bob's blog

THE TEACHER DOWN THE HALL

2009-11-18T15:17:45Z

The teacher down the hall. Most schools have at least one. That experienced teacher whose classroom is interesting, fun, and surprisingly calm and orderly. The teacher you can always turn to with questions, the teacher whom kids confide in. These teachers earned their educational chops through years of trial and error and hard work, and they want to share what they've learned. These teachers offer the voice of experience.

Approximately 50 percent of our nation's public school teachers are baby boomers who are 50 years of age or older. Many are considering retirement; others want to stay in the classroom. The Experience Factor (from Teacher Magazine's free e-newsletter) includes anecdotes from a handful of teachers over 50 who talk about how much they love teaching and how their years of hard work are now reaping rewards. Susan writes, "I teach alongside colleagues who are younger than my own children and some of whom are my former students. . . . They have energy and technology skills that I don't, but I have pedagogical skill and experience that I can share and that they want."

Kathie shares that she started teaching special education students in her 60s. "When I gave up instructional coaching to teach again, I worried if the kids would still relate to me and vice versa. What I've found is that my years of experience (most of the time since 1970) and the patience I've learned on the job is just what these students need. Even my most hyperactive boys seem to wander in before class or hang around after class to share stories with me."

Certainly, school systems plan for some retirements and bringing in new teachers with new ideas and practices. But imagine the impact of a wide-scale retirement if the boomers left en masse. Imagine losing the teacher down the hall.

$2.35 Billion Literacy Legislation Introduced

2009-11-11T16:36:17Z

Literacy is key to success in school and life. We know that if reading is encouraged early on, it is likely to become a lifelong habit. We also know that students who read and write well have better success in upper grades and are less likely to drop out.

Education Week reports that legislation was recently introduced in both the Senate and the House to authorize $2.35 billion to improve reading and writing in kindergarten through twelfth grade. This legislation would replace Early Reading First, Reading First, and Striving Readers. A federal study of Reading First found that while an increased number of students recognized letters and words, comprehension levels were unchanged. A similar evaluation of Striving Readers found significant improvement at only three of eight sites two years after program implementation.

While this comprehensive literacy bill is being introduced separately, if passed it will likely become part of the ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) reauthorization. The new bill proposes at least 10% of the funds for early childhood, 40% for K-5, and 40% for grades 6-12. If the bill makes it through the House and Senate intact, it will be an unprecedented federal commitment for adolescent literacy.

Bravo.

Successful Schools

2009-11-04T17:03:59Z

School personnel are continually asked to choose between curricula, such as phonics vs. whole language, or skills vs. content. A uniform approach allows schools or districts to concentrate resources and professional development as well as to provide equitable assessment of student learning.

However, some schools out there skirt the uniform approach. Over the past five years, the EducationTrust has studied high-achieving schools that have large low-income populations. How do they do it? As one teacher said, "It's not rocket science. You figure out what you need to teach, and then you teach it."

For example, educators using the prescribed reading program in Fairfax County, Virginia, noticed that their students, most of whom do not speak English at home, had a great deal of difficulty deciphering words they hadn't seen before. Now teachers in kindergarten and first grade supplement their normal reading instruction with phonics, and students are meeting or exceeding state reading standards.

A New York middle school was expected to teach a curriculum that focused on skills rather than a set content. The teachers worked hard, yet the results were poor. The students at this middle school just didn't have the content knowledge to make the skills relevant. The principal brought the Core Knowledge program to the school and provided teachers with professional development to teach skills with content. Again, students are excelling.

I am impressed that these schools adapted their teaching to their students' needs. And, not to sound like a broken record, but isn't that what differentiation is all about?

The 59th National Teacher of the Year

2009-10-28T22:44:08Z

Special education teacher Anthony Mullen was named National Teacher of the Year last spring. Subscribers to Teacher Magazine's free e-newsletter can read the interview with him. He's an interesting guy--he came to teaching after serving as a police officer for two decades. Through his work with the New York police department, he worked with many troubled youths that, said Mullen, were "destined for prison unless they received the benefits of a quality education and positive adult role models." He wanted to be that role model and went back to school to earn a master's degree in elementary education and special education.

During his yearlong sabbatical, he'll travel the country to bring greater public awareness to the dropout crisis. Says Tony, "More than one million students will drop out of school this year . . . and that's a travesty." His well-written blog chronicles his travels around the country, where he is talking to educators about this important issue. Covering topics such as teen suicide and teachers who feel marginalized by their lack of inclusion in the national standards discussions, he also reports poignant stories that others have shared with him.

This is well worth the read.

Looking to the Stars

2009-10-19T15:35:26Z

One of my colleagues has just returned from a trip to Australia, where, in the "Red Centre," she went to a stargazing event. In addition to seeing constellations unique to the southern hemisphere, she reported with enthusiasm viewing Jupiter and four of its moons through one of the telescopes.

President Obama recently shared that excitement with about 150 middle schoolers at a star party on the White House grounds. In addition to the children, his guests included Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo (local science teachers in costume), four astronauts, and two student-astronomers. The astronomers--one in junior high and the other in high school--each recently made a rare space discovery: a stellar explosion slightly smaller than a supernova, and a rotating radio transient (similar to a pulsar).

All were there to help celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first observation of Jupiter and its moons, as well as to encourage students' interest in science, math, and technology at an age when many lose interest. While I'm sure there was considerably more light pollution in Washington, D.C., than in the sparsely populated Australian outback, the president and his guests enjoyed their view of Jupiter, Gannymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa.

"What will your great discovery be?" President Obama asked the group of students. "Galileo changed the world when he pointed his telescope to the sky. Now it's your turn. Don't let anyone tell you there isn't more to discover."

Sparking Creative Thinking

2009-10-12T15:41:56Z

The National Science Board has been holding a series of discussions on how schools might produce more students with the ability to create, innovate, and invent. "Our economy has changed," said Camilla P. Benbow, a science-board participant from Tennessee's Vanderbilt University. "It's a highly technological, knowledge-based economy," she said, that tends to reward "an educated workforce and the individuals who can create innovations."

Panelist Robert Root-Bernstein of Michigan State University suggests that teachers can use scientific unknowns--or even student questions--to generate student excitement and curiosity. "You shouldn't be a teacher if you can't say, 'I don't know,' " Mr. Root-Bernstein said, adding that it should be followed by, "Let's find out."

One panelist, 18-year-old Louis Wasserman, remembers the excitement he felt as a student while inventing something he was sure was original. "Students get excited about creating new things--it doesn't matter if it's actually new." Said Wasserman, the "joy of creating something is extraordinary."

Committee members have heard from speakers that U.S. science and math classes don't stress the kind of skills that could nurture innovation. Without understanding how to quantify that talent, it will be hard for the U.S. educational system to design a program to develop innovative skills.

We hear a lot about 21st-century skills that place an emphasis on critical and creative thinking. The work of the National Science Board further advances that discussion as well as the examination of the skills students need now and in the future. As we look to overhaul standards, these discussions will be more important. I'm curious about your position on this discussion. Do we need more emphasis on creative thinking in the classroom, even beyond science and math?

Arne Duncan on the ESEA

2009-09-30T22:57:50Z

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was established in 1965 as part of Lyndon Johnson's War On Poverty. Federal funds were directed to poor schools, communities, and children.

In 2002, ESEA was reauthorized and amended under George Bush's administration as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The pillars of the bill were accountability, to ensure that disadvantaged children achieved academic proficiency; flexibility for the schools in using federal funds to improve student achievement; research-based education, to ensure that schools used programs and practices that have been deemed effective; and parent options, giving parents of students in Title I schools more choices.

Now, in 2009, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hopes to have ESEA reauthorized and amended again.

Duncan's version seeks to ensure effective teachers and principals for underperforming schools, expanded learning time, and an accountability system that will measure individual student progress and use data to inform instruction and teacher evaluation. Duncan credited No Child Left Behind for "exposing achievement gaps, and requiring that we measure our efforts to improve education by looking at outcomes, rather than inputs. . . . [However] it places too much emphasis on raw test scores rather than student growth."

Secretary Duncan has already been to thirty states as part of his "Listen and Learn Tour." More meetings are being scheduled this fall with Duncan's top deputies and the policy community, hopefully again to listen and learn.

New Teachers, New Classrooms

2009-09-23T22:50:47Z

When veteran teachers reflect on their first few weeks in a classroom, nearly all of them say, "I wish I'd known . . ."

One of the best resources for new teachers is a veteran teacher--that teacher down the hall who always seems to know the right answer. It may take some time in your new school to find the right person to mentor you, so how do you handle the first few weeks?

Subscribers to Teaching Magazine's free newsletter can check out Teaching Secrets: The First Days of School, which is a compilation of hints from teachers, former student teachers, and mentors. One useful suggestion is to make quick notes about student behavior during the school day. These dated observations can be helpful if you have a student with special needs or disruptive behavior.

Other sites that offer some terrific new-teacher resources include TeachersFirst (downloads include "Survival Guide for New Teachers" and "Baptism by Fire: 100 Essential Tips and Resources for Student Teachers") and TeacherVision (downloads include "Top Ten Things Every Teacher Needs in the Classroom" and "Tips from Veteran Teachers on Dealing with Parents").

I invite veteran teachers to complete the sentence from the first paragraph: "When I was a new teacher, I wish I'd known . . ."

Should Students Pick Their Books?

2009-09-18T21:10:13Z

A growing movement to revolutionize the way literature is taught in school aims to engage students and turn them into lifelong readers. The approach, called reading workshop, allows students varying amounts of freedom in selecting the books they read.

A recent New York Times article follows teacher Lorrie McNeill after she was inspired to start a reading workshop in her middle-school class. Literary experts say that giving students a say in what they read is a powerful motivator. However, they caution that the choice of reading material should be limited to quality literature. Some proponents feel that almost any book is okay, as the teacher can then guide the student to choose books that are more challenging. For example, one of McNeill's students read a memoir by a popular rhythm-and-blues star. McNeill used that as an opportunity to suggest Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, followed by Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, and finally A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

Those who favor the traditional method of teaching literature point to the importance of a shared literary experience and exposing students to books that are rich with language, nuance, and layers of meaning. Sharing books as a group can lead to deeper insights, and many educators feel it is the best way to prepare students for standardized tests.

Books selected for the purpose of instruction are--and should be--different from books for independent reading.

Some schools take the best of both approaches, with some books read and explored as a group and others chosen by the students. After all, isn't instilling the habit of reading as important as creating a common standard?

Junior Journalists and Egg Drop Engineers

2009-09-07T19:24:52Z

Our local newspaper is part of a consortium to promote literacy through journalism. I learned more about that when I read an article by 11-year-old Alan Cheng. Cheng writes engagingly about the annual egg drop competition at his middle school. Fifth-grade teacher Mark Olbin challenges his students to engineer a delivery system that will protect an egg dropped from a 100-foot-tall fire-engine ladder. Students cannot use a parachute, box, or soft toy. These fifth-graders protected their eggs in some ingenious ways, including a straw fort and a device that descended like a helicopter. I love the way Olbin has created a vehicle for learning that is eagerly anticipated, and I love seeing an 11-year-old with a byline under his belt.

Activities of this sort address the critical and creative thinking as well as the collaborative learning skill standards being advocated by the 21st-century skills project now embraced by fourteen states. Science is a great vehicle for delivering these skills. I know that during the years I taught science, my students always looked forward to the special projects we regularly did along with the annual science fair. It is also why we have provided resources in our Science A-Z website for doing science-fair projects and other project-based learning.

Children's Blood Pressure Linked to Watching Television

2009-08-31T17:18:19Z

More bad news about children and television viewing--it raises their blood pressure.

Time magazine reports that researchers in the United States and Spain collaborated on a study of more than 100 children aged 3-8 to examine the link between their blood pressure and their choice of inactive pastimes, including watching television, using the computer, and reading. They discovered that regardless of the child's weight, children who watched between 1.5 and 5.5 hours of television a day had blood pressure readings that were five to seven points higher than those children watching TV less than half an hour a day.

This troubles me for a variety of reasons. First, of course, is the health of the children. Sustained high blood pressure can lead to heart disease later in life. Inactivity leads to any number of health problems, including strength and endurance issues. Second, children who watch television close to their bedtime may remain too stimulated to sleep properly. Their bodies don't have an opportunity to recharge properly, so these children are going to have trouble paying attention in school.

Television viewers may also snack on unhealthy foods while watching TV, contributing to childhood obesity and, in some cases, diabetes. Children who have health issues can suffer further in school, where (as reported in a blog last August), positions">positions such as school nurse have often been cut to help balance budgets.

Come on, parents. Let's turn off the television and get children outside for some physical activity.

A Reality Show Called Teach

2009-08-24T15:34:56Z

I just read in USA Today that reality TV may be coming to the classroom. Teach, a new reality TV show set in a Philadelphia high school, is being discussed with actor Tony Danza. Philadelphia's mayor supports the project, and the school reform commission is deciding whether to allow its schools to participate in the show, which would be broadcast on A&E.

Reality TV can give viewers a glimpse into the real world, but it can also skew a real-life situation in the interests of entertainment. This is what causes me some concern. However, Tony Danza appears to be taking it seriously and is already attending teacher training with other first-year teachers. The class he would co-teach is Grade 10 English. If the show embraces the challenges of teaching and the joys of making learning relevant, it may have merit. There is nothing wrong with entertainment, but let's hope that the show's creators are putting the proper spin on classroom teaching and promoting the teaching profession as the noble career it is.

Teachers and the Race to the Top Fund

2009-08-17T19:29:56Z

The Education Department is clearly interested in measuring teacher effectiveness and creating systems to provide for professional development. Race to the Top funds have been earmarked for this purpose.

The Teacher Beat blog reports on some provisions that will impact teachers, unions, and educational organizations. For example, states that have data firewalls preventing access to student-achievement information may not be eligible for these particular funds. If a state receives funds, it must commit to using the achievement data to help determine what kind of teacher training is most effective. The state must also use some of the funds for professional development for teachers. While union officials want to know a little more about this part of Race to the Top before they commit to it, applicants must state that they have union approval for their participation.

I wonder how teachers feel about this. Do you perceive it as an opportunity or something detrimental?

Larger Class Size Expected for Upcoming School Year

2009-08-10T19:18:35Z

The government's pledged billions have given hope to school administrators, teachers, and parents--hope that, finally, there will be adequate funding for school infrastructure, resources for professional development, and educational opportunities that will allow students to shine. I believe that ultimately we will see a change for the better, but the short-term picture is disheartening.

Thus far, we are seeing states trimming education budgets to plug gaps elsewhere. Local budgets, which rely on tax revenue for school funding, have been hit hard due to the recession. Schools are cutting teaching positions even as the need for more teachers grows. And remaining teachers may be reassigned to an area that they haven't taught in previously.

In "As School Budgets Dip, Class Sizes Grow," Time magazine reports on the increased class size expected in the coming school year. In Los Angeles, for example, kindergarten through third-grade classes will grow by four students, and fourth through twelfth grades will grow by two.

Research may vary on the degree of benefit to students in smaller classes, but parents and teachers alike know that larger groups of children require more general oversight with fewer opportunities for one-on-one time.

Parents like Californian Cheryl James plan to volunteer in their children's classrooms. Says James, "If you get more people in the room--trying to get their hand up, trying to get their question answered, trying to get someone to stop kicking the back of their chair--there are going to be more problems."

It's volunteers like Ms. James who will help make a difference in these changing times. I'm betting there are a lot of parents like her out there. I would love to hear from you about them.

Teachers in Space

2009-07-30T15:56:17Z

Who among us hasn't stared up at the night sky, dreaming about space travel?

In the mid-1980s, then-President Reagan directed NASA to search for America's finest to be "citizen passengers" on the space shuttle. America's finest were said to be school teachers. Most of us remember the crushing heartbreak when the Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts and teacher Christa McAuliffe shortly after liftoff.

NASA dropped the teacher-as-passenger program due to safety reasons (though they have trained former teachers to become astronauts), but the concept was revived by the Space Frontier Foundation as Teachers in Space.

Seven teachers have been selected from the thousands who applied:

• Maureen Louis Adams, a 54-year-old elementary school teacher and principal from Texas, who has taught at U.S. Space Camp

• James Kuhl, a 53-year-old earth science teacher from New York, who applied for the original Teacher in Space program in 1985

• Lanette Oliver, a 43-year-old elementary science specialist from Texas

• Stephen Heck, a 56-year-old eighth-grade science teacher from Ohio and a U.S. Air Force veteran

• Rachael Manzer, a district science coach in Connecticut and former NASA distance learning educator

• Chantelle Rose, a 36-year-old high-school science teacher from Ohio

• Robert "Mike" Schmidt, a 31-year-old high-school math teacher from Arizona

Rachael Manzer remembers watching early space shuttle launches with multiple classes crowded around a small television. "I was hooked from then on," she recalls. Mike Schmidt is developing an experiment to study the surface tension and viscosity of liquid to find out more about how fluid reacts in space. And Maureen Adams shares, "I like to model what I teach and teach what I model. I'd like to be an inspiration."

There's no doubt in my mind that this select group of educators will inspire us all to reach a little further than we thought possible.