Day 21: Is it really day 21 already? Why the Finns are #1 in education

A classroom in Finland
We have been at school for nearly a month now. It once was that this day would begin the first or second week of "real classes" after having gotten the "back to school" first week behind us. Heck, once this week was the last week of summer when we went to school on the Tuesday after Labor Day.

I read an interesting article in this month's Smithsonian magazine entitled "Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? According to the article, Finland doesn't give its students the type of standardized tests that American education systems so love except for one in the senior year. One quote from the essay really stood out for me.

It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for all 5-year-olds, where the emphasis is on play and socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Ninety-seven percent of 6-year-olds attend public preschool, where children begin some academics. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Stu­dent health care if free.

In the US, many would call this socialism! (It is really a part of social democracy, but few rightwingers know or care about the difference.) It seems to work in Finland, at least.

Days 16-20: I Got, Got, Got, Got, No Time

I have skipped a few days this week, actually, nearly the entire week. It seems like I have no time to get things like blogging done because I am full of all the things I have to do as a teacher during the week.

For example, during the school day I have 45 minutes of planning time to do things like, well, plan lessons. Of course, there are papers to be graded, parents to be called, department and professional learning team reports to be filled out. Many days I have to get paperwork to the principal's secretary, the financial secretary, or the activities director. Oh, and there's that man who wants to visit my seniors about a college they might be able to attend. Need to get back in touch with him. Wasn't there a professional development course that I needed to sign up for? And so it goes.

Since the students' learning day has been extended 30 minutes, we are supposed to be able to go home at the end of the class day, 2:40pm, but I have yet to be able to get out of the building before 3:30, and that was only because I had to attend my AFT Executive Board meeting to review our 2011-12 contract. Then we had the ratification vote on Thursday in a fairly raucous session that lasted from 4:30 to 6:00pm. After that, I went to the city football previews because several of my students who play football asked me if I would come watch them, and I told them I would. (I missed the game tonight, however.) Most of the time I get out of the building around 4:30 after arriving at 6:45.

Still, I am behind on my grading. I need to plan my lessons better. (Today, the principal walked into my room at the end of my 3rd period. I ran out of lesson with about 10 minutes of class time, and I stupidly hadden planned for an "enrichment" activity with the dead time.

Saturday is Labor Fest, so Cat and I will be involved in activities all day. That leaves me with Sunday to get lesson plans done for the week and perhaps a little more caught up on my grading.

Anyone who thinks that teachers work 7 hours a day 9 months a year should be boiled in his own tea!

Days 13, 14, 15: Some Interesting Facts About My Students

I found out some interesting things about my students.

I got the results from the reading test my students took. This test scored the students on their reading grade level meaning that if a student read on the level of an average 10th grader, it would show that s/he was reading at 10.6 (10th grade, 6th month).

According to the test, this is how the 11th graders at our school level out on their reading abilities.

We have:
1 at 3rd grade
5 at 4th
7 at 5th
16 at 6th
9 at 7th
5 at 8th
4 at 9th
3 at 11th
2 at 12th
and 12 reading at the Post High School level.

This is how the 12th graders are doing with their reading

2 a the 4th grade level
3 at the 5th
7 at the 6th
13 at the 7th
7 at the 8th
9 at the 9th
2 at the 10th
1 at the 11th
1 at the 12th
and 5 are at the post High School level

I am not writing about this to gain pity points. I accept the challenge that these numbers represent. But I hope this makes clear both the problems and opportunities we who teach in urban school districts have.

We continued our reading of Native American myths and Beowulf in the 11th and 12th respectively. On Friday, I used some graphic organizers that I found on a very good website that I highly recommend to my fellow teachers.

The weekend is here!

Day 12: Open House

Open House at Centennial

Today the juniors continued reading Native American myths by reading the story "Coyote and Buffalo Bull", another trickster tale. This one comes from a Pacific Northwest tribe.

The seniors read about the fight between Beowulf and Grendal. They analyze the examples of alliteration in the passage.

The big event of the day was Open House at Centennial. We had our biggest parent participation since I've been teaching at the school. I think it is the signal of a new level of enthusiasm by Centennial's patrons.

Day 10 and the Weekend, an offer to coach a chess team

Tricksters Old and New
Bit of catching up to do.

Friday, the senior class got into the poem Beowulf at last starting with the problems the creature "Grendal" causes for the Danes. I love the way that Maurice Sagoff, the creator of Shrinklits condenses this part of the epic Monster Grendel's tastes are plainish.\Breakfast? Just a couple Danish.

The juniors read Langston Hughes' story "Salvation" in which he tells about a time when he "faked" being saved in a church revival to please his aunt and everyone else in the congregation. It is another example of the kind of reflective essay the students are going to be writing soon. I had something similar happen to me which I wrote about in a blog entry entitled "Camp Meeting".

This weekend has been part school preparation and part home remodeling. We are going to install new cabinets in the kitchen, so the old ones had to be taken out, moved actually. The old are being relocated in the our pantry to make way for the new.

I have also been working on my lesson plans for next week. The people who believe that teachers only work from 8am to 3pm don't know what they are talking about.

I also found out that Casady Schools wants to talk to me about becoming the coach for their middle school chess club. I held a chess camp for them over the summer, which I really enjoyed. If this works out as I think it will, I will be sponsoring three different scholastic chess groups: Centennial, The Village Library, and Casady.

Next week, the seniors continue with Beowulf while the juniors will be reading and working with Native American creation and trickster tales.

Day 8 & 9: A Couple of Good Days

I missed a day yesterday (if anyone noticed). So I've got a bit of catching up to do.

On Wednesday, the students took their "I Am" poems to the media center's computer lab and turned them into Word documents that can be displayed as posters. The students did a good job of creating their poem posters. We have our open house on August 16th, so the students will be able to display their creativity to their parents.

Today, Thursday, I took a different turn with both classes. The juniors began a unit on writing a reflective essay while the seniors began a unit on Beowulf. I showed them a Power Point presentation on the heroic quest archetype to introduce them to the Anglo-Saxon epic.

The school got some good news today. The progress our high school made last year means that we are not on the state's school improvement list. We would have made "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP), but we fell short in only one category, graduation. We had too many of our freshman students fail to graduate in 4 years, evidently. Of course, these were the first years of our school during which we began in one building and ended up in another. We had to work in a grossly overcrowed building when we finally did move in. It was not the sort of environment conducive to retaining and nurturing students to graduation.

Now that we are in our building with one less grade level in the building, I think we have an excellent chance to succeed with our student body. We have some great students going here, and we are getting help with the Common Core Standards.

I am looking forward to the success our students are going to have.

Day 7: I need to "up" my game

Today I tried to get the students to engage in "active reading": reading that goes beyond the words of the text to where the students think about what they are reading. This includes being aware of the work's purpose, figures of speech, images, and so on.

Frankly, my teaching did no go all that well. I had trouble getting the students' focus away from each other and into the text. This was something that the people who observed my class yesterday noted on the observation form they gave to me. Clearly, I am going to need to revise my teaching methods, up my "game" so to speak if I am ever going to succeed at the level I am being asked to attain.

I am going to have to go out of my "comfort zone" as a teacher and try new methods.

One problem I am having is keeping the students "on task". I am going to go over what I was taught in the week before school to see where I need to change my method.
All I ask is that the district is patient with me as I and my colleagues move in new directions.

Change can be threatening, but I have reinvented myself before, and I can do it again.

Day 6: Graphic Organizers and Note Taking

Today I worked with students to teach some learning skills. With the juniors, I had them analyze the 1st paragraph to M. Scott Momaday's Way to Rainy Mountain.

I had the seniors take notes on the Anglo-Saxons and their culture using the Cornell note taking method.

I felt I was more successful with the juniors. They created web diagrams that noted the nature imagery in the paragraph. I think the main reason that the exercise was successful was that the students experienced a feeling of success when they correctly identified the images. As I walked around the room, the kids showed me what they had discovered. They discussed whether or not the items they discovered were images or not. I believe that they learned something about analysis and imagery.

The note taking was not as successful for the same reason that the junior was. The students could not feel real success by successfully taking notes. I think that giving students an opportunity to feel success is something I will endeavor to build into my lessons wherever possible.

Something else of note, today my teaching was observed three times. Once by a representative from the Marzano people, once by one of the assistant principals, and then by both the Marzano rep and the assistant principal together. This is all a part of being a "School Improvment Grant" (SIG) school under NCLB's "transformation model." I'm actually glad to have someone come in and look over what I'm doing. I can use all the help I can get. I compare teaching to other professionals like lawyers and doctors who are said to have a "practice", not a job. Teaching is a practice, and I'm always trying to practice at my best, but I'm still practicing my craft.

The First Weekend

I spent most of my weekend relaxing, but also preparing for the next week and the rest of the year.

Saturday, Cat, my wife, and I went on a date. We were finally able to see the final Harry Potter movie, afterwhich we went to a nice Italian restaurant. Cat teaches English also at another Oklahoma City school. (We steal ideas from each other on a regular basis.)
In addition to some great together time, I began reading a book on education entitled Unschooling Rules: 55 Ways to Unlearn What We Know About Schools and Rediscover Education written by Clark Aldrich. Can't say that I'm all that impressed with the book or the author's program. He takes the standard line that our schools, as they now exist, were designed for a more linear Industrial Age and don't fit today's non-linear world. Many of his recommendations seem to be more doable for home schoolers. (In fact, he seems to feel that only home schoolers are doing a good job of educating.) Aldrich recommends having children work with live animals, and not just pets! He also calls for children to work as apprentices or interns to get real world experience. One could do that if one had one or two children to education, but it's not really something I can use in my line of work.

Next week I begin to add more content to the curriculum. I'll still be working on the Rituals and Routines, but the 11th graders will be working on study skills like note-taking and graphic organizing. The 12th graders will start on early British literature. Beowulf here we come!

Day 5: Testing Redux, Redux and "Way to Rainy Mountain"

Rainy Mountain, Wichita Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma
Finally got finished with the GM Reading test today. A few students were absent on either of the first two days, so they had one part of the test to make up. My 7th hour finished the vocabulary because I ran out of answer sheets on Wednesday for them. Those who were not testing read M. Scott Mommaday's wonderfully lyrical essay "Way to Rainy Mountain". Next week we are supposed to do the first of the district's "Benchmark" exams that are designed to measure what our students know and do not know about reading and writing.

I wish I could do this without giving my students yet another standardized test.

Day 3: Testing, Testing, Testing

Today, we tested, the first of many certainly. This was the Gates Reading Test to determine the students' reading levels. I think this will yeild useful information. I'm curious about the reading levels of my students. I have suspicion that many are reading well below grade level, but this will give me a better indication.

My question is, what then? I am not trained in reading remediation. If I find that Jesse reads at the 6th grade level, then what should I do. I am not asking this as a rhetorical question or to simply show dispair. I really want to be a good teacher, one who meets his students' needs, but sometimes I feel that the ocean is so big and my boat is so small.

Another problem I had arose when they were finished with the test. The portion of the test they took today was over vocabulary.Explaining the test took about 5 minutes, and taking it took 20 minutes. I ended up with 10-15 minutes after the test. I spent the time talking about some of the class procedures, but I felt as those I didn't use the leftover time well.

When I came to my last hour's class, I had run out of test answer sheets. So I had the students read M. Scott Momaday's essay "Way to Rainy Mountain", and had the students write a couple of paragraphs about home and family as well as summarize the Kiowa legend Momaday recounts in the book. Later they will be writing a reflective essay, so I felt it would be useful to read a reflective account that we can return to later.

Schools Matter: Michelle Rhee Is Now Lying About Other People's Te...

Michelle Rhee, late of the Washington, DC school district, has every right to her own opinion; however, she has no right to her own facts.

Schools Matter: Michelle Rhee Is Now Lying About Other People's Te...: "The corporate education reporters have been working overtime to downplay Rhee's big lie that she has been repeating for years about the mira..."

A List of Education Legislation Filed So Far in in Oklahoma

A list of proposed legislation to be considered in the 2011 Oklahoma state legislature that will directly affect public education in Oklahoma:

Oklahomans for Great Public Schools
The names following the bill number are the last names of the bills' authors.
HB 1654

Enns

Directs each school district board of education to adopt a grading policy for all students requiring a teacher to assign a grade that reflects the relative mastery of assignment; allows for makeup work; EMERGENCY.

HB 1731

Hall

Requires the district board of education to implement the options requested by at least 1/2 of the parents or legal guardians of students attending the school if the school has identified a need for school improvement for 4 years.

HB 1817

Hardin

Requires schools that recieve a petition from fifty percent of parents to submit an empowerment plan to the board of education; EMERGENCY

HB 1724

Fourkiller

Extends the current teachers in the public schools of Oklahoma salaries through the 2010-2011 school years; modifies new amounts beginning with the 2011-2012 school years; EMERGENCY.

HB 1378

Holland

Prohibits the recognition of a labor organization as a bargaining agent for a group of school district employees; prohibits school employees from engaging in strike.

HB 1651

Enns

Prohibits schools from making payroll deductions for either professional organization dues or political contributions on behalf of a school district employee.

HB 1269

Coody

Requires teachers of reading for kindergarten through third grade to incorporate the five elements of reading instruction into lesson plans; EMERGENCY.

HB 1551

Kern

Creates the Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act; disallows the penalization of a student because the student may subscribe to a particular position on scientific theories; EMERGENCY.

HB 1587

Thomsen

Requires the State Board of Education to develop and construct each criterion-referenced test to be completed in no more than 60 minutes; focuses on mathematics and reading; EMERGENCY.

HB 1714

Kern

Removes requirement for the State Board of Education to adopt the K-12 Common Core State Standards; EMERGENCY.



SB 537

Shortey

Establishes the "Quality of Education for Oklahoma Citizens Act of 2011"; requires schools to examine the birth certificate of enrolling students to determine residency status to better identify the costs incurred educating students who are

HB 1457

Denney

Redifines "career teacher pretermination hearing"; Provides protocol for the recommendation for the dismissal or non-remployment of a career or probationary teacher; Provides the rights for career and probationary teachers; EMERGENCY.

SB 1

Ford

Removes "career teacher pretermination hearing" requirements related to the "Teacher Due Process Act of 1990"; strikes the term "probationary", making all teachers subject to the same disciplinary process; EMERGENCY.

SB 534

Ford

Modifies the grounds for which a career teacher can be dismissed; removes the two month minimum for a time of improvement in response to a poor evaluation score.

I want to thank my friend, Claudia Swisher, teacher extraordinaire, from Norman, Oklahoma for providing me this list.

Centennial Must Become A Community Force

We had a staff meeting Tuesday about the problems at our school. One teacher complained that we have a small percentage of students who cause most of the problems, and that if we could somehow rid ourselves of these few, we could do a better job of teaching those who remain.

We were told that the problem would be "addressed." I don't hold out much hope for this. I suspect that little will be done about these students because we have voiced this complaint ad infinitum, and it is always being "addressed." I don't even bother to raise the issue anymore.

I think that we teachers at Centennial need to face the fact that any real solution to the problems of our school must come from us and not from some administrative action.

I think that one solution must involve us reaching out to our community so that the school becomes an important focal point in our part of Oklahoma City. We should be visiting churches, businesses, neighborhoods, and homes to talk about our school and our needs. And we need to be listening to those with whom we visit to find out what their concerns and needs are.

We must gain the trust and support of our community if we ever hope get them involved in the lives of their children.

Teaching in a New Paradigm

Teachers are going to have to come to the realization that we are teaching in a new paradigm. The calls for teachers to be accountable for their students' academic progress, regardless of where the students are in their intellectual abilities, regardless of how much home support the students have, regardless of the socio-economic environment in which the students live, are becoming more and more insistent.

We no longer control the narrative about schools. Our insistence that accountability must be a shared responsibility is being drowned out by those who insist that we show immediate and measurable results for our instruction. Any attempt to call attention to the myriad of other factors involved in the educational process of our students are dismissed as an attempt on our part to avoid responsibility for our actions.

The fact that students, particularly those in urban schools, fail to perform well academically is taken as being self-evident. And where there is failure, there must be blame. And since teachers are the ones who are most responsibile for education, they are responsible for the failure. Or so the current narrative goes.

I do find it curious that when educational and political pundits tell their stories about "failing schools" their examples are nearly always urban schools. Few tell tales about the "failure" of suburban or even rural schools. Inner-city students are the one's "Waiting for Superman" to come save their from being "crippled" by bad schools, burned out teachers, and those horrible teacher unions.

In other words, those students who lives are most crippled by poverty, crime, racism, and other forms of injustice, are the "victims" of public education.

The truth of the matter is that our students are victims of a systemic failure, a failure of our political and economic system to provide for them the means by which they can realize their full human potential. They not only are short-changed in their schools, they also are victimized by inadequate health care, unequal justice in the courts, poor housing, crumbling infrastructure, lack of job opportunities, and all the social ills that attend poverty like drugs, crime and violence.

Our students are burdened by our failure to realize the American promise of "justice for all." Any true solution to the problem of education must occur as a part of our broader attempt to realize true justice, not merely justice of opportunity, but geniune social justice, including justice of enablement and empowerment. If students have little prospect of a meaningful and dignified life after school, then how can we expect them to take advantage of the educational opportunites school provides?

The New Paradigm the United States of America needs to be promoting, the narrative all Americans need to be telling is story a fully nation where "justice for all" is more than a rote mantra said during The Pledge of Allegiance. Our story must be one of justice.

Teachers' Due Process in the Crosshairs

Once again, the Oklahoman is taking on due process rights with another article in the paper about how hard it is to fire bad teachers. Teachers must recognize that the due process system we now enjoy will be greatly altered by this legislature.

We had better be prepared to engage the Republicans who now control nearly all aspects of education at the state level in a discussion on reasonable changes to the present system because if we are not at the table, we will surely be on the menu.

It appears from the article that the only teachers' organization that is trying to get to the table is the AFT. AFT 2309 president Ed Allen is quoted in the article.

Editorial in The Oklahoman About Centennial HS

OCHS
Today's editorial in The Oklahoman is about Centennial HS where I teach. The article upon which it is based is fair and balanced. Megan Rolland did a good job of presenting the complexity of what we face at OCHS.

Unfortunately, the editorial is not fair at all. The writer simply hounds the school for "failing" its students, and suggests that the district should jump in and make major changes right away. Of course, the writer has the luxury of not coming up with any substantive ideas.

Our students need help at Centennial, but we won't fix a broken system by smashing it. We have students who cannot function in a normal school environment. They make learning impossible for their fellow students. They need a different environment where they will thrive. Failing students need to be in required tutoring classes with trained teachers who can meet their individual needs. These needs cannot be met in a class of 25-30 with a teacher who has a workload of around 140 students.

These things take money, and money is the last thing Oklahoma seems to have for its students.

Oklahoma Centennial High School

OCHS
The Oklahoman ran a article about the school where I teach this Sunday. It's a fair piece. I get quoted quite a bit. I hope that the school gets some attention of the right sort through it.

What we need is a place for those students who are unable to perform in a regular high school environment so those who want to be there can learn.

"Oklahoma Centennial High School: Succeeding in a Place of Failure"

A Taste of Failure

I got the result of my National Board for Teacher Certification entry, I did not pass. My school was 233 and passing was 275. I have two more years to try to get things in order, and I plan to go for it. I am a bit down not, but not out.

(Of course, the fact that I am fighting a cold right now doesn't help matters.)

12th grade reading scores show little improvement nationwide

I teach two honors English classes at Oklahoma Centennial. I have students enrolled in those classes who are very reading resistant. They tell me that they don't like to read, will not read, and don't care if not reading lowers their grades.

Mainly, this is a defense mechanism they use because they feel that they don't read very well. I have never felt comfortable doing handyman work around the house, and so I avoid trying to do it if possible. It's the same with those who lack reading skills.

I have found that by making myself do home repairs and improvements, I have gotten better. I need to convince my students that they can accomplish the same with reading.
"High school seniors still have low reading scores" from MSNBC.com