Educated to Death

#school #education #prison

A fight between junior high children should not result in a trip in a cop car and a criminal record.

I happened upon a rather brutal fight involving a group of boys yesterday. Strangely, there were no teachers to be seen, but that is another story. When I walked up the crowd scattered. Remaining was a pile of angry entangled boys who knew they would soon be whisked away in handcuffs. The boys were clearly angry and in no place to be reasonable. Some staff and the principal showed up to help with the ruckus, and take them to the office to wait for our friends in blue.

This has been the case in every school I’ve taught. Kids fight. Cops are called. Kids are arrested. I’ve seen police in the elementary schools before. True, fighting is not appropriate in a school setting. It’s not ideal anywhere. But, it’s not the problem. Fighting is a symptom of a problem that is usually never uncovered because our fighters disappear with the police or into suspension or alternative schools and the problems that are beneath the violence are never uncovered. These kids never learn to process their emotions effectively and become an early candidate for adult imprisonment. These kids act out and are punished over and over. They return angry and start the cycle again. For these kids the pipeline from school to prison is a reality.

What could be done differently? I don’t have an answer to this. I’d like one. I know it starts with building relationships with students and communities. It requires some early intervention. It requires not turning children into criminals. Kids need a chance to become adults. They need room to grow, and support while they’re growing. Calling a 7th grader a hardened and lost criminal is not the way. Schools have their hands full, but with the wrong things. We are about the wrong business with standardization and the like. Humans and humanity are our real business. I gather that’s ultimately a policy issue, but that’s no excuse. We have to care for what is before us. Send me some answers if you have any. educatedtodeath@gmail.com

#teacher #teaching #edchat

I was formally evaluated the other day and met expectations in every single area. For starters, that is bullshit. I have become fairly effective at what I do. I’m professional, I’m abreast current trends in educational research, I follow policy, and even do some advocacy work from time to time. I “have it together”. I’m a good classroom manager, that is, I seldom send kids to the office because I handle problems internally. Good for me. But, does this shining evaluation reflect beyond the fact that I am liked by my principal? The form is simple, all it requires the evaluator to do is circle or check certain competencies. So, I perform a dog and pony show that is a version of what happens everyday in my classroom. Again, I “know how to teach”. But, these evaluations don’t reflect what always goes on in class. It doesn’t reflect the struggle to teach when things go awry. It doesn’t reflect the struggle to get a single point across, much less have students retain something when several students decide they’re not going to learn today. And most important, it doesn’t reflect my internal struggle. I love teaching and I hate it. I want to quit, but I don’t know what else to do. I want to stay, but I could do other things. I’m not challenged fully, but my hands are full. I’m frustrated, and angry, and joyful, and disgruntled. I’m fighting a losing battle and loving it. Who asks about this stuff? Why aren’t these things a part of evaluation?

I’m not knocking a good evaluation. I just wonder why. And what if I wasn’t liked? Teachers and principals need to be more interlinked. There needs to be an ongoing discourse that brings up problems and solves them collaboratively. These evals are just an extension of the banking model of education that plagues our education system. We need intimate conversation, not distant evaluation.

#teaching #edchat #revolution

What is the point of teaching relatively useless subject matter? We spend day after day teaching a tired curriculum to tired kids in a world that is filled with action. We should be working with our students to develop revolutionary ideas and strategies to impact the world we share. We should all be striving to figure out the debacle that is called the United States. I’m bored from the curriculum
I teach and have taught. I know the kids are. I’ve spiced it up and have even taught beyond and around the curriculum. I’ve made an impact I know. But, what good is 13 years of segmented instruction that leads to joblessness or debt from student loans. Why can’t we all be powerful now? Teachers have been reduced to mere carriers of the carrot that makes the rabbit run. Teaching is not enough. Learning is not enough. School is not learning. People are hungry and jobless— in debt. The people are our students, they are us. We’re all in this boat together, and we’re still teaching the same tired curriculum? Has education been completely neutered? Have we? The curriculum must become revolutionary, and so must we. We are breathing the air of necessary change. We are nearing the tipping point. We need to push.

#teaching #edchat #rebellion #consumer

Each day students awaken from their sweet dreams in their rich and peaceful 3 car garage homes in white neighborhoods and come to schools where their reveries can continue. Because of their natural privilege they are allowed to enter classrooms that have a marvelous curriculum of consumption. Fortunate students are blessed to “sit-and-get” knowledge each day that will allow them to perform well on their standardized tests. These standardized tests allow them to be given numeric values as human beings. Note: there is nothing more humanizing than a numeric value. These numeric values allow them to be properly sorted for better processing. It helps the schools decide how much remediation material to purchase. Luckily, almost everyone needs remediation materials of some sort. Numbered people need remediation. Usually these remedial people have strange behavior patterns that must be managed. They often squirm around and try to force their teacher-depositor to chase rabbits. The chasing of rabbits is strictly prohibited, as it distracts from what is truly important. If these remedial humans continue to chase rabbits, they can be remediated with medication. Then they will no long distract from what is important. Sometimes the teachers need remediation, especially if they insist on wasting time with discussing and reteaching material that was already consumed at its determined time on the pacing guide. These teachers usually learn to behave with a simple reprimand, but many of them need to be put on improvement plans. We must accept that the curriculum is designed and scheduled by someone who is an absolute expert. They specialize in curriculum mapping. They know the curriculum. That’s their only job. They don’t have time to waste with students and pesky misbehaving teachers. Sometimes, too, principals try to interfere with the process of organizing the numbered individuals, by defending certain practices that rebellious teachers implement. These rogue principals can usually be reprimanded, or relocated, or terminated. So, there’s no need to worry there.

It’s of the utmost importance that we as educator-depositors remember to avoid collaboration and discussion with our peers. We have consumers to groom. We must model, by properly swallowing each pill we are given. Lead by example, they say. And, we shall! Be a leader. Lead by following. We have consumers to groom.

Finally, we must remember that the task of creation should always go to someone else. This could also be said for collaboration. Education should not concern itself with creation or collaboration. Consumption is the goal. Otherwise, our economy will fail and we will have to rely on one another. How awful.

Really?

#edchat #teaching #abuse

I spend as much time as I can talking to teachers about there experiences. I’m a firm believer in the power of discourse for transformation. Sometimes the transformation is personal and sometimes it leads to systemic change. Either way, teachers must tell their stories, even if it’s to a journal or a friend.

I’ve grown increasingly concerned by my conversations with experienced teachers over the years. These teachers are full of excellent experience. They know the schools where the teach. They know the communities. Some of them have taught several generations within the community. These teachers have seen principals and policies come and go. Many of them started teaching when teachers pulled around $6000 a year. These are the tried and the true, the gluttons for punishment. They come back year after year. But, I’m not seeing them treated as the master teachers they are. I’m actually starting to see many of them really start to question why they are coming back. These experienced teachers in many places are being abused. I don’t have a statistic, but I’m running into more highly qualified, 25+ years experienced teachers being slapped with impossible improvement plans, and having excessive classroom observations that result in non-constructive criticism of their practice. For many teachers, classrooms are overcrowded and support doesn’t come when needed. Don’t get me wrong, some teachers are tired and burnt out and should retire. And, there are some teachers who don’t do there jobs. Some of them. But, there are so many who are truly professional teachers with advanced degrees, sticking it out in poor schools because they believe every child has a right to a quality education.

My practice has been made better by these “burnt out and beat up” teachers. So why are they being abused? Are they just ineffective old people? Not at all. It seems, and I may be wrong, that these teachers cost too much to employ. It’s an economic decision. I’ve heard it from the mouth a superintendent that you could hire 2 new teachers for the price of an old one. And this is true. But, is it worth throwing the experience away? Is it worth destroying a quality teacher? Money is tight in districts, but don’t abuse your greatest resources. If you’re an abused and disenfranchised teacher, young, old, or in between please share your story.

Anonymity is important. And confidence is priceless. But, silence is deadly. Please share your story with me— here or at educatedtodeath@gmail.com

Please don’t be silent. Teachers should be valued.

#teaching #bullying

Teaching, being a humanist profession if attended to correctly, puts you in direct and often harsh contact with the gamut of human emotions. It can get a little heavy. Kids, teachers, people are up and down. There are moments that are wonderful and rich, and others that scrape the edges of darkness. There is no moment more painful and confusing than watching someone wretch and cry over something that is so out of their control. Bullying is a bad word and a buzz word. It’s easy to become numb to it. We sit through professional developments about the subject, most of them vaguely tell us that bullying is bad, and then they spout of some suicide statistics. We are to “deal with bullies”, but how? They bully, we talk to them. We send them to the office. They get suspended, punished, or let go. They enter the cogs of punitive discipline while keeping up with their chronic victimization of others. We punish the bullies without dealing with the genesis of their behavior. And, then the group-think. A kid sparks a fire and the next thing you know you have a class of kids or an entire school against one person, or so it seems.

Finally, the victim. Today the victim has a clear and tearful face. She’s been harassed since she got to this school about being “poor”. The majority of the kids here receive free lunch. The school is a Title I school. The area is poor. But, there’s that one kid who stands out. They don’t have the nice clothes and the shoes. The family has other pressing priorities. She’s had enough. One comment about her shoes resulted in a desperate scream of “leave me alone” and out the door to violently breakdown on the sidewalk. The class laughed, and she was alone. I walked out behind her and listened through mumbles and tears— about lost it myself. I was helpless except to listen to her and share with her my delight in who she is. But, that does not change the fact that she feels entirely alone. She says she has no one except her mom. She was the victim of the day on the wheel of outcasts that are defined in classrooms. I’m baffled today. I’m baffled every time it has happened to anyone.

What to do? Listen?

#teaching #learning #edchat

What’s good about teaching? Why stick with it?

On a bad day, who knows? On a good day, you saw someone become more human than they were the day before. Teaching is a sport that involves months of commitment to doldrums and blank stares. But, the moment a few pairs of eyes come to life, the ice melts and the tests disappear; suddenly, you’ve lead an army to victory against the barbarian horde. The beauty in teaching is the experience of watching someone experience empowerment, even if only a tiny bit, for the first time. It is art to experience awakening.

The teaching profession is not filled with teaching. Teachers are starved to teach. Those few moments of truth and beauty are so enticing and marvelous that all of us show up day after day, and fight nothing but uphill battles just to standby as someone opens their eyes and minds for the first time. Benevolence of selfishness, I’m not sure, but it’s damn nice to be around when an egg actually hatches.

#humanity #edchat #testocracy #revolution

I spend a lot of time bitching about standardized tests. They’ve done a terrible thing to our society and our educational system. They’ve created students who think in terms of multiple choice and think no. 2 pencils are tools for performing strange religious ceremonies. They have turned teachers into prison wardens who speak only in terms of a, b, c, or d and the process of elimination. They’ve turned writing into the act of selecting the best passage with the fewest errors, rather than actually writing to find out what one thinks. Standardized tests are our keys into colleges, graduate schools, and many jobs. We all think in terms of a, b, c, and d. If you don’t then you are separate. You will never have access. You will be damned! Damned to what? A thoughtful and peaceful existence?

All of this is quite dystopian and chilling, but what can we do? We could all refuse to give them. Maybe no one shows up on testing day. No one. Or maybe teachers show up and students sit in the parking lots. Maybe someone breaks in and eliminates the tests. Guerilla test forces pop up in school districts across the country, and end corporate testing. It would be nice. But, what can we do as teachers who are chained to the assembly line?

I submit that we teach around the test. Let’s just take a year, and really teach. Teach your subject passionately throwing caution to the pacing guide. Teach at a pace where your students can really learn. On top of that, help them learn to think, and question, and reason. Present the test as a problem, for a problem-based learning activity. We, the class, have this monster of a test before us, that serves to dehumanized all of us. How can we beat it? Let that be the starting point. Standardized testing is a brutal reality of our budding society today. We have to find ways to interrupt the consequences of testing and teaching to the test while still meeting our impossible “quotas”. We’re working hard to cultivate people, not test takers. We have to help our kids transcend their scores of minimal, basic, proficient, and advanced and become real people with faces. Sure, pass the test, but, in our souls and hearts we must always say: fuck the test. I am not a score. I am a human.

#testocracy #literacy #teaching

Telling students to read more because it will help the improve their standardized test scores is just plum stupid. It’s very clear that those scores are the central aim of public education. In the utopian world of god knows where reading is for enjoyment, or maybe to expand your knowledge, or maybe even to become more fully human. Now reading is for improving your standardized test scores. I’ll keep writing so you too can become a proficient person.

#edtech #teaching #edreform

I’ve been reading several blogs and twitter feeds and listening to a few podcasts that concern themselves with technology in the classroom. Some take for granted that tech in schools is ubiquitous. Others act more as #edtech evangelists. Personally I’m a fan of technology in the classroom, more specifically personal technology. Kids using social networking to lean and collaborate is a thrilling idea. It can be empowering. I would love to see my students collaborating and extending their networks beyond the classroom. I would love to see them blogging. I would love to enable critical consumers, producers, and distributors of information. It all seems amazing. But, all the districts where I’ve taught have been personal tech paranoid. I’ve been in places that have smart boards and one place that had a Mac lab, but the technology has been used minimally at best. The teacher’s and administrators have been reluctant to learn. And there has been no shortage of trainings using Title I funds. There is just no trust. Tech savvy teachers are considered dangerous, “they might get on Facebook during school hours”, and students are forced to hide their cell phones. I once suggested having students blog to improve writing. I was told that it was a wonderful idea, but it just wouldn’t work with “our students”. That was in the school with the Mac lab. Part of the problem is the schools I’ve been in have been under state control, or in “school improvement”. There is always fear of change when schools are in trouble— so kids suffer. I’m in a less tech friendly school now, but kids have cell phones. We have no YouTube in the classroom, we have minimal technology, but we have consultants for days. High paid consultants. This scene is not unique to my situation. It’s as ubiquitous as the fear of our students doing something independently.

How can this change? Funding is a problem, but many low income districts have federal funds that are mandated to be spent on technology. When it is purchased, I see the new tech being put in the wrong hands, or the wrong tech being purchased. Often the kids aren’t trusted with the technology. “They’ll tear it up, or go on bad sites,” is a common phrase. How can we teach them if we’re never allowed to use it. So, folks with tech savvy districts, how do we make these changes? How can we help our learners engage in technology to help themselves when the tech police are on high guard?

#occupy #teaching #inequality #revolution

I visited some friends this weekend who think what I do is quaint. Additionally, they think my worldview is bleak. I view the world as a place that is wrought with injustice and unnecessary poverty. These things were only interesting concepts to my acquaintances. Concepts without faces, except the homeless guy they were approached by when they were walking downtown. And they projected, he should get a job. Do something to better his life. Like they were doing, like by going to school or working harder… The list is endless and my interactions with these people of wealth and blindness is frustrating. A year ago I sat in Sen. Thad Cochran’s plush Washington D.C. office (Mississippi-R) and tried to explain to him that the state of education in Mississippi was dismal. “No,” he said, “we have the greatest education system in the world.” His grandkids go to private school or maybe a white public school. The argument was futile. Just as it was with my friends this weekend.

There are two sides of town, no matter where you are. The rich live here and the poor live here. And then, there’s the ever shrinking middle class, some are becoming more aware, but in my southern locale they work hard to hold on to there conservative ideals and work there hardest to stay separate from the underclass. I ramble to say that the problem that exists within our education system is only a symptom and a part of a national crisis. We still live in separate camps. The third world is at our back door and many of us are able to ignore it. My worldview would certainly be less bleak if I were in a better position to ignore our invisible citizenry, but consciously teaching does not allow that luxury. Until the “other” is humanized in the eyes of the people rich and middle class then there will always be a separation and our problem will continue and grow. People can only be mistreated for so many generations before they rebel. The “them” out numbers the “us”. As the middle class is falling into the “them” they are becoming revolutionary. We’re nearing a tipping point. The people, from our classrooms to the unemployment lines, deserve humanity and equality. Teachers keep fighting the good fight. We’re all more than a number, but our numbers are greater.

#teaching #edreform #revolution

We must move beyond things that are only quantifiable. Our people are being neglected as we focus more and more on quantifying their intelligence. Teachers and students are forced to work mindlessly. Critical thought and the human spirit are being neglected. Students are leaving schools semiliterate and unprepared. We are working toward an undefined and nonexistent goal. We are simply a consumer culture. Do we want a mindless future. Or an underclass?

The value of the arts. The production of culture. The transformation of an individual through the creation of culture thereby transforming a community. We are a spiritually impoverished nation. Beauty and truth unnoticed because of the focus on empiricism and survival. The wasted time in classrooms. Students are neglected because there is no time to explore. Can we look for life in our students? It’s when they’re fully engaged in something meaningful. It’s when they’re given power. We need radical teachers. We need bureaucracy to be lessened in schools. Teachers need to be quality, but so do the people and policies policing them. Learners need to be free. Teachers need to be radical. Good teachers step outside the boundaries of what is expected. They connect with their students as people not students. Teachers empower and lead because they are good people who care and are intelligent. Teachers are and should be radical. The predicament we are in requires a a radical change. Our country needs a revival of arts and beauty and truth. We are poor. The daily grind no longer serves to help our people. We need a breath of spirit. No longer can we toil away in factories. We must innovate and join together. We need a change. Rather, we must demand a change. Let our souls be acknowledged and then awakened. There is life to be had.

We must see to it that the status quo is upset, because it already has been. Our education and culture and grasp of beauty is famished, and so will be our people.

Our youth are innovators, but education is not meeting that inquisitiveness. Schools are wasteful places where children learn to wait in lines and hide their cell phones while ignorant teachers numb their minds as theirs have already been numbed by countless directives from blind administrators. This must change. The school must change. The best work I did as a teacher is when I engaged the learners in my care in dialogue. Whether they were 8 or 18. Our intelligences sharpened each other. We worked together. The curriculum stands as a guide, but in reality is a step by step manual. Is there a step by step manual to becoming more fully human? If you say yes than my words a null and so is the concept of freedom. Freedom is an unexplored concept in our culture and our schools. We are killing America.

#testocracy #teaching #testing #nervousbreakdown

I just watched a kid absolutely crumble because his reading scores are low. It took a while to get to that reasoning, he got incredibly belligerent before he crumbled. He told me to send him to the office. He tried to walk out. He was out of control— he was out of his normal element. He’s usually a smart ass, but generally delightful. I snapped at him because he wouldn’t sing with the class. He wouldn’t participate. I called him up and asked if we needed to call his mom. He said he didn’t care, and he didn’t care if I sent him to the office, or if I fucking failed him. I took his mother’s number down and waited until the end of class. Everyone left. I asked him to stay, and sing his part. He refused. He said, I’m just going to the office. I stopped him and asked if he’d prefer suspension over talking about it. And then this tough middle schooler, much taller and far more apt to play football than I, broke into the ugliest crying fit I’ve seen— crumpled chin, drool, and all. I asked him to breathe, and I if he was having a tough time. Through shallow breaths and spit bubbles he told me that his mom had fussed at him and taken all his privileges away. “Everything?” I asked. “Everything”.

He got a note sent home yesterday stating that he would have to attend after school tutoring because his reading scores were low, and he’s failing science. This prompted mom to remove all privileges. Mom is hard working person and wants her son to do well. She is reacting to the pressure, even she feels, from the great test. The test is some 5 months away. The kid feels like an absolute failure. He can no longer participate in extracurriculars, and he’s on edge. The pressure is too much. I asked what he was doing to improve his reading. He replied: we’re working in the workbook. It’s the answer I expected, but that’s no way to remedy a reading problem. How about guided reading or engaging in discourse about a text or teaching text structure or building his vocabulary. Really! And, to make all this even better the workbooks are provided by the state. State mandated corporately developed remediation workbooks— that are ineffective. The teacher’s hands are more or less tied, or she doesn’t understand that just because it’s in a book doesn’t mean it’s good. All I can say is, what the f**k?

#teaching #adhd

I just finished carefully filling out a form that had the insignias of the America Academy of Pediatrics (dedicated to the health of all children), the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality, and McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals— two health organizations and one corporation, good benevolent companies with children’s interest at heart. The goal, I’m assuming is to issue drugs to tame this rambunctious young black child. He is a handful, but drugging a child just doesn’t seem helpful. Perhaps, a behavioral intervention or some adjustment to the way he is being taught. I’ve made a few adjustments and seen improvements. He’s a genius of a kid, just not really interested in complying. And whose to say he should comply? He disrupts during whole group activity. He has energy. When he writes it’s clever and amazing. His writing is a little off color, a little blue. He has an adult sense of humor. But the syntax is amazing. He struggles in all of his classes, but should we drug him? Or, are we just too cheap and lazy to do anything else? I am not without blame. I haven’t learned to manage his behavior. I have neither forced him into compliance or broken his spirit. He is one of the few and proud who is refusing to be schooled. I admire his wit and commitment to doing what he sees fit. He questions absolutely everything. And yes he becomes inappropriate. But, he deserves a proper education. He is not “driven by a motor”. He is driven by his mind and his choices. They do not align with the state curriculum, but they are his.

He struggles in most of his classes. Maybe he struggles against them. I’ve encountered kids like this over the course of my career. Sometimes they make it; sometimes they’re made into victims. I hope my non-referral keeps him corporate-drug-free. I hope the system that serves him adjusts to him. Unfortunately, systems wants perfect sprockets that fit on their machines. If you can’t reach ‘em drug ‘em. I guess.

Strikes have worked in the past as a means of making the assembly line a better place to work— higher pay, lunch breaks, better hours, enough money to buy all the nice things we rich teachers like to buy. The last I heard every teacher drives a Benz and eats every meal at 5 star restaurants. But our great wealth is not why I write. And in case some high authority comes across this post— we are not rich and can barely afford the basics. I digress. The assembly line does not need to be improved. It needs to be STOPPED and DISASSEMBLED. Our system is a relic from a past time, when the future was guaranteed, and Ford prevailed. We know all this. The system is going to take years to finally die out. So what can we, who are still on the line, do?

We certainly don’t want to just stop production. We want the little cogs that we put on the machine to do their part. We want the end product to be a critical thinking, critical consumer and producer to be the final product. We want to send forth independent thinkers who will become our neighbors and colleagues. But, all this is not the end result of the assembly line. The assembly line produces blindly consuming automatons— perfectly standardized in every way. So what do we do? I propose a rebellion of sorts. Teach your prescribed curriculum as a small part of your practice. Teach it within the framework of critical education. Perhaps the budding learners can spend time analyzing the shortcomings of the curriculum. Teach about testing as a means of oppression and segregation. When I was teaching algebra we did this. We learned algebra, and we learned social theory, and the reality of the problems of standardization. These kids were poor black kids in rural Mississippi, by the way. Every student I have taught has had a vague understanding of the injustice they experience everyday simply by attending school. They are never ignorant of inequality; they might not know how to express it, but they are acutely aware. Coursework should focus on the state objectives, of course. Kids should learn algebra, grammar, reading, social studies, and so forth. They should learn the Hell out of it. And, then they should have a healthy dose of social foundations of education. All this should all be combined into one huge think-tank you call your class. Social media should be taught anytime you get the chance, and the faces of school board members, politicians, and Arne Duncan should be shared so the kids will know whose asses to kick when they fully realize their own power. We, the teachers of the oppressed kids of America, must make these kids the most powerful people in the world. We must help them by allowing them to awaken and realize their own genius. It’s tough, and there will be headaches and Xanex, but for the love of our own futures we must stop the assembly line.

Teachers are professional pedagogues, but learning is not up to the teacher. The teacher’s prescribed job is not to learn, but teach— prescriptively defined as depositing information into empty vessels. But, these vessels are not empty, thus the creation of an educational plan to de-educate, then reeducate. With this comes the birth of classroom discipline and classroom management, two very nasty words. We must “manage” our classroom because we, as educators must systematically deconstruct and piss on any learning that has been done outside a school. O, and the learning is vast. Strangely, kids are interested in things. They are naturally curious. Probably an evolutionary trait. Additionally, kids seek out information. They solve problems and think and try new things. They learn without the teacher. When a teacher tries to colonialize a learners mind, the learner, rather, the free human rebels. The education I am expected to deliver comes in a box. A series of bland textbooks, that is aligned to a state framework, that is rigorously tested with materials through a corporation that sells textbooks. Teaching is the last remaining assembly line in the United States.

I’ve taught in predominately black schools. I attended a predominately black high school. As a teacher, I’ve had the privilege to take my black students to events that are reserved mainly for white schools, thus white kids. My students have always been good competitors and even thrive in this foreign environment whether the events were academic or artistic. I’m always shocked back into a brutal reality of on-going segregation and inequality when I am transported from my usual school environment that functions more closely to a prison than a place of learning. Being that the schools where I’ve taught have been in the south, in black communities, they have been poor. Every interviewer with whom I’ve interviewed has been more concerned with my classroom management skills, and shows great concern about my ability to “handle these kids”. I’ve taught in places where order was never expected because the kids were “those kids” or “criminals”. It’s easy to adapt to that setting, or to become numb to it. But, when I stand in a room full of thriving white children and watch my few black children thrive in the framework of the upper middle class white child I have to stop. The difference is not in behavior. It’s in perception. The schools where I have taught and teach are punitive by nature. The children, mostly black, are treated as if they have great potential— to be harsh criminals. They’re expected to misbehave. The schools and classes are concerned with the children staying in line and sitting quietly. They are not trusted. The white kids on the other hand are treated like future leaders. They engage in problem solving activities and hands-on learning. They are trusted with technology, and are allowed to thrive. The teachers I’ve worked with have been eager to help our students thrive, but the system won’t allow for it. We, at the poorer schools, are constantly falling behind where testing is concerned. And, it starts early. Kindergarten quickly becomes a place to prepare for the first grade test. Recess is eliminated. Experiential learning activities are eliminated. This continues all the way through school for my students. They start out in a deficit situation that follows them all the way to graduation, or when they drop out from absolute boredom. They drill and kill where the kids across the tracks discuss and collaborate. My kids sit in schools that look like prisons, run down prisons at that. The across the track kids sit in schools with nice grounds, and colorful classrooms and hallways. They’re being groomed for success. My students are being groomed for prison and welfare. It’s wrong.

My students looked confused this morning when they were shocked back into their prison reality. The field trip was nice, but it was only a field trip. It was only a dream, and that is bullshit.

Is public education really a good thing? Is it the cure-all our society needs? Or, is it a consumer training ground? Learning is the great equalizer, but how much learning can really take place with all this standardization? How can learning meet individual needs when the only observed measure is a 3 day standardizes test at the end? Why differentiate learning when only one outcome is expected? Why teach if learning is not the intended outcome? What good can a teacher or a group of teachers do when they have no power beyond their choice to teach the bland curriculum or add a bit of pepper to disguise the same bland curriculum with a few fun activities? A teacher could bother engaging students in discourse relative to their own interests. Students could direct learning based on curiosity. Of course if this happened a teacher might be reprimanded or let go for not following the prescribed curriculum. What if teacher’s just balled up their pacing guides and taught their classes? They probably wouldn’t be invited back, but their students might really learn. There is a reason for cynicism. There just must be action behind it. Cheers.

I’ve hit a wall, I think. I’ve been trying to figure out why I feel the way I do about my teaching practice and I came across a lovely blogpost entitled “Sh!t Arne Says” (http://teacher-anon.blogspot.com/2011/09/sht-arne-says.html?m=1). The following quote was cited:

“We also want you to enjoy so many other enriching experiences that are so important to a complete education. We know you have great music, art, and physical education teachers at your school, and we believe that these subjects are essential for a well-rounded curriculum. And so is recess. We want you to have fun!”
Arne Duncan
An Open Letter from Secretary Arne Duncan
and Karen Duncan to Their Children

The blogger went on to describe her daily schedule with her kindergartners which looked nothing like the utopia Duncan described. Her daily schedule reflected no time for any activity besides language, literacy, and math. All important, but nothing experiential. I urge you to read her post (link attached above). Her students receive nothing but the basics. And, that’s not fair. The blog post made me comfortable. It reawakened me to my everyday teaching situation over the past five years which has been very similar. I have taught only in extremely high poverty areas where test scores are becoming the most important thing to district and school leaders because they are so low. The kids I have taught have had few experiences outside what Teacher-Anon. refers to as “sit-down-shut-up-listen-and-remember” education. That’s what is enforced by administrators. I’ve been lucky to spend my last two years teaching as a specialized arts teacher. The other years I taught algebra. Teaching in the arts has given me the opportunity to have a class that’s something of a haven, but it’s also given me the opportunity to see what’s really going on in other academic classes (I’m utilized as a literacy coach quite often as that was my graduate focus). And what do I find but “sit-down-shut-up-listen-and-remember” education, which actually has a negative impact on arts classes as they have either been just playgrounds where students run wild, or the kids have never been engaged in focused work so they are completely afraid to participate. I am lucky to get to teach children to engage in their own learning. However, arts should not be the only classes where this type of engagement is permitted. It should be across the board.

My problem is that I know there are kids who receive quality, engaging, and enriching education daily. They just aren’t the kids I’ve taught. They’re generally more affluent children. At least, that’s what I’ve observed. I’m at a breaking point, and I’m torn. I don’t want to abandon ship, but this ship is sailing nowhere. The kids I teach deserve the energy and privilege the kids across the proverbial tracks get. They deserve to be engaged. The people who make the decisions need to visit the classrooms that are bending and collapsing under the pressure of NCLB and other measures. There needs to be a reckoning of the great disparity between the education quality given to the rich and poor. I don’t know how to fix it, but I’d like to help.

I would like to see teachers, myself included, become more aware that they are a part of a global community. Within our own schools and classrooms we become myopic. The education system becomes a weight bearing down so heavily on us that we are forced into submission and silence. I started researching various technologies as literacy tools a few years ago, and was blown away by their effects on teachers. We’ll get to the students later. I looked specifically at social media sites like twitter. What I was surprised to find was a worldwide community of educators who are all connecting to and supporting one another with advice, research, and professional development tools. I’m slowly becoming a better user of social media to benefit my own practice. Almost every PD tool I uncover on twitter is more valuable than any staff development I’ve been subjected to. And, they were free of charge. Districts pay $1000 or more for professional developers. I’ve gotten to do some myself. I like making the money, but districts could save millions a year by using free resources at their fingertips. They could start by treating their own teachers as professionals, but I digress. Teachers working in communities of teachers are more effective, hands down. Beyond professional development and networking their are, of course, myriad classroom resources available.

I’m learning to communicate globally by experimenting. I’ve grown up with technology, but social media is relatively new for everyone. If your new to it, experiment. Go to your search area and type in #edchat, #ctchat, #sschat, or #____________ anything else like literacy or whatever and you’ll be linked to a worldwide conversation on your topic. Creating this blog has given me an outlet for reflection, and a bit of feedback. As I learn these skills I’m learning to convince administration to allow these skillsets to be integrated into the classroom. Our school has a few iPads that are minimally used by administrators. I try to get them to play with new apps. The learning and convincing is slow. As I progress I’ll share more.

My point is try to expand your education experience to the global community. Engage educators. The worst thing any of us can do is stand silent or alone.

If we force our students to sit and listen only, then we are creating blind consumers. If we allow out students to collaborate, connect, create, debate, disagree (with us even), argue, question, and so forth, then we are taking part of the development of free and independent minds. We need critical consumers, who are also savvy producers with the ability to distribute information. We want creators, not just blind consumers.

I am concerned that I’ve become better at talking about teaching than being a teacher. I am plagued with constant doubt of my practice, and my motivation. I do not see myself as the same teacher I was when I started. When I started I taught in a districts “worst school”. The students were violent, the gang problem was out of control, and the kids were the greatest challenge to reach. I managed and thrived there. I felt like I was an amazing teacher and all I was doing was holding on for dear life. Those kids impacted my life greatly. They’ll be graduating this year.

I barely knew anything then. I wasn’t cynical, I was eager. I had a fight for the kids mentality. We were fighting an unfair system together. We engaged in amazing conversation about community and fear and hope. There were times was terrified. A kid brought a sawed-off shotgun in the first week. No one was harmed, but it scared me. Scared my wife too. Kids couldn’t read, they had been put in that school as a dumping ground. But, the teachers there were dedicated. The principal was die-hard. I was bound and determined to succeed.

The kids I teach now face the same problems the kids I taught then did. I just feel half as effective. Half as motivated. I sometimes feel I’m going through the motions. I know tons more about the theory behind teaching. I have more experience. I’m more educated. I’ve done consulting work and written quite a bit. I’ve had myriad opportunities to help other teachers, and blah blah blah. I’m only applying what I know half the time I think. I’m barely here the other half. I have moments when I’m an amazing teacher. I have amazing moments when I’m working with other teachers and the find themselves awakening to new thoughts and ideas in their own practice. I help them reach the genesis of new ideas. I enjoy that. I feel like the teacher I was when that happens. And those moments happen in my classroom, I’m just barely aware of them I think.

I understand that I’m evolving, but I don’t know how. Where do I go from here?

I feel like I’m beating a dead horse suggesting that education should look different. I think we all know that. The world is different, so education and education practices should follow suit. In the college classroom teachers are taught to teach using different methods, and to use cooperative learning, and other methods that fall within best teaching practices. Many teachers carry these methods into their classrooms and use them very effectively. This isn’t always the case. Many teachers, myself included walk into a survival situation. The kids have often been mistreated and neglected academically (never been engaged) so their behavior is less than favorable. The schools use punitive discipline and authoritarian control. Any attempt at stepping away from the existing rigid power structure comes with great risk. Kids who’ve never experienced freedom will react negatively at first. Suddenly they’re in control and have been denied any sort of freedom. So teachers run the risk of “losing control” of their classrooms. And, principals are looking, in many cases, at classroom management— a term that has been misconstrued to having a quiet classroom. With this in mind teachers often try these less authoritarian methods once. The kids go wild and then the pendulum must swing to the authoritarian side with thoughts of how “these kids just can’t handle it, we’ll just sit in our desks, and I will lecture”. Something like that. Of course, we find a few months into our lecturing that our students aren’t learning as well as they should be. They’re not engaged. They’re not being active in their own learning. So, we arrive at a great conundrum. I can have classroom control, but students won’t really be learning, or I can lose control of my class. And, for many that’s as far as the thought process ever goes, before settling into an ineffective routine of authoritarian rule with little concern beyond depositing facts into fearful students.

The alternative involves some patience and scaffolding. Rather than setting aside those “student-centered” methods that were learned in college and in workshops we must remember that those great methods must be taught and practiced. If a learner has been cultured to be a passive recipient of meaningless information for x number of years, then suddenly participating in a classroom that requires problem-solving, collaboration, and active learning will come as quite the cognitive shock resulting in all sorts of bizarre behavior. There must be a transition. New skills must be taught: listening, speaking, working together, taking turns, conversation, and so forth. If a high school student has never worked in a group, then it will be a learning process. The group work must start simple, and become more involved as the year progresses. Small group and independent learning require students to be exhibit a level of internal control that is in direct opposition to the authoritarian nature of many schools and classrooms. It is important to remember that change takes time. It is difficult to change directions as a teacher, and the same goes for students. Build trust, and don’t be afraid to relinquish control gradually to your students. Their learning and future well being depends on it.

Why teach, when it seems like a constant battle? It is a constant battle for the teachers I’ve known, at least. And maybe it’s the for we teachers who teach in schools that serve at-risk kids, kids who have never quite received all of the equitable education to which they’re entitled. These teachers are under constant scrutiny from administrators who are looking down the barrel of their own job related problems, but the lack of empathy that often accompanies these situations makes the already struggling veteran teacher more vulnerable. This struggle to stay afloat seems to have come about through the corporate testocracy that now runs public schooling. It’s forcing a critical eye at teachers, which is a good thing at times, but it’s equally stripping teachers of the choice to teach. No longer are they showing up to work to motivate struggling learners to explore ideas and texts and mathematical theorems. Now they come as prison guards to enforce the dissemination of facts from ruling class textbooks so their once beloved students can perform on some corporate test. This forced testocracy breeds contempt for the teacher by the student, and certainly a reciprocal disdain from many teachers. In every level of power now their is contempt in public education. Each rung on the bureaucratic latter, from superintendent down to the lowliest of student there is an utterance on their lips: “That idiot wants me to do what?”.

This contempt is natural from students, teachers, and so forth. I dare say it’s a good thing. Contempt can serve as a catalyst for rebellion. Student “misbehavior” is certainly a powerful reaction to the boxes and cages they’ve been placed within. Equally, teacher eye rolling and failure to get around to certain things is the same. Students tend to be a bit more vocal in their rebellion. Rebellion is one of our greatest human abilities. True freedom has historically been maintained through constant rebellion against those who enforce constrictive regulations. Teachers, to not rebel, to not speak out, leaves you powerless and in direct violation of your own goal to teach. To really teach is to help steer individuals toward their truest and fullest humanity. Those moments of realization in students’ eyes make the job and all it’s problems worth it.

How can teachers rebel in this surveillance society that is called public education? First, we must all fight to keep our sanity. That means putting your mental health first and being honest with ourselves. We must be authentic human beings, fallible, and caring if we are going to ever even begin reaching the calloused rabble that is our students. Our students have been disheartened and they certainly are untrusting—with good reason too. Second, we must make sure to teach and nurture those little sparks of curiosity we see in our students. That means chasing rabbits, getting off topic, Hell, maybe even cutting up/cracking jokes and the like from time to time. We have to be human, and approachable. Next, we must cue our students into what is actually happening. Kids are being separated by test scores. There is no benevolent motivation behind standardized testing, maybe somewhere, but it has been lost in the cloud of greed that surrounds them. And, it may seem counterintuitive to let students know your disdain for the test, but they already know you hate it. Why not become allies? You are, by teaching the students how to beat the test, teaching them that our current is a testocracy, and it must be manipulated like any other system. Those who hold the power are those who can survive and thrive within and around unfair and ridiculous systems. We must help those in our care transcend the tomfoolery that is at hand. We must do the same.

Time has to be made for relevant discussion in classrooms. We’re all fast away making sure curriculum is being learned in a timely manner, and it’s easy to forget to involve the students. Sometimes it’s frowned upon. Students have issues that need to be heard, and they’re not all pretty. But, they need help dealing with emotions, fears, and so forth. They need help putting words to what they’re experiencing, and that help comes from someone listening.

I had the chance to engage a class in good conversation this morning. I’ve heard quite a few of my students (and many others) outside of class calling each other “gay” or “fag” along with a slew of other terms. This has been an issue in every school I’ve taught. It was when I was in school and quite possibly will continue to be until people stop to talk about it. The discussion got to go beyond “don’t say that” and turned into a discussion lead mostly by the students about homophobia and the cultural acceptability of people who identify as gay in their community. I’ve always been impressed by students’ willingness to engage in these conversations an voice their opinions. Furthermore, their ability to examine themselves honestly during these discussions in amazing. I find myself drawn in and pensive during these, as they always move me into self-examination. The conversation continued into matters of race and class when a student expressed a desire to be white. A few students got mildly hostile at first, but when prompted to listen to her understood better what she meant . We discussed the importance of finding peace with who you are regardless of race, class, gender, or sexual orientation.

This discussion will be ongoing, and many things weren’t remedied, but we entered into the dialogue. We walked away from the discussion today a with a little more self-awareness and a better understanding of each other. I relish these moments as a teacher as the most important part of the job.

I’ve had several discussions with principals who are absolutely overwhelmed. No longer are the building administrators. Thy are building reporters spending a majority of their time collecting data to report to central offices and the state. This collected data is not, for many, being used. It’s simply a routine report to ensure schools are “performing up to snuff.” So, that’s huge blocks of time that a principal is not in the building doing “principal things”. Some principals delegate tasks to other office staff and teachers, others flounder. Many modern principals are performing tasks that they are not completely prepared to do. And, they’re stretched too thin. They’re meetinged to death, and aren’t gaining anything from their meetings.

Data collection is a good thing. Collecting data and not knowing what to do with it is another. Many administrators do not know what to do with all of the information they’re gathering. They simply are taking it, and delivering to someone higher up, and waiting for an answer. Data, from my vantage is being used as a punitive measure against teacher and principals, and ultimately districts. It should, of course, be used to guide instruction and other activities. Someone needs to take the time to help these folks catch up. I don’t know how to do that, except to lend a hand when I can and try to subtly teach those around and above me how. It’s a matter of critical thinking, and administrators simply aren’t being given the time or the opportunity to be critical; rather, they’re in a constant fight for their jobs and sanity. And, as always, shit rolls downhill. The students are the ultimate injured party in this terrible bureaucracy. Critical teachers engage your administrators in critical discourse. We all depend on it.

Is partial teaching brainwashing? Does the vanilla version of history and economics out students get in most classrooms pave the way for political apathy and victimization in the future?

I had a wonderful one-on-one discussion that began with the question: “Is the US the greatest country in the world?” The question was never answered, but questions were generated. We started with the issue of poverty. Which undoubted affects education and human well being. She pointed out the widespread poverty in our area and how segregated it is. We discussed the lack of healthcare available to most people. Even her mother who has had several jobs in a hospital. Taxation was discussed which led us to discussion of the #occupy protesters in the Memphis area and those on the news. She questioned their mistreatment by authorities. Which led to discussion of blind following though education and authoritarianism. The discussion went to many places and she asked questions, as did I. We disagreed and we learned. I wish this sort of time could be the norm in all my classes. Tomorrow it’ll be back to piano lessons, but today was a necessary digression.

By the way, this student is not at all of the ruling class. And I don’t teach at a school where privileged is in anyone’s vocabulary. Kids are genius’. When we allow them to be.

Many teachers don’t know what student centered instruction is. They’ve been told countless times to make lessons “student centered”, but that is nothing more than a meaningless phrase to many. Notably, I’m writing here to sharpen my understanding of the phrase “student centered” and maybe trying to decide if that’s even the best way to describe quality instruction.

The phrase is polarizing. Learning was teacher centered, now it should be student centered. This sounds to many like anarchy, and out of confusion teachers often hand the reigns directly over to their students and step completely away (some with hurt feelings) allowing their students to fester in their own frustration while still demanding the same things and assessing learning in the same ways. This very clearly is not the goal.

Perhaps a better goal would be collaboration between teacher and student. Classroom should be think-tanks that require everyone’s input— teacher and student. And, everyone should learn, even the teacher. The phrase “prepare student-centered” lessons is not quite functional. If I the teacher completely prepare the lesson, then it is teacher centered. It becomes inauthentic. Certainly, the teacher should think through the lesson, but the burden of thought and problem solving should not be on the teacher alone. Students should do the bulk of the research, problem-solving, lesson prep, and so forth with the teacher there to guide discussion sometimes and more important foster an environment that lends itself for directed lateral thinking. The teacher should help generate questions until the students are able to themselves. And then the teacher should become a partner in the learning.

Progressive teachers and principals help your fellow teachers learn. Empower them. Build relationships. Make collaboration a part of your faculty so it can be mirrored in the classroom.

Clearly defined expectations are tantamount to classroom performance. If a teacher wants a student to perform a task in a certain way, that task must be explained and discussed in such a way that the student can perform said task in such a way as to meet the teachers expectations. That means terms must be defined, rubrics should be clear, and for best results, dialogue between teacher and student should be free and frequent. The above is generally expected and necessary for a teacher to be effective.

Often, teachers are left in the dark by nebulous instructions from administrators and staff developers. The jargon in education is constantly changing. Expectations are constantly changing. With all this transition many education professionals are left in the dust, that means teachers, principals, and whoever else are struggling just to keep up with the change of lexicon. Which means communication is a constant struggle. Principals you must work to ensure that you are understood. You must teach your faculty to understand you. When kids understand, they function better. Teachers are the same way. Make sure faculty meetings are interactive. Walk around the room, and divide teachers into groups. Talk with groups individually to monitor for understanding. Best practices in teaching apply to leadership as well. If you want your schools to succeed, then help your teachers feel successful. Give them the tools to please you. And then tell them that they’re meeting your expectations. Build knowledge and power incrementally among your staff. And, this most certainly applies to district administrators too. Work to plug information gaps in bureaucracy.

I’ve seen countless atrocities in the schools where I have taught from excessive paddling of students by angry and overwhelmed teachers and administrators, to teachers simply not teaching their classes. I’ve witnessed students fighting teachers physically, and vice-versa. I’ve also seen students who couldn’t read, but no one had time to intervene. I’ve seen students spoken to with kindness, and I’ve seen children treated as criminals. I’ve seen kindergarteners written off as criminals. And it’s these children who are treated as criminals who grow up to fulfill their destiny that was written the moment they labeled as a problem child. The and the disease spreads. The teachers decide they teach in a rough school, and then change suddenly seems futile. And the cycle continues. Once the teachers, administration, and students decide that the school is a made up of a bunch of criminals then all hope is lost. Discipline becomes more punitive. Learning becomes the focus only after punishment. Learning even becomes punitive. That is, the material is approached from the angle of “you must learn this because I said so” and “you must learn only what I tell you too”. Students in these systems do not have freedom to learn; rather, they are forced to allow a teacher to deposit information in them. The focus of the entire school becomes discipline, perhaps out of fear of what might happen if the systematically criminalized children were to find out that they actually have choices. Perhaps they would retaliate against those who were enforcing the “educational process” through totalitarian methods. Who’s at fault here? Teachers and administrators are just following orders. So are districts. And state governments too.

For the change to occur it must begin with the teachers. The teacher makes the difference. It’s not a matter of placing blame, it’s a matter of making a choice to make a difference, even if that means stepping outside the punitive nature of the schooling of our poor populations. And yes, doing that involves risk and effort. Teachers must remember that they are a professional who has the burden and responsibility to advocate for the well being of their students. Taking the time to help them become humanized by allowing for interaction with you and among each other will very quickly increase student focus and probably make you (the teacher) feel better.

A classroom full of empowered children rarely requires the teacher to function as an enforcer. Additionally, with no enforcer, there is no tyrant to rebel against. If teachers take a rebellious step away from punitive classroom measures; that is, work toward creating a democratic classroom as opposed to an authoritarian one, then students will be free to learn and motivation will increase. Freedom to learn is far different from being forced to learn.

I took my students on a field trip today. I remembered why love to teach. I taught nothing today. I just watched them discover things. I got to not intervene. Their learned and adapted. They made their own way. They become more fully human. They created culture.

Technology is imperative in our classrooms because it’s a part of the everyday world. We’re supposed to be preparing our students to enter a fast-paced global economy will cognitive flexibility that will allow the to solve and manage multiple problems at once. Tech is a huge part of this. The skills required to meet these challenges are developed through collaborative problem solving. Technology absolutely benefits student learning because it provides the experience they need to be global learners capable of creative collaboration. The problem is that standardized tests measure old skills taught in new ways. Education needs to cultivate new skills and test them differently. Technology is a poorly understood bandaid right now. It needs to be a part of a new medium.

I’m struggling as a teacher, and we all struggle, but I think I’m dealing with a dulled motivation. I don’t know if I’m approaching burnout, or if it’s time to make a move from the classroom. I am heavily critical of the schooling takes place, and for good reason. I’m concerned that being a part of a system that equates children with a number and not as human beings is somehow unethical. Equally, I know it’s important to be in the trenches and try to be a humanizing wrench in the cogs of this machine. The kids seem so dull sometime. They’re not boring people, they just lack the vivacity that has been apparent to me only in glimpses when we are able to connect beyond the curriculum. And, I’m in a new area with new kids. Some exhibit a hopelessness that has been crushed into them over their educational careers. Others are rightly obstinate and untrusting. Many have not been treated well by teachers. And, I understand, to an extent, why things are the way they are. My concern is that I have lost my spark. I am deeply committed to the cause of education. I like working with the teachers at my school to solve problems of curriculum and other things. I like providing examples of ways to teach things in a more effective and meaningful manner. I just don’t feel that way in my own classroom. And, this is the first time I’ve felt like this I think. I feel like it’s time, maybe, to change my role in education. I don’t know what to think or exactly what to do. I know I need to approach my work with enthusiasm. If I’m not, then I’m doing harm. I entered this field to help. I want to reach my goal. We must be reflective if we intend to help more than we hurt.

Elementary Educators work to teach children to learn to read; that is, they equip them with tools to decode words, sentences, and so forth. With those tools hopefully children are stimulated with experiences and conversations that help kids build their vocabularies. Of course, the effectiveness of these grade school experiences vary according to myriad factors from class size to teacher experience. But, as children progress through school, the focus shifts toward content and reading to learn. Unfortunately, the learn to read part was often not fully mastered. The skills are not always easily generalized to other areas, thus the 4th grade slump. Kids who have been taught to decode words phonetically, and “read” as quickly as possible for various tests that calculate reading fluency in it’s simplest form (rate only) are suddenly expected to comprehend texts that are not predictable and have no root in their own experiences. It’s like teaching someone to read musical notation without every applying it to an instrument or even a melody. And, this slump can continue far into high school leaving kids and teachers alike absolutely disillusioned. The transition is so abrupt, and the teacher training is vastly different. Elementary and secondary teachers have had varying levels of literacy training. But, the “methods” learned are mere algorithms to be implemented through rote-like practice. For true literacy to become a reality, we must shift and expand our views of literacy to encompass so much more than just reading and writing. We must engage our students, teachers, community members, and whoever else in critical discourse about issues relevant to our lives. By engaging in these ongoing conversations (verbal, written, drawn, etc.) we will expand and connect out worlds. Thinking skills will develop that have been neglected, and are absolutely necessary to success beyond fourth grade. Content literacy encompasses much more than simply reading the words. It requires learners to glean concepts from texts and repackage them into smaller units sometimes referred to as vocabulary. To do this teachers must practice this.

So should teachers be trained in critical discourse? Should their training include methods for leading and facilitating complex discussions? Would this help students and teachers?

How have teachers gotten to the point where creativity and freedom are no longer a part of their personal vocabulary? When asked how to solve a problem, teachers freeze. It seems they want to provide a part of the solution, but they’re afraid to risk it. Faculty meetings that require collaboration are silent voids as speakers try to facilitate conversation. Teachers don’t want to participate. Sounds like many classrooms. So, are teachers just belligerent? Or, is it more complicated?

Teachers have seemingly fallen prey to the belief that they have no power. They have adopted the mindset that even if I speak up my ideas will not be valued. Many have tried through the years and have been rejected systematically by sage-ish administrators or speakers who are offering the “right” answer. Teachers have been handed method after method, and have been told (many still are) how to implement each method— or else. Logically, teachers have learned to suffer in silence and play nicely by themselves, and secretly meet to complain about the new and awful thing they’re being forced to do.

How do we end this cycle of ineffective teaching? We have to engage in meaningful discussion that is honest. This burden of opening these discussions in many schools is going to fall on building administrators, and should probably go something like this: “I know you (the teachers) have been bombarded for years by fad-curriculums, and have been negatively evaluated with no word about what you’re doing well, but that has to become past. We are going to have to spend sometime learning to trust each other if we are going to engage in a meaningful, and ongoing discourse about the how’s, what’s, and why’s of the functionality of out schools, and the futures of our children.” Once you leaders have made this first step you have to keep the ball rolling. You’re stepping away from an authoritarian structure and into democratic function. But, you will have to nurture this relationship. It will be tough because you’re already bombarded, over-worked, and overwhelmed. But, if you’re teachers start working with you, and start understanding that they are truly valuable, and necessary to the process, then the battle will change. The focus can shift to teachers and administrators working collaboratively to figure out what you’re school needs. You’re team, the team of which you are a part, is the team best equipped to solve the problems that are thrown before you. Utilize the expertise that is on your faculty. Empower you’re teachers. They will, in turn, empower their students. The teachers will engage in those higher order thinking skills that so elude our classrooms. And, by engaging in such cognitive activity as a faculty it more than likely will be mirrored in the classroom.

Strangely scores are used as a carrot to keep kids working hard and competitively. I’ve seen charts in classrooms and on bulletin boards charting progress. There are even special clubs and events for students who get the highest marks on standardized tests. Students are easily sorted according to their test scores. Students know is they’re advanced, proficient, basic, minimal, or any other label states prescribe. The proverbial score carrot that is held in front of our students only reinforces that they are nothing more than a number. And while they may not be able to fully articulate why the propaganda of testing is dehumanizing (though many of them can), they certainly have a good idea of what’s happening to them. They are placed in boxes daily. For that matter, so are there teachers. The language of the education building has been overtaken by a lexicon that solely promotes the linking of individuals with their value as a score. This lexicon is pushed down through the bureaucratic ranks with no thought to the harm it is causing. And certainly, there is no time to think, “you just have to do it, because that’s how it is”. This newly formed testocracy has forced educators into the mode of disciplining and punishing students only to keep them “focused” on what is important: their scores. “Without discipline, learning cannot take place,” I’ve heard countless times. This is true to an extent, but where is the locus of discipline? Within the child? Being forced upon the child? Even worse, systematically training the child to walk mindlessly in lines. The question “how can we motivate these kids?” is constantly raised. Well, perhaps challenging children to think and create might be a start.

The goal is good test scores. The result is the mindless dehumanization of an entire generation.

Communication by Twitter, Facebook, and/or SMS is quickly becoming a primary method of communicating ideas. A lot is being packed into these seemingly miniscule messages. The contents are responsible for huge outcomes, such as tweet by a graduate student covering a government protest in Egypt that read: “ARRESTED”, which helped free him and his translator from the Egyptian jail (Simon, 2008), to the growing problems of cyber-bullying and sexting among teens, and recently, flash mobs arranged through social networking sites and text message. Evidently, words are power, and the power is quickly entering the hands of the people—the young people. Social networking and microblogging sites put users in the roles of consumer, producer, and distributor of information (Jacobs, 2006), thereby eliminating the middleman (i.e. the media, publishers, etc.). By putting the power to create and publish in the hands of the general public, more responsibility and cunning is required of the participants in this digital world. Consumers must be able to rapidly discern useful and non-useful information, as the majority of information, and producers must choose what to write and how to communicate it in as few words as possible. How can teachers prepare students, who are digital natives, to be wise and productive consumers, producers, and distributors of information in this vast informational expanse?

Teachers need to first be knowledgeable about the technologies that their students are using. Ideally, teachers will become users of these technologies, and active participants in digital culture. As culture progresses, so must the educators who function within that culture. Teachers who choose to remain ignorant of digital technology are separating themselves from their students, thereby rendering themselves ineffective (Prensky, 2001). Once the teachers becomes active digitally, can help their students flourish in the digital world. Microblogging sites such as Twitter should be encouraged and utilized by teachers for teaching tools and informational resources. Microblogging, when harnessed as an academic tool, allows for quick communication and transfer of ideas, a public domain for collaboration, the ability to communicate through multiple mediums, as users can post pictures, video, audio, and so forth, to enhance their communication (Holotescu, 2009). Additionally, communication can be informal and far reaching. The ubiquity and the lack of formal norms and regulation with these technologies raise ethical issues and require students to be critical users.

Students must be critical consumers of information. The meaning derived from readings of the written word are not concrete; readers must be the mediator of the reality, or the meaning of the text they consume (Iser, 1978). Teachers must give students the critical tools to analyze and interpret the word which their worlds envelop. Such tools include: the capacity to manipulate one’s environment for the purpose of experimentation and discovery, the ability to interpret and recreate situations occurring in one’s environment, the ability to collaborate with others to develop collective knowledge that is ever transforming and growing, the ability to understand and mimic multiple perspectives, the ability to mediate differences among collaborators, the ability to discern the reliability and credibility of sources, and the ability to network, or locate, create, and disseminate information (Jenkins, 2009). Students with the above media skills will have the ability to function productively in 21^st century society, and ideally in a classroom whether it has transformed or not.

Students must be conscious producers of information. Accordingly, they need to have ethics when functioning as producers of information, and ethics must be taught. Users of social media are functioning more or less as journalists, perhaps more appropriately, gonzo journalists, reporting constantly on their worlds. The content posted by users of digital media is seldom monitored and have minimal ethical constraints (Jenkins, 2009). The constraints that do exist can be easily surpassed, as communication is not limited to one medium. The role of mediating the content of these sites falls in the hands of the users, and the users are vast. The culture is participatory and free, so the norms must be created by the users themselves. Teachers and parents are not able to fully regulate this group of digital natives; rather, parents and teachers have the responsibility to bring students into dialogue about the problems that occur or can occur in such settings and help them learn for themselves how to mediate such situations. This proverbial moral compass cannot simply be deposited in an individual; it must, instead be lovingly developed collaboratively through dialogue between teachers, parents, and learners (Freire, 1970). As users learn to name their world a code of ethics will undoubtedly develop as users reflect on their digital world and participatory culture.

Society and its citizenry are becoming increasingly digital and participatory. It is up to educators and educational systems to evolve to fit the needs of the students it serves. Teachers no longer serve as depositors of knowledge and technology; rather, they must help students, through collaboration and dialogue build a set of tools that will enable them to be critical and ethical producers, consumers, and distributors of information and text. The knowledge and meaning are organic and infinite. The consumers of that knowledge must be discerning, shrewd, and participatory. Teachers must ensure that the digital natives in their care do not walk blindly as digital zombies.

References:

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum .

Holotescu, C., Grosseck, G. (2009, January). Using microblogging in education. case Study:

Cirip.ro. 6^th international conference on e-learning.

Jacobs, G. (2006). Fast times and digital literacy: Participation roles and portfolio construction

within instant messaging. Journal of Literacy Research, 38, 171-196. Retrieved from

ERIC database.

Iser, W. (1978). Readers and the concept of the implied reader. The act of reading: A theory of

aesthetic response (pp. 27-38). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Jenkins, H. (2009). Core media literacy skills. Confronting the challenges of participatory

culture: Media education for the 21^st century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT

Press.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9, 1-6. Retrieved

from www.marcprensky.com/writing

Simon, M. (2008, April 25). Student ‘twitters’ his way out of Egyptian jail.

CNN.com/technology. Retrieved from www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/