Sometimes we humans get lucky and are able to experience something more than ourselves because someone amazing stood up and fought to make a difference. Most of those solid souls and the differences they make go unnoticed by everyone not within their immediate sphere. Mr. Jaime Escalante and his badass teaching philosophy did not go unnoticed. You can read the book or you can watch the movie. If you aren’t affected by either, you’re dead inside.

Mr. Escalante is 79 and is currently trying to kick the ass of cancer. I’m hoping that because he managed to somehow be more than most humans, someone wrote a book about it, and Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips starred in the film, that he and his family won’t end up broken due to medical bills and cancer. To donate, go here.

Further Reading:

Which Road Do the Quality Teachers Walk In On?
Jaime Escalante: 1999 Inductee National Teachers Hall of Fame
Legendary East L.A. Teacher Jaime Escalante Battles Cancer
Funds Sought for Ill ‘Stand and Deliver’ Teacher
Jaime Escalante Being Treated for Cancer

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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I’ve told you people this over and over: kids need to run around during the school day. It’s good for their bodies, it’s good for their brains. Exercise gets their energy out so they can sit still long enough to learn. They learn better when their bodies are less amped. Do you all overstand yet? Stop decreasing recess and budget-cutting PE and athletic programs.

More scientific research to back me up on that comes from the British Medical Journal. A recent study shows that kids are miraculously more fit and trim when they are allowed to exercise during the school day. So. Dang. Weird.

An excerpt from the article:

One in three to five children in the Western world is overweight or obese. This epidemic is rapidly and constantly growing and affects all socioeconomic levels and ethnicities. Excessive weight is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, orthopaedic problems, and psychosocial constraints even before adulthood is reached. Life expectancy may be reduced by several years, as is work productivity, while costs are increasing enormously. A focus on early prevention is thus urgently needed.

The increase in physical inactivity over the past decades is one of the main causes of the increase in obesity. In adults, physical inactivity and low aerobic fitness are associated with higher mortality and a higher prevalence of chronic disease. In children, physical inactivity and lack of fitness are associated with increasing prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, even independent of body weight.

Further Reading:

Educational Psychology Can Save Recess (I Hope)
The Salubriousness of Recess

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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While high school juniors and seniors are in full-on panic mode because the college application and acceptance process is hitting the fan in earnest for both groups of students, I’m hopeful everyone can manage to remember that college is not a life or death situation. Every adult involved in the life of an upperclassman tends to make it seem as though it is, but I promise you it’s not.

Breathe, people, and read this post in the NY Times education blog, Mom U. Regular columnist, Caren Osten Gerzberg, had her daughter write the post. Nicole is a high school junior and makes some excellent points with regard to the college admissions process and how it relates to the grand scheme of things.

Seriously, you are a single, unimportant speck in the universe. No one actually gives a rat’s ass which institution of higher learning chooses you for matriculation. And in ten years, neither will you. Perspective is a priceless tool.

Further Reading:

Community College vs. University
College Comparison Tool
Awesome Parent
The Coolest College Application Essay Ever
How To (Not) Screw Up the College Apps
Avoiding Six Common College Application Slip-Ups
College Admissions Testing: For and Against
Taking Your Personality Into Account When Making Major Decisions
Media Frenzy Around High Pressure College Admissions
College Admissions—Looking Good Only On Paper

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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My 2nd-grade daughter and I were out for dinner recently. In the booth behind ours, two educators were dining. From their loudly voiced conversation, the entire restaurant was able to put together the facts: The man was a local and was hosting the visiting female teacher, who was in town for some sort of work-related meeting or conference or something.

She was polite and did her best to maintain socially acceptable conversation at a tactful volume. He was a total pain in the ass. Teacher Man spent the better part of an hour spouting off about what’s wrong with public education today. While I didn’t enjoy trying to maintain my own conversation with my kid over his unnecessarily loud mouth, I was forced to admit that I agreed with most of his pronouncements.

And then he made just the worst wrong turn. As he and his acquaintance were paying up and juggling coats and take-out boxes, he told the story of an unpleasant parent/teacher conference he’d had. I saw my daughter stop her description of her latest invention as her ears practically turned backwards to better hear what the jackass behind us was going on about.

Basically, the mother of a particularly annoying student came in for her conference and immediately launched into an explanation of how bright and gifted her child was and wanted to know what Teacher Man planned to do about special learning opportunities for her son. Teacher man guffawed out loud(er), and as he walked past our table on his way to the door, he choked out: “That kid was as dumb as a post!”

My daughter, who worships all teachers, opened her eyes so wide I could watch the panic light her up inside. This was followed immediately by one of her little lights going out as disillusionment set in and an unfortunate deeper understanding of adults pushed its way into her heretofore fully-illusioned mind. Teachers were capable of mean thoughts and there was a chance they didn’t like her as much as they professed to. I closed my eyes and tried hard to convince myself that punching Teacher Man out in full view of my kid would be a worse moment for her to witness than that chucklehead’s words.

Not every kid is gifted or talented. I know it must suck to be an educator in this day and age, and having to deal with annoying-ass parents must blow. Everyone thinks their kid’s a genius and most kids are just normal. I have never shoved my kid down any teacher’s throat. I let the educators do their job and as long as my kid is happy and is obviously learning, I’m good. But my child, who loves people first and asks questions later, did not need to hear a teacher shout out what he really thought about a student’s intelligence. Unacceptable.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and I would never assume that teachers are perfect and don’t have mean thoughts. Vent all you want, let it out. Being a teacher can’t be easy. But for the sake of all things holy, do not express your frustration loudly in a restaurant 20 inches from a kid.

I didn’t catch which elementary school Teacher Man works his magic in, so no angry letter can be sent and no surprise classroom visit can occur. But I remember what he looks like, and Seattle’s a smaller town than one might think…I promise I’ll only smack him down with words.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Below please find my four favorite online videos of all time. You can watch them while waiting for 2010 to finally get here, or after you’ve recovered from the late night of drunken hilarity that you will have no memory of.

If you require 78 more, you can check out Paul Bogush’s post listing 78 amazing videos. Happy New Year, people.

This one relates to education.

This one doesn’t.

This one explains the future succinctly.

And this one is totally inappropriate.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

It’s common knowledge that the first year of teaching for a newbie educator is awful. Having the fun and having the ability to calm the fight-or-flight response is out of the question for most. It’s really a question of survival until June, at which point the new teacher takes stock and decides whether to stay or run for the hills.

Joel over at So You Want To Teach has a list of ten interview questions he answered for a former student about his first year of teaching:

1. What discipline methods do you use? How do you get the students involved?

One of the most effective discipline techniques I have found is simply to talk less and play more. This prevents most of the misbehaviors that tend to spring up throughout the class period. Additionally, phone calls and parent contact have been invaluable tools. That also is helpful for encouraging student and parent involvement.

2. Was your first year positive? How?

The biggest positive of my first year was learning that the idealism of the university classroom is rarely the case of the reality of a struggling band program. My junior high band got straight 3s at UIL, and that was an improvement on the previous year. Classroom management was my weakest skills. I went into the year thinking that since I knew a lot about the various instruments, I would automatically be a good director.

I recorded myself teaching and would go home and listen to the recordings and be amazed at how badly the students behaved. There were times throughout my first two years that I seriously considered going back to teaching private lessons. The thing that really kept me going throughout was support and contact with some of my mentors who encouraged me that I was actually a pretty good teacher and who helped me to deal with some of the classroom management struggles I went through.

3. What have you learned that will help you in the future?

How to get students quiet and keep them quiet. I was a “good kid” and so relating to the “bad kids” was a challenge for me initially. I spent the last half of my fourth semester of teaching going through trial and error finding out how to do it.

4. How well did college prepare you for the classroom?

Pedagogically, it prepared me very well. Classroom management preparation was virtually nonexistent. I learned a whole lot more through teaching private lessons, teaching master classes, and observing a wide variety of band programs.

5. Give one piece of advice for a new graduate.

Two things. 1) You don’t know everything. When you find one of the many things you don’t know how to do or how to handle, ask questions. Ask questions from anyone who will give you an answer. Some of the best stuff I picked up came from a science teacher down the hall from me my first two years. 2) Read How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. More…

Further Reading:

The Teachers You Remember
Which Road Do the Quality Teachers Walk In On?
The Manly Art of Teaching
If You’re Pondering a Teaching Career
Teaching the Truth
Eph Teaching Diary
Education Degree Information

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Bob Blaisdell, professor of English at City University of New York’s Kingsborough Community College, has an article up at Inside Higher Ed in which he explains in hilarious detail what being an Ideal Teacher involves.

Apparently one must possess several gorgeously wonderful traits, one must be capable of bringing them all to the podium, and one must stop about a nanometer shy of flicking any unsightly humanness onto one’s students. To be an Ideal Teacher, one must be there enough to show them how amazing their instructor really is, but not there so much that the magic is lost. Also, there must be no ingesting of food or liquids, as that may render the Ideal Teacher into nothing more than human, which, as we are all aware, is significantly less than ideal in the eyes of other humans. (Especially one’s students.)

…He is also glimpsed once in a while in the hallways and also passing through the cafeteria. He can drink juice or water, maybe coffee, but it’s better if he doesn’t. He really shouldn’t eat. Ideal Teacher has to eat, but not when a student can see, because what if his diet includes the pork or beef or meat or vegetables or protein-matter that the student disapproves of? In any case, an Ideal who eats human food is disgusting and he really shouldn’t.

After school (he shouldn’t live there, not on campus or on a cot in his office), Ideal Teacher can be seen leaving but he absolutely does not take public transportation! He does not share the grim bus ride to the subway or the impatient rush-hour subway ride towards the city. He does not sit shoulder to shoulder with Brooklynites and mark papers while sipping and sloshing coffee and eating a crumbling cookie. Banish the thought! No bus, no train. He has a car, and it’s an unusual car — not too expensive, but cute and funny. He does not live too close to the college. More…

That level of perfection doesn’t seem like it would be all that difficult to attain. Probably.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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I think we all know how I feel about standardized testing and the No Child Left Behind profanation. If there remains any confusion as to my opinion regarding those particular atrocities (and if my hints haven’t been overt enough), there will be an opportunity to catch up on your reading below.

Standardized testing, while possibly necessary in that there currently exists no practical way to collect student-achievement data from every public school in America, is still evil and has crushed an already handicapped education system into a non-functioning machine that has time and money only for teaching to the test. It has failed utterly and I work at maintaining some level of optimism that my kiddos will somehow manage to escape its evil clutches.

Bad news for me and my innocent progeny: New and exciting standards in science and math for public school kids are being implemented now, with the new assessments to begin in 2011 for math, and 2012 for science. The fabulous-er dog and pony show requires that students pass the exams in order to graduate. Were educators not teaching to the test enough already?

On the bright side, State Superintendent Randy Dorn is trying to convince the powers that be that the time between implementation and assessment is too speedy for the first wave of kids to be tested. People should pay attention when a politician uses the word “fair.”

Dorn said students and schools will need more time with new math and science learning standards that are now being implemented around the state. The new standards won’t be assessed until 2011 for math and 2012 for science. That doesn’t provide ample opportunity for the class of 2013, current ninth graders and the first class required to pass four state exams, to learn the standards, or teachers and schools to align curriculum and materials to them, he added.

“It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that we have a big problem in our state. Less than 50 percent of our 10th graders are passing the math and science exams,” said Dorn, who noted 10th graders’ passing rate on the reading and writing exams is more than 80 percent. “We need to be fair to our students and give them time to learn the new standards. It’s simply a matter of doing what’s right.”

This fiasco is happening in several other states as well. The only choices eye-rolling, head-shaking, utterances-of-disgust-making parents have are (a) suck it up and hope for the best, (b) private school, (c) home school, or (d) give the offspring a handbasket each and wish them well on their subterranean journey.

Further Reading:

Supt. Dorn Calls for Changes to Math, Science Graduation Requirements
Be Realistic About Standards
A Washington State Fight, a Nationwide Debate
Strong Words in Washington: Don’t Punt on Math Requirements

Previous Posts:

Accountability
Obama’s Race to the Top
It’s Not on the Test
Looking Good Only on Paper
No Child Left Behind Is Ruining Our Education System

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Tim Stahmer at AssortedStuff wrote an excellent take on a recent post by Seth Godin. Mr. Godin’s post looks at the way we humans tend to attack problems with the same tools every time, regardless of the situation, the economy, etc.

The tools an individual or a business will habitually grab are the tools already available in their toolbox. Which means that if chainsaws are the only tool in a given toolbox, the solution to that toolbox owner’s problem will always be to cut the crap out of it and proclaim it solved. If there are only hammers in the box, then every problem looks like a nail, and hammering that sucker home will always be the solution.

Mr. Stahmer looked at Godin’s post from the standpoint of someone in the education trenches, and wonders eloquently how technology in the classroom could be improved upon if the folks in charge began noticing how the world is changing and started using something besides a hammer.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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While writing the previous post, I went searching in the archives for relevant previous posts. I found entirely too many to tack onto the end of an already-lengthy post. Here they are, including some Education Reform posts proving I’m not always in disagreement with President Obama.

Teaching and Teachers:

The Teachers You Remember
Which Road Do the Quality Teachers Walk In On?
“Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?”
The Knowledge of Educators
Teaching the Truth

Education Reform:

Obama’s Wacky Ideas: Teamwork, Responsibility, Working Hard, and Learning Stuff
Obama’s Race to the Top
“What’s Wrong With Merit Pay”
Teacher Compensation Reform
President Obama’s Plan for Education
First Lady Michelle Obama Speaks to the Dept. of Education
Obama Girls to Attend Private School
Nicely Put
Education Advice for the Next President
Sen. Obama’s Education Reform Speech
Obama Chooses Arne Duncan for Secretary of Education
It’s Not On the Test
Accountability

Education:

The Future of Education
Moxie
Kindergarten Readiness
11th-Grade Activities
21st Century Learners
“Bursting the AP Bubble”
The Salubriousness of Recess
Play-Doh Smeared Credentials

Schools:

Detroit Public Schools: Photoessay
More Upheaval For Detroit Public Schools
Find Your Happy Place
Virtual Schools
How Charter Schools Affect Student Outcomes
Home-Schooling Grows
‘H’ Is For ‘Half-Measure Haggis’

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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