Jacqueline’s Blog

What inspires me as a teacher?  Well, I have been thinking about this a lot.  One thing for sure is the students.  When a students learns to grasp a concept or skill, it is like a child opening up a present and the surprise that you see in their eyes.  The joy that the children feel when they realize that they can do it is priceless.  It is almost like a drug.  Once you see that look in their face and the confidence that they show, you are willing to do almost anything to get the next child to that same place.  I know for first grade teachers, it is when you see children shift from a struggling reader towards having a self-extending system.  You feel so useful!  I think that when people see that joy, they want to share in it for a lifetime as a teacher.

I think the other thing that inspires me is being involved in a community of learners.  Listening to everyone’s burning issues and watching the different ways people tackle it is definitely inspiring.  Yesterday, at the conference, I got to see the work that everyone had struggled with through the year.  The projects turned out so great and I think everybody in our group has changed the body of research out there.  When you are surrounded by great people like the folks that I have worked with in the program this year, you can’t help but be inspired.  For people who don’t go back to school, they miss out on the wonderful things that other learners can share.  I think after the program is over, I could spend five years or so, just taking some of the ideas that I have heard from the other participants in this program, and trying to begin to implement them.  That’s inspiring!

      This chapter begins by talking about something that we have been debating throughout our degree program.  It talks about how many teachers graduating from today’s teacher education programs feel the need to change the world.  As we have discussed many of the issues that are also described in this chapter, I think many of my fellow students in this program feel the same way I do.  We, too, must teach to change the world.  With so many areas of education moving in the wrong direction, we have an obligation to speak out and do what we can.  As I read about things that can help us change the world, I questioned the direction that the state of Georgia seems to be moving in educational decisions.  The first topic that was discussed was teacher shortages.  I was surprised to learn that some colleges still graduate students that haven’t had the opportunity to student teach.  Why is this still happening? I don’t understand how colleges and universities who don’t require student teaching maintain accreditation.  Hasn’t the federal government regulated this too?  If not, this is one area where they should.  And to go even further, we definitely shouldn’t employ people who don’t have certification in the area in which they teach.  I think back to when teachers in Georgia all had to get certified in technology by taking a class called InTech.  Why can’t the state raise the requirements in small increments like that?  I know that in many northern states, to keep your teaching job after a certain number of years, you must attain your Master’s degree.  Why can’t subject area classes be offered during that time so that teachers who don’t have certification in their subject area can attain it at the Masters level.  I also liked the idea of apprenticeship programs.  I think it makes sense.  This would allow teachers who are reaching the ends of their careers to stay in a little longer and help new teachers master all the many things that they must keep juggling in the time of a school day.  However, I keep coming back to the main problem that seems to plague many attempts to improve the system.  Funding!  Until our society stands up and demands that things change, I think that funding will prohibit many of the suggestions that could improve the educational system.  Judy Smith talks in this chapter about raising the consciousness of our society to what our schools need.  I hope that many of us after this program is complete will feel empowered to begin those discussions.  I will begin some of these talks by agreeing with Judy Smith’s comment about poor leadership at the administrative level.  Until we require our administration to actually be instructional leaders, I believe we may find ourselves making some of the same mistakes over and over.  That is why now, I will not give many of my close colleagues at school or at GSU a hard time if they go into administration.  I see now more than ever that if we don’t have diligent leadership who can explain the importance of a quality educational program that is developmentally appropriate, our elected officials will continue to pass legislation like No Child Left Behind that will lack educational integrity.  I also agree that we must counter deficit thinking within our schools and by our teachers with community strengths.  I think we will need to encourage teachers to seek out the strengths of the community similar to the teacher in the chapter.  Until we ask our teachers to actively seek out strengths within our school communities, we may find those strengths will remain hidden.  I know we can do it, but we can’t expect to see great results in one day.  It will take hard work over time and a stubbornness not to give up.  I know this Ed.S. group is up to the task!

     Assessment is suppose to drive our instruction.  However, after reading this chapter, I’m not sure that educators in American History ever realized the correct way that assessments should be used.  It sounds like we as educators in the US have misunderstood how these assessments should be used.  I look back to when I was in the classroom and I think there were times when I misused those assessments as well. Now, after being trained in Reading Recovery, I understand that seeing a student in the process of thinking and the decisions they make can give educators a lot of information about what to teach next.  I think the way that Juliana Jones expresses her assessments provide a clear understanding of what all educators should be looking for.  She talks about using writing as an assessment tool.  She gains a lot of information about strategies, false starts, steps they took, and why.  I think that we have to teach our students how to accurately express their understanding.  This would give us so much information.  However, I think the idea of efficiency seems to take a front seat to correct implementation of assessment.  I think many teachers feel that they don’t have time to analyze or use the assessment information in this way.  In this chapter, they provide a table created by the National Forum on Assessment, which I think we should all revisit periodically to reflect and revise our own performance and understanding of assessments. The two areas that I need improvement are number 4: Professional collaboration and development support of assessment and number 6: Communication about assessment is regular and clear.  As I reflect about my time in school, we took classes that helped preservice teachers clarify the limits of assessments.  We learned about what good questions looked like as well as questions that contained biases and subjectivity.  I think if we were engaging in conversation about test questions and its limitations, we could gain some crucial information that could help students, teachers, and community leaders keep the results in perspective.  I also think that communication should improve in relation to test results.  I know when I was little, I don’t remember when we actually took the test.  However, I do remember having the classroom teacher have a conference with my mother and myself about those results.  She provided strategies and activities that I could do over the summer break that could help improve the test results in the future.  This helped me understand that I did well in certain areas and needed to work on a couple of areas.  This helped me keep the test results in perspective.  I know when I started teaching, we didn’t have time at the end of the year to do that.  I wish that there could be a couple of days in the summer that we could meet with parents and students who wanted more information about the test.  This might help us provide vital information to improve performance on next year’s tests.  I don’t know what I would have done if I had grown up during No Child Left Behind.  I get nervous about testing, by the stakes do seem to be higher today than 20 years ago.  Will the emphasis grow or will we be able to lower the emphasis to a normal level?  I look forward to a day without NCLB to find that out. 

There were so many thoughts that I had as I read this chapter.  I think this is where deficit thinking can be the greatest. I remember when I first started teaching, understanding that I needed to be flexible to involve parents in the school environment.  I remember hearing that I may need to conduct phone conferences over a parent’s lunch break and such.  However, lately, I believe that some teachers are beginning to expect that the parents work within a teacher’s schedule.  There are times when I think that even some of my colleagues have difficulty with involvement due to the school schedule.  So, why shouldn’t we be more flexible?

      One of the ideas that I wanted to respond about was providing transportation for parental involvement.  Could we send out a bus before meetings or activities to increase participation.  I think this is a good idea.  However, I am wondering what the administration at the county level would say with gas prices so high? I am afraid that deficit thinking would take over and they would find a way to cost those transportation costs.  I wonder how some of the schools pay for this expense?

      The other idea found in this chapter is parents who are too involved.  They talk about how parents in middle- and upper-socio economic areas throw their economic power behind the decisions that the schools make.  They even talked about administrations being fired due to parental involvement.  I can’t wait to talk to the Tritt family about this.  I can’t identify with this idea and haven’t seen a parent that enraged.  I wonder if anyone from Tritt has.  Their perspective on this would be interesting.

     The last idea that I wanted to talk about is full-service schools. At our school, we have a dentist come a couple of times a year.  I would love for that program to be expanded.  We seem to fuss with parents at the beginning of the year over vaccinations and then later due to eye- and hearing exams.  If we had a health clinic at school, these students could receive thes services at school.  I know we have a school nurse, but she is busy with the increasing number of diabetic children.  She spends about 1/3 of each school  day working with these children.  This prevents students that may need to see the nurse from getting assistance.  I do think that if children were able to see a health professional about headaches, fever, or vomiting, we could prevent some of the viruses that can run rampant in our school.  But, again, I go back to cost.  How would we pay for it?

 One last thing that the chapter talked about on page 391 was a parent’s right to challenge the system.  The book talks about how we as a school community don’t teach our parents how to effectively challenge the system.  I know every school is required to give a copy of the parents rights for special education.  But, I wondered how schools could encourage this challenging idea.  Could we have paper work available at the local library?  And then I thought, you have got to be kidding me!  I know if you researched it a little, probably with the help of a librarian, there are already books and articles that talk about this very thing.  I don’t believe the book’s assertion that parents don’t know how to challenge the system.  I think if a parent is motivated enough, they should be able to find information that would help them…That’s enough for my rambling thoughts.  See you in class! 

      This is not a good week to talk about school culture.  Maybe that’s why Rhina assigned it.   I found out about a month that our assistant principal would be leaving to take a Principal’s position in Paulding County.  Then, we found out last week that our Principal was being reassigned to a different school within Cobb County.  This would make 6 principals in nine years.  As I read Chapter 9, I felt a lot like the teacher they quote at the beginning of the chapter.  I know that it takes continuity to create a positive school culture.  I am beginning to question whether we will ever have a consistent administration at this school.  As I read through this chapter, I identified with many ideas.  One was the qualifications of the teachers.  Now, our school has plenty of qualified teachers.   I would say about 15% have or are pursuing their Ed.S. degrees.  I would say about half of the teachers have their Masters degrees.  However, I will say that the way that tutoring and summer school are funded work to the deficit of the students.  Until the government says they will give us a certain number of teachers, I will always think that administration will employ the “cheaper” teachers.  Each year when funding is distributed, it is distributed in a dollar amount.  Then administration has to decide, do I want smaller groups for tutoring and summer school, or do I want more qualified teachers.  I am one of the most expensive people to employ for these programs even though I have unique qualifications.  I can understand why the administration approaches me last.  There are a lot of people that they have to pay less.  This is not beneficial to the kids.  They should be able to have the most qualified teachers for these programs as well as small teacher to student ratios.  But, I’m not sure how they could change that.  A colleague and I presented a staff development last week at a Staff Meeting.  It was a good presentation and I think the staff has had a shift in their thinking.  The next day, one of the teachers approached me to ask if he felt like he had disrupted the meeting.  He had gotten an email from the Intermediate Principal because he was being too disruptive.  That was crazy to me!  You have a lot of much bigger issues to address, yet, you go after the behavior of three teachers who had clearly participated in the staff development.  We already have a “school within a school” administration.  We are divided into two schools under one roof.  We have a Primary (K-2) school and an Intermediate (3-5) school.  One thing that the chapter didn’t address is that I think the culture of the Intermediate School impacts the culture of the Primary school.   When the Intermediate Principal tries to micromanage things, it depresses the Primary Staff.  We know that the hard work we do to try and prepare our students for the Intermediate school can quickly be undone since their climate is so poor.  I wish they would just build a separate building for the Primary school.  Then, I think we could overcome the negativity of the Intermediate’s climate.  Well, we will see if this change is a good one or not…only time will tell. 

I have to say, I’m glad that I heard Paul Gorski.  I was a little worried because some of his articles had so much rhetoric with little research to back it up.  Then, when I actually heard him in person, I understood him a lot better.  I know he was running short on time, but I’m glad tha he did the ten chairs example.  It gave me a clear picture of the distribution of the money in our country.  I was impressed by what I did know from his quiz.  I have since talked about it with my husband and some co-workers as well.  I’m not sure that I agree with every idea, but his basic premise is correct.  I don’t think many people are engaging in cognitive dissonance conversations.  I even see it with my colleagues.  I think that is what is preventing us from moving the educational system forward.  However, don’t listen to me…I seem to be a bit bitter.  I find more and more of my colleagues too comfortable with the failures of children and finding some excuse other then their instruction that is to blame.  I work in a position where I regularly find out what I am doing wrong.  Sometimes I find out from a colleague, sometimes I hear it from my teacher leader.  Once you engage in critical conversations on a regular basis, you realize that it is not personal.  It is only to help our children succeed.  If we would look critically at all aspects of education, we will see the issues that Paul Gorski speaks of.  I found out last week that we will be losing both of our administrators.  That means I will have six different principals in under ten years.  As I was walking in with a colleague the other day, she said…we are the guinea pigs.  They try out every new principal in the county on our school.  I asked why and she said that our parents won’t complain.  In my mind, it is not that our parents don’t complain, they just don’t have time to express it to the county office.  Oh well, another one bites the dust… Paul Gorski’s issues in action…

      I think about earlier this year when we talked about values in Rhina’s fall class.  I talked about how my family valued education most of all.  Now, after reading Gorski’s first article, I am wondering was this an example of a classist remark.  His first article really stepped on my toes.  How can I profess that I want to identify with people from all races, classes, religions, etc, when I’m not willing to question the idea that my class keeps me where I am while sometimes preventing others from being able to gain access to resources needed to help those in the lower SES?  That is a hard pill to swallow.  But, I think Gorski is right in asking us to question it.  If we don’t, I worry that more and more of us might experience some problems due to the growing corporate world that is more interested in raising profit numbers than providing quality products to ALL of the US.  I personally think that more and more of us will be faced with some of the same issues that face the lower SES if we are not careful.  We have tended to say healthcare, well, that doesn’t apply to us, we have health insurance.  However, then I hear about a colleague who paid $96 for eye drops because she used an eye doctor who wasn’t listed on her plan.  This is happening more and more.  We can’t continue to say that it is not our problem.  The capitalist society that we live in will continue to grow if we don’t speak up for the rights of ALL of us and establish some boundaries.  I think the corporate world has clearly passed some of the old boundaries and they are setting their sights on new goals to achieve.  This will adversely affect more of more of the US population.  The mortgage crisis is another example of this problem.

I found Gorski’s comment from his article Good Intentions are not Enough a great example of that.  He writes, “…despite overwhelmingly good intentions, most of what passes for intercultural educational practice, particularly in the U.S., accentuates rather than undermining existing social and political hierarchies,” (p.3).  What we are doing as educators is not enough.  I’m glad that I was able to read more of Gorski’s work because he does provide good research that backs up his claims against Ruby Payne.  I now understand the arguments against Ruby Payne’s work and I tend to agree with his thoughts.  I know that his ideas are hard to swallow because they call us to questions our own beliefs and understandings, and move our process forward, but I truly believe that it is necessary for the future of our children, our country, and the possible future of a peaceful world.  Here are some thoughts that I will need to think about:

 I question the idea that Ruby Payne and some of her employees have lowered themselves to intimidating any critiques of her work.  Even going as far as having a lawyer threaten to sue (Gorski, 2007, p.5).

Then I read the conclusions of many other researchers: “there is no appreciable and consistent cultural, world view, or value difference between people in poverty and people from other socioeconomic groups, and what does exist is a set of structural, systemic, oppressive conditions disproportionately affecting the most economically disadvantaged people such as a lack of access to quality healthcare, housing, nutrition, education, political power, clean water and air, and other basic needs (Gorski, 2007, p.6)”   I think if we are not careful, we will assume that the middle-class is immune to some of these problems.  If this weekend wasn’t a wake-up call, anyone of us can go from having everything we need, to having a natural disaster change everything.  We have got to get away from just taking care of ourselves, to making sure that quality resources are available to anyone and everyone who needs it.

 There were many more quotes that I need to ponder, but my blog response is already too long! I will share more if you ask…

         As I read this article, there were many things that I read that I remember talking about last semester. However, there was one area that I found very helpful. It is the portion of the web site that talked about Culturally Responsive Teaching is Transformative.  As a teacher, I always tried to respect the diverse cultures that were represented in my classroom. If I could make a connection to another culture, I would, but that was about the end of it.  As I read this portion of the web site, I was reading that my planning sequence needed to change.  The web site states, “Culturally responsive teaching does not incorporate traditional educational practices with respect to students of color. It means respecting the cultures and experiences of various groups and then uses these as resources for teaching and learning.”  I need to start my planning with the various cultures in mind.  Then the incorporation of these cultures will be much more deliberate and probably more successful and effective as well.

      The one area that bothered me on the web site was the multicultural calendar.  They listed Jewish celebrations, Muslim celebrations, as well as celebrations of various other cultures.  However, there were no Christian celebrations listed.  I am assuming that these were left off because the creators assumed that activities were already included for that area.  This morning, my preacher talked about the same thing.  We are becoming so tolerant of minority religions and cultures, that we neglect what seems like a majority religion in an effort to affirm the minority.  However, when we do that, we make some people within a majority religion feel devalued for being a part of the majority.  If we are to be culturally responsive, we must include some of the celebrations of ALL religions and cultures.  Not ALL but the majority.  I hope that the creators of this web site will choose to include Easter or Christmas as a way of including ALL cultures and religions.  We included Passover, why not Easter as well.  They both occur around the same time of year in a calendar year.  I know I probably stirred up a hornet’s nest with this opinion.  But, I truly believe if we are going to be culturally responsive, we must make sure ALL cultures and religions are valued…not just some.

Well, there was a lot about this chapter that seemed familiar to me.  Maybe it was because as I was reading, I thought about what kinds of classrooms that I spent my time in.  As an elementary student, I do remember the Assertive Discipline approach.  I remember reading that I could get my name on the board and a check meant time out at PE.  I remember that four checks meant that you went to the Principal’s office.  However, the principal also was allowed to paddle.  I remember thinking that I would do anything to avoid that.  But, I had also had many conversations from my parents that if I got sent to the Principal’s office, the punishment would be so much worse when I got home.  I knew what that meant.  That pretty much stayed with me through high school.  I also remember boys being willing to take a paddling from the assistant principal in order to avoid getting suspended. 

    However, when I started my undergraduate degree at Alabama, I remember hearing the phrase “Withitness” all the time.  It was a trait that all good teachers had.  The ability to have eyes in the back of your head.  So, when I left my degree program, that’s what I thought I should do.  However, I quickly realized that “withitness” helps, but that isn’t all you need to succeed in quality classroom management in the classroom.  When I started teaching in Cobb County nine years ago this month, I was hired as a Boystown Model Replacement Teacher.  I was a glorified substitute.  However, I was trained in the Boystown behavioral model.  This was what I think back on, still a way to socialize students to act in a manner that was “appropriate” for schools.  It involved teaching students how to get the teacher’s attention, how to disagree appropriately, how to introduce yourself, as well as many others.  I was glad to have a framework when I first started teaching, however, it wasn’t a very flexible model.  It did involve rewards and extras for students who really struggled.  Looking back, I would put it in with many of the early models that I read about in this chapter.

Then, I went on to read about Jane Addams’s settlement houses.  I wonder if we are going back towards that in a way. Some of our students participate in the dental program where they bring a RV and perform dental services to the kids there at our school.  I kind of like the idea.  It allows the kids to get the services they need without imposing on the parents to get off from work and doesn’t take too long away from instruction.  I kind of wish that doctors or optometrists could come occasionally for the same kinds of things.  They could get their eyes checked and get immunizations done at school.  I wonder if this is what Universal Healthcare would look like.  I know there are some schools that have even more services available.  But, how does this really impact classroom management?  I’m not real sure.

I liked the part on page 269 in discussing caring teachers.  They talked about a study done with a homeless population at a school.  They explained that many students were hostile, aggressive, and distrustful.  They go on to explain that the way to counteract that is to consistently offer your help.  It is also important to express your belief that these children are worthy of your affection.  They went on to talk about the Resistance theory.  I have clearly seen these kinds of behaviors from a student that I have worked with this year.  He has been homeless for a time.  His Dad is in prison and the former school told us that the Mom was on drugs.  I don’t know that…I just know that I have never met her.  I have spoken on the phone with her once.  She knows that her son is angry and aggressive.  We began to think that it was because his sister who has a different father gets to see her father on a regular basis.  I thought I would be helpful and encourage him to write a note to dad.  So, while he and I were working on his reading and writing, we would also work on composing a letter to his dad.  We found out his address at the correctional facility and after getting permission from mom, we mailed it off.  After a couple of weeks, he asked whether we had gotten anything from his dad.  Nothing has returned.  His behavior has gotten steadily worse.  He no longer practices his reading at school or at home.  He says they have moved into an apartment and have new furniture.  But, now, he is a lot more oppositional.  He stomps his feet, screams, and just won’t work.  I have tried to maintain the caring respectful, relationship; but I no longer meet with him on a daily basis either. Because he just refuses to work sometimes, I’m not really sure how to proceed.  I know that I need to continue to offer my help.  I also think I need to continue to express my belief in him and his work.  But, I also think I will need to occasionally meet with him individually to try and get past the “resistence”.  It may be caused for another reason than I know.  I know that it is hard to establish a willingness to try hard when it seems hard to believe that the circumstances will change.  But, if this child maintains his stubborness, he can achieve anything he wants.  I just have to get him to believe that…

       As I read this chapter, one major theme stands out.  I think there will always be the battle between skills instruction and those who feel that math must be taught in a meaningful context.  As an elementary teacher, I believe that it should all be taught within a meaningful context.  This is what is going to excite the students to want to go on and learn more.  I know that for me, by the time I got to high school, things had definitely shift towards a more skills approach.  That really didn’t bother me.  I guess that’s why I think that the meaningful context at an early age was so important.

        Each year, we would always have a career day.  Each year, I would choose something different.  I would always choose something based on people that I encountered in my life.  As a third grader, I was going to be a landscaper.  I had my overalls, my shovel, etc.  I had learned this from a guy that worked on people’s yards in my neighborhood.  By the time I was in sixth grade, I was going to be a stock broker.  I loved the idea of money and I wanted to make a lot of it.  I understood that all the birthday money I had gotten from my relatives had been put into mutual funds and that excited my interest.  All that time, I would flip-flop about what occupation I was going to have.  But, then, in college, I could sit through a boring Economics class, thinking about the stock broker and knowing this would be something that he would have to do.  I think it is very important to have learning occur within a meaningful context to start that imagination going at an early age.

          However, I do agree that the curriculum was created for the dominant culture at times.  I realized this when I married my husband.  I grew up in Alabama.  I learned about Alabama history and as I read the section about Social Studies I thought I was reading the Alabama history book.  I learned how the white man helped the Indians so much.  Then, when my husband and I started dating, we had many discussions about how things were quite different from what was portrayed.  My husband comes from a Native American background.  He lacks a trust of the government that I can’t understand.  However, when I consider his family heritage, I understand why.  Many Native Americans had their land taken from the “government” at the time.  These stories were verbally passed on for generations.  Regardless of what the textbooks said, my husband’s understanding was very different.  Do I think that both sides need to be better represented in our curriculum?  Yes!  But, I also understand Mrs. Cheney’s point that it can’t be by taking out other important elements of our history.  If we add information about famous Native Americans, it doesn’t mean that we take out Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee.  Both sides of every argument must be presented.  I think this is the only way to prevent some of those mistakes in history from happening again.  I hope that I have made sense.  I do think our country has some fine moments.  However, probably ALL of those moments have a dark side to them as well.  Both sides need to be presented so that our students know they have a choice.  They have a choice to work for good and justice, or they can work for a side that can be deceptive and corrupt.  When they see both sides of the coins throughout history, they will know that these decisions that our country faces every day must be made with care!