Mari_Finding Balance Blog 2

Week 2 Blog

This week has been focused on connecting the history of American schools with reforms going on today in both the United States and other top performing nations.  Our readings in both Schools and Flat world address these ideas of change that is needed, that is sought and that is reacted to.  This change is affecting us as educators in the United States and even in rural Idaho.

In Schools, the last section focused on reforms occurring today. It addressed Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind and other reforms that were “needed” in education.  The image that comes into my mind is one of the Common Era, a single room school house with a small steeple atop it.  As we have progressed through each school era, another room has been built on to this simple idea.  At first those rooms are resemblances of the original and blend in very well.  The closer we get to modern times the more un-similar these additions look, there are places were we have torn down an addition to rebuild it, and yet the original foot print is still there.  In most cases the addition has added to the usability, the purpose and the intent of the school.  But there are some cases where the addition is for looks and has no function or practicality.  This image of the remodeled and added to school house connects to a quote from Diane Ravitch, “The real object that we should be striving for in this country, is to have not only balance between excellence and equity, but a sense of their being connected.  That you can’t have one without the other” (212). 

The challenge in schools is to find this balance and equity, this matters to teachers and to me because we need connection to schools- all those rooms need to fit and be functional.  We are unbalanced when good things happen in schools that go unrecognized, forgotten or are perceived by the government as not working so we are told to stop and start again.  Each new piece of government policy leads to disjointed additions on to our school house, a disjointedness that affects our balance.  Funding, political philosophy, etc impact our ability to be balanced.  If one school receives more funding that another in the same geographic area, a school could be perceived as elitist.  We don’t want elitist schools, but how to do we avoid it with so much money tied to education policy and practice?  Is there a way to reform American schools without causing more elitism than already exists? Or is elitism something that we have to deal with in order to find school systems that work?

In Flat world, Hammond addresses a difference between the US and other great nations as a balancing of diversity, educational expectations and local versus national control.  The United States contains great diversity that other nations don’t necessarily embrace and educate.  The United States has high stakes testing tied to teacher performances, student success and the fate of the entire educational system in the United States.  This is what we as Wright Fellows are changed with figuring out.  We are charged with finding where we belong in this search for balance.  Are we there to “rock the boat” as tempered radicals or are we there to sit back, make some side comments and maybe a suggestion or two?  We are in schools that need to hear our take on reforms and finding balance in our quest for better schools in Idaho and the United States.  Another balance we need to work to find is the balance within student expectations and their connections to the outside world.

Linda Darling Hammond wrote “Furthermore, students’ willingness to commit to school and their own futures is interwoven with their perceptions about whether the society, their schools, and their teachers believe they are worthwhile investments- perceptions that engage them to invest in themselves” (30)

Students want everyone around them to care for them, their successes, their failures and the future.  You could argue that teachers want the same idea.  Teachers want to feel that their schools, society and students believe in their accomplishments and ability to teach.  Is this the perception of education today? Is this the balance we are experiencing or are expecting?  Teachers and students have so many different expectations of schools but there is one central ideology- an educated population prepared to lead our nation politically, economically, and yes, educationally.  In order for this preparation to occur we need to understand the reforms being passed by our nation and the comparisons we are experiencing with other nations.

I feel as if schools are being subjected to laws that are not “balanced”.  Reforms have taken place constantly in the past century and yet time is not given for those reforms to be enacted.  13 years, kindergarten to 12^th grade: that is the minimum amount of time long reforms need to be given to see if they are working or not. Note it says “working” not successful, because it will take double that time to judge success.   Reforms must be meaningful, reforms must include all parties, reforms must serve a specific purpose and if they don’t- they are not meeting a need.

So what does this mean to us? Well, as stated previously it is up to us to decide our roles in changing education, by either rocking the boat or sitting back and making a wave every now and then.  If we seek to help our students be successful in the world to come, a future we are not completely aware of; and then we must apply information gained from other industrial nation reforms and see where it fits into our educational structure.  We don’t need to adopt another nation’s educational system.  Instead we need to look at what works and see how it might fit.  Those looking at these changes should be teachers, those in the trenches charged with shaping this next generation of Americans.  We are in the trenches and need to pursue our passion of education and if that means adding another room to the school house, so be it.  But maintain functionality, uniqueness, practicality and the appearance of a connected American philosophy of education

Teaching to a tee

Blog 2

As I read the 1^st two chapters of The Flat World and Education, I felt it offered some insights about possible solutions of educational problems and difficulties identified in the School – The Story of American Public Education.   I found that it addressed some of the issues and misunderstandings I had regarding apathetic attitudes towards education displayed by some people. 

As a teacher, I get frustrated and apathetic towards initiatives and quick fixes that do not address educational issues.  I can sympathize with students who are dealing with multiple sub level teachers year after year.  When I am required to attend workshops that are repetitive and do not meet my needs or interests, I tend to zone out and not fully engage in the “learning”.

I hear over and over people making a generalized statement that in a country as rich as ours there should not be awful school buildings and educational situations.  We have so many entities (federal, state, local) that pull money and utilize it in many different directions.  We are not cohesive in our direction of what and how to spend educational funds.  So ultimately we have lots of money, being spent randomly across the educational landscape.    On the drive back home we listened to the Harper School episodes on This American Life.  The school was at the end of receiving five years of extra funds.  It sounds like a lot had been done with the money ranging from facilities to supports for students.  One comment struck with me. Out of all previous “reform” efforts in this and other poverty stricken schools, this was the best one the interviewee had seen.  What was done differently than previous reform initiatives?  What made it the best reform he had seen?  What was reformed? The money was being pulled, what had it helped with? Did it matter how much money the school received, could it ever give these students higher educational opportunities?  What was the goal of the reform? Did the money really help address the core issues? Or was it just a symptom fix?  I saw that in response to the show, donations were being accepted to help support Harper.  I am very pleased about that (we are a nation full of caring individuals), but it leaves me feeling overwhelmed.  This one school is getting more help, but for how much longer? What about all the other schools across our nation that are in as much desperate need for resources?  Until our method of financing schools really makes schools equal, students in poverty schools will know that they are not valued.  If others do not care about their situation, why would they not be apathetic towards public education?

The issue of cultures being stereotyped and tracked into certain educational paths would also create an apathetic attitude.  If you know that no matter how hard you work to achieve, or if your other interests are not acknowledged or respected, why would you care about that system and what it values?  Generally we usually work to achieve more when interacting with people/systems that respects and support us as individuals.

Comparing US and Finland (Friday's Post-I didn't have internet at the cabin)

Education in Finland is preventative, not reactive like the U.S. system.  We have a “wait to fail model” in which case a student does not receive the additional support they need until we can prove that they are essentially “failing”.   I joined the RTI team at my school because of my frustration a few years ago.  I had a student who struggled in my classroom and I referred him for special ed.  I didn’t realize that they had sent paperwork to his parents to sign until school was ending. I got the parent to sign the paperwork for testing, but it was not returned until the summer, so his teacher the next year had to start the process all over.  I joined the team to try to make a difference in the process in order to help identify students and expedite the process so they could actually receive the services they needed.  Unfortunately, with the RTI process you need to have 6 weeks of data using a “research-based” intervention, then adjust the intervention if it doesn’t work collecting data for another 6 weeks.  At that point the paperwork process can begin.  Even when I had a student (who had gone through the RIT process) referred in November of their first grade year, they still did not have the testing and paperwork completed until the end of the school year.  They would receive services the following school year, but essentially lost a year and did not get the quality of education they deserved and the services that they desperately needed.  Many schools do not even have the support to provide a “research-based” intervention for struggling students in the areas that they struggle in.  Fortunately at my school we receive Title I funding and Federal Impact Aid which helps keep our class sizes small and has given us the luxury of having a first grade aid (that the 3-4 classes share).  The aid is the one administering the interventions in both math and the Title 1 aid in reading.  If the trained and qualified teachers were actually able to work with the struggling students imagine how much they could accomplish!

Finland is proof that money can improve teacher quality, provide paid internships, increase professional development and the resources to meet the needs of students.   Making it a respective, competitive and sought after profession increases the quality of candidates that go into teaching.    Investing in teacher education and hiring teachers with master’s degrees increases student achievement and really benefits students.  Their schedule proves that it is not about how long the school day is.  In Lapwai we are lengthening our school day because we are switching to a schedule where we have half-day professional development every Friday.  I am really excited about the increased time for grade-level collaboration and working on quality curriculum aligned to the standards.  This will be especially beneficial to me as a teacher switching grades.

George - Blog 2 What really matters!

High Expectations

Having high expectation creates a mindset for students to achieve at high levels. The teacher sets the tone and students believe in themselves and are motivated to learn. Teachers with high expectations of their students can set the tone in a school building for some or most teachers and maybe even the administrators. We have to start somewhere.

That makes me wonder what it means to have high expectations. Can I have high expectations for everyone? Are expectations the same as standards? I think that high expectations refer to an individual’s learning and this leads to a class climate of possibility that involves everyone. The reality is that there is rarely enough time to personalize expectations for everyone. For me it boils down to expressing high expectations for the class based on grade level standards and working with individuals or small groups toward those class expectations. I really struggle with my special education students because I don’t feel that I am supporting them at a high enough level. The special education teacher has more than 20 students under his care and the program is the typical basic math and reading skills sort. I kept my students in the classroom during math with the help of the special education paraprofessional, but because of the time limitations it often meant them working on basic skills in the classroom. Not what I was hoping. I don't think my vision is clear. I will develop a vision of where I want my special education students to be at the end of next year.

Radical

I just watched a TED Education special on PBS (Highly recommended viewing - I had recorded it about a month ago and finally got a chance to watch it).  Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children's Zone highlighted the fact that the dial phones of the 50s have been changed and improved, but if you decide to innovate our education system you are considered a radical. Change is needed and I will continue to try new things in my classroom to motivate students and tap into their natural curiosities.

PLC

Does anyone have experience of how a professional learning community works? As far as improving teaching practice this idea continues to come up. This seems to fit the idea of professional development that really works. It is sustained and allows teachers to leave the isolated islands of their classrooms. What really matters here is that it is a cheap way for teachers in a building/district to come together to improve their teaching practice. It would also help build trust amongst the teacher members which might lead to an even more powerful improver of practice – observation and feedback of real classroom lessons. In our building we talk about observing each other, but no one ever does – too busy. I bet it really comes down to trust. We haven’t had the opportunity to build real trust. It takes time so let’s propose moving to a professional work schedule (full-year contract or 11-month if we water it down a bit) that will provide us the time to devote to real professional development and collaboration.

If you are interested in my white paper about full-year contracts use the link below.
 http://mvsdmultiage45.weebly.com/

Education system reflect the larger society

As I reflect on the educational systems that we were exposed to this week via videos and readings alongside ones that I have encountered here and abroad, I am struck at the tug-of-war of ‘responsibility’ vs. ‘not my job’ prevalent throughout the system.

I surmised from the models we saw in Finland and Singapore that there is high sense of ‘this is my responsibility’ from the individual classroom continuing clear to the policy makers in their governmental legislative bodies. I also sense that there are meaningful conversations that flow along that continuum both ways to help establish the educational systems and national conversations that are in place. It appears that families, healthcare, and municipalities are also a part of this framework. There seems to be a basis of a cultural value that views the individual child, not only as an individual child, but as a member of the present and future societies, which are rooted and reflective on the past. By centralizing the funding and bureaucracy of education, they have been able to create a common mission for all citizens. The variety then comes in the form of pedagogy within the individual classrooms or schools. The participants in this sort of system, based on larger cultural and national values, potentially see themselves as larger community members with particular responsibilities to make the system work for the students as individuals and for the larger society. The Singapore model overtly stated that education was seen as a ‘nation building’ process.

As I look at what is happening in the US, I definitely don’t see a continuum nor do I see a common mission—educationally or nationally. We have been a nation built on the ideals and freedoms of the individual in reaction to previous economic, religious, and social norms. However, in connecting our foundation to that cornerstone, the ones in power often create systems based on this value of ‘me’ as an individual at the expense of many in the larger, more diverse community. It has continued through today. In the political arenas we argue about “whose responsibility is it: individual, city, tribe, township, county, state, or feds?” in a myriad of areas of our daily lives. If we find ourselves in a discussion that is very difficult, we often dismiss into someone else’s arena of responsibility. I think our education system is a pretty good reflection of our larger society, partisan and sectarian…

Funding, sometimes adequate and most times paltry, from a variety of sources and often dictated by the business community’s interest,

Policies, sometimes contradictory with one another, dictated by a variety of sources,

Educational Vision, dependent on educational structure, dictated by a variety of sources, but not often enough by the educators themselves,

Teacher Preparation, highly dependent on college pre-service education, mentor teacher, and too often the last time they participate in a regularly collaborative and reflective process,

 

Under our system it often takes a coincidental group of adept jugglers to keep funding sources and policies in mind while trying to keep teaching and learning both meaningful and seamless in delivery from early childhood to graduation. It is tragic because I believe that this has led to a system with so much external chatter that is difficult to believe that a teacher should have a vision and be reflective instead of simply doing the job with least impact on the radar screen.

I feel like I left this on a really down note, but my visions of the discussion to solve this are wrapped in not only our rights as Americans, but how they are balanced with the responsibilities as Americans to other Americans, regardless of birthright…and involves things like healthcare and education based on prevention rather than intervention, mandatory national service, livable wages, childcare, and other things that would probably be dismissed as socialist rather than nation building.

Country comparisons/Teacher professional development

What fascinated me the most from our readings and video presentations on the educational systems in Finland, Singapore, and Korea was the rigorous teacher professional development. I’ve mentioned in other blogs that I was fortunate to have had a wonderful mentor teacher my first two years of teaching that modeled for me best practice pedagogy in and out of the classroom. But that mentorship paled in comparison to what other countries are doing to ensure their teachers are of highest quality (reduced teaching load and shared planning time for beginning teachers!). Instructional rounds, or teacher observations, I feel, are imperative to improving teacher practice. Getting into classrooms to observe other teachers’ practice has been a part of our school improvement process. I’ve taken many best practice ideas from other teachers through these observations and used them in my own classroom. I’ve heard horror stories of beginning teachers thrown into classrooms with little or no support system from administration or faculty. That is just unacceptable to me. The video showing teacher-mentor collaboration after an observation was eye-opening. I wondered how many of my colleagues would have submitted to that kind of critique and taken the advice to improve their instruction.

I appreciate how Jessie’s school invests in teacher professional development. I’m sure that makes the teachers at her school feel valued. Having shared collaboration time is valued in our school, but it’s just minutes a day, not enough time to make any earth shattering changes in our classrooms. Darling-Hammond says, “Whereas teachers in high-achieving nations spend 40-60% of their time preparing and learning to teach well, most U.S. teachers have no time to work with colleagues during the school day.” This is so true. My grade-level team spends evenings sometimes until 6pm planning and collaborating, yet we don’t really have specific, targeted goals that can make substantive changes in our classrooms.

The big difference I see comparing these countries to the U.S. is their willingness to invest in in a well-prepared teacher force. We need to get there.

George - Take aways from this week

As we compare United States public education to the best countries of the world I see a real difference in the value of education between the citizens of the country. I think that Americans used to have a commitment to education, but I am not sure the majority of Americans have it now. In my rural area where many families make livings from natural resources or welfare many people don’t see education as important to themselves or their children. I think that schools need to do more to engage and include the families of our students. Unless we have a culture of learning it will be hard for other reforms to be successful. I am almost envious of the countries that we are studying because they do have a culture of learning and they had the opportunity to start from scratch. I think it has been much harder for us because of our culture and the fact that we have a system that kind of used to work (for white middle class/affluent kids) and change is hard. 

Two reports came out recently that are relevant to our discussion of how American schools are performing. The first report I heard about on the radio this morning; a new NAEP report compares today’s student performance with that of 40 years ago. There is a lot of positive information, including significant growth in reading and math for 9 and 13-year olds and even bigger gains for black and Hispanic students. See the report news release link below which includes a link to the actual report. http://www.nagb.org/newsroom/naep-releases/longtermtrend2012.html 

Guess what many news organizations focused on? American 17-year-olds stagnant in reading, math since 1970s, report shows and Study finds high school seniors fare no better on achievement tests than in 1970s and Report: 40 Years Later, Teens Show Little Improvement in Reading, Math. (The report officials suggest the results for 17-year-old students reflect fewer low-performing students dropping out.) It reminds me that schools are judged by the lowest common factor. One take away for me is that we need to work closer with our other teaching peers at different levels (elementary, middle, and high school) to share ideas and develop a vision engaging our students in learning. I currently don't have a vision of how my work with students at the elementary level fits with middle school and high school teachers.

The second report (OECD) is about education spending in different countries. We are finally in the top! - In spending. We spend 7.3% of GDP; about $11,000 per year for each elementary students and $12,000 for high school students. A news article highlighted a theme that we have been talking about: “In kindergarten through 12th grade, meanwhile, the U.S. posts middling test scores, dragged down by the high numbers of children living in poverty whose schools tend to receive lower revenues from property taxes.” We have to tackle funding of our schools and we need to improve social services and health care in order to make learning equitable.

I just finished listening to Harper High School on This American Life. Violent deaths. Useless deaths. How do these students and staff deal with the sorrow? They are living in a war zone and the students are child soldiers. You could tell that the staff were successful because of the human connections they made with the students who needed them the most. They believed that raising self-esteem and keeping children safe would keep students in school and raise academic achievement.  As principal Leonetta Sanders was working through the day of the football game and dance I was feeling her anxiety about making the decision to keep things normal for the kids and also try to keep them safe. I am in awe of her commitment to the students. My take away from Harper High is that I need to continue to make caring connections with my students and show them that school is a safe, fun, and interesting place to learn.

Honey ,Can We Move To Finland?

Honey, Can We Move to Finland?

            I have looked at Asian school models before and decided that there is really not much we can or even should try to replicate in the United States. There are some societal things that I wish we could import, like the respect for teachers, and the reverence for teaching and learning that is part of their cultural identity.  For me there is too much drill in the Taiwan or Korean models and not enough creation. American students, by and large, are just not geared that way, although I think there are some in power that would like us to work in the sweatshop model, 45 butts in seats reciting facts, dictatorial administrative style where teachers have no voice and no choice. Wait a minute that sounds vaguely familiar.

            The Finland model, now there is an idea I could get behind.  Many of the things we saw in the video and read in the book are exactly what I and some others in my school and district have been advocating for years. Things like: Struggling students need more time with their regular teacher, not pull-out to go do drill and kill. Intensive early intervention for struggling students with the flexibility to move between educational environments depending on need rather than eligibility category or track is something I would love to see in our schools. Finland spends time recruiting the best teachers they can find. After they find the best, they train them, support them, and provide massive amounts of quality professional development. In the U.S. we do exactly the opposite.

 In the past my suggestions have been dismissed with the question, “Show me where these things have ever made a difference?” now I can. I am not saying that we can import the entire Finland model, but we could, on a small scale, like within a grade level team, try the support model for struggling students that Finland has shown to be effective.   

Many of the reforms we looked at in other countries were sparked by the destruction of war or the collapse of old political regimes forcing these nations to rebuild their school systems from the ground up. The bureaucracy that is our school system is so entrenched and polarized that baring global catastrophe that’s not going to happen in the United States. I think I’m going to pick one thing, toss it into the educational pool, and see how far the ripples travel.  

Mari_Country Comparisons, Changing things One WF at a Time

Country Comparisons Blog

So far in Flat World, Linda Darling-Hammond has painted a picture of national despair.  The U.S. is failing because of our culturally diverse nation, desire for a more relaxes teaching atmosphere, too many standardized tests and our lacking teaching professionalism.  Is this “fair”?  As an American teacher and product of the American educational system, I would say no.  I take pride in being a teacher who was taught by and teaches in the system.  This does not mean that there is not room for improvement. 

The suggestions hinted at by Hammond are to:

1) Give more “Professionalism” to American Teachers

2) Understand that high stakes testing that is tied to performance and pay is not highly motivating, instead is distressing

3) Help teachers to become better before they graduate from college and then continue their education post graduation

What can I do with this information?  I cannot change an entire institution or educational system.  Instead I have to find the little thing that can be influenced by a rural Idaho teacher. There are suggestions that a teacher can make 1) relevant opportunities for professional development 2) strong curriculum and course suggestions that are not teaching to a test but increasing the critical thinking and higher order questioning skills of our students.  Teachers can talk to their department chairs (if in a school that large), principals, and district curriculum directors about quality professional development.  Hammond says on page 226:

Unlike the typically ineffective one-shot workshops that proliferate, effective professional development is sustained, ongoing, content-focused, and embedded in professional learning communities where teachers work over time on problems of practice with other teachers in their subject area or school. 

What does this look like? It means not having veteran teachers take Harry Wong’s First Day of School or Marzano Strategies that work (for the 5^th time).  It could also mean not having Social Studies and Foreign Language teachers taking MTI courses or Scientific Reasoning.  Instead, give teachers opportunities to learn about quality teaching practices: Socratic Seminar, Interactive Notebooks, Inquiry based lessons, etc that will not just benefit their teaching content but their general teaching practices.  This is the key difference between the US and other nations, we teach our content first and skills second.  The rest of the world finds more value in skills and content second. 

            Teachers can also work on increasing their professionalism within communities by dressing professionally at work, representing their schools and communities with pride and not talking down upon them within the community.  Speaking within our teacher groups about situations okay as long as we are practicing restraint, speaking poorly about the district we work in while in the same town is not okay because this is showing that as professionals we are not content and are lacking in school pride. 

            What can we learn from the rest of the world? As a teacher in Idaho, I feel that I can learn how important it is to advocate for myself in my schools.  I need to advocate for quality professional development for not just myself, but my department and my colleagues district wide.  I need to take the research from these top performing districts to department collaborations and say what are we already doing that is similar and what can we realistically start to do within our department.  It is not about making huge changes overnight.  It is about making small meaningful changes that will aid our diverse struggling school. 

I am optimistic that we can compete in this global educational world, we can start the change from “natural resources centered” to communities that are seeing the need for “educationally centered” ways of thought.  We don’t need to start on a national level, but instead start locally and see meaningful changes there.  We can start changing education, one Wright Fellow at a time!