Category: Big Questions

The English Teacher Companion

Prevention for late-work.

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English teachers: the stereotype is fussy, middle-aged woman whose sole job is to sneer at students’ misplaced commas and deny acceptance of late work. There are posts and tweets about how a student turns in late work, and the sheer amount of gleeful, snotty remarks dishearten me to no end. And after I remember to breathe after my raging, fist-shaking, and look deeper into what may be at the heart of this, I am asking all of us who love to read, to write, and to speak and listen to get back to the heart of what we love about being English teachers.

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It is well known that English teachers carry the unfair, unbalanced burden of too much grading. Our standards are vast: we shoulder the weight of teaching all students how to communicate clearly and well in the English language, a language fraught with peculiarities and nonsensical rules, more broken than adhered to. Our scores (along with math teachers and sometimes science) are “counted.” During staff meetings and data carousels, the reading and math scores are displayed on metaphorical pikes for all to see, judge often under the pretense of “growth.” Administration are pressed to raise scores, and if they are truly instructional leaders they promote a school-wide approach. If not, they turn the data walks into fuel for petty discourse and grudges.

While we can’t excuse all of the grading, because we are the expert in the classroom, and our feedback and insight is ultimately what our students desire, I am offering some alternatives to lessen the burden. However, if you are one of those for whom control is more important than your students’ learning, I don’t have a lot of hope. Please –with love-ask yourself if it’s about control versus guidelines.

Consider:

Writing Workshop.
Please: Do not let students read each other’s work. This is not about finding spelling mistakes or misused comma. The reading of the piece is a critical part of this, as is the listening, undistracted, by the feedback giver. The writer reads the work. Follow this protocol for some truly inspired writing experiences. https://mrskellylove.com/2019/07/31/writers-workshop/

Studio: my personal teaching philosophy is that teaching of humanities should be more like teaching art: help the talent grow and guide, but remember art is subjective > objective. If the creator can defend his or her work, allow them to make a case for it. Display students’ work as often as you can, and provide chances for open gallery feedback and discussion.

Single-Point Rubrics
Jennifer Gonzalez has a great post that my own master mentor and friend, Holly, suggested to me years ago. Great ideas do that: they spread, sharpen, and improve. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/single-point-rubric/

Don’t grade everything.
Pick one or two larger pieces of work. Give small check-in grades for progress along the way:
1. Pre-write
2. Draft
3. One revision pass
4. One editing pass
5. Final published work

Do not assign reading logs. Alternative: assign curated content. (Are your students checking up on your and your reading logs? It’s not much fun when we think about it that way.)

Speaking: give students a chance to talk, and you can provide an accountability piece if they share something that’s on their minds.

Listening: Read aloud. Play author’s interviews and speeches. Listen in workshop.

Calendars and Conversations: do not work in isolation, if you can help it, and reach out to colleagues to see if they’re giving assignments that can be cross-purposed. Make sure to help students with time management (Pomodoro method, etc.)

but…mah deadlines!

Deadlines do matter, but I offer that we take a version of ‘love and logic’ about deadlines. English teachers: make a promise to yourself and your students: if they miss a deadline do not offer sarcastic responses. We had a saying in the Puget Sound Writing Project: “Writing is never finished, it’s only due.” Tell students ahead of time that deadlines matter for everyone’s peace of mind and self-care, theirs and the teacher’s. Getting it done and something turned in gives everyone a place to start the feedback and discussion. I would tell students, if you turn in nothing, I am like the fire department: I don’t know if you’re drowning or if you’re on fire. I need to know how to help. There was always the last week of grading where I gave a small window to turn in missing/late work, or redo-work. Some kids took me up on it, some didn’t. Some…couldn’t. I think as we learn more about depression and other trauma we will have new means of helping students with deadlines. And, since we’ve been testing our students since kindergarten, not allowing free play time, we are facing a generation of students who do not know how to self-manage. We’re seeing more anger, violence and disruptions, and the solution seems to be keep kids in the classroom, and we’ll solve the root causes later. But that’s a post for another time.

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We have our jobs to do, and putting in grades and accounting for production is deeply embedded in our educational systems. Until that changes, or we make adjustments where we can, we are going to become increasingly burnt-out. We can be creative and thoughtful about this process, and above all: respectful. Modeling both self-respect and respect for our students will create a safer, gentler community of readers and writers. And who knows? They just might meet their deadlines.

Two additional resources:

Georgia’s Math Teachers Need to Know the Pacing Guide is Ableist

https://www.middleweb.com/31398/rick-wormeli-the-right-way-to-do-redos/

Feed kids.

Why can’t we simply feed kids?

Within this past summer, I learned that Abraham Maslow’s work is based (derived/stolen) the Blackfoot Nation work. It’s funny because this blog post was written in 2014. Five years to learn about this?

From https://sa-exchange.ca/the-blackfoot-maslow-connection/

At a conference last week of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, I learned that Abraham Maslow, one of the founders of humanistic psychology, borrowed generously from the Blackfoot people to refine his motivational theory on the hierarchy of needs.
Briefly, Maslow’s theory suggests that humans are motivated to fulfill first the most basic of needs, such as food, clothing and shelter. Once those needs are met, they move on to the need for safety and security. The needs become progressive, advancing to love and intimacy and then self-esteem before reaching self-actualization. The highest level is where humans are self-aware and grow to achieve their individual potential.
“This is a rip-off from the Blackfoot nation,” University of Alberta professor Cindy Blackstock told her workshop audience on Wednesday.

https://lincolnmichel.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/maslows-hierarchy-connected-to-blackfoot-beliefs/

I am going to fumble my way through this, and welcome any corrections to my understanding of this philosophical shift: the group puts everyone’s sense of belonging to the community first, the foundation for the group, and then all other needs grow, reach to the sky, forever, from this. And in practical, pragmatic sense, this is true. We must recognize each other as here, life and living, and the food, water, air, shelter, love, grow from this foundation. Our individual potential comes first.

Let’s consider food: we all need to eat. Schools are filled with children, 18 and under, who do not have access to jobs, money, income, and are at the mercy of the compulsory educational system which demands their presence and attendance.

That should be the foundation of the culture of schools.

And then, in our country, we don’t feed them?

We shame. We deny. We judge. We withhold. We mock. We yell. We violate. But we do not simply feed them.

Oh, and if someone like Michelle Obama suggests that fresh fruits and vegetables be added to students’ choices, she’s disparaged through racism and evangelical evils. Because according to Trump-supporting evangelicals, only the wealthy deserve what they have. To be poor is a sin. And since Maslow altered his diagram for Westernized consumption, we have even failed at this. We don’t provide basic human needs. We don’t have clean water in our schools. Or food (unless you’ve filled out a tangle of bureaucratic paperwork and put on public record that you need assistance). We don’t have safe shelters. Look at the crumbling buildings many students attend every day. Self-actualized? It is all making sense now. We don’t want students to become self-actualized. And I say “we” because until every educators’ voice is speaking out and up, and pushing for legislation to change this, nothing will change.

Just feed kids.

Follow up to this story: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/us/pennsylvania-lunch-debt-furor-apology/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/26/our-school-lunch-problem-is-microcosm-whats-wrong-with-american-life/?utm_term=.8ba2156e155d

Featured image from: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/who-decides-lunch-plans.htm

being human

We are failing at helping all children.

There must be six other drafts of writing on my mind, and yet this pushed its way up front, with force and weight. A few questions on Twitter started my brain thinking, such as what was the suspension rate at school, etc. This past year the suspension rate was next to nothing, because, well, suspensions didn’t exist unless the student was caught with drugs, weapons, or one who was unlucky enough to get caught pulling the fire alarm. (I say unlucky because we had about a dozen false alarms last year, and he was the only one I know of who was caught and suspended.)

There was no ISS room, lunch detentions were a party held on the cafeteria stage, and our restorative justice leader/teacher and room was dismantled (she went to another building) halfway through the year. There was one counselor, and two special ed teachers for three grades, and a rotating list of support staff, one quitting or being let go after the other. There were several fights, many ending up with injuries, and the parties involved would be back at school the next day. It wasn’t that big of a deal, except often they were in the same classes, and other students would be bewildered that “nothing happened.” I had my own struggles with relationship building, classroom management, and physical and verbal abuse issues this year. When I initiated parent contact, conversations were well received and support helped the student. But many parents are overwhelmed with life (as was I–our family was in crisis mode), so finding the willingness and ability to stay calm, mindful, and patient was a huge challenge. One I personally failed at. And that cycle of failure, of not being who I know I can be, is a self-grudge.

Suspensions don’t work. And I’m not sure Restorative Justice does either, but that’s because I’ve never seen it in practice. ISS rooms “can” work if, and this is a big, big IF, there is a support person in there who’s mature, loving, firm, and sees the children. But the ISS rooms in the video are cinderblock basements, with cracked floors and locked doors. Horrifying. In an Edweek article by Allison Fried, “If You Won’t Do Restorative Justice Right, Don’t Do It” the essential message is:

Clayton County has been successful because it has set itself up for success. If Denver, and other districts, are to truly advocate for restorative justice, they must go all in. We need a comprehensive set of policies to help eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline. Students need firm boundaries at school, consistent positive and negative consequences, spaces to reflect, and trusted and trained adults who can help them to process trauma, emotional responses, and typical adolescent rebellion.
Restorative justice programming should also involve strategic use of all the local resources available to schools. Denver, for example, with its access to the outdoors, and numerous youth organizations and cultural centers, can take advantage of community partnerships to enrich a restorative justice program. Finally, districts must put their money where their mouth is, through a dedicated application of funds for professional development, increased hiring of social workers and psychologists, and strategic programming.
To me, that sounds a lot more promising than a few peace circles.

If You Want Do Restorative Justice Right, Don’t Do It

My dad got “in trouble” a lot. He’s almost 79 years old (this month) and to this day remembers the name of the teacher who told him he might wind up in jail. I, too, was sent outside in the hallway or in the corner for talking, from kindergarten through second grade. (We moved from a Texas school to an open concept one in Illinois…) Being sent to the corner is humiliating, and being outside to the hallway only less so. What did I learn? That my intelligence and language skills were shameful. My younger son is ADD and over his school years just that “simple” issue became one I fought and advocated for his academic rights. (Nothing like being a teacher-momma and knowing how the sausage is made, so to speak.) But these low-level noncompliance issues are/were not our fault. We three share an exuberance for creativity, ideas, and have great senses of humor. We also share addictive behaviors, lack of focus, and misunderstood ambitions. But we did not have other learning issues, racism, ACEs, and the legion of other issues that face children.

But many of my students do. And for that reason, I have a responsibility to not wait for someone else to do anything– (not much one for waiting anyway, a bonus of ADD). Here are some resources for us all to be better at inclusion, all kinds of needs, and helping our students:

IEP Navigator

@MoniseLSeward shares an amazing Facebook group called the IEP Navigator:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/451220092312416/

Inclusive teaching strategies

http://www.washington.edu/teaching/teaching-resources/inclusive-teaching-at-uw/inclusive-teaching-strategies/

Lives in the balance

https://livesinthebalance.org/

And:

The Summer Wife

How do our lives as teachers shift during summer break?

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

― Leo Tolstoy , Anna Karenina
To read great responses to the question, follow this thread:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

This is my 13th summer break: summer is this weird, odd, delightful and terrifying experience. It is the season of reckoning, when all the “I’ll get this done during break” realities come into conflict with “just relax” or as my brain says, “JUST RELAX.” The summer solstice feels like a slow slide into the next school year.

This is summer.

And each summer I proclaim my ground, and die on that hill, “I shall NOT do all the domestic chores!” to the three men in my home. We’ve had summers of varying financial solvency, our sons have grown from late elementary school to being in and out of college (both are at home, and that is totally cool), and their summer schedules have shifted. Meaning, they were long out of diapers and toddlerhood by the time I became a teacher. So the business of being a parent during summer break transitioned from ‘how am I going to entertain my own children?” to their independence as young men. But the domestic expectations, and deep, resentful disappointments, are magnified x1000 during the summer break. (My mom meltdown over the dishes that were left out, on the counter, again, with an empty dishwasher, is just now coming to its half-life radioactive boil.)

This may not be so much about the physical space of summer, but the mental space. Maybe I need to give myself credit for being a “professional summer breaker.” I know how to do summer, right? Make it feel warm, accomplished, relaxed and satisfying? So when summer comes to an end for the school teacher in me (and in the Pacific Northwest that is the end of August, with training days, etc. in the third of it, and the start of school in the fourth of it), I’ll say to myself, “time to get back to work: everything is taken care of, and now to focus again on students.” That’s the goal, right? But why does it always feel forced? That the Jekyll/Hyde duality of my life is fractured?

Each summer bears the heavy fruit of ‘be creative.’ Turn it on, lose track of days and schedules. But this ongoing idea that, (said internally in a falsetto Pinocchio voice, “I’m a REAL writer!”) repeats itself trying to stamp out the Little Imposter Girl demon-in-residence. (However, in the past day someone I hold in great regard asked me to do some writing, and I am beyond excited. Stay tuned. So shut up, Little Imposter Girl! We’ve got work to do!)

All of our situations and households are different, and each of us goes into summer break with varying expectations. And managing those expectations of ourselves and others seems to become the real task. I read many posts from teachers asking or sharing their “side hustles” and my heart hurts–none of us should have to get a summer job to earn money. I am curious: if you have another vocation that you love to do, and “get” to do, (not “have” to) what are those things?

Think about the activities that bring us joy: it might be cooking, hiking, gardening, reading, mead-making (my husband’s skill — his apple mead is delicious and worthy of entrance to Valhalla). Do you do those things, or does your family put spoken or unspoken assumptions and responsibilities on you because you’re on break? Do you ever feel a little resentful or relieved? Relieved that you have the time, or resentful that your time is seen as open-ended and free? If you have small children, how do you negotiate the balance of care and responsibility with your partner? And single parenting must bring about other challenges that are not my place to speak about.

I’m the “Summer Wife” now. It’s when I feel kinder, quieter, more nurturing to myself, my spouse and sons. But it also belies a small kernel of resentment, too. What I wish — really wish — is I could feel this way all year long. This summer steers me toward working on my emotional balance. For all of us: have a guilt-free, resentment-free, and satisfying summer, however that looks to you and yours. And take as many dang photos of your toes in sand that you want.

place for everything and everything all over the place

What is your issue with Marie Kondo?” a respected colleague inquired the other day.

I have no particular issue with her personally, her show, her writing or ideas. Many of my friends touted her book a few years ago. There is some wonderful advice, and cleaning out physical clutter often helps us clear out emotional clutter, too. We Americans buy too much crap. And, this reminds me of years ago during one NCTAsia.org conference, the Eastern cultural notion of holding onto belongings, buying things of high quality that lasts instead of our Western consumer-trash was presented as an idea of cultural competency and contrast. Some have mentioned the backlash against Kondo is racially motivated, and there may be some truth in that. Americans consume and we expect the rest of the world to supply. Kondo gently but firmly makes us look at that.

Thinking back on my own rituals of cleaning up and out, during BFA days in my trailer/studio I took over–it was parked behind the print shop at the University of Delaware, abandoned. Since no one seemed to mind, I squatted all of my art materials there and created. It had running electricity, so my boombox played INXS, Robert Palmer, Peter Gabriel, and The Pretenders to my heart’s content. One of my creative rituals was to tidy up my dump of a studio before beginning projects. Part of the process to put the jars in a row, pick up litter and debris, pop paintbrushes in lined-up jars and cans, anything to avoid the big, blank canvas. Even when I learned the trick of coating the canvas with a wash of black paint and medium, (which I have since used as a writing metaphor with students), the act of lining things up still sits with me today. The challenge is even though I still often line things up, that’s often where I’ll stop. Instead of getting in the mental mud and truly, deeply cleaning, I go through the optics and mental trickery–the sad truth is I am overwhelmed, creative, and ebullient–so many things I want to do, share, create, think about, talk about and achieve–but then sometimes I just shut down.

The thing is– I need to acknowledge both my own stubbornness and agency when it comes to my stuff. My friend Sharon and I had a great conversation about this the other day. She is also an amazingly creative and intentional teacher. She creates the most incredible hallway displays and has an eye for theatrical and large mural-esque messaging. She has moved classrooms once in the 13+ years at my previous building. (I moved about 4-5 times during my 12 years there, and of course my big move to another district, so there has been some purging along the way.) People try to ‘manage’ her. And we both wish they would just stop. She knows how her classroom set-up works best for students and for herself. She holds kids accountable like no one I know (and I’m pretty good at it in my own way). But her desk area is undeniably cluttered. She’s too busy teaching, creating, thinking, and making to do much about it. But it does bother others. I’ve received that same message when an admin once looked around my thousands of dollars of books and essentially called it a roomful of crap. So–yeah.

And I just want to ask–“If this bothering you, how is that my problem?”

The issue is not whether or not I “Kondo” my classroom or home, the issue is other people’s comfort levels or discomfort, depending on their perceptions of my space, time, and creative energy. When they bring their bias and control in my space, I feel itchy and weird. I go to this immature place in my head, begin feeling stubborn and defiant.

My life is a mess right now. And I do take pleasure in the same victories, such as when I complete a grading task or fold towels. However, I balk and pushback a little too hard when others “tell me what to do.” In terms of my house, I’m lucky I can scrape enough together to pay the mortgage right now. We’re going through a rough patch. There are three other adults living in this house, all perfectly capable, and willing, to clean a bathroom, do their own laundry, and unload a dishwasher. But it’s taken 26 years of my emotional and mental labor to get them to this point. And I still have to say it out loud and ask. But in terms of the spaces where I work, play, rest and create, I’m doing the best I can. Back off, please. I know how good it feels to clean out a closet. My mother will tell you I’ve done this for years. I love to iron, straighten up, throw things away. I made a resolution once to put together all pairs of socks out of the dryer and didn’t lose a single sock for years. But now I have a husband who has his stuff, and two grown sons who also have theirs, and I’m not going to manage it along with my own. We’ve compromised that there are spaces in our home that require communal tidying, and all the other spaces are ours. In my classroom, I make it clear that I am sharing my resources out of love of creativity. Use accordingly.

Our little rituals of control help us when the world is out of control, and heaven knows it is so spun out now we are looking for any source of magic and joy we can squeeze out. And quite frankly, I’d rather be writing than cleaning out my drawers. You know you would, too.

Related Ideas:

How The ‘Scarcity Mindset’ Can Make Problems Worse

The Scarcity Trap: Why We Keep Digging When We’re Stuck In A Hole

Leave That Messy Desk Alone: Studies Say There’s a Benefit to Clutter

Marie Kondo’s show shines spotlight on women’s unpaid labor

For fun…

We teachers have full, wonderful lives outside of teaching. I think. Sure we do! YES! We most definitely do! And why let all the wonderful folks such as Barack Obama create a list!? Here’s my challenge, inspired by @jarredamato, the leader of #ProjectLit:

When a friend posted Obama’s list today, I immediately went to i-Tunes and grabbed some of the songs I liked. Dang, I used to be such an aficionado of new music! What happened?

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Whatever.

Here are the list of movies, books, and music I added to my collection in 2018:

Books:

My Goodreads name is k love (I think) and I read 47/100 of my reading challenge books. *Shrug* https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/11069938

My favorites came out of the #ProjectLit collection:

Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha)

Dread Nation (see link)

Dread Nation

Long Way Down: (see link)

Long Way Down

And:

Movies/Television:

What did we watch? Well, Black KKKlansman, Black Panther, Hereditary, A Quiet Place, Isle of Dogs, Bird Box, (read the book first, dang it!) Game Night (eye roll), Solo and whatever comes out on Netflix. Shows include Ozark, Sabrina, Black Mirror, Stranger Things, The Haunting of Hill House, Making a Murderer, Jessica Jones, Series of Unfortunate Events, Vikings, Game of Thrones, all of the American Horror Stories, Better Call Saul, Barry, and started Dark. (I feel like there are some missing, but oh well.)

Music

Some songs I added (not new to 2018 necessarily, but new to me):

And I highly recommend the Kill Bill soundtrack.

In addition to consuming media, I like to create media, too! I love to write and make collage images.

@cmclymer tweeted this fun thing – what would your two accessories be?

A toy company makes a replica action figure of your likeness. What two accessories do they include?— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 27, 2018

So thank you, Jarred and Charlotte, for some fun ideas. I’m not anyone important, but I am a teacher, and living my best, creative life helps me, my family, and my students. It is my personal oxygen mask.

like riding a bike…

Success Criteria need a makeover.

First, a terse, reflective question: what is my deal with learning targets and success criteria, anyway? * What, exactly, is my issue? Am I defensive and cranky because it’s “not how I was taught and I still managed to learn a lot of things anyway” notion? Is it the because it feels like another educational bandwagon that, including learning styles and grit, will be just another “this will fix it!” moment?

What do we get from learning targets and success criteria? Moreover, what do students gain? Because what I’ve witnessed are the following:

  1. Students write down LT/SC in some kind of agenda/planner or notebook. Bike analogy: Today you will learn how to ride a bike. You will be successful when you ride a bike. (Specific: ride it several yards without falling down.)
  2. Students sometimes reflect** on whether or not they met that metric. Several administrators have told me and other staff that the LT/SC must change daily. It is not a continuum of learning but a specific tight skill. Bike analogy: Put your foot on the bike pedal.
  3. Evaluator comes in the room, notices if LT/SC are written in student-friendly language on the board, and will spot-check with students if they can parrot say what they are. Bike analogy: where the wheels fall off the bike is when the students are learning a new concept or skill, and have no idea really why they are learning it until they apply it. You are learning how to ride a bike: you have no idea where that bike will take you.

**This reflection is not automatic–it is one more thing to remind students to do. And it’s helpful — this is where we need to turn the conversation around.

Let’s try this:

  1. Students write down LT/SC PLUS a reflection space for the why or possible application of the transferable skill.
  2. Students focus on the mistakes that were made along the way –and the successes.
  3. Evaluator comes in the room, asks them what they are learning, and then follows up with the teacher and students at a future date to read the students’ reflections and ideas about the mistakes, etc.

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“Alcala also projects “favorite mistakes” on the board that they talk about as a class. And students get time to look at their own mistakes and figure out where they went wrong. The other advantage of highlighting is that she can call attention to things that she won’t necessarily take points off for, but that she wants students to notice. For example, she might highlight that they didn’t put the correct units in a word problem. They got the math correct, so Alcala is not worried they won’t be able to move forward, but she wants to remind them that units are important.”

From A Grading Strategy That Puts the Focus on Learning From Mistakes

Please notice that this is a math teacher. Math instruction is the go-to for learning target and success criteria conversations. Evaluators can easily pinpoint it, and perhaps we ELA teachers bristle* because our subject area is essentially more abstract than concrete. Learning targets and success criteria that don’t work:

Learning Target: “Today you will learn how to pull the wings off of a butterfly of poetry in order to deconstruct its meaning and then carefully put it back together and still enjoy the same sublime and ethereal beauty.”

Success Criteria: Explain the quality and essence of beauty in a five- paragraph essay.

Okay, so –now what?

Let me try this for two weeks, and do a little teacher-research: click on this link to a Google Doc. 

The plan is to provide the LT/SC written out in advance for students, and then have them fill in the rest–it will be a gradual release process as they build their own autonomy and ownership. Stay tuned for results, late January.

Make Stuff, Not Subscribers

Middle School Misfortunes Then and Now, One Teacher’s Take

Please read this post that provides an excellent example of then and now–before smartphones and their dopamine enhancers embedded into our psyches. I’ve been the classroom teacher who has witnessed this first hand. The students who find out that I have a Youtube channel and never, ever ask me what’s the content, but always “How many subscribers do you have?” (Currently 52.) The students who graffiti on any free surface: AMOS@(Snapchat username). The students who looked at me blankly when I suggested they use their Snapchat filters to create a monstrous portrait for a writing prompt. Here is one example using Snapchat, and another using Snapseed:

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I can’t find the one using WordSwag to create a mini-quote print, but no matter. So many fun apps to make and create fun things, satisfying my artist’s soul. When they looked at their Snapchat and Instagram accounts with new awe and wonder: you mean, my work is my art, and it’s important and valuable simply because it’s mine? A shocking concept.

If you belong to this age of parenting where you don’t know this is the case for so many students because your family does things together, have built a culture of creativity and exploration then you may not see this issue. I am fortunate because my own family is a family of musicians, photographers, and artists. My husband and sons are excellent musicians, my husband and younger son love to photograph, and my older son is a skilled musician and actor. I just make stuff–I was an art major and I love tinkering with digital apps to create and blend new things. But that’s not what students are taught. Art is diminished. Conversations about making things don’t exist in many classrooms or homes. Be mindful of that: technology is not the problem. How it’s perceived is.

And here are my responses to his recommendations:

  1. Propose that administrators and teachers stop using social media for school related purposes. In many districts, teachers are encouraged to employ Twitter and Instagram for classroom updates. This is a bad thing. It normalizes the process of posting content without consent and teaches children that everything exciting is best viewed through a recording iPhone. It also reinforces the notion that ‘likes’ determine value. Rather than reading tweets from your child’s teacher, talk to your children each day. Ask what’s going on in school. They’ll appreciate it.
    Propose that schools are diligent in terms of engaging, embedded technology used to create: more video and digital art production and know-how. But please: start talking to your children, even if they hem and haw and put up walls. That’s what adolescents do, it’s their job. But do what you can to find a common place to talk, even if it’s a drive in a car together, have them make the playlist for the drive or a family event/holiday. Have them start an Instagram account for a family pet or story. There are multiple tools to use to create: encourage creativity, not the likes. 
  2. Insist that technology education include a unit on phone etiquette, the dark sides of social media and the long-term ramifications of posting online. Make sure students hear from individuals who have unwittingly and unwillingly been turned into viral videos.   Yes.
  3. Tell your children stories from your own childhood. Point out how few of them could have happened if smartphones had been around. Remind your children that they will someday grow up and want stories of their own. An afternoon spent online doesn’t make for a very good one. And have them document those stories using the technology tools available: curating photographs, collecting sound recordings and videos of family members, bringing back the ‘home movie’ concept and most importantly, underscore WE ARE THE HEROS IN OUR OWN STORIES. We own our narratives. 
  4. Teach your children that boredom is important. They should be bored. Leonardo Da Vinci was bored. So was Einstein. Boredom breeds creativity and new ideas and experiences. Cherish boredom. Yes.
  5. Remind them that, as the saying goes, adventures don’t come calling like unexpected cousins. They have to be found. Tell them to go outside and explore the real world. Childhood is fleeting. It shouldn’t be spent staring at a screen. Yes, again.

Ultimately, I would prefer that the normalization of technology is the normalization of creativity and creation, of making and doing, not the false idols of likes and followers. If you haven’t been in a classroom in the last three to five years you may not believe this is a reality for students. It feels like a Black Mirror episode some days. Flipping the conversation to “how many subscribers?” to “what do you create is a simple but important acknowledgment.

 

Also read: https://jcasatodd.com/social-media-is-social-currency/

And: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2018/11/17/have-students-create-ninety-second-videos-retelling-books-with-the-newbery-film-festival/

 

Together alone
Above and beneath
We were as close 
As anyone can be
Now you are gone
Far away from me
As is once
Will always be
Together alone
Anei ra maua (here we are together)
E piri tahi nei (in a very close embrace)
E noha tahi nei (being together)
Ko maua anake (just us alone)
Kei runga a Rangi (Rangi the sky-father is above)
Ko papa kei raro (the earth mother is below)
E mau tonu nei (our love for one another)
Kia mau tonu ra (is everlasting)

 

Perception is Truth. (Until it’s not.)

class

The faces are blurred to protect my students, of course. I wish I could share the unredacted photo: the students are relaxed, even laughing. Their body language is engaged, there are so many things you wouldn’t see. When I snapped the pic, one student told me I was “snitching” because he thought they were in trouble. They weren’t really engaged with the instruction, but only socially with each other. When I took the picture, it didn’t occur to me that it would look like another Barbecue Becky snapping a tattle-tale image to show to cops. When I ask them to sit in assigned seats, they refuse with protest, and perhaps it is the protest of all the systemic racism that makes kids of color forced into situations they have no control over, so any moment, however fraught with consequences, of regaining that control they will do the thin-slicing and risk it. I wear the face of that oppression.

And there is an undercurrent of hostility, and I must recognize my part in it. And I will do better.

The past two years have been two of the angriest, hostile and fear-ridden teaching environments in the Title I schools I’ve taught. Districts are turning away from helping children in poverty to focus on equity and restorative practices.

Are these bad? No, of course not. It’s good and important work, and due to a few incidents, one I am looking at reflectively and self-critically. I have found my own inner dialogue (and slightly outer tone) to be defensive and hurt. And after listening to a just-in-time “Teaching While White” podcast, I have come to some conclusions.

I don’t always get it right. In fact, I need to always, ALWAYS consider the optics from the students’ point of view.

Being an Ally: The Role of White Educators in Multicultural Education

Assumptions and Actions

By Elizabeth Denevi

I do not expect people of color to thank me or to acknowledge my antiracist work. I consider it my moral responsibility and will not look for validation from people of color. I am the one who benefits most from multiculturalism.

https://teachingwhilewhite.org/being-an-ally/

In other words, not only will I not get a ‘thank you’ –it’s not warranted, it’s excessive, and any criticism I receive must be absorbed quietly. It is my privilege and honor to work in a Title I school: I have always felt like the lucky one. Not a savior. Not a hero. But the beneficiary of sitting side by side with the world in my own backyard. And my beliefs have not been expressed in practice to some observers in my classroom this year–and perception is the truth. So if that is what others are seeing: that I am not equitable in practice, voice, or actions, then it is only I who can change.

However: that doesn’t mean that students don’t have some huge trauma and anger– and these past two years the fear levels continue to spike, and for good reason. Our nation is a mess. It’s under an authoritarian regime. Voters of color are being purged. We are in an apartheid state. S*** is real. And if my actions as a white teacher are doing any harm, I must repair.

From:

How America Became the Incredible and Jaw-Dropping Laughingstock of the World

What Happens When You Refuse to Join the World — and Tell the World to Join You in Collapse? by Umair Haque

But the world also didn’t quite understand that America couldn’t ratify many of these treaties. It was itself a segregated apartheid state. It only ended segregation in 1971. How could it sign treaties giving people equal rights — or be punished and disciplined by its peer nations — when it itself wasn’t ready to do so to its very own people? All people weren’t people in America — so how could America sign up to a world order that wanted all people to be people? Do you see the problem? The world was moving ahead, swiftly, with conviction, towards greater equality, freedom, and peace. But America was trapped by its past — not just unwilling, but politically and institutionally unable to join it. You can’t exactly ratify human rights for all if you’re making black people drink at separate water fountains.

The single most effective structure in my experience is the teacher-team model. The cross-content team works as a cohort to support each student: even if only a team of three, alongside common planning times, a cohort, when working collaboratively, helps find patterns and proactively create supports for students. It’s almost like an adult unified front: not punitive, but gentle, warmly demanding adults who clearly let each child and their parent(s) know they are there for support. The best teams include a mix of personalities, and overarching maturity allowing that not all students will equally like all teachers.

equity
Okay. So…little one doesn’t want to watch the game, the tall one hates baseball, and the middle one is on his fifth trip to the bathroom. But perhaps this is the best we can strive for now? Hmmm….

Why don’t more schools, especially middle schools, do this model? Well, I know it was abandoned at times under different administrators because they did not value it. I know it can be a scheduling issue. I believe this year my former middle school went back to the team model, and I am so happy for them, if not a bit jealous. On the plus side, my colleagues in my new building have reached out and we’ve been proactive and collaborative without a formal blessing from admin. But we work well together, and for that I’m grateful. Our goal is simple: we want students to be happy and learn.

(Pst, Admin: it truly, totally makes your life better when the front line of support, teachers, are there for students first.)

Which brings up a suspected reason: loss of control. Giving over control to cohorts of educators is too scary.

Are you exhausted from living in fear? I am. Perhaps I can bring this up to the #cleartheair community–what is the plan for us educators from a variety of backgrounds to heal our communities? We are telling the truth while trying to create a new narrative. Meritocracy is garbage, and we all need to recognize that.

I can’t do this work alone, in isolation. No more fear.

Reading List Suggestions:


Fresh Start 101

Do students come to your classroom year with reputations? 

Well.

Yes.

And–I’m struggling with the past clinging to some students.

That’s about as diplomatic as I’m can muster right now.

How Black Girls Aren’t Presumed to Be Innocent

THE PRESENCE OF JUSTICE

A new study finds that adults view them as less child-like and less in need of protection than their white peers.

ADRIENNE GREEN

A growing body of evidence has shown that the American education and criminal-justice systems dole out harsher and more frequent discipline to black youth compared with their non-black peers. But while most of that research has focused on black boys, a new study from the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality specifically turned its attention to society’s perception of black girls.

 

Further in the article:

Black girls describe being labeled and suspended for being “disruptive” or “defiant” if they ask questions or otherwise engage in activities that adults consider affronts to their authority. Across the country, we see black girls being placed in handcuffs for having tantrums in kindergarten classrooms, thrown out of class for asking questions, sent home from school for arriving in shorts on a hot day. … We also see black girls criminalized—arrested on campus or referred to law enforcement—instead of engaged as children and teens whose mistakes could be addressed through non-punitive, restorative approaches.

 

Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds

“The evidence shows that perceptions of the essential nature of children can be affected by race, and for black children, this can mean they lose the protection afforded by assumed childhood innocence well before they become adults,” said co-author Matthew Jackson, PhD, also of UCLA. “With the average age overestimation for black boys exceeding four-and-a-half years, in some cases, black children may be viewed as adults when they are just 13 years old.”

I’m sharing these articles in the hope that we all are a bit more cognizant of our implicit biases and perceptions about children, especially children of color. There are more than a few behavior issues in my afternoon classes, and I’ve been doing a mountain of reflection. I can feel my brain buzzing in the early morning from the currents of thought and concern. Juggling new, top-heavy curriculum, leveled, a prescripted reading program that flies in the face of everything I’ve researched, and thirty-minute schedules to teach U.S.History (yes, thirty minutes) along with the new committees, expectations, navigating the new culture of my new workplace and district–it’s a lot. As I remind myself I am the adult here– and if my situation is challenging I must keep in mind how difficult it must be for students. Listening and reading a book you don’t like or can’t connect with? Silent reading for thirty minutes? And then pivoting to other ideas that seem random, as instructed from the same teacher, same space? I’m going to have to do better: it’s going to take both tricks and treats to move learning along.

In the meantime, thanks to many generous donors, and getting a decent payday myself, my DonorsChoose was fully funded. I am hoping that the #projectLIT books help my scholars see themselves in narratives.

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