Adult Students

I have not updated for a while, because I just started a job teaching GED courses to adults. It is quite different from teaching in a traditional high school, but there are also many similarities. For one thing, there are many barriers that hinder these students' progress. Many of them have not been in school for a very long time, and they all feel that the traditional school system let them down. Is that because they felt they weren't learning anything relevant? Maybe. This article does an excellent job of explaining the learning process, and what can make it so elusive.

The adult students are also susceptible to lots and lots of testing. Because the GED costs money to take, our job is to make sure the students can pass the GED before they sign up to take it so we don't waste their money or the city's. Due to this, there are many pre- and post-tests which the students are subjected to. The center has a low retention rate, which is primarily due to the fact that the courses are more difficult than students were anticipating, and thus they quit. However, I believe that the barrage of tests they take is also a deterrent to many students.

I have only been here for a week, so we'll see what happens. I am eager, though, to work with adult students who, because of a poor public schooling system, fell through the cracks, yet still wish to succeed.

Different perspectives

Last time, I posted a link to an article that discussed an initiative at Dunbar High School in the District, called ninth grade academies, that dramatically helped their students achieve. The article asked why this initiative took so long, and when will the rest of the District follow suit.

Well, that has now happened. Because Dunbar's program was so successful, DCPS is now making ninth grade academies mandatory in every DC high school. 

As a result, this DC teacher, while working on the same initiative herself at her own school of her own volition, has brought up an interesting point about district-mandated policy changes. She claims the ninth grade academies as working well at Dunbar (and now her own school) because they were teacher-created, not administration-created. They work at Dunbar because those teachers know their students and could therefore craft policy around students whom they already serve.

However, Ms. Fuchs points out, ninth grade academies will only work if teachers are invested. Therefore the mandated policy from up on high is not a "magic pill." Not all schools are the same. Not all policies will work the same way at every school, even two in the same neighborhood.

In that vein, politicians may be beginning to understand that cookie-cutter policies do not work. This article clearly delineates the new federal education bill passed Friday. Besides the last two points, things definitely seem to be moving in the right direction. Finally.

Reforming schools in DC

This article discusses why a good idea should be instituted earlier. I agree.

The one day a year I listen to Alice Cooper

Finals were over yesterday, graduation is tonight, and teachers' last day is Friday. I have about an hour of paperwork to do, and then that's it.

For various reasons, I won't be returning to my current school, and I'm taking a break from teaching altogether for at least a year. I've been going back and fourth on this decision for a few months, but I'm 99% sure it's the right thing to do. However, there are times when that 1% erupts -- like when I got this note from a student at the end of his final exam:

"I would just like to thank you, Ms. Brown, for everything you have done for me this year, as well as for everyone else in the class. People like you giving years of their lives to ensure that we go on to live ours to the most. Teaching is among one of the most caring occupations I can think of, and few will rank higher on my list of teachers than you. Thank you again for helping brighten a year that may have otherwise ruined my life."

Right in the feels.

But then I tell myself I'm leaving teaching for reasons like this. And the fact that this is considered revolutionary.

There is so much work still left to be done.

Brilliant

...is all I have to say. This guy has nailed it.

Ch Ch Changes

By its nature, change happens slowly. That may be frustrating, but it's pretty much true across the board. Perhaps it is for that reason that former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was not well-liked (I have other reasons for not liking her, as do many other people, I'm sure, but that is beside the point). In this article, Larry Cuban explains why her 15 minutes are pretty much up. Let's hope he is right.

Speaking of 15 minutes, a college freshman is sure to get accolades for writing this intriguing article about the devaluing of the teaching profession. After I finished reading it, my first thought was: Teachers should strive to have their students write this well by the time they graduate. This girl is going places.

Hooray! Something good!

Even though it may seem counter to this point, I really try not to be a Debbie Downer. But reading education news is often so depressing.

Not this time! There should be more of this goin' on.

Clearly, the arts matter. Stop cutting them!

Testing, again

It seems like there are fads throughout different parts of the year when it comes to education journalism. In April and May, it seems all anyone can talk about is standardized testing. With good reason, as that's the time of year which is when students take (and complain about) standardized tests. Of course, to have a program or curriculum succeed, it must be tested, and the same goes for tests. But this article explains the dangers (and possible legal consequences) for having questions that don't count on standardized tests.

To me, it seems like not testing the test when you're actually testing is common sense, but then again, when would you be able to test the test? If the students *know* nothing counts, they have no motivation. But then again, students in DC have no motivation to begin with since the real tests do not affect their grades or graduations (unlike the SOLs in Virginia), but they do have an overwhelming effect on teachers and administrators. What moron designed that system?

I really don't understand the ridiculousness of standardized testing. I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- what's the point?

Teaching and Leading

The fourth (and last) quarter always seems to be the most difficult one to get through. The teachers are just as sick of school as the students, and the students know it. It's so hard to stay motivated to teach, and therefore it's so hard to stay motivated to learn. Of course, it doesn't help that May is inundated with all the standardized tests, and regular teaching seems to get pushed aside.

I know I have complained this year that my supervisors have not been in my classroom enough, which has definitely affected my motivation, but according to veteran teacher Larry Cuban, principals' managerial duties are far more effective than their classroom visits. I really enjoyed reading this article, but I'm not really sure what to say about it. Really, it speaks for itself.

Here's another article that speaks for itself. Marion Brady makes an excellent point about comparing teachers to other professions that cannot be fit in a box. I wish more people would realize and appreciate the absolute complexity and nuance that goes into teaching (and learning, for that matter), and therefore understand that it cannot necessarily be measured in a standardized way.

Speaking of which, this kid has nailed satire and is only in eighth grade. There is hope for our education system yet.

The Common Core and Classroom Management

Two articles I've recently read discuss, respectively, how teachers are unprepared for the "Common Core," and how behavior management in high school can be a problem even for seasoned teachers, taking time away from teaching and learning.

Both articles are from Education Week, and I'm including them both because these issues are connected. First, if Common Core is implemented, it will require more teacher training, and there is a lack of time and money to provide it adequately. And if teachers are still struggling with classroom management, what makes administrators think they will have time to implement Common Core on top of the regular pressures of classroom teaching? If teachers are still learning how to implement the Common Core in addition to managing behavior, the classroom will be nothing but chaos. Policy makers should, at the very least, ask teachers what they want (or provide training) before putting anything else on their already overflowing plates.

The article discusses that, as usual, it is the at-risk students, such as those with disabilities, ELLs, and low-SES students, who will be the most affected by teachers' unpreparedness with implementation of the Common Core. Am I crazy, or shouldn't we close the achievement gap first before moving on to implementing a new policy? The Common Core, therefore, will probably have the opposite effect of its intention due to teachers' uncomfortableness with its implementation.

Again, seems to be a case of policy makers trying to do too much at once. Teachers are already doing too much at once. Trying, for example, to manage their classrooms basically on their own, and disciplining when they should be teaching, through no fault of their own, as the above article suggests. It's also noteworthy that most discipline problems come from at-risk students, and these students will be even more of a disruption under the Common Core, especially if teacher training is not provided.

It seems to me that most policies that are set on the state and federal levels seem to be detrimental to both students and teachers. Where do policy makers come up with these things? Do they ask students and teachers about them? Perhaps that should be their first step.

AP Classes, Homework, and Standardized Tests, oh my!

There aren't really any of my own thoughts in today's entry; instead, I wanted to post three articles about various (and large and important) controversies in education today.

Exhibit A discusses that AP classes, despite their labels, do not actually prepare kids for college. I would agree, because I have seen this first hand. Students in AP classes often do not have the requisite skills to succeed in those classes, let alone in college. This well-written article discusses additional flaws with the AP testing system.

Exhibit B is a short piece by Alfie Kohn, who argues that homework does more harm than good. I'm a proponent of the flipped classroom, which is not exactly homework, since homework basically serves to reinforce skills students have just learned. So I guess on this subject, Kohn and I agree.

Finally, Exhibit C is yet another example of educators attacking standardized tests. You'd think with all this backlash, the standardized testing movement would go away. Sadly, these policy reformers seem to be stubborn and ignorant of data.

Don't Teach for America

Those of you who know me are aware of my strong opinion against Teach for America. In theory, it's a good idea to send highly qualified college graduates to teach in high-needs areas, but in practice, the program has a myriad of problems -- the recruits, for instance, aren't necessarily education majors and haven't had proper training, and the fact that they only have to sign a two-year contract pretty much guarantees that there will be a lot of turnover in the teaching profession in the areas where good teachers are most needed.

A professor at Fordham University brought up another valid point against TFA in this article.  Mainly, his beef was that his students were rarely chosen, whereas students at Ivy League institutions were overwhelmingly preferred. He states, "[s]omething was really wrong if an organization which wanted to serve low-income communities rejected nearly every applicant from Fordham, students who came from those very communities, and accepted nearly half of the applicants from an Ivy League school where very few of the students, even students of color, come from working-class or poor families." In essence, the Fordham professor is voicing his concern that students from elite backgrounds cannot empathize with the plight of those in poverty. This is definitely a legitimate concern, and yet another reason why education reform in general and TFA is particular, needs drastic changes.