Thoughts from Yrisarri: 2012-04-01

Saturday, April 7, 2012

American Grads

The Problem

1.3 million kids drop out of high school per year costing our nation more than $100 billion in lost wages and taxes, plus the increased social costs due to crime and healthcare.

The Solution

Research shows that we can help keep students on the path to college and careers if we:

Start with early reading
focus on the middle grades
build on early waring and intervention systems
create a multi-sector and community-based effort
elicit perspectives of students, educators, and parents
set high expectations and engaging coursework

The dropout rate in America is under attack and Albuquerque's PBS station KNME, under the guidance of Laurel Wyckoff, is presenting a series of meetings for selected members of the community to discuss and work toward a solution to the problem. Here are the sites and reports recommended by the American Grads program to help members develop ideas about solutions to the problem facing our students.

Recommended Reading and Websites

Friday, April 6, 2012

Poverty is no excuse?

One of the current mantras used by reformistas is "poverty is no excuse for poor performance at school", I heard our Education Secretary make a similar statement while explaining poor test scores and the recent study that indicates that poverty is linked to poor reading scores in the 4th grade

We can ignore the problem of poverty all we want, but it will not go away. Poverty is the core of the education problem in the United States. These children miss more school, come to school needing better nutrition and are frequently stressed from problems at home. They have cortisone coursing through their systems impairing their ability to learn. We can probably get them to sit still and appear to pay attention, but learning requires much more than these kids can give.

Instead of indicting the entire education system, going on witch hunts for bad teachers and closing schools that don't measure up why don't we use all of data gathering to find out who needs help and then truly look at the research and use it to help those in need of help.

No matter what your political beliefs, the young children who go to school do not know what you mean when you tell them they are failing. They did not cause this problem and unless someone helps them create quality environments for learning they will have a hard time helping themselves.

I would like to share an article by Daniel T. Willingham from the spring 2012 edition of the American Educator online. Click here to read "Why Does Family Wealth Affect Learning?" Dr. Willingham, a cognitive scientist, explains that in addition to having fewer material and social supports, children from low-income families also tend to have chronic stress that can significantly impede their learning. Research shows that besides social service supports, a teacher' warmth toward and high expectations for disadvantaged children can help them reach their potential.

Finland's Success

These thoughts have been provoked by the article, "A Model Lesson, Finland Shows Us What Equal Opportunity Looks Like" by Pasi Sahlberg. Click here to read this article in American Educator Online.

I have been following the story of Finland's education success with interest. I watched a program with one of Finland's education ministers and he said something that resonates with me because it seems to be such a common sense approach to education for a country like the United States of America. It cuts to the core of what I believe this country represents. Opportunity for all. The minister said that while they were reforming Finland's education their goal was to create equity for all citizens.

In other words they were creating an education system to provide a level playing field for everyone. Out of this system of equity developed a system of excellence. It is hard for me to understand why the U.S.A. can not put the idea of equity at the core of our education system. Why is it not possible to go to the failing schools and provide them with the resources and human capital they need to provide an education equal to that a student from a rich suburb has the opportunity to obtain.

The problem from my point of view is this,

In the United States we place our emphasis in education upon choice and competition, in Finland their driving philosophy is equity and shared responsibility.

In the U.S. A. we think as individuals because we have been trained by an education system that places us in an age group cadre that rewards only those who can best follow directions for 12 years in a row. This training skews our thinking toward competition and the idea that those who don't think like us don't think correctly.

We are now living in a world where all people are clamoring for access to the resources America has monopolized to become the powerhouse it is. If we do not learn to cooperate with one another we may eventually be denied resources from outside our national borders.

Remember what John Donne wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself" this is true for nations as well, even those as rich and powerful as the U.S.A. We must learn the skill of cooperation so that we might draw upon all members of society to build our future.

Beyond the Hard Truths of Teaching

I have been trying to get myself motivated to start blogging about education on a regular basis once again. I am going through my education files and while doing so found this article by Marvin Chachere that closely mirrors my feeling about teaching.

Click here to learn more about Mr. Chachere a retired teacher and University of California administrator who played saxophone in his youth with a New Orleans jazz band and died June 17, 2010 after 82 years of life.

BEYOND THE HARD TRUTHS OF TEACHING

Marvin Chachere

EARLY ON in my teaching career I learned that most principals, superintendents, and deans don't worry much about fostering student learning.

I'm not sure precisely what they do worry about or even what interests them. Perhaps it's management itself. matching means to ends. Or maybe it's simply tranquillity, • school that's run smoothly. At any rate, teachers and managers have little in common.

When I taught college. I told my students each semester, quite bluntly. that their institution wasn't organized and run primarily for their learning. I reminded them that they'd worked hard to gain admission. only to be hassled in registration lines. circumscribed by course requirements, intimidated by term papers and exams. categorized by grade points.

My message, of course. was a truism: Wanting to know something is a necessary precondition for leaming it. "How many of you are here to learn philosophy?" I'd ask. Everyone. (It was an elective course.) "How many of you would be here if this course offered no credit?" No one.

Students know the difference between learning a subject and going through the motions because they need the credits. Indeed, if a student really wants to learn, he doesn't need good teaching, and if he doesn't want to learn, the best teaching is useless. You can't force anyone to learn anything, unless you're an army sergeant teaching a recruit to fire a rifle. You may tell others what to learn, but this carries no force. Students recognize their rights in this very clearly, and they can easily reject your teaching.

By now you may be thinking that if I had any self-respect [ should have long ago sought other work. But for me it was precisely by recognizing these realities and struggling. with them in my own mind (if not in faculty committees, board meetings. and teachers' unions) that I found nourishment as a teacher. I enjoyed teaching and I stayed with it, but not to invent methods for jamming Iearning into the minds of unwilling students. If I wanted reform at all. it was in how I saw my job. Gripped by cynicism regarding my superiors and futility regarding my charges. I still struggled to see teaching as noble work.

My efforts weren't completely successful, but they brought satisfaction. Once I decided to Iet the managers and policymakers get on with their work, whatever it may be. I was free to get on with mine. By concentrating on the conditions of my students their real and supposed reasons for being in my class, their interests and abilities, even their joys and sorrows. I sought to reform my thinking, to neutralize the negative forces. In other words. I sought the essence of teaching: to stimulate, inspire, animate and arouse another.

" The main job of the teacher is to convey enthusiasm. A teacher isn’t a purveyor of intormation, a guide to the realm of ideas, ambassador of culture, a certifier of students' achievements, or a guarantor of good. paying jobs. Even less is a teacher concerned with development of a students' character and good citizenship. The only goal that's worth pursuing is to inspire your students with a love of your subject. Any other outcome, however honorable, is incidental.

This is simplistic, you say. All teachers try to get students interested in their subjects-and good teachers succeed. My point may be simple, but it's not simplistic. It carries three practical consequences, each affecting the improvement of teaching.

The first consequence is that you acknowledge your students' individual likes and dislikes even as you continue to show them how they can become enthused about what you're teaching. Realize that some students just don't like math, history, literature, science, or whatever. In recognizing individuality, you recognize reality.

The second consequence is that there's no subject for which studentls' enthusiasm is unworthy or unwarranted, not even basket-weaving. Let me quickly add that I don't propose teaching something just because students will sign up for it-a Bruce Springsteen seminar? But interest in one thing may lead to interest in other things; basket-weaving isn't unrelated to geometry, to physics, to history. Any student who shows you enthusiasm about anything at all has displayed a certain capacity. Good teaching implies the ability to exploit that capacity. find ways to put it to use, and transfer it, if possible to your subject.

The third consequence follows from the simple essence of teaching. You can’t arouse enthusiasm for a subject unless you've mastered it. The more you learn the more ways you have for arousing students' interests, and the better your teaching will be. Mastery is far more important than methods. Methods follow mastery, not the other way around. Students will be quick to see your enthusium. and if it sterms from mastery they may catch it.

That's all you can hope and work for. And it's enough. ~