#Education

Critically Teaching Columbus: Updated!

Over the past few years, I’ve posted some about how I teach Columbus Day ( here and here are examples). It’s become one of my FAVORITE lessons, and each year I tweak it a little. I wanted to share about the updates I’ve made. :) This year, I started with my normal read aloud lesson series, and we will also do the writing and art I wrote about previously: My big change this year was on adding complexity and depth to our study of viewpoint and how people write about history. I introduced some key vocabulary to my students, which I picked up at a critical pedagogy conference I attended this summer: Students also received a version for their reading notebooks: After our read alouds, we read an excerpt from Howard Zinn’s “A Young Person’s History of the United States” and watched this clip. We used all these resources and information to analyze different biases, omissions, and stereotypes. Like I had in the past, I initially posed the debate in terms of “Should we celebrate Columbus Day?”, and students are working on opinion essays. This year, I also wanted students to get better at analyzing “traditional” texts, so I scourged our reading resource room for various sets of books on Columbus. Really, any books would do. I used these in my Guided Reading groups (even for groups reading at second grade level). All the books painted a pretty traditional tale of Columbus. I was so impressed by how closely even my lower kids read and critically analyzed details in the stories. We had some really excellent conversations, and kids were very passionate. I think they were proud of themselves for being able to “take on” an adult author. I finally gave them an informal, completely independent reading response (different than their planned, opinion essay) and I thought they did a great job. Many of them are ELLs and below grade level, and they were still able to have lots of thoughtful things to say. Here are a few examples of student work, all from 4th grade students reading somewhere at a 3rd grade level (I include their level because I think teachers often feel like “below grade level” or elementary students can’t have such discussions, which is completely contrary to what I’ve seen. Sure, the vocabulary might not always be exact, but the ideas are!) :

Teachers, especially teachers in WIDA states but really classroom teachers of language learners in general, can you see what this is and why I’m telling you about it on a national holiday? This is not new, but I’ve never come across it: apparently once upon a time UMKC and the North KC school district got a grant and organized many many many many familiar (and perhaps some novel) teaching strategies across the WIDA proficiency levels and domains. The full document further organizes the strategies across principles of academic language learning and provides a full inventory and glossary of what the strategies. What a SUPER useful tool for both setting expectations and helping teachers effectively apply what they know and use with the language learners in their classrooms. ETA: this strikes me as more immediately useful for reluctant teachers than the CAN DO descriptors it closely resembles because it names strategies that teachers use instead of more generic things that students can do.

Dear Concerned Parent...

I know, I know. You’ve got two kids in four sports after school, a baby at home who could rival a hurricane, a high schooler who needs driver’s ed hours, and a spouse who seems to always let you be the bad guy when it comes to limiting iPad screen time. Your child has homework you don’t feel that you can help with (common core, say whaaat?), an unfinished book report that was due last week, a wretched smell coming from his backpack, and you know she still doesn’t have all her math facts memorized or his spelling words written. And now, you get to sit down for an hour with me, your child’s teacher. It’s the week of parent-teacher conferences. Please know i truly believe in your child. I see their struggles and celebrate their day-to-day successes. I know that he confuses his long and short vowel sounds, or that her friends from last year have seemingly moved on and it breaks her heart. Please know I value your input, and every time you walk through my classroom door, I pray it’s to make a connection or to bridge the gap between home and school. However, that’s not usually the case. I tend to see you with fire in your eyes over the new supplemental reading curriculum (no, I did not choose To Kill A Mockingbird), the three points I docked for not adding the creative elements to their science project, or why I don’t require kids to pass out invites to everyone for their birthday. You’re furious, or frustrated, or feeling misunderstood… But please, please remember that I have a full heart for your student… and the 29 others in my class. And for my husband. And my family. And every other aspect of my life that makes it just as hectic as yours. That I greet your daughter with a smile every day or answer your calls with a chipper tone of voice, but I’m tired. I go to your son’s soccer games because he lights up and it results in a relationship that shows in his school work, but it means I missed my niece’s recital. Did you know I went on a road trip this summer with my sister? We’ve talked about driving to Disneyland since were twelve. Did you know I long to have my own little one to come home to at the end of the day, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for us yet? Did you know that I’m in three professional development programs and head up two committees? Did you know I go home and love to cook, yet never have time to clean between writing grants, planning hands-on class activities, and staying up on my data input for RTI? No, you probably didn’t. And you shouldn’t, because my job is to be your child’s teacher, not a hot mess. But please remember that I’m trying. And I’m human. And I’m learning. Please treat me with the respect you want me to show to you. You know, the same trait we’re trying to model for your kid. So, darling concerned parent, please share your burden about the homework and tell me the things you love so dearly about your son or daughter… But let’s do it together and encourage each other along the way. Oh, and next time, bring coffee. Love, Your child’s classroom teacher ( @freshlymintedmrs )

Made possible by TeachThought and USC Rossier’s online Master of Arts in Teaching degree

We need diverse schools... for the white kids

Now that I am caffeinating and consuming delicious breakfast, let me rant: or more accurately, talk about something that truly saddens me. The researcher quoted in the RawStory article is wrong. Those parents ARE racist. No, they’re not necessarily opposed to their children going to school with children of color. They’re specifically opposed to their children going to school with poor children of color. No, they’re not calling out racial slurs and burning crosses but they are actively opposing fair and equal treatment just the same. Perhaps not directly, but that is the truth. I used to babysit for a family in Brooklyn Heights; lovely people, good progressives. But I don’t doubt where they’d stand in this situation. Their voter registration might say blue, but their internalized dialogue is still out of 1954. They are afraid. What saddens me is that white students stand to benefit the most from this situation. They’re the ones who need to experience a more racially diverse environment. Forget all the lip service about why this will help children of color; my school develops strong, successful students at an astounding success rate without a single white child in the building. They don’t need white kids in their school. White kids need them. These white kids need racial diversity so that they won’t grow up to be like their parents. They will know that sending their child to a racially mixed school near a housing project isn’t something to fear because they lived it. They will have actual friendships and interaction with people who don’t look like them; whose lives are different then theirs…Unlike their parents who came to Brooklyn because they like the “urban” environment but then chose to live in a neighborhood full of people just like them… I’m basically done. It just makes me laugh at this point . My student’s parents would jump at the chance to make our school less crowded; to drop our average class size below 32. But wait, I know why these parents are mad- the DOE didn’t just build them a second, virtually homogenous school.

With the implementation of state standards and assessments to measure student and school performance under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), many public schools have wound up with their curricula painfully narrowed. In too many schools, the focus on testing in language arts and math has led to the erasure of art, physical education and music programs, as schools, particularly in poorer districts, scramble to keep their heads above water to avoid being labeled “failing,” which puts them at risk of incurring devastating sanctions . The stated goal of NCLB was to bring accountability and additional resources to low-income schools. But a growing list of critics argues that the legislation has instead forced teachers to spend too much of their time teaching to the tests, instead of imparting essential skills to their students — like collaborative and critical thinking — or being able to foster true joy in learning. When standardized tests are one of the only metrics used to assess whether students are learning, schools can often wind up deemed failing, with little regard for what’s actually taking place in the classroom. Journalist Kristina Rizga spent 4 years at SF’s Mission High and learned there was more to success than test scores

“None of the Teachers Know What I Can Do”

Yesterday, Irving, Texas police arrested 14-year-old Mohammed Ahmed when they and his teachers mistook a homemade clock he had constructed out of circuit boards and wires for a bomb. This despite his repeated denials and attempts to explain his project. Handcuffed. Suspended. Called a liar. All over a clock. Now it would be easy, and probably appropriate, to suspect at least a pinch of racisim in the mix here. But as was suggested in yesterday’s post, the bigger problem may be a lack of understanding and savvy on the part of the adults as to what’s possible these days with technology. And Mohammed agrees: “Here in high school, none of the teachers know what I can do.” That just speaks volumes. And it begs the question, why are we ok with that? We spend boatloads of time and treasure on all sorts of stuff like differentiated instruction and assessment strategies and response to intervention and god knows what other stuff. But we refuse to spend time on making sure that everyone in the building at least has a clue of what’s possible with technology and what kids (and adults) are doing with it. I’m not even talking about getting people to actually make stuff in their classrooms with technology; I’m just suggesting that we understand what’s happening with tech in the real world. And finally, what does it say about a culture that chooses suspicion over trust when it comes to kids? I know, there are bad 14-year olds out there, but not enough to suggest that we don’t give kids every benefit of the doubt at the start. Sad. Update: The principal’s response. Sadder still.

The Steps One Homeless Teen Took To Get A Full Ride To Yale “I thought if I can get accepted to an Ivy League, I will be gone. That will be the surest way to get out.”

The Science of Classroom Design Students spend an average of 12,000 hours in the classroom throughout their lifetime. Those hours have a significant impact on their learning and behavior — studies say so. We created a data visualization to show you how. Brought to you by USC Rossier’s Masters of Arts (MAT) Online Teaching Degree

Buzzfeed: 15 Ways Students Are Changing The World

These stories will make you wonder what you’ve been doing with your time!

I know there is now science to back this up, and it’s trendy or something, but my (sometimes extremely troubled, high needs) kids are sooooo much calmer when they get to color. It is therapy for them right in front of my eyes. Coloring is not for babies. My middle schoolers LOVE IT. And they love when you hang up their creations!

Right now, more than 62 million girls around the world are not in school, half of whom are adolescent. That’s why President Obama is headed to the United Nations today to talk about building sustainable development and how we’re helping let girls learn across the globe. Chawanzi wrote to President Obama from Zambia about girls’ education. Read her letter, then share a yearbook-style photo of yourself telling us what you learned in school using #62MillionGirls to help raise awareness for girls’ education worldwide.

via The Source Of The Student Debt Crisis Is Not Expensive Tuition - BuzzFeed My jaw just hit the floor. Also, it’s surprising not to see Trump University among the Top 25 in 2014.

Student-run job shop at Green Bay school teaches valuable manufacturing and business skills

Is College Tuition Really Too High?

To get you started: To understand the feeling of crisis that many see in higher education right now, it’s useful to start with some figures from 40 years ago. In 1974, the median American family earned just under $13,000 a year. A new home could be had for $36,000, an average new car for $4,400. Attending a four-year private college cost around $2,000 a year: affordable, with some scrimping, to even median earners. As for public university, it was a bargain at $510 a year. To put these figures in 2015 dollars, we’re talking about median household income of $62,000, a house for $174,000 and a sticker price of $21,300 for the car, $10,300 for the private university and $2,500 for the public one. A lot has changed since then. Median family income has fallen to about $52,000, while median home prices have increased by about two-thirds. (Car prices have remained steady.) But the real outlier is higher education. Tuition at a private university is now roughly three times as expensive as it was in 1974, costing an average of $31,000 a year; public tuition, at $9,000, has risen by nearly four times. This is a painful bill for all but the very richest. For the average American household that doesn’t receive a lot of financial aid, higher education is simply out of reach.

7 Things All New Teachers Need to Know You’ve set up your classroom, updated your LinkedIn and told all your friends. Now what?

Banned Books Week! I put together a display for Banned Books Week, which starts today; unfortunately I was told by my administrators that I can’t do a lesson on it, because the English department is teaching a new curriculum this year and they’re worried about fidelity and a BBW lesson “distracting” from the regular unit… So this is the closest I can get. But hopefully it’ll at least inspire some discussion.

The charter school movement has been expelled from Washington state’s public education system, with a Supreme Court ruling late Friday that the privately run schools are not public schools under the state’s constitution. Meanwhile, the quick fix for that sizable hurdle sought by the state’s charter school proponents—a special legislative session—does not appear likely because Washington’s public education sector is embroiled in more controversial and larger battles. Charter school proponents are reeling in the wake of the court’s landmark ruling

Grants for Teachers - GrantsForTeachers.net is a FREE resource for K-12 teachers.

After a rigorous day in grading and working with the community to support my Journalism class, I spent the past hour and a half staring at the screen and clicking through the above link. Needless to say, it was worth it.