Teacher Stress

This year as been one of the most trying I have experienced in my 17 years of public school teaching. It seems like everyone is getting stressed to the max. Much of this comes from the fact that we are facing a sort of educational time clock on our efforts that comes from the fact that we face the real possibility of having our school closed due to low test scores.

We teach in one of the poorest attendance areas in Oklahoma City. Many of us face daunting tasks of dealing with kids with zero family support, kids who live in high crime areas, kids who face long odds of living successful lives. Each day is a fight to maintain order in our classrooms. Many students show little desire to master the material we try to teach. Yet we will be judged as being ineffective teachers if our students do not perform well on the state tests.

In other words, we could lose of jobs not for what we have done, but for something someone else has done who has little incentive to help us keep our jobs.

No wonder we are stressed.

Why OKC Schools Lack Academic Progress

I wrote this letter to Oklahoma City councilman Skip Kelly after I read an article in the Oklahoman about the frustration the city council expressed over a lack of academic progress in the Oklahoma City public schools.

Dear Councilman Kelly:

I read the article in the paper concerning the frustration the city has with the lack of progress you have seen in the Oklahoma City Public School district. The reasons for this are many and complex, but if you ask most teachers, we will tell you that a big contributing factor is that we have to spend enormous amounts of time and energy managing our students as opposed to educating them. Every day, teachers, and I speak mainly about those teaching middle schools and high schools, have to try to keep their students in line, keep them from disrupting the class, keep them from talking to their friends, keep them from getting into fights, keep them on task, or simply keep them awake, so that we can do our primary job: educate them for their futures.

We have very limited resources to deal with these problems. We can contact parents, who are often absent from their children’s lives, and enlist their help. When this does not bring a change in our students’ behavior, we can assign detention, which few are inclined to serve. Our last resort is to refer the student, commonly known as “writing a referral”, to an administrator who typically can only suspend the student, taking the student out of classes, for a period of time. When I assign detention, frequently I have to fall back on writing a referral because the student does not show up for detention.

The result of all this is that administrators find themselves overwhelmed with student referrals, which they cannot process in a timely manner. Thus teachers must put up with disruptive students in their classes who rob their fellow students of their right to an education in a safe and orderly environment. Thus the education of all students suffer. Thus parents feel they cannot send their students to our schools and opt to leave the district, especially after their children’s elementary school years are finished and the students are ready for middle school and high school.

I can say with a fair amount of confidence that nothing will change in the OKC school district until some type of alternative arrangement can be made for students unable to perform in a traditional academic setting. I feel confident in saying this because this is my 16th year in the Oklahoma City district, and I have yet to see much improvement in student behavior. Year after year, I and my colleagues wear ourselves sick in trying to maintain order in our class so that a modicum of learning can take place.

The city and the district may build all the outstanding buildings they wish, but if the teachers in those buildings have to focus primarily on managing their classes as opposed to educating their students, it will be all for naught.

I appreciate your frustration with our schools. It is more than matched by the frustration of their teachers.News Article: Oklahoma City Council Frustrated With Academics in City Schools

Labor Vincit Omnia

Last weekend, I was able to attend “Labor Fest” a celebration of workers and labor in Oklahoma history and culture. For three days in the Plaza District and the new Lyric Theatre there were concerts, plays, films, and readings in Oklahoma labor history and presentations on issues of worker justice.
Labor was a big presence at the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. Union members, in alliance with tenant farmers, won majority support for many of their demands at the state’s constitutional convention in 1906. Oklahoma’s legislature eventually passed laws prohibiting child labor and mandating compulsory school attendance, establishing state mining and factory inspectors, regulating the use of strike breakers during labor disputes and providing for humane treatment of prisoners and the poor.
Workers had a big interest the formation of Oklahoma’s government. During the territory days, workers were often exploited with little help from the federal government. Child labor was common. Mines were typically built with only one exit and cave-ins were a frequent occurrence. Oil field workers worked in hazardous conditions and were often maimed or killed on the job. Farmers were subject to exploitation by greedy banks and speculators along with railroad companies who charged the farmers outrageous prices to transport their harvests, which robbed farmers of a rightful return for their labor. In short, conditions were then pretty much as they are now.
Sometimes one hears that unions were once a good thing, but their time has passed. People will tell me, “If people will only be more productive or get the right training, they can find good jobs on their own. No need for a union to interfere with a company’s employees.” That same argument has always been used by those who either want to exploit workers or are willing to allow exploitation to continue rather than suffer the pains required for the fight for justice.
The truth is that justice is never convenient, never something those in power willingly give up to those without it. None of the economic rights we take for granted now, including the 40 hour week, workplace safety, child labor laws, and anti-discrimination laws, came without a fight. And the fight for justice is never complete, never a matter of the past, never something that can be taken for granted.
God bless the good people of this church who continue to give themselves over to the fight for justice. Let us never grow weary in this fight. Let this Labor Day weekend remind us of why we are in it.

Mayflower Congregation Church-Sermon Highlights-Rev. Michael Dowd, Guest Minister

Rev. Michael Dowd
Note: Rev. Michael Dowd was the 2nd speaker in Mayflower's summer "Distinguished Pulpit Series. Rev. Dowd is a leading voice in the Evolutionary Spirituality movement and the author of two outstanding books: "Earth Spirit" and "Thank God for Evolution

Date: Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sermon Title: "The New Atheists Are God's Prophets"

Scripture Reading: Exodus 21:17 and Psalms 137: 8-9, also included a reading from a book by Sam Harris

Sermon Highlights:
We should seek to live in accordance with reality. Our debate is how we should respond to reality. The message of prophets always is, "Align with reality or perish." Our problem is that we tend to take on a small part of reality and idolize it. That is one reason why Judaism forbade images of God or even the name of God to be spoken.

Just as in ancient Greece Apollo was not understood to be apart from the sun but a personification of the life giving force of the sun, God is a personification of reality and not a person apart from it.
Facts are God's native tongue.

According to P.Z. Meyers, "There is no better way to get someone to be an atheist than to get them to read the Bible." The message of the Old Testament is follow our God or die. The message of the New Testament is follow Jesus or fry.

This use of fear to compel belief is very close to terrorism. Terrorism is the use of fear to inculcate belief. One reason why so many people are leaving the evangelical church (one estimate has it at 1,000 people a day) is that many, particularly the young, no longer fear the Bad News of the evangelical faith. Hell is not bad news anymore. The Good News cannot be cosmic fire insurance.

To believe the God spoke once in ancient books and ever again is to "dis" or disrespect God. Some of those who are speaking for God, though they would deny it, are the "New Atheists", people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens who warn against the affect organized religion and classic theological statements about God have had in our world. Their warning is about the effect ignorance and intolerance is having in our culture and politics.

Their call to recognize the reality of our situation is their prophetic message.

Prayer of Confession:
We confess that we have failed to think and take action against the harm we have done to the atmosphere, living waters, soil and landscape, and living creatures of the Creation. We have failed to become more energy efficient in our lifestyle, ignoring our spiritual and civic responsibilities on environmental and eco-justice issues thus allowing ourselves to become a non-sustainable, consuming culture. We confess that we continue to live well beyond our needs, catering to our wants, not conserving Creation's natural resources and not allowing them to be shared with others who do not have, but need. Our sin is separation from the universe interpreting dominion over earth as license rather than responsibility. Our salvation is recognition of our interdependence with the universe. Allow us to see rays of light to guide us in future roads we travel through creation. This we ask in the name of the great sage, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.

Worship Leader Remarks: 6-6-10, Chess and Me

I am playing chess with a middle school student
(Each Sunday, one lay member of my church, Mayflower Congregational, is given the opportunity to make some brief remarks before the offering is taken. Last Sunday, I spoke about my enthusiasm for the game of chess.)

I’m going to talk about the game of chess. I’ve taken an interest in the royal game. I’m still not very good at it, couldn’t tell you the difference between the Queen’s gambit declined and the Nizmo-Indian defense. But I enjoy playing it. I am the sponsor of my middle school/high school chess club, which has had a positive effect on our students’ behavior and learning.

Chess appeals to many of my interests: history, the arts, learning, and, yes, even politics. The history of the game goes back 1500 years to India, probably. In that time there have been only 3 or 4 major rule changes in how it is played. In arts like literature, chess has played a role in works as varied as “Through the Looking Glass” to “1984”. It is the subject of 1000s of books including game theory, psychology, and education. Chess improves logic, and creativity. And Chess has had its political side also. Those of my generation remember the “Cold War on the Chess Board” between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. When I read accounts of that famous match I realize that my sympathies should have been with the Russain Spassky who was a perfect gentleman and sportsman throughout the match as opposed to the paranoid, egomaniac Fischer.

Chess has also affected by gender politics. The biggest change in how the game is played came about in the 16th century when a piece known as the “minister”, that didn’t move much, became the most powerful piece on the board, the Queen. Women chess grandmasters, like Susan Polgar, are helping to produce a new generation of female chess players.

This summer, I am going to try to develop a chess club at the Village Library starting a week from Friday on June 18. If you have a child interested in the game, or you want to participate yourself, let me know.

Now it’s time for our offering, time for you to make you’re move and put in your check, mate.

Back At It Again

I've been away from posting for some time now due to my involvement in National Board for Teacher Certification. I had to get a portfolio done, basically in two months, that I should have been doing since last June. The good news is that with a lot of huffing and puffing and giving up my Spring Break, I was able to get my portfolio off in time. So now, I find myself with some extra time on my hands that I can devote to this blog, among other things.

At the school we are getting ready to do our "End of Instruction" (EOI) exams. This are the high stakes tests that basically determine whether our school gets on the "naughty or nice list" as far as No Child Left Behind is concerned. We have had a couple of schools in our district be on the "needs improvement" list too long, and the schools were required by federal law go through a complete reorganization including the removal of at least 50% of their current faculty.

The problem with the EOI tests that our student will be taking is that they mean nothing to the students. My students who will take the exam, the 11th graders, face no consequences for failing the test. So why should they even try?

One Way to Protest the Tebow Ad

One modest proposal for a response to the Tebow advocacy ad during the Super Bowl. As a way of registering opposition, use the ad time as a bathroom break. City waterworks often report a drop of water pressure during such break times (like at the beginning of half-time).

If many of us who wish to protect reproductive rights would do this together and a similar drop in pressure took place, it could be interpreted as a registration of disapproval and protest.
Anti-Abortion Tebow Ad Has Progressives Fried Up

Tough Day Today

The first day back after the ice storm was pretty rugged. One of the teachers in my teaching team was absent, so we had to cover his classes, first by dividing up his students and taking them to our classrooms while we were teaching, and then by actually covering his classes in his classroom.

It is not easy when someone is absent. I had to be out of the building for my mother-in-law's death and memorial. I very much appreciate those who covered for me.

Educational quality is always degraded during these times. When I had some of the other teacher's students in my class, my classroom management problems greatly increased. I had to admonish my "visitors" to be quiet and try to get my students to avoid the distraction of seeing their friends without much to do. I did my best, but I felt as though I was basically just getting through the day.

That's not a good feeling for a teacher to have.

Back to School Today

The ice has melted finally. The streets are better. So off to school we go!

Should OKC get the REDS out?

Monday night, the Oklahoma City school board had its regular meeting and, in addition to the problem of weather related school closings, discussed how to meet a $4 million budget shortfall caused by reduced state funding. Various items were discussed including the sale of some closed school properties, such as old John Marshall High School, and "realigning the support and certified staff in the central office."

One area of administrative expense needs to be addressed by the district: the six Regional Educational Directors, or REDS as they are often termed. These are six "super-principals" who oversee schools in six different regions of the school district. These are administors who administrate other administrators. They do not have direct contact with students in the classroom.

Frankly, most of the rank and file certified and support staff cannot fathom what these people do other than create another layer of meddlesome bureaucracy as well as administrative expense. If the district wants to make cuts in personnel, many teachers point to these offices as a way for the district to save a considerable amount of money, perhaps as much as as a half-million dollars or more.

Personally, I do not know if this is a wise move, but it is something constantly discussed among teachers whenever the subject of staff reductions comes up.

If the district chooses to hold on to these positions, it should explain to teachers and staff faced with the possibility of reductions why these positions are retained while those who have more direct contact with students face reductions.

OKC School Board Talks About Money Saving Options

National Pun Day is March 4th!

This is a very good pun from "Pearls Before Swine" a cartoon by Stephen Pastis (a very incorrigible punster)

Snow today on top of the ice we got.

The front of our house in the falling snow.
Our new end of school date is now June 2nd. :(
Statue in our front yard of Hebe, Greek goddess, cup bearer to the gods.

We Have An Ice Day Today

When I got to the school this morning, I found that it had been called off. Evidently, the district made the decision at the last minute. I was happy to work a little white at the school on my grading, but soon after I got there, we were told that the building was closing, so we had to go home.

People often make fun of us on the Southern Plains for how we handle winter weather. One thing that is often overlooked is the fact that our winter precipitation typically takes the form of ice, the worst kind of precipitation. Those who get theirs in the form of snow certainly have challenges, but NO ONE handles ice well, certainly not while driving.

School Wide Assembly Kicks off "Heart of a Champion" Character Education Initiative

Some of my students showing off their "Elevators UP OKC" T-Shirts
Today we had a school wide assembly put on by "Elevators Up OKC," an initiative sponsored by Coca Cola to foster character education through the "Heart of a Champion" program. We had a radio and TV personality named T-Rock MC the proceedings. Also in attendance were OKCPS Superintendent Karl Springer, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, 5 members of the OKCPS school board, two of the Thunder cheerleaders, and executives with Coca Cola.
Oklahoma City Public School Superintendent Karl Springer and Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Jari Askins attended the event
from l to r, Oklahoma City Public Schools board members Gail Vines, Phil Horning, Lyn Watson, and David Castillo
Students Cheering during the assembly
Our students took it all in quite well and seemed to have a good time.
One of the Thunder cheerleaders giving out free tickets to an OKC Thunder game
I am one of the teachers who is responsible for teaching the "Heart of a Champion" curriculum. Wish me luck. The first character quality I am teaching is going to be "Committment."

A Prayer for Justice for All

God of all humankind. God of many names, honored in many ways.

Your prophet Amos told the people of his nation, "Hear this, O ye who swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail. . . . I will turn your feasts to mourning and your songs to lamentations."

As your prophets long ago called their nation to repent of theirs sins against your justice, may our nation in our time hear the call for us to repentance of our sins against those most in need of justice.

Lord, forgive us.

For we have failed to pay many workers a livable wage, so they and their families, including their children, must live in poverty in our land of wealth and plenty.

We have treated health care, not as the human right it is, but as a commodity for our profit, making money from basic human needs, causing medical care to become so expensive that 40% of all American companies now offer no health benefits at all for their employees.

We have denied the workers of this great land their right to free association by allowing those in power to harass and intimidate workers who wish to form unions, even to the point of denying them their constitutional right to organize at all leaving them weak and vulnerable to those in power.

We have denied our fellow Americans their right to dignity. For Lord, when we try to call human rights, "special rights," we merely seek to justify our fears, our prejudices, and our exploitations.

Lord, forgive us our sins, for we have truly done what we ought not to have done, but, what is worse, we have left undone those things that we ought to have done.

May we not grow weary in our labors to brings about your justice and mercy to our land. For in these times, your work must truly be our own.

Amen

Mayflower Congregation Church--Sermon Highlights: Rev. Scott Rennie, Guest Minister

Jesus the Sower
Note: This Sunday we had a guest pulpit minister at Mayflower, Rev. Scott M. Rennie of Queen's Cross Parish in Aberdeen Scotland, a congregation of the national Church of Scotland. As noted in the welcome printed in the church bulletin, Rev. Rennie's call to Queen's Cross was the first time an openly gay minister was called by a Church of Scotland, or Kirk, parish. His calling was the subject of a landmark case before the General Assembly of Kirk in 2010. The Assembly resolved to allow his call to proceed.

Guest Minister: Rev. Scott M. Rennie

Title of Sermon: WASTED GRACE

Scripture Lesson: Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23 (Jesus' Parable of the Sower)

Sermon Highlights:

The sower in Jesus parable was not your stereotypical thrifty Scot. He sows his grain indiscriminently throwing it on good soil and bad, even on the road itself. The sower reminds us of God who is gratuitously generous with His favors and blessings.

Some times Life seems to be a tale of wasted energy. We seek to help people who never seem to improve their living. We work for justice in our community, but justice does not come.

Whenever we sow the seeds of the kingdom, we never know where those seeds will take root. We do not always see the difference we make. We must work in the spirit of faith and hope.

We must imitate God's gratitous generosity and live in the hope that our efforts will one day take root in our world.

Personal Reflection: This sermon spoke directly spoke to me. Those of us in Oklahoma concerned about social justice often feel none of our efforts will pay off. We look at those who represent us in Washington and in our state government, and we see how they seek to deny all efforts to heal our environment or bring about real health reform.

It is difficult to labor in such poor soil, but labor we must and have faith that we will help bring about justice for all.

Mayflower Congregation Church--Prayer of Confession

Peace Pole at Mayflower Church
Lord of Life, we come to this place to worship because we are the children of grace. We are drawn to the light of this room because this is the beloved community. The seeds of grace have fallen here and have taken root in us. We know that often the world chokes out those seeds, and we allow the seeds of cynicism to take over. Give us strength and courage to tend this garden, and then to be the change we wish to see in the world. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, our Teacher and Lord we pray, Amen.

RIP Sandy Pilcher

Zaddie "Sandy" Mae Pilcher died Tuesday. She was my wife's birth mother. Sandy was born in Idabel in 1934 to a family of migrant workers. Sandy worked in the fields harvesting crops with her migrant family as a child. She worked hard all her life at low-level jobs which included working for Dairy Queen, a magazine distribution company, and a nurse's aide.

Sandy raised two other children in addition to my wife, Cat. Ramona, who was stricken with polio at age 2, and Cheryl, who lives in Tulsa and works as a registered nurse.

Sandy worked hard all her life. She now gets to lay her burden down and enter into her rest.

Cat and I are in Tulsa for her memorial service.

MA-Sen: The Aftermath

MA-Sen: The Aftermath

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