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All opinions from the blog owner are her personal thoughts, and may not reflect the opinion and policy of Sacramento City Unified School District.
Thanks for letting me chat with your class tonight. Lots of great questions. I’m sorry I was under the weather and unable to stay long. If you have further questions, please send me a comment below. Also, it would be a great help is you share with me resources or approaches that have or have not worked for you in trying to build an online PLN (Personal Learning Network). Since I do professional development for my district and conference presentations, this will help me offer good advice to my audience. Below are some of the resources for online networks that I mentioned, and some new ones:
Plurk for Teachers (Plurk is like twitter, a 140 character microblog, but the comments are “threaded”)
Classrom 2.0 Social Network (this one is really big, so pick a group to join)
Ed Tech Talk You can listen to podcasts on ed tech topics, and if you listen life, chat with others about the show (I forgot to mention, I have show here called It’s Elementary).
Edutopia groups BIG miss not mentioning this one. I moderate a forum on classroom management here, but there are others on project-based learning, etc. It’s more about pedagogy and less about technology.
Instructify is part of LEARN-NC out of UNC-Chapel Hill and is a great resource blog. I used to work for them as a free-lancer.
Last week was completely insane schedule-wise, and an invitation early in the week to a district town hall meeting for schools in PI (program improvement under NCLB) was the maraschino cherry that tipped it well-past being merely ambitious into Bedlam land. I did volunteer for this, but afterward I have to wonder why? The meeting was at a pretty rough time, 5-8 p.m. and on a Thursday to boot. I met with Larry Ferlazzo this weekend and when he asked me what happened, I sounded like some passive-aggressive teenager who fell asleep in class, “I dunno?” I was not the only one, when I asked a fell0w attendee from my site what on earth happened, she had the same response. Here is my attempt to glean something from the experience…
Just the Facts: The meeting was set up by the superintendent, a new one from Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC, and a Broad Academy grad. He apparently has made parent engagement as a priority, which I think is a good thing. They invited principals at schools in PI to bring 5 representatives, including two parents, and three teachers. They also asked middle and high schools to send a student representative. The turnout was somewhere in the 100 – 150 range, filling the entire community room where board meetings are normally held. They promised snacks, but had nice mini sandwiches, some veggies, cheese, crackers, and a selection of desserts. I was almost sorry I had treated myself to Der Weinersnitzel for dinner before the event. It started with an outline of the problem (test scores rising–but not enough) necessary for the community and parent folk (and probably more than a few of the staff, although lord know it feels like I have the school % proficient by significant sub-group, etc. tattooed on my frontal lobe). Then we were split up into homogeneous groupings (admins, teachers, parents/community folk, students), and went off in groups to identify the various problems in the way of achievement.
Where it starts to fade: From that point forward is starts getting more more hazy. We started off identifying problems that were global/systemic, about teaching, about process, etc. They were perfectly happy to have myself and a number of other teachers rant about the fact that with poor children, teacher may be the most significant in-school factor on student achievement, the out of school factors take precedence. Being earnest sorts, many also offered suggestions about things that were within the realm of control of not just the district (hey, could you stick to a plan for a while, and quite changing things so abruptly on us all the time?). The only coherent observation that I have from this, and it’s a pretty good one considering how whack I was feeling by the end of the session was this…some of the high school folks kept saying stuff about how we need to focus on the basics, we have kids coming up to us who can’t read or read at a fifth grade level. At the same time elementary teachers discussed how for kids the curriculum was so restricted, lacking in more high-interest content (like Science), and is just not engaging or culturally congruent with our students’ lives or interest in any way, shape, or form. I understand the point the high school teachers are making, but I think they don’t understand that when they ask for more of the “basics” they are exacerbating the reading problem they are having in high school. It’s not because they haven’t been taught reading, it’s because they don’t or can’t learn material that is so far from their experience or interest as to be laughable. They need more science (with reading and mathematics) and less time on second rate stories that were picked for some silly notion of alignment.
Where I totally lost any sense of what was going on: We got back together to share what we found out in our separate groups. Students complained that they asked for help and couldn’t receive it in a way that worked with their lives. Specifically, she had to watch siblings, took a bus (no car), and couldn’t go to tutoring after-school which was the only time that her teacher offered it. A parent who I’ve seen at board meetings who didn’t like how numbers games were played by schools to stay out or get out of PI. Suggestions about programs that were working (a book club at one middle school to encourage reading) were also offered. Whoever summarized what teachers had discussed, offered something that not only bore no resemblance to most of the discussion in the group, it wasn’t even really coherent to myself or my neighbor. The rest is but a blur, and then we went back to our homogeneous groups to come up with “solutions”. We were behind, and were barely able to get some comments from fewer than 10 of us (there were at least 40 -60 teachers), when we saw the administrators heading back down. We went back, and strangely, none of the administrators were there. The facilitator was looking for someone from either the admin or teacher group to share the “top” priority solution we had come up with. Since we hadn’t listed everything, let alone prioritized, I shared that there was a discussion about extending the school day or year, but that although we hadn’t had a chance to speak, I knew that myself and others felt that there was no way we were going to get to where we needed to, if we used that “extra” time to do more of the same. What else was said is lost on me now.
In conclusion: I hope they take all the index cards they had us pin up and come up with some notes, because I have no sense of what was discussed on at a global level at that meeting. I will say this meeting was the first time I heard the term PLN used in my district.
Below are Tweets I sent from meeting which may make more sense that all I wrote above. It’s in blog chrono order with the latest at top:
Some teachers want to extend day or year but I think it won’t get us where we need to go if it’s more of the same.7:51 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
This townhall marks the first time I’ve heard term PLN in my district7:49 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
teacher preaching to choir here it’s the parents not here at townhall7:06 PM Oct 22ndfrom txt
Parent talking about long lunch line at kids school is so long that they can’t get food in time.7:06 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Cmmty org at townhall discussed curriculum not being relevent among other points.7:02 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Should parents be involved? Kids some won’t care but they should.7:00 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Not interactive listening to teacher talk for two hours. His school does projects on their interests.6:55 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Backpack overload. Hey solution, at son’s school they have a single class set of text and one for home for each student.6:54 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Students want more support and are being pushed out. Some of the interventions don’t mesh w/schedule and life.6:51 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
What were our take aways? Student group is concerned about push for grades? not clear but hard 2 talk in lg grp6:49 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Saw the super doing walkthru of breakout6:37 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm Tying test scores to teacher pay will exacerbate discrimination in high minority low score schools6:32 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
teacher citing teachers as biggest factor is specious as teacher is biggest in school factor, but out of school has larger effect.5:49 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
That parent feels title one funds arer not being allocated well in general and schools are pushing out behavior problems.5:48 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Parent is dinging luther burbank because they got out of PI with scores from only 18 students, and thenis building a stadium.5:45 PM Oct 22ndfrom txt
a teacher talked about teachers being the most important factor for student success…5:44 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
Trying to close achievement gap that is still a yawning hole in our test scores.5:38 PM Oct 22ndfrom Ping.fm
This week, at Larry Ferlazzo’s prompting, I did lessons on self-control with my upper-grade students (fourth through sixth or age 9 – 12).
Lesson One: I started off by recreating the Mischel “Marshmallow” experiment. I told students that I would give them three skittles or M & Ms, and that if they didn’t eat any of them until the end of the period, they would get three more. I then let them in the lab and commenced with passing out candy. Now, I’m not a big candy for the kids fan, but it was easier to monitor compliance in a short time over repeated periods during the day using candy. Larry did this using computer access, but this was going to be too complicated as I would have to check to see if they stayed on task on computers where I would basically have to check the browser history of each machine, which is time consuming, and then what would I give them that would let them “double down”? So that was the setup or intro. I then gave them a simple activity to do (ex. from Fourth Grade) and had them do that for about 30 minutes. At the end of that period, I had them watch a TED Talk by Joachim de Posada:
and discussed self-control and how waiting to eat the candy is part of that. I then passed out the next three pieces of candy, and pointed out that even if they were not successful, in our next lessons we would be learning about ways they could improve their self-control.
Findings: Most of the kids met the test, and earned more candy. Most who didn’t simply hadn’t listened to my instructions. Some have to some work to do on self-control, but that was no more than one or two per class. Some of the classes (six total) had everyone getting more candy.
Lesson Two:I started off by showing this slideshow, and discussing how students could grow their intelligence, and one way to help would be to increase their self-control.
I then showed this slideshow and discussed the tips with students. I pointed out how they would be used in different situations (ones where you want to resist doing something, vs. ones that are good when you have to do a difficult task that is frustrating).
I then had students comment on one tip they would try to use in the next month.
Results: I did not do this lesson with the fifth grade, and only one of the sixth grade classes got it because I will be off on Friday when I see them for the second time. Fourth grade was the only class where I saw both classes two times. They had also seen the Grass vs. Glass slideshow in the first week of the year, so I just reviewed it with them. Here is what they had for comments.
Conclusions and Followup: I will continue and get comments from all sixth graders and from the fifth graders next week. I will also continue with these lessons. When I first discussed doing the Grass vs. Glass lesson with Larry Ferlazzo, he had students who did not believe they could increase their intelligence and that some folks are just not smart. None of the fourth graders shared that thought. I have a theory that students start out with a very open sense of the possibilities, but as they experience frustration, they give up and become resigned to failure. My feeling is that the key is to build their capacity to cope and deal with frustration so that they can achieve more.
Lots of stuff happening, and a lot has been coming together is some really nice ways. No major complaints this week.
First up, second graders continued work on their story telling unit (Sharing Stories in Open Court Reading). I started a VoiceThread where I asked students to share lessons learned from the fairytale we watched (Red Ridinghood), and fables (from Aesop).
Lessons learned, I got a better response to Aesop’s Fables where the lesson is more obvious. I might start with Aesop next time, and then do Red Ridinghood.
Third Grade already had a VoiceThread going, so it was more of the same. Most of our work was on the slide with the old lady figures, (slide eight), where we talked about memory and friendship after watching a video about you boy and his older friend next door who is losing her memory.
Fourth Grade did not do heavy work, as I am trying to introduce them to replying to other student’s comments. The lesson this week had them writing about goals they have for the year, and then on their second day at the lab, sending a reply to others to encourage them in their goals. Some of them were still writing about risks and not goals, I should have caught some of that.
Fifth Grade was the star of the week as they created motivational posters using Big Huge Labs Motivator tool. The results were great.
What went well in setting this up was I had the other students do independent work (edugames), while I brought students back in groups of three to do their posters with me. I showed them how to do it at first, then starting having some of the kids stay and help their peers do it.
Sixth Graders read goals they had come up with the week before on a VoiceThread.
When I shared the project on twitter, I had others who had done a similar project with students express and interest in sharing and having our students comment on each others work. So I set that up.
“Remember all I’ve told you,” Daedalus said. “Above all, remember you must not fly too high or too low. If fly too low, the ocean sprays will clog your wings and make them too heavy. If you fly too high, the heat of the sun will melt the wax, and your wing will fall apart. Stay close to me, and you’ll be fine.”
Up they rose, the boy after his father, and the hateful groudn of Crete sank far beneath them. As they flew the plowman stopped his work to gaze, nd the shepherd leaned on his staff to watch them, and the people came running out of their houses to catch a a glimpse of the two figures high above the treetops. Surely they were gods–Apollo, perhaps, with Cupid after him.
At first the flight seemed terrible to both Daedalus and Icarus. The wide, endless sky dazed them, and even the quickest glance down made their brains reel. But gradually they grew used to riding among the clouds, and they lost their fear. Icarus felt the wind fill his wings and lift him higher and higher, and began to sense a freedom he had never known before. He looked down with great excitement at all the islands they passed and their people, and as the broad blue sea spread out beneath him, dotted with the white sails of ships. He soared higher and higher, forgetting his father’s warning. He forgot everything in the world but joy.
“Come back!” Daedalus called frantically. “You’re flying too high! Remember the sun! Come down! Come down!”
But Icarus thought of nothing but his own excitement and glory. He longed to fly as close as he could to the heavens…
p 83 from “The Book of Virtues for Young People: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories” by William John Bennett
I never really appreciated the story of Icarus until I taught sixth grade. I had heard the story, and thought of it as a simple moral tale meant to teach the lesson of obeying ones parents to young people which Mr. Bennett reiterates in the “bang them over the head with the moral” intro to this story.I always thought of it from Icarus’ point of view, and that is the view that dominates in most versions of this story. Look at it above, we feel Icarus’ joy and elation as he soars ever higher, and all we get from Daedalus is lots of warnings, and fear. But having been there at that crucial moment when you’re handing off a child to adolescence, when you share their joy (the moment where “they lost their fear”), even as you long to protect them, you long for their independence. There is no way that Daedalus wants his son to grow up imprisoned on Crete. They have to leave, he has to take this risk, he has to trust that Icarus will follow his advice. Icarus’ longing, hope, and heartbreak as events unfold, I missed all of that until I taught twelve year olds, and now I have an eleven year old of my own.
I could share heartbreaking stories of students flying too close to the sun and getting burned, but instead, I’m going to share a story that turned out much differently than expected. Sorry, sometimes I just roll like that. A co-worker recently related the story of running into a former student who is now leaving his teens. The student when at our elementary was showing signs that he was at a “high-risk” for joining a gang (emulating gang behavior, lack of interest in studies, thuggishness with peers). Flash forward to a couple weeks ago when my co-worker ran into him, gainfully employed at a store my co-worker went into, and going to Community College. He mentioned some interventions that came into his life after he had left us. When kids leave the smaller environment of elementary school, we really worry that they will fall between the cracks, so it was good to hear that didn’t happen. He also seemed to have some memories from his time at our school site that kept him on the right path. I’m glad that we could inspire him. I’m even gladder he had some services as he grew older, and we’re all glad that my co-worker’s fears were proved wrong.
In other news, I’ve added two new pages to this blog. One, called Comment Policy has my…comment policy, surprise! The other, disclaimer and disclosures, will let you know my myriad sources of income and freebies. Eat it up FTC.
Today, nearly three out of every four African-American students in the U.S. attends a school that is majority-minority.
1 out of every 6 African-American children in the United States now attends a school where less than one percent of the population is white.
In 1998, African-American students were 59% more likely to be identified as emotionally disturbed than Caucasian students.
As of 2007, in the state of Virginia, African-American students were 54% more likely to be identified as disabled than other students.
African-American and Latina/o students are less than half as likely to be enrolled in gifted and talented educational classes and programs as Caucasian students.
While Internet access in schools and classrooms is consistently good and equitable, access to computers generally is slightly inversely related to the percentage of students of color in schools.
The frequency with which African-American students use computers in schools is at least as high, if not higher, than other students. However, African-American students are much more likely to use computers to practice or drill on math facts than White students.
The following table comes from the National Research Council report. The data indicate significant overrepresentation of African-American students in the emotional disturbance category. In 1998, African-American students were 59% more likely to be identified as emotionally disturbed than Caucasian students.
and later,
Furthermore, and most striking, according to the NAACP (2001), “and contrary to the expectations, is the finding that the risk for being labeled ‘mentally retarded’ increases for blacks attending schools in districts serving mostly middle-class or wealthy white students” (p. 18).
So, basically, if your black you’re more likely to be pathologized, and if you happen to be in a largely white/middle-class school, you’re not any better off (I’d imagine it might be even worse there, but that’s just me).
Whether we integrate, or continue to re-segregate, I feel there will be little improvement if we continue to treat these students as though they are the pathology, whether we do this as a conscious or unconscious policy.
Below are links to the entire series from Dr. Becker:
I need to thank Jon Becker for his invaluable help in doing this post. I had a big hole that lack research between my last post (based on personal experience), and the next one I’ll do which is about how things stand now. This is about why things should not be as they are.
With the demise of forced busing to resolve de facto segregation that was not legally created, desegregation went off the national radar, and there seemed to be a questioning of the “benefits” of desegregation policies. In the “color-blind” era at the end of the last century, these things weren’t supposed to matter. Then came the national dis-aggregating of test scores by race, and the growth of the gap between African American and white test scores on tests like the NAEP, where they had been shrinking over time. Segregation in housing seemed/seems to either be intractable, or a social problem that well exceeds our national will to address it. So, we are offered better segregated schools for African American kids as the answer. I think it’s worth looking back on the time when desegregation policies were at their height, and that test gap was narrowing.
The graduates of color stressed that they were prepared to function in predominately white environments because they had learned how to cope with the prejudice they were likely to encounter in such situations. In addition, many graduates of color said they were more at ease in a white-dominated society because they had learned that not all whites were racist.
The final issue concerns whether social composition affects all students or whether it has stronger effects on some student groups than others. Coleman found that Blacks and ethnic minorities were more sensitive to school environments than Whites, leading him to conclude that desegregation would benefit Blacks more than Whites (Coleman et al., 1966).5 However, a reanalysis of Coleman’s data found that the racial composition of schools impacted the test scores of Whites as much as Blacks, but it also found that the mean socioeconomic status (SES) of schools had a greater impact on the test scores of Blacks than of Whites (Jencks & Mayer, 1990). Both studies suggest that desegregation would help Blacks more than it would hurt Whites. Yet, ironically enough, such issues are rarely discussed in this era of standards and accountability. Indeed, the critical question of who gains and who loses from segregated schools is no longer broached.
Whew, I know that was a long passage, and but the bottom-line is that desegregation helps African American students. It would help their test scores, and it’s never discussed as a solution to the problem of the achievement gap because we can’t do anything about it as things currently stand. So, we’ll spin our wheels, we’ll go through the motions of solutions that will only nibble at the edge of this problem, but we will not face the problem square on, which is that white parents still don’t want their kids going to school with African American students and will use whatever means are at hand to get their child out of a school perceived of as “black”.
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