Teacher World

I survived another party day! Oh, you don’t think that is note-worthy? Are you a parent? How excited are your kids on Halloween? Now, imagine a room full of your own excited-out-of-control children. Now you’re feeling my pain!

Today started out with that hyper hum that teachers everywhere expect. We thought we would capture the energy by planning center work followed by a pumpkin math activity which reinforces data analysis. By the time we had progressed to the pumpkin activity, our children were no longer humming but had reached a level of out-of-tune choral singing. We had two students who had pumpkin issues. One became nauseous due to the smell of pumpkins, and one suddenly felt faint because she hadn’t eaten breakfast. After dealing with each of these issues, our students became more animated as they pulled seeds from their pumpkins and began counting them. Now, normally this is a good thing, but on party day, any increase in excitement is something to be avoided.

The morning finally under our belts, it was time to tackle the dreaded afternoon. We kept things pretty calm, did individual quick assessments, read a Halloween picture book, watched a quick video, gave a little lecture about correct party behavior, and with great trepidation, we opened our doors to our room mothers. One of our parents went out of her way to break every party rule herself. (We wanted to send her to the no-party-room.) And our children progressed from choral singing to a full orchestra concert. We managed to survive a choking child during the eat-a-donut-on-a-plate-without-your-hands-competition, the-spill-your-drink-everywhere-fun, and the student whose mother was head room mother and decided he should be in charge of silencing students by clapping. We were living for the announcement that the party was over and parents should head home so that we could get students out the door. 

When the long-anticipated announcement finally came over the PA, we had our children thank the parents and tried to get them to clean up and pack up. The noise level had hit decibels I had never heard before. In fact, when everyone finally left, my ears were actually ringing! My co-teacher and I cleaned all of the desks and tables with Lysol wipes, packed up our school work, and limped out the door to our cars. We had survived another school party day!

I can’t wait until Christmas!

Teacher-World's Blog Halloween, party day, students, teachers. parents

We all know that bullying has been around forever, but suddenly, due to the frightening increase in violence resulting from bullying, it is receiving national attention. And schools are going to be in a perilous position if they don’t find more effective ways to deal with these situations as they occur in school.

In an age when everyone seems sue-crazy, it seems logical that schools might face litigation if drastic efforts are not made on their part to deal with both bullies and their victims. I am sure that most school systems, like ours, have a policy in place which dictates how bullying is to be reported and dealt with. And yet, let’s not kid ourselves! Our efforts do not seem to be very effective, as bullying continues in schools everywhere, and incidences often go unreported.

It is imperative that administrators sit down with counselors, school psychologists, and teachers to develop a plan that will both penalize bullying while at the same time working to change the attitudes and behaviors of those who are bullying others. Principals, teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, librarians, and recess and cafeteria monitors need to be thoroughly trained to uniformly and systematically handle each and every situation as they occur. Counselors need to be available to work with those who are bullying in an attempt to discover the motivation or reason for the bullying and offer alternatives to these behaviors. Punitive solutions are not enough. Until we basically rehabilitate bullies, they will continue to find people to terrorize. Studies show that bullies often threaten others because they have been bullied themselves. These kids need help learning strategies to cope with bullying and to cope with anger and their own feelings of helplessness.

The other aspect of any plan must be teaching students who are being bullied how to deal with bullies in general. These coping methods need to be taught at an early age and continually taught each year. There are a variety of interactive resources on the internet to reinforce how to deal with bullies. The earlier we start educating, disciplining, and redirecting students, the fewer problems we will have in our schools.

It has been so easy to look the other way or to handle this issue nonchalantly, but those days are gone. All it will take is for one family to sue a school for not stopping behavior that its employees were aware of or should have been aware of for the whole house of cards to fall down. It is our responsibility to do all that we can to create a safe environment for our students. And if we allow even one student to be bullied, we let all of our students down because we are forcing them to learn in a potentially hostile environment. No more excuses, and no more procrastinating. Let’s get this done together! Let’s take a united stand against bullying in our schools before it is too late!

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog administrators, Bullying, bullying policy, counselors, schools, teachers, violence

An article in the October 2010 edition of the Reader’s Digest caught my eye, and I thought you might be interested in it, too. Get ready! It’s pretty crazy!

The article, “Zero Tolerance”, is an amazing tale of innocent students who have been unjustly penalized due to schools’ zero tolerance of weapons and drugs. The first is a story out of upstate New York. Apparently a seventeen-year old Eagle Scout named Matthew Whalen was called into the principal’s office to be questioned about whether he was carrying a knife after the principal had heard a rumor from another student. Matthew said he was not carrying a knife but admitted that he had his key-chain knife with a two-inch blade (part of every Eagle Scout’s survival kit) locked in his car in the school parking lot. Because the principal seemed concerned that it was a weapon of some sort, Whalen took him out and showed it to him. And what was the result of his honesty? A 20-day suspension! Yes, you heard it right! In spite of the fact that he is an honor student, an Eagle Scout, and a National Guardsman, he was found guilty under the school’s zero tolerance policy. His parents tried to appeal the sentence, but the appeal was denied.

In another case, six- year old Zachary Christie, a new Cub Scout from Delaware, was so excited about a recent gift of a camping utensil that serves as a knife, fork, and spoon that he took it into school one day to use at lunch time. This little boy, who loves school, was reported by a teacher and immediately sentenced to 45 days at a reform school. Can you believe it? A six year old Cub Scout with his camping gear sent off to reform school! Luckily, the school board overturned his sentence after the national media caught wind of the story. A year earlier, also in a Delaware school, a third-grade girl was suspended when she brought in a cake her grandmother had made with a knife to cut it. This suspension was also reversed due to media attention and pressure.

Then there is the case of eight-year old David Morales from Rhode Island who decided to make his art project more patriotic, so he got a camouflaged hat which had an American flag on it, and he glued on some toy soldiers. Imagine his surprise when his principal demanded he take his project home because the tiny plastic soldiers carried tiny plastic rifles, and the school had a zero tolerance policy for real guns as well as toy guns. Now, we all understand a toy gun that looks like a real gun, but a tiny plastic rifle that is in the hands of a tiny soldier that fits on a hat? Really? The good news is that David’s school superintendent altered the school policy to allow for student expression and especially those that are tools of a profession or service.

And it isn’t just weapons that schools are making ridiculous decisions about. It’s drugs, too. Take the case of Rachel Greer from Jacksonville, Indiana. Rachel is a seventh-grader whose classmate handed her one of her Adderall pills (a prescription pill used to treat ADHD). Rachel did the right thing and gave it back to her classmate, but she was given a five-day suspension because she held it in her hand for a few seconds before giving it back! Yikes! Wouldn’t you have to hold it first before giving it back?

So, where did these zero tolerance policies come from? They sprang up in the 1990’s when legitimate reasons to fear drug use and school shootings began. Anyone in education understands the rationale behind these stringent rules. But common sense must factor into all rules. Clearly when an innocent mistake is made, the innocence must be a factor in determining punishment. If these situations aren’t looked at more humanely, we run the risk of being viewed as strictly punitive institutions with no heart. And schools without heart have no business opening their doors to children.

Teacher-World's Blog drugs, students, suspensions, weapons, zero tolerance

What makes bullying different today than when we grew up with bullying? This is a question I have been pondering a lot as the rash of suicides seems to increase and even Hollywood is speaking out against the bullying of individuals who are gay or lesbian. So why are we hearing more about people coping with bullying by committing suicide?

One possible explanation is that it is an issue which is currently prominently in the limelight, therefore, people feel more comfortable being honest about the cause of their loved one’s suicide. In the past, a family’s problems were considered private and often covered up. So it is hard to say how many suicides might have been a result of bullying, especially of gays or lesbians. Today, with Facebook, blogging, internet, twitter, etc. our world has become so public. People feel very comfortable putting what would have been considered intimate personal and family details out there for all the world to read and see. Consequently, I think we hear more than we ever heard in the past about suicides and why they occur.

The only other explanation I can think of is that cyberbullying has taken this issue to a higher level than ever before. In the past, there were certain places you were most apt to get bullied and, with luck, you could go out of your way to avoid some of those places. Schools were common sites for bullying, and while you couldn’t avoid school, you could do your best to avoid those places in school where you were most likely to run into bullies. And you could always count on your own house as a place of refuge. But now, bullying can literally follow you everywhere thanks to the internet. I believe this is a major factor in the increase of suicide due to bullying. Now the bullying follows you home through your computer so that there is virtually no escaping the humiliation and fear that accompany these attacks. Knowing that people are posting terrible things about you on the internet, or even exposing a life-style that you have not admitted to must be devastating.

With all of the attention bullying is getting through the media, this is the perfect time to get serious about dealing more severely with bullies and providing coping mechanisms for those who are facing bullying. A week ago, the television series Private Practice confronted this issue. The episode was about a boy who had been bullied so frequently that his mother had moved him from school to school. He finally had enough, as she had threatened to remove him from his current school, and he tried unsuccessfully to kill himself. When his counselor talked to him in the emergency room, he spoke to him about the bullying he himself had survived as a teenager. He said that he had survived the ordeal by telling himself to hold on because it would get better. His life would not always be ruled by the bullies who tormented him. The message was hopeful and so important. For most people who experience bullying things do get better. I appreciated the sensitive way this issue was dealt with on this show.

We all know that bullying has been around forever, but I think kids today are dealing with a more intense bullying than ever before. Therefore, it is time for more intense solutions especially as it pertains to cyberbullying.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog Bullying, cyberbullying, suicide

How would you respond if your school system ranked all of the teachers in your district from most to least effective based on your students’ test scores and published that ranking in the newspaper? Sound ridiculous? Well, here is a story you will not believe…

In August, the Los Angeles Times published the individual rankings for elementary education teachers “from least and less effective to average, more effective and most effective.” In this publication, a fifth-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, Rigoberto Ruelas Jr. , “scored ‘average’ in getting his students up to acceptable levels in English, but ‘less effective’ in math, and ‘less effective’ overall.” (As reported by Associated Press)

A few facts are required before we go on here:
* Miramonte is in an impoverished neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles.
* It is a neighborhood in which gangs prevail.
* Its students are predominately ESL; Spanish-speaking English-language learners.

Ruelas was a well-respected teacher who had earned several awards. He worked with problem kids and reportedly tutored and counseled students after school. He tried to dissuade students from entering gangs and counseled them on finding alternatives to this life-style.

But, in spite of his excellent reputation of dealing with troubled youth in a troubled school, sometime after Sept. 19 of this year, Rigoberto Ruelas Jr. committed suicide, and those close to him at the school believe his unhappiness over the public ranking of his efforts and the pressure he and others were receiving by principals to improve their performance was the prime motivation for his suicide.

So, what’s wrong here? We might be better off asking if there is anything right here! There is absolutely no excuse for publishing individual teachers’ results of their students’ performance on standardized tests for all to see. This is a private matter between the principal and the teachers. The Times admitted that they “published the rankings as part of a push for a better method to evaluate teacher effectiveness.” To publish the results without a full disclosure of the inherent problems these teachers face is preposterous! Imagine if you will, trying to teach students to read and do math whose primary language is Spanish and who hear only Spanish in their homes. And then couple that with the additional pressures that are synonymous with poverty and gangs, and I challenge any teacher to be effective in this situation. So, let’s get real! The Times published this ranking to publically ridicule these teachers and to further fuel the anti-teacher sentiment out there. Clearly, they did not stop to consider the ramifications of their actions.

So a life is lost! And the students who might have benefitted from this teacher’s efforts and concern are also hurt by these events. How tragic and unnecessary! In hindsight, I wonder if the Los Angeles Times really thinks this was a “better method to evaluate teacher effectiveness”.

state achievement tests, teacher evaluations, Teacher-World's Blog Los Angeles Time, Rigoberta Ruelas Jr., standardized test scores, teacher evaluation

Awhile ago I told you we were preparing to lose one of our truly gifted students. Our last day with this special, young man was Thursday. We decided that we would take advantage of our self-contained classroom with a versatile schedule and dedicate a “fun” afternoon in his honor. But we also wanted to use it as an opportunity to practice a math concept, reinforce a reading selection, and allow our students to cash in reward bucks at the same time. And this is how we rolled all of those things into one “fun” afternoon.

We made the surprise announcement that we were dedicating the afternoon to Les, our departing student, with a variety of activities. We explained that we would be watching the movie Balto since we had just read a nonfiction selection about this famous dog, the lead dog of a team that was one of many who helped deliver serum to children who were sick with diphtheria in Nome, Alaska. (Hence, the reinforcement of a reading selection.)

But, before we started the movie, we told them we would be making ice cream sundaes. We had brought three ice cream flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry; three ice cream sauces: chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, and strawberry sauce; and two solid toppings: sprinkles, and chocolate chips. Before we could serve up their ice cream though, they were to work with partners to make all combinations of sundaes which could be built with the above items. Once the partners had completed their lists, we choose a partnered group who had the correct number of combinations to explain on the smartboard how they made their list. (Hence, practicing the math concept of making organized lists.)

We passed out cake and began the movie. About halfway through Balto, we turned the movie off, and started dishing up sundaes. We charged $50 for the ice cream, and $10 for each additional sauce and/or topping. (Hence, the cashing in of reward bucks to motivate them to continue to earn more.)

All in all, it was a great afternoon, if you were able to forget for just a moment the reason for the “fun” afternoon. Throughout the whole time, for many of us, there was a constant tug of sadness and a feeling of impending loss. Many of us could not forget that the next time we were together again we would be one student short. And how did Les react? He started out very animated, and you could tell he appreciated that he was the center of attention. But as the afternoon wore on, the realization subtly began to overwhelm him, too. He got very quiet, which is not like him at all. When it was time for sundaes, he didn’t want one. His stomach hurt, and he looked miserable.

We had made Les a card, which we gave him right before packing up to go home. All of the students wrote a short note, and my co-teacher, paraprofessional, and I wrote a longer, more personal message. Les opened the card with excitement, but just as quickly closed it after starting to read the note I wrote. I could tell by the look he gave me, he didn’t want to read that note in front of the other students. He wanted to read it when he was alone and could feel what he needed to feel about what we had written. I admired him for that simple act because it reinforced how sensitive this boy is. That note was clearly special to him.

Now that the goodbyes and hugs are only a memory, I find myself thinking about going into school tomorrow and facing that empty chair. I know we have all been blessed by the short time we got to spend with Les, and I am sure I am not alone in wishing him the very best of everything in his new home. We will miss you, Les!

Teacher-World's Blog moving, students, teachers

I am just finally returning to health after a second bout of illness. This time it was an upper respiratory infection, and it just about did me in. But as sick as I was, I only missed a day and a half of school. And this whole thing has me asking the question that my husband and my dear friends ask me all the time: Can’t you find a balance in your work so that you can slow down and find more time to relax?

Teaching is unlike any profession I know. It requires a commitment that far exceeds the time spent in the classroom. I can’t begin to calculate the number of hours I spend weekly in planning, grading, record-keeping, correspondence with parents, etc. My evenings and weekends are jam-packed, not with fun, relaxing activities, but in catching up with those tasks I could not get to during the school day. And just when I think I am ahead of the game, I am inundated with some new project; centers which need creating, activities that need to be planned, rescheduling activities and lessons due to interruptions in the day, and the list goes on and on.

I know that if I took my job less seriously; if the outcome didn’t matter quite so much to me, I could walk out the door at the end of the day without a full briefcase, I could take my time grading papers, I could sit at my desk more and grade as opposed to sharing in all of the lessons with my co-teacher. But I was raised by a father with a tremendous work ethic, and by watching and listening to him, I learned the importance of tackling a job with every intention of giving it all I have. So, that is what I do. Often that means I miss out on activities I would like to be involved in beyond my workday. Sometimes, it means I get so run down that I get sick and my body forces me to slow down for a brief time.

I don’t write this blog for your sympathy. It is my choice to work as I do, and I couldn’t approach this job any other way and live with myself. So, why do I write this at all then? I think I want you to know that I am one of countless teachers who give their job everything they have and are not content with mediocrity. We live in a time when teachers take a lot of criticism, and sometimes I just wish that those who are so quick to criticize would spend some time with a dedicated teacher and get a real sense of the sacrifices we make for our job. Maybe, just maybe it would cause some of you to change your tune. Maybe, just maybe it would silence the criticism. Maybe, just maybe it would change how critics perceive public education teachers.

Get to know a dedicated teacher. It just might change your perception of what we are willing to sacrifice to help our students be as successful as they can be!

Teacher-World's Blog students, teachers, work ethic

The latest release on the U.S. Department of Education’s website from October 5, states that the Department of Education has awarded $38.8 million in grants to eleven states “to measure school safety at the building level and to help intervene in those schools with the greatest safety needs. The goal of the grants is to create and support safe and drug-free learning environments and to increase academic success for students in these high-risk schools.” The Safe and Supportive School grant is managed by the Department’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools:
 
*         which supports efforts to create safe schools
*         ensures the health and well being of students
*         teaches students good citizenship and character
*         responds to crisis
*         prevents drug and alcohol abuse
 
Now, I have always said that in order to turn around low-performing schools you need to first turn around the neighborhoods which is the cause of poor academic performance. I am not sure how such a feat would be accomplished, and I am aware it would be an expensive venture. But this freaks me out! We are all limping around in this severely crippled economy, tightening our belts, shopping for bargains, putting off what we’d like to have for what we need to have. We are all making sacrifices and impatiently waiting for this economy to improve. Yet, almost every time I log onto the U.S. Department of Education website, I read about more money being awarded to this state or that state for this or that. Isn’t anyone worried? Isn’t anyone else asking who is footing the bill for all of this?
 
Is it any wonder that our economy is such a mess? Who is going to pay for all of this spending? You and I? Our children? Our grandchildren? Enough, please! It’s a great cause, but enough!

Funding Education, Teacher-World's Blog grants, low-performing schools, Safe and Supportive School grant, safe schools, turnaround schools, U.S. Department of Education

Have you ever had a lesson that, in spite of all your planning and hard work, just bombs? Well, let me tell you about Thursday…

We were teaching, what to me, is the easiest math lesson there is: multiplying decimal numbers by multiples of 10. Now, I always loved this lesson myself! I mean, how hard can it be to count the zeroes and move the decimal point? Piece of cake, right? Well, not on Thursday. Our students seemed to be following along just as anticipated (notice I said “seemed”) until we got three of them up to the smartboard to “teach” the class how to do three different examples. Oh, my gosh! Everything that could go wrong went wrong! It was a hot mess!

So, we slowed down and retraced our steps, carefully correcting the mistakes (which we love because we learn from them) with the class and then inquiring (hopefully) if they understood. Oh, yes, they all reassured us. They understood now and were ready to move on. Just to be sure, we got three new “teachers” up to the smartboard and gave them three new problems to “teach” to the class. It was at this point that my co-teacher and I exchanged panicked looks and held a quick meeting of the minds in the back of the classroom.

We both knew they were not ready to move on, but having anticipated this lesson would be a breeze, we had no back-up plan. So the brainstorming began. We knew we needed something hands-on and visual. My co-teacher quickly cut 2 big decimal points out of construction paper and suggested we make the students be digits in a decimal number and one student would be the decimal point. Great, but our construction paper digits were not in the room. Okay, each student would write their assigned digit on a small dry erase board to build the decimal numbers. Yes, that would work. Then I suggested that we would pick a student to physically swoop the decimal to create the new number.

Voila! We had a plan in five minutes, quickly organized our students into groups, and let them be the numbers being multiplied and decimal points moving. After about four run-throughs, most of them had it, and we were able to move on.

I love this part of teaching. Oh, not the panic when you realize your students don’t understand your lesson, but the feeling of success when you come up with a better strategy on the fly and it is successful! For me, that is the true joy of teaching! And at the end of the day, we both walked out the door feeling that we had accomplished something awesome! How great is that?

Teacher-World's Blog creative thinking, lesson plans, students, teachers

Do you have those students who never know when to be quiet or who say really inappropriate or mean things to other students? Well, do I have a great new saying for you! Here it is:
 
 “You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut.”

From this simple saying, I see a great way to approach a chronic problem in every classroom. I would start the lesson at the beginning of the year with one of those lovely mounted McDonald’s fish that sing the song from the commercial. Everyone has seen that commercial, and some people even love it. (There’s no accounting for taste.) From there, I would post the above saying and discuss why we would never see a fish mounted with its mouth closed. “So did the fish get into trouble by opening its mouth when it shouldn’t have? And how has your mouth gotten you in trouble?” You can see how the lesson would go from here.

What a great way to get across the point that we need to think before we open our mouths because it can have disastrous consequences. I think linking this concept with the fish would create a visual that might stick with kids longer. I would even leave the purchased singing fish mounted in my classroom all year, and when future issues occur in the classroom, I could always ask, “Are you on the wall right now with that fish?” 

Who knows, it might even be a good lesson for adults…

Teacher-World's Blog great sayings, mounted fish, students, teachers