karlmill’s Neighborhood

No, it doesn’t have to. No matter how constrained a teacher is, I’ve determined that school does not have to be a creativity killer. To apply some ancient, wise words (2 Corinthians 4:8-9): “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; … struck down, but not destroyed.” In other words, NCLB and the obsessive, accountability-driven administrative directives it begets cannot single-handedly kill creativity in the classroom. Sure, state tests “stigmatize failure,” as Ken Robinson states. Teachers, though, do not have to stigmatize failure.

Take a measure as simple as rewarding students for non-academic feats, for instance. Awarding Student of the Month to the most spirit-lifting comedian in the classroom validates him as much as a good grade. Teacher-initiated rewards address and negate Robinson’s contention that school only the intellectual successes at school are the winners. He contends that “the whole purpose of public education …is to produce university professors. … We shouldn’t hold them up as the highest form of achievement…they live in their heads.” Nay! The purpose of school is to make something productive out of young peoples minds and hours. Sure, there are ugly class wars circling around how those minds and hours are spent. But ideally, school is for producing more productive (emotionally, spiritually, vocationally --- not merely intellectually) members of society. School is where students have training wheels for how to function as adults. It’s a mini-society. I think Robinson would be a huge fan to Rousseau’s anti-social, child-centered vision of education. Unfortunately, as pastoral and sweet as this vision is, it falls short of what humans were created for: to serve and better each other.

No, schools do not “squander” the innate creativity in children wholesale, as Robinson overconfidently asserts. Schools are the environment in which time is set aside for creativity to be required. Without the structure of school, creativity wilts. Robinson is right to point out the paradoxical nature of creativity, such as that we do not mature into creativity, but rather we outgrow it, but he misses this important paradox about it: creativity needs structure just like fire needs oxygen. Without the push and the constraint to fuel creativity, or the probing questions of the teacher, or the small encouraging remarks along the way to the final creative product, a child’s creativity will be stifled. Also, in a school functioning properly, in which reading aloud and extolling reading should be a daily activity, the imagination will find no lack.

As to Robinson’s allusion to Picasso’s quote that we grow out of creativity, neither do I fully agree with this. Older children (teens) can use colors, tweak words, arrange sounds, plan projects and papers and speak more eloquently and purposefully than their younger counterparts. Who has the authority to say that creativity with more direction and eruditeness is somehow weaker than the innocent creativity that streams from a little mind? Classifying creativity in an hierarchy (eerily akin to what NCLB test standards do—classify schools and student achievement) and judging creativity as “the production of something both original and useful” (paraphrase) is rather utilitarian itself. Robinson defines creativity to uptightly, I’m afraid. 

The blog article, "High Expectations? Not so fast," from (http://garyrubinstein.teachfor.us/2009/08/30/high-expectations-not-so-fast/) argues that while its good for first year teachers to have high expectations, one must be realistic as well.  Specifically, the article argues that overly high standards can actually hurt students because they will constantly fail.  As a second year teacher, I agree with the post completely.  Yes, it is important to have high standards (and the article does not disagree with this), but if I have a classroom of students who are supposedly ready to be in Algebra II and they cannot graph a straight line, it will do no good to teach them the quadratic formula.  

Have real expectations, but don't expect to be a miracle worker.  A student who cannot read should not attempt to dive into Proust, it will just humiliate and discourage them.  Start with Green Eggs and Ham and work your way up.  However, when you do teach Green Eggs and Ham, ensure you have high expectations of the students work based of the book.

Is Mississippi a third world nation?

The Blog post, "Is Part of the United States in the Third World," (http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/05/human-development-index-by-state.html) attempts to rank US states in line with the world nations in regards to their human development index (HDI) reading.  In the blog, a list is presented with rankings of nations by their HDI mixed in with nations.  Mississippi is listed at 76th, below Russia and Ecuador.  At first glance, this seems terrible, an American state, down below the home of Siberia and a South American non-powerhouse.  However, the blog is somewhat meaningless, and this is noted in the first paragraph of the post: "The US HDI is not at all comparable to the world HDI.."  What this says is that you cannot directly compare the US state HDI to other nations HDI.  This make the list irrelevant.  

A quick google search paints a more rosy picture for Mississippi.  Ecuador, with a normalized (ppp) GDP per capita of under $8k, is much poorer than Mississippi with a GDP (non normalized) of just under $27k, over three times greater than Ecuador's, and that non adjusted.  It seems silly to state that Mississippi is a third world nation.  Anyone who has been to a poor area of a third world country can easily attest to the abject poverty which makes Mississippi look good.  Kids go hungry in Mississippi and attend shoddy schools.  In third world nations, kids worry about starvation and school is a pipe dream.  By claiming that Mississippi is at the same level as a third world nation unfairly cheapens the term and shows the authors naivety of what a third world country truly is.  

I was very excited to find this post. I’ve been meaning to read Khon’s “Homework Myth” ever since my 6^th grade teacher, with whom I am still in touch and who now teaches high school math, mentioned it to me. She agrees with his thesis.

I, on the other hand, can’t help but believe that homework is helpful for the college-bound. Without the gradual build-up of homework, how will a student know how to handle the outside-of-class investment that is expected at that level? I guess the question that remains is, is homework worth it for the non-college-bound?

Using the rationale that kids hate homework and put it off as long as possible is not reason to believe that homework is unbeneficial. Many things that are popularly hated, such as exercise and financial prudence, are good for us. As for the argument that homework does not develop a work ethic, I disagree. With time to do whatever they please, my students will not be kindling their innate curiosity by reading a book of choice. They will be watching TV. For the argument that rigorous amounts of homework in middle school is not correlated with higher high school achievement, I suppose the counter argument would be, has any research shown that not doing or not assigning homework raises achievement? I think there is some spurious intervening variable that is making the research appear to suggest that homework is impotent as yielding great educational gains, when really home/neighborhood environment or family dysfunction/stress may be accountable for educational outcomes, not the assigning of homework.

Regarding Christine Hendricks’ letter to parents explaining her school’s experiment with no homework for a semester, I think this innovation would work well so long as there is reason to believe that families will support their children with the five responsibilities she bulleted in the letter. It would be more accurate for Hendricks to say, “we are implementing a ‘new’ homework this year: intense parental involvement.” This is not a truly no-homework policy! There are still things for the kids to do at home; parents are the new facilitators. In areas without this assurance of reinforcement from home, schools ought to lengthen the school day, so that all of that gets done in caretakers’ hands before reporting home at 6 p.m.

One thing I’ve thought about is whether homework is worth assigning when half of students do not do it, and it becomes a nuisance to teachers who cannot let more than half their kids fail due to excessive zeros produced by MIA homework. I’ve decided that it is worth assigning, as it will pull the borderline students who will do their homework up to proficient level on the state test. In other words, assigning homework is likely to help improve those kids who will do it; and if the teacher makes homework worth only a marginal amount, then for those who don’t do it, no excessive harm is done. So long as the teacher completes the independent practice during class time, and homework serves only as a reinforcement of skills learned, then homework is appropriate and will only strengthen the stronger students. They are not psychologically bothered by homework; in essence, homework is a “NR” for them (science shorthand for No Reaction). 

For honors kids, however, those who are definitely college-bound, the teacher’s assigning of and close monitoring of/feedback on homework is very important. These students especially cannot afford anything that will set them behind other students at their level who attend competitive private schools or suburban schools where the majority of the student body is vigilant about homework. I do not foresee these types of schools of privilege backing down off homework any time soon, and so for cricital needs schools to do so would be a mistake, giving the others yet another upper-hand in being prepared to succeed in college.

I think the real concern here is what is assigned for homework. If it is busy work, or over students' heads, or not sufficiently explained, or students do not have resources (parental, material, technological, or time) to do it, then yes, homework is terribly ineffective and even harmful. If a teacher gives homework as a good doctor proscribes the right antidote, however, homework remains a worthwhile component of schooling.

I really enjoyed the product of this assignment -- even if the process wasn't enjoyable. Isn't that the way research is? View a pdf of the document here.

Classroom management, or how to keep the class focused and working, was an area I struggled with my first year, especially during my first semester.  This year, my classroom management has been much improved  Part of the change stems from the fact that I no longer teach Freshmen, but I've also gotten better at being a manager of the class.  Detailed below are some changes I've made this year that have helped foster a more structured and effective learning environment:

    1.    Be Confident

As the teacher, you can win every argument.  Better yet though, as a teacher, you should never have to enter into an argument with a student.  If a student is doing something that is bothering you, warn them that they must modify their behavior, and if they don't, give them a consequence.  If you do this unflinchingly, you will limit students questioning your actions.  I gave out a detention last week because someone was tapping their pencil.  I warned them first, and then followed through.  The student was upset about this until one of his classmates turned and said something to the effect of you knew that would happen if continued your behavior.  

    2.    Stick to your guns

This ties into number one, once you have made a decision, it is set in stone.  If someone complains, tell them see me after class, if someone wont stop whining, give them another consequence.  If you take back a consequence it sets a standard that consequences are negotiable, and this will be a grand mistake.

    3.    Grade

I'm going to reach out on a limb and say that not all of your kids are passing your class, and furthermore, the "bad" kids are often making the low marks.  Just as important, your "good" kids are probably passing, and some may be doing quite well.  Grade.  If you grade papers and pass them back with some frequency, you are constantly letting the students with low mark know that they will fail if they continue to lack focus (the reason 75% of my kids fail), and you will be letting the top student know that their hard work is appreciated and has a positive effect on their grades.  Although it will depend student to student, most students want to pass your class.  Even the students who say they don't care still do some work for a reason, they would like to pass.  If you never grade you will give the impression that work done in class has little or no bearing on the student passing, and this will lead to the students doing less work and at a lower quality.  

"I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized"."
                                - Travis Bickle

Every two days I see in excess of 150 students and grade just as many papers.  In nearly every class I have some sort of handout, in my ACT prep class (we don't have a book) I may give out three handouts.  This constant stream of work creates a constant stream of papers going to me and back out to the students.  In order to manage this stream, I've had to hone my organizational skills.  Below are a few detailed points which have helped me become more organized:

    1.    Have a one class grading turnaround:

What this means is that if you turn in a quiz or test on Monday, the next time I see you (Wednesday) you will get the paper back with a grade on it.  This prevents a backlog of grading which will drive you mad and wreak havoc on your organizational system. 

    2.    Throw away papers you don't grade promptly: 

This point ties into the first.  If I don't grade it right away, its going to become an organizational problem, so I throw it away and give everyone a participation grade for doing the work (I do this very infrequently this year, in fact, only once so far).

    3.    Create electronic folders for every class:

Yeah, your computer will get messy as well.  Create a system of folders and subfolders to stay on top of your game.  To open todays lesson plan and resources (its an exam day!), I click on Murrah 2009, September AL 2, Twelve.  This is especially good to do your first year, because if you have the same preps next year, you're golden. 

    4.    Keep your classroom clean:

My roommates will attest that at times I am not the cleanest person.  While teaching I often become covered in expo marker.  However, my class is clean.  In the back there are trays of grading with no more than one assignment inside.  They will be passed back today to the students, and then the assignments will leave my class.  I don't have piles of paper stacked about.  If you get in the habit of putting everything in the proper place, you wont lose your handouts, your old exams, and so on.  Once again, this ties into grading things promptly. 

Overall, organization is important in many ways.  My largest piece of advice is don't let grading stack up.  Old papers will clutter your room, and not turning back papers promptly will lead to issues with classroom management, which is my next topic....

1) I want to assess much better, more frequently, for formative and summative, in many different methods.

My first couple weeks last year were stressful and challenging.  I had a foggy idea of what I was supposed to be teaching (not that I don't know math, but that I was confused as to were in the material I should start my classes), and an even foggier idea of how I should go about teaching the material.  The students, who were predominately 9th graders, had lots of questions about the school, which put me on the defensive, because I shared many of their inquiries.  By the start of the third week, I had quickly realized that I would need to re-amp my classroom structure in half my classes, and re-check my teaching strategies in all my classes.  

This year, things have so far (knock on wood) gone swimmingly.  For the most part, all my classes are very well organized, everyone knows what they should be doing at all times, and I have all the answers to my students questions (even though some of those answers may be lies).  With the exception of one class, my ACT prep class, I feel that I have been very successful in teaching the material to the students thus far (the ACT prep class isn't bad,  it just involves the students doing lots of sample tests, which I hope will be beneficial).

This of course leads into what I would like to do better as a teacher this semester, which conveniently is in the blog below...

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Last year my classroom felt a lot like the Soviet Union.  Lots of things were broken, some of the work was meaningless, but to some extent, things got done (albeit in a dirty way).  This year, I have a new classroom, new classes, and a new perspective.  Chiefly, I'm trying to streamline the learning experience.  I'm focusing on value added ad-ons.  Efficiency is the new buzzword, and enhanced structure is the plan.  In order to facilitate this, I have moved to a standard day schedule:   first 15 min we have a quiz, then move into a lecture over the mechanics of the day, followed by independent book work, and wrapped up with group work.  The basic idea is that the most serious work comes first, and the class relaxes as it goes on (although never too much).

The goal this year is not to have a class that runs, but have a class that runs well.  By having a firm daily structure in place, along with doing a multitude of other things well (such as having a quick turnover on grading, nipping problems in the bud), I feel that I can achieve this goal, and upgrade my class from a reliable clunker to the latest and greatest.  

Summer school is only 4 hours long. Unfortunately it sucks. And is boring as hell.

Going to beale street tonight. Gonna get shitty.

Guns bonfire beer all on a farm. Amazing. Oh and some cunt cop pulled me over for no reason. And I got no fucking ticket.