Parents matter too, being 'that parent' is ok

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that parents don't matter, that teachers and schools are responsible for raising children.  This simply isn't true.  Parents have a huge impact on their children's education.  I want to offer an example of what it means to be a parent who is willing to go to bat for their child, to be ok with being 'that Mom' if it is in the best interest of the child.

There are many options for childcare, and it was difficult to find one that we were happy with.  Our son began at the school he currently attends, but we removed him from the school when my husband had to travel more.  We decided it would be best if our child was closer to me, in a Christian environment.  The school had a curriculum, and the teachers were very nice.  However, it became apparent over time that they weren't challenging him enough.  Television was on 85% of the time, with only moderate educational activities offered throughout the day.  So, the next year we put him in a new center that was only about three miles away from my job.  That was an amazing place, where I'd pop in unannounced and see my child helping with mixing a cookie batter, or playing baseball, or bird-watching.  He'd be coloring, or doing  a puzzle, playing in a puppet show, or imagining he was a scuba-diver.  I realize how lucky I was to have him there.  I was upset when they had to shut down after only one year because of low enrollment. 

This year, I had to go back to option A, the school he was at when he was only a year old.  I knew that he was reasonably safe, but some of their operating practices have bothered me in the past.  Little things like variety of food for breakfast, lack of a lead teacher, or issues with potty training.  Nothing that bothered me enough to decide not to put him back there, but enough that I'm constantly vigilant to make sure everything goes well this time around.  When he first began, they put him in a class with a teacher whose strength lay in getting the children to be obedient.  This is, of course, an admirable quality for a teacher whose students are petulant three year olds.  In order to succeed in school, obedience is a necessary skill.  But, she wasn't the warmest with the children, and my son reacted badly to this.  Where he was potty trained by me over the summer, he couldn't seem to do it in class.  My theory is that he was scared of the teacher, and didn't want to ask to go.  The school discussed the situation with my husband and I, asking if they could move him to the younger 2 year old class, despite the fact that he was three.  Although I didn't love the idea of him being there (knowing his knowledge level in language and number skills), I recognized that this was a developmental goal that needed to be met.  Within a week of him being in the younger class, he was back on track with his potty training.  He was moved into the other 3 year old class with a different teacher.  This teacher is warm and clear.  She challenges him, but does it in a loving way.  He responded positively toward her, having few problems for the next few months.  Of course, he is a normal 3 year old boy. He has meltdowns occassionally.  Occassionally he doesn't listen.  But then, so do the teenagers I teach.  A time-out usually does the trick with my little guy.  His teacher understands that.  She also motivates the kids with red, yellow, and green days. He joyfully tells me when he gets a green day, because he's so proud of himself. The best part is that this teacher actively teaches.  My child has sight words and letter recognition, he knows his numbers.  Basically, he has completed all the skills he would need prior to entering kindergarten, even though it is a year away.

When I received a letter from the school telling me they were planning on reorganizing the rosters, moving my son back to the classroom he had been in when he had potty training issues, I was upset.  I struggled with how to approach the school.  I was angry, because I felt they should have remembered that he didn't do well in this other class.  But then, I also thought about my role as a teacher.  I needed to keep my cool and approach this with the right attitude. Maybe there was a reason for their decision.  The letter said it was to put kids who had the same skill sets together.  I found out later that this meant they had arranged the children by birthday, and that my son was the oldest in the younger group.  He was a borderline placement anyway.  I called to speak on the phone with the director, but she was unavailable.  I wrote an email that night detailing my reasons that I didn't want my son moved.  They returned my email the next morning, and followed up with a phone call that went to voicemail.  I stopped in to the office to try to talk to them when I picked my son up, but again, the director was in a meeting.  I didn't give up.  Friday, I called again and got the assistant director on the phone.  She spoke with the director and they rearranged the roster so my child could stay where he had been successful.

Had I ignored the letter informing me of the decision, and allowed the change to happen, my son would have been taken from his friends and a teacher that he has grown to trust.  I made the effort to make sure my son had the best opportunity for success.  I've been his greatest advocate because he's three and can't do it for himself.  I know that I won't always get my way with who teaches him.  But I won't be passive about decisions that I disagree with.  I'll be 'that parent' if I need to be.  Not because I don't think the school has good intentions, because I do think they wanted something that made sense.  They wanted kids to be together that were at about the same developmental level.  It was my job to point out that he was doing well in his current placement.  It was my job to fight for him.  I did it, and my son won because of it.

Some parents reactions are that the school always know best, or the teacher always know best.  They don't always.  Likewise, the parents don't always know best, because they don't see what happens in the classroom.  Parents need to realize that too.  If we don't calmly and quickly open a dialogue with each other if there is a disagreement, then we aren't doing service to the child.  In this situation, the school thought they were making a decision that would benefit everyone.  On paper, they were right.  But, sometimes what is logical isn't always the right thing, especially when young children are involved.  My son needs the social stability, because he has been moved to a new school each year.  He has a relationship with his current teacher, and that is a great thing.  I'm just glad I was able to help him preserve it.

What's a white girl know about being black?

I grew up in a ethnically homogenous town in Western New York, where we operated on the assumption that racism simply didn't exist anymore.  We didn't talk about it.  We didn't think about it.  We would never dream of being mean to someone who had a different skin color than us, but we also didn't live mixed in with many people who were not white.  Not intentionally.  It was defacto segregation.  Of course, we knew intellectually about the concept of racism, and we knew that somewhere else people were violent and vicious and hateful.  But, not us.

My town was (and still is) full of good people.  But, these people are not exposed to other cultures as much as inner city folk.  Honestly, if people in my hometown thought about what their culture was, most would likely say that they weren't really sure.  This is the norm in many white American homes, that they don't even think of themselves as having a culture.  But, they do.  Of course they do.  Everyone has culture.  And everyone has notions of what other cultures are like.  There's nothing malicious in this perception of culture and the other.  If anything, it is lack of experience with the other.

Racism exists.  Prejudice exists.  It is more subtle than it used to be, but it is every bit a part of society today as it was before the Civil Rights Movement.  I don't know what can be done to fix the problem, but a step in the right direction is to recognize that it is there and stop pretending to be color-blind.  I'm not color-blind.  I see the difference in skin tone.  Sometimes I celebrate it.  Sometimes I fear it.  But I won't pretend that I don't notice it.


I suppose my idea of what a black person is would have never changed much if I hadn't met the wide variety of people that my life journey exposed me to.  SUNY Geneseo introduced me to some extraordinarily intelligent black people.  One was a witty and interesting girl who was half Puerto Rican and half black.  She was fun to talk to because she had an entirely different set of experiences from me.  I loved hanging out with her.  The next person of color I met (within the first week of school), was an ebony colored young man who was truly the most dedicated person I knew of in all three years of my undergraduate.  He was destined to fulfill his dream of being an attorney.  Both of them were so interesting, I decided to enroll in a Black Literature course.  During this class, I learned that I was racist.  Everything that came out of my mouth seemed to offend the black girls in the class.  I didn't understand.  I wasn't trying to be racist.  So, I took more classes about black culture.  Even after four classes, I still didn't see where they were coming from.  I didn't hate, so how was I racist?  Just because I didn't believe that everything was about race?  Surely, that couldn't make me 'racist'.  My final semester of classes at the college were during a summer session.  Because there are few people that stay on campus during the summer, I was randomly placed with a group of roommates.  That was quite the experience.  I'll write about it in more detail in another post, but for now I'll just describe the two black girls.  One girl was literally a princess from Ghana.  She taught us all how to do a tribal dance.  It was so cool.  But, she didn't act like a heathen (which is what I thought of Africans before getting to know her).  Far from it.  Even though she was from Africa, she was.... normal.  She read fashion magazines and listened to pop music.  She loved game shows on television.  Across the hall, there was another girl who was from New York City.  She was what I affectionately call a big black Momma.  She wanted to take care of everyone, bringing us cookies and making us mac-n-cheese.  She had the loudest laugh, and loved to tell stories.  Both of these girls were so unlike anyone I had ever met, and I'm blessed to have met them.

When I left Geneseo and moved to Florida, I had a culture shock experience.  I felt pretty good about myself, for pushing beyond my comfort level and getting to know people who were unlike me.  But then, I moved South.  I was shocked to hear that people were still in the KKK.  I cringed to learn that people still said the n-word (I still don't feel comfortable even typing it here).  I was appalled to think that anyone was still as racist as I had read in books.  But then, I saw some violent behavior.  I kept hearing about blacks perpetrating crime on the news.  It was the opposite end of the spectrum.  I started to be nervous around black people.  I'd notice that I felt uneasy around them.  I'd hold my purse a little tighter in the elevator with them.  I didn't try to defend them as much.  What was happening to me?

Then I went to work for a Texas call center where I was the minority.  Most people I worked with were black.  I didn't like it.  Not at all.  I didn't understand their clothes, their speech patterns, nothing.  But then I started to talk to them.  These weren't the highly educated black people from Geneseo.  Nor were they the people I saw in the streets in Tampa.  No, these Dallas call center blacks were normal people just trying to make a living.  They had the same dreams as me.  They had the same love for their families.  But, they didn't have as much hope as I did.  I knew that I was in a temporary situation.  I knew I was better than taking sales calls.  They didn't.

As a PhD student, I'm learning more about race.  I'm learning about Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist theory.  I'm learning that sharing these experiences is a good thing.  I shouldn't shy away from my memories or pretend my feelings don't exist.  I should recognize that just as there is a wide range of white people, there is also a range of black people.  There isn't just one black identity any more than there is just one white identity.  I've met some observant black people who pointed out the media portrayal of black people is unfair.  I've heard their commentary that takes me to places I hadn't considered before.  I love that we can talk about these things openly.  I'm growing in my knowledge of the fact that oppression still exists through the work of people like bell hooks, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Patricia Collins, Shirley Brice Heath, and Jonathon Kozol.  I am not an expert in what it means to be black and I never will be.  That isn't my lived experience.  But what I have lived has been a journey that I think is worth sharing.

Malcolm Gladwell- The Tipping Point

Gladwell's book was so well written and offered such compelling ideas, that I immediately decided I needed to teach the contents to my Speech Communications class. If you are interested, you can find it here http://prezi.com/mc0vtvu_-kdj/gladwel.... The basic argument? Change isn't dependent on a massive movement. Instead, ideas that catch on begins with individuals who are especially connected, informed, or enthusiastic within a certain context that is presented in a compelling way. This dynamic view about how change happens and how ideas spread is useful for many different fields. Understanding the power that certain individuals have and being able to target them as customers or as advocates can make the difference in spreading ideas. Being aware that the way an idea is presented matters, that the issue itself needs to be important enough to people, and that human beings like certain things is important to targeting the ideas that matter. But then, the knowledge that context makes a difference can let us know that even something doesn't work in one situation doesn't mean that it won't work elsewhere (or another time), and that something that worked before may not work now. This one will have a prominent place on my shelf as a book that I'll return to when I'm writing my own research. Thanks for the great book, Gladwell.

He also did an interesting interview about his book, which you can find at http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/

And, if you want to hear him talk, he did a TED Talk (I love TED talks) about Choice, happiness, and spaghetti sauce, which you can view here http://youtu.be/iIiAAhUeR6Y

Or, you can also view his TED Talk where he Explains Why Human Potential is Being Squandered here http://youtu.be/kspphGOjApk. 

Happy reading and watching!

Read this book! A Review of Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

 

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. When I was doing my undergraduate, I was required to read a book called "A Child Called It". It was actually required for all teacher candidates at SUNY Geneseo because the book was that impactful. This book rates as high as that one, in my opinion. Every person who has contact with a person with disabilities should read this book. It is a reminder that physical disabilities do not equal mental disabilities, and that the people who are not fortunate enought to be 'normal' are probably more 'normal' than we give them credit for. This book is about remembering how human beings should treat each other, and it is about understanding.

The book centers around a young girl who is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. At a young age, she is given an intelligence test that she fails, because the test is reliant on her ability to physical move objects and to speak, she can do neither. Doctors tell her parents that she should be sent to a home where she can be cared for and out of their way. Instead, her parents are fiercely protective of her, insisting that she lead as normal a life as possible. She is enrolled at her local elementary school. At first, she is placed in a segregated special population class. She feels tormented by the simple topics that are repeated to her over and over again, because she is much more intelligent than anyone gives her credit for. After watching television specials about history, science, and business and listening to books on tape, she is able to retain information better than 'normal' kids. She can't vocalize her frustration, and it hurts her not to be able to say what is on her mind. Although she has a board that she can point to that has words on it to enable her to communicate simple concepts and phrases, more than anything, she wants to speak like a regular person. Thankfully, she is able to do so with the use of a special computer. Once she is given the gift of communication through technology, she shows her school just how smart she is. People start to recognize her as someone who is witty and loving. She even gets chosen to represent the school in a national quiz competition, something that she is immensely proud to be part of. However, the end shows that sometimes things don't work out like we hope. There isn't always a happy ending, but at least there's a lesson learned.

A quiet indictment of the way schools treat special needs kids, this book should be on the required books list for all teacher candidates. Not only that, but any person who has contact with someone with physical disabilities should read this book. My point is- READ THIS BOOK!

 

Check out her author webpage at: http://sharondraper.com/

If you want to read more about cerebral palsy, this is a great resource:

Cerebralpalsy.org

Want to know more about the history of inclusion in schools?  Check out : brighthubeducation.com

More about the limitations of IQ tests can be found at: http://www.unc.edu/~rooney/iq.htm

For more about "A Child Called It" go to: Dave Pelzer's Author Page

 

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A Holly Jolly Classroom

The days before Christmas break are always interesting to plan for.  Teachers don’t want to start anything new, because students will be away too long to remember what they did before the break.  Students are so excited they can’t sit still in their seats; because they are so ready for time off they can barely stand it.  Classrooms are filled with the smell of gingerbread cookies and cupcakes lovingly crafted at home for sharing.  Smiles are on practically everyone’s faces. 

What is a teacher to do?  Continue as normal?  Some teachers choose to.  Sometimes things get in the way so much that it is impossible to finish every state standard on time if there isn’t a nose-to-the-grindstone attitude in class.  I can understand that.  But, if at all possible, it is good to wrap up a unit the day before break and leave that last day for more creative endeavors. 

One idea that is clearly still standards based is to have students write letters of thanks and cheer to soldiers.  This lesson could work for any K-12 classroom.  Even the tiniest tots  Making the kids think about the people who sacrifice for them is a great thing.  Besides, the soldiers like to hear a thank you from time to time. 

Another is to make cards or write stories for elderly that are in a nursing home without family to visit with them.  When I was a kid, we always did this for Girl Scouts.  We’d even deliver the letters ourselves and then Christmas carol.  One year, I recall even playing an impromptu piano recital for a small group of them.  I felt honored to make them smile, and I’m fairly certain that many students would feel the same if they were given the opportunity.

There’s a program at my school where the Spanish teacher and the History teacher take the kids to a child care facility.  Kids that are abandoned or abused often don’t get to enjoy Christmas as much as their more fortunate peers.  Asking students to bring a gift to share with the kids and then delivering it to the home is a great experience for both.  The kids who donate and the kids who receive both learn the importance of taking care of each other.  I can’t help but smile when students whip out their smartphones to show me a picture of ‘their kid’ at the home and talk about how they can’t wait to go back to see ‘their kid’ again. 

Finally, letting students have a board game day is another fun idea.  Many kids don’t play board games anymore.  It is coming to be a lost past-time, as they are so wrapped up in games on their phones and on consoles.  Playing a board game promotes interaction and excitement, if the right one is chosen.  For example, the game Apples to Apples is fantastic for vocabulary development and cultural literacy.  It is social, causing people to ask questions and justify their answers.  Laughter abounds, but, as a teacher, I still feel confident that students are learning.  They ask when they don’t know a word a person on their card. Students justify their choices.  It is brilliant. 

There’s nothing traditional school-like about any of these holiday break ideas, but in each of them, students are clearly becoming more literate.  These are the kind of things that make school fun and relevant.  When the students can learn and still have fun, that is the best kind of education. 

Statistics or Sadistics

This clever title comes from the book "Statistics for People Who Think They Hate Statistics" by Neil Salkind. 

Statistics makes me queasy.  I see an article with a bunch of numbers and graphs in it, and I panic.  The idea of writing using stats is almost unthinkable to me.  However, quantitative research is highly lauded in both the Literacy field and in Learning Technologies.  This means I have to get over my fear and learn it. Just because it scares me, doesn't mean it is without value.

This is a somewhat voluntary adventure in numeric reporting.  That's right- this course is not required for me.  I'm not running away from it.  I'm running toward it.  Putting off learning statistics is only going to serve to delay the inevitable. 

My professor is Dr. Gerald Knezek, a Regents Professor at University of North Texas.  After the requisite survey of basic course requirements, he had our class do an exercise in looking at the basics of statistics.  Asking us to make a table of the heights of all members of the class, he required us to line up in order of height.  This kinesthetic technique is effective in helping the beginning student to understand mean, median, and mode. 

Thankfully, I'm not completely new to statistics.  I have read quantitative research articles before, even though I didn't understand every term.  I've had the Masters level statistics course.  I have the gist of some of the terminology.  However, I still appreciated the fact that he went way back to square one. It makes me feel like I can conquer this content.

Using the SPSS program, we then ran some basic reports.  I was surprised by how easy it was to use.  After filling out an excel spreadsheet and importing it into the program, it spit back the standard deviations.  Then we talked about the Cohen's d effect size.  A simple subtraction and division formula, even I could handle it. Sometimes computers can truly make life easier.  This is one of those times.  I'm looking forward to seeing what else the program can do for me. 

After this initial class, I don't think that statistics is sadistic.  It is just that I need to understand what it all means to be able to use it.  Bring it on!

A Response to Hirsch's The Knowledge Deficit

Although there is some repetition from previous books, as other reviewers have pointed out, sometimes repetition is necessary to get the point across.  I believe he did this purposely.  His argument remains the same across his books- that the American school system needs to establish some common curriculum content and sequencing in order to allow students to gradually acquire knowledge. That said, the main points of the book are different than his others. 

In this book, Hirsch explains how our current education system rides on the beliefs of Romanticism, that learning naturally unfolds.  If this were true, then there would be no need for formal education, nor explicit instruction.  It is true that some learning happens through implicit instruction.  Hirsch explains how vocabulary develops through exposure to rich content and communication. 

When considering how reading develops, he positions himself in a moderate position, recognizing the need for phonics instruction and grammar while still considering situated meaning and rich material.  For Hirsch, one thing that can be removed from school instruction is the endless string of skill-based strategies, because he believes reading isn't about a skill, but rather it is about comprehension.  We need to focus on developing background knowledge for that which is presumed to be self-evident. 

He also points out how testing is necessary, but that the standards don't match what is tested. How can they, when they are so generalized and vague? He points out that teachers are left in an uncomfortable predicament, "The tests are coming!  We don't know what topics the children will be asked to read about.  The tests will probe reading comprehension skills, so we must teach those skills!" (94).  When nobody is sure what content will be on the examinations, and the examinations determine funding, there is no other reasonable approach to reading instruction than to view it as skills based.  He points out that if standards were clear and tied to the tests, then schools would be able to fulfill the requirements for meeting AYP. 

Beyond the accountability issue, there is also the issue of a common culture.  In order to trust each other, we need to share some things in common.  He argues for somewhere between 40 to 60 percent.  This would allow more than enough room for diversity and local tradition.  But, he does question the concept of local tradition.  Local districts don't have specific standards listed either.  They want local control, then leave it to the teacher to decide what to teach.  For Hirsch, this is a problem.

As a high school teacher who has had high success on standardized tests, I am still critical of these tests.  I don't mind standards, but I do wish they were more specific.  I find myself playing a guessing game about what the state really wants.  I'm not sure, so I try to find a combination of texts that I believe will build a diverse background.  Combining selections from the textbook and things that I bring to the table, I do the best I can.  But, my students are capable of so much more.  They are hungry for information, and get excited when they see connections to their world or to other subjects.  They like to be challenged, as long as the task is within their reach.  There are many things wrong with our school system.  One of them is that we do need a more coherent curriculum.  Social Studies and English should work hand in hand to build background knowledge based on classical literature, history, and American values. 

The problem is the "nuts and bolts" question.  What are we going to teach?  Who will decide? In Cultural Literacy, Hirsch provided his list of suggestions.  Harold Bloom also has a list of suggestions.  Looking at both those lists, I agree with some choices, but not others.  As a digital native, I'd like to see more contemporary choices represented.  In order to settle this question, I propose that an annual or biannual convention be put together with the purpose of determining the list.  Let a combination of people be represented.  Make sure to include teachers in addition to professors, business leaders and politicians.  Include leaders of minority and majority interest groups.  Get the discussion started.