Teacher World

I have discovered a new form of torture guaranteed to break the strongest of you out there. “What is it?” you wonder. Well, let me give you a little hint. Have you been watching the weather reports lately for the Ohio area? Step into our world.

Imagine, if you dare, a classroom which has only three windows that open out at an angle from the bottom-yes, you heard me right, from the bottom! I have begun recently spending extended time looking at these windows and wondering just what kind of maniacal, twisted mind designed them. Was this a tormented student now grown up who had had such a terrible experience in school that their sole desire was to make all teachers and students who set foot in these rooms suffer forever for the unhappiness he endured?

Then picture that room filled with hot, sweaty students whose desks you need to hover over in order to aid them in their work and whose radiating heat almost sears your skin. Imagine these same bodies after recess and PE. There are no words to describe…

Imagine a school so outrageously hot that the school nurse, from her air-conditioned office, sent an email to address how to keep our students from dehydrating and how we deal with the headaches, dizziness, and weakness many students are complaining about. (Not to mention the ailments we teachers are suffering from.)

Finally, picture yourself barely able to move let alone think, trying to force a room full of semi-comatose students who are literally sprawled over their desks, weakly clutching their sweating water bottles, to focus on your words, which are growing fainter with each passing minute. To answer your questions, which are making less and less sense. To follow in a book, when their eyes are so glazed over that the words in the book no longer stay neatly in the lines as they should. To care, even remotely, about the lesson you are desperately teaching.

Yes, this is the life of the dedicated public education teachers in my building. We bravely forge on trying our best to teach these children who trust us to take care of them in the inferno we call school. At the end of the day, we limp weakly in our sweat-soaked clothes to our blazing cars, and as we drive away with the air conditioning cranked up as high as it will go, we pray for the energy to face another day in Hell. And we curse the weathermen who tell us that we can expect more of the same.

Teacher-World's Blog school, students, teachers, weather

A recent article in our local paper addressed what has become a commonplace occurrence in most schools in Ohio, and probably nationwide; teachers are spending more of their own money to both prepare their classrooms and supply their students with what they need.

I’m sure some of you who are reading this blog are thinking, “Boo-hoo! Teachers get paid to work 9 months a year, so they have no reason to complain if they have to spend a little money on their classrooms and students.” So let me give those of you who are thinking, or worse yet saying this, an idea of everything I had to buy to get my classroom up and running this year. Here goes:

* 6 black line master books on specific reading standards
* 5 black line master intervention books on specific reading standards
* Math review game aligned to Ohio standards with hanging chart and game cards.
* An extra set of math cards for above game
* A mailbox system for student papers
* 4 bulletin boards for science
* 5 bulletin boards for math
* 10 new sets of bulletin board borders
* Staple gun for hanging bulletin boards on wall
* Bullying bulletin board set and No Bullying sign
* Star of the Week bulletin board set
* 5 new sets of die cuts for attendance board and welcome boards
* Wireless keyboard and mouse
* Multiple rolls of paper towels
* Multiple bottles of pump soap for my classroom sink
* 4 Sam’s Club bags of candy for rewards (And this is just to get me started)
* 3 boxes of treat bags to auction off (This will just be the beginning.)
* Gift bags for each student which contained glitter pencils, crayon pencils, erasers, a Rice Krispie treat, and several pieces of wrapped candy
* Popsicles for the students for the first day of school
* Multiplication Bingo game and Division Bingo Game
* Multiple packages of math flash cards
* Pens, highlighters, markers, pencils, and poster board paper
* 3 magnetic hanging file holders
* 3 clear plastic bins with lids for science materials

Again, I will reiterate that most of these products will only get me started. I will have to purchase or replace more of these items throughout the year. As far as supplies are concerned, periodically we will need to supplement those things that our students run out of and parents do not replenish. We already have a few students who do not have their supplies, probably because their parents cannot afford them. This is not unusual, and we will end up helping these students out.

The article reported that teachers in our area spend anywhere from $100-$2,000 a year on their students and their classrooms. Based on my experience, elementary education teachers generally spend more money than high school teachers in preparing their classrooms for school and providing student rewards and supplies. I am sure I have spent upwards of $700 this year already, as I have had to purchase so many new materials due to teaching all subjects. And I will spend much more before the school year is over. I think we all feel that we are spending more than we used to as our schools’ budgets keep shrinking. Even paper for worksheets is being carefully rationed in our district this year. So, as most parents and schools tighten their belts, teachers will continue to have to loosen theirs if they want to provide the same amenities they have in the past.

Teacher-World's Blog parents, school supplies, students, teachers

As I have explained in previous blogs, this year my co-teacher and I are experimenting with a self-contained, co-teaching classroom. Since we are trying something so different, I plan to spend time blogging on a regular basis about what is happening in our classroom and how our efforts are paying off. So, here goes:

Day one down, only 180-some to go!!!!! Yes, today was our first day of school, and I am so glad it is over, although all in all, it went quite well. Our focus today was to set forth the important premise that there is no “unfair” in our classroom. To get this point across, we used two exercises to underscore the fact that we all come into the classroom with different abilities, and our job is to provide the tools to ensure that everyone will have the same opportunity to succeed. In this blog, I will describe one of those activities.

In our first exercise, we hung two large candy bars from the ceiling at a height we knew our tallest student could reach. We then asked him to come and take the candy bar of his choice. He did so easily, and then we picked a significantly smaller student and invited her to do the same thing. Of course, she could not reach the last candy bar, and she began to complain that it wasn’t fair because it was too high for her to reach. I asked what we could do to make it fair. She first said that I could reach it for her, and I said that I was willing to help her, but I wasn’t willing to do it for her. She thought for a minute and asked if she could use a stepstool I had in the room. I said sure, and helped her to use it to retrieve the candy bar.

We all celebrated her victory, and then I asked the class what was unfair about the candy bar exercise. Interestingly, no one said that it wasn’t fair that they didn’t get a candy bar, but everyone agreed that it wasn’t fair that we had placed the candy bars where only the tallest student in the class could reach them. I asked if they thought it was fair that I let the shorter student use a stepstool. They all agreed that using the stepstool made it fair for the student who could not physically reach the candy bar. At this point, we asked how learning was similar to this activity. After much discussion, we arrived at the conclusion that everyone comes into the classroom with different abilities and everyone also has areas which are a challenge for them. We asked them if they thought it would be fair for us to ask a student to do something they couldn’t do, or if it would be fairer to give them a leg-up and give them the tools (just like a stepstool) to achieve their goals. Everyone agreed that giving struggling students the necessary tools would be the fair thing to do. I asked them why they thought I wouldn’t just give the shorter student the candy bar when she asked. We all agreed it doesn’t help them if we simply give them the answers.

So, what did we conclude? They agreed they will not say, “That’s not fair!” when we provide students with the help they need, or their peers have a reduced assignment to complete, or a different activity to reinforce the same skill is used, etc. We agreed that our goal to make sure everyone in the classroom is successful is the fair thing to do. How awesome to have students reach this conclusion on their own!

So, as I write this, even though I am exhausted, I am optimistic about this group and its potential, and I think it is going to be an awesome year! I’ll keep you posted.

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I have been blogging about Diane Ravitch’s article in the August/September issue of neatoday magazine, entitled “Stop the Madness”. If you have read my previous blogs, you know that Ms. Ravitch has held a number of prestigious positions in the education field and was a staunch supporter of Bush’s NCLB until she began to study the results of these policies and what it has done to public education. Because she is so knowledgeable and makes such valid points, I have been spending intensive time discussing some of her most critical points. So here goes my third blog on what this remarkable woman has to say about NCLB.

One of Ms. Ravitch’s strongest arguments against NCLB states, “NCLB assumed that shaming schools that were unable to lift test scores every year-and the people who work in them-would lead to higher scores. It assumed that low scores are caused by lazy teachers and lazy principals. Perhaps, most naively, it assumed that higher test scores on standardized tests of basic skills are synonymous with good education. Its assumptions were wrong.”

I love this statement because it resonates with truth. Public educators and principals are being shamed to improve test scores. Our results are publically displayed every year and compared to other districts’ scores. Even within school systems, individual schools are compared to each other, and those schools that did not produce excellent scores are made to feel inferior in comparison with those who did. In reality, those differences probably had more to do with the difference in the neighborhoods surrounding these schools, which make up each school’s population, than differences in the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the schools’ staffs. I have seen it in my own district. For three years in a row now, my elementary school has gotten higher test scores than our sister elementary school. The competition and fear that this has created between our two principals has been extremely unhealthy for both staffs. This is only one sad example of the result of “shaming” schools into achieving higher test scores. Anyone who believes that creating this level of competition and frustration is an educationally sound practice needs to spend some time in schools that are panicked over raising test scores.

I applaud Diane Ravitch for admitting that the policy she initially supported whole-heartedly is flawed and is not “synonymous with good education”. When I look back over my years of teaching, and this will be my 31st, I feel such sadness for young people just starting out in the teaching profession who think that what we are being asked to do is excellent teaching. Somewhere along the way, teachers have metamorphosed from well-rounded, creative lovers-of-passing-on-the-excitement-for-knowledge to test-taking trainers. And while I still love working with kids, and I love being involved in co-teaching and the strategies of co-teaching, I have lost some of the wonder of teaching. As we fast approach 2014, and the ridiculous expectation to achieve 100% passage of state achievement tests, I dread the panic that is going to become synonymous with “good education”.

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Let’s discuss what Diane Ravitch calls “the danger of the culture of testing” that has been created as a result of NCLB, as reported in the August/September 2010 issue of neatoday magazine. Feel free to say a few “amens” and “you’ve-got-that-right-sister” as you read her critical points.

Ms. Ravitch states that “one of the unintended consequences of NCLB” has been the “shrinkage of time available to teach anything other than reading and math”. Since these are the only test scores used to calculate a school’s adequate yearly progress, she claims that teachers feel forced to put much more time into the teaching of these subjects, leaving less time for science, social studies, and the arts. She goes on to say that many schools have even done away with recess in order to better prepare students for math and reading tests.

In our district this year, we are required to attend grade level team meetings which will meet twice a week. Guess what we are discussing and brainstorming in these meetings? We will be looking at formative assessments for (you guessed it) reading and math to identify areas of weakness and collaborate as a grade level to improve upon these skills in order to bring up test scores. What are conspicuously lacking from this list are science, social studies, and the arts. My guess is that most teachers out there would agree that they are spending more time and effort teaching reading and math than in teaching other subjects. And we all know why we are.

Diane voices legitimate concerns too that our focus as teachers has also shifted, due to the emphasis on test scores, from thorough knowledge of the subject matter to test-taking skills and strategies. She cites the use of previous tests, which are available on the Department of Education website, to prepare students and claims that “in urban schools, where there are many low-performing students, drill and practice became a significant part of the daily routine” as a result of NCLB.

Ms. Ravitch, thank you for bravely stating what every teacher out there knows. We teach differently, but we don’t teach better. We teach differently because instead of trying to educate our children, we are trying to get them to pass tests that make our schools look good. And, as a result, we are doing our children a disservice; a disservice we are forced to continue to do because our jobs are on the line. Don’t you just wish we could get back to being real teachers preparing our students for real life and real careers, to be responsible citizens and real community leaders, and to love learning simply for the sake of learning, not to pass a bubble test? Do I hear an “Amen, sister”?

Changes in Teaching, Educational Reform, No Child Left Behind, Teacher-World's Blog, state achievement tests Diane Ravitch, NCLB, standardized tests, students, teachers

Day five of classroom setup. So what progress have I made, and how do I feel about my new digs now?

Well, after a lot of hard work, sweat, and heavy manual labor, I feel like my room is making more sense, and I have been able to find a place for almost everything. Creative thinking has allowed me to find some unusual places to hide things I will need, but don’t use regularly. My fear is that I will forget where I put those things by the time they are needed, as some of them are very well-hidden.

Overall, the classroom looks colorful and welcoming. The bulletin boards and decorations are eye-catching without being distracting. My room looks great, but it is definitely cramped. Movement will be a challenge, and it will not be easy setting up stations, but I feel that we will somehow make it all work out. My co-teacher and I actually had some time to work together today for the first time, and we were able to make some additional changes that improved the set-up of the room even more. We even received a visit from our paraprofessional, and she made some suggestions as well. Since we are a team, we need to work together as team from the very start giving everyone an opportunity to have some feedback and some decision-making power.

So, after day five, I feel that the initial phase of preparations is complete leaving us time now to focus on the lesson plans we have created and which strategies and techniques would be best implemented to achieve optimum educational results. It feels good to get to this point, and now, I can’t wait to dive in!

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Teachers, how many of you have a smartboard? If you do, I think that you would find a recent article in neatoday, “Do Smartboards Make Smart Students?” very interesting.

I feel very fortunate to have a smartboard in my classroom, and I use it almost daily for one activity or another. I have found that even the most reluctant students can’t wait to go to the smartboard to write or complete an activity. And the internet has a plethora of awesome websites with fun, interesting, and interactive ways to reinforce any curriculum. As a result, my students are always highly engaged when we use the smartboard, and I can hook them even more if I use it in conjunction with our Senteo Clickers. So, why is Rosita Force, the author of this article, questioning the use of smartboards and their impact on classroom learning?

You’ve seen it in your building, I’m sure. There are always those teachers who don’t utilize smartboards as they should, and use them instead as glorified overheads, chalkboards, and movie projector screens. Now, the article is quick to point out, and I’m sure we would all agree, that occasional use of smartboards in this way is okay. But the problem occurs when this is the main way they are being utilized. The beauty and magic of this type of technology is its connectivity to the internet and to interactive software. If a teacher cannot or will not use them in this way, it is a waste of money and a waste of students’ time.

Additionally Ms. Force states that sometimes we may be overusing technology when our real focus should be on creating “an environment that makes students want to work together to solve problems in a creative and innovative manner.” Her point is that teachers need to be learning facilitators rather than just the deliverer of knowledge. She suggests in closing that we need to sometimes “power down the technology to let students power up their problem-solving skills”.  And this is a valid point. As teachers, we must avoid the mundane routines, and be ready to experiment in our classroom with new techniques and new methods. We need to teach our children to use educational technology but also teach them to be problem solvers in a real world. And that is something that cannot be taught through a smartboard.

So, use those smartboards and other purchased technology to teach your children about the world around them and to get them to interact with the skills you teach, but don’t overuse them. At the same time, provide ample opportunity for them to manipulate ideas and concepts in practical problem-solving activities. Remember, our goal as teachers is to produce well-rounded learners who can apply the concepts and skills they have acquired to real-life situations, real-life jobs, and real-life problems.

It’s all about the proper balance in our teaching strategies.

Changes in Teaching, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog, teaching strategies NEA, Senteo clickers, smartboards, students, teachers, technology

Allow me to take a break from the neatoday blogs to talk about getting a classroom ready for the first day of school. Frankly, it’s a pain in the butt!

Due to a number of factors, today was the first day teachers were able to come and work in their classrooms. That puts me already about a week behind. And, as I have previously informed you, I had to move to a different classroom this year; one that is significantly smaller. Yet the amount of things I had to bring with me has not scaled down to fit my room. So the first half hour or so was spent looking rather hopelessly around my new digs trying to figure out how to make it all work. From time to time, I walked down the hall to my old, much bigger room just to torture myself with a quick peek. Then I would bustle down the hall with new resolve to somehow, as Tim Gunn would say, “Make it work!”

I found that stacking things higher seems to help a little, along with pitching a few more things that I just can’t condone keeping anymore. But, no matter what I do, this room is cramped. And just wait until my co-teacher brings her things down! Yikes! I don’t even want to picture how cozy it will be when my students arrive.

Well, my ideas changed as constantly as the weather, so when I left my room at the mandatory time, it looked like a tornado had hit. Literally, every student desk is covered, along with all of the tables. You need a GPS to find your way through the debris. And I confess that as I surveyed the scene before leaving for the day, it was with a sense of frustration and failure.

But teachers are nothing if not problem solvers and planners, so the whole way home I went through my classroom in my mind, moving things here and changing this and that. I felt my mood lifting with each imaginary change I made.

Tomorrow I will return optimistically undaunted to tackle my room once again. Eventually, maybe not as early as tomorrow, I will find the perfect fit creating the most welcoming environment for my students. I will chisel order out of chaos, and, like a proud artist, I will sit back and admire my masterpiece.

In the meantime, I will have to keep repeating to myself that good things come in small packages!

Teacher-World's Blog classrooms, school, teachers

Over the next few blogs, I ask for your indulgence as I write about some very interesting articles which appeared in the latest neatoday magazine (August/September 2010). This first blog pertains to an article that appeared regarding merit pay.

This short article was entitled “Merit Pay Myths”, and it focused on whether merit pay has been proven to increase student test scores or student achievement. The prevailing belief by supporters of merit pay is that the promise of bonuses or increased salaries will inspire teachers to work more diligently to get their students to perform at the levels that are necessary to show academic excellence, particularly as evidenced by higher test scores. One of the assumptions that those who advocate the need for merit pay make, in my opinion erroneously, is that teachers are inspired by the higher pay check, and will not work as diligently without holding out that carrot. Let’s get real for a moment! If teachers were inspired by a higher pay check, they would never have entered the teaching profession, which is notorious for being an underpaid vocation. Am I right?

Another issue I have always had with merit pay is that at a time when school systems everywhere are being asked to engage in collaboration and mentoring to improve student performance, which involves utilizing and sharing each other’s effective techniques, I believe merit pay could lead to a completely different outcome. I fear the tendency for some teachers who are highly effective in their teaching strategies and therefore receiving merit pay, might be to guard their strategies so as to guarantee continued monetary rewards, thus leading to competition rather than collaboration. I have argued against merit pay for these and other reasons.

So, what did the latest study completed by Mathematica Policy Research find? According to this article, these researchers looked at Chicago’s Teacher Advancement Project, which has been operating for three years now getting its money from the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, and they found that merit pay “had no impact on test scores or teacher retention rates”. Over three years and no improvement? Does that seem like good news for merit pay advocates? The article concludes by saying, “In its defense, federal officials said they ‘can’t expect immediate results’.” Okay, but shouldn’t there be some improvement after three years? It just leaves me wondering: how many years does it take before merit pay pays off?

Educational Reform, Merit Pay for Teachers, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog merit pay, NEA, teachers

Well, here it is, the last day of July! To most people that probably doesn’t seem very significant, but to teachers everywhere, it marks the last glorious days of summer and the beginning of a new school year to plan for.

Summer is a time to unwind, regroup, and revitalize.  It’s a time to put aside the fast pace and stress that goes along with every school year long enough to enjoy those people who matter most to you and those activities you are unable to find time for during the hectic school year. It’s a time for long walks, sunny beaches, and packing the kids in the car and going on an adventure. Summers, for teachers, is a magical time when anything seems possible, and the world, as we know it, slows down long enough to enjoy the simple pleasures that seem to escape us during the school year.

 I hope you have had a wonderful summer filled with family, friends, new places, and new activities to discover. And I hope you are able to cram in as many more moments as possible before that inevitable first day of school.

We all are distinctly aware that as July days turn to August days there is a shift in our thoughts which ultimately leads to a shift in our activities.  We begin to reflect upon the previous year’s successes and failures in a whole new way. This self-scrutiny and examination will help us make decisions about what we need to improve upon, what we need to do more of, and what we need to drop completely. And we begin to reluctantly head back into the classroom to make it as vibrant, attractive, educationally stimulating, and welcoming as possible. It is a time for creative planning, mapping out the next year, and looking for new and exciting ways to teach the same curriculum.

In its own way, August is an exciting month as you anticipate another year, a new crop of students, and a plethora of opportunities. And each August, I think we all feel that adrenalin rush that comes with new beginnings. As much as I hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer vacation, I wish for you a great August and an exciting and wildly successful beginning to a fantastic new school year.

Teacher-World's Blog new school year, summer vacation, teachers