Preparing for the Future

I love “survivalist” reality shows on television. The best ones focus on the need to simplify and make sure of two things in a survival situation. 1) Make sure to acquire basic needs (as opposed to wants) and supplies. 2) Value items that provide multiple uses. The main idea of these two points being that if you take care of the essentials, use a little creativity, and prepare to adapt your chances of surviving and perhaps even flourishing increase greatly.

We’re rarely confronted with the need to adopt a “survivalist” mentality because our world is relatively predictable from day-to-day. When it isn’t and disaster strikes, we face uncertainty and failing to prepare for and react to uncertainty is deadly.

My school district is beginning a process of creating a new strategic vision and plan for the future. At it’s root, that’s what education is about, preparing students for the future. That’s not an easy task when the future is an uncertain place.

All educators should be familiar with the “Shift Happens” videos and the Beloit College “Mindset Lists.” These resources describe the ways that our world has changed and is changing for current students. The lesson we should take from these resources is that predicting the future is futile. Twenty years ago, I lived in a dying analog world quickly being taken over by a digital revolution. Today I’m fully immersed in a digital world. When I consider twenty-years from now, it would be foolish to not consider that by then our world will be post-digital with a new set of challenges and opportunities that we’d never think of today.

As I sit playing a video game on my iPhone, I remember the first “Pong” system I played as a child. I carry a device in my pocket that connects me to the world, serving as my map, calendar, entertainment, reference source, a place to shop, do my banking, and communicate in ways that weren’t even possible twenty years ago. How did my education prepare me for this world?

Teaching students to adapt to an unpredictable future requires that we teach them enduring principles and ideas and give them the opportunity to apply those ideas in multiple ways.

I learned how to read and use a map in school. It doesn’t matter that I use it on my phone today, knowing how to locate yourself and others in the world is essential.

I learned personal and collective responsibility in school. Google calendar sends me text reminders every week so that I don’t forget to take out the trash, but I learned the importance of keeping up with my tasks because of the effect it has on me and others with paper and pencil.

I sometimes spend too much time watching videos and playing games on my mobile phone. I also remember wasting entire Sunday afternoons listening to the top 40 countdown on the radio waiting for the song I wanted to record on my cassette tape. Unfortunately I didn’t learn enough about not wasting time in school.

I learned that context matters in school and different levels of respect were required in different situations. I prefer texting to communicate today, but I still take the time to make sure my grammar is correct and the tone is evident to avoid miscommunication. I learned this because my teachers all had different expectations that I sometimes had to discover on my own through trial and error.

I recently read a book written by one of the stars of the above mentioned “survival” shows. It included an old cartoon of a couple in a fallout shelter, surrounded by stocks of canned food. The wife berated the husband for forgetting the can opener.

What a tragedy to starve to death in the midst of food for lack of a tool. The author followed up with a tedious but effective way of safely opening a canned good with nothing more than an abrasive surface.

That’s how you prepare for uncertainty. You don’t just learn to use the tool, you learn why, and how the tool is useful. Tools are extensions of humanity that facilitate our ability to accomplish a task. The knowledge of why and how gives us the ability to use it effectively, improve it if needed, discern if something new really is better, and to adapt when it is.

The idea of preparing students for an uncertain future can be scary. It’s tempting to buy into the next best thing in fear of being left behind. It’s easy to dismiss the value of technology in enhancing the experience of education.

Ultimately, the best we can do is to teach the lessons that endure to the adults of tomorrow using the most effective tools of today.

Has Teaching Gone Out of Style

On Wednesday nights, I teach a group of youth at our church.  This week, at the end of our session, a seventh grader whipped out a handful of balloons and a pump and started making balloon animals, much to the delight of all the other middle schoolers in the room.  It was actually quite amazing to watch him work.

One of his friends asked excitedly, "How'd you learn to do that?"

"I learned it on YouTube."

That sentence stopped me in my tracks.  My brain immediately started thinking, "Have I become unnecessary?"

I shared the thought with a parent who arrived to pick up his child.  "Yeah, you can learn anything you want on the internet nowadays."

And I replied, "you're right, if something breaks or I want to find out something that's the first place I go."

Have I become unnecessary?  I even admit to myself, if I want to learn something, I go to the internet and find out.  How to fix my car, why the pilot light on my gas logs burn so high, what was the name of that guitar player from Extreme, is John Tyler's grandson really still alive, and on and on.  If I want to find something out, I go online.

But sometimes, I don't know what I want.  Sometimes I find myself unprepared because of something I don't know.  Sometimes I need more than knowledge and find it helpful to see the example of a person who can lead me, guide me, or maybe even inspire me.

The internet has so fueled our desire for "disruptive change" we move at such breakneck speed that sometimes we end up, well, metaphorically with broken necks.  In the past few weeks, I've prematurely mourned the deaths of Morgan Freeman and Carlton from the Fresh Prince of BelAir because of incorrect Facebook and Twitter posts.  This year we've seen major errors in one time trustworthy news media outlets reporting on the Supreme Court health care decision and the Colorado theater shooting.  And I'm sure that the television show Mythbusters could manage two or three more seasons just debunking all of the false information that spreads as truth online. (Remember the cellphone popcorn popper?)

Maybe I'm not so unnecessary after all.  Despite these problems, the internet has brought about quite a positive revolution in both availability and quality of learning, and this I appreciate.  But until all students become completely self motivated to learn; until learning takes place in isolation rather than community; until we stop relying on each other to expose us to new and interesting ideas...

Until then, I am necessary and relevant.  Even if I can't teach a twelve year old how to make a balloon monkey.

Apples to Apples?

K12 Inc., the country's largest provider of online k-12 education has come under fire from several sources recently for it's attempts to turn a profit by drawing students away from traditional public education classrooms.  Just last week, the New York Times ran an article subtitled Online Schools Score Better on Wall Street than in the Classroom.  Sounds like a pretty bold claim, but we've argued before, with the dot.com decline and housing market bubble burst, education may be the last safe refuge for Wall Street in the 21st century.

Ron Packard, CEO of K12 Inc, issued a reply to this article yesterday in the Fordam Education Institute's Flypaper.  I'm not completely opposed to Virtual Education.  I believe that responsible virtual education within the framework of existing educational structures is vital for 21st century learning.  I do have reservations about a complete package of online education outsourced to a distant and nebulous institution whose primary purpose is maximizing profit.  This description may not fairly characterize K12 Inc., but Packard's defense of the company in response to the NY Times articles is less than convincing.  Of the several arguments presented by Ron Packard, I found number one most lacking.  I've pasted the text of his argument below:

Academic performance of virtual schools: K12 data shows that a large and growing number of students coming into virtual schools are below grade level. The high growth rate of virtual schools means that a large portion of students taking the state tests are in their first year. This makes static test scores poor measures of a school’s overall performance because students perform better on state tests the longer they are enrolled. To measure academic growth, K12 administers third party norm-referenced tests.  Data from these tests show students are making positive academic gains relative to national norms.

 This is not the first time that I've heard this argument to defend poor results of online learning or even charter schools.  So, let's look closely at this argument.  First, Mr. Packard argues that students coming into his schools are below grade level.  It stands to reason that their performance will fall below that of on-grade level students.  Does that mean it's the student's fault and not the school?  I'm o.k. with that as long as we let our "traditional" public schools put forth the same argument.  Do students matter or not?  We have to be careful not to allow student ability or circumstances to provide an excuse for poor service.  If online schools and charters are given a pass because of the population they're dealing with then let's not apply a different standard to public schools dealing with the same students in order to label them as failing.

Second, it looks like the tests are getting blamed.  In the world of public education, again this argument doesn't fly.  The tests are the tests and if you can't perform then you're not performing.  Have you noticed any of the value-added or growth model laws passing across the nation?  It doesn't matter whether students are transferring, adding, dropping, repeating, or not even in your class in some states.  If the test scores aren't good enough, you're not good enough.  That applies to schools and increasingly to teachers as well.  If the tests aren't good enough to judge online education and charters then why do we assume they're good enough to judge traditional public schools.

I suppose if you can be identified by initials and your stock is publicly traded a different set of standards apply.  That shouldn't be a surprise, we've known for a while that Wall Street standards don't apply to the rest of us.

Teaching and Fishing

Among the things I enjoy most are spending time with my family, teaching and fishing. The only one that allows me much time for reflection is fishing. I was on the James River recently with my fishing mentor and guide. A rugged sort of man and his steely eyes rarely break from the waters surface as the river slowly carves its way between the rounded knobs that direct its path to the Ocean. He's probably forgotten more about fishing then I'll ever know. Our trips take an entire day and can be grueling if you are not ready for them. You have to rise before the sun, endure the triple digit heat, make 4-5 casts a minute for 11 hours, and sometimes dodge horrific thunderstorms to stay alive. But rowing down the river that helped spawn America trying to catch something that doesn't want to be caught is a place I really enjoy being.

We take our fishing for Smallmouth Bass pretty seriously.

He talks very little while guiding but when he does he's either yelling at me like an old school coach for letting a fish escape or sharing insights only gained from countless hours spent fishing. He's taught me a lot about the river, the land and life. On a recent blazing June day he was working hard trying to put me on some fish and his efforts granted me an opportunity to reflect as I scanned the river picking my spots. I thought a lot about the past year teaching, how tough it was and how without times like this to decompress I don't think I'd make it.

During our break for lunch we got to talking and soon our discussion turned towards my job. I mentioned at times recently working in a school was not so fun and that in a perfect world I might have what it takes to be a fishing guide. As scary as it sounds I am not certain I'd have enough patience to let others fish while I watched. Not considering that the river might be an equally tough place to work I allowed myself to compare the two jobs as I sometimes do. Guess what, here I go again. Resting on the bank in the shade that day I think I decided fishing guide might be one of the jobs that is as tough on you mentally as teaching. Stay with me.

Guides have to balance a lot of things. Maneuvering the boat among the rocks, choosing bait, bringing supplies, finding the right presentation are among the countless things affecting whether or not they are successful. As good as they are, a guide must accept that many things beyond their control play a role in catching fish. You might be the best darn fisherman in the world and still get thwarted by some external thing. The weather, changing water conditions, and fishing pressure can derail all your efforts. Some forces working against you are so powerful and complex they defy comprehension(the recent Fish kills are as scary to me as some education reform). But the most important factor in catching fish is the skill of angler you are guiding.


You can have all the ingredients in place. Right rod and reel, right bait, water, weather, fishing the perfect spot, with a huge bass just sitting there ready to bite. You can do everything right and it is still up to the person holding the rod to get it the fish to the boat. With a smallmouth that is never easy. So here is where guides and teachers share some things. In the case of teachers it is ultimately up to the student if they are going to be successful.

Teachers, like guides, have a huge impact on their "clients". There is abundant research to support the claim that teachers can profoundly impact a child's success. No such research exists in the fishing world but it is not needed. Feedback is immediate. A good guide can make or break a trip and the quality of the experience even if the fish don't cooperate. But really great guides, like mine, don't just make a difference on that day. They equip you with skills and knowledge that will serve you well into the future and you'll use the rest of your life. They make you better.

As a teacher I hope I have that same impact on my kids but after working hard, doing my best for them and trying to make them better I accept that when push comes to shove it is up to them. Sure testing provides some timely feedback but when that kid walks out your door for the last time...it's up to them. This week I took a buddy who doesn't fish as much as me out on the James. There was a boat in front of us, hitting some of the holes I knew held fish. Every bite they got was one we didn't. After about an hour and some adjustments I dialed him in on some solid fish and he did OK. I shared the satisfaction of him landing a few big ones and also the defeat when some of the bigger fish took advantage of his lack of experience.

So I did OK as a guide on this day but conditions were pretty easy. We had a great time on the river. Time will tell if I made my buddy a better fisherman. At the very least I tried to impart some of what the river and my guide have taught me. I was reminded that you need knowledge, skill, some luck, and a whole lot of patience to make it as a guide and sit there while someone else catches all the fish. But perhaps more importantly you need to be willing to accept you cannot control everything. I deal with this reality both on the river and in the classroom. The idea that as good as I am it is not all up to me might be tough for some, but maybe that's part of what makes my job and my hobby so rewarding and keeps me coming back for more. Though I will admit the paycheck and the monster fish don't hurt.

Planning for Upcoming Year During the Summer

As I took everything down from the walls in my room in the hopes it could be painted for the first time in 15 years I remembered that my colleague and I had floated the idea of putting tables and chairs in our rooms to replace the desks. The furnishings we have are somewhat dated and showing their age(most have been in my room longer than me). We thought the table setup might allow for a more effective environment to learn. We'll see what happens with that plan.

In the meantime I thought I'd pass along this photo and invite anyone interested to add a fitting caption or two in the comments section. Good luck.

Testing and the Flux Capicitor

Imagine having the power to influence the future.  You could go back in time and undo all the wrongs and make things "right." Essentially that's what every teacher has when they administer the SOL test to their classes.  Of course that would only be if we received the proper feedback after testing.  The social studies EOC reports are less than helpful and seem designed to keep everyone involved as much in the dark as possible about what actually went on.  For my kids that pass I receive a nebulous number which means very little to anyone who lives in the real world and not the criterion referenced normed testing world.   I spent the better part of 6 hours trying to determine what pass proficient(400-499) and pass advanced(500-600) mean only to discover they mean very little.
 Most movies I recall dealing with time travel involve the moral dilemma of changing the future and touch upon the unforeseen consequences of trying to do right and fix the past.  Looking at my results I am not sure I would actually know what to go back and do better.  For me movies on time travel tend to be predictable and boring...my hope is to avoid the same fate for this post.  My recent SOL results have been anything but predictable.   The most notable film was Back to the Future.  That is exactly where we are headed with all this testing.  Backwards.  No one except Dr. Emmett Brown(Christopher Lloyd) knew exactly how the Flux Capacitor worked and it caused a bunch of trouble for Marty(Miachael J. Fox), these tests are much the same.  Difference here is we don't see them so we wouldn't know what to fix.

I observed recently while my students took the World History up to 1500 SOL test.  It was a painful experience and makes you feel about as powerless as one could possibly be. This feeling is one which today's teachers are growing more familiar with.  As I monitored them with the other proctors I could not help but imagine they were missing all kinds of questions as they took the 60 question online assessment.  Surely they were making stupid mistakes on content we have drilled on in the previous weeks and more importantly learned earlier in the year.  These were smart kids and most wanted to do well on this SOL and yet somehow I could just sense they weren't....ARGH!  Much of this anxiety stemmed from the results of last semester's test, which were unexpectedly lower than they had been in the past. 

So there's your plot for the movie.  The protagonist... the teachers... against this antagonist testing culture.  I could have walked around and looked at the test and maybe grunted or found some other way to inform them of their mis-steps.  But I did not, which is unlike what appears to have happened in DC and elsewhere.   Believe it or not most schools are actually staffed by ethical people who follow the rules.  Though these individuals are overlooked by the news in favor of the student punching, criminal, just plain bad people teachers who do sometimes hold jobs in our profession.  But back to the testing ...the whole process is cloaked in so much secrecy it can sometimes be rather dumb.  I'll admit I am not even certain what they are being asked and how it is being asked and I teach the course! 

During the test I sat stone faced with the other proctors while they worked and my mind played out all the scenarios.  I knew many of them were missing questions.   Would that mean little Susie will fail?  What about little Johnny...he's not that good with tests and can't concentrate for more than 5 minutes.  I know I had asked similar questions of them recently in the run up to the test, but I had likely done so in a slightly different way(I'd say better). Will that mess them up?  For those that don't know these tests are in fact rather easy for most kids.   Higher level kids know this and as a result few do any "real" preparation.  I did ask them to take a post SOL survey on how many had "studied" beyond the reviews we had done in class.  Only 7 of 29 students raised their hands.   Awesome.  Speaking generally all they care about is the test and yet, it appears they don't care.  Despite being "easy" to pass it appears hard to receive a Pass Advanced score.  And what of the kids whose skill set means any form of testing is a challenge?  I have found too often their level or preparation quite similar.  But too many of them do not do as well.  Thinking more globally on the impact the weeks leading up to the test we went into test shutdown mode and these weeks after have been like waiting in line at the grocery store(all you want to do is get out).  Tell me again how this is learning?

Thanks to the State Board of Ed what they did now affects how I am evaluated.  Am I mad?  What do you think?  All I know is this test doesn't really hold them accountable.  School yes, teacher yes, them no.  When they miss a bunch of easy questions it hurts me not them(and the scores say they did miss questions).  I would be hurt no matter the result if they did poorly which was the case for some of them.  These kids wanted to do well but not quite as much as I wanted them to do well.  I think that's part of what makes them kids.  The only impact from recent value added legislation so far is that I am more disillusioned with the whole process.  And keep in mind this I am referring mostly to the highest achieving population at our school.  Our district ranks pretty well compared to the rest of the state. So does this really measure me as a teacher?   Click Here to Link to an executive summary that was sent along with individual results.  It is an overall summary sent to each teacher measured by the assessments.  It is highly scientific and I think I understood it properly.    It was signed by John Winger.  Seriously though... I questioned my impact when I saw a big drop in Pass Advanced scores for my kids.  I'll save my analysis for another post but the process of analysis was mind numbing.  One might understand my frustration when you see there is nothing on the VDOE site that references or even defines the terms Pass Advanced/Pass Proficient/Fail  for social studies End of Course Tests.  Click here for Detailed Performance Level Descriptors

Compared to last year the message was clear...overall average-down, number of perfect scores-way down, pass advanced-down, the trend is uniform and absolute.  My results were similar to those from my first semester students though my year long classes did perform slightly better(Click Here to see my reaction earlier in the year)  Most teachers shared  similar experiences.   One senseless revision to the testing process is the fact that when they are done I now read from a script when they submit their test.  Hypothetically speaking if a student has left 3 questions blank and says they are done, I am forbidden from saying something like "Hey there Bobby-Joe, you left two questions blank, come on now... let's finish up and maybe answer those last couple...what do you say?"  I know, I know a kid that leaves questions blank deserves what they get.  But it could be they have to use the restroom and just want to finish.  Maybe they can no longer stand being in a gym filled with 200+ kids.  Maybe their parents got in another drunken brawl last night and for the moment at least this test doesn't matter much.  Get my point?  Yet I cannot do the most human thing and remind them to answer all the questions.  How does that assess what they really know or even what the teacher has given them in terms of value?

This test and all the tests leave much to be desired as does how we value and use them.  I'll play devil's advocate and ask why since 2000 they have only released 1 full test and only 13 additional questions in Social Studies  (This page shows every other testing area has released tests).  For some reason Earth Science and History are kept locked inside Fort Knox Kentucky.   Sad to think this is the best we can do.  I know we could do better.  I have and do all year long in my classroom yet the last weeks schools are consumed by this maelstrom of testing.  The disjoint between those IN the classroom working with kids and those IN control of policy only continues to grow wider.  Who is at fault?  Based on everything I read it is the opinion of policymakers that the problem must be at the bottom. That mentality is our biggest problem.   If you've been down with the Underground then I think you have a pretty good idea how I feel about that.  So if I could travel in time what would I do?  I'd don't think I'd go backwards so much as forwards....That would then give me the proper insights to affect positive change today.  I'd find that bolt of lightning that finally saved Marty and generated enough electricity to propel the DeLorean to 88 MPH and use it to steer our schools in a better direction.  Towards the future.   Deep stuff ... I know...


Hey the Underground is gonna be at half speed for summer so there will be a drop in the frequency of our posts.  We'll do our best to maintain the quality but come on...we are teachers after all.

The Greatest Post "N"ever Written

The well publicized rapture came and went on Saturday with no apparent impact.  Or maybe I and everyone I know are bad people.  But wait just a minute, Saturday was not without incident.   My most recent blog post which I sat editing on Saturday at 12:10 EST is missing.  I hit CTRL-Z to undo a recent edit and whoosh...flash of light...tingly feeling...sounds of bells...and I'm left with an empty dialogue box.  Before I could do anything helpful google slaps an autosave on me and....the post is no longer among us.  Perhaps this post was too perfect.  It did after all warrant a compliment from an award winning author after a cursory review. Sadly I cannot recall the majority of content and since I can't remember exactly what it said, it's as if it never existed. Weird Huh?

Thus I have decided to try and share the "abridged" version of my thoughts...at least the parts that are still floating around in my head:

Schools are Under Attack-When I take in all that is happening in reform efforts I am left with one conclusion.  There is a deliberate effort to undermine and even destroy our public school system.  At the least there is an effort to stop funding it, ignoring all the untold good that has been done in our nation's history as a result of free public schools.  I am not a truther or conspiracist...just a teacher who is careful with his observations.

High Stakes Testing is Bad- 10 years worth and nothing really to show for it.  Data can be misleading if interpreted for a purpose.  This testing changes the focus of schools to something that is not good(see previous post). Watching your kids take such a test makes you hate the psychometricians...yeah that's a real job and they are real people and they do a "real" job.  Not sure we need them but they exist.  
Vouchers aren't all bad, but they aren't all THAT either- It is not fair private and charter schools can turn students away.  We as public schools can't and shouldn't. No wonder they sound better compared to public schools.  Also taking PUBLIC money away from schools filled with kids that really need it is a BAD idea. It could potentially undermine one of the strongest social institutions in this nations history and much of the good they've done.

Companies are slowly getting more influence and thus control over our schools.  This is bad since companies exist to make profits.(in that sense at least they are  not like teachers).  When faced with doing what is right with doing what they want...its about the profits.  A colleague shared this recent article which illustrates the problem....$266, 000?...that was their offer for a screw up.  Despite the absence of tenure I suspect no one at Pearson was labeled "bad" and blamed for everything.  But mistakes happen.  Get over it and move on.  Who holds the accountability machine accountable? 
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/05/20/430371wypwsproblems_ap.html

People in charge of education reform are certain they are right.  Hey, what if they are not?  I'm pretty sure every teacher I know think they are NOT.  Makes you think huh?  A recent blog post described the nation's chief reformer as "condescending, arrogant, insulting, misleading, patronizing, egotistic, supercilious, haughty, insolent, peremptory, cavalier, imperious, conceited, contemptuous, pompous, audacious, brazen, insincere, superficial, contrived, garish, hollow, pedantic, shallow, swindling, boorish, predictable, duplicitous, pitchy, obtuse, banal, scheming, hackneyed, and quotidian."  I think he even de-friended him on facebook.


I remember linking to this cartoon in the post that was raptured:

But there was a ton more...mostly from those who support them.  And I think for misguided reasons.
http://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-US&rlz=1I7ADRA_en&biw=1088&bih=620&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=school+voucher+cartoon&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

The abridged version might be like watching a movie trailer where you get the idea but not the substance.  For this I apologize.  Blame Harold Camping.

Measuring Value

Last week, my son had the pleasure of taking his fifth grade writing SOL (standards of Learning) test. He spent a little time worrying about the writing section the night before and I tried to comfort him by saying “writing is a genetic thing; this should be a breeze for you.” He replied by saying, “what if I take after mom?”

I really wanted to tell him not to worry because in reality his score on this test means nothing whatsoever to him or his future; there is no consequence for failure, at least for my son. This is troubling, because there are serious consequences for his school and teachers if pass rates are not adequate. Imagine that, a system that holds teachers and schools accountable on a metric that means nothing to a student.

I grow more disappointed in the education of my children as I witness the focus on math and language arts instruction increasing to the detriment of other subjects. My fifth grade son spends nearly as many hours per week in school on math and language arts as he does on every other activity combined, including lunch. He attends an excellent school and his teachers are exceptional, but this is the result of flawed educational policy. With accreditation depending on student performance in these two areas, schools have little choice but narrow their focus on these subjects until they are certain their students (who are not accountable for the outcome) will earn a passing score.

This will only get worse when the state of Virginia jumps on the “value-added” bandwagon and representatives in Richmond consider “growth-model” legislation tying teacher evaluations to student standardized testing results.

In our race for accountability to guarantee qualified teachers and quality schools, we have made a terrible mistake:

We have begun to value what is easily measured and we’ve stopped measuring what is valuable!

Several years ago, I dropped my son off at school and watched his P.E. teacher assist him out of the car and into the building. In those few seconds, I learned perhaps the greatest teaching lesson of my career. When I leave my children at the schoolhouse door, more than anything else in the world I want them to be surrounded by loving, nurturing adults who I can trust to have their best interests at heart.

I do not want my son’s fifth grade teacher to earn an evaluation of exceptional or adequate because his standardized math test grades increased two points from last year to this year. I do not want my daughter's third grade teacher deemed unsatisfactory because her students did not manage to show growth on the standardized language arts testing over second grade. I want to commend them for making my children enjoy learning and encouraging them to take their lessons out of the classroom and into their world.

Let’s stop valuing what is easily measured and do the hard work of measuring what is truly valuable for our children.

Still Learning

I've learned a great deal in the last week or so. I've learned that when you are up 10pts with :45 secs to go, the game is not over, ask any UVA fan...if you can find one right now. I've learned that people making huge decisions concerning our state standardized tests don't really seem to think letting teachers and parents know about or even see these tests is that important. I've learned yes you can in fact teach in almost total darkness. I've learned that despite the concerns we have as teachers about the future of our schools and kids, some people out there still want to join up. I've learned that there is a great deal going on in the world. Some of these events make you smile, some make you scratch your head and some make you cry. Being a teacher can allow you(or cause you) to experience all of these emotions, sometimes simultaneously.

Thinking about the piece of the world I spend so much time in I was reminded of an old SNL skit on teaching a history class.

Diane Ravitch on the Daily Show

Twice in the same week, John Stewart and the Daily Show address education issues.  This time by interviewing Diane Ravitch.  Nothing new from her in this interview, but it's great to see her arguments reaching a wider audience outside of the education world.  It is also great to see a national television show cover this side of education.  It's just under ten minutes, but a great watch.  Let us know what you think.  My favorite quote, "but they get to go to the dentist."

The Daily Show - Diane Ravitch
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Data-Driven Decision-Making Kills Crickets!

“Diana Virgo, a math teacher at the Loudoun Academy of Science in Virginia, gives students a more real-world experience with functions. She brings in a bunch of chirping crickets into the classroom and poses a question:” So begins a story related in the book “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath. They applaud the teacher for providing a concrete lesson to understand the notion of a mathematical “function.”

I learned a different lesson altogether from this story. After gathering all the data relating to chirp rates and temperature, the students plug the information into a software package and--- AHA! The hotter it is, the faster crickets chirp and even better, IT’S PREDICTABLE! Now students have a concrete example of what a function is and what it does. Next comes the point where the story grabs me. The Heath brothers mention (in parenthesis no less, even calling it a side note, as if this isn’t the main point) that “Virgo also warns her students that human judgment is always indispensible.” For example, if you plug the temperature 1000 degrees into the function, you will discover that crickets chirp really fast when it is that hot.

The moral of the story is this: Data-driven decision-making kills crickets!

Unfortunately, it can also kill good instruction. Recently while attending a district-wide work-session on Professional Learning Communities, a nationally recognized consultant suggested reasons why teachers at a small middle school without colleagues in the same subject should collaborate with teachers from other schools in the same subject. He suggested that when these inter-school teams see that one teacher has better data in a given area, the others could learn what that teacher is doing to get such good results.

I’m not against this type of collaboration, but could it be possible that a teacher from one school whose student testing results (data) are not so good is still better than a teacher in a different school with excellent data? For example, might the data at school A look better than school B because students are getting better support at home. Perhaps school B spends more time making sure students are fed and clothed before concentrating on the job of instruction. What if school A has stronger leadership and teacher performance reflects teacher moral, support, or professional development?

Teachers must collaborate and share stories relating to instruction that works, but if student test-data is the only metric used to evaluate effectiveness we are essentially determining that crickets chirp very fast at 1000 degrees. There is a better choice than “data-driven.” Next week I’ll share my thoughts on this alternative and together we can strive to “save the crickets.”

Follow-up Post: Why Data-Informed Trumps Data-Driven

Teacher Quality, No Easy Solution.

In his State of the Union Speech on Tuesday President Obama said the following: "If you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we’ll show you the money.” I like the idea of money but am not solely driven by it. I chose to be a teacher after all. Education reform seems increasingly motivated by the idea that incentives will improve teaching and ultimately student performance. The logic goes if you pay teachers based on how their kids do, teaching and learning will improve. Perhaps they will...but I have my doubts.

One frightening prospect educators are facing in my state is the implementation of the "growth model" for teacher evaluation(more frightening than the included graphic which is meant to clarify the plan). It really is not that innovative and that's what concerns me. This is presented by policymakers as a simple way to judge teachers and implement merit pay and it is hard to argue against.  It even sounds good. But beware the obvious or easy solutions in education. This model looks at student achievement between grades and measures growth rather than looking only at whether a student is proficient on certain standards. ( See Developing a Growth Measure in Virginia ) If your students do better, you get paid more.

This effort to evaluate and reward teachers oversimplifies what we do. To attempt to implement a fair system is almost impossible and all those involved should face this reality instead of doing something for the sake of doing something. UVA Psychologist Daniel Willingham briefly explains this here. So besides not being fair I am also concerned about this reliance on a single indicator.

Public perception of these tests and the perceptions by those who deal directly with them might differ more than just a little. I spent the last 48 hours questioning the validity of my recent SOL results. It has in fact made me rethink whether I should trust these tests at all. It is after all only 1 test. As a tennis coach if I made decisions about my roster solely on how fast athletes were or whether they had a good serve some of the most successful tennis players I coached would never have made the team. Further, some players on my team might not have improved but instead gained a great deal more from competing. Why can't we see similar flaws with high stakes testing? Education seems one of the few places this is acceptable.

Much good has come from the SOLs my state uses but the impact on the school and classroom is not all good. Yes we are accountable but now we may focus too much on these tests. Schools often consume vast resources to just to give these tests. We teach to them, develop remediation plans, give thousands at each school, bring in extra staff, reshape our schedule, all for these tests. Right after the results come back schools shift gears into remediation mode in the name of meeting AYP. We might get these kids past the test but are we really serving them long term? Some research suggests simply taking the test again might yield the desired outcome and that perhaps remediation might not be as worthwhile. Too bad in my subject area they have only released 1 test. SOLS are good but should only be part of any plans for improvement.

Kids should be tested and held accountable. I think a better measure of accountability is called a grade. A more global measure of achievement, knowledge, skills, and effort. I reflect often on whether my grades are valid and SOLs in fact have helped with this. But grades rarely even come up when talking about my class and my evaluation. Talk is about SOL results and what I am doing to improve them. Actually it would be fair to say all schools worry about is pass rate. So in theory a teacher's class average could fall but they have fewer kids fail and they would be seen as a success. So SOL results should only be one part of the way we measure and evaluate teachers.

Teacher quality in my opinion(and some research agrees) is probably the single biggest factor in outcomes. That's simple. But finding a way to make us all better teachers is not as simple. I am wary of politicians that develop simple ways to make us better. I am also wary of whether current plans and money will really improve teacher quality overall and especially in at risk schools. We need to strengthen our current compensation practices in education and some level of incentives may be part of a more comprehensive approach. But alone I am skeptical they will fix what need fixing. I welcome positive change and know we can come up with something better. As we seek to recruit quality teachers for the future will they be ready for the new way they will be judged? Or will they seek other employment when they encounter some of the current reforms and solutions.

What's My Average?

In the debate over current school budgets the "average class size" statistic has become increasingly significant. The statistic is misused and covers some disturbing trends that directly affect the quality of what I am able to do.

Admittedly most concrete data and studies indicating benefits of smaller class sizes exists at the lower grade levels but class size matters( See: http://www.heros-inc.org/star.htm or http://www.heros-inc.org/factsheet.htm ). At higher grade levels class size clearly impacts instruction and learning as well. Yes kids can learn in a big lecture style class and they can also learn in a small hands on interactive class. But as a teacher it is more difficult, sometime impossible, to operate as effectively when student loads continue to grow. Am I complaining? Yes.

It is imperative that we work to keep classes with at risk, special education and similarly challenged students small. This is as much for behavioral reasons as it is academic. That means that core classes with "typical" kids are forced to grow. Not being a math teacher that simply means I must devote less attention to each student.

In an educational landscape dominated by hard choice decisions distanced from the classroom, increasing average class size seems an enticing way to increase efficiency. Having more students jeopardizes many of the more engaging and perhaps rigorous activities. Quality feedback and interaction with the teacher declines. This is not good. Can we still teach and kids still learn, yes. But simply put, one can only grade so many essays or homework effectively. That reality somehow gets lost between the desktop and the budget.

We all agree better teaching can mean better learning. While adding students might save money the true cost can never be measured in dollars.

Teacher Voices

We hope to finish up our series on Exceptionally Effective teaching with one more post on the topic, but in the meantime I wanted to share a website from the College Board that I find interesting.  It is called Teacher Advocacy.  Their stated goal on the website is as follows:

 To support teachers by highlighting the critical importance of their work and amplifying their voices in policy debates about educational reform.

Recently I have joined several colleagues in addressing our local School Board and Central Office regarding scheduling changes that have affected our ability to effectively provide a quality education to our students.  These decision-making bodies are in a tough place and are dealing with a difficult financial situation.  We have also been placed in a tough situation, having to make decisions that affect the quality of education for our students.  We are having to choose between timely and quality feedback, breadth versus depth of content coverage, distributed versus massed practice, and unfortunately sometimes between the welfare of our families and that of our students.

I respect the difficulty of choices that the decision-makers must make, but I hope that the difficulty of the decisions that teachers are having to make are understood by the decision-makers.  So far, I'm not sure how far our voices have travelled.  We've shared our concerns with everyone who can make a difference.  I go back and forth between believing that we've been heard and believing that we're being tolerated.  Either way, I am convinced that both locally and nationally the teacher voice is perhaps the most important voice (second to only the student) in education policy and reform, but we spend too much time behind our classroom doors.  That is one reason why I've shared the link today.  It highlights the positive side of education and the individual stories of successful teachers. 

Only time will tell if our efforts have made a difference in our district.  As difficult as stepping out and raising our voices has been, our students are worth the trouble.  I hope that all of our teachers, locally and nationally, will find their voice to advocate loudly and effectively on behalf of our students.

Exceptionally Effective-A Sense of Humor

“Exceptionally Effective- showing the ability to go beyond the ordinary in producing desired results.”  

This is part two of our series on the qualities that make an "exceptionally effective teacher."

It is essential to have a sense of humor if you are going to be a teacher. The job simply demands that you be able to sit back and laugh, especially at the variety of predicaments in which you will find yourself. Laughter is a survival skill. But exceptional teachers don’t just make themselves laugh; they can find ways to make their students laugh. They use humor in a way that is useful to learning and helps them teach.

Not all great teachers are funny but everyone can use humor to improve their instruction in a variety of ways. There is the simple use of the youtube clip, cleverly woven into the lesson and used to start discussion or illustrate a point. If nothing else it usually gets kids attention. But there is a fine line between funny and silly. A skillful instructor knows the latter does little to improve the learning environment.

In my class I have stumbled across several "tricks" that seem to keep the class engaged. One of my favorite is when someone enters my room they are politely applauded. I instruct my students to begin a soft golf clap when an outsider enters the room. Be it a student delivering a pass, a principal doing an observation, a teacher getting something off my printer, they are all met with a round of gentle applause. It is funny and welcoming. It alerts me to their presence, which is necessary when I do not notice their arrival. Rarely does a visitor merge seamlessly into the room so acknowledging them in a humorous fashion helps me remain in control of the disruption. Most visitors now have come to expect this.

Fun games can also be humorous. The internet is crowded with activities from teachers who have shared such resources ranging from simple jeopardy more complex creations. I have a template similar to the game Taboo, where students have their partner try to guess the vocab word. My colleague, Mr. Turner, has been known to play "Name of Drug or Metal Band" in his Psychology class. These less formal strategies can still produce learning and it doesn't hurt to laugh when things don't go as planned.

Another trick is to relate stories from your personal experience. Since you are "older" you have been where they are in life and can offer insights in a funny way. I usually clean these up as needed and occasionally embellish them to amplify the humorous effect. Experience has taught me to use self-deprecation in these and whenever possible. Maybe people relate easier to those they feel sorry for, I am not sure. I guess Charlie Brown would be a great teacher.

To some these may seem a waste of valuable instructional time. But being willing to take 5 minutes to make kids laugh in exchange for engaging them rest of the period is a trade-off well worth the effort. Students might even enjoy attending the class and on occasion even pay attention. Learning is generally more enjoyable when you are having fun.

Exceptionally Effective- High Expectations

“Exceptionally Effective- showing the ability to go beyond the ordinary in producing desired results.”  

This is part one of our series on the qualities that make an "exceptionally effective teacher."

Challenging/ Has Reasonably High Expectations

In my class, I strive to balance the fact that my students are in a twelfth grade college level class with the fact that they are still twelfth grade high school students.  They should leave my class able to take responsibility for their own learning, but while they are here, I must take my share of responsibility for their learning. 

This means that I must help them discover the expectations and outcomes that earlier in their education would have been clearly outlined for them.  I cannot be ambiguous and unclear, but my students must also learn self-direction and begin to set academic goals that balance their desired outcome with the expectations of the course.  By nature, this becomes an individual process with some students entering the course completely capable of taking full responsibility for their academic success and others requiring a greater level of teacher and parent involvement.

Earlier in my career I taught ninth and tenth grade students and this requires a different approach.  Indeed, this year I teach a predominantly ninth grade elective for the first time in several years and I am learning to readjust to their needs.

Personal experience informs this philosophy.  As a junior in high school, my AP U.S. History course was taught as a college class.  The teacher assigned reading and students were assessed periodically with tests.  I never read, but managed to remember enough from test to test to manage a B which weighted to an A.  By the time I took the AP test in May, I scored a 2.   Most of my other classes required homework, but I only completed it when I knew it would be graded. 

Neither approach served me well.  I did not learn the value of study and practice.  In college, I continued to only do the work required for a grade-- my learning and GPA suffered.

Having reasonably high expectations means that we set the bar high enough to reach, but this might be higher than the student believes he or she can reach.  It also means that if one must fully extend and balance on the tips of their toes to reach the goal, sometimes they will fall.  To set reasonably high expectations  for our students we also have to teach the value of failure and the resiliency to learn from failure instead of letting it define our futures.

The biggest challenge today is finding the time to set these challenges AND to stand behind each student as they strive to achieve.  As "factory schools" pile more and more bodies into the classroom the problem of effectively challenging students becomes greater and we fall back on setting the benchmark that we know everyone can achieve instead of pushing each individual to achieve every bit that they can.

Teaching Kids to Shine

Recently, a senior asked me to fill out a standard reference form that guidance counselors use to prepare college recommendations. After filling out countless forms, I've grown frustrated at the number of students for whom I can only give a mediocre reference. The form asks for three adjectives that come to mind when you think of the student. By now, I hate to think how many times I've used "friendly", "outgoing", "responsible", "polite", and other variations of the same. But the most difficult part of the form asks: "List one major contribution this student has made in your class. Be as specific as possible."

I wondered how students would respond to this question, so I created a sample reference form to give my ninth grade Leadership class. I did not duplicate the form exactly, but I explained that when they become seniors they will give a similar form to several of their teachers. I asked them to eliminate their favorite and least favorite, then select one teacher from the rest. They would fill this reference form out for themselves as if they were that teacher. I wanted them to see that in four years, most students can learn to be respectful, responsible, and cordial, but they need to learn how to stand out in a positive way. I thought the question about one major contribution would stump them as it often stumps me, and I hoped they would become motivated to make a difference in all their classes.

There was one response I was not ready for. "What if we aren't given any opportunities to contribute to a class?" These students have only been in their high school classes for about two months, and they only have 4-6 classes at this time, but the comment made me stop to think. The absolute cream of the crop student might make a major contribution in any environment, but most 13-18 year-olds are entrusted to adults for a reason. They need nurture and instruction. If we want our students to shine, we need to provide opportunities for them to do so.

At the end of four years, "turned every assignment in on time", "never got detention", "present every day", "never tardy for class", "scored in the 80th percentile on standardized tests" and the like may look nice, but are these really the qualities that are going to get noticed by colleges and employers. Even more important, are these the qualities that are going to enable young minds to become young adults that will make a difference in the world.

Whether you're a teacher or not, what are you doing to give children and youth opportunities to shine?  I don't ask that because I assume most people are not doing anything, but because I suspect that many people are and the rest of us could benefit from hearing about it.  So what are you doing?

Teachers "Too" important? Seriously?

I recently read the following on The Answer Sheet, a Washington Post Education Blog. It was from noted UVA Psychologist Daniel Willingham. "Teacher Quality is the most important in-school factor that influences kids’ schooling. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing." Now this guy is way smarter than me and no doubt in some ways I trust him more than I trust myself, cause come on... I mean he studies the brain. But that last part struck me. Not a good thing...what does he mean?

I often think a teacher can't "make" a student learn anything. This fits with the view of one of the first great teachers, Socrates, and also with my times in the classroom when I felt less than successful. Teachers motivate, support, guide, nourish, redirect, comfort and inform. I would not dare suggest though that teachers are "too" important(after all I am one). Of course they are too important...just as parents, family and experience are too important. I guess the only time teachers get really noticed by those who don't have direct contact with them is when they are doing a poor job. That is where too much of the focus can go. I personally think it is the non-teachers that are too important to the classroom(that comment requires a bit of interpretation).

"Any teacher who can be replaced by a computer, deserves to be"...this hangs on my wall and helps remind me that I need to do more than just instruct. When teachers do a wonderful job they deserve commendation and recognition. But to see that teacher's approach as "the way" is a perilous path indeed; a simplistic and maybe outsider view of what teaching really is and always will be about, the interaction between student, teacher and what is to be learned. I think Willingham was stating that curriculum maybe helps avoid the pitfalls of bad teaching. He also acknowledges the unintended effect this has on some of the best teachers.

These are lessons hard to remember in our data driven society. In our compulsory public schools kids are still kids and need good, no, great teachers around to help them out. Too many of our young people just don't see schooling as a priority and sometimes great teachers can change that (sadly only some of the time). I only have a BA and frankly wasn't that good of a teacher starting out, but I now feel I have become a very good teacher despite the lack of higher degrees and training. I continue to grow but it is hard to look too far forward since the only real way a teacher can become more important is to leave the classroom for an office. Something I consciously choose not to do.

Let's keep teaching on a human scale and not lose sight of the power of relationships within the research. Let's allow schools to generate ideas for reform from within rather than dictate what they must do and stifle their creativity and flexibility. If you're not sure whether Teacher Quality should be the most important thing in a kids schooling...you might be looking at the classroom from the outside. Socrates might tell you something like this..."Who should guide and shape the minds of the young?" Giving them the questions (the curriculum) is only one part of the process. This must also be accompanied by the moral example set by the teacher for the student to observe. It was perhaps the personal influence of Socrates that made Plato so successful.