Making Foreign Languages Not So Foreign

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....

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

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

[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.

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.

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

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.