1. 72% of students in my school qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Whether or not you live in an area with entire neighborhoods in poverty, visit them and get to know the issues of students and families there in order to deepen your understanding of perspectives rarely represented at public meetings.
2. Observing how a student increases persistence or treats classmates more respectfully or overcomes reluctance to participate in discussion can be far more valuable in understanding student learning than a test score. . . .
I remind myself of that on days like the one when I passed out the WASL to my students, including one sucking a thumb, one hording apples, one making a rare appearance at school, and one who recently returned from a prolonged absence due to stress. All sat and worked diligently and remained sitting silently for no less than two hours a day for six days, out of courtesy for the student who took a little longer. Find a way to value observational data from teachers.
3. Teacher-funded back-to-school shopping at my school includes such things as paint for a worn out floor, notebooks for students, and AV equipment.
4. At my previous school, it sometimes rained in several of the classrooms. The students in my Gear-Up class a couple of summers ago studied to the sound of water falling in three buckets. The contractor responsible for the remodel is no longer in business, but we are.
5. Teaching diverse learners is complex, and I’m always in need of learning more. My mainstream middle school science classes are often like a one-room schoolhouse all wrapped into 46 minutes. The skill level in reading, writing, and mathematics typically spans ten years, from an early elementary level to some capable of high school honors content. Add to that a few languages and cultures and numerous social issues. My colleagues and I need paid time – and sometimes access to experts – to truly understand and meet the needs of individual students.
This policy meme started with Nancy Flanagan. I’m going to keep it going by tagging Ariel Sacks, because the policy world desperately needs more Bank Street voices, especially fellow middle school teacher ones.
Here are the rules for sharing/sending this meme:
1. Create a list of five things you wish policymakers knew or understood about your classroom, your school or your students. Post it on your blog.
2. Title your blog post “Meme: Five Things Policymakers Ought to Know” and link it back to this blog (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/teacher_in_a_strange_land/)
3. Invite as many bloggers as you like to create their own lists of five things policymakers should know, and link back to your blog. In Blog World, it’s considered friendly and appropriate to ask a blogger whose work you admire to participate, without a formal introduction.
I agree, Kelly, “Teach on!” And with teaching, make sure students learn what we offer. That’s all anyone asks of us. Keep up the good work, in whatever conditions you face.
“Teach on!” as a former colleague used to say.
And while we’re teaching on, citizens and policymakers alike need to be thinking about how to limit the crises that have an impact on student learning and take action. Crises occur in all sorts of schools and that needs to be addressed, but they tend to grow exponentially with the poverty rate. Jonathan Kozol’s work over the decades describes this in the extreme. I think the solution lies in our ability as a society to reframe some fundamental beliefs and practices around what is fair. As our state takes a look at its basic education funding duty, I hope to see solutions that incorporate an understanding of the needs of all schools AND the differentiated needs of schools.
Hi Bob. Nice to “see” you at “Stories from School.”
I think that Kelly’s description of buckets collecting rain, and buying essential supplies to make a classroom feel like a welcoming place is entirely common, in all kinds of schools, from the upper-middle class suburban glass-and-brick to the rural concrete block building in a cornfield. As she notes, problems are systemic, and one sudden crisis impacts many other pieces of the system.
I took her point to be that school goes on, no matter what’s happening in the building or the outside world. When the roof is leaking, the AC goes out, the copy machine is broken or planes fly into the World Trade Center–we keep on teaching, talking, hanging with the kids. Because they’re there, expecting us to be in charge and teach.
Before responding, I will report that this week I learned the roof was finally repaired, hopefully properly.
I wish that solving such problems were as simple as reporting the abuse. Let’s say that a plant problem costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix. An unanticipated expense like that means a cut somewhere else – teacher salaries, cleaning of bathrooms, school buses, all of which contribute to a safe and healthy environment. In our state, the bulk of educational funding comes from the state, the remainder through local levies. Especially in tight economic times, funding more at either level is a challenge. Policymakers stress the importance of priorities; my intent here is to convey that the choices are not ones schools should be forced to make.
From your description of your school plant, it sounds like some board members and administrators should face criminal charges for child endangerment. Seriously. That’s an unnecessary form of administrative child abuse. You should report this to the local health and safety department, so you’re not a party to the misdeed after the fact. Yes?