Category Archives: Education

The Promise of 2021: The Irreplaceable Educator

Posted by Lynne Olmos on December 31, 2020
Current Affairs, Distance Learning, Education, Education Policy, Equity, Life in the Classroom, Online Teaching, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | distance learning, education, education reform, online learning, online teaching, social emotional learning, student engagement, student-centered

Hopefulness is evident in celebrations all over the world. There is such hope that the New Year will bring a return to normal, a return to a less complicated time. Of course, we are more pragmatic than this. We know that the normal we once knew has changed, and we will take many of this year’s complications with us far into the future. That is the truth, and, well, that is how progress happens, too.

As educators, this is significant. Most teachers I speak to relate similar feelings. Their jobs have become so different, practically unrecognizable. “This isn’t what we signed up for,” is the common refrain. I’ve said it, too.

No, it is not what we expected, but it is what we have now. And it is a bit scary. There is a real danger of people leaving the education profession. However, change can be leveraged to solve problems. As educators, let’s unite to do this. Let’s make this next year the year we start a revolution in education.

REVOLUTION. Not renaissance, not pivot, not shift. Let’s flip this system.

This is not to be taken lightly. If we sit quietly and wait for normal, the entrepreneurs out there will convince the public that they can create products for online learning that are better than in-person teaching. They will market these miracles to the masses and this will be touted as ethical and equitable. Anyone with access to the internet can learn. Who needs teachers?

You may think, so what? Let them turn to online systems. But, if this year has taught us anything at all, it is the value of human connection. We teachers may be struggling to realize our value as purveyors of knowledge, but we know our true worth. It is obvious that we are invaluable when we are the ones coaching lonely youngsters through their studies, reminding them of their worth, laughing at their antics during Zoom meetings, and consoling them when their practices and games are canceled. That humanity is irreplaceable.

I treasure every moment of connection with my students these days. And I know that I am a better teacher for seeing the value of it. Because of this, there is no going back to normal for me. I don’t even want it to be the way it was. For me, the lifting of the veil revealed that all students need to feel safe, in control of their learning, and valued by their teachers and by the education system. That is the only way to move forward successfully.

For equity, for ethics, we need systems that honor the value of each individual. In light of this, I am reinventing my practice to put students clearly at the center, giving them more power in the process of choosing the learning they will do. I will involve them in the grading process, and I will work every day to ensure that they understand their worth.

I understand mine. And I know that every educator out there needs to see their worth, too. You are the connection. You are the humanity. You are irreplaceable.

Related Readings (Or, Why Is Lynne All Riled Up?):

Schools aren’t failing, grades are.

Posted by Mark Gardner on December 19, 2020
Assessment, Current Affairs, Distance Learning, Education, High School

Oh, the headlines. The numbers of students who are failing is “off the rails.” Others talk of COVID wreaking havoc on grades. And there are occasional wonderings if just maybe grades during a pandemic aren’t fair.

The panic: What ever will we do about all these low grades?

We’re once again paying attention to the wrong thing.

For decades, the standard logic is that grades are necessary extrinsic motivation for students. Fear of getting an ‘F’ is what drives the student who gets an ‘A.’ While that may be true for some kids, secondary schools have for too long operated under the assumption that if fear of an ‘F’ might (might) motivate an ‘A’ student to perform, then giving any student a low grade should motivate them to invest time and effort.

Never in my 20 year career have I seen this to be the rule. If students (as a rule) were truly motivated by grades, we would see grades motivating them. In many cases, the high-grade-earning students are motivated by something other than the learning that supposedly accompanies the grade. Those students may be motivated by the one-must-go-to-college-to-be-successful narrative, of which grades are the opening scene. Those students may be motivated by parents who threaten punishment or consequence for low grades. They exist, but rare is the student who earns an ‘A’ solely because of the learning it represents and not for the supposed benefits attached to that mark on a page (the car insurance discount, the access to some post-HS program, preventing their video games from being taken away…)

Grades simply do not function as motivators the way we want to believe they do. If they did, all the kids logging Fs right now would be supremely motivated to get those grades up. What I’ve observed far more in my career is the de-motivational impact that grades have on students, particularly if such “demerits” accumulate to the degree that the student begins to see themselves as inseparable from their grades.

For students who lack a track record of “good grades,” bad grades are punishment, not motivation. Sure, relying upon intrinsic motivation would be a great root for motivation, but those intrinsic motivators assume that the extrinsic needs are being met… self-actualization, of which intrinsic motivation is a part, is the pinnacle of Maslow’s after all. And regarding intrinsic motivation, there’s another unwelcome reality: not everyone wants to learn in the way that schools frame learning, or even what schools require (by law and policy) that kids must learn. A kid intrinsically motivated to learn everything there is to know about their favorite anime, or how a two-stroke engine works, or why there are two political parties, or why shortening and butter result in such different chocolate chip cookies… these curiosities, intrinsically driven, can’t always fit into the rigidity of a 24-credit hoop-jumping system. That is further proof that our system is locked into valuing grades rather than valuing learning.

COVID and remote learning has only confirmed to me that grades do not do what we have made ourselves believe they were capable of and designed for. We have to accept: In their supposed role as a motivator, grades did not do their job during remote learning… and perhaps revealed that they were never really right for the job at all.

Let’s move past grades and design schools that find better ways to motivate students to actually learn.

The Pivot

Posted by Lynne Olmos on December 13, 2020
Distance Learning, Education, Education Policy, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Online Teaching, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership | 3p grading, education, education reform, engagement, pivot, shift

We are pivoting, again.

Pivot? I keep hearing this word, and the famous phrase from The Princess Bride keeps running through my head: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

In the dictionary, pivot (v.) means to turn in place, as if on a point. Synonyms include rotate, revolve, and swivel. I get it, because what it means in a staff meeting is that yesterday may have been an in-person hybrid day, but now we are pivoting to fully remote teaching temporarily, due to a rise in cases of Covid-19 in our district. We are swiveling, changing direction, quickly without pause. We have done it three times this year, and it looks like we need to be prepared to pivot in the future. This is the new normal in education, shifting to meet the immediate needs of our students. Not a bad thing, in general.

However, I don’t want to merely pivot, at least the swivel variety of pivot. In business, a pivot is a true change of course. The product is not selling, so change the product or get a new one to sell. I’m feeling more like that. Students are failing in record numbers. Teachers and students are struggling with engagement and isolation. Not only is this a problem in itself, but it has also revealed and highlighted some troubling pre-existing conditions in education. (There are many, so I will leave you to imagine your favorites.)

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Learning and Leading for Equity: Just Keep Going

Posted by CSTP Guest Blogger on October 30, 2020
Current Affairs, Education, Equity, High School, Life in the Classroom, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership | antiracist, equity, teacher leadership, teachers

By Guest Contributor and Tumwater High School English Teacher, Emma-Kate Schaake

Humble Beginnings

Three years ago, our equity team was the new kid in school and we had all the hallmarks of not quite fitting in.

We dressed a little differently; Black Lives Matter shirts and rainbow pins. We asked questions while our peers rolled their eyes, understandably exhausted on a Friday afternoon. We visibly perked at the mention of data as everyone else sighed.

Together, we read articles, analyzed school data, and challenged our perspectives. We wanted to examine our privilege, change our classroom practices, and dream big for the future of our school.

Year one, we hosted a staff professional development session on white privilege and, let’s just say, it didn’t go well. People reacted defensively and resisted the very definition of white privilege. They then shared that we wasted their time, because our school is mostly white anyway.

We had high hopes for systemic revolution, but progress on the ground was slow. We were asking staff to dig deep and examine what they knew about their lived reality, which was inevitably uncomfortable.

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Goals: 2020-Style

Posted by Lynne Olmos on October 26, 2020
Current Affairs, Distance Learning, Education, Education Policy, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Online Teaching, Professional Development, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership | arts education, covid-19, distance learning, goals, hybrid learning, neural ed, professional development, remote learning, social emotional learning, student growth goals, teacher leadership, trauma informed

Tell me about your goals. What were they before Covid-19? What are they now?

I’m guessing they are somewhat different. Our priorities have shifted. At home, this is good – more time with family and pets, and far less time on our hair!

However, my educator goals have suffered terribly. Prior to this year, I had clear and powerful goals for my classroom, my students, and myself. In fact, I had three areas that I was independently researching or promoting, and I was really fired up about them, too. I was building a toolbox of my own to be the best teacher I could be to my students.

Here are my goals, pre-Covid:

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Hybrid Model: The Inside Story

Posted by Lynne Olmos on September 28, 2020
Current Affairs, Distance Learning, Education, Education Policy, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Online Teaching, Parent Involvment, Social Issues, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | covid-19, distance learning, hybrid model, K5 News, Mossyrock, quarantine, remote learning

My district was one of the first in our region to go back to school face-to face this year. We began a “hybrid model” on September 14, with seniors and K-3 going four days a week, and all others going twice-a-week in cohorts (Monday/Thursday and Tuesday/Friday). On Wednesdays we delivered online material and caught up with our work, while reinventing it simultaneously. Some of our students opted for full-time distance learning, but the vast majority excitedly prepared for the first day of school.

Our neighbor districts were watching us intently. Would we pave the way for others to follow us, or would we cause an outbreak in our tiny town?

One week in, “it” happened. A student, who later tested positive for Covid-19, attended the first day of school. Dozens of staff members and students were subsequently quarantined due to contact with the student, and the decision was made to suspend school until the 14-day quarantine period was over, giving the health department time to do all of the necessary contact tracing. Our schools and buses were disinfected, and our teaching staff pivoted to all online learning, something we were told was likely to happen from the start.

Not an auspicious beginning, you might say. But let me elaborate.

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I Taught a Lesson Today!

Posted by Jan Kragen on September 22, 2020
Current Affairs, Education, Elementary, Life in the Classroom, Web/Tech

It’s Tuesday, September 22, 2020. School started on September 2. We are three weeks in.

Due to health concerns, I moved from my fifth-grade classroom at a brick-and-mortar school to teaching at our district’s online academy. I get up and dressed for work each day. Then I walk down the hall to the study or the dining room table or the card table in the family room.

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Real Student Conversation

Posted by Swan Eaton on June 12, 2020
Current Affairs, Education, Equity, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Social Issues, Uncategorized

I started last Wednesday’s zoom office hours assuming that my students would most likely ask questions around their statistics math work. I spent the earlier part of the week predicting which questions they may have complications with, creating problems with step-by-step explanation, and jotting down my calendar availability in case students needed extra support sessions.

I start all zoom meetings asking my attendees how their weekend was. Delightful conversation usually occurs around how we are all keeping busy while staying at home. Once all the students have had an opportunity to share, we switch topics and discuss math. This last Wednesday was NOT business as usual.

My first student asked, “Mrs. Eaton, did you hear there is going to be a protest down at Winco?”

I said, “Yes, I heard about that.”

The discussion quickly unfolded into a slew of questions. Math wasn’t spoken of at all during the day’s sessions.

Some of my students are very confused and scared about what is happening in our country. There were varying opinions on what students have been seeing on TikTok. It was interesting to discover that students receive much of their news from TikTok, the social media platform where people are sharing funny dance moves, challenges, and jokes.

Students discussed different TikToks they had seen and how they were affected. I asked students to think about the accuracy/validity of what they were viewing. Students defended TikTok and expressed they felt it was “unfiltered real news”. When I asked them what they meant by that, they unanimously replied that you can’t trust news from the television.

The conversation then switched to racism. Some of my students vocalized they wanted to demonstrate their support while under quarantine (still in phase 1 where we live.) Others were scared because undocumented older siblings were going to attend the protest. They feared the police would catch them and send them to a detention facility.

Many of my citizen students never considered that some of their classmates were not documented. An eerie silence filled the zoom room when a student asked another if they were born here. I interjected and asked my students to think about whether it is okay to discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or national origin?

I can’t help but wonder what this would have looked like in a regular classroom. Would students have been shy to speak up? Does the stop video function act as a courage button in allowing students to be more vocal? Does the chat function facilitate hearing the voices of students who, in a regular classroom setting, would have been overshadowed by outspoken students?

During distance learning our priority, as educators, has been intensely focused on providing equitable instruction. I have been researching best practices, planning, and preparing what the start of 2020-2021 will look like. It is easy to forget, at times, that our classrooms were safe spaces where students were able to ask non-academic questions.

The best thing I could do was listen and allow an open forum for their discussion. The honest truth is that in today’s society, teachers are assumed to be viewed as neutral or as a moderator when discussing such topics with students. Students look up to their teachers and are influenced by our views, regardless of how we stand on any issue.

I understand that there are many ways to dismantle institutional racism and other controversial issues affecting our country. However, let’s not forget that space must be provided for students to question and discuss these issues in a non-threatening environment. It is through moments like this that understanding occurs, unconscious biases are discovered, bias starts to be extinguished, and our society begins to change for the better.

Stories From School

Practice Meets Policy

Category Archives: Education

Schools aren’t failing, grades are.

The Pivot

I Taught a Lesson Today!