The Case for the Teacher's Desk

I love the whole "Flexible Seating" movement. Seriously. It is the best thing for kids. Get rid of traditional seating. Get rid of traditional kids' desks. Grab your bean bags, grab your fun chairs, grab your yoga balls, grab your pillows, grab your wheeled tables that can go up, down, sideways, and every which way. Have at it.

But get your hands off my desk.

Who spends the most time in OUR classroom? Me. I say OUR because it is OUR classroom. Yes, we are all there for our students. But I am there the most. I am there before school, after school, during recess, during lunch, and on weekends sometimes. I come in early during summer, and I am there long after I need to be once school is out for summer.

I deserve one spot to call my own. One spot that is adult size, adult height, with a comfortable adult chair, and an adult desk. I need a space to plan and work. I need a space to reflect, decompress, laugh, and cry. I need a space to store my pens, pencils, thank you cards, and feminine hygiene products. (Yeah, I said it.) I need a place to keep my slippers and comfy socks for those days when my feet are killing me. I need a place to store the candy stash when I NEED A PIECE OF FREAKIN' CANDY. I need a place to keep my color printer that I bought with my own money so I can print the amazing products my students create. I need a place to store my stash of crackers and granola bars for when a student comes to school hungry. I need a place to store my worry rock that I rub when I am stressed.

I spend more time in our classroom than anyone else. Don't I deserve one spot that belongs to me?

Leadership 101

I have worked for many principals. I also have an administrative credential, and have been in many teacher leadership positions. There are a few things I know for sure about being a principal and a leader:

1. I would never want to be a principal.  I know it is a tough job. But if you make the choice, then own it and do it right.
2. You must never forget what it is like to be a teacher and a student.
3. Talk, talk, talk to people before you make decisions. Always.
4. You must see yourself as an equal; you are no better than anyone else. Everyone is a part of the puzzle. Everyone does an important job. You, as a leader, must recognize that and lift everyone up.
5. Yes, there are tough parts of the job. But that is why the principal makes more money.
6. People will want to work for with you if you create an atmosphere of harmony and caring. No one wants to work for someone who lays down mandates and rules with an iron first, reminding others, "I am the boss," whether it be by actions, words, or both.
7. Be a good listener.
8. Be a good listener.
9. Be a good listener.
10. Don't ever hide the fact that you don't know all the answers. Everyone knows you don't. You gain much more respect when you admit that fact.
11. Admit when you make mistakes.
12. Lead with love.

This list, for the most part, works just as well for teachers. And I know I will think of more. But we all need to remember this when we step into a leadership role: How do I want to be led?

Not Next Year, NOW!

As teachers, it's easy to get overwhelmed. It's easy to blow it off and say "next year." It's easy when it's other people's kids. But your perspective changes when you are a parent. I am not saying you have to be a parent to be a good teacher, but your perspective changes. What you do matters RIGHT NOW for the kids in your class. Your students are depending on you RIGHT NOW. So, don't put off trying that new strategy. Or that new technology. Or that new project. Or getting rid of the sacred cows that don't work. Because that kid in your class could be mine. And one day, that kid in my class could be yours.

It's 2016 for Crying Out Loud!

I keep hearing the song from Frozen in my head...... "Let it go..... Let it go!" Please, for your students, LET IT GO! Let go of homework. Why? Well, because research shows it doesn't help, and can often hurt kids. Stop keeping students in at recess. Why? Well, because research shows it doesn't help, and can often hurt kids. Give kids brain breaks (REAL ONES). Why? Because research shows it really helps, and if you don't, you are just making life harder on yourself. (And hurting kids.) Seriously.

Stop blaming the victim. Start looking in the mirror. If things aren't working well in class, take a good hard look at what YOU can do. There's nothing wrong with the kids. There's nothing wrong with their parents. It's you. It's ALL you, because YOU are driving the bus.

Let it go. Let go of all the tired practices that don't work anymore. (Did they ever?) Embrace change. If you don't, you will be left behind. Heck, there are many teachers that already are. And who are they hurting? Kids. My kids. Your kids. Our kids.

Let it go.

Technology is NOT a Reward!

Change is hard.  I get it.  Trouble is, technology is here, and it's here to stay.  Why is it that some educators have such difficulty accepting it in their classrooms?

Let's think about how we ourselves use technology.  We use it to communicate, collaborate, and create. We use it to share, make people laugh, think, and stay connected.  But for some reason, this isn't the case in the classrooms of some educators.  Technology is viewed as an "add-on," a reward that must be earned for doing well.  Not only does this make no sense, it's flat-out wrong.  It is unfair to students, and deprives them of the tools and skills they need to grow and thrive in today's world.

Some teachers just dumbfound me.  For example, I know one teacher who makes his students use flashcards to learn sight words.  When I discussed with him the fact that there are several amazing apps that not only help students learn sight words, but track progress and allow teachers to tailor lessons, the teacher said, "I know.  And my students will be allowed to use those apps once they learn their sight words."  I know..... you are thinking what I am thinking.  They won't need the apps anymore.  Sigh.

Other teachers say things such as, "I don't know how I am going to fit in the technology."  As if technology is some isolated curriculum teachers must cram into their day.  Technology is a tool, and a powerful one.  When used correctly, students can produce incredible work.  Their levels of creativity and collaboration can thrive in new and exciting ways.  In addition, technology can be used in ways that make the teacher's life so much easier if the teacher is willing to do things a little differently.  It just requires making some changes and learning some new things.  Yes, you have to put in some time up front.  But the time you save in the long run is immeasurable.

So how do we help move these folks forward?  When I go to technology conferences, I always hear presenters say, "Focus on the people who are ready to move forward and forget about the negative ones.  You won't have an impact on them."  While I see the thinking here, that's not fair to the students, is it?  We have to find ways to push these folks forward.  It's not about us as adults.  It is about the students.  We need to do right by them.  We need to get uncomfortable, and if that means making others uncomfortable as well, so be it.  It's about best practices for kids.  Not what makes teachers feel good.  I think it is possible to work together in supportive and positive ways in order to move teachers forward and do what's best for kids.  Don't you?

Changing the Narrative……Teachers ARE Public Schools

Apparently, teachers aren’t supposed to take it personally when someone says public schools are broken and failing.

And when we call someone out on that nonsense publicly... someone who has a big microphone... well, something’s going to hit the fan.

Let me back up.  I was listening to a talk show host who, as much as I would LOVE to name names, I won’t.  Because this host has called me enough names and I don’t need any more hateful name-calling.  The host’s guest was someone who has started some charter schools that have made several amazing claims.  Unfortunately, as with all charter schools that make these miraculous claims, the claims turn out to be “not so amazing.”  (I am not going to name the chain of charter schools here, but here is a great site with links to many of these charters who make such claims – “Miracle Schools.”

As I listened to the broadcast, I asked a question on Twitter.  The second I posted it, the guest addressed it - weird coincidence.  The response from the host was swift and snarky, tweeting that I should go back and listen again.  Ummm..... OK.  Thanks for the assumption I wasn't listening.  I continued to listen to the entire broadcast and really wondered about this “Miracle School.”

When I got home I started researching on the internet, and found just what I had suspected.  No miracle here.  I tweeted my findings out to the host, and as I did, I noticed that during the broadcast the host had tweeted "public schools are broken," and later tweeted "public schools have failed."

So, I decided to ask the question: “Where is your data to back up the claim public schools have failed?”  The response was basically, “I never said that.”  I love Twitter.  As I retweeted the host's tweets, I started tweeting research showing that public schools are in fact NOT failing; the problem is actually poverty.

Then it started.  I was called a troll, sensitive, wrong, scary, part of the problem, irrational, and ignorant.  (To be fair, I said the host looked ignorant by claiming failure without data.  I suppose I can’t be too mad about being called ignorant.)  I was told I had misdirected anger, and the host wondered how well I convey information to my students.  I was accused of coming into the middle of a conversation, popping off half-cocked, and was then accused of not even listening to the show.  That was followed by the accusation that I didn’t do my homework and my comprehension is sketchy; this was stated because the host claimed no one was blaming teachers.  Finally, I was accused of not being part of solutions, just there to defend myself.

During all of this I was tweeting data, articles, and research findings, none of which the host read.  The host claimed to have data, although none of this data was shared.  Then after repeatedly insulting me, the host blocked me on Twitter, ending any hope of the research being read.

Once again, as happens so often in education, we have someone who has never taught a day claiming to know all there is to know about public education.  A “hero” is brought in who has started some charter schools with yes, great results, but when you dig deeper, you find a lot of dirt.  A lot.  But who cares, right?  The end justifies the means?  The hell it does.

How do we as teachers change the narrative with these folks with big mics?  I’ll admit Twitter is probably not the best place to have such a dialogue, but for this particular host, it’s the ONLY place to engage.  (I’ll just let you come to your own conclusions on that one.)  It is so easy for people to spout off “Public schools are broken” and “Public schools are failing.”  Society blindly accepts it as truth, and everyone shakes their collective heads in sorrow.  When those of us with actual data and research show what is really going on, we are silenced.  Humiliated.  Dismissed.

I suppose that’s where we start.  We cannot allow ourselves to be silenced.  We have to stand up and be heard.  We must tweet, blog, post on social media, and write.  We cannot afford to close our classroom doors and simply teach.  (Hell, we haven’t been allowed to do that for years anyway.)  We cannot naïvely state, “I don’t get involved in the politics of education.”  Education IS politics.  Most important, we cannot live in fear anymore.

When you blame public education, you are blaming teachers.  When you make sweeping statements about the failures of public education, you are making sweeping statements about teachers.  And when you refuse to listen to a teacher who is giving you data and research, you are embracing continued ignorance.  Teachers ARE public education.  We need to change the narrative.  No one else is going to do it for us.

A Note About the References:

I am not going to post the references I tweeted that were specific to the charter school chain that was the topic of the talk show.  But the site “Miracle Schools” has a great deal of this information about many of these schools.  The rest of the references were ones I tweeted about public education, achievement, international comparisons, and poverty.  All of them are below.

References

Fiske, Edward B., and Helen F. Ladd. "Addressing the Impact of Poverty on Student Achievement - EducationNC." EducationNC. Education North Carolina, 10 Feb. 2015. Web. <https://www.ednc.org/2015/02/11/addressing-impact-poverty-student-achievement/>.

McNeff, Mike. "Beyond the Classroom: Poverty Impacts Achievement." ThePierceCountyTribune.com. Pierce County Tribune, ND, 12 Sept. 2014. Web. <http://www.thepiercecountytribune.com/page/content.detail/id/509981/Beyond-the-classroom--Poverty-impacts-achievement.html?nav=5005>.

Miracleschools -. N.p., n.d. Web. .

Phillips, Mark. "8 Myths That Undermine Educational Effectiveness." Edutopia. N.p., 10 June 2014. Web. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/myths-that-undermine-educational-effectiveness-mark-phillips>.

Rabinovitz, Jonathan. "Poor Ranking on International Test Misleading about U.S. Student Performance, Stanford Researcher Finds." Stanford News. Stanford University, 15 Jan. 2013. Web. <http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/test-scores-ranking-011513.html>.

Riddile, Mel. "PISA: It’s Still ‘Poverty Not Stupid’ |." Web log post. The Principal Difference. National Association of Secondary School Principals, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. <http://nasspblogs.org/principaldifference/2014/02/pisa-its-still-poverty-not-stupid/>.

Walker, Tim. "Shameful Milestone: Majority of Public School Students Live in Poverty - NEA

              Today." NEA Today. National Education Association, 16 Jan. 2015. Web. 

              <http://neatoday.org/2015/01/16/shameful-milestone-majority-public-school-students-
              now- live-poverty/>.

The Demonization of Curriculum... This Time It's STEM

Anyone read Fareed Zakaria's article warning of the demon known as STEM?  If not, you can read it here.  Normally I enjoy Zakaria's take on things.  But as usual, someone outside of education, who feels he is an expert because he went to school, thinks he can weigh in.  Sigh.  It's a freakin' epidemic.

Stick with me if you think I am missing the point of the article.  It may seem that way.  But just hang in there, OK?

So, a few glaring issues here.  First off, no one, and I mean NO ONE in education thinks STEM is all that any student needs, and that liberal arts and the humanities should be abandoned.  You would be hard-pressed to find one educator that believes that nonsense.  Rick Scott?  He doesn't exactly reflect America, and he certainly doesn't reflect educators in America.  The only other evidence given is one mistake made by President Obama, and two other crazy Republican governors. Hardly evidence that the sky is falling.

The emphasis in recent years on STEM partially comes from a lack of emphasis on these areas in the past.  Specifically, many teachers teach science without the hands-on component, and many do not teach engineering at all.  Many teachers deliver math instruction with an emphasis on "drill and kill."  And regarding technology, well, see, there's this thing called The Digital Divide that we must narrow.  In addition, we must ensure technology is used as a tool for creation rather than consumption in ALL subject areas, including the humanities and liberal arts.  I realize this is a rather simplistic synopsis, and obviously there are other economic and global factors.  But being an elementary teacher, I chose to stick to some basic classroom aspects of STEM.  I will say this though, there is no doubt we have been lacking in preparing our students for careers in STEM-based fields.  For example, Broadcom, the nation's largest producer of chips for wireless communications, must hire a large number of engineers from outside the U.S. because the company cannot find enough qualified candidates at home.  Paula Golden, executive director of Broadcom Foundation, which promotes science education, states, "At Broadcom, it's painfully apparent that the talent we need to inspire and innovate is coming from elsewhere.  It's not a cost-effective way of doing business," she said.  "But it's difficult to find other alternatives."  I am sure Broadcom isn't the only company in this predicament.  Again, STEM is working to fulfill a clear need.

Looking at coding and programming in particular, which has received a great deal of attention recently with the "Hour of Code," Software Developer and Coding Instructor Brent Kollmansberger makes some excellent points regarding K-12 education.  "Code.org is the main organization that has been successfully promoting teaching coding in the school system.  They have never suggested deemphasizing the humanities - nor have I heard others doing so.  If anything, coding, animation, image editing, and film making are all technical fields that are also forms of artistic expression."  Kollmansberger goes on to remind us, "Besides, a bachelor's degree in the humanities does not preclude a master's or a doctorate in a more technical field should one be desired."  No one in this field is arguing for deemphasizing the humanities or the liberal arts.  If anything, STEM fields and the humanities and liberal arts need each other in a large number of careers.

I almost stopped reading Zakaria's article when I got to the part about international standardized test comparisons.  It is a commonly known and widely researched fact that when you remove poverty from the equation, American students fare as well or better than other countries in international comparisons.  The fact that this is left out makes me question Zakaria's intentions.  He certainly knows about the poverty issue.  He wrote an article about it back in 2012.  Was this information intentionally left out?  Or have those final dots not been connected?  I doubt that.  Again, it's not a matter of what our students can do, it's a question of improving instruction, and ensuring all students receive the best instruction.  We can always improve, and we had some holes that STEM is working to fill.

When one looks at the actual numbers, well, get ready to breathe a sigh of relief.  The sky isn't falling.  According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the humanities are doing just fine.  A few key findings:

• While there were fluctuations in the percentages of students completing humanities majors between the 1940s and 1970s, it seems safe to say those numbers are pre-STEM.  We can't blame STEM on those drops.
• Current data indicate the percentage of humanities degrees increased through the 1980s and 90s, with a slight decline in the 2000s, then rising again, with a slight drop again during the Great Recession.  Overall the numbers have been steady.
• And even though humanities have decreased as a percentage of all degrees, there has been an increase in the percentage of Americans with humanities degrees.

What is especially interesting in the AACU report relates to the last point.  It is this finding by Nate Silver: "Nate Silver has noted that the same pattern applies not only to the humanities, but also to many social science and STEM fields.  Between 1971 and 2011, the percentage of degrees in mathematics, engineering, and history all declined as shares of all college degrees even as the percentage of college-age students earning these degrees increased - a phenomenon Silver attributes to rising enrollments in occupational fields such as health and criminal justice that had not previously offered or required college degrees."  It seems the landscape is very complex indeed.

Zakaria writes, "No matter how strong your math and science skills are, you still need to know how to learn, think and even write."  Of course you do.  All I could think of when I read this was, "Did you even talk to any teachers before you wrote this article?"  I mean, seriously.  Who is arguing otherwise?  Besides crazy governors?  Certainly not teachers.

And that's my issue.  Why do people like Fareed Zakaria listen to the likes of Rick Scott, Patrick McCrory, and Rick Perry?  Why is anyone listening to these people when it comes to educational policy?  I'll tell you why.  Because teachers do not have a seat at the table.  And just like everyone else, Zakaria didn't talk to one teacher when he wrote this article.  Not one.  He's just as bad as they are.  He is part of the problem.  He is listening to these people, and giving them power.  By highlighting and responding to their commentary in his article, Zakaria gives their message credence, as if what they have to say about education is even worth listening to at all.  I know that wasn't the intent, but such a response certainly gives that impression.  What if we all just stopped listening to people like Scott, McCrory, and Perry, and started listening to TEACHERS?  Newsflash: If Zakaria had spoken to teachers, he would have found out the future of the liberal arts and humanities is safe and sound.  If you look at the numbers and facts, you can see its present certainly is.  Teachers may get stepped on a lot, but we would never let STEM take over to the detriment of the humanities and liberal arts.  Does Zakaria really think we would stand for that?  Thanks for the vote of confidence.

It's all getting so tiresome, isn't it?

(Note: After I wrote this, I realized the article probably contains the highlights of Zakaria's latest book, and I wondered.  Did he talk to any teachers during the writing of his book?  If he did, that's great.  Too bad they didn't make the cut for the article.  They clearly didn't influence it; there seems to be an agenda there.  If he didn't speak to any teachers, shame on him.)

Works Cited

"Humanities by the Numbers." Association of American Colleges & Universities. N.p., 07 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 May 2015.
Leal, Fermin. "Science, Tech Preparation Lagging in U.S. Schools." The Orange County Register. N.p., 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 04 May 2015.

Silver, Nate. "As More Attend College, Majors Become More Career-Focused." FiveThirtyEight. N.p., 25 June 2013. Web. 02 May 2015. 

Zakaria, Fareed. "Why America's Obsession with STEM Education Is Dangerous." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 26 Apr. 2015. Web. 02 May 2015. 

Zakaria, Fareed. "Zakaria: Mitt, You Need to Worry about the Very Poor." Global Public Square RSS. N.p., 12 Feb. 2012. Web. 02 May 2015.