Tyson’s Corner

I think inspiration is a little like motivation.  In many ways, it comes from within because it reflects a person’s own values.  When I become inspired to do something, I act on it with a great deal of motivation!    Inspiration comes to me by surrounding myself with excellence, which is what I have done by being a part of this class.  You have all inspired me.

Several weeks ago while riding home from our Tuesday night class I commented on how quickly this year has flown.  Of course I want to earn this degree and have some free time to call my own, but I also want to cling to the opportunity I’ve been given to learn from each of you.  How many times in our lives are we given the gift of such scholarly discussions led by such knowledgeable instructors who know how to stretch our thinking? How blessed I feel for being given this experience!  I’m thankful that my precious Lord saw fit to include this in His plan for my life.  I don’t know where I’ll go next, but I’ll always cherish this year, especially because I’ve gotten to know teachers at my own school better.  Thank you!

We give our third graders so many tests that it seems like that’s all we do!  Our county asks us to give Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) 3 times a year and Common Formative Assessments (CFA) even more often.  We also administer STAR tests in reading and math.  These are in addition to weekly tests and final cumulative tests every grading period.  Oh, there’s also that little test we call the CRCT. We have so much test data that we cannot possibly use it all.  It’s good for our SST meetings, though, and we use that knowledge to write RTI strategies and grade-level goals.  No one wants to come to the third grade because of the stress!  I want to move to the western Pacific where intelligence is measured through “socially responsible actions.”  I wonder how often they give report cards!

I like alternative assessments, but they take time — time to prepare, time to administer, and time to assess.  I like asking open-ended questions.  I like student interaction and exploration. I like the quote on p. 240, “When others can witness and then respond to one’s work, assessment occurs and learning continues.”  I also like the idea of student portfolios that show growth and allow the students to evaluate their own progress.  Maybe one day we’ll move away from so much testing, but that won’t happen until the entire state of Georgia has better test scores.  Oh me, oh my!

It is true that problems arise when parents are either not involved enough or so involved that they question every decision a teacher makes.  I’ve experienced both.  I tell my parents that they are always welcome in my classroom, but very few actually come to observe or even participate.

A few years ago I had a class of first graders with students who were especially difficult to manage, although they were very sweet individually.  I heard many parent comments about 2 students in particular whom they saw as “troublemakers.” Their comments bothered me.  I decided to have Super Saturday family events so that all of my parents and students could get to know each other better and see that my students were not the “monsters” they had been thought to be.  We went on picnics, hikes, even roller skating.  It worked!  Those parents formed a closeness that was still evident three years later.  I’ve tried to replicate that with my third graders and their families, but without success.  I’ll try again next year — when I’m not so busy with Georgia State!

I would like to see more parents involved in our school.  A recent safety issue resulted in a short-lived flurry of parent volunteers, but that has died down now,  and I see fewer parents.  So many of our parents have to work, so they cannot be as involved during the school day as they would like to.  A few years ago we began a student post office system of letter writing.  We found parents  who were willing to oversee the project, but they had to give it up because of work schedules.  We no longer have that program because no one is available to manage it.

A downtown revitalization project is taking place around our school.  A new city hall is being built across the street.  New sidewalks, landscaping, benches, and street lights have been installed in an effort to make the area pedestrian-friendly.  I would like to see our school building become a more vital part of community events.  I’m not sure how to make that happen, though, even after reading this chapter.  Our school counselors are working on a parent resource center.  Our school council meets once a month, with parents in attendance, and they discuss parental concerns.  Maybe those are two good places to start (besides my classroom, that is!).

The culture of a school is not something that receives much attention by the public, but every teacher feels it. It reminds me of the family. The best way to raise well-adjusted, successful children is to give them parents who have a healthy, caring relationship that they spend time cultivating. We’ve all heard the saying, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” Too often, the teachers’ well-being is overlooked when measuring the quality of a school. It might be worth the time to read Ferguson’s research on the differences money makes on a school’s staff and not just on furnishing resources.

I sense frustration in the writings of the first-year teachers, especially the first author, whose name was withheld, but I resented her statement about “old-school teachers.” How arrogant and biased! Every teacher in our cohort has taught for many years, yet we are not stagnant or uncaring. Attitudes of incoming teachers, novice or veteran, can certainly impact a school.

The passage about learning time was of special interest to me. I think any teacher would agree that time is important, but I see so much time — and learning opportunities — being wasted. My colleagues know how concerned I am about the amount of time spent on fund-raising activities at our school, even though the money goes to worthwhile causes. Another pet peeve of mine is the practice of watching movies or cartoons as a reward. What a waste of precious teaching time! It would be interesting to track one student throughout a day to see how his time is spent. (Maybe that will be my next research project!)

The authors posed the question, “Can students get by without trying very hard?” I think the answer to this is too often a resounding “Yes!” We have many bright students who found school so easy in the beginning grades that they come to the third grade without necessary study skills. They find themselves facing a gateway test with the realization that they should have been studying harder to grasp difficult subject matter. Primary teachers are “programmed” to help young students, but we are probably all guilty of doing too much “spoon-feeding.” I know I’m guilty.

I like the idea of inquiry groups, especially the way they’re described by Chrysta Bakstad (p. 372), but I question the practice of taking teachers away from their students for almost 3 hours every other week. Our teachers meet once a month during the day, but we have an agenda that is set at the beginning of the year, so there is no room for spontaneous discussion. Maybe that’s something we can work to change next year.

Well, now I’ve seen Gorski with my own eyes and realized that he’s just an ordinary person, although his ideas are anything but ordinary. I enjoyed his workshop, and am thankful to Kara for initiating contact with him and making his visit possible. His “Class and Poverty Awareness Quiz” was a good way to begin his presentation, and his illustration of the distribution of the world’s wealth was an eye-opener to the inequities that exist. I like this quote from his article “The Question of Class” in Teaching Tolerance Magazine: “There is no more a single culture of poverty than there is a single culture of woman-ness or of African American-ness” (p. 3). His way of looking at poverty makes more sense to me than that of Ruby Payne, yet I wonder if he would have spoken so vigorously in favor of the poor if it weren’t for Payne’s work. Gorski has much to say that is valuable and of its own merit, and he speaks so passionately about the need to look beyond class distinctions, so I cannot understand why he spends so much of his time and energy focusing on Payne. I’m left with a feeling of unease as to his motives, yet embracing his ideas.

Okay, I like to see what people look like, so I went to Ruby Payne’s web site to find her picture. I found a short video clip of her talking about her philosophy. On the video she says that “you have to be able to negotiate different economic environments if you are going to be successful” and that in her research in the business place, “many, many middle-class people get knocked out of promotions to the executive level because they didn’t know the hidden rules of wealth.” Hmmmm. Where do experience and networking come into play?

My introduction to this idea of poverty was through a workshop at my school several years ago, but I remember leaving with the notion that poverty can exist in areas of emotions, spirituality, relationships, and experiences, not just in financial status. I have always known that, but I had never heard it expressed it those terms. A few years later, I attended another workshop led by county personnel at our school. Again, I thought the idea of poverty on different levels was thought-provoking, but I felt uncomfortable with the stereotyping, and there was a lot of that.

As a single parent, I have been close to financial poverty in the past. My children were 3 and 10 when I went back to school to get my undergraduate degree. I was divorced, and although I got child support payments, I could barely put food on the table. Those were hard times, but we survived because I was so frugal. There are many families who live paycheck to paycheck and would be on the street in a few short months if they lost their job or faced a catastrophic illness. There are so many causes of poverty that no generalizations can be made. Gorski said, “Can we assume, for example, that poor white U.S. citizens from Appalachian West Virginia share a mindset and culture with poor Somali refugees who arrived in Minnesota last month?” (p. 2). Even this statement reflects a biased view of West Virginians! I’ve lived in Appalachia, and it is no longer as poverty-stricken as it may have once been.

I have now read several articles by Gorski and I’m drawn to his ideas. I’m looking forward to hearing him speak this week on his own merit and not just in rebuttal to Payne.

Gay’s definition of culturally responsive teaching goes beyond a recognition of culture to an overarching awareness of any students we teach.  I think her characteristics are almost sequential because good teaching begins with an awareness of the various learning styles our students have.

The first step is validation:  We validate students’ worth by recognizing that they bring into the classroom a background knowledge that is woven into the tapestry of who they are before we ever attempt to teach them.  Lessons that are comprehensive and multidimensional will  recognize that there is more to teaching than just the academic expectations and that cross-curricular content helps students make important connections to help them comprehend and retain information.  When those steps have been taken, an effective teacher will help all students feel empowered through appropriate support and modeling. That’s what then brings about the change (transformation).

I like the last point:  freedom.  Too often we build up walls around us, hoping no one will notice our hidden attitudes, fears, and shortcomings.  We are afraid to just be ourselves because we worry too much about what others think.  Looking at ourselves and others openly, but with respect, causes those walls to fall.  When students feel valued and respected, they know they are being accepted by their teachers and peers, and they will be more open to sharing what they know.

I looked forward to reading this chapter because I expected to learn about effective practices in classrooms throughout the country. I enjoyed reading the short vignettes from first-year teachers who have found their management niche. When I began teaching, classroom management — discipline, as I thought of it then — was my biggest concern. My first teaching assignment (apart from substituting) was in summer school following my college graduation in May. I was so excited to have a job! Every morning that summer I taught World History to eighth graders from 9:00 to 12:00, then taught Tennessee History to seventh graders from 12:30 - 3:30 in a school with no air conditioning. I almost gave up teaching altogether that summer. Those students didn’t like me, and I didn’t particularly like them because they were so rowdy and I couldn’t identify with them. They had already spent a full school year listening to their more experienced teachers , and I had no special background in history, so they really knew more than I did! I was truly “wet behind the ears,” and I was miserable because I could not manage their behavior. I kept telling myself that a “real” classroom would be different and the students would be more attentive and respectful. I had a lot to learn.

When I finally did get my own classroom I used a behavior management system the other teachers at that school were using, but then I changed schools, and that same system did not work. I kept remembering a classroom management video I had been shown in college that was produced by William Glasser. He showed a man driving a car that had gotten stuck in a ditch. The driver kept gunning the engine, but the car remained stuck. The man got out of the car, inspected the situation, then returned to the driver’s seat and continued to gun the engine, but the car became stuck even more deeply in the mud! It was humorous, but it was meant to show us that often our tendency is to keep doing things that don’t work. Glasser applied that to classroom management. In my college classes I learned about token economies and Skinner’s behavior antecedents and consequences, but I couldn’t make those work for me. This was in the 80’s, so I soon learned about Lee Canter and his Assertive Discipline program that is described in this chapter. I was teaching first graders by that time, so my partner teacher and I began using the color strips and posted a chart very similar to the one on p. 259 of our text. At the same time, our school became a pilot school for the True Colors learning styles program, and we learned about Gardner’s multiple intelligences research. My classroom management skills improved, but still I struggled to find a comfortable, non-cumbersome way to have a “well-disciplined” class.

Then I moved to Stockbridge, Georgia, into a culturally diverse school unlike anything I had ever known. I was shocked at the behavior of some of my first graders, and I felt incompetent and defeated because nothing I tried seemed to help them stay on task and behave. During an especially difficult year, I became part of the first Behavior Support Team at my school. We learned about Positive Schools and hired a consulting firm to help our entire school change the behavior of students as well as teachers throughout our school. I noticed improvement in my students, especially during the first 3 years, but a change in administration, coupled with a high turnover of staff resulted in a reduced emphasis on the program. We still use the basic framework, but I think we have lost the gains we saw in the beginning.

Many teachers in my county have been trained in Jim Fay’s Love and Logic approach to discipline. I like this philosophy that makes students responsible for their actions. It’s an attitude that students can do anything they want to as long as their actions don’t cause a problem for another person. If a student has a problem, the teacher can just say, “Wow! I’m sorry for you. What are you going to do about that?” There has to be genuine empathy without a trace of sarcasm, but I’ve seen this work. There are workshops for parents as well as teachers to offer support for using the principles. I like it because it is respectful, caring, and nonjudgmental. So, can you guess what I use in my classroom?

It’s disturbing to read all of the controversy surrounding literacy education and to think that it has been manufactured by political opportunists trying to privatize American education.  Everybody wants to blame someone else for the supposed reading “crisis.”  Once again, Open Court is being bashed, as well as the DIBELS test.  (I still use a similar method to obtain fluency scores for my students.)  Last year doctoral students from GSU led workshops at our school to instruct us in doing Running Records, similar to DIBELS, but we were later told that we didn’t have to take running records at all.  What a waste of time that was for us as well as the trainers!  Why not just let teachers use their best professional judgment to teach their students to read?  Some students will read in spite of our methods, others need an orderly phonetic approach, still others look for “chunks” as they make connections and learn word meanings.  I will continue to use anything that works!

I had never realized the extent to which curriculum and pedagogy mattered to those outside the realm of education! Oh, I have always known that education decisions are politically motivated, but I had thought of those influences as financial more than curricular. The conflict between traditionalists and progressives permeates the discussion.  Although I can see both sides of this argument, I am relieved to see a trend away from drill and rote memorization that was so prevalent when I was in school and a move toward more complex thinking skills in all subject areas. Our county is encouraging us to teach students to think more clearly as we present material in cross-curricular lessons, then have our students apply skills in their independent work or in cooperative groups.  All of this indicates that we are a progressive school system, or are trying to be, but a part of me remains a traditionalist.  There are some facts that my students must memorize (multiplication facts, parts of speech, continents/oceans, for example), and I am always open to new ideas, but I also know what has worked for me in the past.   I won’t embrace a new teaching strategy just because it is new, but because I can see its value. I agree that our profession is not the hotbed of controversy that the press often portrays, but there are a lot of us, and we each have an opinion about the best way to teach any subject.  Most of us just want to be allowed the freedom to teach without having to adopt the newest “quick fix” that blows our way.  To quote Sheridan Blau, “Disagreements in these arenas can and do lead to dialogue and thereby to the advancement of learning” (p. 158).  Well said.