Teacher World

Okay, I know I said I was done with my stories about the Christmas spirit, and I was until I saw this video from CNN News on another young child who is giving back in an amazing way.

This is the story of Riley Norris from South Carolina, who is a 9-year old with an inspirational story. When Riley was only three months old she had to have emergency open-heart surgery. She recovered and appears very healthy today. Her mother, Leslie Norris, reports that Riley announced to her recently on the way to school that she had a good idea; she would like to gather up all of the birthday gifts she had received this year and deliver them to patients in the hospital where she had been operated on herself.

And that is exactly what they did. With the help of her parents, they returned to MUSC Children’s Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, with a big, red bag filled with gifts to pass out to the young patients who were there. Riley’s wish was to give her presents specifically to children who had the same type of surgery she had had as a baby.

Her parents, Leslie and Lance, expressed their pride in Riley’s desire to give back to needy children. Leslie said she knew her daughter was special, but was still amazed at her generosity. She remarked that as parents, it is what you would want to see your child do. And Lance expressed his pride and also his happiness over just how far she has come since she was a three-month old baby with a serious heart condition. He recalls that the girl whose life was at one point in jeopardy is now thriving and giving back.

What a little miracle! Our hearts can’t help but expand as we hear about this little girl whose once damaged heart is now so full of love for others.

Thank you for allowing me to share these beautiful stories with you. God bless Jessica, the Garrick family, Justin, and Riley for expanding our hearts a little more this Christmas season. Merry Christmas to you and my heartfelt wish for a hopeful, joyful, and truly generous New Year.

Teacher-World's Blog Christmas spirit, open-heart surgery, Riley Norris

Well, I have saved the best for last. Let me tell you another story from CBS News about an eight-year old that hopefully will warm your heart as much as he has mine.

Justin Martin, from Newark, NJ, received a Build-a-Bear bear three years ago and couldn’t help but wonder if every child in the world had a bear like his. When his father, Quin told him that not all children did, Justin began to raise money to remedy the situation.

Not only did he raise the money to give away a thousand bears his first year to sick and needy children, he actually worked to build, dress, package, and deliver each bear he lovingly gave away. To date, he has given away 2,000 bears to children in his community. When he was asked what felt better; the presents he received at Christmas or the ones he gave away, he quickly responded, “The bears that I give. I don’t know why.”

Though what he does is clearly a labor of love, it is a very challenging project. Aside from the hard work it takes to make each bear at a local Build-a-Bear workshop which provides his bears at a discount, he has to raise $25,000 each year to meet his goal. Can you imagine an eight-year old working to raise such a large amount of money annually?

Quin says of his son: “Whatever he does he just has a big heart, he goes at it very, very hard.”

And Justin told reporters, “It’s fun yeah to go around and give bears to less fortunate children,” Thank you, Justin, for teaching us the true meaning of Christmas this year, and keep up the good work!

(If you are interested in helping this young man, you can find out more information at Justin Charity Bear Fund.)

Teacher-World's Blog Build-a-Bear, Christmas spirit, Justin Martin

This is the second in my series about the true Christmas spirit, another CBS News story from Redwood City, California, about a family who helps their community in a very special way at Christmas.

George Garrick is in the business of Christmas trees only instead of selling them, he gives them away to needy families in his community, and he has help from his wife, Lainie, and their children, William, Jonathan, and Vic who share in the venture by lugging trees to cars. What has become a Christmas tradition for this family began three years ago when they heard about a family who couldn’t afford a tree for Christmas. According to George, “For a lot of these families to go and pay $60, $70, or $80 for a tree at a commercial lot – they just can’t do it.” Through their organization, called “Trees of Joy” they are able to give away 500 trees at Christmas.

But that’s not all they do. They also provide the ornaments, the stands, and the hooks. According to Lainie Garrick, “We have to make sure they go home with it all decorated.” And they make sure the trees are only going to families who are really deserving by working with a representative from the city’s support programs for low-income families.

Grateful families stand in long lines for the opportunity to take home trees which will brighten their holiday season and bring a little Christmas into their homes. George Garrick is an Internet CEO who spends $30,000 in his efforts to spread the joy of Christmas to those who have precious little of it in this economic environment. In spite of the high cost to him, he says that he gets it all back in smiles.

Thanks to families like the Garrick family, the Christmas spirit has been spread a little bit farther!

Teacher-World's Blog Christmas spirit, Christmas trees, George Garrick

Over the next three blogs, I am going to take a brief departure from educational issues to share three heart-warming stories about giving to others at Christmas. I hope these will lift your spirits this Christmas season as much as they did mine. This first story is one that was reported by CBS News about a remarkable woman who has found a truly inspirational way to deal with tragedy.

The Christmas of 2006, Jessica Bachus was celebrating being five months pregnant and excitedly awaiting the joys of the New Year. Unfortunately, one month later, her daughter Kenzi was stillborn. Imagine the pain this couple endured as a result of this tragic loss. But this resilient woman turned that grief into something beautiful. She decided that since she couldn’t give a doll to her daughter Kenzi, she would give dolls to other girls in the community who might otherwise go without.

Jessica calls her organization Dolls for Daughters, and through donations, she was able to give 150 dolls to less fortunate little girls in 2007, 500 dolls in 2008, and 1,100 in 2009. And this year, more than 4,000 toys were donated and passed out by several volunteers to needy children whose parents showed up five hours before the doors even opened. And a new twist was added this year with the addition of toys for boys.

What a gift of love, and what an amazing way to turn the tragedy of losing a child into the joyful gift of giving to others! As Jessica looks at the happiness she has spread to so many young children, she summarizes her gracious efforts by saying, “My angel Kenzi is here and she is helping all these families,”

What an amazing woman with a beautiful Christmas spirit!

Teacher-World's Blog Christmas spirit, Dolls for Daughters, giving to the needy, Jessica Bachus

CNN Health recently reported some interesting news about dyslexia, a condition which makes it difficult to interpret language. This condition which is also called developmental reading disorder may affect from 5 to 20 percent of the population. Those are significantly high percentages making it critical that we learn as much as we can about this condition. New research suggests that it might be possible to predict from a brain scan whether a child with dyslexia will be able to improve their reading ability over a few years. Interesting stuff, right? So let’s dive into the challenging issue of dyslexia.

Children with dyslexia may experience difficulty with reading comprehension because they don’t connect sounds with letters and have difficulty recognizing words. The reason for this is that their brain doesn’t properly recognize or process symbols. While it is possible for some children with this disorder to read fairly normally in time, the question being researched is which children will be able to improve their reading skills and how much extra help it will take to make that possible.

A study conducted by Fumiko Hoeft, a psychiatry researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine, followed 25 children with dyslexia and 20 children without dyslexia for 2 ½ years using brain imaging to try to answer these questions. Using two kinds of neuroimaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging, they studied children as they performed reading tasks. According to the article, “Neuroimaging ‘Predicts’ Which Dyslexics Will Learn to Read”, published on 12/21/10:

* No behavioural measure, including widely used standardized reading and language tests, reliably predicted reading gains.
* Children with dyslexia who at baseline showed greater activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus during a specific task and whose white matter connected to this right frontal region was better organized showed greater reading improvement over the next two-and-a-half years.
* Looking at patterns of activation across the whole brain allowed them to very accurately predict future reading gains in children with dyslexia.

Let me break this down as simply as possible. What this research tells us is that, first, after additional testing, it may be possible to use brain imaging as a prognostic tool to predict reading improvement in children with dyslexia. Second, since the research shows that dyslexic children used different neural mechanisms and pathways when making gains in reading than those used by typically developing children, interventions could be developed for children with dyslexia which would focus on the regions of the brain that are more effective at improving their reading skills.

As we learn more about how the brain works, it is exciting to think that we may be able to use this research to help people who struggle with a variety of learning difficulties like dyslexia. What good news!

special education, Teacher-World's Blog brain research, CNN Health, dyslexia, Fumiko Hoeft, neuroimaging

A Department of Education release by Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, bemoans the fact that the 2009 results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that America scored average in reading and science and below average in math. In his latest release, Duncan made the following statement:

“Today’s PISA results show that America needs to urgently accelerate student learning to remain competitive in the global economy of the 21st century. More parents, teachers, and leaders need to recognize the reality that other high-achieving nations are both out-educating us and out-competing us. Our educational system has a long way to go to fulfill the American promise of education as the great equalizer.

Being average in reading and science — and below average in math — is not nearly good enough in a knowledge economy where scientific and technological literacy is so central to sustaining innovation and international competitiveness. The results are especially troubling because PISA assesses applied knowledge and the higher-order thinking skills critical to success in the information age.”

What he failed to report was that only six countries scored higher than the U.S. on reading, and we were on a par with the average for science. Additionally, we have shown improvements compared to past PISA results. We have stopped dropping in the international rankings, and, according to Bob Wise, the president of the Alliance for Excellent Education: “there has been some improvement in the mean scores of all three subjects since the last assessment.”

Now, clearly, we have a ways to go, but I wish Mr. Duncan had at least mentioned the improvements which have been made. I also wish that in his statement, he would have taken a little time to talk about the elephant in the room. Let’s face it, in the countries which score so high, education is viewed very differently than it is by many here in the United States. It is the number one priority, and children learn that early on from their families. Working hard and doing your best at all times is a concept that is not just taught in the schools but at home as well. As a result, these countries have an advantage right off the bat.

When comparing data, scientists know that the variables which influence that data must be consistent and controlled. When studying test data from different countries, there are clearly no fixed or controlled variables other than the test itself. Therefore, the test results from the latest PISA are more an indictment against our country and its values than it is against those in education who work to prepare students to perform well on these constant tests which have little to no meaning for so many in the U.S. And it is an indictment of many in our society whose attitudes are openly disrespectful and critical toward public education in general.

Teacher-World's Blog Arne Duncan, Department of Education, PISA, school testing

Okay, so how many of you out there have a fellow teacher who constantly interrupts your lessons over the most inconsequential things? Annoying isn’t it? Not to mention disruptive for students who need to stay focused. Let me tell you about ours…

We have a very sweet woman who teaches in the classroom next to ours. She is helpful and kind, willing to share her resources, and an all-around good person. But she is not very organized and admittedly does not plan ahead as she should, so she often comes into other teachers’ rooms to find out what they are teaching and to see if she might borrow what is being utilized in that classroom. Now, since we are in an adjoining room this year, we get a higher percentage of the drop-in visits, and I must admit that while I truly care for her as a person, it becomes rather annoying to deal with these interruptions on a regular basis.

A couple of weeks ago, we were in the middle of a math lesson on probability which was going really well. We had our students’ attention, and they seemed to be grasping the concept we were teaching, until…Yes, you guessed it; another surprise drop-in from “The Visitor”, who promptly asked from the back of the room what we were teaching. We briefly explained that we were teaching a lesson on probability and then, in an effort to keep our students engaged I innocently (ha-ha) asked, “Students, what is the probability that Mrs. (name has been left out to protect her identity) will be back in our room tomorrow?” They all responded, “Very likely!” I then asked, “What is the probability that she will never come into our room again?” And, like good little mathematicians, they all piped up, “Impossible!”

Oh, what a beautiful thing when lessons learned have the additional benefit of teaching others a good lesson!

Teacher-World's Blog interruptions, probability, students, teachers

Finally, here is some really good news for teachers from an Associated Press-Stanford University Poll on education. At a time when teachers are accustomed to being blamed for all that is wrong with education from poor graduation rates to low test scores, this new survey finally points to something those of us in education have tried to say for a long time. According to this survey, 68 percent of adults believe that parents are more to blame for what ails the U.S. education system than teachers, school administrators, or teachers unions. Are people starting to see what is so obvious to those of us in education? It’s about time!

This AP-Stanford Poll in education was conducted by interviews on landline and cellular phones in September with 1,001 adults nationwide. The problems children and parents face tend to be growing and these problems are affecting school performance. For example:

* Many children are hungry, and several studies have linked poor nutrition to problems with concentration, lower standardized test scores, and more absentee issues.
* Many children need help with their homework but their parents are working so hard to make ends meet that they have no time to help with homework.
* Some children face violence at home making it hard to concentrate in school.
* Children under two who have been exposed to too much television seem to take longer to develop language skills according to researchers at the University of Washington.
* According to Attendance Counts, an advocacy group, attendance is a huge issue: One in ten kindergarten and first-grade students miss a month of school every year. This can put them behind other students for years. Additionally they report that by ninth grade, missing 20 percent of school is a better predictor of student dropout rate than test scores.

Do any of these studies surprise those of us in education? Those of us who are considered veteran teachers have witnessed these changes first-hand and the effect they have had on the educational process. But it is heartening to see that parents are beginning to see the connection between society’s struggles and the struggles we face educating our children as a result.

Other heartening news from this survey? Three-fourths of those polled said that the education provided in their local schools was excellent or good, and 55 percent feel that their children are receiving a better education than they received. Additionally, most felt that their children’s school is effectively preparing students for college or for the work force.

I, for one, am encouraged to see surveys like this. This is the kind of message that needs to be told to a nation that is so quick to criticize and blame teachers for the problems in education. The most serious problems we face in education today can be traced back to our societal issues. How about we turn those around instead of the schools?

Changes in Teaching, Teacher-World's Blog Associated Press-Stanford University Poll, parents, teachers

I would like you teachers to consider the following dilemma: how involved are you willing to get at this time of year in whether your students believe in Santa Claus or not? Let me share a true story that causes me to pose this question to you today.

I have a student in my fifth-grade class who, according to her mother, still believes in Santa Claus. Now, by fifth grade, most students have abandoned their earlier beliefs about the existence of Santa Claus. It is a rarity to find a student at this grade level who still believes in the guy in the red coat and pants, with the full white beard, and the sleigh full of presents. Most of them have come to the conclusion by the time they hit my grade that Santa is really their parents, and as long as the presents keep coming in every year, they are okay with that. But, at this time of year, it is often a focus of conversation and conjecture amongst students.

So, imagine my surprise when I received a phone call from a parent whose daughter came home from school very upset due to another student in my classroom asking her if she believed and indicating that he did not. Okay, now I know this is a difficult time for parents because most of us love creating that magic for our children and enjoy their excitement almost as much as they do. I’m not sure who is most upset when our child’s innocent beliefs are shattered, but for this mom, it was pretty clear she could not cope with this situation and was pretty panicked over how it would change Christmas if her daughter stopped believing.

So, what were her demands, because they most certainly were stated as such? First, she wanted me to talk to the student who had laid the groundwork for doubt in her daughter’s eyes. Second, she strongly suggested that I sit down with her daughter and reassure her that there was a Santa. I must confess that this was a first for me. In all my years of teaching, I have never been asked to intervene in a Santa-Claus-loss-of-faith moment, and I was very unwilling to do so now. I had no problem speaking calmly to the student who opened this conversation and reinforce the need to keep our opinions to ourselves when we are talking to someone who still believes. But, I am not this girl’s parent, and I refuse to be forced into a position that should clearly be handled by a parent. So, I talked to the other student, but I ignored the outrageous request to parent this woman’s child.

Teachers are being forced more and more to take on parental roles with their students, and I have done so often when that role is not being filled at home. But I draw the line when it comes to pushing Santa Claus on fifth-graders. Forgive me, Santa, but this is just not my job!

Teacher-World's Blog Christmas, parents, Santa Claus, students, teachers

I wrote a blog recently about the ridiculous changes that were made in Ohio by our current governor, Ted Strickland, to reduce our snow days this year to three and next year to zero calamity days. Well, good news…

Our governor-elect, Republican John Kasich, told a local newspaper that when he takes office, he wants to go back to five calamity days a year based on the fact that Ohio is clearly a state which receives its fair share of snowy weather. And what helped influence his desire to change this policy? Wouldn’t you know it took his 10-year old daughter, Reese, to bring up the obvious; three snow days are unreasonable. Her opinion was reinforced to him by other children and their parents who felt that this policy was just wrong.

Thank you in advance, Governor Kasich, first, for being willing to listen to your constituency and second, for having the intelligence to reject a bad policy and the wherewithal to want to improve it.

Teacher-World's Blog calamity days, John Kasich, snow days, Ted Strickland