#6 The "New Old School"- AIM High...Brute force?

Punishment for chewing gum, Saturday school for missing regular days, students must complete all homework and classwork given by teacher, no cell phones... are these descriptors of an old school from the 50's? Or is this a new school of the 21st century? In California, it's what I would call the "New Old School." Where is this school you might ask? It's in Oakland, CA, one of the toughest school districts in the nation. Sure, it's not East L.A., but it's not a walk in the park either.

The name of the school is AIM High, American Indian Model. The setting is a school in the heart of Oakland, CA. The demographics, 95% Free and Reduced Lunch, 99% minorities, and 85% speak English as a second language. The story includes schools preparing for elimination. Instead of being bulldozed, AIM improved their API scores from 436 to 967 in eight years. It's a story that should be destined for Hollywood. Will it? Blackboard Jungle, Freedom Writers, and Lean On Me are all great movies. Will Crazy Like a Fox- One Principal's Triumph in the Inner City by Dr. Chavis and Carey Blakely make it to a theatre near you?

What's so "crazy" about students, parents, teachers, and administration actually holding each other accountable for progress? If you've just stepped out the the time machine and you're in the 50's, nothing. If you're in an environment rich in gangs, or affirmative action, everything. I haven't gotten an opportunity to read the book, but after viewing this school's website, I've found that their common sense, mission, and model are all positive developments and the direct reason for such dramatic success and the salvation of their school for future generations.

My school district, the new school, has 30% Free and Reduced Lunch, 61% white, and 12% students who speak English as a second language. Our API score dropped below 800 this past year and we're considering program improvement within the next two years if we cannot increase our district scores 25%, which is nearly impossible according to our latest administration. What do you suppose our last four administrations in the past ten years have in common? Homework policies, discipline issues, and educational focus are all elements they have had in common- namely, less and less homework, fewer and fewer detentions, lenient referrals and discipline, and elimination of the importance of music, art, P.E., social studies, and science.

At the AIM schools, the new old school, students have consequences for poor choices. They may have detention, Saturday School, embarrassment, cleaning, etc. I know, the "embarrassment" probably caught your eye the most. Why? Because it works, or because it works? Will they do it again? I would guess not. If a 6th grade student acts up, he is sent to a 7th or 8th grade classroom and told to sit on the floor. They also are given a minimum of 2 hours of homework a night. The teachers must include 90 minutes of both math and language arts homework. Part of their "Ten Commandments" includes "...'affirmative action' for minorities is the most blatant form of racism in the United States... be aware that affirmative action and diversity specialists have made a professional career based on people's color and sex. These individuals are committed to human inequality to ensure they are employed." They also include all subject matter and excel in P.E.

Why do you think more schools aren't being successful like AIM schools? I submit, it is as simple as the difference between the "New Old School" and the new age idealists and doctrines of today's educational system and politics. In what district would you rather work? Your current district, AIM, or another model district? Can America's schools follow The American Indian Model of Education, or are we slated to be overrun and taken over?

I would love to be a part of such a great program, no matter how controversial it may be. Who is the source of controversy anyway? Is it Dr. Chavis and his AIM schools, or the crazy people who don't agree with their reason for success?

#5 Indoctrination or Education?

"Change the world in five minutes - every day at school"? That's a noble idea. I agree, we can all do our part to help the world. Would those minutes best be spent speaking to kids and families our own opinions of what helps the world, or giving them tools to understand for themselves what may help?

As educators, the last thing we want to be found guilty of is indoctrination. At least if you were to ask me, that's how I feel as an educator. Obviously, I have my own opinion on many issues. Some issues are more difficult than others to actually hide from impressionable kids than others. Ultimately, I want them to be responsible for making their own decisions and reaping the benefits or consequences of those choices. Ultimately, a student has been given the tools to think, create, and share their own experiences in life. Ultimately, it's a positive and successful outcome from which they can have a library of life events to draw from in future decisions.

My questions are these: Would we provide students a disservice by pushing fringe ideas and obvious opinion based information? Should we scrap informational ideas such as global warming, origins of life, or other theories forgotten to be theories and turned into fact? When does our system, so influenced by fringe media, become realistically truthful based upon factual evidence? Who's to say evidence points toward fact if it can be interpreted differently and brought forth in a believable fashion? Orson Welles, a genius when he broadcast War of the Worlds? What about Shane Fitzgerald potentially changing history with his false Wikipedia information? Do publishers, media, and journalism have a moral code to follow as teachers must follow?

Most of what we learn in textbooks, we take for granted and fact, not fiction. Once it's been published, it takes a team of research, evidence, and political lobbying to remove it from what has been determined by default as fact. I wonder who is responsible as an educational body to disseminate such information to the students. Any age student can be influenced and thereby corrupted by false information, especially if it's repeated information and they aren't given the opportunity to think beyond the punctuation. Even though a person can bang their heads against a concrete wall numerous times, over and over again, it doesn't make the wall softer, but our minds will be transformed. Eventually, that person's ability to be sensitive to the wall will diminish to the point of being completely numb to the wall. I honestly believe our education system has been banging it's head against the concrete walls of political agendas, personal agendas, and financial agendas for years. Our society and our youth are becoming numb to the effects of false information and simply find published material to be fact. Even information created by some dummy with a dot com is considered fact to the average 6th, 7th, and 8th grade student. Ask them what a trusted source really is and they would probably refer to a textbook, if not their friends' blog or dot com. Most will consider Google to be a source, even though it's nothing more than a tool to find sources. Worse than that, they will compile a report researched solely from Wikipedia.

What is the line between indoctrination and education in the classroom today? Who is responsible to police against indoctrination and how do they go about doing so? I know it happens, and even more often in a college classroom than any other place, but what about student rights and choices? In my opinion, student's rights are violated daily in reading information that even the very best educated consider fact, yet haven't had time to personally research themselves. Who has time to check if the media has provided truth or fiction, indoctrination or education?

#4 Triacontakaiheptad...That Which Is My Class

We've all seen them. They are the fear of every parent, student, and teacher. Like a New Yorker walking down the street, you could go unnoticed in them. If you've been to the front of a mosh-pit during a Green Day concert, you may know how we could feel. Claustrophobia is not only limited to elevators any longer. Classrooms are the location. Numbers are the debate. Not 2 + 2, but triacontakaiheptad, that which is my class size, is not an unusual thing in California for grades above 3rd. When dealing with class sizes number greater than 28, teachers, students, and parents all feel like we're in the situations I mentioned, not environments suitable for learning.

The CSR, or class size reduction, in California has been the debate for years. Our classrooms are overflowing with students. Students who have fewer resources than ever. Classrooms that have more behavioral issues than ever are becoming more prominent. What are we doing in the face of is issue? For my district, we are firing staff and increasing the class size. We hire more instructional aides and increase the class size. What justification do we have for losing teachers and other support staff in exchange for higher class sizes? Budget crunch all over the nation, but more profoundly in California. Do you think the administration cares? If they did, they would not permit class sizes to increase toward an environment of mere crowd control would they? The lure of money per child is often too great for them to deny admission to even inter-district transfers.

Many people in the state of California have become teachers since 1996. The demand increased and the standards for making the cut decreased. With the 2-year technical degrees, or Walmart employees finding a One-Year-Non-Renewable Teaching Certificate came the influx of people who think they can teach. Why wouldn't they want to? California teachers' salaries ranked the highest in the nation. Here, you can find a district, work 187 days a year, and get paid more than someone who holds three jobs and has no health care benefits. Here in California, you can enjoy descent weather year round and have every leisure entertainment known to man at your fingertips. Do you have to really like kids or consider what's best for them to teach here? Can you have 8 more children after already having 6, without a husband or even a boyfriend? Here in California you can.

Do you suppose that morals and values people possess have anything to do with not responding to overcrowded classrooms? When you have become just a statistic and you're teacher can hardly remember who your parents are when they come to that once-a-year parent/teacher conference, if they are the rare parent to attend, do you just grow up not caring? I think they do. Growing up in a class of less than 10 in a public school that had more resources than 10 schools here in California tells me that there is something wrong with the local politics and management. Why did they let it balloon out of control in the early 90's? California seems to be doing a game of catch-up and have forgotten about everything else. Money talks, and the students are all about those dollars. Even so, those dollars aren't going toward school improvement.

It's been said numerous times at our district. I personally agree, even though I have no kids of my own. I would not allow my child to attend a school where the teachers, students, and parents are nothing more than a number. We've become warm bodies to fill the pockets of administrators who make the decisions to make twice as much money, if not three times as much as the educators who deal with mess they create. I work at a small country school outside of a town that is 65,000 large. If my little country district is making people feel this way, how are the city folk feeling with more than 40 students per classroom? I know they don't even have enough text books, desks, permanent classrooms, and even allocate low numbers of copies per teacher. Being at one of the most affluent districts in the county, we have great technology resources and tend to have the highest test scores around. Will that stick after the latest administration decided to increase class sizes beyond any in the history of our district?

Teachers, parents, and students all over California would agree, class sizes do need to stay reduced. Is the rest of the country dealing with numbers like California? Have you had triacontakaiheptad or more in your classroom?

Material World... Material Girl

Gender bias materials may not be something you've ever considered in the classroom. Why is that? Here, you can find an article about the topic. I think the difference in gender is definitely a clear issue. What person wants a difference in treatment for people who are different? When it comes to education, there should be non. I find it ironic, however, that our education system has overwhelmingly included female teachers since the beginning of time, yet there is debate on such an issue. The writer of this article says, "Gender bias in education is an insidious problem that causes very few people to stand up and take notice. The victims of this bias have been trained through years of schooling to be silent and passive, and are therefore unwilling to stand up and make noise about the unfair treatment they are receiving." If that is the case, why do we see an large group of boys not finding success in the public school system? How could an overwhelming majority of female teachers allow such a thing to take place in so many classrooms in America generation after generation?

The reason why this hasn't been an issue is because it's not enough of an issue to really invest valuable time. So we have a few extra sentences awarded to men and hunting as opposed to traditional women's activities? It's history. Seriously, it's history. If we want to rewrite history books, that would be great. Every minority group and political group will want a hand in rewriting books that many do not even subscribe to already. Isn't it just a waste of time?

What about moving forward and being clear to change history books when there is evidence and proof to do so with facts. Shouldn't education leaders move forward and ensure that all literature is written fair and balanced with no bias information? Can we realize that part of world history and even current events include injustices? Women have made great strides in America to be in the positions they are today. I applaud that. Women today are writing their history books for the future. I would be surprised to find any literature currently in print today that wouldn't include equal if not more female representation. I hope that our books we use could use unbiased information in many areas not only gender.

I agree that there needs to be unbiased materials available to students. My question is, at what expense do we include information? Does that mean we have to erase and decide what history or discovery is not valued enough to go to print as opposed to a woman's historical discovery? Will our textbooks just include the information and expand upon themselves, or delete? My thought is that they will save cost and delete. One bias they tend to have no problem saving ink about is the "theory" of evolution. It's printed as a fact more often than not. I don't have a problem with facts, but I do have a problem with a small group deciding what will be included in textbooks.

Generation Y- Stupid is... technology does.

"Stupid is as stupid does." Our nation's education level is definitely dropping and one variable that contributes to that is the use of our social networking applications. Generation Y is a group of people considered under the age of 30. In Erin Thompson's article, she gives us a reason to worry. The "stupid" I refer to are the people who cannot carry on a functional conversation, let alone write a paper that is comprehendible. When considering unregulated and unmonitored learning, we have the text messaging and the social networking sites. Young adults and teens have found they can speak to each other in their own language and sms messages. I've been on board with these technologies, but one reason why you'll hear me repeat your idea is if you were to send me a text message without taking the time to form a complete sentence or thought. You'll especially hear from me if you write to me in an unintelligible manor on my Facebook site.

These locations also seem to lend themselves to narcissism. If you're a developing student and you have a website and a cell phone that makes you the center of attention all the time, how healthy is that for your developmental years as a young adult? When did you get your first cell phone? For me, a Generation X person, I did not purchase my first cell phone until I was 25-years-old. A colleague of mine just got his first cell phone last week. He is in his 50's, I should mention. Our kids these days are given full use and function of cell phones and computers before they are even 10-years-old today. Their parents, who are Generation X'ers, typically are the ones texting them while they're in class as was the case with our own school staff and her child!

With all the influences in the world today, it's ever more important to have parents command their households and monitor their children. Teenagers think they are adult enough to make choices for themselves, but we begin to fail them when they've actually convinced us they are mature enough to do so. Obviously, some people mature at different rates. I do know 12-year-olds that can think outside of themselves and conduct an adult conversation and/or write thoughts well. On the same hand, I know 26-year-old babies who couldn't conduct themselves in an adult manner in regards to conversations or actions.

We are all individual learners, but I hope that stupid is as stupid does is not the ongoing phrase I think of when I think of Generation Y.

Thompson, Erin (June 3, 2009) 'Dumbest Generation'? Professor blames technology. USA Today. Retrieved September 5, 2009 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-06-03-dumbest-generation_N.htm

New Year- School's Back In Session

Do we have any new year resolutions? If it were up to me, I'd say California's resolutions should include not only education reform, but reformation of the expenditures and cutbacks. It boggles my mind that we are to continue providing great services to our students and families and be held accountable while we continue the billions of dollars in cuts. Our focus seems to be getting lost in many government programs.

Jack O'Connell, California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, would most likely stand up for what we all believe. Education is a crucial aspect of all life within a society. I agree with him completely when it comes to his statement made, "We protect our collective economic viability by educating student to their full potential and preparing them to compete in the global economy." Our current population of students has their work cut out for them if they are to be competitive in society today. If we continually downgrade our educational resources and not find creative ways to fund programs, we will surely fail to keep the next generation on the playing field.

As an educator and a citizen of California, my hope is that we can keep class sizes down and test scores high. This will come naturally if we use some good old fashioned common sense. This is something I've noticed people on the West Coast do not naturally earn. Growing up in North Dakota has afforded me the opportunity to see many perspectives and advantages of rural life that many kids in California don't experience. Public school systems in the Midwest tend to be on average much smaller than anything I've experienced in California. In the article written by Greg Toppo of USA Today, you can pick up what I'm laying down. My first year of teaching in Hanford allowed me to see a class list of 45 students with 39 showing up for the first 2 months of school. After they did the class shifts the district does each year, I still was left with 36 fourth graders. Turn back time, when I was attending Lansford Elementary School in fourth grade, I had 9 classmates. This was a large class for me when I was in fourth grade as most were around 6 students, but considering I was now teaching 6 times as many students, I was a bit overwhelmed in my first year! They didn't even have math texts or English, spelling and grammar books! But that's a whole other blog I'll save.

When I consider our test scores, I see the results continually seem to resemble that of a teacher forced to teach more crowd management skills than reading skills. When you have little physical space to walk around your classroom, or even a table from which to work in small groups, you tend to understand the test scores. Public schools in rural Middle America have class-size reduction simply because of population and proper tax distribution of monies.

What has California's solution been for these issues? Cut jobs for everyone. Increase class sizes everywhere.

California Department of Education News Release, May 29, 2009

http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr09/yr09rel83.asp

Greg Toppo's article in USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-03-24-small-classes_N.htm