So today I had students settle an argument without name calling, all look at the speaker and listen while they were talking, start a sentence with that was an interesting idea but I disagree with you, and finally discover the importance of not judging someone based on blanket unfounded generalizations.
If my seven, eight, and nine year old students can handle this than why can't the people running this country? I am so tired of grownups behaving like children and throwing tantrums to get their way. Life is about compromise. We can't always get our way. How did these guys miss that lesson in kindergarten and every year since?
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Day 9: Quick fix now, but we'll pay later
Today an LA Times article discusses the dropping number of students enrolling in college coursework to become teachers. Can you blame them? In the article titled Today's Teacher Layoffs Threaten Tomorrow's College Classroom, Larry Gordon explores the ever decreasing enrollment in the education departments in the state's universities. The number of teaching credentials given out in the state has dropped 29% during the last 5 years. In addition to the increasing requirements to become a teacher, (mentioned in yesterday's blog) the continual job uncertainty and perceived stress surrounding teaching is causing people who would otherwise like to join the profession to reconsider.
You may be thinking what's the big deal? If less people become teachers then there won't be layoffs in the future. Problem solved right? Actually, not quite. One problem is that many teachers that are baby boomers are on the brink of retirement. They will soon need replacements. A second problem is that according to a study by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, a Santa Cruz based nonprofit, the number of elementary students in the state will increase 7% by 2018 and high school enrollment will begin to increase again in 2016. So there will be a need for teachers, but after all the layoffs leading to people leaving the profession and the decrease in enrollment in the education departments at many universities, this need will potentially lead to an era of emergency credentials given to anyone willing to teach who has a college degree. So much for highly trained and prepared teachers we have been demanding for the last decade.
It was twenty years ago when there was the last shortage of teachers just like this in California. Many people were recruited from the private sector and out of state to fill the need. However, as we continue to demoralize the educators already working within this profession how can we expect other professionals in their right minds to willing choose to enter the fray? Without them who's going to teach the state's children?
Without trained teachers in classrooms it would not be far fetched to imagine that student performance is likely to further decline. Then, as these students progress through the grades we can count on producing less and less students prepared to move on to a university. So as we create a state with far too few teachers to adequately serve the state's students we are simultaneously disabling the future success of the state's students and therefore the state. By creating a large class of citizenry without college educations we are continuing the growth of the state's population that is increasingly seen as unemployable. In the April 3 NPR story Measuring Joblessness Through an Educational Lens, Zoe Chance describes an economic recovery in which people with college degrees are beginning to find work, but those without one cannot. College educations are becoming more and more of a necessity for our children's future employment success. Unfortunately, at the same time that a college education is proving increasingly important, money is being cut from these institutions and teacher's are being laid off as a quick budgetary fix with no real concern for the long lasting impact this will have on the state's future workforce or productivity.
The implications of the current situation are fairly clear. The number of students in this state is increasing. The number of people to teach them is decreasing. People without college educations are having a difficult time getting jobs. What is it about this equation that is difficult for our legislators to understand? How can this state create an effective, productive workforce of people in the future if it cannot see the benefit in investing in the people necessary to teach them now?
You may be thinking what's the big deal? If less people become teachers then there won't be layoffs in the future. Problem solved right? Actually, not quite. One problem is that many teachers that are baby boomers are on the brink of retirement. They will soon need replacements. A second problem is that according to a study by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, a Santa Cruz based nonprofit, the number of elementary students in the state will increase 7% by 2018 and high school enrollment will begin to increase again in 2016. So there will be a need for teachers, but after all the layoffs leading to people leaving the profession and the decrease in enrollment in the education departments at many universities, this need will potentially lead to an era of emergency credentials given to anyone willing to teach who has a college degree. So much for highly trained and prepared teachers we have been demanding for the last decade.
It was twenty years ago when there was the last shortage of teachers just like this in California. Many people were recruited from the private sector and out of state to fill the need. However, as we continue to demoralize the educators already working within this profession how can we expect other professionals in their right minds to willing choose to enter the fray? Without them who's going to teach the state's children?
Without trained teachers in classrooms it would not be far fetched to imagine that student performance is likely to further decline. Then, as these students progress through the grades we can count on producing less and less students prepared to move on to a university. So as we create a state with far too few teachers to adequately serve the state's students we are simultaneously disabling the future success of the state's students and therefore the state. By creating a large class of citizenry without college educations we are continuing the growth of the state's population that is increasingly seen as unemployable. In the April 3 NPR story Measuring Joblessness Through an Educational Lens, Zoe Chance describes an economic recovery in which people with college degrees are beginning to find work, but those without one cannot. College educations are becoming more and more of a necessity for our children's future employment success. Unfortunately, at the same time that a college education is proving increasingly important, money is being cut from these institutions and teacher's are being laid off as a quick budgetary fix with no real concern for the long lasting impact this will have on the state's future workforce or productivity.
The implications of the current situation are fairly clear. The number of students in this state is increasing. The number of people to teach them is decreasing. People without college educations are having a difficult time getting jobs. What is it about this equation that is difficult for our legislators to understand? How can this state create an effective, productive workforce of people in the future if it cannot see the benefit in investing in the people necessary to teach them now?
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Day 8: New textbooks will teach students without teachers
LAUSD is about to adopt a new reading language arts program. Macmillan/McGraw Hill's Treasures was selected. Congratulations! So long Open Court. It has been an adventure. While this new program is not a scripted basal reading program, as far as I understand it, it is still a complete reading and writing curriculum leaving little room for teacher discretion or adaptation of instruction. In short, this means little need for a teacher to think. In addition to this new text book adoption, LAUSD is also working hard to implement DIBELS. This is considered a fast easy assessment teachers are expected to use to gain information about their students' reading needs.
What I am interested in knowing is if the district feels like teachers need "fast and easy" curriculum and assessments to effectively teach out students, why do teachers have to receive so much training before they join the profession?
For you non-teachers (in case anyone reads this blog) becoming a teacher is not as easy as the main stream media reports and public perception of teachers would make you think. Anyone who has been in the profession for less than ten years has had a particularly large amount of requirements to meet prior to ever being offered a credential. Let's just say for fun that someone wanted to become a teacher (by the way this would not be a good time to try to go into this particular profession). First you would need a bachelors degree. That's pretty standard for employment these days. Then after the BA you enter your credential classes. To finish this credential process you must finish what are called Teaching Performance Assessments. There are four of them. They are time consuming and elaborate projects that demonstrate "proficiency in teaching". While completing your coursework you simultaneously must pass the California Subjects Examination for Teachers (CSET). If you will be an elementary teacher this covers all subjects. There is also the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA). This test is given to all teachers whose credential will cover reading. If all tests are passed, the assessments are completed, and your degree is finished then you complete a stint as a student teacher (unpaid). Then, finally you can join the profession.
I do not argue with these requirements. I think they are valid and necessary. If one is going to be responsible for the instruction of our children they should have to demonstrate a certain breadth of knowledge and general intellect. However, if I am going to complete all these tasks clearly I have demonstrated my competence in the classroom and with the curriculum I am expected to teach. So let me teach. Don't throw quick fixes and easy curriculum my way. If the district that employees teachers doesn't respect their competence by allowing them to teach the curriculum that meets their student's needs the way the think is best then it is a clear sign that the district does not respect nor value the intellect of its teachers. If the district that employees these teachers cannot give this respect how can society be expected to do so?
If we want education to be more effective than it is time to stop counting on a textbook, or an assessment, or a program to teach our children. It is time we trust the professionals who have been specifically trained with the skills to teach. It is time we trust the teachers. We're not as incapable as you might think.
What I am interested in knowing is if the district feels like teachers need "fast and easy" curriculum and assessments to effectively teach out students, why do teachers have to receive so much training before they join the profession?
For you non-teachers (in case anyone reads this blog) becoming a teacher is not as easy as the main stream media reports and public perception of teachers would make you think. Anyone who has been in the profession for less than ten years has had a particularly large amount of requirements to meet prior to ever being offered a credential. Let's just say for fun that someone wanted to become a teacher (by the way this would not be a good time to try to go into this particular profession). First you would need a bachelors degree. That's pretty standard for employment these days. Then after the BA you enter your credential classes. To finish this credential process you must finish what are called Teaching Performance Assessments. There are four of them. They are time consuming and elaborate projects that demonstrate "proficiency in teaching". While completing your coursework you simultaneously must pass the California Subjects Examination for Teachers (CSET). If you will be an elementary teacher this covers all subjects. There is also the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA). This test is given to all teachers whose credential will cover reading. If all tests are passed, the assessments are completed, and your degree is finished then you complete a stint as a student teacher (unpaid). Then, finally you can join the profession.
I do not argue with these requirements. I think they are valid and necessary. If one is going to be responsible for the instruction of our children they should have to demonstrate a certain breadth of knowledge and general intellect. However, if I am going to complete all these tasks clearly I have demonstrated my competence in the classroom and with the curriculum I am expected to teach. So let me teach. Don't throw quick fixes and easy curriculum my way. If the district that employees teachers doesn't respect their competence by allowing them to teach the curriculum that meets their student's needs the way the think is best then it is a clear sign that the district does not respect nor value the intellect of its teachers. If the district that employees these teachers cannot give this respect how can society be expected to do so?
If we want education to be more effective than it is time to stop counting on a textbook, or an assessment, or a program to teach our children. It is time we trust the professionals who have been specifically trained with the skills to teach. It is time we trust the teachers. We're not as incapable as you might think.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Day 7: Let there be paint
Today my students and I were lucky enough to receive a program called Art to Grow On. We are lucky and have parent volunteers that put on this program for our students four times a year. This is not your traditional cut and paste art program. Previously this year we made sculptures out of recycled garbage and the children were taught about the pacific trash gyre (otherwise known as a trash heap the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. At the second program the students learned how to mix primary colors to make secondary colors and to mix secondary colors to make tertiary colors. In addition, they learned how to make tints or shades of colors using black or white paint. The programs were fantastic, but watching my students complete today's project was amazing.
Today the students were shown the art of painter George Rodrigue. His is well known for his blue dog paintings. The students then learned how to grid a canvas in order to replicate a print by first sketching and then covering the sketch with acrylic paint. The created amazing acrylic painting on canvas. My seven, eight, and nine year olds created art that was simply extraordinary. For the entire program the children were smiling. They were engaged in their work and so engrossed in what they were creating. It was one of those moments that one really appreciates being a teacher. Maybe we weren't preparing for "the test". Maybe we weren't working through one of your "traditional school subjects" but we were learning and sometimes that in itself is simply enough.
Days like today I remember why I became a teacher in the first place. First and foremost, I believe in the education of the whole person. I know that each child, or person for that matter, has unique skills and talents and sometimes those talents are not reading, writing, or math. There is a place in the world for artists. What would the world be without them? What would we read, what would we watch, what would we listen to, what would we enjoy? Today some of my students learned that art was a passion of theirs. As educators it is our job to not only support the talents we find meaningful, but also those that our children seek to explore. I understand that this program is not in every school, but there are parents and organizations that are willing to support these types of programs if we seek them out. I know that the schools are in trouble financially. I understand this fact. However, I also understand that an education without some exposure to the arts in as injustice to our students. Many of our most creative thinkers are never given the opportunity to explore their potential. Art is good for the brain, it is good for the soul, it is good for our students.
Somewhere along the way our system of education has lost focus. We are so centered on test scores that we have forgotten how important it is to nurture the creativity that is inherit within us all.
Today the students were shown the art of painter George Rodrigue. His is well known for his blue dog paintings. The students then learned how to grid a canvas in order to replicate a print by first sketching and then covering the sketch with acrylic paint. The created amazing acrylic painting on canvas. My seven, eight, and nine year olds created art that was simply extraordinary. For the entire program the children were smiling. They were engaged in their work and so engrossed in what they were creating. It was one of those moments that one really appreciates being a teacher. Maybe we weren't preparing for "the test". Maybe we weren't working through one of your "traditional school subjects" but we were learning and sometimes that in itself is simply enough.
Days like today I remember why I became a teacher in the first place. First and foremost, I believe in the education of the whole person. I know that each child, or person for that matter, has unique skills and talents and sometimes those talents are not reading, writing, or math. There is a place in the world for artists. What would the world be without them? What would we read, what would we watch, what would we listen to, what would we enjoy? Today some of my students learned that art was a passion of theirs. As educators it is our job to not only support the talents we find meaningful, but also those that our children seek to explore. I understand that this program is not in every school, but there are parents and organizations that are willing to support these types of programs if we seek them out. I know that the schools are in trouble financially. I understand this fact. However, I also understand that an education without some exposure to the arts in as injustice to our students. Many of our most creative thinkers are never given the opportunity to explore their potential. Art is good for the brain, it is good for the soul, it is good for our students.
Somewhere along the way our system of education has lost focus. We are so centered on test scores that we have forgotten how important it is to nurture the creativity that is inherit within us all.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Day 6: Some thoughts my dad would want you to know
Today is my dad's 61st birthday. So today I write in his honor. I am confident he shares my thoughts on this topic so I will be short and sweet just like him.
This morning On CBS Sunday Morning they shared a few statistics from a USA Today study that alarmed but sadly did not shock me. In 2010 the median salary of the CEOs of the top 150 companies was 8.6 million dollars. That does include benefits, bonuses, and stock options. This was a 22% increase from the previous year. Major league baseball's median salary for the same year was 3.3 million dollars. This is only a mere 1% increase form the previous year. Alex Rodriguez's salary alone was 32 million dollars. That is almost 3 million dollars a month.
I am not asking to make the compensation of these CEO's or professional athletes. There jobs are clearly valuable, way more valuable than that of the people teaching our children. In all honesty, I would never expect or ask for that much money. I don't feel that I deserve it. So I guess that leaves me with the question does any one person really deserve to be paid that much money for any profession? My dad and I don't think so.
This morning On CBS Sunday Morning they shared a few statistics from a USA Today study that alarmed but sadly did not shock me. In 2010 the median salary of the CEOs of the top 150 companies was 8.6 million dollars. That does include benefits, bonuses, and stock options. This was a 22% increase from the previous year. Major league baseball's median salary for the same year was 3.3 million dollars. This is only a mere 1% increase form the previous year. Alex Rodriguez's salary alone was 32 million dollars. That is almost 3 million dollars a month.
I am not asking to make the compensation of these CEO's or professional athletes. There jobs are clearly valuable, way more valuable than that of the people teaching our children. In all honesty, I would never expect or ask for that much money. I don't feel that I deserve it. So I guess that leaves me with the question does any one person really deserve to be paid that much money for any profession? My dad and I don't think so.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Day 5: Bubblefest: Hands on Learning a Thing of the Past
Today we took Reef to The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, CA. We attended an event called Bubblefest. This is the fifteenth year that the center has had the event. We watched Fan Yang, an internationally renowned bubble artist, (who knew that existed) perform an amazing show full of bubbles, lasers, and smoke. It was amazing! We ended the trip with a family picture taken in a bubble. Not some fake mock up of a bubble, but a man literally blew a giant bubble around us. The trip was amazing. I was engaged, excited, and amazed throughout the entire experience. On the drive home today's trip got me thinking.
The Discovery Science Center is amazing, but fairly expensive. An adult ticket is around $13 and that does not include special programs such as Bubblefest. A children's ticket costs around $9. So for a family of four you're looking at $44 dollars just for entry. The trip is well worth the money, but that amount of money is not really reasonable for many families, especially during this time of financial uncertainty. In the past, many families counted on trips to places like The Discovery Science Center to be part of a child's school experience as the center and many other facilities offer free admission for schools. However, in the current era of school budget shortfalls field trips are becoming a thing of the past. Even if a facility offers free admission, the bus is often too expensive for the school to send classes on trips. This is a shame because I know many of us remember field trips taken in school as some of our fondest memories and greatest learning experiences. For children who come from families that can do these type of trips independently maybe the loss is not so great, but for our most at risk students the loss of these trips is stealing an experience from them that they are unlikely to receive any other way. They will not know these places exist and it will never offer to them the engaging learning experience that a field trip can offer.
I know that our educational system if facing bigger problems than field trips. Right now they can't even afford teachers. Still I feel like these hands on learning experiences are an important component of education and I am sad to see them disappearing. This morning I saw parents and children alike with looks of awe and glee on their faces as Fan Yang created a mystical bubble world before our eyes. I was one of them. The sense of wonder and imagination is fragile in our children and any opportunity that we educators have to foster these ideas in them is valuable. However, it is just one more thing that is being cut from schools, and it is likely that it is our children that will pay the ultimate price.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Day 4: Hedging the future on the backs of public employees
As Reef and I drove around today, I had a day off thanks to what I can only assume was one of my furlough days, we listened to NPR and from that we heard a topic we just couldn't ignore...
Today on Air Talk Larry Mantle was discussing Governor Brown's plan to negotiate pension reforms with the state's public employees. These pensions must be negotiated because the state cannot afford to make the payouts to employees that would be required down the road. Many Republicans would argue that this due to the fact that unions have been greedy and negotiated unreasonable pensions over the last decade, but it is really mostly due to the fact that the pension money of the employees was poorly invested in what was seen as an unsinkable stock market that then sank. I'm sure someone will eventually find a way to link the collapse of the stock market to public employees as well but they just haven't been able to connect the dots as of yet. Most problems with the economy these days are our fault it seems. No one would want to blame bankers or executives working in the private sector. They never cost the government any money.
The financial situation of the states, and the federal government for that matter, can't have anything to do with the fact that companies like GE make billions of dollars in profits each year and pay nothing, I repeat nothing, in taxes. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with the hedge fund managers that find themselves listed on the "rich list". This a list of the top 25 hedge fund managers in 2010 who personally pocketed over 22 billion dollars collectively over the last year. This is not their company profits, but their personal earnings. The gentleman who was number one on the list made over 4 billion dollars for himself last year.
I am not trying to begrudge these people the money they apparently earn each year. Good career choice I suppose. My point is simply that perhaps starting our search for a place to begin cuts to help the financial solvency issues facing our country is not with the public employees. Maybe it isn't the teachers, police officers, firemen, or government office employees that are taking home so much money and benefits that the county is unable to support their lavish lifestyles.
Who am I though? I'm just one of those greedy public employees whose salary and benefits are so expensive that they have to be let go. Does anyone know a good hedge fund that is hiring?
Today on Air Talk Larry Mantle was discussing Governor Brown's plan to negotiate pension reforms with the state's public employees. These pensions must be negotiated because the state cannot afford to make the payouts to employees that would be required down the road. Many Republicans would argue that this due to the fact that unions have been greedy and negotiated unreasonable pensions over the last decade, but it is really mostly due to the fact that the pension money of the employees was poorly invested in what was seen as an unsinkable stock market that then sank. I'm sure someone will eventually find a way to link the collapse of the stock market to public employees as well but they just haven't been able to connect the dots as of yet. Most problems with the economy these days are our fault it seems. No one would want to blame bankers or executives working in the private sector. They never cost the government any money.
The financial situation of the states, and the federal government for that matter, can't have anything to do with the fact that companies like GE make billions of dollars in profits each year and pay nothing, I repeat nothing, in taxes. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with the hedge fund managers that find themselves listed on the "rich list". This a list of the top 25 hedge fund managers in 2010 who personally pocketed over 22 billion dollars collectively over the last year. This is not their company profits, but their personal earnings. The gentleman who was number one on the list made over 4 billion dollars for himself last year.
I am not trying to begrudge these people the money they apparently earn each year. Good career choice I suppose. My point is simply that perhaps starting our search for a place to begin cuts to help the financial solvency issues facing our country is not with the public employees. Maybe it isn't the teachers, police officers, firemen, or government office employees that are taking home so much money and benefits that the county is unable to support their lavish lifestyles.
Who am I though? I'm just one of those greedy public employees whose salary and benefits are so expensive that they have to be let go. Does anyone know a good hedge fund that is hiring?
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