March 9th, 2011
In the national discussions about school reform, the focus has been on teachers.
Tenure, seniority, and merit pay are hot topics in the national news and in the blogosphere. School turnaround and the merits of “value added,” a way of judging teachers based on their students’ standardized test scores, have been endlessly debated. Conflicts between union leaders and superintendents or union leaders and government officials center on improving teacher performance. One point everyone agrees on is that the education of our children depends on good teachers. Continue reading →
March 7th, 2011
My daughter, a high school freshman, came home from school the other day in a bad mood. She’d worked all weekend on her Social Studies presentation about Cuba, but the speech didn’t go well.
Like millions of Americans, my daughter suffers from a public speaking phobia. The number one phobia among Americans is public speaking. Number two is death. As comedian Jerry Seinfeld said, at a funeral, most people would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy. Continue reading →
March 2nd, 2011
Ryan was a student in my English 10 class. He was a nice kid – kind of goofy, kind of awkward, not very motivated, but nice and very smiley. He wasn’t doing well in my class and we both knew the reason was that he didn’t do his homework and he resisted coming in for help before or after school.
I called home one night and spoke with Ryan’s mom about Ryan’s grades. She was pleasant, but asked me to just speak to her and not her husband. I thought it was troublesome, but I made a note of it. The next day, Ryan approached me and said he’d do anything if I didn’t call home. Again, troublesome. Continue reading →
February 16th, 2011
I’ve been reading Dr. Allen Mendler’s book, Connecting with Students and I came across this passage: “Limit pop quizzes. Pop quizzes contribute unnecessarily to anxiety and rarely lead to increased competence. In fact, the sudden wave of fear that an … Continue reading →
February 14th, 2011
Dear Teacher Spouse or Teacher Life Partner,
Remember all the August nights and weekends where we sat in on the floor of our living room, watched rented movies, and cut letters and shapes for my bulletin boards? I don’t remember what was worse: the permanent marker fumes or the blisters you had from cutting construction paper for hours. When we finished, I dragged you up to my classroom so you could staple butcher paper to my walls. You are so much better at it than I am and I’m not just saying that so you’ll do it again next year. Continue reading →
February 9th, 2011
Once upon a time, Ms. Naive taught a high school journalism class. Ms. Naive was excited invite her former newsroom to her classroom as guest speakers, so she invited Popular Local Columnist to speak to the class. Columnist was funny, talented, and a rabble-rouser. Columnist loved to write about how big authority figures and big institutions trample the little guys’ rights.
When Ms. Naive told Ms. Principal about the guest speaker, Ms. Principal asked to attend the class. She was one of Columnist’s fans, too.
Columnist looked at Ms. Principal with mischievous glee. He told the class stories about covering riots and town hall meetings, kids’ festivals and an inappropriate costume contest, all using inappropriate language and inappropriate references. Columnist then did what he did best: he roused the rabble. He put Ms. Principal on the spot. He asked tough questions and spoke truth to power. Continue reading →
February 7th, 2011
My daughter is a competitive figure skater. One of the things her coach asks her to do before she competes is to visualize herself skating her program and landing her jumps. Even during practice, my daughter and her coach use these visualization exercises to convince the mind to rely on muscle memory and training.
These positive mental images replace the negative I can’t messages that athletes sometimes have with those of success. At competitions, meets, matches, or games, so much of an athlete’s performance comes down to her own belief in herself. Continue reading →
January 31st, 2011
Marissa was a very bright girl with a learning disability and very poor social skills who craved constant attention. More than likely, numerous family problems contributed to the overall picture. As we worked together on a daily basis I (BM) began to form a bond with her, or so I thought. On a cold Monday in February, Marissa unexpectedly and without any apparent provocation, punched me in the arm. Shocked, I looked at her and asked why she hit me. To my amazement, Marissa responded by laughing and punched me again. During that day, she hit me a few more times. After work I told the social worker what happened. He explained that the only form of affection Marissa ever saw were her parents hitting each other. They would first yell, then punch and kick. The social worker explained that those behaviors were actually signs of affection, and said he would not be surprised if the aggression increased until she was taught a nonviolent way to show she cared. Continue reading →
January 26th, 2011
When I first started teaching high school, one of my colleagues passed on this famous advice: Don’t smile until Christmas. Of course, I broke that rule on my first day of teaching. And the second day. And every day up … Continue reading →
January 24th, 2011
“The Chinese Tiger Mother”- who is she and what are the sources, the origins of her parenting values and behaviors? So many thoughts about this, but one that runs succinctly throughout the reading of this article, a thought of “fear.” Initially I felt hot raw anger at this woman who shares my profession of parenting. The emotions began to stew and brew with no preconceived notions. And then I stopped in the midst of these steamy emotions and said out loud, “When we judge another’s experience, we forget, forfeiting to step inside the shoes of another and walk around for awhile feeling their texture, their plasticity or lack thereof, wondering or pondering the history of the wearer of the shoes!” When I stepped in her shoes, I was struck with deep fear. I felt fear of believing her own upbringing could have been less than adequate, fear of the type of parent she was or desired to be, but mostly, a deep fear of change! Continue reading →
