Virtual Education....Can I Make the Grade?

As I have been preparing for the possibility of teaching some online courses I have had to take a hard look at my practices as both a teacher in a traditional brick and mortar school as well as my habits as an online student.  I can see that there are many area I need to work on improving.  In fact, for many reasons, I would say that I am not prepared to be a virtual instructor at this time.I felt this question is a good place for me to begin my reflection. 

"Consider the areas you struggle with in the traditional classroom. How can you better prepare yourself so you will struggle less with this in the online environment?"

When reflecting on my classroom practice, I would say that the area I struggle with the most is in planning the appropriate amount of content. I suffer from the affliction of wanting to do it all and wanting students to experience it all. So, instead of choosing one or two significant activities or lessons per topic, I over-plan and over prepare, Frequently we do not have enough time to finish an activity before it is either time to clean up for the day, or move on to the next topic. This leaves me feeling frustrated. At times it has even led to short changing different subject areas because our lesson will run over into another subject period and, not wanting to abandon our project it will take up that period as well.

In an online course, if I was to over-plan, it could cause extreme frustration in students who will most definitely struggle to complete the course. It could lead to students dropping from the course or receiving an incomplete grade.  Students may leave the course disillusioned about online education and reluctant to take another online course even when it is in their best interest to do so.

I think the best way to prepare myself for this would be to decide up front how much time per week I expect my students to devote to coursework. Then I need to set realistic expectations for the number of assignments that can be completed in that time. Because online courses utilize the internet, it would be wise for me to exaggerate the amount of time needed, even if just slightly. The reason is because as students are working online, attention can be drawn off topic as one explores all the resources available. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Allowing students more time to explore internet content may allow them the time needed to put a topic into a personal context that makes it more understandable. I will also need to closely monitor student’s completion rates and make adjustments when necessary.

However, all of my professional habits are not negative and in fact some are very relevant to the experience of online work. In the article "WhatMakes a Successful Online Facilitator" there are seven criteria of successful online instruction listed. The one that resonates the most with my teaching style is:

#5. The person should be able to subscribe to the value of introducing critical thinking into the learning process.

For me, the internet is a wonderful laboratory of learning tools that encompass every learning style. Information is constantly updated and it seems new web tools are being developed every day. Students can dig deeper into a subject than easier than they ever have before using libraries with magazine articles and books.

I find this to be terribly exciting. With a few clicks of a mouse, students can access information in textual, auditory or visual formats on just about every topic imaginable. Just about every learning style can be accomodated. 

Then with a few more clicks, students can experience wonderful real life applications of this knowledge in a way that can bring about more meaning and understanding than any lecture could ever. Students can launch new ideas in a public forum and get immediate and varied feedback from countless sources. In fact, students are free from limitations. 

How wonderful to be a student in the 21^st Century!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. That tells you what this school year has been like for me. We started with 41 students in my first grade class. Then we were assigned 3 additional teachers around Halloween so I went down to 18. That was heaven! But Christmas break brought the reduction of a second grade teacher and I went up to 25. That's ok, we were still cruisin' along. In January our teaching staff was reduced by two more teachers and my number went up to 35! I'm now sitting at 33.  Start, stop, start, stop....reorganize the desks, redo the schedule, learn new students' habits, reorganize materials, reteach routines.... It seems we have been in September mode the entire school year. Not to mention only two 45 minute prep periods per week, 1 - 2 hour meetings several days a week after school and the ever present testing,testing, testing. Don't even get me started on Core Curiculum State Standards. Imagine the stress level in my room. It is off the charts!
Sometimes you just have to yell:

This week we did just that. With our 4th grade friends in the next room, we went to the library, kicked up the jams and had a little fun. No connection to the Common Core. (Although if pressed, I could come up with some.) No pre or post test. No anecdotal records. Just pure FUN. 'Cuz sometimes, school should be just that: FUN! 

Judge for yourself.

on Youtube:  P3A Harlem Shake

Chaos?...Chaos.

This morning several thousand Detroit teachers are waking up wondering if they are employed or not. Today is the day all DPS teachers are to report to their schools. However, the district is downsizing after turning 15 schools over to the new state EAA district. This means a serious reduction in DPS staff.

 Late spring, teachers were given the opportunity to interview with their current principal and the principal from one other school to secure a position for this fall. That’s it, you get two tries. That is, if you were lucky enough for HR to actually schedule you an interview outside your school. I know many teachers for whom this never happened. That means if your principal didn’t want you, either because you were minimally effective or she wanted to bring in someone from the outside for your position, it’s your tough luck. Also, interviews were scheduled during a one month period of time. Teachers were notified of interviews through their board email with typically less than 24 hours notice. So if you are a teacher like me, who checks email before the morning bell and then again after school because you devote instructional time to instruction rather than email, again tough luck. You may not have seen the notice until after your scheduled time. Or perhaps you had an after school commitment that day, there was no opportunity to reschedule.

Principals were told this was their opportunity to clean house and get the people they wanted on their staff. Seniority is not a problem due to Michigan Teacher Tenure Reform which removed seniority from the equation. On paper this sounds like a great thing. Clean house – get rid of those ineffective teachers and keep only the best! Unfortunately, this is not how it seems to be working out. Many highly effective teachers are being looked over because their job categories were reduced or eliminated. Or perhaps, the principal that interviewed them was content with their current staff.

Here are just a few of the cases I know personally. The names have been changed to protect their identities as much as possible.

-          Teacher “A” is a National Board teacher certified in Adolescent Science. Last year she secured a position at a high school for technology with a principal who was very excited to have her on the staff. At the last minute the district pulled her from that school and placed her in another teaching English Language Arts. As you might expect from a teacher placed outside their area of expertise, her evaluation was not stellar. However, during the interview process, the original principal was able to select her as a science teacher for her high school. Yay!, right? No, because of the evaluation, she was told (verbally through the grapevine) that she is terminated.

-          Teacher “B” is an excellent Reading Recovery teacher. A former first grade teacher and early interventionist, the district has invested thousands of dollars in her training. In a district where a great majority of our students come to school unprepared for the rigors of reading instruction, you would think an early childhood educator who has intensive training in early intervention would be golden. However, most principals do not have the Title I funds in their budgets to keep Reading Recovery in their schools. So instead of placing this valuable teacher in a high needs first grade classroom somewhere in the district, her lay-off appears to be taking effect this morning.

-          Teacher “C” is a previous year Michigan Teacher of the Year, National Board Certified Teacher and National Board Candidate Support Provider. She has worked extensively to develop School Improvement Plans and has written for many School Improvement Grants. For the past several years, she has been an Instructional Specialist in the district. Although she has repeatedly been assured by her principal that she was indeed selected, the money was budgeted, and her performance is stellar, she has not received a recall notice and in fact has been locked out of her board email over the weekend. This teacher has devoted nearly her entire summer to re-writing the School Improvement Plan (pro bono) to meet the ever-changing demands of the district and state, and now faces unemployment.

These are not isolated cases. This is being repeated throughout the district in great numbers.

So, how are employees finding out if they’re laid off, terminated or rehired? This is the greatest injustice of all. If you did not receive a call back letter last week, you don’t know. So far there is no apparent method for notifying teachers of their status if they did not receive a recall letter. This is a facebook message circulated this past weekend providing some (unofficial) guidance.

                "For those Detroit Public School folks still waiting for a word, please go to Peoplesoft & check your employee status under payroll & compensation. Depending upon what that says, it may give you a clue if you have been rehired or terminated, Not a good way to find out information, but it's better than waiting day in and day out for an answer."

Find out for yourself. Yep. Self-serve at it’s best. And it may have worked except those without recall letters, and even some who have them, were locked out of their board email yesterday. Seriously.

It's Official!

One by one today, via facebook , twitter and text messages, my friends are letting the world know they received their recall letter. For most, they had already been verbally assured by a principal they were being recalled and to which school. Still, the sense of relief you get reading these posts is overwhelming. Layoffs were to take effect tomorrow at 4:00. Yet, this is much more notice than many received the last few years where letters were typically received AFTER the date to return to work and school assignments took up to several weeks to receive. Unbelievable isn’t it?

And yet, professionals that they are, most Detroit Public School teachers had already been reporting to duty the past few weeks. Workshops were scheduled and attended without any substantial assurance that they would be assigned to these schools. Some brave souls even began carting their belongings and materials to set up rooms that could be revoked at the last possible minute. While the news has been focused on the antics of a dueling Emergency Manager and School Board, they haven’t taken notice that teachers are doing everything possible to help the children of Detroit get off to a good start despite the madness of politics gone wild.

Mr. Roberts, exercising your financial power today, you shut down Fredrick Douglas Academy forcing the elected school board to meet in the parking lot. Elected School Board members, you have been busy scheming the last few weeks to reverse every Emergency Manager decision made over the last couple years. Did you notice your teachers busily stepping over and around you to offer our community some stability? I thought not.

Missing the Point

It was Friday morning and there were not enough substitute teachers to cover all the classes. We had the great idea to put all the K - 3rd grade students in the auditorium and show Ruby Bridges for Black History Month. The subject is a little deep for the 5 - 8 crowd so at certain points I would stop the movie and explain what was going on and try to put it in kid friendly terms using their own experience. When we got to the part where Ruby was attending her new school for the first time, I stopped and asked the kids to try to imagine that this was what greeted them on their first day of school. How would they feel? Would they come back?

Later that morning I passed a former student with his vision specialist working in a small office. He is especially bright and has very sophisticated critical thinking skills for a second grader. So I explained that we had been watching the movie and asked him to tell her what he learned from it.

Very slowly, in his stuttering kind of voice he said "Well, I.. I learned. I learned..." We waited anxiously for his insight, certain it would be brilliant as he is. "I learned...never go to a school with all white kids." (ah, innocence)

We laughed, of course, and explained that he missed the point of the movie. But did he? Maybe it is we who are missing the point. Our school is 99% African American, 75.5% free and reduced lunch and not likely to change any time soon. We have no supplies, no ink for printers, no toner for copy machines, few workbooks, few textbooks. There are no noon hour aides to watch over the kids at lunch, no lunch recess; no vocal music, no art. We share a violin teacher with 5 schools and consider ourselves very fortunate. When she retires this year, she will not be replaced. There is no nurse. The ceiling leaks in many classrooms, including mine, only half of the lights in my class are working. The list could go on and on. The threat of closure looms over our every breath.

Now that I think of it, Brandon is very insightful indeed. He gets it so much more than we do. Not much has really changed, has it?

Relections of a Movement

As I sit here reflecting on the past year and the changes it has brought, I can't help but feel a renewed sense of urgency over the legislated changes we have seen in public education both in Michigan and across the country. I fear for the future of our children, those with us now and our grandchildren to come. We have become accepting and complacent. Those are dangerous qualities. Therefore I resolve to renew my voice and bring these issues to the forefront whenever possible. I will begin by urging all my friends and facebook and twitter followers to join the SOS movement. Begin by talking to public school teachers you know about the changes NCLB, RTTT, TFA and the charter movement have had on the quality of education your child receives. If you aren't familiar with those acronyms, then hit google and learn what they mean and the devastating effect they have had on our education system. For now I will share with you a poem from the SOS March in Washington this past July.

"This Is Not A Test"

by Jose Vilson

Welcome, America, to the latest installment of a people's march

For the next 3 minutes, I will ask you to defy protocol

Disband the status quo

Bust open these deformed gates

Unlock the teachers’ lounge

Unlock the teachers’ lounge

Unlock the teachers’ lounge

I beg your pardon, but I am not your proctor

I march with the protestors, and our hands are raised,

A pledge for a new narrative

This is not a test!

This is not a test, Mr. President.

This is an assessment written against the idea that

the dates and places of our history

Can be shrunk to the choice between B&C

And that is our purpose for this assembly

An extended response to a failed corporatist agenda

A reflection on the state of our most public of options

Measured through the rubric of human rights

But this is not a test!

This is not a test, Mr. Duncan

Take note: this is not us asking

This is not us begging

This is not us pleading

This is us fighting for all things equal

This is us uniting as a more perfect union

This is us reminding America of a promissory note unpaid

This is us writing our own documentation when

Politicians refuse our kids the opportunity

We are all DREAMers, and this is not a test!

This is not a test, Mr. Bloomberg

This is the generation of children from the classrooms where

teachers boldly stood and thought kids could learn

Educators, stand firm, whether in cafeterias, mess halls, or prison halls,

School is in session

And we submit our entire lives for millions of students a year

So even when I stand in front of the class, I am always children first

This is not a test!

This is not a test, Ms. Rhee

This is an exam unmoved by mayoral cycles, and I?

A bubble you cannot erase

A mouth you cannot tape

A heat you cannot beat

I come in a swarm of thousands

So I am a bee you cannot eat

This is not a test!

This is not a test, Mr. President

Given an answer sheet, these students shaded in L-O-V-E over ABCD

A set of standards commonly set forth before

Acing geography by means of peace instead of war

Shaping the world henceforth

They will elevate our math to where the sum of the people

Is greater than the parts

Becoming fluent in the languages of English, Spanish, and caring

America, please put down your pencils

This is not a test!

This is not a test!

This is not a test!

Deformers, you are dismissed.

Last Words

Words are powerful. We’ve heard it before but it can never be said enough. Well thought out words can make you dream of possibilities you’ve never considered. They can make you feel like you’re the most important person in the world or they can convince you that you are worthless. Words are powerful, and yet at times we throw them around like rice at a wedding. They fall scattered among the listeners. We may not even be aware of where they’ve landed or in whose ears.

Words are powerful. That’s what our mothers were trying to tell us when they admonished “if you can’t say anything nice, say nothing at all.” Words can bless, uplift, humor, provoke deep thoughts or gratitude. They can also inflict pain, humiliation, anger and fear. The same person can spend inordinate amounts of time agonizing over which words to use when writing. And yet when they talk, their words are careless, thoughtless, causing unexpected and unintended reactions.

The words we use in our classrooms, as in our home lives, are absorbed eagerly by those that look up to us. How are we using our words to show that each person has value; that although we are different and may see things from different perspectives we can speak and treat each other kindly?

Words are powerful. I’ve been listening to a lot of words this summer, words on the television news, kids programs, and radio shows. I’ve been reading lots and lots of words, particularly on the internet, in the blogs I read and posts on social media sights. I’m discouraged by the words I hear. The words are often hateful and insulting. Even in children’s programming the laugh tracks are heard after insults have been strewn. Only occasionally do I hear or read words that inspire me. And sadly, when I do, they are words that were spoken many years ago and just replayed over and over.

It seems to me that we have more opportunity to make our words heard than ever before in history. Yet, it's as though everyone is talking and no one is listening. Is it because in the rush to have our words heard we aren’t thinking about them anymore? There is a popular saying these days that if you just keep repeating something often enough and loud enough people will begin to accept it as the truth. Are we in a struggle to see who can establish their words as the truth? I wonder.

How are we using our words to create change rather than just noise? Words are meaningless unless they are followed by actions. Do our actions support the words we speak? Those children’s shows that insult and create characters subject to repeated pranks are often followed by public service messages that denounce bullying. Twenty minutes of programming versus a 60 second PSA. Politicians slinging insults at each other during primary elections hold hands and become running mates after election night, hoping we will forget the venom they spit just 24 short hours ago. What message are they sending about the importance or reliability of their words?

Words are powerful indeed. We now have the technology to capture every one of our written and spoken words. Words that can be pulled out from mothballs, manipulated and repeated out of context. And in doing so, someone can create an image of you that is not truthful. Yet, the people who know you will remember you best by your actions. What will your actions say about you?

I was prompted to think about the effect words have while watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother last night. The setting of the episode was the funeral service for Marshall’s father. Each family member would talk about the last words spoken to them. Most were loving, touching and inspiring. But poor Marshall was agonized by the fact that his father’s last words to him were a movie recommendation. In turn, he prompted each of his friends to recall the last words spoken by their own father if they turned out to indeed be the final words spoken.

Ten years before he passed away, my father suffered a massive stroke. As a result, he lost his ability to communicate with us beyond grunts and a few gestures and soon gave that up as well. I tried to recall my father’s last words to me before that fateful blood clot traveled to his brain. I just couldn’t. Instead, like Marshall, what I discovered is so cliche – that actions really do speak louder than words. The lessons our fathers (mine real, his fictional) set for us by example are what makes us who we are. Without speaking it, my father was able to demonstrate how to treat people kindly and with respect. He taught me about charity by helping others when they needed it. Even though he lacked an education himself, I knew how much he valued mine by what he gave up to see that I had one.

It would be rare for someone to know which words will be their last. Or to have the time to carefully craft something that lives on in the minds of our listeners. Words are powerful indeed, but it just may be that actions are more powerful still. And when the two can live up to each other, imagine the legacy that will be left behind.

Click the link to see the episode that inspired these words.
How I Met Your Mother: Last Words