find a way to make extra help part of a positive culture of expectation.  I would like to see more personal responsibility and accountability on the part of the students, and, to that end, we may have to teach these things to the students.  Additionally, I would like to see a school day that supports and values extra help so that teachers and students alike feel that it is not only an important part of the school day, but that it is also a necessary component to teaching and learning.

Without a culture of expectation, nothing else truly matters.

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door, Independent School and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
17 Sep 2011

Delegating Up

“Delegating up” is my new mantra for the current school year.  I am learning to recognize my limitations on the job, which isn’t an easy thing for a perfectionist. Doing things, “right and in order” (a phrase courtesy of the head deacon at my church) is very important to  me, not only for myself, but also for others. Things like food and trash left behind on the lunch tables by students on a regular and consistent basis, piles of student backpacks heaped in front of the cafeteria entrance, the dress code, more precisely, lack thereof - for faculty, staff and students alike, and colleagues who don’t always do what they’re supposed to do, are but four of the things that frustrate me greatly about my school, and are things for which senior leadership has not been able to devise a solution thus far.

So…why do I concern myself with dress code, cafeteria trash, backpacks and slacker colleagues? Because I want my school to be the best it can be, and to be proactive, as opposed to reactive.  I am not suggesting that senior leadership does not desire the school to be the best it can be. However, it is clear that senior leadership and I have very different agendas and priorities.  That said, it is their job to set the priorities for the school, and I have to accept the fact that those priorities may not include a cleaner, neater trash-free cafeteria, or uniforms for faculty, staff and students, and a storage system that works for the students so that their backpacks aren’t part of a proverbial train wreck waiting to happen.

I have learn to be comfortable with my own sphere of influence, do the job that only I can do, and allow those to perform the tasks that are their responsibility.  Otherwise, I won’t survive much longer in independent school.  LOL!

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
03 Sep 2011
6 Comments

The First Day – Again

On Friday, which was yesterday, I officially embarked on my 18th year as an educator.  It was a good day.  Aside from the usual knuckle-headed behavior from a few 9th grade boys, the students seem interested in and willing to learn, albeit anxious, which may explain to some extent the knuckle-headed behavior from a few 9th grade boys.

Speaking of anxiety, it never ceases to amaze me that, despite all my years being associated with school  - as a teacher and as a former student – the first-day jitters always seem to plague me, and in some years, days and even weeks prior to the first day.  The one difference this year and last was that the usual first-day jitters was compounded by my dad’s health issues, thus ramping up the anxiety factor.

Now that the first day is behind me, I feel that I can begin the work with my students in earnest.  One of my primary goals for the school year is developing my knowledge of  and expertise in proficiency based grading.  I made an attempt about three years ago, but, was only moderately successful. I had not set up my grade book correctly, and, needed to have had more hands-on information about how and what to assess. Now that I have obtained those pieces of information that were missing for me, I have dedicated myself to undertaking once again proficiency-based grading.

My second primary goal is teaching for communication.  The focus of my classes is getting students to speak more regularly and more often. As much as I enjoy grammar, I realize that no amount of grammatical training is going to teach students how to speak, and to develop their skill and comfort level in doing the same.  The presenter of a workshop I attended several years ago said, ” Grammar and verbs are the glue which hold the language together.” Those words have remained with me since that time. But, like most things, I went with that which was, at least for me, easier and less messy to assess.  But, I realize that if I am going to help students to become more proficient in their functional language skills, I need to create learning opportunities which may be messier for me, but which will get them doing more of the work, and get them doing more of the work which helps them to show what they know and are able to do.

My third primary goal, which is related to the second, is using more alternative assessment, in the form of project-based learning, and rubrics, to assess reading, writing, speaking, and listening.  I admit: I have a love-hate relationship with projects.  I have long-viewed them as examples of less-rigorous learning, compared to an oral presentation, or, memorizing and reciting a poem. However, projects, when well-designed, clearly presented and carefully assessed, can help students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do with the language. So, I am going to strive to add a project-based assessment as the culminating assessment for most of the units I teach.

To gain a better understanding of my students, I created, using Google Docs, two online surveys: One for parents/guardians, and one for the students themselves.  I am looking forward to reading the responses. Love action research, and collecting data. :)

I am excited about the new year.  It’s holding lots of possibilities.  Besides, I have my Twosies back, and, that’s a very nice thing. :)

Posted in The Five Cs: Foreign Language Teaching and Learning and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
23 Aug 2011
2 Comments

Syllabus, By Design

Fall 2009 Course Syllabus

Image via Wikipedia

Honestly, I never really gave much thought to writing syllabi.  At least, not in an architectural/design sort of way.  But, this particular syllabus really got me thinking:  Is there really a better way to present information to students? More importantly, does it really matter, anyway?

Yes, on both counts. Furthermore, it seems that post-secondary education is way ahead of the proverbial curve than those of us in K-12 education when it comes to syllabus design. From templates to articles to Power Point presentations to workshops to college and university policy and guidelines for faculty, approaching syllabus design in order to be more inclusive of all learners, to present information in a more reader-friendly and user-friendly manner, and to promote learning and teaching, are the take-aways.

If you are a teacher of middle/high school students: What are your beliefs about syllabus design?

If you are a parent of a middle/high school student: What are your thoughts about the syllabi given to your children by their teachers? What are your child’s or children’s thoughts?

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door and tagged , , , , , ,
15 Aug 2011

Race Talk When Diversity Equals One | Teaching Tolerance

Race Talk When Diversity Equals One | Teaching Tolerance.

The aforementioned breaks it down better than I ever could.  Mad props to Teaching Tolerance.

Posted in Eracism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
03 Aug 2011
9 Comments

Matt Damon is My Hero…

nothing more to be said.  Check out the video.

Posted in At the Schoolhouse Door and tagged , , , , , ,

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