Teachers....and teaching

The Ups and Downs of Dyslexia, Part 3

2012-02-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

[My eye after the operation is coming along. I may get the stitches out in two weeks--can you imagine stitches in your eye? And don't rub it if it itches. Yeah, !]

I'm almost through the book, "The Dyslexic Advantage" by Eide and Eide, MDs, (2011). In quite the same way when I read John Dewey's book on Education and Democracy, I read several paragraphs in the Dyslexic Advantage and then have to stop, recollect and ponder what might have been in my life.

It has become increasing clear that we have to teach our wanna-be teachers in new methods of dealing with children and students that have different learning styles. Phonics is not the only answer to teaching of reading although I have taught phonics, I did teach other methods of reading. And I believe we are on the brink of a new education in our society. The iPad (regardless of the make) will revolutionize our teaching whether we want it to change or not. It just will and we teachers will have to catch up.

For example, I've been reading some children's stories on my iPad. Now remember some Dyslexics can see better off a screen then on regular paper. Let us imagine a second grade student reading in a grade level reading book. The assignment by the teacher is for the class (or reading group) to read the stories and answer the questions written on the blackboard. Sound familiar? So our young student does just that--she/he like to read. However she comes to a word which she/he tries to sound out phonetically which she/he does but still doesn't understand the meaning of the word. Seeing in context also doesn't help this student. What to do? In an ordinary traditional class, the proper behavior is for the student to raise their hand in the air, indicating a need for teacher's help. However, teacher has a few other hands to assist before getting to our young student.

Now consider this same student reading the same story on an ipad. Same sentence and same stumbling block--same word. Only this time the student places her index finger on the word and holds it there for a short moment. Quickly a dictionary explanation of the word is popped up over the reading page. It will even say the word out loud if requested. Still don't understand? Here is another pop-up frame showing, doing or examples of the word in action. It is better then a hassled teacher. Hey, this even works for us adults. There are a lot words I just don't understand--some of which have been invented by the younger crowd. I want to stay connected.

Decording words and then understanding their meaning is the basis for reading. If you can't read well you are in trouble in this society. I can attest to this fact personally.

When I entered the doctoral program at the University of Washington my mode of operation was to write all my papers on a small electric typewriter. [side bar: did you know when they first invented the typing machine, the people, mostly women, who learn to type were called Typewriters. Over the years the name has moved from person to machine] I would rough out my paper on paper and then sit at the typewriter and begin to compose my paper for whatever class i was taking. After the first draft, I would go back and redefine it and smooth it out the best I could. Then I would hand it to my wife who would mark it up--primarily with two types of markings, one for understanding (this sentence doesn't make sense) or spelling errors. The latter were numerous. She would put in the correct spelling for me. I then re-typed the paper and returned it to her for final checking. Once approved, I would then use 26 pound water marked paper for my final work. Yes, yes, it had white ink on it as my typing was not always that good. Lynn would do a final reading and then I'd used the three holed punch and put it a hard folder.

I had done some simple research during my masters program. I handed a stack of student papers and asked a number of professors to grade them without reading the material in them. Papers in folders consistently got higher marks, probably because they were easier to write on the paper--hard material behind them.

So that was my modus operandi. You with me so far? Writing papers was time consuming operation. Fast forward with me to the early eighties and I'm now a professor at Western Washington University in media communications (in education). I was the preverbal audio-visual guy. But I was still fascinated by computers and had already bought a 16K Processor Technology computer. Very, very simple, it didn't even have a form of saving your work. I basically learned to program on it--and not very well at that. We gave it to the university and they in turn gave me a letter saying we donated this machine and it was worth so much money in kind. But that gave me some saving on my income tax and Lynn and I went to Seattle to buy our second computer.

I remember driving down I-5 quite excited. We were going to buy a Osborn 1 computer that had good write-ups and was a next generation microcomputer. The shop and it indeed was a small shop was just outside the university district had a stack of these computers in the store window. They came in a case that looked much like a sewing machine but when the top of taken of was folded back it looked more like a World War II radio, black with a little green screen perhaps five inches. It had two slots on either side and a keyboard.

I remember the salesman saying we should buy a large screen since if you used the little screen on the computer you could write half a sentence and then would have scroll to the other side to type the rest of your sentence. Weird. He also had us buy ten floppy disks for a rather expensive price.

We got the computer home to Bellingham and set it up in the living room on the coffee table in front of the couch and Lynn proceeded to read me the instructions. We first made copies of the software, the first time I've ever done that task.

We then loaded "WordStar" one of the first word processing programs ever written. One could write a paper, make corrections, cut and paste, check spelling, change the size of the font and do many other tasks not available on a typewriter. At one point I typed something in the computer and then had the spell checker go over it. It blinked on the screen that I misspelled fifty four percent of the words and it included the exact number of words misspelled. It was humiliating. And yet, I saw something else--freedom. And I started to cry. Really hard. I was letting go of some of my dyslexia although at the time I didn't realize it. I HAD a spellchecker! As some teens today would say, "OMG!"

Gentle reader--this is one of the major points in my life, right behind getting married and getting drafted. I saw instantly how my life was going to change. I now could write papers for presentations, for publications, for internal reviews. There was just one problem. We had nothing to print on.

So the very next day we returned to Seattle, went to the store and the salesman was waiting for us. "Need a printer?" And we acquired our first Epson Dot-Matrix printer. Compared with today's ink jet printers it was horrible--noisy, not very good looking, with a ragged top and bottom. "Besides the printer, you'll need a carton of fan fold paper." Gee, thanks, anything else we've forgotten?

We came home with our "extras" and that evening I wrote my first grant request for the College of Education for our first computer laboratory. I proposed my idea, justified it and wrote it up on my new Osborn 1. I handed to the head of the committee on computers at Western. It was accepted--almost. They didn't give us all the money for the first Apple computer lab for the College of Education, but most of it. They also "copied" my request, changed the word Apple to IBM and gave the first laboratory to the College of Arts and Science.

Politics as seen within a university.

I still have the Osborn 1 computer and that dot-matrix Epson printer. I'm emotionally attached to them and they sit dust covered in a closet in my office here at home. My iPhone is far more powerful and useful but I still love that old Osborn. Some day in the future someone will be cleaning out this house and wonder why I kept that old computer and printer. A dyslexic person might understand, then again if they are young, they might not.

I think this is the end of my discussions on dyslexia in the schools. We've come at least a short way into understanding that learning style. And we've come a long way in the use of technology to accommodate different learning styles for a lot of students--but not far enough. We need to do more

I am interested that as I continue to read John Dewey's Democracy and Education, written so many years ago in that he favored different teaching methods to accommodate individual students. All students are different--one size doesn't fit all. Unfortunately because of budget cuts, we're trying to fit all humans into the same box. And dyslexics tend to think outside the box.

Thanks for those teachers that try to accommodate the different ways children and young adults want to learn.

The Dyslexic Advantage, Part 2

2012-01-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

[my apologies for not writing sooner--my excuse is that I had an eye operation. I'm better now.]

My emotions are all confused and I laugh at times and I cry at times. I can report that while having breakfast at a restaurant and reading The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock Eide and Fernette Eide, both MDs, I find it hard to cry when reading an important point in this book that has in the past effected me. You just don't cry in a public restaurant.

But this is a powerful book. Based on it alone I think we need to make major changes in our education systems. What I am finding is that I am not alone. There are many people who have dyslexia and have become successful people in our society. Indeed, some have done quite well if what the authors Eides have written. But there are many who struggle with the problem and wonder why they are so dumb. Of course, they are not but given our school systems, too many teachers do not recognize those that may and have dyslexia. But there is nope in this textbook.

I am making a formal request to my old Woodring College of Education that every faculty member be given a copy of this book. I doubt if I could expect all to read it but enough will and I believe will see that the education system needs to be changed. I also think that ALL teachers, from kindergarten to twelfth
grade be required reading.

I have bought both the Kindle edition and a hard copy edition. Easier to take notes on the hard copy

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As you recall I was teaching in a grade school when I realized that I had dyslexia. It certainly explained why I had so many problems in school while I was growing up. Interestingly enough I find that other people have used the same "coping" mechanisms that I did....like always be polite to the teacher and look like you are trying your best. Make your work neat. Never turn in something scribbled. And participate in class discussions. Actually I think that became one of my fortes in high school was class discussions. When you do all of these things then when your test doesn't measure up, the teacher comments that you are just a bad test taker. Boy, were they correct. Still, in spite of my problems in school I graduated from high school in the upper ranks of my class. How come?

I took a lot of music and art and civics. I stayed away from classes that had a lot of rote memory such as chemistry, mathematics and history. I could never remember dates or names. You see, dyslexic students by and large have a terrible memory for data. Ask me the capitals of the states and I would flunk. But ask me about the western movement and I could go on for days explaining how our country was developed and how technology helped improved it.

According to the Eides there are two types of memory, data or facts and episodic In my case it is indeed true that I can recite whole folk tales but if you ask me when it was written and by who, I couldn't tell you. Most dyslexics have episodic or declarative memory. The facts are embedded in the telling.

The Eides tell of a young woman who wanted to be a geologist but she had a very difficult time in high school and in college. She managed by sheer effort to graduate and to get a position with an oil company. From there is was all success as she was able to look at the terrain, rocks and sub-soils and predict with great accuracy where the oil and gas would be located. Her method in doing this was to recreate how the land had been formed, episodic if you will. But she could not look at the data and make predictions from mere numbers.

One of the factors that has affected me in the reading of this book is that dyslexic people "see things in their head." My oh my, that was scary when I read that but it is true I can visualize and predict.

I've already told you that when I was working on my doctorate at the University of Washington I was given the task of playing with an IBM 360-40 computer that they put in my office. Well, they put the teletype that connected to that computer. That teletype became one of the most important episodes in my life. From that moment on I knew that computers would become a powerful force in education. My whole career has been centered on that epic moment. I use to say that my predictions were intuition but I now realize that my brain was already looking at scenes that contained computers.

There were many problems I had during my time in studying for my doctorate. Of course they want you to write in all your classes and I was a poor writer. I have gotten better but i still consider myself a poor writer although I am considering writing a novel. We'll see. But in those classes where thinking outside the box was considered valuable, I did fairly well. It was interesting that I did well in philosophy of education. I couldn't write it but I could articulate it. I could see where decisions in educational policy could affect the system and I speak to those points. So like most dyslexic people I had strong point and weak points. On the weak points, i coped. That is what most dyslexic students do, cope. Find ways to get around or how to dazzle so that the other person doesn't see your faults. Or to hide in a group.

One thing that I noticed in this book on Dyslexia and that I have read in other books on the same subject is that dyslexic people know they are smart but they are not sure how they are smart. But many of us have this drive to succeed in spite of what the world thinks of us.

In another book, I'm not sure which one, there is a story of a young boy growing up in the prairies of central Canada in a strict environment. Everytime he missed an answer or got something wrong he was told to hold out his hand, palm up, and it was hit with a ruler a number of times according to the wrong answer. I remember the person telling the tale saying that at times he had calluses on the palms of his hands. But in spite of the hits with a ruler over the years he consistently knew he was smart. He just didn't know the material they way they wanted him to know it. Rote memory and he wasn't good at that.

The more I read in The Dyslexic Advantage the more I know that the policy of "No Child Left Behind" and the testing that went on within that program was doomed to failure. There isn't a dyslexic kid out there that could pass one of those tests. I'm not sure I could even now. Those tests are based on data which we can't fathom. Our memory doesn't work that way.

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I did promise to tell you how "I came out" and explained that I was dyslexic to the world. I was teaching at Western Washington University in the Woodring School of Education--very new to the position and wet behind the ears so to speak. But I remember in one of my Instructional Technology courses showing how machines can help students learn. I forget now what machines I was working on, it could have been an early computer but I said something like, "Since I have dyslexia, learning from this machines is much easier and helpful to me." It wasn't anything important, just emphasizing a point. However it was at my next office hours that two students showed up, not to talk about technology in the classroom but about being a dyslexic. Both wanted to know how I got "this far" and what could I tell them that would be helpful. We talked for quite awhile and I believe that all three of us felt better after the discussion but I'm not sure I gave them any succinct help. But a curious thing happened. From time to time I would get a student in my office that wanted to know about how to cope with dyslexia. Some of these students weren't even in my class. Word had gotten around that there was this prof who understood being a dyslexic.

In fact word had gotten around far enough that a librarian in education contacted me and said she, too, was a dyslexic and she was quite delighted that I had let the student know about it. So the two of us formed a bond of friendship on being dyslexic. We sometimes sent a student to the other for further counseling or help.

There were sad times in all of this. A young female student came to me in tears one day saying she was flunking a basic mathematics course--required. I wrote some numbers down on sheet of paper and asked her what they were and she couldn't tell me. She really couldn't see numbers. She could read the story problem but she quite often got the numbers either backwards or mixed up. I then attempted to get the Mathematics department to allow this student to have a reader and/or to use a calculator. The Mathematics department was against all attempts to deviate from the norm. Either she did it the same way as other students or she would fail.

She didn't fail. She dropped out of college. I think she was smart but she didn't have enough coping mechanism to know what to do in math. I still have problems wondering how we should teach mathematics to students. I believe irt is a major problem in our society. I wonder what ever became of that young female student--did she succeed at something? Did she always feel bad about herself?

This is an intense subject for discussion. Those without dyslexia need to study it as much as those that have the thinking problem. But if I am to believe what the authors Eides have written, this world needs dyslexic people to see things as they might be. These are our entrepreneurs of the future. As President Kennedy once said, "I see things that are and say why. But I see things that are not and say why not." (paraphrased)

My best to you all and to all those teachers who saw something in me besides problems I give my heartfelt thank you.

The Dyslexic Advantage..Part 1

2012-01-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I have been reading, between wrapping packages, decorating the tree and visiting with friends and neighbors, the book, The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain," by Brock L. Eide and Fernette F. Eide. While reading this book I have yelled in enthusiasm, cried real tears, wondered what might have been, and have been sad and positive in the same moment. It is a very positive book about dyslexia. It's about hope and opportunities for those that have this type of brain. I'll write more about this book in a future blog. What i plan to write today is an individual's background being a dyslexic--me. Problems, hopes, techniques, the sadness of it all...

The earliest I remember being in school was in second grade in Harrison, New York. I knew early on I was different--I had troubles with spelling words, with reading and in doing "my numbers." That's all I remember of the class except that the female teacher was big. Not fat, but a large grandmotherly type who was not friendly. That's what I remember. I also remember wanting to do well.

One of the subjects was spelling where we would get a number of new words on Monday. I forgot what we did during the week but there would be a test on the words on Friday with special paper, a thin strip with lines big enough for each word. We would write our name on the top and then print the words as the teacher spoke them. I guess most kids did well--I didn't and I would get "D's" and "F's". I remember asking my Dad to help me learn the words. He helped me each night for a week to write my words and he would make games of how to spell each word. I think there were twenty words.

On Friday I was ready. During that week I probably wrote those words at least a hundred times each! So when the teacher passed out those slips of paper for our spelling words, I was ready. She would say the word and I would write it down. When the test was over the teacher who had been walking around the class reciting the spelling words, looked at my paper and said that I had cheated. Then she had me clean out my desk looking for how I had cheated. There was nothing of course, but she was sure I had cheated. I don't know if Mom or Dad ever came to the school about this -- I doubt it. But at that point spelling became the bane of my existence.

It may have been in that same grade that I began to know I was different. Everyday some lady came for me, took me out of class and we went to some small room where she worked with me to learn how to read. I don't remember what she did with me but I did learn to read but differently from the rest of the class. I could not "sound out a word" but I could skim it and get the meaning from its relationship in the sentence. I will always be grateful for whatever that person did with me to get me to read.

But life did not get better even though I began to read a lot. With the help of my dad I did learn my multiplication tables up to the 9's. He made a Ferris wheel which he spun and I would have to give the answer of eight times ??? whatever the wheel would select. But the effort that we put into memorizing the numbers was astronomical as to what other kids did. I could see that. Maybe I was born without a complete brain!

On the other hand there were times when I could shine. Other kids had troubles with maps, I didn't. I loved maps and made up stories about the places on the maps. And I could draw better then most kids. I would illustrate my papers with drawings.

I was already a member of the boys choir at church and could sing in tune. And I could read music so that in the public school I did well in music--better then my peers. I figured I just had more practice then the other kids but I did like music and art.

So a quick summary at this point in my school career--I could read reasonably well except when the teacher asked me to sound out a word. Phonetic reading was beyond me...I couldn't see the letters by themselves. I was terrible at numbers except for the times tables. I had troubles adding large sums but if I took my time I could do them. But a time test was my undoing. Spelling was also terrible but I learned to use a dictionary fairly well. But well into my early college days I could not spell. Papers I had written for my music professors would come back with rather nasty comments.

However, it was World War II and my family moved many times to adjust to war work. I had eight different schools by the eighth grade. So I suspect some things got over looked during my grade school days (up to the eighth grade--no middle school)

I ended up in the sixth grade in Richland, Washington, a war town. I would impress the teachers by my reading abilities and I would escape by being quiet and not causing problems.....just read about far away places. But I had problems with left and right. We learned to march but I was always turning the wrong way. One day we had physical education outdoors by playing softball. As usual I would be one of the last to be chosen, a horrible fate for a sixth grader. My side was up to bat and it was my turn. I remembering almost begging in my mind, "let me hit the ball well..please!" AND I DID! I was thrilled and ran to third base, then on to second--when the teacher stopped the game and took me by my hand and in front of the entire class, walked me to the first base, then the second and finally the third and then home...saying something to me about not paying attention or not being serious about playing the game. I don't remember playing before this time and first and third looked the same to me. It probably was the reversal feature that dyslexics have that caused me to "go wrong." To this day, this is probably the most humiliating and embarrassing moment in my life. In front of the whole class. I still remember it with great detail even though it was sixty eight years ago. Sad.

I got through high school by taking mostly music and art courses. I don't know how I got through two years of Spanish--it was a memory course. And I stayed away from courses that I realized would take much memory like chemistry. Algebra was difficult for two reasons, left and right and my eyes were going bad. At the end of algebra I got glasses which pretty much have not been off me since. One thing I did in high school was to take courses in which memory was not crucial. So I took typing I and II and machine equipment. It was for girls wanting to become secretaries. Because there was no rule I got registered in those classes. Strange because those skills have become my most important muscular skills that i have. Who would have know that keyboarding would be important.

Strangely enough I graduated near the top of my class but it was a large class. Other kids made me look good. Sometime during my junior year I remember "talking" to myself. Taking stock so to speak. I knew I was good but in what I didn't know. I knew I could think but then again, why couldn't I do math? I knew memory was a big fault of mine. I could remember strange things in my past but I couldn't remember a phone number. I could write down the first three numbers but then I would have go back and look at the final four before I could write them down. I could memorize a complete musical phrase on my trumpet but I couldn't memorize the capitals of the states. I could tell the story of Lewis and Clark, the problems and help they got but I couldn't remember the years they did it. I was sure my brain was defective in some manner.

But I liked people and thought for a while about becoming an Episcopal priest. But I was not sure about religion. I then turned to becoming a music teacher. I felt that I could have done just as well as the teachers that I had in high school. My goal then was to become a high school music teacher.

College had it's ups and downs. I had a lot more required courses such as geology, biology, psychology, history, and.....math. But I also had band, jazz band, marching band, choir, music composition, directing....and individual music lessons on different instruments. My favorite courses were in education. I was home! I know now it was not the greatest education but it fitted me well. Of those earlier courses I learned much on how to study.

In one Education course an assignment during the Thanksgiving break was to visit a school and write a report about it. I visited a brand new school and took black and white pictures of all the new ideas the district and the architect had designed into the school building to improve learning. Back at college I pasted the pictures on sheets of paper and then wrote about what each picture was about. An intro and ending and I was done. Lot less words then were required for the assignment but I took a chance. It paid off. The prof was delighted with my report and spent an entire class presentation talking about the importance of the building to learning. I "A" that assignment and learned that I could report without words all the time. I continued with that trend.

This was in 1951 to 1955. Dyslexia was not know at that time and universities and colleges really didn't care if you were a handicapped person. You were on your own. So I learn to cope. One of the things I did was to type all my papers. Most everyone else at the time were hand writing their papers.

Let's jump ahead here to the early 1960s. I had gone to war (Korean) and had returned. The district was going to fire the music teacher who replace me but I negotiated with them to keep me as a fifth grade teacher as we would need two elementary music teachers in the near future. They were happy with this arrangement and so I began my elementary classroom career.

During the spring of that first year I elected to go to a workshop for several weeks in the late afternoons after school in the Renton School District. In those days teachers had to acquire some many "credits" within five years to gain their fifth year certification. I was trying to pick up a credit by going to a workshop on Dyslexia. All I knew about this new word was that it had to do with a learning disability that some students had. In the workshop we would learn to recognize the symptoms and develop some strategies on helping students overcome their deficiencies.

I don't remember much of the workshop however, I do remember the speaker listing the characteristics of children with dyslexia: poor readers, terrible spellers, bad in math, poor memory, appear to be lazy workers, talk a lot, do not write well. Shoot, that speaker was almost talking about me. Later on she passed out a test to identify dyslexics which we all took. Except I scored high on the test.

I went home that night quite upset. Although what I had learned that day at the workshop confirmed that I did learn differently they made it sound like I had a major problem. I wondered if they would allow me to continue to teach if I were a dyslexic? As research reports slowly were published on dyslexia I read everything that came my way. Most school districts really didn't know much about the learning problem so my job was safe. And we really didn't do anything for those students who like had dyslexia. It took several years to establish a policy of just recognizing the learning style and then scare the hell out of parents by telling them their child was dyslexic.

My personal feelings is that the elementary teachers tried different teaching/learning styles to see what they could do with a dyslexic child and passed that on their colleagues. I'm not sure if the high school contingent of teachers make any changes in their teaching behavior. If they did I didn't hear of those changes.

Part 2 will deal with my coming to terms with dyslexia, admitting that I had the learning style and being surprised at the result from others around me.

A Holiday Offering....

2011-12-09T16:17:00.001-08:00

From Thanksgiving to the beginning of the new year teaching becomes more difficult. Grade school kids are excited and teachers have to solve the age old question, "Is Santa Claus real?" High school teachers deal with the problem of their students telling them that their family is going to visit relatives and they will not be in class for X-amount of days. Yes, districts have policies about all of this but reality lives on.

In recent years school policies also include what books one can read to your class. Of course religious books are prohibited and it is a wise school administrator that has a parents advisory committee on what might be allowed and what needs referring. I remember in one school, as the elementary music teacher I was not allowed to teach the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which in my mind was not religious but about giving gifts but I was overruled. However, I could teach "What shall we do with a drunken Sailor." Some days I couldn't get my mind around these problems.

One of my problems was to find something to read to my fourth grade class that had a nice holiday theme to it. At that time I really didn't find much on the library shelf. Today there are more books available. But from my time I started to write a children's story about a cat who liked Christmas Trees. Over the past twenty some years I have been refining it, re-writing and fine tuning it to my satisfaction. It's not quite ready but as an offering to you for this holiday season I submit now with the warmest wishes for a wonderful season.

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The Perrrfect Tree

He was curled up on some double braided lines that had been thrown carelessly on the deck, with his tail covering his nose, perhaps to keep it warm but more likely to keep as much of the smells of yesterday’s ancient fish, diesel fumes, and malodorous bilge water smells from penetrating the interior of his dark, cold and wet as well as sensitive nose. Wadsworth was a young gray cat with incredibly soft short fur who was not happy.

The gill net fishing boat rocked back and forth at the dock, the sea gulls shrieked at him from above, it was misting and he was all wet, and his stomach was hungry....Wadsworth was definitely unhappy. Reaching his front paws forward and leaning backwards he stretched and then with an easy leap reached the gunnels and then down to the dock. So on this early dank fall day, Wadsworth headed down the dock and up the ramp to terra firma.

Ralph, the wharfinger, was looking out his office window and watched the young cat move with an easy grace up the ramp. Ralph had a cat, Stumpy, who at the moment was nowhere to be seen which was good for Wadsworth who was stoking up on Stumpy’s food dish.

“Hey, Ralph! Ya got a new cat?”

Responding to Dana, one of the boat owners going to check on his boat, Ralph yelled back. “He just showed up on my doorstep. Came somewhere off a boat. Is he yours?”

Wadsworth wasn’t about to linger. Living with the wharfinger would only be slightly better then on a fishing boat. He would still be too near the smells, the sounds of the working docks, those annoying seagulls and the damp salty air. Then there was the constant pounding of halyards against the aluminum masts. There must be a better place for me in this world thought the cat.

Wadsworth walked across the large parking lot skirting the empty spaces but going close to the parked cars and trucks. Every once in a while, he would stop under a big wheeled truck, staying out of the rain, and just looked around through the gray mist. With a shake of his fur coat, Wadsworth continued on until he had crossed a road and a dirty railroad yard. There was a large warehouse building, not much used, but it did have a place for railroad workers to sit and have some coffee between times when they would cobble up freight trains going either north or south.

Without looking back the young cat walked up a small hill toward the town. There were buildings, more parking lots, cars going to and fro and noisy smelly buses. And bicycles! They would come silently from behind almost running him down....on the streets and on the sidewalks. Bicycles and fishing boats began to compete in his mind as things he could do without. As he passed a Deli, a buxom lady saw him and came to the entry door with a small bowl of fish stew.

Wadsworth sauntered over to the offering, sniffed, then turned his back to it, sat down and began to wash his face. First the left paw which he licked and then rubbed his face--then the right paw was licked and that side of his face was washed. Although hungry, he had had all the fish he would ever consume, thank you. And then he continued on his way.

It took several days before Wadsworth wandered through the neighborhood of homes. The further he went the less he smelled the salt air and he exchanged seagulls for crows and Jays. Wadsworth walked for several days, eating at stray cat dishes on back porches, lightly sleeping in car ports and children’s play houses--but mostly on the move to find a place for himself where he could be happy.

One day as Wadsworth prowled a back yard looking for food he came upon a large board on board cedar six foot fence that lined the back yard. From a convenient low branch to the top of the fence the gray cat made his way and looking from the vantage point of the fence, Wadsworth saw the most beautiful sight that he had encountered in his entire journey. He was looking at the display yard of Bakerview Nursery.

What a sight! As he sat on the fence he could see piles of bark to roll in, all different sizes of pots to jump in and out of, a whole sawdust pile to scratch, there were many bushes and small trees to hide under, display tables in the sun and in the center of it all was a display of a waterfall gurgling down over rocks that drained into a lazy pool full of gold fish. To the right were raised beds of flowers with many walkways throughout the display. It was the perfect place.

The next morning when the display store was opened, Wadsworth walked in with his tail held high. Here were gardening displays, tools, seeds and in one corner a pile of new burlap to be used in wrapping roots of plants. Wadsworth tried the burlap for comfort, turned around twice and curled up with his tail over his nose--for warmth. When he awoke some time later someone had put down a plate of food--turkey and gravy. Not a fish bone to be seen. Now this was what he had been looking for--he had found a home away from the port.

For the next few weeks Wadsworth played and enjoyed Bakerview Nursery. He played in the pots, jumped and made of mess of the bark dust and hid under bushes to jump out to surprise customers. When customers wanted gardening tools, the exquisite gray cat walked ahead of them with his tail up to show them the way. If the customers needed holiday wreaths Wadsworth went and scratched on the display post to show them where they were. And when staff went home at night, Wadsworth would sit and rest by the pool and watch the goldfish before jumping in the bark dust and making another mess. It was the good life.

One day a large truck backed into the parking lot by the front door of the nursery and began to unload Christmas Trees. All sorts of trees, Douglas Fir, Norway Spruce, Virginia Pine and some Fraser Fir. Wadsworth was on top of the trees, he was in the truck, he even rode a tree as the two delivery guys unloaded it to the display stands. There were four foot trees, five foot, six feet and even several that were eighteen feet tall. It was an impressive array of Christmas trees and Wadsworth was quite pleased with himself and his new play area--he would have fun showing customers the right tree for them. It would be a busy holiday season.

It was several weeks before Christmas and all through the nursery holiday stock was flying off the shelves. Outdoor lights were almost sold out and there was precious few Poinsettia plants left on the display rack. The selection of Christmas trees was dwindling rapidly--already the condo/apartment crowd had snapped up all the four foot trees. Not a one left.

Wadsworth was checking out the tree stock when an old, somewhat rusted pickup diesel truck drove up to the front parking lot. Wadsworth slunk down and watch it drive up and a low unexplained growl came from his throat. His fur stood out and his whiskers were all at attention. With his belly to the ground Wadsworth oozed to under a bush where he could watch with slitted eyes. Another growl, low and deep inside.

Wadsworth could smell the salt air and all those long ago boat smells from the port coming from the truck and in the back, a large fish net from a bow picker with more hated smells. Wadsworth growled again.

A young couple with a daughter emerged from the pickup. “Mom, can I look for a Christmas Tree?” said the little girl. But it was Dad that answered. From under a bush, Wadsworth saw the man get down on his knees and he reached out for his daughter in a hug, “Honey, I told you before we left to come here that we can’t have a Christmas tree on our sailboat--it’s only a thirty-four foot Beneteau and even if we could get a small tree if we put it in the salon you wouldn’t be able to go forward to your Vee berth.” “Do you understand, Nora?”

There was a nod of the small head, a shake of some dark curls over her eye and a small tear but she understood. It is so hard to be young and not be able to participate in all the delights of the season. There would be presents to be sure but no tree for Christmas morning. That is how it was when you lived with your parents on a sailboat.

WELL NOW! Wadsworth had heard all of this from his vantage of being under the bush near the front door. And he was a professional nursery cat now. As Lori and Mark went inside to find a wreath to put on the bow of their boat for the season, Wadsworth galvanized himself into action. Bad smells and memories were behind him. He would find Nora a tree.

But the four footers were all gone. You could cut the top of a six footer but it wouldn’t look very good. And then Wadsworth thought of the solution. He immediately went into the store, found the man and rubbed up against his leg. Hard. But Mark was looking at a string of lights that would work on 12 volt, just right for the boat electrical system. Perhaps he could make an outline of a tree using the mast and shrouds. It wouldn’t be like a real tree but it might do.....

“CAT, get off my feet!” Wadsworth was doing all he could to get his attention. He had the real answer. The cat even threw in some purring as he rubbed against the pant legs. Still, Mark did not respond to the cat. This was going to be a difficult sell thought Wadsworth.

“I think this wreath and string of lights will be all,” he said to Lesley and Lynn, the sale clerks who proceeded to ring up the sale.

Wadsworth was beside himself. He even tried scratching on Mark’s pant leg, very unethical behavior for a professional sales cat. “Very interesting cat you have here.” “Enough small talk and politeness,” conjured Wadsworth and with an easy grace jumped on the sales counter and almost without stopping jumped on Mark’s shoulder. “Daddy, that cat really loves you,” giggled Nora.

Both Lynn and Lesley were aghast. “That cat has never done that before--here, let me get him down,” said Lesley, as she reached for the cat. “No, no, no, don’t worry. I like cats,” responded Mark as he rubbed his cheek against the soft fur of Wadsworth side. “This is cool, let him stay and I’ll look around the store a bit more.” “YEEEESSSS,” thought Wadsworth. “Okay, now go this way. Keep going!”

As cat and man moved about the display area, they moved toward double glass doors leading to a cooler area for specialized plants. Wadsworth was leaning, purring, kneading of Mark’s shoulders and practically pushing his face into Mark’s to aim him in the right direction. In this cooler display were the bonsai plants, small Japanese styled trees that were exceptionally small. All were in small and not very deep pots common to this ancient hobby. And all needed special daily care. And there on the entry display table for the bonsai plants was a perfectly formed Douglas fir only eighteen inches high. It was a miniature Christmas Tree that Mole and Rat would have appreciated. And the pot was broad and heavy in just the right balance for the little tree. It wouldn’t slide no matter how rough the water might get in the marina.

Wadsworth jumped down onto the table right next to the little bonsai tree and proceeded to wash his face. Maybe the tail could use a little cleaning as well. But he kept purring.

“Hey, Lori, come over here. Maybe this would work. Look at this little Christmas tree.” Lynn had followed the man with the cat on his shoulder concerned as to what might happen and was quite relieved when she saw Wadsworth jump to the table. “That is a bonsai plant and it has been in training for three years--it’s very young. But I suspect it might do for a short time on your boat. Both Lynn and Lesley had been sailors at one time. “After Christmas you might want to sell it to a collector or plant it somewhere.“

“Lori, what do you think? We could plant it after New Years on the other side of the wharfinger office--that place needs some sprucing up. And we could decorate the tree each Christmas to come.” “Nora, would you like a little Christmas tree for the salon table, Honey.” Nora’s smile was the answer and at the same time she picked up Wadsworth in her arms and rubbed her nose in his side, such soft gray fur. She hugged him and softly said in his fur, “Thank you, Kitten, Thank you.” “Oh for heaven’s sake,” thought Wadsworth, and he wiggled free from Nora’s arms and jumped to the floor. “It’s time for me to check on the goldfish.”

As Wadsworth looked around he saw he still had several eight foot trees to sell and those big eighteen footers. They wouldn’t be a problem--a church or hotel would take them. Yes, it had been a busy season but it was good one. As the pickup truck from the marina pulled away, Wadsworth could see Nora sitting between her parents holding on to her new perrrrfect Christmas tree. Then Wadsworth washed his face one more time.

Merry Christmas to all and to a Happy New Year

Les Blackwell

cc: The Perrrrect Three

2011 Christmas Holiday

Bellingham, WA 98225

'Tis a Puzzlement!

2011-12-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

I really have a dilemma on my hands. In recent postings I have endeavored to create a vision of a hypothetical graduate of a make believe school system. What would this person look like if they were taught OR were allowed to learn from a curriculum that this blog was creating. I had started this development with Leslie Briggs' (Handbook of procedures for the design of Instruction) first area of curriculum concern, that of communications. Reading, writing, art, drama, speaking, dance, music and a few other subjects that my age I have forgotten already. We need to teach these subjects and skills, as John Dewey would say, to keep our society alive and moving forward in knowledge.

I was doing well with my thinking and fantasying of that curriculum until two things happened. First i was introduced to the latest iPhone by Apple with its deceptively intriguing "Siri," a personal digital assistant that you can ask to do things. You can ask it "where am I?" or "Call home," or "what is the square root of 23 times 1.25?" This latter question is how I figure out the theoretical speed of my sailboat when under sail. Can I do that in my head? Not really. But the iPhone 4S can which raises that age old question, "Which knowledge is of most worth?"

I can hear the comments already about what if the battery dies, or what if you drop your phone and it breaks. Those are logical questions but how many of you keep wood chopped in case your furnace breaks down. Or do you keep a horse to back up your car? I'm being silly here but the true question is what knowledge is so important that I need to teach it to my child. Much of what knowledge we use is incidental in nature.

And that is my dilemma. What is most important to teach our children? I'm struggling with this question. And the incredible smart phones are beginning to overwhelm me. Reviewing the last ten years (2002 to 2012) there is so much information or skills that I know that are now obsolete. Useless. Worthless. And much more of my known knowledge is also becoming less valuable.

I was standing in the grocery check out line the other day and I realized that I was the only one in line that wrote a check for my groceries. Everyone else in line was paying by a plastic card except for one other--that person paid by smart phone. I don't know how it works but it was much faster and easier. I suspect it is the future here today. I still have to go home, balance my check book, compare it to my checking account (I can do that on-line) to keep tabs on my finance. I suspect that that gentleman looks at his smart phone and knows exactly what his finances are at any time. Fascinating.

So to my mathematics colleagues who follow this blog, please chime in as to what arithmetic or numbers or concepts or...... do we need to teach our children. This is very troublesome.

The second thing that has really bothered me, i.e., kept me up at night thinking is the book, The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock Eide and Fernette Eide. This book is making me cry, laugh, wonder, yell, and berate the world of education in general. It is a textbook with research and stories about those that have dyslexia, a form of learning that is different from the rest.

I have Dyslexia. In a world that does not recognize this style of learning it puts that person in a difficult position. In most cases, we cannot take written tests and do well. In mathematics we can't always "show" our work for we don't know how we got the right answer. But we are creative and we think outside the box. There was one test in my background that I scored well on--a test given by the US Air Force during my days of ROTC at my undergraduate university. I scored well, actually I scored so high that i had to take the test over again. I still scored well. It was a test of space and connectivity that the Air Force had found to be a good predictor for pilot training. But I wore glasses and that kept me out of the cockpit. Still, my point being that much of our educational process does not work with dyslexic children and young adults.

I highly recommend to any teachers who are still teaching read this book on Dyslexia. It is the best one so far that I have encountered. And if a fourth of our school population might have dyslexia then we have a problem--a major problem.

I wonder if "Teach for America" personnel (I hate calling them teachers until they've had some experience in the classroom) are given any instructions on learning disabilities. Would they recognize the characteristics anyway or are they getting next day's lessons ready. Just a thought.

As you can see, setting up a school system is difficult. How should we go about teaching our children what is important? I read this morning a short article about a Waldorf school (I have appreciated the philosophy of the Waldorf methods) that is prohibiting computers and iPads. I'm not sure I can go along with this policy. But like me, they are struggling with how to teach our children.

As I struggle with this "puzzlement" I wish to thank the teachers who are doing their best to give our children and young adults some guidelines to the future. It is a tough task.

A Pondering of Thoughts

2011-11-12T11:51:00.001-08:00

Please accept my apologies for the long period of nothingness. I have been reading articles and books galore and thinking. The latter is the hardest thing to do at times. I'm fascinated with myself as I can take the easy way out in my thinking--"keep going as we have in the past." Then I remind myself of that philosophical sentence...."How many people keep doing the same thing but expect different results." I tend to fall into that trap.

In reading the articles and editorials about teachers these past few months I've notice a decrease in those attacking teachers in the public schools. It appears that everyone in the negative side want to get rid of poor teachers but it also appears that most of those wanting this objective have different criteria as to what a poor teacher looks like. As I've said, I've seen quite a down turn in negative articles about teachers.

On the other hand, I have seen a number of articles, not quite a trend but certainly interesting, on what makes a good teacher. I hope this continues. While a few of these articles focus on the young teachers bringing new ideas to this classroom I hope we don't over look some of the older teachers who have been successful for twenty or twenty-five years.

Another trend that I have noticed are both articles and television clips on countries that have excellent schools, what they do, and how do the students perform. I was interested in noting that many of the European schools have a much shorter school day--hard to measure as they include a hot meal and then go into leisure time activities, art, music and in Norway's case, skiing. However in the asian schools time in the classroom reaches nine hours a day. I haven't found if the arts are included in the asian schools. Shanghai (China) has a school that on one test scored higher then any other schools worldwide in mathematics and science but a caution, it is only one school and there appears to be a very large waiting list to get into this school. Cream of the crop so to speak. Measuring schools, teachers and students is a very difficult thing as there are many variables to ponder.

I relate all this as I have been pondering as well. What is a good education? Is it just things or "stuff" we learn? What of our society does we want to pass on to our kids?

I admit with somewhat of a smile on my face of the following things that I have learned in school that is useless, obsolete, and of little or no value. For instance, I can develop negatives and then black and white prints (far better and quicker with a digital camera and a computer). I can uncoil hemp rope for sailing ships (they don't make it anymore). I can use special drawing pens for making of overhead transparencies--well, for that matter I can make all sorts of transparencies which we don't use anymore....We now use PowerPoint Presentations. So many things I have learned that are obsolete. I still remember reading in a Boston museum of a parent's letter to a school board complaining of their children using metal nibs for writing--those kids needed to know how to sharpen a turkey quill for writing. Those metal nibs are in my memory bank as I had to use those same nibs in writing. I also had a small bottle in the upper right hand corner of my school desk for ink which the teacher had to go around the room filling said ink "wells". Hence my nick name and the results of some fights on the playground, "Inkwell."

So what should we be teaching our kids? I also have a passion for what is around the corner, what does the future hold for us in this society? Reading the book that I have mentioned earlier, "The Dyslexic Advantage," a characteristic of many Dyslexic people is thinking or seeing outside the box. Many with dyslexia see the world through different eye sight. I guess I'm one of them. Not only what should we be teaching our kids but how should we be teaching them. Or maybe, just maybe we shouldn't be teaching them but guiding them as they teach themselves. My, what a thought.

I raise this point as I discover that today's recruits in the US Army are given iPhones with learning material already loaded on them. A recruit has to study the material and then teach the rest of his squad.

I spend a couple of more days recently in my local hospital for checkups and as is my wont, questioned the nurses, assistant nurses, nurses in training and techies of all sorts as to their training, a form of entertainment for me. Where did they learn what they do, how could it have been better, what are they going to learn next. One young techie when I asked what would be the side effects of a drug I had just taken, flip out her iPhone and using an app told me the scientific name of the drug, that there were no side effects and it would last some many hours.

And this is the major point I am pondering--how much "stuff" do my students have to know and how much can they retrieve from the smart phone? Maybe much of what we are teaching is already old stuff?

I was reading a sailing magazine lately--I like to sail. At one time I raced my sail boat extensively in the pacific northwest. One of my crew (besides me) had to be a navigator, one who could read charts, plot courses magnetically, figure out tides and currents and a hosts of other navigational duties. In Sail magazine recently someone wrote of a major race on one of the Great Lakes in which the navigator did just what I previously told you--plotted the course, kept track of where the boat was in the body of water, figured out how fast they were sailing--stuff like that. When he came on deck and announced his finding in a loud voice, much of the rest of the crew reached in to their clothing, pull out their iPhones and said, "Yeah, you're right." All the latest smart phones have GPS tracking software and charts. It tells the owner just where they are, either on land or sea. I wonder if we need navigators anymore.

So I am going to leave you with an assignment. It is a complex assignment really. How should we use technology in our schools? If all my fifth grade kids had iPads with the web as a source of information, what should I teach? I have some idea but I want you to think about it first before I write about this problem "...seeking a solution or a discussion."

The following little example is exciting. When I first taught high school band for a short time, I always had the band tune up, get in tune. Play an "A" and see if we all could get the same "A". Part of my task was to get the kids to train their ear to listen and also to play in tune. Today's music teachers now have an app on an iPhone or iPad that allows each student playing to tune their instrument to an "A note" and they can see in a graph how close or far off they are. I suspect the more a music student uses this device the more they themselves will train their ear. What a thought!

Okay, you have your assignment. How should we use the technologies in our teaching and what subjects do we need to teach. Got it? You can either write me direct: leslieblackwell@comcast.net or leave comments after this blog.

And then go thank a teacher who helped you learn to think.

Returning after a Vacation

2011-10-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hello Patient Readers. I have returned after a two month's vacation with some thoughts about teachers and teaching. For those who are new to the blog (and for those with short memories like myself) this blog is devoted to the amazing world of teachers, primarily in the public schools, but in private, religious, as well as home schooling. In spite of the recent national barrage of criticism of teachers which has resulted in "No Child Left Behind," most teachers are going about their jobs teaching children and young adults about our world and about the students themselves. As John Dewey has written in his book, "Democracy and Education," if this society is to survive and grow it needs to educate the young so that society can advance. And as Louis Armstrong, the wonderful jazz musician once sang:

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
They'll learn much more.....than Ill never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world

So this blog is dedicated to the many dedicated teachers in this wonderful world.

A word or two about my background and a bit of my biases. I was born in the great depression in New York state. For whatever reasons, we moved many times and by the eighth grade I had been in eight different public schools. One of those schools was in the Italian part of town and the teachers did some of their teaching in Italian. Unfortunately I don't remember much Italian.....just good food. No matter where we moved, there always was a desk in a classroom for me.

I still remember going to one new elementary school with my papers and asking to be admitted and the secretary asking where my parents were. "My Mom is busy moving and my Dad is at work." As I said, there was always a desk for me and a teacher to get me started.

I did my undergraduate work in Music Education--I knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher. High school band and chorus was my goal but I never got there. I ended up being a grade school music teacher for several years as well as a fourth and fifth grade teacher. At that time the school policy was not to allow men in below the fourth grade. Strange. Music teaching was fun but classroom teaching was demanding....hard work. But there were rewards when a child leaned a math problem or could understand what they were reading aloud. The smile on their face when they could do something new was the pay I craved. Although grade school teaching was demanding it was also very rewarding. And my colleagues, the other grade school teachers were equally wonderful. I had found my niche in the world.

Somewhere in this beginning I went to a workshop on a new learning problem called Dyslexia. The scary thing about that workshop is that I realized that I had Dyslexia. It explained most of my problems in school throughout the years. It even explained to some degree my father as he probably had it as well. It was a scary time--would they fire me from teaching because I had a learning disability? For a long time I never told anyone that I had dyslexia.

Forget Dyslexia for a moment if you will. My next goal was to become an elementary principal and worked at summer school for a masters and elementary principal's credentials. The moment I received my principal's papers I knew that I would never want to do that job....I wanted to keep teaching. During this time I was assigned to be the audiovisual guy in the school--that person who collects, distributes and oversees the hardware of teaching--overheads, slide projectors, movie projectors and tape recorders. This world of teaching has changed considerably in the last decade.

As I finished my master's degree someone suggested I work on my doctorate. I did, in the field of Instructional Technology. The field was in its infancy and main frame computers were just becoming available to the education market. Steve Jobs had yet to invent the Apple computer. Actually, there is a bit of humor to this story. I was suppose to do a foreign language for my degree and I convinced them that I should learn "BASIC", a then new computer language. My committee agreed. To this day I am still fascinated with the use of technology in teaching. Did you know that the U.S.Army now gives iPhones to new recruits for use in learning? Almost makes one want to re-up! Almost...

Two significant things happen halfway through my program. My principal professor said he was putting a computer in my office and I was to report back to the department how it might be used in education. The other happening was that a regional state university, primarily a teacher college at the time was in need of a part time professor in audiovisual. I got that job.

I stayed at that teachers college for another thirty two years teaching instructional technology and some graduate courses in methodology and teaching. I enjoyed every moment at Western Washington University. I can report that just recently "Western's" Woodring College of Education was listed at an education school whose graduates do "... an excellent job of teaching."

I knew that!

So teaching, elementary schools, educational technology, and Dyslexia are all primary biases to be considered when you read this blog. I see these subjects through different glasses then do others.

During my vacation (holiday for my Canadian colleagues) I read ten books, mostly historical novels, one political book that spoke about our educational system and a book on Dyslexia. I dropped one book from my reading list, that of "The Black Swan" as it got more and more into statistics and probability. All fine and good but not my cup of tea. Not bad for a two months reading schedule and being a dyslexic.

The book that has held my attention the most is "The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain" by Brock L. Eide and Fernette F. Eide ( - Aug 18, 2011). So far I have found the book to be fascinating, enlightening and scary. I suppose the scary part is okay at this time of year (Halloween) but this book certainly understands me better then I do. Not only that but the authors comment about people in my home town of Richland, Washington.

I plan to write about Dyslexia in a future blog--let me read more and then comment. However, the next few blogs will be about what we want from our school's graduates. What subjects should they study, what curriculum should be promoted and where do teachers fit into the new courses of study? Does distant education have a place in our education system? And (I say the following fondly) where does technology play in our educational system?

I think we're on to a whole new system of education but still based upon John Dewey's cultural transfer of knowledge. I think he would be excited about the changes coming to our schools.

And has been my theme these many blogs, I like to end each blog with the admonishing of my readers to thank a teacher for what they do. I spoke this morning with a nurse who told me she would never be a teacher like her sister--that sister teaches first grade and she works at it night and day....and on weekends. I spoke to another teacher during my vacation and she had just retired from thirty plus years of teaching, mostly in special education. And she told me she was going back part time as she missed her kids. Thank you, teachers of every grade and of every subject. Thank you.

Making Foreign Languages Not So Foreign

2011-08-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

I am in a fantasy mode trying to be positive as to what my public school system should look like. In recent months there have been many articles and opinion pieces written criticizing today's public education. Most of the criticism has centered on teachers not doing their jobs and how we need to get rid of the teachers' unions. Ever since the "No child left behind" era, the fault of public education has been laid at teacher's feet. I have argued that other factors are in play but the overwhelming number of articles have been negative. I am pleased that Diane Ravitch, an educational historian, has taken up the cause in argument and I am thankful for her presence as she is a far better writer then I am.

So instead of fighting the good fight, I decided that day dreaming about a more perfect world of education might be the way to go. And the process was to work backwards from a perceived graduate of our fantasized school system.

At present I have concluded that an educational system that allows students to make mistakes and encourages an interest in learning is the way to go. That is the environment for our educational system. Furthermore we are using Leslie Briggs' three areas of study: communications, the self, and the broad spectrum of the arts. If I have read Briggs correctly he wanted an education system to start with communications. Makes sense.

And we started with talking and listening. It is difficult for some young pre-school children to listen--they want to speak all the time. For some of these children speaking is a relatively new activity in their lives. But if a child is excited about telling you something why not take advantage of the moment and help them improve on their speech.

In the past blog I also mentioned learning another language. Of all my faults (and there are numerous that I hold) not speaking and understanding other languages is a prime fault with me. And those that speak several languages appear to have a confidence that we who only speak English do not have. So I would want my graduate to be able to speak and understand at least one language besides English.

While I suggested that Spanish might be a wise investment in our graduate I thought about the number of Asian people I know. What If our graduate could speak in Chinese, or Korean, or Japanese? What a thought.

During the years that I supervised student teachers I had one student teacher who was assigned my very favorite elementary school at that time to a fourth grade teacher that was exceptional. Both got along right from the beginning and the cooperating teacher felt secure enough to suggest to Megan, my student teacher, to plan a lesson on another culture for social studies. Megan began by talking to me, then formulating a unit plan on China that would be interesting to these fourth graders. I push Megan a bit by saying how could she teach all this without turning to a textbook for the students.

Megan was good. She made arrangements with a local Chinese restaurant to host the class for lunch near the end of the project. She also got some of the owners' family who were from China to come give talks about their native county. Megan did the usual with maps on the wall and posters from the Chinese consulate in Seattle. But i think the best part was bringing chop sticks to all the kids in class and making them practice using them by picking up pieces of paper and small objects, I tried it and I wasn't as good as I thought I was. Can you pick up a penny using chop-sticks? A stamp?

After a number of Chinese visitors to the classroom, the class boarded a school bus with a number of parents and had lunch at the Chinese restaurant. The owner was very proud of his place, explained the food to the kids as it was served and as they say on the travel brochure, everyone had a good time. As I wandered about the classroom, I could hear kids saying Chinese words to each other or writing their names in Chinese characters. I could not fault this lesson unit in any way. And I believe it was a very positive learning experience for the children. I've always wondered how many of the children went back to the restaurant with their parents and said "hello" in Chinese?

My point to all this is that I believe we can expand the qualities of our educational system by including such experiences as learning another language. I would want my school district to have language training for the students from the early grades through high school. Just a year or two of a foreign language at the grade level or middle or high school is not enough. We need to look at languages as a constant--another way to communicate to each other.

In the next blog we'll talk about reading and writing. Should we be teaching penmanship? Some school districts have eliminated it. How should we teach keyboarding (typing for you oldsters)? Are reading and writing connected or are they two distinct subjects? Can we teach some of these subjects on the internet? Interesting thought

This is fun. Maybe this is why teachers like to teach. A constant decision as to what and how to approach a child or young adult so that they see the value of knowledge. Thanks to those teachers who have written me and made suggestions as to what should be in the requirements for our make believe graduate. And thanks to all those teachers who are trying to make a difference in our young students.

Back to the Future? A continuation....

2011-08-10T10:24:00.001-07:00

In my last blog, we started a discussion as to what we might like in our own educational system for children and young adults in today's society. At the moment it appears that many people are negative about education in general (particularly those who have never taught before) so I decided I wanted a more positive approach to our educational thinking. I agree with John Dewey that society cannot not exists much less then move forward unless we teach our children what we already know. If we don't do this task it will mean that each generation will have to start over from the beginning.

And in the last blog I quoted Nassim Taleb who wrote "The Black Swan" who stated that mistakes were a part of learning, indeed, a necessary step in advancing knowledge. This position was endorsed by Thomas Friedman, a well known writer for the New York Times.

So our first salient position for our new educational system was to have an environment that allowed mistakes in learning. But we also need students who were interested in learning, had a curiosity about the world around them. These two features are part of the Affective Domain--values that we can hold. There are some schools that do not look for these features in their students. "Make no mistakes, be perfect and listen to your teacher." However, our task here is to be positive....so mistakes galore and what is around the next corner. Eh?

So now we have a graduate of our system who has values in learning. But besides the ability to make mistakes and the desire to learn what else should our graduate have?

This is where a curriculum, a course of study, is desirable. However, we are back to that age old question of which knowledge is of most worth? What should our graduate have knowledge of, what is important to our student to know?

In the past several years we have seen a plethora of op-ed, and political pieces written as to how we should test or examine todays' student but little on what is being used for the tests. In the State of Texas there has been an ongoing discussion as to what should be included in the history and science textbooks for their children. Do we include creationism in the science books? And do we ignore or eliminate information bout slavery in our history books? What is important to know for our graduate?

I still like Leslie Briggs' focus on the three aspects of knowledge for students--that of communication, the self and finally, the broad aspect of the arts. Be aware that at present we are talking about types of knowledge that appears to be important to our graduate--we have yet to start a discussion as to the systematic methodology of teaching and learning. We're still focused on subject matter--what is important?

Let's start with Brigg's communication. Our young graduate of our fantasized educational system is to be able to communicate in a variety of methods. But there seems to be a logical place to start, i.e., speech. A young human begins to verbalize sounds and noises almost as soon as they emerge from the womb. Crying, laughing, contentment all are sounds that they can express. There is an interesting story I think I've already told you about an American women married to a Britisher living in London who worked for the German embassy. Our woman hero spoke German most of the day at her job. Becoming pregnant, she worked almost until they day that she delivered a normal bouncing baby. The young baby exhibited normal reactions at home but when Mom took the baby back to the German embassy, the baby laughed, cooed, and was more then happy as everyone talked in German. In recent months there has been some research that if mom eats string beans while carrying her child, the child will like string beans after being born. If mom doesn't eat spinach, the young child will probably not like spinach. Interesting. In fact researchers seem to suggest that those cultures that have a variety of exotic foods will have children that prefer those types of foods. So I suggest that Moms and Dads need to talk to their child PRENATAL. And I suggest that early childhood curriculum have speech as a major emphasis for the children to practice. "Stand up and tell the class what you did today to learning something." "Tell all of us how you tied your shoes." "Tell me your full name."

I was surprised that at the fifth grade level I had a number of students who did not speak well. Perhaps because I had been a music teacher and had voice lessons I emphasized good speech in my classroom but I think it should have been done earlier in the grades. It was difficult to get some of my student to read in a LOUD voice. I didn't want shouting but in a strong loud voice. "please read that paragraph over, I can't hear you." It was difficult for some of them to do this task.

Somehow in this atmosphere of speech, I would like to introduce our young students into another language. If the predominate language in my class is English, why not introduce Spanish? I am quite envious that many Europeans speak several languages. I was visiting a Norwegian elementary school and found several fifth grade girls working on some computers in which the software programs were in Norwegian. However, they could talk to me in perfect English and ask me questions about the software. At the fifth grade level.

I suggested Spanish as predictions are that a majority of the United States will be Hispanic in the near future. But even now we have a number of young students in our schools that speak Spanish. What an opportunity for them to help a teacher teach a class another language. Not only would it give them a chance to excel but would allow the children to speak to each other in two languages. " You teach me English and I'll teach you Spanish." What a deal!

There was once a private school in Bellevue (WA) that hired only teachers that could speak fluently in two languages, one being English. But the requirement was to teach part time in BOTH languages each day. Interestingly enough they didn't really care what the second language was--they just wanted the children to become aware of other languages. Smart thinking I believe.....

So in summary, we have our fantasized graduate having the courage to make mistakes, be interested in learning and being able to speak well, perhaps in two languages. Do you agree?

For those teachers already teaching in several languages, accept our thanks and ask that you help the rest of us in this area. You are very important in our educational system.

Perhaps A New Beginning

2011-08-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

As I read the educational web sites I get more depressed and more hurt as I see what seems to me to be much of our civilization putting down teachers for not doing enough of a good job, costing us too much in taxes, having an easy life. I do get some amusement reading that Brad Pitt (movie star) is on our side knowing full well that his mother is a long time English teacher. Thank you, Brad. I needed your pick-me-up. I find it humous that I can't repeat what he said as he expressed himself with a number of four letter words not normally used in polite society and I am sure his mother would not have approved either as a mother or as an English teacher. But I wander from my theme of the day.

I also need to tell you that I am reading, no, struggling through the book by Nassim Taleb, entitled: "The Black Swan". I suspect I understand about thirty percent of what he has written and even that may be high in understanding. But I am enjoying the book and it is forcing me to think and ponder. Whether Dr. Taleb is right or wrong is not material but that he makes me think. The book can be found in the business section of your bookstore--I am reading it on my Kindle.

The book is essentially (I think) about prediction and probability. If you are expecting to see a flock of white swans (my sailboat is named, Trumpeter, after the beautiful swans that winter here in the northwest) and a black swan appears, what would be the probability of you finding that black swan. And so Taleb is discussing in the most part the futility of predicting market busts, company failures, and natural disasters. They are the black swans of probability.

Dr. Taleb is a philosopher of considerable stature but one of skepticism, a branch philosophy that has a number of followers and thinkers. I suspect at this time, Dr. Taleb is one of the leaders in this thinking. But I too, have held some thoughts about skepticism. I'm not a big believer in statistics but only as an after effect to see what was happening--I don't always see it as a predictor. By the way, Dr. Taleb views us "soft scientist" as "amusing." We are definitely not of his ilk.

It is at this position that I wish to expand on a new thread about education, teaching and teachers. Still within the realm and purpose of this blog let me wander around in thought about what we might do in education while everything around us is tanking. Working with the premiss of John Dewey's that society needs to educate its young if society is to continue, what sort of education should we construct? If we could do anything in the arena of education what would we do? This is interesting stuff but it may take some time. Let's get started

I think of our society as a three legged stool. One leg is the private sector, another leg is the public sector and the third is the government. We need all three to remain stable. Government keeps in check the private sector while the private sector supervises the public sector and if public hits upon a society need, quite often the private sector takes it over. So there is a check and balance among the three sectors.

So who should take on the burden of teaching our children? All three sectors could do the job. However, the private sector needs to make a profit and there is a chance that the curriculum would be to train workers for the private sector. It's possible. The public sector could do the task however, it would depend upon donations as it does not have the resources. Some churches within this sector have traditionally done this task from early days, however, it also included religious instruction as well. To pray or not to pray, that is the dilemma.

Home schooling has been viable since the beginning of our country. Indeed, this was the beginning of education in the United State--on the kitchen table in front of mom or dad. Even today there are millions of children being successfully home schooled. Dr. Taleb, in his early years, was home schooled because of wars in his homeland of Lebanon. He later went to the University of Paris so I suppose his home schooling was adequate.

A major difference in our government is that we have a separation of church and state, essentially no one religion can have an influence on the children. Should parents want religious instruction it can be presented after school or on weekends.....or included in home schooling.

So the government sector has the primary responsibility of educating our children. But the compromise is that the local parents have the right to decide on the type of education. At one time, local power by parents was the most influential, however, as states paid more and more of the bill, they gained more and more of the power to decide. One wonders as the U.S. government pays more and more of the bill through "No child left behind" where the power will reside.

So for the moment, let us say that the governmental sector in our fantasized day dreaming of a utopian educational system is responsible for the education and training of our children. We'll let the religious schools and the private schools do their own thing--we'll plan our own system of education.

Let's continue by working backwards. Some call it reversed engineering. But in any event, we start by taking the end product and going backwards. What should a graduate of our school system look like. What do we want them to be able to do? How do we want them to perform? What would be valuable about them to our society?

I have an old saying that I like to remind myself from time to time. "There are people who work with their hands and they are call laborers. There are those that work with their hands and head and they are called craftsman. And there are those that work with their hands, head and heart and they are call artist." I equate "heart' with courage, curiosity, compassion, creativity and courage. What say you, my friend? Do you agree?

A repeated item in Talib's "Black Swan" is his acknowledgment that making mistakes are good. He points out that many of today's advancements in knowledge came through mistakes. Thomas Friedman (New York Times editorialist) in his recent speech to the Governors Convention, said that we need more people in our society that are willing to make mistakes and more companies that are willing to provide an environment to make mistakes. Then Friedman went on to list a number of items that were the results of mistakes that are now multi-million dollar assets. I remember when teaching in the "grades" that when children made mistakes they then learned what the correct option was right. However, the mistakes seem to emphasized the learning of a concept. John Dewey would have approved for his emphasis was on the children trying things out--in doing was what he wanted.

So my first requirement for my graduate student from my fantasized school is to be willing, no, WILLING to make mistakes. Have the courage to make mistakes. Understand a mistake is not wrong but a chance to change direction. Using mistakes I believe is important to learning. I have seen too many children and adults who are afraid to make a mistake thereby limiting their behavior in many ways. That is not permissible for growth. And growth should be a constant. If I'm not better then I was yesterday then something is wrong.

Another feature I would like in my graduate is curiosity. Having a desire to learn is a wonderful attitude. Friedman writes that his journalism teacher in high school was tough as nails--wouldn't let him publish in the school newspaper until he got it right but he has recently said that he hasn't needed another journalism course since then. But he also had the curiosity to find out things to write about. That part didn't come with the class....that was his to begin with. So I want my students to have a curiosity.

I've already wrote about this scientific experiment that we did in one of my fifth grades. Take an old thirty-three and a third turntable (garage sales) and place three medium growing pots equally distant from each other on the turn table (use double stick tape). Plant some sort of beans in each pot and water lightly. Place turn table and pots in a sunny window and during the school day, turn turn table on to slow revolve (33 rpm). Then ask the class what will the bean stalks do when they start growing? Will they lean backwards because of the speed? Will they lean outwards like on a merry go round? Will they just grow upwards like they always did in the past? I had the students write what they thought the beans would do and why, then put that writing aside. After a few months we got our answer. And, no, I'm not telling you. You do it yourself. Be curious. There are no wrong answers, just some mistakes. But my little experiment did promote curiosity in my kids. We need that in our children.

What else do we want our children to exhibit when they graduate? What knowledge (and skills and attitudes) are important? I'll leave you today with something Leslie Briggs wrote years ago that I think is still valuable today. He said we need only to teach three things to our children. Just three things. The first was how to communicate which he included speaking, writing, reading, mathematics, dance, singing, art, plays, pictures and I suppose he would today include video, facepage and tweets. How to communicate! The second thing he said we needed to teach our children was the "self." Who am I? Why do I do what I do? Why do I have a bad day? Why did I have a good day? The more high tech we become the more "self" we need. The third item that Briggs said we should teach is the arts--from fine arts to zoology. Briggs really thought all the rest of the knowledge of the world like history, geography, science was the art of civilization.

So what do you think? What would you like to see YOUR graduate look like. We've only begun--there is much work to be done. As they say in the soaps, to be continued.

And thanks to the science teacher that I talked to on Wednesday. You are one of the best. So thank you for teaching the teachers to be.

Visiting an elementary school

2011-07-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

[First, an apology. I recently had an cancer operation and it laid me low for a few days but I am in recovery mode. I'm sorry for the delay of the blog.]

I came across some interesting news this week that I had not known. The University of Chicago has a laboratory school that was started by John Dewey. What i didn't know was that it was still operating and teaching children. My oh my! And it is considered one of the premiere educational schools in the United States.

So I did a little more research about it and found that it costs $21,600 for one child to go to the elementary school and $25,000 for a student to go to the secondary school. Anyway you look at it you will be paying out in the neighborhood of $50,000 dollars A year for tuition for two children. That's a pretty decent neighborhood. EACH year!

Apparently Rahm Emanuel, the new mayor of Chicago will be sending his three children there as did the Obama's before he was elected president. I wonder what the cost per child is when going to the Friends School in Washington, D.C..

Rich people want the best for their children and they are willing to pay for it. And it appears they don't want to fuss over the curriculum but they do want a broad curriculum that includes physical education, music, art, drama, small classes but hold the national testing, thank you.

My concern is that what John Dewey envisioned for good schooling was not just a lab school run by a university but by schools all over this country helping the young gain a satisfactory position in our society. If I interpret what professor Dewey wrote in his book, the better our schools are, the better our society will be. Somehow I don't think the American politicians have accepted this position.

But Finland and South Korea have done just that. They have made teachers a highly respected profession with excellent pay and have made entry into the teacher profession difficult--you gotta be top flight to get into their university to be a teacher. My university has done that--it is difficult to get into the Woodring College of Education. And once there, you have to work at it. Lots of time spent in the schools BEFORE you attain student teaching status.

I like spending times in the schools. I once heard about a school in the Olympic peninsula that was getting good reviews by other teachers. When teachers say something is good, I pay attention. So one early morning I left my campus, traveled to Seattle, took the ferry across Puget Sound and located this new elementary school located in a new growth middle class housing. Nice neighborhoods.

I got to the school about eleven in the morning--my due date and time. Parked the car and as I walked toward the front door, a young boy met me and asked, "Are you Mr. Blackwell?" When I agreed that it might be me, he said, "Please come with me." I felt as if I were in a time warp, he was very polite--probably about a third grader. And he led me straight to the office of the principal who was ready to meet me. Some schools I'm left sitting in the office waiting for the principal but not this time.

We chatted. It was a new school opened only a year previous and had three open wings in a circular style with a first, second, third, fourth and fifth grade in each wing. Kindergarten was in a separate building. It was interesting that the three fifth grades were not together but the reason will become apparent. All classrooms had only three walls with what might be called the back wall opened to a long section between the classrooms. This area held two large rows of computers. The fact that there each classroom was open to all the other classroom impressed me that the noise level was at a minimal. I've heard noisier schools.

But back to the principal....she told me that the teachers had worked for a year after school to design this building and the curriculum. Parents were involved with the process as well. One of the themes was this would be a "helping" school, hence, the reason for the first through fifth grade in a wing. The "rule" was that a younger student having problems could ask an older student how to do something, how to read a paragraph, do an arithmetic problem and so on. The older student had to help. If asked you had to help. If he/she couldn't answer or solve the problem they HAD to get some other student who could.

One of the rules of learning (not teaching) is that redundancy is a key to knowing. You learn something but then do it several times and it becomes engrained in long term memory. That was happening at this school. Kids were learning things and then having to help younger kids, they employed redundancy. By the time they got to fifth grade, the concept of helping others was imprinted in their behavior.

When the principal answered all my questions, she buzzed the outer office and a young fifth grade girl was shown in. "Mr. Blackwell, this is Jessica and she will be your official guide on your tour of this school." "Jessica, this is Mr. Blackwell." And off we went.

There is nothing more delightful then a young student who knows that have an adult where they want them--in their control. With great importance she took me around the school visiting wing after wing. At some point a younger student asked Jessica a question and she excused herself for a moment telling me she had to do this task first and then with deliberation helped the younger student. I was impressed and Jessica knew that. She also explained to me how the computers were used.

I asked about the noise level--did one class make more noise at times and did it bother the other classes. "No, you get use to it." "But sometimes when a lower grade is having music and they are singing a song, we in the upper grade will sing along under our breath." "You won't tell our teachers, will you?" We now had our little secret. I said I wouldn't but I suspect the teachers sang along as well.

All the wings lead to a large center section of the school which was the library. Very large. But no librarian. She was apprently out in one of the classrooms teaching library skills. So how did books get checked out and in? Jessica with her hands on her hips said, "we do it ourselves." "Okay, show me."

Apparently, each child in the school had a bar code that was distinctly theirs. And these bar codes were in loose leaf notebooks by grade. A child would find a book that they wanted, zap the bar code in the back of the book, then find their class note book and zap their name in the check out list. Done deal. When they returned the book, it was again zapped and the name under check in was also zapped and the book was place so that it could be re-shelved. I spoke with the librarian and she mentioned that they had about the same amount of loss as when she did all the work, but in this case, she could go out into the classrooms and teach! The kids could do the office work. What a concept.

I am sorry that i didn't ask about bullying but I doubt if much of that happened at this school. The older kids seem to sense that they had a responsibility for the younger kids. Part of the "help system" I suppose.

I talked to the teachers and they all seem quite happy with the arrangement of the school and the policies that they had implemented. According to the principal the school had the lowest change of faculty in the district. She agreed that that could be a problem down the road but she would deal with that when the time came.

I suspect that the cost of putting a child through that public school, not counting the cost of building the building, would be in the neighborhood of $13,000 a year. I didn't ask but did a rough estimate at that time. That is a far cry from the $25,000 that the University of Chicago's lab school costs.

And I suspect if I had to pick a school for my kids, I might have chosen this unique school across the sound from Seattle. I wouldn't want my kids to become elitist.

"There is no nobility being superior to anyone else. The only true nobility is in being superior to the person you were yesterday."

Thanks, Jessica. You were a great tour guide. Pretty smart, too. I like your style. And thanks to all the teachers who designed a unique school for learning in the public educational system. Nicely done.

Student Evaluations...and then some.

2011-07-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

I recently received an e-mail from Liz Nutt who writes for another online blog on a web site entitled: Online Universities. Her article was about the 20 meanest teacher evaluations of all time. Perhaps. I'm interested in distance learning so I do read this site from time to time. On line education I think will continue to grow, expand and stimulate our society. It certainly can't hurt. To read her article goto: (http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/07/the-20-meanest-teacher-evaluations-of-all-time/)

But her article brought back many memories. Let me digress a bit first, however. When a person after several years of study receive their doctoral degree many then have to seek a job somewhere in this nation. The department faculty talk to you for a couple of days, lots of walking about seeing the campus, then a day of talking to the Dean, then the Provost, and in some cases, then the President of the university. Stressful time. Mine never worked out that way but as they say now-a-days that's another story.

Let's say my hypothetical new wet behind the ears professor at some point is offered a position which on the books is called a FTE (Full Time Equivalent). Departments are measured by their FTEs, how many they have, how many on sabbatical, how many FTEs are shared with another department--you get the picture.

What the new professor will find out during the first year is that she/he has three obligations, research, service and teaching--in that order. Now let me translate that into understandable English. A new professor has to write (books, articles, research reports) and these writings need to be evaluated by peers in academic organizations. Then the new professor has to serve which means serving on committees. Curricular committees, advising committees, graduation committees, textbook committees, technology committees. standards committee and when you are there long enough you can be elected to the grandaddy of them all, the TENURE AND PROMOTIONS committee. If possible serving on a national association committee will get you off of some of these lesser committees and maybe a chance to visit other universities. Maybe.

The last assignment is teaching. Many newly appointed professors have never ever taught a college course. Maybe they were a teaching assistant and taught a lab course or a study course aligned with the main course...But some folks have never taught a course. Many universities that produce doctoral graduates have no requirements for their students to take a course on how to teach. There is a saying in the Education department--You teach as you were taught. Interesting thought.

However, another little known requirement is that as you teach your courses you have to be evaluated by the students. Most universities have a form that fits all classes, labs, lectures, performance, which can be given at the end of the course. The results of these questionnaires are given back to the instructor AFTER the grades are sent out. The questionnaires include such items as: "Were his lectures understandable?" Yes, No. And somewheres near the end there is a place where the student can write down comments. Hence, Ms. Nutt's article on the meanest teacher evaluations....of all times yet.

I need to change hats at this moment from professor to philosopher. Am I required to pour information into my students? Or are they required to learn the material no matter what. Should I teach them how to think? Or just provide data in information? My point being where is the power, on the professor or the student.

I know I've already told this story but it is worth telling once again to illustrate this point. There was a well know nuclear physicist at the University of Chicago and as one version of the story goes, came to a graduate level class assigned to him one evening. He went around the room getting the names of his eight students, checking them off his list. Then he looked around the room and asked if there were any questions. The students remained quiet and the prof said, "Good" and picked up his books and left the classroom. The next week he sat down and asked if there were any questions and all hands went up. Where is the responsibility--for the teacher or the learner.

I tend to think that the onus is on the learner at the university level. I once had a professor that to this day was the very, very worst lecturer I have ever heard. He was in school administration and his thoughts wandered and were completely disjointed. He was terrible in the classroom. But, and this is a very big but, in the hall or in his office he was a fountain of information. He was the google of all administrative data that a student could ever want. I remember that all of us in the class would endure his lecture only so we could quiz him in the hallway. We even joked that the classroom ought to be in the hallway. Famously informative professor who could not lecture but still could teach.

I use to get those student reviews from most of my classes. I normally scored in the top decile of rankings and much of the comments were laudatory. Those comments did not interest me--it was always the one or two who were very negative about the course that I was interested in. First, you have to decide if the student doesn't like the course OR if the student doesn't like the instructor, in this case, me. This give me a clue as to what i should be looking for.

In the early days of computers it was not uncommon to find a student in class that was perhaps brilliant in knowing how to write computer code. I'm sure a number of them found my computer code writing rather basic. But I wasn't teaching writing code. I still don't think teachers ought to have to write programs for their classes. But still I would get one of these students who was totally upset with my coding skills. I can assure you some of their comments stung.

On the other hand when I found someone who did not like my teaching skills, I was in seventh heaven. Now I had something to work with. What did they not like? The lectures? Why? One student said that I cursed too much. I don't remember cursing but I wonder what set him off? I did put a TV camera at the back of the room several times to see if I could see what some of the negative comments might be about. Watching myself teach is agony. Pure agony. But I did see several things I could improve on. Out of thirty students I would get perhaps one negative review. Those reviews were the most important to me. I think the quickest way to improve your teaching is to video tape yourself.

Lets change grade level on student evaluations. I routinely would hand out a form in my fourth and fifth grade classrooms on "How is Mr. Blackwell Doing?" and I had a series of questions like, What is your favorite subject? What subject does Mr. Blackwell teach the best? Sometimes I find a correlation but sometimes it didn't work out that way.

One year it was pretty clear that I had been pushing social studies and neglecting science and health. Almost all of the students commented on this and I immediately change objectives and brought things back to an even keel. But i was not happy with my "teacher report card" in that I didn't get information about how the kids felt about the class and their classwork. So I changed the formate. I had the same questions but this time I had them write the answers to my dog, Stormy. He was very popular in class and would come once or twice a year. The students loved to write to Stormy and many added information that was valuable to me as the teacher. I remember one of those evaluations that went something like this, "Stormy, Mr. Blackwell says I'm a good student but he never calls on me or talks to me." Whoa! She was a pretty little girl in the front row and I realized she was right that I didn't call on her very often. Big time change of tactics. I made sure she got my attention at least once a day. And big time change in her face--much more smiling. Kids want to learn but they want a pat on the back too. I don't blame them.

Teacher evaluations by the students. Important part of our teaching/learning process. I know that John Dewey would have taken this all in with a smile on his face (I can't remember if I ever saw a film of him smiling) as he believed that students needed to be part of the teaching/learning process, not just a receptor for information. The strange thing about all this is that in his later years, Dr. Dewey was not the best lecturer and in one case, actually walk out of the room thinking about something.

To all teachers, K-12 and university who get student reviews may they at least thank you for your services. You are important to our society.

Why Teachers Cheat.

2011-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of things crossed my desk and my computer screen this week that persist to trouble me about teachers. By and large in my forty-five years of teaching most teachers just want to go about doing their business of getting someone to learn something. In my case at the college level, I wanted to teach teachers how to use (at first, early on) audio-visual equipment. Later we call it media (communications) and finally a term that seems to be sticking, Instructional Technology. I was convinced that if teachers would use media correctly that kids of all ages would learn more in less time. I still think along these lines. I'm not sure how one could measure the teaching/learning that I generated but I suppose one could devise a test of some sorts. But if you then said to me that my future would be determined by the students' test scores, I think I would end up in a blue funk. Well, certainly not a happy guy. Probably scared a bit.

But I have taught a college (graduate level) course on "Tests and Measurements." I know that one can write a test to get certain results. Negative or positive results depending upon how you construct the question or test item. Are you with me on this? Recently around the Fourth of July several news sources asked the question, "could you pass the American citizen test that is given to immigrants wanting to become U.S. citizens?" Out of curiosity I took the test and failed...not surprisingly. I'm not good with details like who is the seventh president of the United States. But i did okay on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, probably because I use to teach that to my grade school kids. But there were items even on that subject that I forgot. Damn! And I couldn't remember all the words to the National Anthem....not surprising as I could probably play it in several different keys on my trumpet. I remember all the notes--do you?

Testing is the quicksand of education so I was also not surprised when those same news sources reported that a large number of teachers and principals in a large southern city were found to be cheating on their students' behalf so that school scores would look better for the "No Child Left Behind" tests. The headlines blared: "Teachers Found Cheating," and later clips in the news showed the superintendent of schools "...if teachers were found cheating would be immediately dismissed--FIRED!" As if superintendents never cheat.

[A sidebar] I was once a school board member and one of our duties were to review the budgets of a number of smaller school districts in our area. In one case two school districts used the services of a school psychologist but one district paid his salary one year, and the other district the next year. Thats legal under state law. But what those districts were doing was EACH district was budgeting that salary EACH year and then using the money if it were not their year to pay for other items--not legal. But they had been doing this for a number of years and using that money as a slush fund for sports.

So in the news a lot of hand wringing about how teachers were cheating. I haven't talked or written any of those teachers but I suspect I know what was in their mind. First off, this testing has gotten out of hand and many schools are doing more to prepare for the test then teaching the students what they need to know. If I had been among those teachers I suspect I would have been in the group that changed student's scores. I'm still thinking about it. Teachers would rather teach the students a solid curriculum that will allow the students to be successful in the future. I'm serious, teachers want to teach and they want to teach worthwhile subjects that will be useful to the students. I have yet to meet a teacher who didn't want this objective. Teaching to the Test is a waste of time for everyone. Yes, teachers will still do testing but they want to know if what they are teaching is getting through to the students. I have given tests to my fourth graders and realized I needed to go over the material once again--they weren't getting it. But to teach for a national test that doesn't make sense is silly. So who is the eighth president of the United States? Don't google it, just tell me. I don't know either.

I feel sorry for those teachers and principals. I think they really had the best interests of the students in mind when they did this sort of thing. I do wish them well...and want to remind the superintended, "let me see your budget for the year, eh?"

However, another item that came before me was essentially a local news clip. Teachers in Seattle could take a 1.9 percent pay cut OR the district would have to forego buying new textbooks for the children. This statement came from the Public Information officer of the Seattle School District. Holy smokes, I couldn't believe it.

Now think about it--the teachers can keep their salary at the present level (no raises) or they can take the pay reduction to buy the books for the students. The district isn't buying the books--the teachers are! What blackmail! Not only did this stick in my craw but in another news source it said that the Seattle school administrators are getting "pay raises to stay competitive." Somehow I really don't understand all of this.

To be fair I have found out that several mid-level school administrators have been released. But my feelings are with the teachers. Tough spot to be in.
I wish them well. Perhaps one will write me and tell us what the final decision was. Did the teachers buy the new textbooks? I wonder.

I wish all teachers well. My thanks to them for the work that they do with our children and young adults. Thank you.

Two Things I Dislike In Our Educational System

2011-07-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Actually, there are many things we could do to improve our educational system and make it better. I've mentioned some of them in previous blogs. Most of them are things I think we SHOULD do for our kids, beginning with early childhood to high school and perhaps higher education as well. But there are two items that I think should be eliminated.

One of those items is spankings. Recently in a local newspaper a letter to the editor said that much of the problems with education could be solved if we would just return to spanking the kids when they misbehaved. It was from a woman and I believe it was sincere. It had the element that what was good in her day would be good today. And when a child misbehaved in her day, they were punished by having to bend over to endure a number of wacks with a paddle. "Grab your ankles."

My bias stems from the fact that I don't remember my mother or dad ever paddling or striking me. A "talking to" was more scary then a paddling. And there were other punishments to enforce the rules of our household...like, no dessert for two days (the ultimate punishment in our house as mom was a great cook) or I had to stay in my room. Boring. But, no swatting or hitting. So I guess I grew up with this bias taught to me.

But I have felt the paddle in the fraternity house as a pledge. It hurts and it is humiliating. Some guys seem to want to prove their manhood by showing how much they can endure. So much for brains.

My first introduction to paddling in the schools was my first year as a fifth grade teacher. I had already spent a year as a music teacher and I had not uncounted any discipline problems. Why would kids want to cause troubles when they are singing, dancing or playing their instruments. Getting them to stop was my biggest problem. "Hey, class is over--put your instruments away!" But in fifth grade, there are many opportunities for a child to goof off and in some instances, even though I might have cautioned them on their behavior, they continue the negative action.

I was still new to the profession of teaching and I tried several things first. Have the student sit at my desk but that resembled rewarding the kid for his actions. Keeping him/her in for recess wasn't that sever and it also meant that I had to stay in the classroom as well. However, it was doable. Girls mostly didn't like this punishment....perhaps because they couldn't talk to their friends. I would not add homework to the kid in question for punishment--that seemed to be adding a negative connotation from the bad behavior to learning. I didn't think that was a smart move.

But one time I had a boy just not paying attention, talking out of turn, being defiant, hassling other children in the classroom and when possible ignoring rules and my instructions. I remember in this episode I moved his desk next to the door away from others but he kept making faces when I turned my back and continued to disrupt the class the best way he knew how. My patience wore thin.

As a relatively new teacher I had been told on several occasions that if I were to have a discipline problem to bring that student to the principal's office. On this occasion I did just that. The principal was a big man, probably over six feet tall, very imposing and I thought he would just talk to the child and get his attention. But that is not what happened.

When the young student and I were ushered into the office, I explain that my young charge was not behaving in a positive way, explained what his actions had been and what actions I was expecting of him. The principal asked the student if this was true and a slight nod returned the affirmative. Then the principal closed his door and from the back of it took down this rather large paddle, told the student to bend over and he delivered at least ten hits to the student's behind--hard enough to lift the student off the floor. This I noticed. I was aghast. I hadn't wanted this--I wanted the principal to talk to the student.

We left the principal's office and I think both of us were crying...at least my eyes were wet. My kid was sobbing and we walked around the school for awhile while both of us regained some control. I think my student realized what I was doing. The rest of the day went off without further problems.....except the scene has never left my mind. I NEVER took a student to the principal's office for discipline after that episode. NEVER!

First, we're the adults--we ought to be smarter then the students. If pain is the only way to get their attention, something is wrong. I shortly learned another technique that I used to satisfaction--indeed, my kids use to remark that they hated it when I did this dastardly deed. New teachers--pay attention to this technique.

First, you NEVER discipline a child in front of another. In fact, as far as I am concerned you NEVER discipline an adult in front of others. Go to a private room, an office, someplace away from the class. Both of you sit in a chair facing each other. Then you take the child's (adult's) hands in yours and you talk to them. Go over what has just happened and explain what the correct behavior was desired. By taking the other's hands, it is hard, almost impossible, for that person to look away. You "HOLD THEIR ATTENTION-EYEBALL TO EYEBALL." It is like getting a direct link to their brain. I normally ended by saying something to this effect, "Do you know now what we need to do?" And then, "I still think you are a very important person in my life." Positive ending. Notice I said "WE need to do? What I'm trying to tell my young charge is that we're going to get through this together.

With adults, it may not be discipline that you want to accomplish but rather the importance of the message. My wife and I have used this technique for years when we needed to say something important.

But I would never spank a child--or a fraternity brother for that matter. I have never seen pain to cause a behavior change for the positive.

As I said, I never took a child before that principal (or any principal) ever again.

The second educational policy that should be eliminated is "RANKINGS." Who is number one, who is the best, what student is better then all the others? There may be times when a generalization of who is the largest university in the state or what roads have the most accidents are probably valuable. But my indignation is when we say this child/student is the best in this classroom.

I quickly learned that if you say, Charlie or Charlene is the very best at doing their spelling words, I would then have thirty-four other children who were not the best. To a lot of kids they could care less, but for several who were really trying to know they had been bested, it hurts. They would like to be up on that pedestal too. It's alright if a number of kids do well and you mentioned that but singling out one person as the best leaves a lot of others with lesser feelings.

There is a philosophical saying that seems to fit this subject. I have used it before--it is one that guides my thinking. "There is no nobility in being superior to someone else--true nobility is being superior to who you were yesterday." It was this thinking that I tried to impose on my students----from the music classes I taught to elementary to high school to college...getting students to say to themselves, "I'm better then I was yesterday." I would not single out someone as being the best. It's a hard road to follow. I know, I keep trying.

Two items I would like to see eliminated from educational systems--paddling and rankings. They do not have a positive effect in education or society for that matter.

Yes, I've had some top teachers but all of my teachers have my thanks for doing what they did to help me. They all deserve a pat on the back and a sincere thank you for a good job.

How Little Girls Learn...Just Like Big Girls Do

2011-06-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

When I first started to teach fifth grade in a Seattle suburban school district I would go around the room and asked...." what each child wanted to be when they grow up?" Since the school was close to the Boeing aircraft facility many of my boys wanted to be pilots or engineers or "build planes" like their dads. A few of the guys wanted to go into the military in some way and only one ever wanted to be a doctor. Most of the boys had some goal as to what they thought they wanted to be as they became adults.

Not so my girls. When I ask the girls in my class what they wanted to be, a few said they wanted to be airline stewardesses, a good number wanted to be nurses and an equally number of girls said they were going to be mothers (like their mothers). When I asked the to-be stewardesses why they didn't want to be pilots they looked at me in confusion. "Girls aren't pilots, Mr. Blackwell." I got the same response from the nurses to-be when I confronted them as to why not a doctor? I found this lack of goals in the girls disturbing and troubling.

I then went down to the school library to seek a book that had a girl as the lead character and I found only one book in the entire library in which the girl is the hero. It is "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeline L'Eagle, published in 1962. From that moment I started to look for books with girls in a leading role. "A Wrinkle" went on to win a number of publishing awards.

My next book that I read to my fifth grade class was about Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman Doctor. It was the perfect book for my needs (and my girls needs) as Elizabeth had to fight and struggle to become a doctor. She was stubborn to a fault so I am sure she was part of my early family (subsequent research appears to show this to be correct). I finally was beginning to see some results in the girls thinking of what they might become in later life. This was in the early 1960s.

This was my first epiphany--that girls had different goals then boys. I could understand that they might not want to play football but that women (they were becoming women) could still use their brains. I loved all my kids in those fifth grades and I wanted ALL to be their very best in whatever they wanted to do. I didn't want their lives controlled by societal norms whatever that might be.

I still find it upsetting that the Hardy Boys stories were allowed in our elementary library but not the Nancy Drew stories. Apparently it had been deemed that the Nancy Drew stories were not good enough literature. We soon changed that policy. In searching for that early science fiction book that I read to my class I queried Amazon and Google and find that today there are many more books for girls then when I first started to teach. Thank heavens (for little girls--sorry, but that is a song in a movie--had to put it in. "Gigi," I think).

Why this missive about books for girls? What I found as I learned how to teach was that girls and boys learn differently. Girls like to work together with other girls (and like to talk--oh my do they like to talk which is part of the process). Boys like to work mostly on their own. Many boys want to compete.

But for the past year I have been looking for an old book of min on how women learn. I've written about it in these blogs from time to time. But I could not identify it or the author. It became an obsession. Either where was my book or where could I buy another one? I tried Google Scholar--no luck. I tried out of print books and again no luck. It was important to me when I was teaching so why couldn't I find it?

I did find Carol Gilligan's book on women, "In A Different Voice." No, that was not it although it was an instrumental book in my development.

It turns out that my memory is faulty--which is what I already knew. However, I was sure I had the title correct. Wrong. Just recently I stumbled upon the book that i was looking for. Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind. Published in 1986 AND in 1997. Finally I found it! Yeessss! It was written by Mary Belenky, Blythe Clinchy, Nancy Goldberger and Jill Tarule. No, I have never met these women--I wish I had.

My mistake was that I was looking for a book on how women learn. The one I wanted was on how women know. This is a big difference. Learning is one thing but knowing is a damn site more important. Boys want to "own" what they learn and girls want to "establish a communication with what they are trying to understand."

I can't remember where it was that I found what I was looking for. I think I was perusing through an index of a book when I spotted it. But the even better part of this finding is that I was able to buy the latest edition (with added information) for my Kindle. I now have John Dewey's Democracy and Education next to Women's Ways of Knowing. Important books for teachers. It gives us a philosophical bases for our methods of teaching.

Thank you to the four authors for teaching me much. I hope you've thanked a teacher in the past week. They need it.

Designing a Class...or a course of study.

2011-06-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

How are courses in a university designed? Can you buy courses from a university store? Or do college courses just follow the book?

Some years ago I was asked to teach a course in beginning (basic) instructional media at a university's college of education. It had been taught previously by the head of the department however the dean was trying to get some time for this professor to be able to do some research hence I was asked to teach the course. Not only teach the course but redesign it and "bring it up to date."

The first thing to do was to ascertain the parameters--those things which could not be changed. For instance, this course was in the catalog, 3 quarter credits (which meant that it met for three hours a week for a quarter or twelve weeks of instruction. That meant for this scheduled course it would meet on Thursdays from 4 pm to 7 pm. The classroom was a controlled classroom, meaning that only the department of Instructional media had access to it. It was a long room with an aisle up the middle, a small stage in front and projection equipment already installed in the classroom. This was before microcomputers were established so I didn't have to teach computers. The class would have access to a "Self-Instructional Learning Laboratory," a room of equipment set up with special designed instructions to help the student learn how to operate different types of media.

An important task is to review who the student will be in this course. In this case, being that it was an afternoon/evening course, I could expect a number of experienced teachers wanting to learn more about technology as well as picking up 3 credits for fifth year or master's work. I could also expect to have a number of upper grade underclass students completing their educational requirements. The register's office said I might expect forty to fifty students. While the majority of the students would be in education I might also get a couple of undergraduate Forestry students and some Library Science students.

My next task was to list the equipment that I wanted to demonstrate and to rough out the amount of time I thought I needed for each medium. I also added an introduction and a summary to the course for time purposes. At this point I set up the objectives for each medium, not only wanting the student to be able to operate the equipment, but know why it was to be used and what characteristics it brought to the learning, i.e., film brought motion, overhead transparencies brought visual clarity and 35 mm slides brought visual acuity.

Now the hard work started. First I wrote out what I thought might be the final exam. I find testing to be the biggest chore for me--it takes time to write a decent question that will reveal a student's knowledge of that objective. However, if I start at this juncture, the rest of the course is easier to design. I received permission from the department to not use a textbook for this course. My reasoning (which I have reviewed over the years) was that I wanted to students to know the machines through their actions, not through readings. I'm still not sure what is the best way for the learners.

The next step is to plan the instruction for each objective. Introduction, presentation of the medium along with demonstration of different materials that can be used at different grade levels (K-12). For each medium taught I listed capabilities that I wanted each student to acquire from making different types of overheads to previewing film to use in their classrooms. I wanted them to discover some of their own learning with the equipment and with that discovery some increased positive feelings with the use of instructional media (affective domain).

Once I had the media objective's instructions outlined, tasks assigned to each objective, I compare it to my final examination. In some cases I changed the instructional material and in some cases I changed the final exam questions.

I then scheduled the self-instructional learning lab for specific evenings so that students from off campus would have time to participate in the learning laboratory. Let me digress here for a moment. Shortly after World War II, Penn State University college of education did some interesting research on how to teach technology. During WW II soldiers were taught by expository method with the warning that if they didn't learn "it" they would probably be killed. High internal motivation resulted. But after the war, how does one motivate the learning of technology without that threat? Interesting thought. So Penn State designed a course in media with different approaches in methodology....1) pure lecture (traditional at that time), 2) supervised hands on (one on one), 3) self-instructional laboratory with instructions written on cards or slides), 4) during student teaching and 5) no instructions at all (control group).

These methods were used for a year and during the following year most of the subjects had gotten teaching jobs and were evaluated by the principal as to their use of instructional materials in their classroom. There was no difference between the groups including the control group. Holy cow! The researchers could think of no reason why this was happening. However on the second year the control group was significantly lower in evaluation scores by the principals. But on the third year it was the teachers who had learned in the self-instructional laboratories that seemed to stand out. Seemed because they were the ones that were now being singled out as "excellent teachers" by the principals. Not just in using the media but in all aspects of teaching.

Why? How come? The eventual surmise was that these teachers (to be) were learning on their own how to use technology. That might have been the cognitive and the psycho-motor objectives but they also acquired some affective learning on how to learn by oneself. So as these teachers went on to teach their classroom, the continued to try different things out in the classroom. One of these teachers reported that soon after getting her own classroom, the school brought in new technology and she figured that if she learned the other machines she could learn this as well. Interesting thought here.

SO.....my students would have to go through the self-instruction learning lab and learn how to operate each piece of equipment and demonstrate that learning to a lab instructor. Hands on testing.

I now had the course designed and the final was once again reviewed. Because I elected not to use a textbook, I had to write up a course syllabus as well as a number of class handouts. Because I had a large number of professional teachers in the class I needed to have make up times for those that had to miss class (only a few did), evening office hours for those teaching all day, office hours for those on campus, and a schedule date for the final examination.

I can report that the class went well. My notes suggest that I needed more time for student comments--those that went back to their classrooms and tried some of the material I had presented. "Success breeds success" and you have to let the students brag a bit about what they had done. Many reported they didn't like the self-instructional lab at the beginning but they all agreed that after some rough starts it was fun "learning the new equipment." They seem to reinforce the findings of Penn State's learning lab. One negative that I still haven't quite got over--because of the class time (4 to 7), many of the students came to class eating a fast food dinner. For an instructor who would not get his dinner until later that night, those fast food dinners sure smelled good.

I didn't follow up on the students after they finished the course. On hind sight I think I might have done that to see what was valuable to them in their teaching.

Today if I were to design an Instructional Technology course, I would go through some of the same procedures but I probably would have the use of Smart Boards for expository use, computers for sure in laboratories, and I would mandate the use of "Blackboard" instead of handouts. Student responses would be done on Blackboard, a course management system to facilitate exchange between student and instructor.

Have you ever thanked a college instructor for the course? It would be a nice surprise.

The Birth of the University...

2011-06-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Present day universities and colleges are an odd duck in sheep's clothing. Faculty actually work for ........ themselves. And you thought they worked for their university. Not so. So let's take it from the beginning.

An early group of teachers were the Sophists in ancient Greece. They taught young upperclass men for a fee, unheard of in those days, and would only teach those that could afford it. And they taught philosophy and reason although their statements were quite often not true. Hence, in today's world, the term sophist means to deceive by specious statements. In the philosophical world, the Sophists professed skepticism. But the key word here is not 'skepticism' but rather, 'professed' which means to state publicly. So a Professor is someone who states something publicly.

The next body (although they existed alongside the Sophists) of teachers were learned men who studied on their own. Most of these learned men had patrons who sponsored them, Kings, Popes, Titled persons and rich men, who in some cases, kept the learned men like pets. "My learned man is better than your learned man..." The learned ones could teach what they had learned by sometimes only if the knowledge was approved by the sponsor. A good example can be found a book entitled: "Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love." http://www.amazon.com/Galileos-Daughter-Historical-Memoir-Science/dp/0140280553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307555524&sr=8-1. Based upon a series of letters between daughter and father, one can see that Galileo's learnings had to be brought before church at that time for approval. And yet, Galileo strongly held to what he had found--that the earth was not the center of the universe.

Interestingly enough the church sponsored the next category of teachers indirectly, monks from several different disciplines. These pious Monks would pray, study, write in cloisters for years interacting between the groups at times. It is said in some history books that the long sleeves of the Monks provided a good place to steal bread and food while walking through the market place while the hoods protected their identity.

There is an interesting story about these groups that I delight in telling. The Monks would meet from time to time to report on what they were studying and it is said that if the report was not done well, those in attendance would throw stones. I've had the same feeling at some of my own department meetings at my university. But that is not the story I want to relate. In the same report, it was said that the body of monks would elect the "least" among them to find a room for them to meet, to start the fire to warm the room and to send out notices of the meeting time and place. And this person was called a "Dean." You could get out from being a dean by making a "good" report. A delightful bit of information I think......

So...through the efforts of these monks we have the beginnings of colleges and universities. "A collection of learned men [and women when you add Galileo's daughter]." So who "owns" the knowledge that these scholars gleamed from the world around them? Does the King, Patron or Pope own that knowledge? Or the person who discovered it, teased it from the environment, developed it? Interesting question. This debate still rages today in Idaho where the president wants to change the configuration of the university and the faculty (monks?) will have none of it. See: Stanley Fish's article, "Faculty Governance In Idaho" in the June 6th, New York Times, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/faculty-governance-in-idaho/?emc=eta1 We live in interesting times.

Let us clarify some terms before we continue too far down this road. At a present day university there are a number of different levels of instructors or faculty. The lowest level (meaning they get the least money for their work) is the Graduate Assistant. Neither fish nor fowl, the graduate assistant is a student and a worker. He/She assists some professor in the research, teaching, or administrative details like running labs or doing library research. A graduate assistant working on their doctoral studies might even be ask to teach a class. Rare but it is done.

From graduate assistants we go to the Instructor. This is a wide category--ranging from someone who teaches a lower level class over and over to someone who is invited to join the faculty after they have had a successful career in the real world but may not have the degree.

Next we enter the professorial world. Beware, ye who dare to enter here! What a quagmire! Before I explain the levels be it known that the old monks had some standards for their rock throwing. A professor has to do three things well, teach, service, and research. In many universities, the latter takes the form of writing--either books or articles in learned journals (journals are Magazines controlled by other monks). But these three characteristics are not viewed equally by all universities. Teaching by and large is the least of the three. Service is the second of the three-- that is being an officer in a learned organization or in charge of a major national committee to study something is considered service. The top tier is research which is evaluated by what is written.

But politics also takes its toll. A faculty member who is in the "pure" sciences will receive ratings that are higher then a faculty member in education or the social sciences. Different politics for different universities. I visited an Ivy league college some years ago to research their student teaching methods. They had NO educational professors, in fact, NO education department. Anyone that taught education courses was in the Department of Psychology. Interestingly enough, they also had no one supervising student teaching. A student had to find their own position and get the teacher to agree to having a student teacher in his/her classroom. This an Ivy League college program. Quite frankly I would have at that time put any of our education students against any of theres except they were Ivy League and would only admit the most capable students in their program.

Now that we have the evaluation scheme outlined, the results of ones research, teaching and service give us the different levels of professorialship. The lowest level is the Assistant Professor. Normally the youngest of the department, these are the new professors starting out in their career of inquiry. After a period of time and good marks in those three areas of concern, an Assistant Professor can be elevated to Associate Professor. This position has more freedom to study and sometimes are given the harder courses to teach. Definitely more is expected in the area of service both on campus and nationwide. The highest level is the "Professor," sometimes called "Full Professor" or in private conversations amoung the younger, "the old Bulls." This phrase I believe is dying out as we get more full professors that are female. A good thing!

Now let get to a major point for this blog, that of college teachers and teaching. So who owns the knowledge that professors acquire and write about from their research--the professor him/herself? The Department? The University? It is a delicate matter. I've always held that the material I wrote was the property of the public, i.e., I would not copyright my material. Anyone can use it--the same holds for this blog. I think John Dewey and I and a host of other philosophers more learned then I would agree that ideas and facts belong to the world. But not all professors think that way. Some professors discover some new thing that can be marketed outside the perimeters of the university and make millions. Who owns that knowledge?

But here is a fact that troubles me--most professors are not taught to teach. Perhaps this is why teaching is the lowest category in the evaluation of a professor. The field of education is the exception. Most education professors have taught in the public schools for at least three or more years. Many taught classes while working on their doctoral degrees. "How to Teach" is their field of interest. I can say that at my college of education that were a number of excellent teachers, all of which I would have enjoyed to sit in and take their course.

Do faculty members get evaluated or "graded" on their teaching. By and large the answer is "no". Some universities have an evaluation procedure that has the students in that class rate the professor in a number of categories from "being available at office hours," to "explains things after class." It is not scientific and the evaluation form fits all classes even though it does not. How does one compare a philosophy course which deals with ideas to one of my Instructional Technology course which deals with mechanics and software.

As you can see, this subject of college teachers and teaching is a quagmire. And there is much more that needs to be addressed. Next time we need to look at how all this new material is acquired and transmitted to the student. Then the question becomes how to see if the student "learned" the material and how well. What! we're going to talk about grading? That is beyond the quagmire--that is a mess.

Did you ever thank your college instructor? I had a number who thanked me and who have become my friends. They too study how people learn.

Distance Learning

2011-06-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

While I do not think of myself as an expert in distance learning or distance education I have had a lot of experiences with this concept of education. Let's generalize and clarify some terms first so that all of us are on the same page. There is a teacher and that teacher has a subject to teach. Then there is a medium, some form that the instructions and information are carried to the student or receiver. This could be television, a book, audio or a host of other types of media. Then there is the student or the receiver of the message.....someplace, sometime, somewhere.

We've always had distance learning if you consider the book as a medium of instruction. The author writes the book, the book then is transported somewhere and someone picks the book and reads it and learns something. What seems to be missing here for the more purest of the distance learning camp is somehow testing the learner so see what they retained from the book. However, for centuries we have had libraries (mostly privately owned) and learners who have had internal motivation to gain some information or learning(s).

If you can agree with my generalization that we need a teacher, a message and a learner who are not in the same room I think then we have some agreement on distance learning.

My first exposure to this form of education came when I was doing my "September Experience" in 1953, a procedure that I had to accomplish to be admitted to the School of Education at my undergraduate university. It was to be a two week observation of a school getting underway for the year's classes. I was fortunate to have had the privilege of doing this exercise at the Rye High School in Rye, New York. A prestigious school, it is consistently in the lists of outstanding high schools in the United States. It was then as well.

I was warmly welcomed and asked if I would help out for the first week or two by carrying a small box from classroom to classroom. It was a two way speaker box that would allow a bed-ridden student at home to attend classes. "Hey, no problem." I would pick up the box at the office in the morning, plugging it in at selected classrooms and then return it to the office in the afternoon. Generally when I got to the first classroom, I'd plug in the RCA jack and then ask, "Ellen, can you hear me?" And Ellen would say, "Good morning, Mr. Blackwell. Thank you for bringing me to class." We did this all day long. Much too soon the high school kids knew which room Ellen was supposed to be in and took over my job. But I remember Ellen saying, "Mr. Blackwell." No one had called me that before--I was becoming a teacher. Distance learning--at its best.

My second experience with distance learning was in the US Army when I signed up for a course on Abnormal Psychology from the University of Wisconsin. Someone had written a book detailing different types of Abnormal Personalities and at the end of each chapter were a series of questions and a designed paper to write detailing learnings from that chapter. I remember doing about half of the book before I had to put it aside because of our work load at the base. But I learned and I remember the professor writing on one of my papers that he was pleased with my work. He didn't realize that I had more then one example in my unit in each chapter.

My next exposure to distance learning was when I was teaching a course on Instructional Technology at my university and powers to be wanted me to do on a local television station. Interesting problem. Today we would call it reality television. I had a class of educational students and once a week we taped two one hour shows on how to use instructional technology in the classroom. A product of the late 1970s, it covered film, overheads, transparencies 35 mm slide projectors and a host of things that are not available to today's classroom teacher.

Once the tapes were made the local station then ran them at strange times throughout the week. At that time KCTS, a television station on the campus of the University of Washington was also doing educational shows that were well done. Their shows were beamed to school districts and teachers could turn on a television set and have the children watch the presentation. It was well done.

Did I learn anything from doing the sixteen classroom presentation for the local television class? Quite a bit. There are a few people up at four in the morning who do watch. We received two letters, both complementary but each had a complaint about something I had done. I can't remember what they were. I think I have mention before in this blog that this one class was the lowest ranking class in my evaluations that I had ever gotten. The students hated the class. Almost to a person they said they would never take a class like this again. But this wasn't distance learning for these educational students--it was direct instruction and every time I ask a student a question a large camera would zoom in on them to record the answer. They hated that. And hated me for asking them. But I was interested to see that the dress of the students improved from hippy style to pretty normal by the end of the class. They were aware they were on television.

I've already written in a previous blog about my experiences of teaching on a phone line. Multiple phone lines to be exact. The state of Washington in order to try to save time and money set up phone stations around the state, some at universities, some a community schools, one in the top floor of a department store. People could gather at these sites and talk to each other without holding a phone to their ear. Multiple sites could interact with relative ease.

Could we teach using audio only? That was the test so I taught a class for experienced teachers across the state--about fifty students. I think a lot of good came out of this experiment. Although we couldn't SEE each other, we did get to "learn" each other's voices. And I found that many of the students actually would call on regular phones to help each other after the class was done for the day. I was very impressed with the amount and the quality of work that was accomplished in that class over the telephone lines.

But let's clarify at this point some of the variables in distance learning. As I have mentioned, you need a teacher and a subject to be learned. Then you need a medium to communicate the objectives, the instructions, the nuances of that learning to the student. Next we need the student--or students. You could have one like the preverbal teacher on one end of the log and the student on the other end of the log or you can have a teacher in a medical school with students at hospitals all over this country.

BUT....there is an important part here for the student component. There has to be either internal motivation or external motivation or both. What prompts a person to pick up a book and learn something? There needs to be internal motivation for that to accrue. I once saw a wonderful example of external motivation at Boeings. The instructor stood up and said to a group of thirty students/workers, "You have two weeks to learn the following or you will be given pink slips."

One thing that puzzles me in distance learning. Do we need some form of a test to "prove" that the student has learned? Indeed, does a student need some sort of a test to put that learning into some form of a recall? It is a little like mixing a cake but you don't have the real thing until it comes out of the oven. I suspect the answer to this lies within the internal and external ramifications.

In today's magical world of technology, the web, and all the magnifications of this phenomenon, we have the ability to do distance learning much easier then what I experienced earlier on. But the quality of learning depends upon the learner. Let me repeat myself, the quality of learning depends upon the learner. As an example go to the Kahn Academy. Over two thousand courses are available. Some dealing with simple objectives, others are advanced courses. But I suspect all of them are good--I haven't completed many of them yet. But it is available and all those courses need is a motivated student. See: http://www.khanacademy.org/about

Given all this, I am a proponent of distance learning. But all the pieces have to fit--the instructor, the message and the student.

If you've had a distance learning course and learned from it (notice I didn't ask if you enjoyed it), write a comment for the rest of us to learn from. And for some of you who have taken a distance learning course, have you thanked your teacher? I wish I had thanked that Wisconsin professor of Abnormal Psychology. He helped me get through the Army.

The Power of a Teacher

2011-05-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday, May 25, 2011) will be the last talk show by Oprah Winfrey and the news pundits have all made an effort to know who will be on the final show. Early returns indicate that no one person will be on--it will be Oprah herself reviewing those that have had an influence on her.

I suspect one of those flashbacks will be Mrs. Mary Duncan, Oprah's fourth grade teacher who got Oprah to open up and be the smart girl (woman) that she is. Oprah has repeatedly said that Mrs. Duncan was highly influential in getting her (Oprah) to be what she could be.

I hope I had a positive effect on my first fourth grade class. I still remember the kids even if they don't remember me. I had already taught three years as a fifth grade teacher and one more as an elementary music teacher for three schools and I had asked the school administration to let me go back to the elementary classroom. I wanted experience in the lower grades although as the music teacher I did have the opportunity to teach from Kindergarden to the sixth grade. But my school district had a policy at that time that male teachers were not to be assigned below the fourth grade. Don't ask me why--I haven't the slightest idea why the policy was in place. However, I was assigned a fourth grade class in the school I previously taught fifth grade in.

I still remember setting my goals. I was going to be the best teacher in the school and my kids would learn twice as much as the other fourth grades. Right! As did all the teachers, I had gone to the school before classes were started, got my room arranged for the time being in rows. I matched the chairs to the desks so that big chairs weren't with little desks. Didn't know teachers did that, did you? I got the text books out that I would pass out on the first day, pile high on a counter and I had written some stuff on the blackboard. I also had put together some material on the bulletin board--not much but a start. I'd want to put student's work on there as soon as I had some good examples. And of course I had gone to the office to get the files on the kids I would have that coming year although I didn't look at them until a month or two into the school year.

First day of school. The children's names that I would have were posted on the windows of my classroom and pretty soon a small pile of kids were peering in the windows and bunching up at the door eager for the school year to begin.

[an aside: I get tickled by the kids. By April of last year they were bored with school and couldn't wait for summer to begin. "No more school, no more books......" And then summer comes and within a few weeks the kids are saying, "when will school start again?" I love 'em.]

The school bell rings and I opened the door and stood there. "I want the girls along the wall line up and I want the boys to line up next to the girls." "And do it quietly!" And then I said, "I want you to go into the classroom, do not take off your coats or jackets but sit down at the first open chair that you come to and be quiet." The kids were apprehensive but excited--first day of class! Then I stood in the front of the room and looked at all of them. For some I was their first male teacher so they didn't know what to expect. I just stood there. The room got quiet, still, I just stood there and looked at them. Finally I spoke, "I hear breathing!" As I looked around the class I saw one little girl with tears coming down her cheeks. Oh dear, this was not what I wanted--I had to smile and tell them how well they had done so far. I remember going back to my little princess and saying "everything will be alright." My oh my how to screw up an opening day.

Well, coats were put away, books were distributed, lunch money was collected [I remember asking who were Jo Tyllia's kids and picking three of them to collect the lunch money--they could do it better than me anyway]. School was underway. Yes, we did the flag salute with the pledge of allegiance and I forget what else we did but but my opening salvo was shot down by some tears. I do remember we had a good year and yes, my kids tested out well. That was the year that one of the kids came to me and said, "we pretty smart, aren't we, Mr. Blackwell?" They were and I had a good time. I hope they did.

A few years later I left the school district to study full time at the university. I've always wonder what might has happened had we stayed in the district and had I become a principal as I had planned. But you don't look back except in satisfaction and the past will never be that again except in your memory. I'm sure all my kids would have a different perception of what when on that year.

Several years later when I was a wet behind the ears professor at what I now call "my university," two freshman girls knocked on my door, one short, the other tall. They were from that fourth grade class so many years back. We had a wonderful time talking about what went on during that year and I was aghast at some of the things they said I did. One of them said I teased her about her boyfriend. I didn't do that! The tall one said that I harassed her about her penmanship. No! Yes, you did. So I had her write something and she still had horrible penmanship. It was really bad. The funny thing about that is that she eventually got her Master's degree with that horrible, terrible, miserable penmanship. Oh well, you can win them all. They were wonderful kids. I miss them.

Go thank a teacher today. They need it.

What Would I Do?

2011-05-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

A reader wrote me recently and asked what would I do if I had my druthers in today's education system. I have given this assignment over the years to many of my graduate courses--the day dream assignment. I think most professors of education have done that in the past at one time or another. And I think it is a good assignment--John Dewey wrote a whole book on the subject. What fascinates me is that Professor Dewey's thoughts apply today just as well as when he wrote the book many years ago. I would dearly like to talk to John about "change" that he so much espoused in the curriculum that would be proper in today's educational world.

But let me first answer my young writer. We need to educate ALL the children of our society, not just the rich but those that are struggling as well. Perhaps we need to work harder on those children that have a difficult environment. At the moment I am reading on my Kindle (which I still like) a sailing/cruising/introspective book, entitled "The Motion of the Ocean," by Janna Cawrse Esarey. A very funny book and very well written. But there is an aside in the book by Janna that she started teaching for "Teach for America" in New Orleans and would go to work each morning full of expectations to save the world and go home that evening entirely lost. She admits you can't teach the child without attacking the environment in which the children live. Janna goes on to become a high school English teacher and if her style of writing is any indication of her teaching skills, I wish I had been in her class. So with Janna's cautions before my eyes, I still think we have to in some way teach ALL the children of society, not just the rich.

And I remember what an assistant superintendent of the Seattle Schools once told me as we toured one the elementary schools in her charge.....A disadvantage child is one who learns something at home that is not reinforced at school and learns at school something that is not reinforced at home. The school and the home have to be in sync in what they want the child to learn.

So let me generalize some thoughts here. I would like to see education in the United States upgrade their public school buildings. I have been in so many public schools that need serious remodeling, upgrading, or even removal. We need classrooms with adequate heat and light and sound control. I was in one classroom where the teacher had bought several rugs (at a flea market) where she used them for sound control. I WANT Smart boards, while boards, computers or iPad devices, storage areas, television for viewing and tons and tons of learning devices and materials. You get the picture--I want good designed classrooms suitable for learning for students of appropriate ages. I know I've written this before but Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us." I want to shape students for life-long learning. AND I WANT THOSE SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS TO BE ATTRACTIVE. The top rated school district in this state and the only one to be selected for the top high schools in America has also the best looking schools. Come on now, all you architects, help me out here!

Once we have the buildings we need TEACHERS, certified College of Education graduates who know their subject matter. Which means I want people who have an English degree to teach English, those with history degrees to teach history, and so on. I don't want to take Political Science majors (who haven't had education classes) and have them teach biology. My kids deserve better then that. And I want NEW teachers, OLD teachers, EXPERIENCED teachers, MALE and FEMALE teachers and RETIRED teachers. I don't want people being brought in off the street to teach my kids. I want trained professionals. This blog has always been in defense of the professional teacher. They are the salt of the earth as far as I am concerned. That is who I want in my classrooms. And then get out of their way and let them teach.

The third item that good schools need is an up-to-date curriculum. What do we want our children to learn? Getting new school buildings and getting trained teachers is easy--this is the tough one to obtain. What do we want the kids to learn? Part of the problem is that we (i.e., society) loves tradition so that what was good in my day should be good for my kids....right? And we (the people) love our special subjects, like patriotism, reading of the classics, honesty (honestly can we teach that?), frugality, history of American Wars. "Kids ought to be able to shape pen quill feathers." Believe it or not that was written by a parent when the Boston schools introduced metal (OMG) quills. We love tradition.

So what should our kids learn? How to Read. Check. How to Speak correctly. Check. How to write a sentence. Check. How to do their numbers. Chec......well hold on now. How much math should they be able to do? Algebra? Geometry? Quantum Physics? How about Health? Check. wait, wait now, no Sex Education. That should be taught at home. Right? Geography, yeah, we need that since so many countries have changed their names and borders in recent times. Science? Of course we need all the sciences except in certain parts of the country where it get in way of religion. In other parts of the country, we need biology, chemistry, astronomy, botany, Social Science....another hold on now. You mean psychology? You want kids to learn about themselves? Well, I have some reservations here. And you want Sociology too? Oh my. Isn't that how we behave in small or large groups? Okay, we need some social sciences. I almost forgot History, the study of American Wars.

Then we need to teach keyboarding (penmanship?), web searching (Google in most states but Bing in Washington State), Powerpoint development, spelling (even with spell checkers?) and television production (you got to be kidding).
Don't forget computer programming. Essential....so they say.

No, I haven't forgotten Physical Education, Music or the Arts. Each of these subjects could be a blog of their own. In fact, I've left out many subjects that adults want their children to learn. Indeed, some business round tables have contributed to the discussion about what to teach so they could have cheap labor that they wouldn't have to train.

There are so many subjects that could be useful in a curriculum that I would not want to be on a curriculum committee for a school district. Plato said it well, "What knowledge is of most worth?" Well, maybe it wasn't Plato. Maybe Churchill. I think in todays world one of the major problems facing society is what to teach our children. If I were president of this counry, I would set up a commission to explore what subjects would be helpful to our kids. That commission would be made up of teachers and parents, no administrators. I suspect it would take a number of years to come to some conclusions. And as soon as it was completed it probably be out of date. Thanks, John Dewey, for your comments on change. You were right all along.

Do I have more on what I think our schools should resemble? Yes, but I have to go thank some teachers at the moment. I'll get back to you on this.

Who Will Teach Our Children?

2011-05-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

I recently talked to two teachers, one who retired before her retirement time and the other teacher is going to retire this year--also at an earlier date. Both express concern about the negative feelings about teachers and how it affected their outlook in the classroom. They agreed that there was not the satisfaction they once got from working with their students. Both were primary teachers.

One teacher, Gail, who had taught for twenty-eight years and I knew to be an excellent teacher, was reflective on the fact that the negativity was coming from many sources. I asked about this and she said that two years ago a new young principal was assigned to the school and told the staff they were going to raise the testing scores for the next year. But Gail was upset because she and her colleagues thought they were doing a pretty good job at the time. It appears that the new principal hadn't really looked at the test scores. She also mentioned that he changed some of the policies and time schedules, the latter seems to have upset the faculty more then anything.

You see an elementary school, a good one, runs like a fine tuned watch. This class had the gym at this time because the other fifth grade has library at that time or the first graders put their classes together so that the music teacher can get to them every week rather then every other week. There is sensitivity to the schedules in school down to who goes to the buses first.

Then Gail mentioned that it seem to her that the parents were more on edge then in the past. Instead of "how is my child doing?" it was more "how are you teaching my child?" I asked Gail if she thought that parents were changing because of the TV news, web articles and newspaper reports on education and she did think it had an influence.

Both teachers mentioned the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) as being a focus for the schools and both thought it took away from the teaching. But Gail said that she still got in much of her reading instruction in spite of the extra demands on the curriculum for testing.

There is a point I wish to make, that both of these elementary teachers are married and both are comfortably well off. Retiring early would probably have little to do with their level of income. The majority of teachers in this country are women. And without going to the web to check statistics, I would suspect that a least a majority of them are married. So my assumption is that a number of women teachers are going to leave the teaching profession for one reason or the other. This worries me.

When I first started teaching fifth grade (I had already a year of teaching music in the elementary classrooms), I was young, I was popular with the kids, and the parents liked me. But I know now that I did not teach to my full potential. Many times during the first year I went to Jo Tylia or one of the other upper grade teachers and asked, "How do you do the following......" OR, "what do I do next?" I needed those more experienced teachers to guide me along my first year of classroom teaching. They saved my butt.

Now I hear that many local school districts are preparing layoff notices for faculty and because the state legislature has changed the rules of layoffs, the old rule that the last to be hired is the first to go will not be in effect. Now there is an understanding that no one seems to want to mention, that by laying off experienced (read at the higher end of the salary level) teachers you save a bundle of money and can hire MORE beginning teachers thereby keeping classroom levels somewhat lower. I think we'll lose a quality of teaching if that happens. Losing quality and experienced teachers will cost society in a long run.

There is a comparison that I want to make that I found interesting. The level of salaries of teachers and those that are in the military appear to be quite similar. But society makes sure that the military get the best equipment to do the job, the military personnel and families get free medical help, and when the time comes to do another term, military personnel get bonuses. The military families also get to use the P-X where food is much lower in price. Yes, me being a veteran I know about the hazards of being in the military. But if we keep making teaching a hazardous job, we may need to do some of the same things we do to ensure our military levels. Already some colleges of education are reporting a drop in enrollment. This is not good. And as the cost of tuition continues to rise the ratio of college costs to teaching salaries will continue to be a negative number. The future in teaching is not very bright.

[editorial update] A friend of mine who taught at the community college level in Portland, Oregon, just wrote me and asked had I seen a recent article, "The High Cost of Low Teachers' Salaries," in a recent New York Times. They said it better.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html?_r=2&hp

Have you thanked a teacher today for teaching kids? They could use your pat on the back and support.

Lesson Plans that Didn't Work The Way I Thought They Would.

2011-04-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me recently if everything went perfectly in my classroom. It got me to thinking about some of the disasters I've had from time to time. It is fun to get together with old colleagues and share some of our frustrating times. And the chaos has descended on me at all grade levels.

One of my early disasters has stuck with me over the years. I was teaching a fifth grade in social studies and trying to get my students through the civil war. What was the civil war about? What were some of the problems facing both the north and the south? What was slavery all about?

My class was all white kids, mostly middle class from good homes. But the standard social studies textbook seem to me to gross over the civil war in a few pages. AND... we didn't seem to have much in the school library that I could make use of for the kids. So I put together what I thought was a great idea. I would choose some of the kids and make them southerners, slave owners, cotton barons. Got to have slaves to grow and process cotton. The rest of the classroom would be northerners and be industrial owners, manufacturing, some farmers, and ship owners.

My idea was that we would have this debate and get to see both sides but especially see how slavery was such a terrible idea. I split the room into two parts, north and south and let them plan their presentations. This took several days as it took the "north" awhile to understand this debate. At first they were willing to let the south have their slaves and I had to prod them into saying they didn't want the south to have slaves.

Anyway, we finally started our debate. I had picked a small group of bright kids to be the south and they started out by saying that if they didn't have slaves, they would go bust, their cotton farms would collapse and the north would never get any cotton. When the kids representing the north got to say their piece, the practically folded on me. "Well, we can't grow cotton in the north and we need cotton for our clothes so, okay, you can have slaves." No, no, no! The north kids just didn't get their heads around the fact that slavery was terrible.

Then the southern kids got up at the podium once again and said that they were giving the slaves medical help, that they had taken these people from Africa where they were being eater by tigers and living in grass huts and that they had built them wood buildings here in the states and were providing them with food. They even held up some National Geographic magazines with pictures of natives with spears and those grass huts. My kids representing the north practically sold out on the spot. I was beside myself trying to get the north to understand freedom but it was slow going.

Indeed, I got a couple of phone calls from parents asking what was going on--was I promoting slavery? I almost beg one parent that I knew fairly well and asked her to push her daughter a bit on the theme of freedom, having choice, that all humans were equal. She said she'd see what she could do.

It took about a week of afternoon debates and discussions before the north got their act together.....with a copious amount of pushing from me to finally get to the equality and freedom part down. The kids loved all this talking stuff--much better then reading stuffy old textbooks but I'm not sure that some of them ever got the meaning and problems behind the civil war. I can only hope. I never tried the north/south debate again in class. I have thought about it for a number of years. Wonder if it could ever work at that grade level. Maybe middle school.

Another lesson that bombed was in an Instructional Technology class during the summer with about thirty to thirty-five experienced teachers. Both elementary and secondary teachers, they were all working on their fifth year certificate. Just after a mid-term exam I planned to go into roll playing and recorded sound (then 33 1/3 records, and tapes).

First off, these were experienced teachers--they were all sharp. A fun group to work with. And they were not afraid to ask questions. Up to the mid-term things had gone very well indeed. The mid term test was just a simple one covering the use of technology in the classroom that I had demonstrated up to that point in the quarter. I gave the test on a Friday and graded it over the weekend. But I made sure that the points in the test didn't total more then about sixty five points all together. No one hundred perfect score here. If I remember all of the class received between fifty-five to the full score of sixty-five points. A lot got a perfect score....not surprising.

But on the following Monday, I arrived in class dressed in a dark blue suit, dark power tie, shinny black shoes. Not summer time garb at all. And I didn't smile when I went into class but just started passing out the mid-term tests.

With the paper work finished I announced to the class that I was quite upset with them. They were teachers and I expected more. No one had gotten over sixty five points and that was unacceptable to me. Therefore, I was assigning an extra assignment. I continued, "the only book that there were enough copies in the library for this class was 'Peter Rabbit' and I wanted them to 'mediaerize' (I made the word up) this book and turn it into me on Wednesday." "AND I didn't want to work harder because THEY hadn't work hard, therefore those mediaerized reports had to be one hundred words long. Not one hundred and one or ninety nine but ONE HUNDRED. The reason for this was that the computer would do the grading [how about that for a nasty response?]

I remember someone raising their hand but I ignored it...which wasn't my normal style. Then I asked the class how many were graduate student working on their masters. Most raised their hands and I mention that they should have known better--their report was to be different.

The class was silent, one student slammed his notebook shut--a great bit of communicating his disgust with me but not going over the edge to get on my wrong side. I then told them I had a record that would explain how I wanted them to "mediaerize" their report. I had a 33 and a third record of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." One of the selections is "Book Report" and is a musical on how each of the characters in the show works on their book report of Peter Rabbit. Lucy with all her charm starts off..... "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven--[sigh] eighty three to go." As I played the record, I had expected to see the class break into smiles and become more relaxed but that didn't happen. THEY TOOK NOTES ON THE RECORDING.

At the end of the recording I had to tell the class that I had been putting them on, role playing a poor teaching behavior. A high school girls PE teacher stood up and looked me straight into my eyes and said, "You mean you were putting us on?" And when I nodded yes, she said, "You have spoiled my entire week!" (and it was Monday) and then sat down.

I debriefed the class--you have to do that with role playing as it is an emotional response and you have to get them to analyze their feelings. Most agreed it did make them pay more attention to the record then had I not role played that bad teaching behavior....although several mentioned that they had had professors that did just that--add an assignment for poor grades on a test. I also told the class that a perfect score was 65 and would equate to an "A". The class had done well on the mid-term test.

Well, I recovered and I thought the class did too. Several talked to me in the days that followed about role playing and where they might learn more about this teaching behavior. I did think I needed to make some adjustments to it if I were to do it again. The blue suit seemed an overkill--maybe something not in the power suit category.

The rest of the quarter went well. I had a guest speaker who taught films and lesson plans using film. He was outstanding. I know I did some television instructions, particularly with the newer portable units that was just then coming on the school market. And finally it was final test time; end of quarter and the class. I felt pretty good about most of the presentations.

On the day of the final, I gathered the test, made sure I had enough copies and headed for the classroom. The students were all there, actually sort of excited about the test--or so I thought. Before I could say anything, one young teacher stood up and said, "Dr. Blackwell, we want you to know that this has been a wonderful class and we have learned many things of value for our teaching and learning." And with that announcement, the class go up and walked out! To a person. I just stood there with my mouth open I suppose. "Okay," I think, they are all out in the hall waiting to laugh at me." So I went to the door and wandered into the hall trying to look cool. BUT they were not there. To this day I don't know where they went. I thought they might have gone to the coffee shop to await me there but not so. When I returned to the classroom, there they were laughing up a storm. And that sweet young thing that had made the initial announcement stood up once again and said, "Now, Mr. Blackwell, how did you feel when we all walked out....and also, how did you feel when you found we weren't in the hallway?" Tons of more laughter erupted.

I know that the class had gotten the lesson on role playing and recorded sound. The test was handed out and I made a few remarks about wishing them all well in the coming school year. A few contacted me about this and that during the year but I have never forgotten the class that walked out on the final test of the quarter.

A Bond of Teachers

2011-04-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

[An editorial note: I am embarrassed to say that there were a number of misspellings, incorrect sentence structure, and a number of other writing errors in my previous blog. I just found them today. Please accept my apologies for poor work.]

And I am embarrassed on another front--big time head bowing shame. I attended a forum put on by my old College of Education and the Journal of Educational Controversy Blog, a blog that I admire quite a bit. The subject of the forum was the role of Teacher Unions in Education.

The first speaker was from the Washington Policy Center in Seattle, a think tank which favors conservative thought. Their representative was given the first opportunity to speak. She used a PowerPoint presentation and spoke for about twenty to twenty-five minutes. It was about how we need to improve our schools and that the teacher unions are standing in the way. A major point was to be able to fire those teachers who are underperforming. They also want to hire people to teach who have not been certified in teaching...they call it opening the teacher pool.

My major embarrassment comes from the fact that I walked out after her presentation because I was so incensed that I had just listened to another person who has not taught in a classroom for any length of time telling me how to run our schools. I didn't wait to hear from the president of the Washington Education Association or from the American Federation of Labor speakers.

Boorish behavior on my part and certainly not academic in any way. John Dewey would have been upset with me for not listening to all sides.

A major problem for me in the past year or two on the evaluation of our school system by many pundits, writers and organizations is the fact that no one has defined for me what is an operational definition of a "poor" or "ineffective" teacher. If they do make some attempt to define those terms it is almost always with regards to testing. If students do not make progress on a test, then it is the teacher's fault. As you readers well know, this bothers me to a great degree.

I was in my first year of teaching fifth grade in a suburban school when I began to hear from one of the first grade teachers that her class was a "handful." As we gathered in the teachers' room for lunch or at recess, someone would ask Anne, "How's your class this morning?" And Anne would relate some incident in which the class went off on its own behavior, not that which Anne wanted them to do. It became "THE CLASS." And yet, Anne said from time to time, there was not a bad student among the kids. Collectively they just couldn't work together.

Although the principal said after that first year that he would "break" up the class for second grade, it appears that somehow some of those kids became the nucleus for the "the second grade class." Let me say that our primary teachers were all excellent, experienced and knowledgeable teachers. I forgot who got "the" class but we talked about it from time to time in the teachers' room. I remember that the primary teachers would put their heads together and try different approaches to the class but it seemed to run on its own schedule. They learned the material but it was like pulling teeth. Hard work.

I left the school to do graduate work before that group of students reached the fourth grade. Some of my elementary colleagues teased me that I was a chicken and couldn't face getting that class. Perhaps a bit of that was true....I really don't know. But what I do understand is that there are times when a group of students come together and they are a handful for their teacher. I wish I was a better sociologist and knew how to observe and analyze these groups.

I've been in many teacher rooms over the years and every once in a while I hear the teachers talking about "that" group of kids. And when I enquire as to what the problem might be, the general answer is...."we just have a group of kids that are a handful."

I've never had to work in a school where there were gangs or disrupting students. I wonder how that works? What do the teachers do?

This morning I listened to Diane Ravitch on the Jon Stewart;s television show. As an aside I am amazed at myself how I have gone from a critic of Dr. Ravitch to an outright fan of hers. I suspect it shows the power of looking at your data and changing your mind. She mentioned that the Scandinavian countries have strong teacher unions and consistently outdo the American schools. They weed out those who might not be a good teacher before they become teachers. You can find that video on http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-3-2011/diane-ravitch.

Thanks to all those teachers in our public schools who are continuing to teach their students while reading and listening to all the criticism of them. It must be difficult to forge on. And I also wonder where we will get teachers in the future.

What are the Characteristics of a BAD teacher?

2011-04-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

What seems to be the norm these days is that I have gotten stressed over news both from print and television of people who are bashing teachers again. With so many negative forces in our society why are they ganging up on teachers? It is a puzzlement to me. We have bankers making tons of money off the poor, we have police kicking and stomping on handcuffed prisoners, we have companies forcing workers to work overtime and on weekends....we have a slew of possible candidates for being a negative force in our society and we pick on teachers. Maybe it is because we teachers don't fight back--we just want to teach our kids.

Recently the governor of Idaho has signed into law the anti-union bill against teachers coupled with the provision that Idaho can now fire (pink slip) any teacher regardless of how long they have worked at their job. If I understand the law Idaho can fire any teacher for any reason. Sad.

Then there is the governor of New Jersey who has repeatedly said that the Teacher Unions are the cause of all the troubles in the state. Wow! All of the troubles? Like Idaho, he now has been given the power (delegated to the school districts) to fire any teacher not doing the job.

Yes, I know a little about poor teachers. I was a member of the "Teacher Education and Professional Standards" (TEPS) committee of the Washington Education Association. Our task was to decide when a teacher in the State of Washington was fired if the WEA should supply legal assistance (lawyers). If I remember correctly it was about fifty-fifty. Half the time we would be in support of the teacher, the other half of the time we suggested that that person seek another profession. This was my teachers association taking on the challenge.

So let me give you a make-believe hypothetical (I know, redundant) scene. I'm a new principal of a middle school and I have a teacher who I do not like. She was teaching at the school before I was appointed principal and she is well liked by the faculty. She is fifty-five years old and has ten years to retire. She doesn't like the way I favor the new female teachers and has challenged me on some of the changes I have tried to make. She is also an English teacher who makes the students read. The kids respect her even though she is strict.

SO! I have need for a social studies teacher and appoint my nemesis to the position even though she objects. She has never taught Social Studies. And I have the power to do such a thing. After a year I find that the students in her classes did not make improvement so I fire her. Yes, this scene can happen and does....and will.

If we are to fire "bad" teachers we need to at least have some criteria as to what a "bad" teacher is. As an academic I have the following categories to suggest.

Negative Attitude teacher. One who belittles students, fellow teachers and the school in general. Does not get along with parents or thinks parents are doing a poor job of raising their children.

Overt Religious teacher in a secular setting. Tends to have students pray to solve problems, makes references to religious books. Also does not want to teach certain subjects believing that they are the churches domain. Note: this teacher could be exceptional in a church school setting.

Political teacher. Either right or left in political thinking. Changes information in textbooks to fit political beliefs. Encourages students to think in one direction.

Overly Fond teacher. Focuses on certain students and bonds with them. Sex may result between teacher and student.

Insensitive teacher. Someone who makes fun of students disabilities, looks, behavior, etc. A teacher who picks on certain students because of some characteristic such as race. Quite often this teacher does not have a compassionate personality.

Please note that I have not listed teachers whose students do not score well on tests. There are too many variables to measure in children's rate of learning from parents, neighborhood, nutrition and society norms.

With several million teachers in this country I suspect there are some who will fit the above categories but I think the numbers are not very large. I have already written about a teacher who was fired from one school district only to be chosen the 'teacher of the year' in another district. Why? I've always wondered about this. And in another school one teacher who was in my opinion obviously pedantic, boring, routine only to see his style was just what certain students needed.

Sadly the State of Washington has recently proposed a budget which will probably result in a three percent pay reduction for most teachers. And in some cases, there will be teachers furloughed from their jobs. I suspect a few school districts will say they have gotten rid of some 'poor' teachers. I wonder if they really will have done just that.

I think most teachers I have met or observed deserve a pat on the back and a pay raise. Thank you all for your services and your skills in teaching students. At least this is one profession that is trying to improve our society.

A Major Paradigm in MY Thinking.

2011-04-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

Jane Austin is one of my favorites to read on my Kindle. Incredible writing with sentences going on for paragraph lengths with a complexity that at times I have to go back and re-read to remember what was the subject and the verb--or should I say what were the subjects and the verbs.

So it should not come as a surprise for me to say as I clicked my way through a hundred or more channels on my high definition television that when I came across Pride and Prejudice I stopped for a while and watched with the sound still off. Having my own copy of the movie I believe I could now recite many of the lines for many of the characters. So I just watched the film.

The scene was in the father's large room in the manor with his desk and books. Oh my so many books. Large book cases going up to the ceiling. Books were important items in Jane Austin's time. Indeed, the whole movie starts with Elizabeth crossing some section of land reading a book. This was how the relatively upper class lived in the early 1800s with their manors and libraries. One had to have a library to be viable in society. Elizabeth does not go to school, she reads.

However, later on in the film there is a dance, a ball and major gathering of the elite and there is music. In the balcony there is small orchestra playing for all the dancers down below. Being an ex-musician I watched with keen eye as to how the musicians were behaving, were they really playing (they were) or acting. And somewhere in this musings of mine, it dawned on me that there was no way to save musical ideas or performances in those days. They could save ideas to paper and make books but they didn't have the capability in those days to save sound. One could write the music down on paper but not save the sounds for later on.

I mused (is there such a word?) on this for a bit before resuming my channel clicking only to find Anne of Green Gables. Ah, one of my other favorites. Again, books were priceless and a scarce item. Anne has to travel the snowy lanes to her friends and neighbors to borrow books promising to return them promptly. But still no recorded sound. And farm homes didn't have the space for a library.

Then my thoughts returned to my Kindle. I don't need a library in my house anymore. I can get rid of books and still keep them.....on my Kindle. Now for this discussion let us agree that when I write Kindle it can mean iPad, the Nook, Sony's eReader or any the many other ebook readers on the market. Which eReaders will survive in the coming marketplace I am not sure, however, the Kindle seems to have a foothold at this time.

The new Kindle (I have version number2) will hold 3500 books...more then any possible library I might have in my house. That was the size of my small library in my first elementary school. Thirty-five hundred books. We now come to the question of how long will we need libraries of any sort. I can hear the collected sigh of so many folks who love books. I do understand.

But...then my mind switched to how we now can record and save sound. Jane didn't have this capability but I do. I can listen to great orchestras, marching bands in Glasgow or jazz at the Village Vanguard. What a wonderful thing Edison did for music. I grew up with 78 rpms records, then 45 records, and finally 33 and a third beautiful records. It was grand. Wait, wait, what do you mean I can have it better. It's called the Compact Disk and it's BETTER! Finally, we have the perfect item to record sound. And then came the iPod. Forty hours of recorded sound! Can you believe it?

Then came the major change in my paradigm of thinking. And as if on cue, a school district appears to agree with me. They allege that kindergarten children will all need iPads of some sort. Books and sounds will be available to any learner! Families will not need an encyclopedia as my parents had for me during my youth. And we will not need to share a computer as the iPad (all types) will handle that duty.

With the advent of cloud computing I can see entire libraries (collections) of material (art, music, print, maps, graphics, photographs, etc) that will be available to all who seek it. Plato would have loved all this, just sitting there and asking questions.

There was a philosopher who once said, "Do not live in the answers. It is the questions that are important." How true today. It is the important questions that have value, not the answers. We have the answers literally at our fingertips...we just have to figure out what the question should be.

There are some of you, gentle readers, wonder where I have been all this time. It took Jane Austin's library of books to make me realize that we now practically have the library of congress at our command. Right now. Amazing. It is a changing paradigm for me.

Thanks for putting up with me. And thanks to all those teachers who are making the children ask questions. You're on the right track.

Do Teachers make mistakes?

2011-04-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

All the time! Everyday! No, we don't do it on purpose, it comes naturally. Mistakes take on all sorts of configurations and sneak past the teacher when we're not looking. I still worry about some of my mistakes.

One that bothers me even to this day was Fred. Fred was a lanky, thin kid in my fifth grade who was very quiet. A good kid who never seem to get in the way or ever did anything wrong. But he was a slightly below average kid that I just never reached. Because he was so quiet I guess I would overlook him from time to time. But I did that with all the kids, overlooking them at the moment while helping someone else.

If I kid raised his/her hand I tried to get to them in a manner of minutes. Sort of like the sign in the doctor's office that reads, "IF YOU'VE BEEN HERE TWENTY MINUTES, PLEASE SEE THE RECEPTIONIST". If too many hands waved in the air I would sometimes stop the class and see what the overall problem was. But sometimes a hand in the air was not a problem but rather a need by some student for me to see what they had done. A bit of praise and I could move on to the next student.

So after explaining the lesson and giving them an assignment to help solidify what I had just taught, I'd walk around the classroom to see how the kids were doing. Fred would always be studiously working at the assignment. My mistake was not saying to him, "How are you doing? Does this make sense to you?" or something like that. It was easy to pass Fred. Strangely enough I can still remember where Fred sat much of the that year--last row on the right (facing the class) about four seats back.

Somewhat like education today, we were trying to increase the reading and arithmetic scores on our yearly tests and all of the teachers were working hard at getting kids to learn. I felt pretty good with my class--reading was not a problem for most of my kids but I did spend more time on arithmetic then I had the year before. Time on Task! But if you are going to spend more class time on reading and arithmetic something has to give--some other subjects have to be slighted in time to make time for the increase work on those two main subjects. Do you slough off on Health? You don't want to ignore social studies with the important components of geography and history. Spelling was definitely not on the hit list; we had to have spelling. Besides, spelling was always the first subject in the day and it gave me a chance to collect lunch money while the kids worked in their spelling books.

So as usual I didn't do much in art or music. I could sometimes get the kids to sing a song while we got ready for lunch or as we walked down to the busses to go home. But art meant that I had to get supplies ready, a lesson plan as to what we were going to do and some sort of objective that the kids could focus on. So art got dumped. Occasionally I get the kids to design a cover for a report that they had done but that was it. No regrets on my part.....my kids could read well and I am positive most could do mathematics at grade level or better.

It was April and spring was beginning to show up around the school. The kids were tired having worked hard most of the year. They were already looking forward to summer vacation and NO SCHOOL. Funny, here the kids were looking forward to not having school and yet when I met parents in the stores during the summer months, they almost always said the children were looking forward to school in the fall. And I suspect they were.

But by mid April the kids were tired. Same old stuff. "Get your books out" or "Take a piece of paper and put your name on it." Boredom. So this was a time when I would try to do something different. Moving desks and chairs around was a start, perhaps putting kids into groups or if necessary, breaking groups up into rows. Sometimes moving my desk to a different corner of the room. Definitely changing the wall bulletin board helped. Time for a new map or pictures of places where families were planning to visit during the summer vacations.

Finally, I designed an art lesson that allowed the kids to do some drawing--I can't remember what it was, maybe some with perspective or balance but I finally had the kids do some art work. So I'm walking around the room, praising the kids, giving some suggestions and I get over to Fred. Fred has out done himself. He not only had done the assignment he had gone far beyond my expectations. I praised him up and down. Probably made some comments to the class although I tried not to single kids out. If you a kid who doesn't get noticed in class and a lot of the other kids do, it hurts. But Fred had surprised me completely.

From that moment on I had Fred do art work for the bulletin board, for the windows facing out. He could draw anything! And you know what? He started to blossom. He'd smile a lot more and participated in class much more. So I got perhaps the rest of April and all of May where I could get Fred to do some art work. And his grades in all the other subjects when up.

I remember writing on Fred's elementary school file that the next teacher would get in the fall that Fred had an amazing talent in art. "Make sure you get him to start drawing early in the school year." I'm not sure what happened in the middle school with Fred but I heard that he got into trouble with the Sheriff's department and his step-father sent him to Montana to live. I hope Fred got to do some more art work. He was good. But I wonder what if I had had art lessons earlier in the year that would have allowed Fred to expand on his creativity.

I've heard that Michelle Rhee, ex-head of the Washington, DC public schools does not believe in lesson plans in creativity and that students should not be coddled. Maybe, but I will always wonder what if I had given Fred more opportunity to creative might not he have problems in the middle school. After all these years I still worry about him.

Thanks to all those teachers who manage to get in ALL the subjects even though the pressure is on to teach reading and arithmetic to increase test scores. Where were you when I needed you for advice. Thanks for doing what you do.

What Do Teachers Think?

2011-03-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

It is not hard to find articles in newspapers or weekly magazines, or to hear segments of so called television news programs all complaining about teachers in the public schools. "They don't work hard," They get paid to have three months off," "My kid is smarter then his teacher," and so it goes. In the past year the teacher unions and associations have also come under fire along with the universal complaint "....that if we could get rid of the BAD teachers things would get better." I have asked people time after time, "What is a bad teacher?" but no one has given me a clear answer.

Throughout the past couple of years I find it fascinating that you haven't much from the teachers themselves. I've talked to only a few local teachers but their answers seemed typical--"if they want to get somebody else to teach this class, fine." I suspect they know that most people wouldn't want the job. It takes dedication.

However, a couple of weeks ago, Corrine Smith from Universityreviewsonline.com, a fellow blogger wrote me about an article titled: "10 Most Common Complaints Among Today’s Teachers" recently printed in her blog. You can read it at: (http://www.universityreviewsonline.com/2011/03/10-most-common-complaints-among-todays-teachers.html). I don't know if Corrine wrote this but I'm glad to see that someone is listening to teachers finally.

Let's review what teachers are saying and thinking. Number one on Corrine list is Overworked. I'm not surprised. I've heard this same anguish since 1968 when I started working as a volunteer for the Washington Education Association. But I heard it in my own teachers' room as well. Teaching is a hard job. You're on your feet most of the day, you have to think, the pressure doesn't let up..... I don't care what grade level be it high school, middle school or elementary, it is hard work. In some of the better school districts in this state there are teacher assistants or aids but there are not as many as teachers would like and as one of my teacher friends said, you can't delegate thinking--lesson plans, student evaluations and the like. Do I think teacher overloads are going to change? Not by a long shot....it will probably get worse with bigger classes and less teaching materials.

Numer two goes hand in glove with number one. Most teachers feel underapprediated. In fact, there is research to support this complaint. Most teachers do their job without supervision. Sometimes a principal will come into the classroom but that is not a daily happening and it may not be for teaching reviews. Other research says that most principals dislike doing teacher reviews most of all and then not to do it. So the teacher is in his/her classroom 180 days (or more) getting kids to learn. `

Here is a kicker--at the end of the year most teachers don't even get a letter saying thank you--see you next year. And for many, no pay raises to indicate a good job done.

I watched the other night where a major television station gave praise to a local teacher who had been nominated by her class for being good. The teacher got a fifty dollar check to be used for materials in her classroom. Not for herself but for her classroom. She seemed very pleased. The whole episode on the TV schedule must have taken two minutes. Right after that segment the following bit of news was about major executives of large companies in the United State whose companies did not pay any national tax.....and these executives were getting bonuses this year in excess of two million dollars each. Two Million! You see why teachers feel under appreciated. Oh well, let them eat cake.

Third on Corrine's list was being under paid. And it going to get worse I suppose given the tax climate. Some years ago when I was still teaching in the public schools, the WEA did some research. The hired some secretaries to sit in different classrooms and take notes of what teachers did. Yes, we had a standardized list of categories, teaching, responding to student, writing on the board, etc. Then the WEA took those forms, added what the teachers said they did in the evening and then totaled the hours, divided by what an hourly pay would be for the teacher and oh my! It was below minimum pay. Yes, you're correct--there were flaws in the research--we didn't account for summer nor did we add it the health benefits. But by and large because it is a tax supported function, public education does not get a lot of money. Never will happen.

By the way, for your edification, it takes about twelve to fifteen years before the "Is This All There Is?" syndrome hits many teachers. Think about it--you've taught for ten or twelve years and have received a few pay raises but no promotion. There aren't any promotions in teaching.....except to go into administration. It is at this point we begin to loose some of our more experienced teachers as they find different jobs. If we look at Boeings, you get a pay raise at six months and your job title changes. You feel like you're getting ahead--you're doing good work. No one tells that to a teacher. Teachers have to feel their own satisfaction--pat themselves on the back.

The next gripe is large class sizes. I do hear this from elementary and middle school teachers a lot--more then high school teachers. I can see the reasoning for primary teachers to have smaller classes but the research on class size does not show confidence in smaller classes for increased learning. But I sense that teachers want to do a good job teaching all their kids and smaller classes give them this chance to do just that. I understand their fervor. Understand I could have a bias on this complaint--I did teach band and choir and in those classes it was normal to have fifty to sixty kids.

Corrine Smith's number five complaint from teachers is Student Disengagement. It is my feelings that this complaint depends upon the school districts. One of the teacher's main tasks is to engage the student and I suspect depending upon the support from the district's parents would be how difficult it might be to "bring the students along." I have not heard this complaint too often in recent years but perhaps I've been in the wrong districts talking to the wrong teachers.

Number six is a difficult problem to solve--that of Lack of Parental Involvement. I've always have said that the parents are in charge. We teachers and parents have to work together to education the children. But it is difficult if the parent(s) has two jobs or works the night shift. In recent years I have heard teachers who report that they have parents that do not encourage their children to go to school. Migratory kids are difficult to teach when they come weeks late to school and leave in a middle of a semester. One of the first things an older teacher taught me when I started teaching fifth grade was NOT to erase a kids name from my grade book if they moved away. They might move back and some did. Parental involvement is a difficult problem.

Number seven is a problem that won't go away--Lack of Funding. And I don't think it will ever go away. It is my thought that money does improve education but sometimes it doesn't get down to the teachers. Teachers do and probably will continue to buy supplies for their classrooms. I remember finding a ditto machine that was not being used at the district office and bringing it back to my classroom only to be told that I couldn't use the paper in our school office. I had to buy ditto paper from Sears for my classroom. [if any of you write me and ask what dittos or ditto paper is you will be banned from reading any further] Still, some classrooms NEED supplies. The sciences at the high school are always in need of material. How can you teach chemistry without chemicals? How can you have a band without music? Todays teachers have their problems in funding.

Number nine is a biggie, dealing with Layoffs. It use to be a standard rule that the last hired was the first to be laid off. Not anymore. New York City Public Schools want to be able to lay off ANY teacher at any time. I am certain that many teachers with higher salaries will be among the first to go when they cut back the schools. I also have talked to teachers who quite frankly do not trust the principal to make good decisions. One teacher frankly told me that she would be the first to go because she has irritated the principal too much during the past few years in getting new books, supplies, etc. She and He don't get along and she is sure she will be among the first to be released.

I also know of a superintendent who for a number of years would release teachers at the end of their third year for various reasons--this was the way he kept his budget down--no expensive teacher salaries to maintain. While the court put a stop to that administrative policy I know that we will start to see such policies once again. I feel for the teachers--all of them.

I have to say I think Corrine's tenth complaint does not belong in this list of gripes from teachers only because this one is a constant, that of School Schedules/breaks. Teachers have been griping over playground duty, the Holiday Break, length of periods in the high school, parent/teacher conference days, the list goes on. I have heard more excitement over SNOW make up days then probably any other subject. Some teachers want schools to start earlier while others want schools to start later in the day and go longer. A bus schedule can drive a teacher berserk. This complaint will never go away.

We haven't talked about the curriculum. But it is a subject that teachers like to talk about. "When should we teach this subject? Should it be reviewed in the middle school and again in the high school? How can we teach it so that the kids LIKE it" I wish many parents could be flies on the wall when teachers start discussing how they want the kids to learn and what they want the kids to learn. I think all parents would be impressed.

Thanks to Corrine Smith for alerting us to this list of teacher complaints. Well done. I am looking forward to hearing from more teachers about their tasks and responsibilities.

And to all teachers, thank you. I think you're doing a great job. Have you thanked a teacher today?

"What do you wear under your skirt?"

2011-03-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

"Go down that hall and turn right. It will be the first door on your right."

I did just that and found the correct door or at least I thought I had. Printed on the door was the words, "Restroom. Teachers Only." I opened the door into a dark room and walked in only to be hit on the face by damp pantyhose. Groping I found the light switch, switch it on and was totally confounded by pantyhose and nylons hanging to dry in this tiny restroom. Someone had tied string from one side of the room to the other several times and apparently had washed a month's use of pantyhose and nylons and then some. There wasn't an inch of space to move about in that room without entangling oneself is a damp leg or panty in the face.

You see, I was out in the county at a small country school built a long time ago and remodeled many times since. In the many remodelings that had taken place over the years, no one thought to put in a decent sized restroom for the teachers. "They should be in front of the classroom anyway!" But then again, I don't think nylons and pantyhose had been invented when the first rebuilding of the school had taken place. Who knows?

I was at the school to do a storytelling session for the upper grades; fourth and fifth grade. There was a kindergarten and one grade each of first through fifth. All women teachers from young to old and a part time woman principal. It was a long time beloved elementary school for a small community out in the country.

Some of you will remember that I started doing story telling way back when I was a playground supervisor in Rye, New York. On hot muggy summer days when it was too hot to play ball or run around the playground, the kids and I would sit under the big, big maple tree near the school and I would tell them "Indian Why Stories". Why are there so many snakes in the world or why do the male ducks have bright colors and the female ducks look so drab? Whether they were authentic or not, a good story could last the afternoon--besides the kids loved them.

But today among all the nylons I was at this school to do a storytelling session dealing with Scottish folk tales and culture. I need to point out that I TOLD stories, I didn't read them from books. Normally, I would come into a classroom dressed in my kilt, knee high woven socks, my skean dhu (black knife in my right sock), my sporran (pouch for car keys, etc.) and a jacket with silver diamond shaped buttons and my pipes, large and small.

Generally, my attire generally dazzled the kids and they were all on top alert for what might happen. My usual schedule was to tell them I was a storyteller and I was invited by their teacher to tell Scottish stories. "Does anyone know where Scotland is?" Being that my county borders Canada and the Vancouver area I could count on some of the children knowing more about Scotland then I did.

However, I could normally keep things in control by starting to blow up the bagpipes and playing a short tune. Then I would start by telling the story of "Wee Gillis" by Munro Leaf (he also wrote "Make Way for Ducklings" and "Ferdinand") about a small boy who learns to play the largest bagpipe. Another good and funny story was Gerry and George Armstrong's "The Magic Bagpipe" about another small boy who couldn't play the pipes worth a damn. Somewhere in my presentation I would explain what I was wearing, what the black knife was for (eating plus fingers), and why the sporran since there were no pockets in the kilt.

When I did this presentation for second graders I generally could count on one little girl standing up and saying she was wearing a skirt and there were no pockets either. A shinning smiling face would indicate I had made a friend.

Today at my nylon and pantyhose school I was to do a presentation for the fourth and fifth grades but I got sandbagged when they said I was going to have the second and third grade children as well. All four grades in the gym.

I normally don't wear the kilt while driving to a school. Thoughts of a flat tire always danced through my head so I would carry my "outfit" and pipe cases in with me to the front office. After pleasantries with the school secretary I'd ask where there was a rest room I could use to change into my "kilt and gear?" Most schools had a men's rest room as well as women's rest room. But not today.

There I was amid the forest of damp nylon legs. So I took off my slacks, folded them on the floor, change out of my shoes to put on the woven socks, shoes back on, then the kilt wrapped around me and secured with the tabs. Finally the sporran and the knife. Had to have the knife. When most boys saw me in the kilt, some were just not sure but when they saw the knife, "yeah, man. He's okay."

Once dressed I left the nylon room and went back to the office to get my pipes and then down to the gym. I'd stand there near the center of the room with Mrs. McDonald, who had invited me and would make a brief introduction. Sometimes I'd ask to leave the introduction off--I would do it myself. But I knew Jean and she knew the children. When all four classes had entered the gym and found seats on the bleachers it was "showtime."

Let me interject some thoughts at this point. When you can keep four grades of noise makers, wiggle worms, skeptics, hyper-excited, "my mother has that skirt", kids quiet and entertained you KNOW you are a teacher. When all the kids can hear you without a mic, you KNOW you are a teacher. When you can ask questions about the story and get good answers based on happenings in the story, you KNOW you are a teacher. You've got say, eighty kids paying attention, raising their hands, applauding and asking good questions, you KNOW you are a good teacher. Damn those teacher evaluation tests, I KNOW.

My session with these kids went about an hour and forty minutes--a bit long for the two primary grades but the little ones did well. I had planned my storytelling for the older kids but made adjustments with some of the stories. The older kids and I had a question and answer session as the little ones went back to their classrooms. It was good. One tall boy raised his hand and I called on him. He was very unsure of his question, started, stopped, then blurted, "Do you wear a slip?" I thought the teachers would come unglued with laughter. It appeared that he was the macho boy of the school.

I normally would prompt a teacher to ask me "What is worn under the kilt?" The women loved to ask this question and I always answered, "To the best of my knowledge everything is in perfect working order." I could count on a blush or two from the ladies but the kids never understood.

Then back to the land of nylons, change back into slacks and sport coat, hang kilt and gear in my traveling bag and head to the office. Sometimes a cup of the most terrible coffee (why do teacher rooms have the worst coffee?) but sometimes after leaving a school I'd find a cafe and grab a cup there and think about what had just happened. Good review time. Which story hadn't gone smoothly? What parts had the kids especially liked? Where could I have improved? Satisfied time.

Some say that college of education professors have never been in a classroom. totally untrue. I knew several of my colleagues who were out in the schools teaching science or poetry or reading. My favorite colleague did math workshops. I did storytelling. Although hard work and it took discipline (memorizing stories is hard for me) I found it fun and satisfying. I like kids.

No, I never found out what was going on with all those nylons and pantyhose. So I can't tell you. None of those teachers at this little country school ever mentioned it to me either. Strange.

For those who want to learn how to be a storyteller, try to find a old copy of "Storyteller" by Ramon Ross. It is quite complete. But old. Another possibility is Roger Sale's "Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E.B. White." It's a Harvard book so I'm sure you can find it. Both are excellent.

Do women teachers wear nylons in class today? I don't think so.

First Day of Spring

2011-03-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Forgive me if I reminisce on this first day of spring. It was actually in the middle of winter many years ago that my department chair and advisor asked me into his office. He then proceeded to say that I would be teaching spring quarter a section of Educ 455, more commonly known as Introduction to Audio-Visual or at that time a more modern version called Introduction to Media Communications. Today it would be a basic course in Instructional Technology. But back then media was still a road bump in learning and teaching.

He also informed me that the section that I would be teaching would have three different groups of students--about fifteen undergraduate students from the Forestry department. They were there to learn how to communicate with the public in parks.

Then there would be about twenty or so, perhaps a few more, of nursing students working on their masters degree. They would have had a basic course in education (how to teach) and this one as their only courses in becoming teachers of nurses to be.

The rest of my section would be education majors, mostly seniors and maybe several with masters returning to get certification. He wasn't sure how many students in this pile, maybe eighteen. This group would have had the necessary prerequisites for the course.

"So fifty to sixty students who would meet on Thursdays at four in the afternoon to seven at night. Let me know how it turns out."

To somewhat complicate all this, I had only taught this course maybe three times in my life--I was a graduate assistant in my throes of learning how to teach technology to adults . Not only was I not sure of how to teach adults but I was unsure of the different technologies as well. I was to cover the use of.... 16 mm motion film, 35 mm slides, overhead projections and transparencies, the ubiquitous opaque projector and some television production--the latter being that the department had just received our first mobile television camera and recorder. Mobile was NOT the operational word here as it took four of us guys to move it from room to room. But this course was BC--before computers!

The room was an assigned room for the Media Communications department in the College of Education, therefore we could set it up anyway we wanted. It was a long room with desk chairs on both side of the room with a center isle. A small platform or stage was in the front along to one side a large oak podium with cigarette burns along both sides. One could smoke in class during those times. Behind the stage was a screen almost always in the down position and behind it a large blackboard. If the equipment wasn't already in the room it would be in a storage room not far away. The room could sit seventy students.

My first task was to inform the department's self-instruction media lab where students went to learn how to operate all this equipment. There were slide presentations at each station showing how to load, thread, turn on, focus, etc., each device that I would be showing in class. The media center had a test at the end that students had to take to be cleared on this assignment. The student had to learn this equipment on their own. Research had shown that those students who learned this way were essentially considered better teachers after being on the job for five years. The thinking at that time was that we (the department) taught the student how to learn and when they were teaching and new equipment came on line they learned it as well. At least that is what we thought.

My next task was to design the course. I would start in backwards--first finding how many Thursdays I would have to teach (no holidays, thank heavens), finding out when finals were being given and what day would I have my test on... With those essentials out of the way, I would list my objectives broadly (film, television, overhead, etc.), decide on how much time to allocate to each objective and plan the quarter. Much of the psycho-motor skills would be taken care of my the media lab but I had not only knowledge to present but the affective domain as well--get the students to appreciate and be willing to use in their classrooms the technology that I was teaching.

So now my work consisted of literally writing lesson plans. I would do this and that and the students would take notes or respond to questions or work in groups. For example, I decided to show "Greenhouse," a movie about a kid throwing rocks into a greenhouse. I planned to stop the movie at one point and tell the students they had so much time to write me an ending to the movie. Then I would show the rest of the movie after they had written theirs. But I also planned to show "Hemo, the Magnificent," a Walt Disney production about blood. I thought this might be good for the nurses--who later said it was a nice review--thank you. I did design some overhead transparencies about the human body as well as did several color lifts on the same subject. I also did some transparencies on charts and trees for the forestry students. I used some of my older transparencies that I knew the education majors would pick up on.

After my course design was finished I had to order some of the films and as I just said, make some of the transparencies. Things were taking shape. Then it was time to write the final exam. I always did this early before the class even started so that I could see if my questions would reflect on the different objectives that I was about to cover. Making sure my questions would reflect what I would do in class teaching... With me so far? I could later edit the test if I left something out or added some objective.

Now it was time to write a handout about the course. Overview, office hours, telephone numbers, class requirements like the media lab, being in the class, and the course paper.....most of the time I wanted something that reflected their thinking of how to use technology in THEIR classroom (or park). Then you need to assign points to each activity that the student will do--how many points for the paper, how many for the final, how many for participating in the class, how many for the lab completion, etc. At that time I didn't assign a number that would equate for an "A" grade, another number for a "B" grade and so on. I told them I marked on a curve. I'm glad I did as you will see.

The entire course was put in a binder and submitted to my boss for his approval. He liked what he saw and wished me well.

On the first Thursday of spring quarter I checked to see if I had a roster of student names (I would always get a few who hadn't signed up but wanted to see what the course was about), if I had enough of the class handouts prepared and so on. Although the class went from 4 to 7 I was normally getting the classroom ready by three. During the quarter this also gave a chance to those early students who had questions about something in the course that might not come in during office hours.

It was an interesting class. The nurses pretty much sat as a group about midway back in the room. They were older and appeared quite serious. The education major having been in classes together were friends and somewhat boisterous, a few having already student taught were confident and eager. The forestry students looked like they were lost all the time. They were out of their comfort zone but they were going to give it a good try. They eventually sat together and shared notes.

I would stay after seven and put the equipment back into the storage room. After the first class I quite often had some of the forestry and education students who remained behind to help out. Lots of questions then, not so much during class.

By and large the class went well--much as I had predicted. The movies excited them, the overheads wowed most of them. Many of the class did not like the media lab where they had to learn on their own. "Why can't someone just show me how to thread the projector"....or...."it took me an hour to find the on/off switch!" No happy campers here. It turns out it was mostly the nurses who did not like the self-instructional media lab--the other students were cool with it.

But I was overwhelmed with the course papers. Most of the nurses wrote excellent papers that were 60 to 75 pages in length--I'm not kidding you. Small dissertations. My education majors pretty much did what I though they would do with papers from 20 to 30 pages targeting in on how to use the technology in their hope to be classrooms. But my poor forestry student--they had papers of about 10 to 15 pages, not necessarily well written and not focused in most cases.

So why the difference and how should I have interpreted it all. I spent much my time during finals week reading the papers and after that, grading the finals. Actually the forestry majors did fairly well on the final, the nurses pretty much cooling it. The education majors were a bell graph from top to bottom.

I've thought long about this episode in my teaching over the years. I think I did right and I know where I went wrong. Let's start with the wrong--I never told the class how many pages I expected, the education students did what they did in their last classes, the forestry students didn't do term papers so should have had more guidance from me. The nurses needed a maximum to focus their papers.

However on the test the forestry students could see the problem and knew how to handle it--they liked the technology. Their concern was would they have electricity in the park? The education majors were basically happy, the question for them was would the schools have this new equipment? Like the television? The nurses were pretty much accepting of the course but not that happy with it. They were trained nurses who for most of their learning careers were told how to do something. Expository was the method preferred by them. They hated the self-instructional lab. I didn't explain the concept behind self-learning very well to them.

I don't think the nurses would have gone out to teach and ever used technology in their presentations. The affective domain bombed with them. I really think the medical rule of "Watch One, Do One, Teach One." was more their style.

Sometime later I dropped the requirement of a term paper in favor of a term project, i.e., make a television presentation, a slide show, a series of transparencies, and yes, even a flannel board....for sailing! I think under these circumstances, the forestry students would have lapped the class. They were use to projects.

I'm still pondering what I could do for the nurses. They learned but not what i wanted. What to do, what to do. In retrospect I think next time I would put them into groups (they were all women) and have them produce a project to use in their teaching and then make copies for the rest of their group. IF you're going to give it to someone else, you've got to look good, eh? This way I would have involved more of the affective domain......I think.

It was hard work teaching this class. I was also taking classes as well. I could have put in a thirty hour week on this class alone....but had other responsibilities.

There was a time when an acquaintance told me teaching was easy, just stand them and talk about the subject. He wasn't a teacher so I didn't say much to him. But I did remember this time in my history of teaching instructional technology to three different groups in one class. It was hard work.

Thanks to all those teachers who go to great length to make sure their students get to learn. You're a great bunch of people.

I'll get you if you don't read this! Bullying.

2011-03-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to be writing about bullying in the public schools and what we should do to get rid of this behavior. As an academic, I need to start with a definition so that you and I can discuss this phenomenon with some degree of civility. We haven't heard that word in a long time have we-civility.

According to one dictionary on this computer a Bully is a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker. The verb definition is using superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.

Why does my mind want to go back in my thinking of Wisconsin?

We probably have always had bullying and bullies since the early mankind. "If you have the power, flaunt it!" And I'm sure we have all been a party to bullying be we the bullyees or the bullyors.

I still remember being bullied at choir practice at the Episcopal Cathedral in Utica, New York. I was probably five or six years old and one of the smallest in the choir. As such I and another small kid were always first in line to lead the choir in and out of the services. Practice was on Saturday and was, I think if memory serves me correctly, about two hours long. I quickly learned NOT to go to the rest room because that was were the big kids were during the break in practice. I don't remember any adults ever coming in to see what was going on. You didn't even walk near the rest room because those bigger kids might grab you and drag you in.

Isn't it interesting that after six decades I still remember that time. When practice was over I'd run out of the church and head two blocks to the bus stop where the bigger kids never went. No, I didn't tell my folks. You're the first. I don't remember what I thought then--probably self survival.

But it wasn't my last episode with bullying. There was seventh grade where a bigger kid took my new notebook for my school work. I told the teacher but she couldn't find it so I told my parents. Wrong. Dad went to the school principal and demanded the notebook (it had hinged covers). That only increased the bullying from those that had taken the notebook in the first place. Never did get the notebook back although I saw it once or twice during the year. We had big kids in my seventh and eighth grades and I wasn't one of them. Many were from families that were in construction work and they were use to getting it from their Dad at home. So I know now that it was a natural progression of behavior. Dad beats on his kid and the kid beats up on his little sister and when he gets beat up for that he takes it out in the smaller kids on the playground.

Let's face it, wherever there are people with power there will be bullying. I found the Army before it was an all volunteer organization had much bullying. The more stripes on your sleeve or bars on the collar gave you the right to bully. It was a way of life. In civilian life I find at times there are groups that enjoy power (police, construction permits, road crews, etc) that bully those they come in contact with--but I also have found some of these same groups polite and friendly to a fault. Why the difference?

If there is any point to be made here is that there are places where bullying can be found in our society. It IS in our classrooms and we need to address this problem constantly.

I have had kids in my classroom bully or pick on another member of the class. At one time I had one black-American boy in a fourth grade of all white kids. Tom (not a Tommy) was an exceptional student and really one of the nicest kids in class so I was taken back when I watch some of his classmates push him aside or not pass papers or books to him.

Well, now! This was not to be. So I arranged to have Tom help the principal straighten the storeroom one afternoon and I proceeded to "bully" the class. Do you remember my advising on this blog to learn how to get angry before you get angry. A teacher needs to role play that anger. I did just that. I stomped up and down in the front of the class and demanded to know "why are you picking on my friend, Tom?" "Why would you do this?" I must have gone on for several minutes before finally saying what were we going to do when Tom comes back from helping the principal. I gave them some direction in acceptable behavior and proceeded as well to tell the class there were NOT to talk to Tom about this. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" In retrospect, I bullied the class. I had the power and I told them what I wanted.

Fourth graders are easy to convince and they followed my instructions and then some. I had no more problems concerning Tom and, indeed, he became a leader in the class. His mother when she came for a parent/teacher conference told me Tom was quite happy in my class and she was quite happy with his progress. It turned out that she was a teacher in another nearby school district so we enjoy a good relationship from that time.

We teachers need to be ever vigilant as to the possibilities of bullying in the school and we need to take action immediately to put a stop to it. From an academic viewpoint I wonder if bullying is more prominent in the city schools then in country schools? Does Germany have more bullying then Norway? Is my bias showing here?

Diane Ravitch, where are you when we need you? What are other cultures doing about bullying, do they have it and how do they handle it? Is there bullying in private schools? That would be interesting to know, wouldn't it.

Bullying is a problem that will never go away--we have to deal with it. Teaching kids proper behavior and, in my opinion, getting kids to recognize bullying behavior in themselves is important piece of the solution. Leslie Briggs would probably support this contention--learning about self is an important part of our educational process.

Did you have a teacher intervene when some kids were bullying you? Then go thank that teacher. Do it now.

Let Them Eat Cake.

2011-03-12T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last evening my wife and I watched the 25th anniversary performance of "Les Miserables," on a PBS television station. Very emotional and moving performance by wonderful singers, a great orchestra and a very large choir (you hardly hear choirs anymore except in church). While the plot of "Les Miserables" is very complex in its most simplistic form it is a story of a peasant who steals some bread for his family, goes to prison, is finally released but is once again followed by the local police. His good deeds and good disposition eventually save him from going back to prison. As I said, this is a very simplistic version of Victor Hugo's famous novel.

Hugo wrote the story about the differences between the poor and the rich in France in the sixteenth century. There were tough times and people did what they could to survive.

As the show came to an end last evening, I saw a correlation between "Les Miserables" and what is taking place presently in Wisconsin. Rich and controlling people are taking away rights of the individuals to keep control. My sadness evolves in several ways. First I worry about the children of Wisconsin--what sort of public education will there be for the children when this battle is over? The rich will send their kids to private schools but the middle class will have to contend with the denigration of the present public school system.

But I also feel for the teachers at all grade levels. I'm sure they are wondering if they will have a job when this is all over, who will be released (fired), how large will their classes be, and where do we go from here? Will there be a retirement for teachers when this is all finished? The future is very foggy at this point.

I also worry about the people of Wisconsin. This has to be pitting neighbor against neighbor.....not a good climate for growth. Certainly there is not an environment for talking to each other and looking for common ground. It is a sad time. Perhaps the governor of Wisconsin is saying, "Let them eat cake." Am I the only one that sees the resemblance between Les Miserables and the present?

My perspective seems cloudy--how should we thank the teachers in Wisconsin for helping all those children and young adults? A thank you seems insufficient at the moment.

A Special Moment and a negative which equals "A puzzlement."

2011-03-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

Many things have been whirling around in my head this past week concerning education in general. It has been hard for me to ignore or even put behind me the many happenings in education from the teacher union fight going on in Wisconsin as well as the number of school districts giving out pink slips to teachers all over this country to Bill Gates saying we need merit pay for those teachers who are outstanding. The icing on the cake so to speak in my emotional turmoil was the person who criticized the PS 22 sixth graders from Staten Island who sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," at the Oscars. He said it was terrible. I really don't know what to say. It was a special moment for me to listen to those children. IF you didn't hear them, go to YouTube and search for PS 22 Staten Island Choir. They were great! And it was a significant ending to a good show.

Later on in the week on a television news hour a segment showed Bill Gates speaking about education, saying that we need good teachers and that good teachers need to be paid more than the other teachers. I'm glad to see that Bill and I are on the same page--that good teachers need to be paid more. We just happen to think differently as to how we should operationally define "good." He and I also agree on something else that he said, that there is no research that suggests that larger classes inhibits learning. Where we differ is that he is generalizing this finding to all kids and all classes. Mr. Gates. Did you have large classes at Lakeside School in Seattle?" I don't think so.

Then, add to this milieu a large number of people, some politicians, who have NEVER taught in the public schools that want to denigrate public school teachers by lowering their pay and taking away some of their retirement funds. My heart aches for the teaching profession.

I really would like to have an academic discussion with Mr. Gates about class sizes, student learning, teacher characteristics and the rest of the foggy side of teaching. Since it will never happen, let me once again present my side of my learning about teachers and teaching. Let me start with the song from the Sound of Music (those kids from PS 22 inspired me), you know the song, the Do Re Mi Lyrics--"Let's Start From the Very Beginning..."

Let's start with the environment. ALL teaching is done in either a large group, a small group or individually. My definition of a large group is where a student can hide in plain sight. Not raising their hand, sitting in the back of the room, not sitting tall, head down, no eye contact, being quiet and not participating in discussions, etc. That's hiding. And to some degree it depends upon the teacher's skill in handling a class. I know of one professor who within the first hour would know the first name of every student in the class even though in might be a class of sixty or more students. I couldn't do that. Beyond my capabilities.

A sidebar story: One year I taught forty-two and for a short time, forty-three fifth graders. It was crowded in my classroom, there was even a kid sitting at my desk. Although I taped the kid's names on the front of their desks to help me remember, I just couldn't keep everyone straight. So by accident I started giving them nick-names like, princess, six-gun, admiral, hot-rod, movie star and so on. I just made them up as I went along. "Hey, quarterback, can you erase the board for me?" The kids really enjoyed their different names. "What did Mr. Blackwell call you today?" I found out later that some even went home and told their family they wanted to be called by their nickname. One little guy didn't like what I called him one day and had me pick another name. He was cool with that. It was fun for the kids and for me. We had a good time and it didn't get in the way of learning--perhaps it might have even facilitated it.

But my point is that the environment is important in the teaching/learning process. How one learns in a small group is quite different from private lessons or tutoring. You with me, Cupcake?

In a recent blog I wrote about the learning objective--the Cognitive, the Affective and the Psycho-motor domains. Cognitive, that's the knowledge stuff that we teachers are pretty good at teaching--numbers, reading, geography, spelling, sentence structure, etc. It's the Affective Domain that worries me--the feelings, the liking to learn, the interest in, curiosity, creativity, etc. At this time in our society, I see the affective domain getting short shrift. Who cares if they dislike math, just get the right numbers down on the test. To be truthful with you, it may be that the affective domain is the most important of all the factors involved in teaching. I still remember Jo Tyllia's comments to me many years ago. "Get them (the students) to like learning and then get out of the way." So true, Jo.

The last three teaching/learning functions are fanatically complex. There are only three ways to teach and to learn. Not necessarily in order of importance, these three functions are: expository, investigative and performance. Expository is writing, talking, reading, explaining to another. I can write a book about teaching--that's expository function. A student explains a project to me--that's expository. Kids read from their textbook--that's the expository function.

Investigative is trying something out--trial and error. A lot of play is investigative in nature. We learn a lot through investigative process in life. How fast is too fast in driving which results in a speeding ticket--that's investigative learning.

And finally, performance. Standing in front of a class reading or speaking is a learning experience. Those kids from PS 22 Staten Island learned much, I am sure, at the Oscars performing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." We perform for ourselves and for others--and learn from that experience. Teaching is performing at times. We teachers learn all the time thanks for our students. Maybe that is why we are addicted to teaching. Perhaps.

Nine factors in the teaching/learning arena. And you mix them up with kids and hope you can find some learning at the other end. It's a little bit like teaching a kid to ride a bike; first psycho-mortor skills to balance, steer and pedal. Then cognition to know where to ride and how to stay safe. Finally, the affective part in allowing a kid to enjoy riding a bike and wanting to do it some more even after falling down.

Somewhere over that rainbow there are teachers using these teaching/learning functions and getting kids to learn. Some are getting fired. Some are getting pay cuts. Some will leave teaching in the next year. But they are good people. Teachers are people too.

Thanks to all the teachers in our society. My very best to you all.

I Wonder What Might Happen......

2011-02-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

I wonder what might happen if we had no teachers. Or if few people wanted to be teachers. I'm thinking mostly of the K-12 classes that public schools enjoy now. In recent weeks a number of articles have crossed my computer screen alleging that teacher unions are the cause of this or that state's budget problems. If the state could fire "bad" teachers they (politicians) claim they would have a better school system and the state would not be in a budget crunch.

So I was thinking just the other day about a doomsday scenario. Just make believe but hear me out. Let's start with the premise that there are no teacher unions or education associations. Nada. Next, let's assume that the pay will be minimal--right now the beginning pay in most states is around thirty thousand dollars. But let us not forget we need to take out Federal Income Tax (automatic deduction in most cases) and FICA or social security of about two percent. You with me so far? Then there is health insurance that each teacher has to pay along with the school districts contribution. That varies from district to district and from state to state. But the take home pay is not much. Now let's cut the retirement contribution from the state to as little as we can. Maybe we ought to just say outright that the teacher ought to take care of their own retirement.

Let's add one more criterion--there is no job security. No tenure. There is a good chance that if you do stay for a number of years and get salary increments each year that given that fact, you could be fired in order that a beginning teacher could take your place at a reduced salary.

I'm trying to make a worse case scenario that is probably going to happen in a number of states--indeed, it is already has.

Now let's take an entering freshman at a local university beginning their career for the first time in 2012. One thing that many if not most universities do is mandate (I like that word--it has muscle behind what it means) different initial courses in a variety of subjects. World history, general sciences (perhaps a course in biology, chemistry, astronomy, physics), great literature, economics, a least one writing course, beginning philosophy, and several mathematical courses. The idea behind this mandate is to get the young college student to look at, consider, ponder, digest, and maybe wonder at what the world is all about. And somewhere in this mishmash of thinking a student might begin to consider what they want to do with the rest of their life.

I don't think teaching would be high on their list of possible careers. If I've heard my university's job placement center accurately, mathematics, all the sciences, and computer programing are where the jobs are--good pay, retirement, perks and health benefits PLUS parking! I've been told that in a few cases a graduating senior might even get a signing bonus.

I have already lost a number of my graduate students who were teaching to Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. They report a good salary, some stock options, and good working conditions. In one case my graduate student reported a salary twice what he was making in the public schools.

My question to this group of readers is why would someone go into teaching in this day and age? Even if you really wanted to teach, why go into public school teaching? There are teachers in the State of Washington that are presently studying for or have already received their certified board teaching credentials. And they are NOT going to get the bonus they were promised.

Do you see my point? States are going to GET the unions and perhaps even GET those so-called bad teachers. They are going to decimate the educational system. And who are they going to get to be the teachers? I wonder.

So what is the answer. I really don't know. If I had a graduate student right now that wanted very much to teach, I'd probably send them off to Boeings who just received a 35 billion dollar order for planes. Several of my students already work at Boeings and I know that they have a substantial training department. Maybe that would be a career choice. And I would look into private schools. As the public schools deteriorate, private schools grow larger. However, it all is a sorry mess.

You better thank your teachers for what they did for you before they retire. Several of them have mentioned to me that they might leave teaching early. My best to them all.

Grading the Parents and other interesting thoughts...

2011-02-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

A slew of interesting, shocking and yawn inspiring articles on teachers, students and education in general have crossed my computer screen in recent weeks. In many areas of this country, teachers are getting bashed, threatened, put down and blamed for what seems like all of societies problems. I can hear some teachers saying, "Geeez, I'm just trying to teach the kids."

Along this thread of thinking came a report that one state legislator has introduced a bill that would require, yes, require teachers to grade the parents. I suspect it has little chance of passing but it is an interesting idea. As a teacher I wouldn't want to do that in any form.

I had wonderful parents all the years I taught at the grade school level--too wonderful in some ways. My school was in a growing bedroom district to Seattle--maybe lower middle class to middle class. The rich folk lived a couple of towns away. The ethnic population was heavy second and third generation Italians whose ancestors had come to this area to mine coal. Indeed, one small area was called "Coalfield" to the locals.

One problem with my parents was that they could cook. Oh my, could they cook and bake. The first year when planning for some sort of celebration in my fifth grade classroom, I asked a room mother if she would ask a few Moms to bake some cakes. At the room party there must have been at least eight cakes with gooey icing and fillings and sugar highs. It was fun for the kids but their teacher had to have a piece of each cake!

Some good came of all this. After the kids and parents had gone home they had left me more cake to take with me then I needed. It was such delicious food but this I didn't need. So I took much of it down to the janitors office and left it on their desk. After that the janitors would do anything I asked. They loved me. If you are a new teacher be sure to thank appropriately your janitors.

Another example of my parents being too nice was plates, cups and saucers, serving bowls and the like. One of my parents owned a gas station near where my wife and I shopped. So it was natural to fuel up our cars and talked to one of my boy's father. Really nice guy. He taught me much about my cars. But his gas station also had a promotion--when you filled up you got your pick of a plate or mug or serving bowl, whatever. My wife and I were newly married and didn't have a lot but we were doing okay. Our dishes were mostly hand me downs from the family. When the parent who owned the gas station heard this, instead of a plate, I'd get a whole box of dishes. They were cheap dishes and they broke easily but still--a whole box? I didn't know how to get my parent to not be so generous. He was happy with his son's progress and he showed it with an overload of dishes.

I liked my parents. But I did have one problem one day that I remember vividly. A man walked into my class about noon and said he had to take his son to the barbers for a haircut. I didn't know this father but his son told me it was his Dad. I asked, "Couldn't this be done after school?" "No, I work swing and this is the only time I have. Bring him back afterwards." So off they went. I had enough kids in my room that I forgot about Elden.

That night about dinner time I got a call from Elden's mom. Where was Elden? I then remembered that Elden had gone to get a haircut and had never returned to the classroom. I felt sick to my stomach. But Elden's Mom said it was okay, she knew where they had gone and that she would take tomorrow off and go get Elden. I did call the principal and relate what had just gone on and gave him Elden's phone number.

Elden's mom and dad were divorced and she had custody of Elden. This had happened before and she knew that Elden and his Dad had gone home to his parents and grandparents in Oregon. She drove down, picked up Elden and returned home--he missed a day and a half of school. But his mom never blamed me for the problem I had caused. Very nice lady. Elden was back in good hands. But after this experience, we teachers along with the principal decided that all children leaving the school had to clear with the office. Scary time for me.

So if I had to grade my parents, they would have all gotten "A"s.

While we are on grading I need to tell you that I got a number of e-mails dealing with the blog on Valentine's Day. Some interesting emotions out there on who got a Valentine and who didn't. One teacher wrote that when she taught in a low economic area school, some children didn't have money enough to buy even the cheap Valentines. Do you take school construction paper to let the kids make their own Valentines? Tough call.

But this teacher reminded me of President's Day. It was a holiday and no school but so many teachers, herself included, would spend the day agonizing over grades as they filled out the quarters report cards to be sent home. Yes, I do remember sitting at the dining room table with a pile of folders of kid's work, my valuable green grade book and worries. I hated grading--all through my career. It didn't matter what level I was teaching at, it was hard work to evaluate another person. Some kids tried so hard to do well, others could get an "A" with their eyes shut and their mouth going. No sweat.

At the college level I'd see a waitress at a local restaurant one evening for dinner and see her in my eight o'clock the next morning....working her way through college. I've always said I'd teach for free but would triple my salary for grading. Yes, Presidents day was a holiday for grading report cards.

Finally a heads up about another blog. The Journal of Educational Controversy Blog, posted on Friday, February 18th, has two good items. First, a YouTube presentation by A. J. Rud, Dean of the college of education at Washington State University on John Dewey. It is well done and may provide some guidance in these days of shouting and hollering about education. Then....right below it is a open message to President Obama by Daniel Tanner, Professor emeritus in the graduate school of Education, Rutgers University. Once again it is something I wish I had written. I suggest you take a gander. It is an excellent blog on education. http://journalofeducationalcontroversy.blogspot.com/

Thanks to those who sent verbal Valentines. And to all those teachers who spent their holiday writing down grades, you have my sincere thanks. And once again, thank you parents for being there.