Educated to Death

#education #testing #bullshit #SOS

There is a new hope! There are educational mercenaries for hire who will rescue our schools from the idiot teachers who wrongfully subject students to activities specifically designed to teach kids thinking skills and innovation. What are they trying to do? Create a critically thinking citizenry? Why? But, don’t worry. We have people to quell these pinko teachers. They will come in and enforce the Glorious Testocracy that we have. All Hail the mighty Standards! As one we will bubble. As one we will thrive.

For a small price several organizations can come in and tell what your teachers are doing wrong, and might can even give a few tips to the administration. The first thing they may do is set up a triage unit. They’ll help you pick out the students who are worth saving and find something to tide the others over. You we as a society must understand that there is no one in your school system who knows what they’re doing. No teacher, no principal. It’s a mystery to everyone. “What am I supposed to do with all these kids,” a teacher might ask himself. Or worse. the teacher might think it’s important to build thinking skills that would help them better understand texts and their worlds alike. That is ridiculous. Every kid needs to be a better test taker. Our Glorious Testing Company needs our offering. Think of it as a tithe to them who have our true interest at heart. I mean look at all the jobs that have been created. Now we can put more students in a classroom with one teacher. Fire the ones that are old and get paid too much. And hire mercenaries to come in and let the solitary teacher know what she’s doing wrong. Surely it’s classroom management and the inability to differentiate. Consultants need jobs, and consulting firms need contracts. Testing is so important to our education. I didn’t learn to bubble tests as a kid, and now I’m lost. A fool hearted teacher trying to teach. How foolish of me. I am a blasphemer and a heretic, but I’m getting better. Soon the rebellious spirit of free-thinking will be dead in my heart and then I will be able to bubble peacefully.

#edchat #teaching #occupy

I spend too much time pissing and moaning about a broken system. Yes, the education system is dysfunctional, inequitable, and unfair, but, and I forget this, teachers are still teachers. We work daily to do our best to produce a critical citizenry. We, the teachers, interact with our students with varying degrees of success (day to day). My cynicism need not destroy my love of teaching and of my students. The system is broken, but that is the case with many institutions. Patients get sick and are treated by doctors (accessibility varies) regardless of the myriad problems within the healthcare system.

Institutions are failing, but people do not have to. I need constant reminding of this fact, lest I choose to wither and dry up. I am a teacher because I believe in the humans with whom I get to share this space. I believe everyone should have access to a quality education, that is, they should get a chance to learn and think, and be permitted to know that they have power within themselves. I teach creators, innovators, and disruptors who aren’t always privy to that self-knowledge. My purpose is to help them unlock that understanding themselves. So, rather than pissing and moaning I need to refocus my writing. I need to focus on action taken to progress my students. I need to focus on the critical discussions we have, the dialogues between other educators and myself. I need to look at the people around me for awhile, rather than the whole system. Institutions fail, but people persist. We are not defined by the systems we work within. We are humans. We have voices, and we are heard together. Not as members of systems, but as the voice of humanity

#Foucault #standardization

There is a required cognitive dissonance that must accompany the teaching profession. Conscious teachers are forced to hold two contrasting thoughts at once often having brutal and erratic side effects. On the one hand, teachers must hold true to the belief that they are helping, that they are somehow bettering society by teaching a group to be better thinkers, maybe even enabling them to be more free. On the other hand, there is the constant nagging, perhaps of the conscience, that what I am doing is, in fact, of no use other than to provide a place for students to occupy their time with boredom and repetitive tasks that are harmful. Buried within the intention of public education is not to create a free human being, but the goal to create a compliant citizen who will never cause too much trouble because the will to do so will have been educated out of him or her.

So, what is the truth? Where is the mean of these two ideas? Are they each correct, simultaneously? I tend to think that the latter idea is more true even though it is enshrouded in the first, more hopeful idea. We are better able to swallow the two if we hold fast to the better ideal. We do good overtly, we provide hope and a “future”, while providing little more than rhetoric and training.

What can be done? Am I missing something? Please correct me where I falter. I have somehow misunderstood, surely?

#Teaching seldom includes acknowledgement of the secret rules of success. We teach overt rules. Hard work. Honesty. Or what seems like honesty. We don’t teach collaboration. We give our best kids false hope with the wrong keys. We should give them the right keys. We should let them know that some of the keys have to be stolen, or forcefully borrowed, others have to be gingerly manipulated into place. The classroom and our present system of schooling teach jumping through a series of hoops to bring about a certain outcome. It teaches that there is a logical outcome to logical steps. This is far from the truth for many. There are, in fact, countless outcomes from each step, from each decision. The only constants are flexibility and persistence. There are no guarantees.

Many teachers don’t know the rules either, after all, they’re secret rules and hidden golden keys. There is no fair. There are no rules. There is only revolution. We teach order to maintain order. Only those who transcend order can have what they want. Freedom requires transcendence. It requires a certain obliviousness to the frameworks of society. Should this be taught? Can this be taught?

#teaching #learning #testing

Holidays for educators can be many things, but we all know they’re absolutely necessary. After three months of the grind, no matter how much we love it, we need a break. Maybe we need to catch up on grading (probably shouldn’t). Maybe we need to reflect. We need time in the proverbial mountains to refresh, reload, and rethink. Our minds are beat. We have to take time to completely separate and simply be people. Sometimes we need a break to remember our own humanity. It’s important to remember that we are people first, real humans, not JUST teachers. This fact of our own humanity is of the utmost importance in an environment that stresses mass standardization. Our system is flawed, we mustn’t be flawed in the ways the system is. We must strive to maintain our own humanity so we can ensure that same reality for our students. We must remember that we are not the machine, simply workers within it. We are powerful. It must run the way we deem it necessary. We, the teachers, are the powers at be. We choose to implement curriculum. We have the power to give or keep power. It is our obligation to let and help people thrive as humans in an inhumane system. We have a choice. Always.

We will return to a tumult that is the final approach to the Great Test. Remember that is not why we teach. One last drink before we leave our mountain top. Cheers.

#educate #hate #dialogue

I noticed I had a few new followers and the absence of a few others after I began following NOM. My site is devoted namely to education as a humanist practice and other issues related to human rights. I try to disseminate information related to public education and the harm that is caused through the excessive training our students receive thus rendering them less able to think critically, that is, consume, produce, and distribute information critically. With that said, I choose to follow people with a wide variety of views for different periods of time. However, educatedtodeath in no way condones the hate supported by NOM and other organizations of the like. I apologize for any confusion caused by my choice to follow NOM, I have since unfollowed the group. Additionally, I would like to thank @ifollowhate @LetPeepsVote and @nomtweetshate for working as watchdogs to pressure groups and users who follow hate groups as well as any other work they do.

The only place I’ve ever really been bored has been a classroom.

Laundromats are churches where we people without washing machines gather silently and understand that we all sweat, stink, and become clean again together. There is no class, race, or time in a laundromat, just people in their last pair of cleanish underwear listening to the hum of a dryers and waiting.

#teaching #edreform #testing

This morning my dog reached on the table for the bacon that was his. I gave a sharp “angh” and then told him to sit. The bacon is expressly his, but I don’t want him gobbling it all up and then puking on the carpet. He’s a dog. A lovely dog, but a dog nonetheless. He needs limits. I need to enforce them.

That said, done, whatever— my reaction to my dog is not so far from the reaction we’re expected to give our students. It’s, in fact, our default reaction when we’re preparing for those all important tests. Some kid decides she wants to know a little more about this or that, maybe chase a rabbit that’s not included on the curriculum map. Out of fear or shock or insanity we quickly swat away her curiosity. “Angh, we must stay on topic”, “we have only 100 days until Armageddon, I mean the test.” I mean what if the principal or the state walked in and we were engaged in a discussion that was only loosely related to the curriculum, or God-forbid completely unrelated. Would I be a bad teacher? Would I be a curator of curiosity? Beauty is in the eye of him who hands me my paycheck, right?

When we quell curiosity like a brooding mutiny, we crush souls, and delay mutiny by the hour.

What harm is there in chasing rabbits?

#teaching #creativity #humanity #business

There is beauty in completion, but completion is rare in the drudgery we call everyday life. There is always another bill, another hoop, another unexpected. We don’t work for or even toward completion. We simply tread water. We teach our youth, our children and students, to do the same. There is always one more test, one more grade, one more degree. There is no completion there.

But, then there are those strange kids, those eccentric adults who live parallel to our assembly lines of drudgery. There are those people who relate less to Sisyphus and more to the gods. There are our creators. Artists, actors, scientists, mathematicians, musicians, hopers, dreamers, builders, fighters, athletes, thinkers, and fools. We all were these things, and still are, they’ve just been tucked away. This folly of imagination isn’t pragmatic. It’s not financially stable. It seeks beauty before comfort. It seeks and finds comfort in completion.

I am no expert, but the moments of peace I have found have been when I have worked toward something, finished it, and moved on having contributed to culture. When I have created something, even just for me, I am more fully human. We all create. We must choose to notice. Our value is in our creation.

#human #isolation humanity

My wife and I ate at Benihana last night. Just an out night. We sat with a rotten family of nitpickers and a lonely man. We kept to ourselves, dodging approval seeking glances from the family sitting across from us. The man sat beside us. He was overweight, his hands crusted from hard-work, his eyes dead from isolation. The table was a motley crowd of awkward people. I enjoyed the time with my wife. At the end the waitress brought out an ice cream with a candle for the man’s birthday. He blew out the candle, and set it aside. He then ate his ice cream fastidiously with no affect. He did not smile. He did not divert his glance. He wiped his mouth and excused himself. My wife and I exchanged an embarrassed glance. We didn’t bother to engage him in conversation. He was just there. It was awkward. We all were awkward. He came back, signed his bill and left a five. I managed a “happy birthday” as he was leaving. He replied: “Thank you for letting me share your company.” He left. We left the nitpickers soon after. We watched our art film. I am a fool.

#edchat #teacher #holiday

Tired and weary educators if you haven’t begun your holiday, you will soon. Enjoy some time to yourself free of thought about what may come. Be quiet and still. Quiet your weary souls. There will be more to do when you return. The fight will continue. You are a teacher, but first you are a human. Go and make merry. Cheers to you all.

#OWS #teaching #revolution

Is the occupy movement the rallying of the troops before a revolution? Or will the regime just topple? I think we are all on the edge of our seats, or in the streets, filled with hope. This is a hard time for all of us, but for once there is a unified us. I am young, but I feel like I have neighbors, true neighbors, everywhere. The occupy movement is clearly a major movement and a seemingly unique movement with broad implications for a broad group of people— the 99 percent. And, it matters as much to 18 year olds as it does to 80 year olds. We all are stakeholders in this vast place we call our country. We all give a damn.

I’ve been trying to figure out what this movement means to me, a teacher in an urban southern middle school, or, what it would have meant to me when I was teaching in a really rural school. First, the results of this movement, if it continues, will come slowly. This idea of social, cultural, and economic revolution is highly viscous. It was not born in September, nor will it suddenly die. This movement is the culmination of a group of people who have voices who have been trampled steadily and slowly for quite some time. I expect this movement to be more than just a unit in a textbook. Perhaps, it will be the end of the textbook. Maybe it will bust the textbook companies and text will become relevant to the people who read it. Maybe this movement will continue to affect people in such a way that they realize they are capable of contributing to culture. That society belongs to them. It is certainly teaching us to communicate. It is teaching us that we are actually a people. We are not as distant as we were a year ago.

I don’t know the impact on the system of education this movement will have. But I see it changing our perceptions. It is an infectious and transformative idea that is burning. If anything we are looking at each other differently. We are idealists. But, our thoughts are not without deed. We are undefined, but are stronger in our mutual existence. We are peaceful, but not silent, and certainly not passive. We are the educated. We are being educated. We are educating. We are the people. And, we are the revolution. We are awake!

#school #community #silence

I am always amazed by the responses I get from people when I tell them what I do. All I do is teach children who are invisible in our society. Thy are part of an underclass of people that have been segregated into their own schools and neighborhoods so the safe and wealthy don’t have to see them. They’re neatly tucked away and punished with excessive testing and remediation so they will never see the light of the great white world. Beyond testing and a second rate education they are criminalized. Many enter seventh grade with a parole officer and a healthy criminal record. Some of these records began with a fight at school that could have been avoided with a little more supervision, or had other measures been taken ahead of time to address the problems that result in violence. Or, we could choose not to send little kids away in a cop car. There are no 7 year old criminals, maybe assholes, but not criminals. The odds are brutally stacked against these kids. And, the fact that many people don’t bother to understand that these are people with tough lives and not criminals making their own lives tough doesn’t help matters. Prejudice is strong in our world. So is ignorance, and it doesn’t belong to the poor people of our neighborhoods. The ignorant are the ones who choose blindness, and perpetuate the mentality that people are divided into us and them. We gotta open our mouths and open our eyes.

“Our merciless silence is deafening, and threatens the longevity of our social history.”

- from ‘Teachers as Cultural Workers’ by Paulo Freire

#education #humanity #revolution

Perhaps teachers and school leaders should work to help communities strengthen themselves and organize against oppression. Teachers could teach problem solving and work with students and community members to develop a curriculum aka an action plan to address specific problems within the community. Sure literacy. Sure math. But mainly relevant problem solving. Economic development. Crime prevention. Adult education. Early childhood. All in between. What if schools were designed for enabling community transformation. What if we spent time on rebuilding communities instead of worrying with national standards. What if standardization was concerned with a high quality of life for everyone instead of a number?

#violence #life #reality #teaching #education #prayer

A student of mine watched as her brother was shot in front of her early this morning. Please lend her your thoughts or prayers. So often we hear, “you just never know what goes on in these students’ lives”. More often, we do know what’s going on. We teach lovely people. We suffer together.

#Teaching is a cycle of great victories and great defeats and there’s always in between.

#teaching #education #opportunity

I started writing this blog to fight my own growing cynicism, and I find why I am doing what I’m doing. Why am I a teacher? I see education—literacy, problem solving, the ability to compete— as a chance for life. It’s the difference, for many, between life and death. Access to quality education is a life changer. It isn’t just a minor difference in quality of life; it’s the difference between poverty and a living wage, and for many, life or death. I am cynical, or have grown cynical, because this task of providing quality education to everyone is impossible. I’m just trying to make it happen for my students, in the failing school where I teach. In the failing schools where I have taught. I have taught kids who think “I’m too good of a teacher for them”— I’m no amazing teacher, I just give a shit, and I struggle to keep that up. I am burned out, or burning out; I am fading. I am tired. Every kid I’ve ever taught has been capable of success. They’ve never been the criminals that they were described as. They’ve been human; they’ve been kids. The system has failed, and is failing. I have failed, and am failing. There is venom in what I write, and what I say. I am overwhelmed. I want to walk away. I want to turn off. I want to rest. But, who rests while they’re neighbor is suffering? I go to bed a failure, and I’ll go fail tomorrow and the next day. Someone I fail in front of each day will succeed, and that will be enough.

#teaching #learning #revolution

I’m coming to a point where I don’t believe. I’ve told myself “education is a tool for transcending any obstacle”. I’ve told students, parents, and teachers that. I’ve been an education evangelist. But, my faith is running thin. I’m preaching, but I’m not believing. And, this disagreement between word and belief is grinding my soul to a halt.
Going to work each day believing I’m making a significant difference in the lives of students is a thin lie that I have bought into. Beyond a lie, it is a paternalistic lie. I sweep down from some ivory tower with theories and practices designed to “liberate minds and souls”. I go to work as a missionary, fighting the sins of the “uneducated”. But, isn’t missionary another word for imperialist? Am I an unintentional imperialist? Is my actual job to tame an otherwise wild citizenry? And, by “tame the wild” I mean systematically align the thought processes of groups of children with an agenda designed to…I’m not sure, maybe not really function. Maybe not thrive. Maybe not make waves when injustices are committed against them or others.

Am I a part of an unstoppable system that functions only as an organ in the greater oppressive body that is our society, a body that keeps all its parts starved so they will be obedient.

I am a teacher, and I sneak little tidbits of rebellion into every lesson. I teach radically, and “teach for social justice”. I talk about amazing things. My students talk with me about these things. But who is transformed? Me? I live a middle class life. My needs are met. I am doing a job that pays me. That is wonderful. But each day, when the work is done I get to go back to my middle class reality. My things that keep me satisfied. My things that help me not worry so much about my neighbor across the bridge. Don’t get me wrong, I barely have enough to get by…but I have enough. I have to budget, but I have enough. I am a part of a system that doesn’t work. I need the system to feed me, so maybe I won’t stir any trouble. And if I do, I’m an alarmist or a fool. We are a part of a well oiled machine.

Each day I suppose I am chipping away at a wall. But, is sitting in classrooms talking about hope, or more realistically having algebra and grammar shoved down their throats really helping them transform their own communities?

We teachers try each day to do our best in a system that produces semi-literate people. There is no intention of making people thrive with education. If it was for that then people would thrive. People would be really literate and would be problem solvers. If people were really educated they would revolt. I don’t like being a part of a system that somehow starves people. People are straining for hope, and we give them algebra. I may be completely off base. If I am tell me. Help me see the light. I am missing it?

I know one thing, education is not the only problem. It does not function, but it seems it’s only one of many diseased organs.

#student #revolution #education

Students should organize and refuse to participate in anything related to standardized testing. They should demand to be taught and allowed to learn. Schools will fail as long as the primary stakeholders, the students, are not involved in the decisions being made. We know what is needed to begin this education revolution. We know what is needed to function in this world. We know we are not meeting the needs of our students. We are failing. Students are refusing to learn because they are not being taught what they need. Our hands, as teachers, are tied. We will continue to fight for you, but we fear for our jobs. Some of us will rebel and teach you anyway. Some of us will walk away burned out. It’s your education. We are trying. We will not stop, but you must demand what is yours. You must demand a proper education, lest you be educated to death.

#edreform #occupy #education

Textbook publishers and the companies that make standardized tests and testing materials should be public just like the schools that receive their products. They should not profit from illiteracy. As long as people are getting rich off of failing schools the problem will continue. There is no money for a company who creates materials to solve “problems” is the problem is ever completely solved. Failing schools mean soaring profits. The education industry is booming, and will continue to boom until problems are solved by people and not money.

#education #honesty #awake

I struggle with honesty. With self-honesty. I have a hard time swallowing the truths about myself. I’m struggling with a bubbling truth about myself as a teacher. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of showing up each day to an impossible challenge. I’m tired of trying to sell information to people who don’t want it or need it. I’m tired of saying the education our schools are providing you are going to lead you to a better future. I’m not sure that’s true. Sure, learning to think and collaborate and solve problems will better enable people to function in our mess of a world. But, we’re not even teaching that. I’m tired of seeing kids without any light behind their eyes, because it’s been taken from them, or stuffed so deep within no one will ever find it. The light that spurs a teacher on is a rare joy, but those rare joys are so rare I forget the last one before the next one comes along. “I’m fighting a system” I tell myself. A quixotic hero. But, I see windmills with chainsaws attached. And behind those windmills is a leviathan that systematically oppresses, depresses, and destroys. In faculty meetings we discuss data to raise our test scores. There is no mention of the individual. We don’t have the luxury of giving a shit about the human beings before us. We just have to pull up the damn test scores. They are our reality, my reality. And I am in the arts and that is a rare rose in this garden of brambles and standardized testing, but my attempt to inspire light and hope is weak. We are all feeble. I’m worn out from teaching algebra in failing school. I am blessed with the joy of teaching in the arts. I have time to delve into things metaphysical. We can discuss poetry and beauty and truth, but they too are tired, and need a respite. I become a nagging voice spouting some bullshit about strange dealings with neglected souls who live in a wasteland. The aesthetic comes to those who are full in spirit, whatever that is. I’m told to be even stricter. To make them see. How can enlightenment be born from an iron fist? How can I force someone to awaken to beauty without making them hate it? I am absolutely frustrated. I am spurred on by the belief that learning and experience and arts can awaken a soul when that soul is ready. And when our souls are all awake then we can rebuild. When I wake up. When you wake up. We can transform our universe. But it’s oh so hard to keep my eyes open in this field of poppies.

#education #architecture #prison #zombies

I’ve never been to a school that didn’t feel like a school. They’ve all had that icky institutional feel to them, at least the ones built after 1950. I taught in a school that was built around the turn of the century. It didn’t feel so much like a school, but a relic of days past that had been inhabited by children who had been thrown away by a system. I’ve been in classrooms, my own and others’, that have been nicely decorated and maybe even had a desk lamp or two to change the lighting. But, it’s like putting posters on a dorm room wall. There’s still cinder block painted the color of vomit behind them. I’ve visited a correctional facility or two, a few mental institutions. They all look the same. I could teach at any of those places and still have the same vomit colored cinder block walls and try to inspire the same vomit colored cinder block hope. Our classrooms are little boxes filled with big dreams that are deferred for small curriculum. And, the fluorescent lights are mind-numbing. It’s like working in a morgue. Especially if they flicker. Even the nice, rich schools I’ve been in feel institutional. Maybe even moreso. They’re these terrible panoptic structures that look exactly like prisons with bulletin boards. I understand that economics are at hand. And schools are institutions. But they just have that feel to them. It bothered me as a kid, and it bothers me now. It just seems that a place that people spend a quarter of their life in, or more, could feel a little better. But, we are all trapped in little boxes of some form. We live in them, and hang out in them when we die. Maybe we’ll all break out of our boxes one day and walk the earth, consuming brains and stuff, then we’ll destroy our cubicles and classrooms and all the little boxes that contained in life and we’ll be free to wander and wonder and breathe and escape these chains that bind our minds. We’ll form zombie colonies and think tanks and maybe then, and only then will we be more than zombies.

What does your school look like?

#teaching #learning #power

I have a class that is refusing to learn from me. We have days that are functional, but the majority of their energy is spent rejecting my instruction. They are fighting hard to say: “We don’t need you, and we don’t want you as our teacher.” I fight back with a steady dose of teaching and experiential learning that is challenging. I’m frustrated, but I’m in a situation that is in no way unique. I’m replacing their former beloved teacher who taught them the exact way they wanted to be taught. The we’re not terribly challenged, but they had fun. Friday’s were for movies and half of class was devoted to personal conversation. There are lots of classes like that. They’re fun classes. But, they leave craters in students’ learning and self-efficacy. They make challenges harder. But, I digress, and like my reluctant students, I’m focusing on the past.

This challenging class has an interesting and non-unified dynamic. About half the class supports me. And about three kids are die-hard supporters of the old regime. Some of the group, the swing vote goes either way, depending on the day. Additionally, the students have their own problems and drama between each other. I feel like I can’t win. We are “us” and they are “them” and I am “they” and sometimes “we”, and sometimes, on occasion, we are “we”. The challenge is to be “we” all the time.

So, is there a definitive answer to the bold statement of “I won’t learn from you”? Sure, build relationships and rapport, but how when the class is performance based? Where is there time? Is this year an inconsistent wash with this group? Is this a triage situation?

They are learning. That is a plus. But, they don’t go gentle. I don’t know if I have a question or an understanding. Their defiance is resolute. And, while frustrating, I think I respect it.

#teaching #edchat

I’ve managed to sleep for nearly two days straight. I’ve needed it. I intend to spend a few more days staring blankly at a wall.

I would genuinely love to write more, but we should all be staring blankly with our families and friends.

Cheers to you exhausted educators who will be back hard at work on Monday.

#sschat #teaching #oppression

I wonder to what extent the elimination of social studies and civics in many schools has done to the detriment of our students. If it hasn’t been eliminated it has been downplayed by the fact that it is not a tested subject. The civics class has in many cases become a place to practice for the Language Arts portions of standardized tests. Kids in these social studies classrooms read page after page of arbitrary material and answers multiple choice questions in the format of their multiple choice standardized test.

The social studies classes I attended in my K-12 experience varied from involved and project based, to simply copying definitions and learning dates. The classes I see now do even less. The students I see each day are not learning history even. They learn a few factoids and discard them. There is no relation made to the students’ lives or concerns. It is, in many cases, a class with no meaning. I’ve found music class to be the perfect place to engage students in civic discussions, although when I taught Algebra for those years it was the perfect place. But, over the years I’ve noticed a disturbing pattern. Students know have not really learned anything about important social movements that are very important to the state of human freedom in our country. Additionally, they lack the language to engage in meaningful discussions about these events. The civil rights movement is limited to a single sentence definition and a date. Freedom is a word that is arbitrarily related to our flag. And, these are difficult concepts and require a lot of background knowledge and experience to fully grasp them.

What is wrong with the picture? Inequality is rampant in our schools and societal stratification. The people who need the ability to discuss inequality are not exposed to the language to do so. Perhaps, they are kept away from the language. Maybe everyone is kept from the concept so no one will bother intervening. But, intervention is only so powerful. The individual needs the power. The “interventionist” or teacher or organizer needs to be able to walk away quickly so the people will take over for themselves and do the things they need. So, denying our students exposure to these concepts in that classroom and school systems is preventing the question of say equality or freedom from ever being born. Is that the goal, or is it just an unfortunate side effect?

#socialjustice #feminism #teach

Songs are powerful tools for teaching. They are relevant to a culture, a time, and a place. They deliver messages in a way that allows a participant to soak it in at their own pace. And, when accompanied with good critical discourse they can leave a lasting impression that pushes towards transformation.

I teach in a junior high—the land of uncontrollable hormones. The struggle to fit in is timeless and results in countless self-betrayals. It’s a time of sexual discovery for many— many without their consent. But, many don’t know that consent is required. The example is set around them. The men rule the roost. He takes what he wants, when he wants. Even though the woman may run a household and father is distant or not present, many submit when he comes around. Following suit, the girls I teach allows guys to touch them however, push them around, degrade them, and so forth. Clearly that’s (hopefully) fought off by the watchful eye of a teacher in a class, but outside its up to the individual. I’ve talked to many girls, and boys about the topic. When I first started teaching I was shocked when my girls expressed their views of themselves to me. Many considered themselves property. They had no reason to not allow a male to do what he wanted, because they has seen the violence that resulted in fighting off advances. Many of them had never been told that they absolutely have every right to say “no” or “stop”. It’s engrained through constant oppression. It must be breached. The subject must be brought into the open and discussed. There is so much silence and acceptance.

I planned a lesson around this topic today, but rather than lecturing which generally leads to nods and minimal discussion. We learned a song, this is music class after all. The song was “I know a young woman who swallowed a lie”, to the tune of The cumulative song about the old lady who swallowed a fly. The young woman swallows a lie, then the rule to serve others, then some fluff about make up and candy, and then a line about being “dumb, baby”, and then a ring, and some Spock about being just a mother and tending the flock. Of course she becomes liberated at the end and regurgitates the whole bit. We sang the song the boys looked shocked and the girls where full of comments, questions, and ready to discuss. Girls in this class who are typically quiet and passive spoke up. These are 7th and 8th graders mind you. One boy said that women were supposed to stay home. He got 10 fiery looks and quickly said he was joking. This was an unexpectedly good discussion. The song allowed for a slow realization of the point, and it wasn’t a lecture from some paternalistic teacher. We shared a cultural experience and then they discussed the content of the song without needing me.

The topic will not disappear. The fact that it isn’t just a topic, but a painful reality for many will not change. We can’t remain silent though. And we have to empower those in our care to breach the silence, and to stand up for themselves. I accidentally was a good teacher today. There should be more accidents like this one.

#teaching #testocracy #rebellion #test

I’ll be brief. Schools get into trouble because of poor test scores. This “trouble” stirs fear. People fear for their jobs from the top down. Threats are made, also from the top down. And then, a symphony of knee jerk reactions.

I was in a school that cancelled recess, music, and P.E. from kindergarten through sixth grade. These were noted as a waste of time when “we should be preparing for state tests”. The kids went wild and classes didn’t run as smoothly. No shit, right? People need balance. Anyway, some teachers took their kids to recess, and we’re written up and reprimanded. Other teachers had recess in their classrooms, looking out for the wandering administrative spy. Teachers did what they needed to do, but to their own avail.

There was also a ban on silent sustained reading. This was labeled a “waste of time”. Teacher’s were told that kids had time to read outside of class, and reading should “just be taught”. We know that there are myriad benefits for free reading time from motivation to reinforcing skills to better behavior because the kids get a moment to debrief and venture elsewhere in their minds.

These knee jerk reactions are harmful. They are based in fear and not in research. Principals, think before you react. Don’t harm your staff, and ultimately the students in your care. Teachers, be bold and clever in your rebellion for the betterment of your students. Everyone is under the gun, and it’s causing permanent damage. Standardized testing and it’s fallout is injuring a generation of our society. So be bold. Do what you can to survive, but don’t forget you’re responsible for the survival of others too.

#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?