My Day in Court

I teach in a basement with five other teachers. During a tornado drill, my class gets to stay put because we’re in the safest place in the building. Recently I quipped with my principal that every time I poke my head above ground I feel like I’m walking into the aftermath of a tornado and want to retreat below the surface.

Three months ago I ventured above ground to make copies for class. As I walked across the courtyard of our school, some students gathered in social groups, others were moving toward their classes. I nearly made it all the way across when a young man approached a small group and punched another young man in the back of the head.

I was far enough along to keep moving and pretend I didn’t notice. I won’t lie, I considered this option. I could have ducked into the building, leaving the action behind. As the men (can you call 17 and 18 year olds boys?) began posturing and yelling at each other I looked across the courtyard for other adults.

No one.

Now I’m stuck.

A fight is breaking out and no one is here to help.

Before they started throwing punches I determined that coming between them was a no win approach for any of us. I couldn’t choose one to restrain without just holding him for the other to pummel. So as the arms started flying, I embraced them both, bringing them as close together as possible, keeping them from punching.

The three of us continued an awkward dance for what seemed like two or three minutes. Probably more like seconds. All three of us ended up on the ground before two other teachers, three administrators, a security aide, and the school resource officer finally separated the mass of people.

We haven’t had a fight in the basement in over fifteen years. It had been a while since I’ve had to intervene. I had such an adrenaline rush during the incident I felt hungover the rest of the day.

I’d never seen the two students before. I didn’t know their names. The administrators didn’t make me write a referral, but I had to write a description of what I saw. I completed it that day and sent it. Story over, right.

Wrong.

Today I get to spend the day in court.

I want to be an enlightened educator. I want to provide meaningful experiences for students. I want to give them freedom and choice in their education. I want them to collaborate and learn together. I want students to engage in discovery. And I try to make all of this happen.

But today, my students will take a multiple choice test and watch a video because their year is one day from over and I’m in court.

There is a realism to teaching that gets lost. It’s easy to talk about the ideal of intrinsically motivated students just waiting for a teacher to find the spark that drives them to creativity and a passion for learning.

But then you step in between two grown men throwing punches at each other. You sit in the back of the classroom for several minutes allowing your body to recover while students discuss “who won.” You worry that the dirt on one of the three pairs of nice pants you own will wash out. You hope the pain in your forty year old back is only temporary. You wonder how many other adults in the world are expected to use physical force in their job without any formal training. And you wonder how easy it would have been to just stay underground and keep your head down.

Then you realize you’re better than all that. The progressives can criticize us for lack of creativity, the corporate reformers can criticize us for incompetence, and nearly everyone can accuse us of thinking of ourselves instead of our students.

Even when our actions everyday say otherwise.

The Ninety Second Evaluation

So an “enlightened” student calls out a “terrible” teacher and the nation takes notice. It doesn’t bother me so much that a “terrible” teacher, teaching by packet may finally be getting his/her comeuppance so much as the belief that a minute and thirty seconds is all that we need to make a judgment.

Does context matter?

I worry about context in my classroom regularly. When students in my class learn about Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus complex, a minute of class taken out of context could lead to serious questions about my fitness for the classroom.

Pulling situations out of context takes me back to my Fundamentalist Baptist upbringings where I learned that you would go to hell for drinking beer or growing long hair. All you’ve got to do is lift a few obscure verses from the Bible and you can support about any argument you want.

So, for the teacher haters, here’s another verse to add to your arsenal. Nevermind the hundreds of minutes in that classroom outside of the minute+ clip. Now you have proof. Teachers are lazy because most of them just sit at their desks and watch students do worksheets.

We are primed for this.

The narrative of the bad teacher has taken a foothold, so strongly that even educational leaders are willing to propagate the story even when they make little serious effort to “right the wrong” they perceive in the classroom outside of dreaming dreams about how it should be done.

I think some people want this to happen. In the nineteen-eighties, the “welfare queen” imagery changed the dialogue on public assistance. Today, even progressive educators propagate the “lazy teacher” taking advantage of the cognitive shortcut to real critical thinking as a way to promote themselves or their agenda. In a different era or culture, the immediate critique would point to the student’s lack of respect and discipline. I’m not saying that’s where we should go, but we’re creating a culture primed to find the fault in the educator.

What’s fair to judge?

Walk a mile… I teach highly motivated 11^th and 12^th graders an AP curriculum. I have a hard time thinking I’m a better teacher than my colleagues teaching younger students who aren’t inherently engaged in the activities of school. It’s hard work, and just because my students are engaged and I don’t write discipline referrals doesn’t mean I know how everyone else should do it. I can humbly offer suggestions, but too often they get bravado from the all star educator or the professional thinkers in education that have the nerve to suggest that lack of engagement is 100% a teacher problem.

I don’t teach by packet. I’ve asked students to learn on their own from time to time with paper and pencil and technology, but I recognize as the young man in the video that not everyone learns that way. If they did, I’d be irrelevant.

If every word from the kid was true, if the teacher engages the class the majority of the time in the manner we see in the video, then yes, there is a problem. Perhaps some other questions should be asked:

Is the teacher held fully accountable for student knowledge of numerous discreet facts they will have to know for a standardized test?

Does the teacher receive adequate time to plan engaging activities for the classroom?

Does the teacher receive adequate time to evaluate student learning well enough to allow it to inform instruction?

Does the school create an appropriate schedule and provide time for the teacher to collaborate with other teachers to share ideas and keep each other informed (and accountable) of what’s working and what is not in the classroom?

Is the teacher encouraged to share success and failures, to take risks, or has she learned that as long as you lay low and don’t make waves they’ll assume you’re doing a good job and overlook you?

I know this much is true. A teacher in Texas had a bad minute and a half.

If that’s an accurate representation of her professional accomplishments I hate it for the young man in the video and every student who’s suffered under her instruction.

If we saw the culmination of a strained relationship between an obstinate young man and his exhausted teacher then shame on everyone who thinks they’d do a better job.

We can spank kids in school? Really?

I felt really dumb after reading this headline the other day:

"School Violates Policy When Girl Spanked By Male Administrator"

I felt dumb because I should have known that even today, some schools allow administrators to spank children.  I had no idea that this could still happen.  The school in question violated the policy because "opposite gender" spankings are not allowed-- they're perfectly o.k. of it's done by someone of the same sex.




Apparently corporal punishment is not only o.k. in the Springtown school district of Texas, but also in nineteen other U.S. states.  Really, adults who aren't the parent of a child can spank them in nineteen of fifty United States.  Parents in their home present a whole different issue, but anyone who thinks corporal punishment in a school is still a good idea should certainly find a different line of work.  They are an embarassment to the profession and a threat to our children.

In the video above, a tenth grade high school student chose a spanking over in-school suspension because she didn't want to miss more class.  She'd been accused of cheating.  A male principal administered the spanking which according to the girls mother was excessive and in violation the the school policy calling for same sex spanking only.  The family claims to have pictures that would prove their assertion that the spanking was excessive.

It disturbs me that well respected and powerful adults could support this.  I can hear the comment now, "that's what's wrong with this country now, these kids ain't got no discipline in their lives."  Maybe that's true, but can that lack of discipline be replaced with the blunt side of a principal's paddle?  It's nothing more than an excuse for abuse.

District Superintendent Mike Kelly wants to change the policy.  He's leading the school board to fix this problem by, WHAT?, he wants to get rid of the restriction that forbids males from spanking females and vice versa.  Apparently, the gender distribution of male and female administrators makes it too hard to abide by this policy. (Apparently he succeeded)  This man is a district superintendent.  He's got power and influence and he's using it for this?

Someone please tell me this is a joke.  Otherwise, I might start to think that conventional wisdom is right, maybe it is time to destroy this system of public education and start all over again.

Catching the Carrot and Breaking the Stick

Discussion of education policy and reform often centers on issues of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  No doubt these are among the most important factors in education, but increasingly I realize the most important aspect of my job is motivation.  Twentieth century psychology was pretty firmly entrenched in a behaviorist view of motivation-- provide the right incentives and if needed the right punishments, to gain the desired behavioral outcomes.  We are learning today that this type of motivating works well for tasks that are simple, but for more complex and higher level cognitive tasks this behavioral model of reinforcement can actually become a detriment to performance.

Even if you've never heard of B.F. Skinner and Behaviorism doesn't ring any bells in your brain, this theory today has become common sense.  So much so, that when I teach about Skinner's operant conditioning in my AP Psychology class, students wonder why this guy was so important.  After all, he just describes the stuff we already know.  These ideas and theories have become so embedded in our popular culture that it has become counter-intuitive to suggest that "rewards and punishments" are not always the best way to motivate.

Dan Pink has led the twenty-first century charge that the operating system of motivation 2.0 is due an upgrade.  This is not a new idea, but Pink has done an excellent job of promoting and articulating the fact that while external motivation creates significant short-term but shallow gains, the power of intrinsic motivation creates life-long learning.

That is point one- Extrinsic motivation may get us short-term results, but will dissapoint in the end.

Once upon a time, we believed that motivation was primarily a drive resulting from acquiring things that we need.  At the most basic level, food and shelter, but moving forward, secondary acquistions that facilitate the acquisition of these needs.  This is still very external.  Harry Harlow in his famous "terry-cloth monkey" experiments began the psychological studies that would eventually prove that humans also have many psychological needs such as affiliation, curiosity, achievement, etc., that can motivate just as powerfully as those external survival needs.  Again, Dan Pink summarizes much of this research from the last half-century, articulating the argument that humans will strive toward outcomes such as mastery and excellence absent any traditional rewards or punishments.

That is point two- We know that humans possess many internal drives that prove to motivate us toward sustained efforts to learn, understand, and acheive.

So far, I have not said anything original.  If you are familiar with Dan Pink, psychology in general, or any number of popular writers over the last decade, you may be thinking "o.k., so what?"  Here it goes.  Individuals working outside of the classroom have become increasingly critical of our "creativity killing school systems and teachers."  They are partly correct in their criticism.  Hollywood movies portraying out-of-the-box teachers showing students how to unleash their inner potential are inspiring.  Examples of innovative charter schools allowing students to explore their own paths to learning are hopeful.  Images of children scattered about a school campus engaged in authentic learning experiences emphasize the value of hands-on discovery.

To many on the outside, the impression becomes that since all children are "learners" by nature, if the restrictive adults would just get out of the way we could experience real learning.  I learned long ago that the best lessons I've provided in the classroom would look like I'm doing no work at all, while in the worst lessons I'm active for the duration of the class.  The former requires great skill and much work, the latter may require the skill, but much less work in preparation.  Getting out of the way and letting children experience learning requires much more effort in planning and executing meaningful experiences than a plan requiring constant direction from the teacher.  In the classroom, this will look effortless, even natural.  But compare it to an athlete or performer-- they will only give the perception of executing their craft effortlessly when they have put enough effort into their preparation.

True education occurs when caring adults make the effort to prepare meaningful interactions and experiences that engage learners in exercising thier natural curiosities and tendencies.  This learning is far superior to "carrot and stick" methods of rewarding and punishing appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, but this learning also requires much more effort on the front end.  I applaud administrators, parents, and others who demand this from teachers, and also the teachers who understand this.  To the critics and politicians who seem to thrive on bashing our public school systems I would ask that you realize this type of instruction is stifled by the insistence that true performance is measured only by standardized testing.  Also, to the casual observer, recognize that quality student learning doesn't "just happen."  As natural as it may seem, usually great effort and dedication is required to nurture it to maturity.

Free Speech and the Ultimate Education Taboo

Freedom

At least some of the nation is familiar by now with the case of Natalie Munroe.  Munroe stands to lose her job as a teacher because of the comments made on her blog.  The blog has been removed, but the last page cached by Google can still be viewed.  I've read reports of the comments in other news stories and while the comments reflect poor judgement and attitude in general, it does not appear that any of them were directed at a student in general.  Should she lose her job for engaging in this type of free speech?

I have certainly made efforts to skirt some of the major issues and problems facing my school district when writing on this blog for fear that it could lead to negative outcomes, but I have never felt the urge to publicly vent my frustrations regarding students.  Munroe expressed that this blog was a personal blog, never intended for student or administrator viewing.  I believe that lesson number one for all of us is that we give up the right to choose our audience when content is posted online in any forum.  Just this year, students began to discover another blog that I maintain which has become an expression of my religious faith.  When they ask me about it or comment on it at school I start to get a little anxious about what kind of repercussions this could have in my teaching profession.

So how much freedom do teachers have to express themselves and their personal opinons online?  Perhaps a good standard would be that if it is acceptable in public it should be acceptable online.  I cannot pass judgement on this particular case without really seeing not only the comments, but the context of Munroe's musings, but this information is not currently available.  Many teachers have chosen to go the route of sarcasm and parody to anonymously bemoan and complain about difficulties of teaching.  (A prime example being Mr. Teachbad -- be warned, this content is not always G-rated quality)  Even if we draw the line at student directed criticism, how far can a teacher go in criticising the institutions which employ them?

I have frequently resisted the urge to use this forum to raise issues pertaining to my high school and school division, but sometimes I want to open the window on our school to the public and help them see what day-to-day life in the school looks like so they can better understand the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Is that appropriate?

Taboo 

The second issue raised by the "Natalie Munroe Blog Scandal" is that of student motivation and accountability.  Increasingly, this has become the taboo topic for discussion in the public policy forums of education.  I have been lucky to teach mostly seniors in elective Psychology classes for the last six or seven years.  With a few exceptions, they are capable and eager to learn.  But I can vividly remember some of the classes that were not.  My third year of teaching I had already decided that a career change was in order if things did not improve the next.  They did, but as much a result of my students as my effort. 

In responding to the Munroe story, one commenter urged her to get out of the profession anyway because part of the job of a teacher is to motivate these students to learn.  If more people outside of the classroom understood how much of a struggle this can be, the impression of teachers in America would greatly change.  Increasingly, accountability drops in the lap of teachers at the exclusion of all else.  One argument takes the analogy of production.  If a company builds a defective product, the product isn't blamed for coming out flawed.  I've yet to meet a "product" that plays a role in its own development, possessing the autonomy and ability to respond to or rebel against the process which creates it.

I never want to be the teacher, and I would never support a teacher who attempts to make students shoulder the entire responsibility of their own education, but questioning the ability, motivation, or effort of students has become the taboo topic of education.  If nothing else, I hope this event opens the door to looking holistically at how we promote student achievement.  Accountability for administrators in providing solid leadership, accountability for teachers in providing quality instruction, and accountability from students in taking ownership of their learning and achievement.

My thoughts on all of this could change over time, but I believe it really opens the doors for discussion that could benefit our profession and the individuals in it.  What are the limits to teachers' free speech online?  and Is it time that we break the taboo of questioning student responsibility and accountability for their own education?

Image: http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/internet-social-networking-computer-monitor-privacy-monitoring-300x200.jpg

PART 1-Why I sometimes wish I taught Elementary school

Like a lot of the Nation's teachers we have been challenged by some of the recent trends and changes in education. So I thought it time to try and lighten the mood.

It was a tense time at our high school with numerous fights in recent days (2 of which I was involved in breaking up) and there was an overall unsettled feeling among the students. Whether it is the stress of the start of school, the recent hurricanes, or the hot weather everybody seemed to be on edge. It was in this setting that our story begins. I was in my 5th year of full time teaching and felt I was finally coming into my own. While on lunch duty in the schools breezeway(our open courtyard area in the school's center), I saw an orange sail high into the air and strike the ground some 70 feet away. I saw the place of origin of the orange and started in that direction to see if I could gather some "intell", prevent further missile launching, or even find who threw it. Several students noticed my approach and menacing gaze and I signaled to them to come over to me with a point and hand gesture. This act was repeated 5 or 6 times as each of them feigned ignorance as to my request. While I was still some 50 feet away they all began looking at one student and he finally went and picked up his bag and then lugged himself to me. As we neared each other it was obvious that I knew that he now knew that I had zeroed in on him as the culprit based on his nervous demeanor and sunken stance(a skill that teachers pick up once you’ve taught awhile). I asked "what the heck" he was doing and told him to go pick up that orange and then come back over to me...at which time I would have my lecture fully prepared and I would have found some suitable way to instill the necessary guilt in him and make him feel “stupid” in today's politically correct and sensitive world. That would likely have been the end of it.

We could all walk away and go on about our business and the world would continue spinning at its normal speed uninterrupted. But instead something very different took place. He slowly walked away and began to fiddle around with his bookbag veering away from where the orange had landed. Frustrated by his lack of progress I headed towards him and from a distance more sternly stated "Go pick up that orange, and then come back over there!"(pointing to where I had been standing). I turned my back and in the 5-7 seconds in which I returned to my perch on the nearby steps he had ducked down and all I saw was him scurrying away through the crowd. "He's running away?" I asked myself. This I took as a direct challenge on my authority(whatever that may be and in reality a mere facade in many of our schools) and frankly was not a situation in which I often find myself.

At this point I was rather miffed and when I looked at his buddies in the spot where the orange had originated they were laughing. Feeling my status as a respected member of the faculty now in jeopardy I knew I had to put things back into their proper order. On the way over to them I tried to think of quick and witty phrases to demonstrate my superior intellect in hopes it would force them not only to reveal the identity of the student who fled but also restore my status as top dog on the breezeway. With the luxury of time and hindsight I can think of several things I could have said . But upon my arrival all I could say was "who was that kid who just ran away?" They all shrugged their shoulders and continued to laugh. In their huddle were about 7-8 kids, the more intelligent of whom began to drift away sensing my growing unhappiness. I again inquired as to the identity of the perpetrator and was met with simple and muffled replies of "I don't know his name" or "what kid". At this point the tenor of my inquiries changed and it became rather apparent I was beginning my slow and steady rise up the crazy meter. When I inquired a third time one student had the audacity to say "Dude, I don't even know what you're talking about." Well that did it. In an instant things got a lot worse and I would cross a line from which I could not retreat.

No I didn't hit or curse at any of them(although I was thinking about it). Instead I began to rant about how now things had just gotten a lot more serious and "I need some names" yeah... " Let's start with your name"... I stated this quite clearly using the King's English I had been taught to use since I was a child as I pulled the red pen from my shirt pocket(though I had no paper). Still one obstinate, and in my opinion either rather foolish or rather stupid student quipped, "What did you say?" I then began to sound out the syllables and use mocked hand gestures(in hindsight this was in poor taste but would have been funny 15 years ago). I pulled the only paper I had readily available, a bank receipt, from my wallet and scribbled the names of two students onto the paper, which regrettably looked painfully unofficial. All the while I was well aware of not only how callous and overt they were being in their rebuttal of my actions but how they were perfectly comfortable with their behavior and expected me to just take it. At this point we were locked in duel of wills, a duel sadly that only one side could win, but we could both lose.

By now the crowd of friends had shrunk and I was engaged directly with only two young men, their female acquaintance and their buddy who knew enough to stay farther away but still be able to listen and laugh smugly and egg them on. The next step was unthinkable as I went on to explain that I would now make it my sworn duty to be present at this exact spot every lunch and every break and I would be sure to enforce every school rule to the letter of the law. I ranted for some time about how this could have all been so easy but now it was too late and they would be the ones who regret these events and this day,(and that damned orange). Surely these realities must have begun to sink in and scared them and they would now shrink back into their mandated role at the bottom of the hierarchy...sadly no. They continued to smile defiantly and we both knew that their side was winning. I felt all that I had worked so hard for slipping away. In the back of my mind I wished for one to curse at me or even take a swing at me… or at least provoke me into escalating the severity beyond the petty incident that put us into this situation so I could write them up. I began to slip into the beginning of what others might call rage. I myself seldom lose control and cannot recall doing so if it didn't involve someone picking on an innocent and intellectually defenseless student or an behavior so despicable it must be met with contempt, but these did not exist here. They were just acting like jerks who apparently had never been taught the value of respect.

So I did what every red blooded American teacher worth their salt would have done. I

TO BE CONTINUED...