Author Archives: Kim

Persuasion

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It's been a long, long time since I've contributed to this forum. It's been a very, very busy year – overwhelmingly so. Ironically, I was reading Tom's Wednesday post about how often we consider making policy based on what's best for our kids today, and "walla" (as my students write – because they don't know it's actually a French word spelled "voila"), I saw the persuasive prompt for the 10th-grade HSPE. It turns out they also write prompts without considering what's best for our kids.

I teach English 10th-graders at a low-income, high-needs school, so we have spent a considerable amount time preparing for this test. As you all know, one of the keys to getting kids involved in their own education is making it relevant to them. Thus, I was absolutely appalled at the prompt the kids were given to write about. It was relevant to… well… my husband who works in the security field. Included in the prompt was a new type of technology with an appellation of ambiguous language, including the word "tag."

First of all, a persuasive prompt on a high-stakes test should be about an issue with which students are familiar. The purpose is to give them a topic with which to show their skill. One sitting is not enough time to think about an issue for the first time and be able to develop convincing and persuasive arguments – particularly if a large number of our students have no idea what the topic is in the first place. The word “tag” is already ambiguous, as the kids might understand it in the context of price “tags,” name "tags," dog “tags,” graffiti “tags,” clothing brand “tags.”  

With the high number of ELL students and students living in poverty at my school, there were many students who were completely confounded in how to approach this prompt. While some of our more creative students were able to “make up” enough details to complete their essays, others were completely and utterly discouraged when this unrealistic prompt was coupled with the enormous pressure they were already experiencing because of the high stakes this test represents. I saw despair on many faces.

My heart broke for one student who has been coming in regularly to work with me after school. He was determined to pass this test, and he knew that writing was not his strongest suit, so he asked for and received tutoring. Normally a gregarious one, when he came into class he could barely stand up straight. Shoulders slumped, head down, when I asked him if he was okay, he couldn't make eye contact with me or respond. I kept him after class, hoping to give him some encouragement, but all he could say was, "I just couldn't do it. I didn't even know how to start so I didn't finish."

For many of our third-world immigrants, the concept of a new technology is so foreign that they have a difficult time imagining it – much less constructing compelling arguments one way or another. Plainly and simply, this prompt is culturally insensitive to just about everyone.

It was a difficult day in a difficult year. My students and I have worked very hard to prepare for this test, and it is incredibly difficult to see their hope and high spirits shot down.

Did anyone else share this experience? In a middle-class venue, did the prompt work?

Where are we going?

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A few years ago, I taught a remedial reading class for high school freshmen. They all read four or more years below grade level. At the end of the 9th grade, only two of the twelve left with enough credits to be sophomores, and while they had made up some time, they all still read below grade level. Yet all but one were planning on going to a four-year university, and in the course of one discussion, they all admitted that they would consider themselves failures if they didn’t take that route. Community college, vocational schools, the military… they were all for losers who couldn’t make it.  Four years later, only three of the twelve graduated on time. Did we set them up for feeling like failures by not coaching them about other options that were available?
 
My BFF teaches marketing as part of our high school’s CTE (Career and Technical Education) program. We’ve had many conversations about the 13th year and what we should be preparing kids for. CTE takes a five-pronged approach, where the following options are all considered honorable:
 
4-year degree
2-year degree
Vocational Certificate/Apprenticeship
Paycheck
Military Service
 
The fact is that there are jobs out there for people who have gone through all five of those tracks. Since NCLB was enacted, it has grown more and more difficult to truly prepare kids for any eventuality because with the onset of standardized testing and the push to put every child in college, a lot of good vocational programs that led to immediate job placement in the past are no longer offered at high schools. We stress college to a point that most students don’t even begin to think about other options until it becomes clear that for whatever reason (family need, finances, skill level, lack of motivation), college is not a real option. Now, students who do not go to college right after high school consider themselves failures, even though they might be successfully working in solid jobs.

Should we prepare every kid for the option of college? Absolutely. But should we set them up for failure by teaching them that it is the only good option or even the best option for them?

Running Stop!

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Education Policy

In an earlier post in response to the meme “Five Things I Would Change about Our School System,” one of the items on my list was the Running Start program. Running Start is an option that students have to take classes at the community college and earn college credits while still in high school. Some students are able to finish high school with both a diploma and an AA degree. Sounds good, right? So what is my problem?
 
While students have to pay for their own books and transportation, the tuition is paid fully by the state. Every dollar is a dollar that doesn’t go to the students’ respective high schools, so it is a financial drain on public education. I can just hear some people say, “If you want to keep those kids in high school, offer the classes and programs that will attract them.”
 
It’s not that simple. At my high school, we have the International Baccalaureate program. These are college level classes that challenge the intellect and offer potential college credit. For many of our Running Start students, IB or AP classes are too difficult. Instead, they take basic reading and writing, or biology, or chemistry, or whatever that is also offered at the high school. They don't leave because our high schools don't offer a good education; they leave for the free college credits.
 
It’s not just the money that runs away to Running Start, it is a core group of mid-to-high-level students who both set behavior and academic standards for the school. When there is an exodus of large numbers of these students, it actually changes the climate of the school. Who are left? The very high IB students in their IB classes. And the lower, more poorly achieving students mixed with a smaller than necessary core of "middle" kids.

I do understand that there are some students who simply need classes that aren’t available through the public school system. However, the number of students whose needs could not be met by an IB or AP program is very small.
 
I don’t take issue with high school students taking classes at the community college; I just have a problem, as a taxpayer, diverting the money from our public schools to pay for it. It is our responsibility as taxpayers to pay for education through high school, but it is NOT our responsibility to pay for college.

 
 

Crime and Punishment

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Social Issues

By Kim

One of the key concepts of good parenting is making sure that punishment for an infraction fits the crime and that a lesson is learned. I’m not so sure that the same considerations are made in the school system. This year has been extreme, but I just lost my 8th student on a forty-day suspension for smoking marijuana during the school day. The suspension is convertible to twenty days, if the student agrees to and completes drug counseling.   Now, the truth is, for most of my students, four to eight weeks off of school is more of an enjoyable vacation than it is a punishment, and it obviously hasn’t worked very well as a deterrent for other students, either. Ironically, getting in a fight – assaulting another person – only gets five to ten days.

The fact is, most of the students who get caught smoking weed on campus are not our top students, nor are they highly motivated to succeed. Thus, kicking them out for half a quarter in the best case (and a full quarter in the worst), almost guarantees both failure and loss of credit. This, in turn, greatly ups the chance that this kid will drop out. So what are our options as educators? In-school suspensions have not proven effective at helping kids keep their grades up, either. Partially because it can be so difficult and time consuming for teachers to create alternative assignments to those being missed in the classroom that rotate around lectures, discussions, or group projects. My small learning community is in the process of developing an alternative to out-of-school suspension. Kids will still be allowed to attend classes, but they will lose their passing times and lunches to teacher supervision. Additionally, they will be required to attend a one-hour detention Monday through Friday, which will include two days of study hall and two days of drug counseling. Our hope is that we will take away enough of the fun part of school from the kids that they will want to toe the line, while ensuring that they still have a chance to pass their classes and graduate on time.

What other alternatives are out there for long-term suspensions?

Looking Forward to Next Year

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Assessment, Social Issues

Next year I'm taking on something new and intimidating. I and three other teachers (history, algebra, and study skills) are taking most of the students from our feeder middle schools who failed two or more eighth-grade classes. Most of them will be boys, most minority, most who qualify for free or reduced lunch – although except for the gender, those qualifiers describe the majority of the students at my high school. Since passing ninth grade is one of the strongest correlations for staying in school and graduating, this is an important task.

Mostly, I'm excited even though part of me is sad that I had to give up my honors classes to do this and part of me is terrified that I will not be able to get the kids hooked.

I've been looking for more ways to bring kinesthetic activities into an English classroom where basic skills in reading and writing are a top priority, and believe me, there just aren't that many kinesthetic activities when it comes to the actual tasks of reading and writing. Kinesthetic projects and responses to literature I have aplenty. Actually getting them moving when they're reading and writing is pretty difficult – especially at the high school level.

We've also been exploring alternative assessment and trying to figure out how that will fit in. One of our discussions right now is how we will balance responsibility and mastery. We're playing with the idea that student can pass our final exams with a 75% or better, it won't matter whether they turned in assignments or not, as long as the tests prove mastery in skills and content. But if we do this, are we setting them up to fail when they move on to more conventional teachers?

There are still a lot of discussions to be had and decisions to be made, but I'm working with an outstanding group of teachers who are all strong relationship builders, and to me, that is the most important "skill" we need to make this work.

All in all, we are up for this challenge. It's either going to be the most rewarding, exciting year of my career, or it will be the year from H-E-double-toothpicks. But the glass is always half full to me, so I'm counting on the former.

Knowing vs. Thinking

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Education, Life in the Classroom, Literacy, Mathematics

I read an article a couple of weeks ago that really caught my attention. Unfortunately, when I went back to it – or at least TRIED to go back to it, I couldn't for the life of me remember where I had read it. Darn. It was about the use of technology in the classroom and how, if we aren't careful about how we use it, we might actually be doing more harm than good to our students' ability to think critically.

What technology and the use of the internet can give us is instant access to amounts of information so vast that our ancestors couldn't even have dreamt of it. Yes, I am a Google fanatic, and even as an English teacher who refuses to spell "relief" any other way, I have been known to use "google" as a verb. However, when I recently assigned my students a research project, I was reminded of how dismaying it is to see how they confuse "finding information" with "thinking" and "learning." They are great at cutting and pasting information into beautiful PowerPoint presentations or blogs or webpages. What this lost article pointed out and what I have fought against in my classroom is the ease with which technology negates the need to actually think. I require that for every sentence of fact, students are required to present two sentences of their own analysis, but often students are willing to settle for a lower grade in order to avoid the "pain" involved in activating their brain.

It reminds me of a conversation I once had with one of my daughter's elementary school teachers who felt it was unnecessary to require kids to memorize the multiplication tables or spelling lists because they would always have access to calculators and spell check programs. I tried to explain how understanding the concepts underlying the equations and word structure was just as important as being able to solve the equations or spell the words correctly, but she was in complete disagreement, stating that there are plenty of other areas where the kids can be asked to "think," and that if we skip some of the rote memorization, we can move on to more and better concepts. I understand the point she was trying to make, but recognizing patterns in equations or word formation is basic to analysis of any kind.

While we're touting the use of technology as "best practice," we have to be conscientious that we are not substituting flashy presentations and clever sound bites (or bytes) for true critical thinking, which is fundamental to the success of civilization.

P.S. If anyone read that article and could lead me back to it, I would greatly appreciate it!

Is Seniority Best Practice?

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Current Affairs, Professional Development

This past week, our district was not exempt from the RIF’s that have been making the news in education.  We are losing four young, bright first-year teachers who have brought enthusiasm and innovation to their jobs.

In the background are some more “veteran” teachers who have refused to change with the times. In spite of the changes in society and technology, they teach the same way they have taught for years, holding on to their jobs out of habit rather than passion. They move through the curriculum by rote, paying little attention to whether or not the students are responding. Their evaluations haven’t been top notch, but their jobs are safe.

Then there are a few teachers who simply don’t get it. They want to be “friends” with the kids, or they care more about the content than the kids. The discipline referrals coming out of their classrooms are numerous and would be unnecessary with better management. Their evaluations haven’t been top notch either, but their jobs are safe.

I know that this is a very, very difficult question – especially in these hard economic times. (Maybe the question should be, "Is the State making the best budget decisions right now?" – but that's a different discussion.) However, with all of the pressure being put on teachers to meet professional standards through reflection and best practices, shouldn’t the teachers who are doing that have some advantage?

Training

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Education, Mentoring, Professional Development

A recent article printed in the Christian Science Monitor covered the issue of teacher training (http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0327/p01s01-ussc.html?page=1). The key controversy is that ”Some policymakers say the focus needs to be on improving traditional education schools, which produce 4 out of 5 teachers in the United States. Others are strong advocates of so-called alternative models designed to streamline entry into teaching for exceptionally talented students or mid-career professionals.”

As I sit through yet another sound bite for differentiating instruction based on the needs of my students, and as I am being asked to contemplate taking part in an alternative academy for low-performing ninth graders next year, I marvel again that we, as educators, don’t practice what we preach. Why should we expect every prospective teacher to flourish under the exact same training? We certainly don’t expect that from the kids in our classrooms.


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Least Restrictive?

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Life in the Classroom

In my tenth-grade core English classes, we’ve been working on writing skills with regard to literary analysis with the triple goal of learning how to find relevant citations, how to use MLA formatting, and how to answer WASL-type analysis questions. One young man in my class has really been struggling with the concepts and doing poorly on the quizzes, even though he understands the literature. I told him after he struggled with one quiz that I would sit down and do the next one with him. He was absolutely horrified at the thought and said, “Then everyone else will know that I’m in special ed! I wish I could just go back to a special ed classroom where it doesn’t matter that I’m stupid.” That broke my heart. He is far from being “stupid,” but that is his academic self image. He didn't care that I had sat down and worked on the quiz with two other struggling students (who happen to NOT have IEPs).

This brought me back to a subject I have contemplated much over the last decade. When I started teaching in this district, our SE kids were mainstreamed. Then the trend changed to separate SE classes. Now the pendulum is swinging back to inclusion models as being the "least restrictive environment" (LRE).

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