TE 818: Synthesis: Theme 1: Conflicting Notions of the Purposes of Schooling

After reading several TE 818 posts and responding to the required 2 and also reading through the responses on my own post for this theme, I realize that focusing on only one aspect of our readings left most of my thinking unsaid, even on the one point.

I will maintain that education is a commodity to me, in each of the perspectives from which I commented. I can see how it came across a little crass, and perhaps even very black and white. I do, in fact, have a very real love of and enthusiasm for learning which I connect very closely to a formal education. I say these last few words because we all know that not all learning comes within the confines of an academic institution.

I'll refer to my "teacher self" and say that I hope I convey this to my students on a daily basis. I want them to come to school wondering "what will I learn today?" and I want them to leave thinking "Wow! I can't wait to come back tomorrow." That's what I want for them. Do I tell them that they have a better shot in the world with an education? Sure. But I also tell them that if they don't actively participate in their learning, they'll never appreciate where it can take them. I don't think I've ever told them that they need to fill a specific niche in the real world, although the teaching of good character does lend itself to discussion about the kind of person they want to be outside of what occupation and/or career they will hold. And Jillian hit it on the nose in response to my post when she said we're not in teaching to get rich (or something very close to it). I really do work to provide quality learning for my ELLs, more than anything to build their confidence and self-worth. Public good? I will say this, though. I really do wish many more parents would see their child's education as a commodity even if only to light a fire under them to speak up for an equal education for their children, to get them involved and in the schools to see what's going on between teachers and students.

As my "parent self," I know that I have instilled a love of learning in my son. He's always gone off on his own either exploring, reading, or observing. Is that a "private good?" I am now trying to develop in him a sense of loyalty, if you will, or some connection with an institute of higher learning to get him a little more excited about college. He KNOWS he has to go to college, and I suppose that's the "commodity" point of view, but I want him to look forward to it as what may well turn out to be some of the greatest years of his life.

As a student, I will say again that I love learning. I remember when my relationship with my husband started getting serious. I sat him down and told him that my education was very important to me. I didn't know what I was going to be "when I grew up," but I had to complete my degree no matter how long it took. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he could not support that part of me, that it was a real, honest to goodness deal breaker. We could negotiate children, a home, and anything else, but there was no negotiating my education.  I needed that piece of paper. I had no idea where it would lead me, if anywhere at all, but I needed it. As I mentioned in my original post for the cycle, I know that a degree from MSU carries more weight than one from the local university (commodity), but this degree is really for private/personal reasons.

So much to say about this. I don't know if I packaged my thoughts any better than I did the first time in trying to provide the flip side of my original post. "Too many minds..." as one character says in The Last Samurai.

TE 818: Conflicting Notions of the Purposes of Schooling

I just spent the entire day writing a reading lesson plan for my grade-level for the upcoming week. It was late. It was due at the very latest this past Friday. One of the reasons that it took so long is that I was working to create a lesson which would engage students from the onset and prompt them, or lead them to that higher order thinking that the entire educational world speaks of. But how does that get accomplished in a one-hour block each day, in two languages, with accommodations for special education, GT, and RTI students, and pending benchmarks and three grades due for the grade book each week? Talk about losing sight of the purpose of schooling.

Labaree talks about social mobility in education, making education a commodity. At the elementary level, particularly in our bilingual classes, we don't see much of the parents who are fighting to make sure that their child/student is being distinguished in the classroom. We see them at award ceremonies at the end of the school year which indicates that they, too, see the value of academic success. However, the benefit to their children would be immensely multiplied were their interest year round.

As a parent, I see education as a commodity. I removed my son from the school district that I work in after his elementary years. As a district employee, I was privy to the state test academic outcomes of the middle schools available to my son. In addition, there were several instances in which the very teachers at the middle school level were not very flattering with their comments about their own schools. I also did not want my son to go to school to participate in a drill-and-kill academic environment. I placed him in a charter school, and so far, I am convinced it was the best decision we could have made for him. The school does resort to test-taking practice and/or strategy sessions as testing approaches, but for the most part, I see that a "real" education is being provided. I see that his school diploma and the college readiness that is highly and publicly emphasized will weigh more heavily than my school district's high school diploma when it comes time for college applications.

As a student I see that education is a commodity as well. Having received my bachelor's degree at the local university, I feel that it does not weigh as heavily as if I had received one from MSU or Texas A&M. In my decision to attend graduate school, I could have had that out of the way years ago if I would have simply enrolled in the local university's graduate program. I did not see how that would enhance my education. Some people see it as a chip on my shoulder, and perhaps it is, but I dare anyone to tell me that a master's in education from UT Brownsville weighs the same as a master's in education from MSU does. By the same token, I have a sister who does not have a college education, but who worked her way up through management levels of a retail chain which shall remain nameless, and now has a management position at a pharmacy chain which, too, shall remain nameless. She makes crazy amounts of money more than I do and never had a student loan to repay, much less a second one. Now let's compare the exchange value of her high school diploma and my pending graduate degree. She wins. In terms of salary, anyhow.

As a school teacher, I see education as a commodity, too. Its basic value and exchange value are different from those of my personal life. I want my bilingual students to be able to compete with all students at their grade level, in fourth grade as much as in subsequent years. Their ability to perform in English becomes an academic as well as a social issue for them. There is somewhat of a lingering stigma about the quality of a bilingual education in our school system. In my classroom, I work to provide an equal education for them, but I don't know what happened before me or what will come after. Another way that education becomes a commodity for me is that of accountability. The exchange value in this aspect is a high one in terms of job security. This is where the purpose of education becomes somewhat skewed. Was I hired and kept on to teach, to provide what I consider a "real" education to elementary school children, or was I hired to meet state-mandated testing requirements? I ask this question because before becoming a teacher, I worked at that local university from which I received my bachelor's degree. It was fed primarily from the local high schools which were achieving recognized and exemplary status for state test performance. Curiously, though, there were a large number of remedial courses having to be offered to these students. Now the question becomes, "What is the REAL exchange value of passing high school level state-mandated tests?" This does, in fact, place a huge strain on classroom instruction.

My goal for this year is to provide the best education for my students whether they choose an academic or vocational future.

TE 818: Introduction Post

Hello, All.

My name is Lupita Ochoa. On our course roster and on the book club list, you will see my name listed as Maria Guadalupe Ochoa. One-and-the-same, I promise. I tried for about an hour and a half to get a neat little video done to upload as an introduction, but finally gave up.

This is my second semester of the MATC program. I started my undergraduate studies at MSU (Go GREEN!) in 1990, but was unable to complete my bachelor's degree, so successful completion of the MATC program is hugely significant to me.

I am in my 11th year as an educator in south Texas, mostly as a 4th grade teacher. The past 3 years have been one heck of a roller coaster ride. It started off leaving my campus to move to a brand new campus. About 4 weeks later, I received a letter that I had been assigned to a Kindergarten classroom. Who does that to a 4th grade teacher? I thought the best thing to do was introduce myself to my new administrator and ask, beg if necessary, if the possibility of a grade change existed. Fortunately, it did. I started off the 2011-2012 school year as a 3rd grade teacher. Did that for 9 weeks before I was moved to a 4th grade classroom (ah, home again). Started the 2012-2013 school year as a 4th grade teacher. Did that for five (yes, five) days before I was promoted to an Instructional Specialist. Ended the school year thinking I'd be doing that for at least another 3 years. I was wrong. A board of trustees decision eliminated the position across the district, and so now I'm back in a 4th grade classroom (ah, home again). As an added bonus, our district is participating in a grant which, long story short, has me capped at 14 students, and only 13 of them showed up. How great is that!?!

I am an EC-4 Bilingual Generalist certified teacher, so I have worked with ELLs my entire career. Last semester I had to rely on memory to relate to course topics, so I am really looking forward to making direct and current connections to my studies in this semester. I have my note-taking notebook ready to go.

I currently don't have any spare time, but I'm going to work on it. I'd like to up my running abilities from zero to 5k by November 9th. The Color Run is in town and I've already paid my fee. I like to read. I keep saying I'd like to read a good mystery, but I haven't picked one up since grade school. Still can't get through Anna Karenina, but did finally read Pride and Prejudice. I like to plan our summer family vacations to places we've never been before. This summer we spent a few days in Colorado Springs, and next year we're looking at Dallas.

Looking forward to the course. I'll work on that video post, too.

Concluding Post (TE 823; Summer 2013)

Esteemed Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction;

For the 2012-2013 academic school year you made an attempt to help our new school improve on the dismal state exam results of 2011-2012. Thank you for taking such a dedicated interest in our campus. Teachers were excited and welcomed any and all assistance. However, the approach was one that only addressed state testing. It did not address our students in the manner that is readily expressed to us at the beginning of the year convocation where we are urged to know our students so that we can address underlying problems in their education or help to motivate them to excel and succeed. It was not in a manner that challenged teachers by stating “if you continue to do things the way you always have, you will continue to get the same results.” Instead, a consultant with a product to sell was sent to our campus, and state-mandated testing end results were the highlight of our teaching. Although test preparation could have been incorporated into the delivery of instruction, it should not have been the dominating factor. I believe there was a grossly missed opportunity here.

Opening a new school presented the perfect opportunity to implement those changes that are so vocally called for at the beginning of every school year. We had the opportunity to know that “every grade has a face, has a name, has a story.” Our school could have been, and I believe still can be, the model for the use of Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design (Tomlinson and McTighe, 2006).

Differentiated instruction, through staff meetings and even professional development sessions offered by the district, is somewhat pigeon-holed to address struggling learners. We see differentiated instruction as something that applies only to students labeled in special education and/or students who require remediation. In short, we see it as the “prescription” for those students who are not passing a given subject matter or for those students who would not pass otherwise. It is watered down to mean modifications and accommodations. At this point, rather than to view differentiated instruction as a benefit to the student, it is viewed as extra work for the teacher.  However, if we were to view differentiated instruction as an entirely different way of teaching every student every day in every subject area, rather than strictly modifications and accommodations, we would have an entirely new ball game. If we were to look at differentiated instruction beginning at the teacher level, have the teacher understand that we are going to live up to those beginning of year statements and change the manner in which we deliver instruction so that it is meaningful to those grades with faces and names, then we have a new level of learner understanding to look forward to in the coming months and years.  If we differentiate delivery of instruction from the outset, we will not only challenge ourselves out of our comfort zone, but I truly believe that our students will rise to the occasion.

Where we define differentiated instruction as an addition to our already burgeoning workload, Tomlinson and McTighe state that they “have ample evidence that students whom we often think of as “low performing” fare better with rich, significant curriculum” (p.84). Additional research references indicate that low performers “increase their grasp of advanced skills at least as much as their high-achieving counterparts when both experience instruction aimed at meaning and understanding” (p.84, citing Knapp, Shields, & Turnbull, 1992, p.27). Clearly defined lesson expectations for all students and clearly defined outcomes with rubrics to indicate appropriate completion can be laid out for all students. Drill and kill is not the best learning approach for any student because it doesn’t have meaning. Is the memorizing of multiplication facts or significant dates in history important? Certainly, but if a student does not know how to apply those rote skills to real world situations, it will not mean anything to him and will be lost as quickly as they were gained. The student will also not have the ability to apply it to standardized testing questions, which quickly becomes our primary goal.

One potential toward Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design to consider is taking a step back from, and maybe even leaving behind, the teacher editions/manuals. A teacher edition/manual could very well be the downfall to differentiated instruction. My son had a teacher who refused to deviate from the reading teacher manual. I could tell the day of the week from the homework he had. We mustn’t fall prey to what the sales representative tells us about their product. “Although the…textbook can proclaim it, few students will comprehend its meaning without some active intellectual work, guided by the teacher (p.108). Teachers cannot chain themselves to the teacher manual. There is very little differentiated instruction offered, and that which is available is, again, addressed to the strugglers or the high achievers. There is no suggestion of different instruction.  In addition, many of the teacher manuals repeat the instructional routine every week with no variance to introduction of a concept or skill, delivery of instruction, or assessment. This can provide some semblance of classroom management, but wouldn’t it be just as easy to maintain respect within the classroom community through student engagement in authentic learning situations? “When a teacher comfortably and appropriately uses an array of instructional strategies, tasks become more engaging to learners” (p.52).  Through Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design (DI and UbD), teachers maintain an active role through presenting the content/concept of instruction and by providing needed and essential guidance. However, “[T]he UbD emphasis on “uncoverage” of meaning (vs. “coverage” of the content) arises from our awareness that understanding must be constructed by the individual” (p.85). On still another note, at a recent Education Service Center ELAR training, we were informed that no textbook adoption in the state of Texas includes (auto)biographies which are a state-tested genre. If we are sticking to the textbook and teacher editions for assurance in “coverage of the content,” then we have come across a potentially damaging gap. Further more, as teachers we should use the “knowing of our students” to guide our delivery of instruction alongside the ideas of DI and UbD to see past grabbing the typical copy of a Cesar Chavez biography and reach for about Selena Gomez, Sin Cara, Ellen Ochoa, and Hector Cantu and Carlos Castellanos instead because the “different individuals [in our classrooms] will construct meaning fro their different experiences, abilities, and interests…” (p.85). “We are [also] teachers of human beings” (p.39). Our human beings happen to be Hispanic, bi-lingual, and some even Spanish-speaking only. We should envelope them in the richness of their culture and surroundings so that they know that they are a living breathing part of their environment.

In making this change, we will not be back at square one, perhaps one foot in square one and one in square two, but not entirely at the beginning. We already have a strong foundation for the implementation of differentiated instruction through specific professional development sessions. Kilgo trainings and CSCOPE rollouts have talked to us about identifying verbs in our Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). CSCOPE already has Performance Indicators laid out for each unit where the targeted TEKS are addressed, and these Performance Indicators in many instances are project-based, feeding directly into DI and UbD. In addition, the sheltered instruction initiative that our campus embarked on last year addresses similar ideas to that of Figure 3.1: Planning Template (p.30), Figure 3.2: Planning Template with Design Questions (p.31), and Figure 6.1: Instructional Strategies That Support Various Teacher Roles (p.87). We have this knowledge to get off to a strong start, but “[R]esearch [also] suggests to us that few teachers in fact translate that ideal (attending to learner variance) into classroom practice” (p.39). At our campus, as part of being a Title I-funded school, we engaged in a book study of The Fundamental Five which speaks to transparency of the content of instruction and the expectation after all the learning has been done as do DI and UbD.

Implementing a new style of teaching brings to light many questions and anxiety. We must remember and be continuously reminded that we are not starting entirely from scratch. One proactive way to view the pending change is to note that if we prepare a lesson with differentiated instruction for all in mind, then we will not have the additional task of having to do so for only a handful of students. It will be built-in to the day’s routine. An added bonus is that we have a substantial amount of professional development based on research under our belts and still available to us and experienced educators available share their bag of tricks. And in terms of cost effectiveness, the experienced educators are in-house…free! In addition, there are surely at least a handful of teachers who already strive to teach in this “new” manner, they dimply do not recognize that it is, in fact, whole-class Differentiated Instruction.

There is still time.  We are on the threshold of a new school year and because we are a new campus, are not faced with the same state testing number issues with which other campuses in our district are. It should be a directive and actively monitored and feverously supported. There should be collaboration amongst our teachers and administrators. We can make this change for our school, for ourselves as teachers, and most importantly for our students.

Cycle Three: Schools as Embryonic Communities

I may have mentioned before that the school that I am assigned to is our district's first "green school." The first "oooo"s and "aaahhh"s come from the gadgets and/or characteristics that qualify our school as a "green school." I will attach a link in a response to this post about just that. But, now what? What are we going to do with this designation? The school district community was excited at the onset, but you can pretty much tell that interest has waned, even for the teachers who work there, and, since our students were never introduced to much more than the solar panels in the two creation stations we have, I don't think they really care either. Picture this: A student wearing a/our school shirt, stopped by a member of the community who asks the student to tell them a little something about what makes their school green and the school's characteristics relate to their learning, and the student can't answer. What a saddening thought. And still another, perhaps, perhaps not, unrelated thought: What a waste of money!

I will say that at the onset of the 2012-2013 school year, I had big plans about how to engage our students in their learning environment. My first thought was that we could set up a milk weed butterfly garden and eventually witness the monarch butterfly migration in our own back yard. When my position changed, I became occupied with other school matters. I will not dote on the lost, but rather focus on the fact that I recruited and totally snatched a science teacher from another school who spent a summer in Wisconsin working with a monarch butterfly program. I'm hoping she can bring my idea to fruition. I don't know if this idea fits the mold of the embryonic community, but I definitely see it as a step in the right direction. The idea is that students will be engaged in the planning, construction (to the extent that elementary students can be), and maintenance of the butterfly garden. When they take ownership of the project, when we saturate "him with the spirit of service, and providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious" (Dewey, p.20). I would love it if the entire project was initiated with "activity on the part of the children preceded the giving of information on the part of the teacher, or where the children had some motive for demanding the information," (Dewey, p.23). INQUIRY! I can see the smoke emitting from many tiny heads now. We, meaning my school, have a genuine space and premise for learning. Wouldn't this talk directly to "[P]ersonalizing the school environment is a central goal of effort to transform America's schools" (Felner, Seitsinger, Brand, and Burns, and Bolton)? Our student population desperately needs a concrete connection to their education. I often tell my students that they have to take responsibility for their own learning, but that means nothing to them. The statements in "Creating Small Learning Communities...About "What Works" in Creating Productive, Developmentally Enhancing, Learning Contexts" about "...bringing the learner in as a full and respective participant..." and "...engaging the student more deeply through building on connections..." really seemed to address my idea about taking our green school to an actual academic level for our students rather than have it become stagnant as a green school in name only.

Shifting from the "embryonic communities" focus, the Lieberman and Miller chapters were highly engaging for me, particularly the information about the National Writing Project. Many-a-winter I have invested time and energy in researching New Jersey Writing Project dates in my area. I have not had the pleasure of attending due to planned family vacations or summer district professional development. This year I got a little closer. A long-time colleague and friend attended the The New Jersey Writing Project as a district (not my district) initiative and is sharing some valuable information and insight with me. One day.

And loosely tying into were the references to professional development and particularly teacher buy-in. The premise of a collegial culture where teachers "move beyond consensus...and they go deeper to uncover and analyze problems" (Lieberman, Miller p.19) is one that I have experienced, if only at an introductory level, with my aforementioned long-time colleague. We have been working together on a project with our education service center and have engaged in some in-depth conversation about students and instructional practices. What I notice is that we both have a genuine interest in what happens in the classroom and with our students. From personal experience at one or two campuses I have been at is that constructive criticism, no matter how constructive, is uncomfortable and quite frankly unwelcome. There was so much in the Lieberman, Miller Chapter 2 that I could relate to in terms of what does and doesn't happen with and among teachers in professional development and implementation.

In the 2013-2014 school year, I am headed back to the classroom as a result of school board action. I am excited. I hope to take much, if not most, of what I have read and learned to provide a quality education to the little "esquinkles" (term of endearment which may not be a real word even in Spanish) who walk through my door next month.

Cycle 2: Challenges and Opportunities in Building Classroom Communities

I just responded elsewhere about the "levels" of community that come to mind when I think about communities in the school setting. My points of reference are at the campus level and begin with the community which is established to include the administrators and faculty and staff. I have worked on a campus where the rift is a tangible one. My next thought is that of the teachers in a grade-level. At that one particular campus, the community, the bond that the four of us formed helped us to get through some rough years. As I think back, I remember official grade-level meetings because they were required, but I couldn't count the times that we sat in each others' classrooms just to give each other a pat on the back or to take a deep breath together. Moving along to the classroom community, yes, as Kyle noted in his introduction to this cycle, I did use it to further my own agenda. I used it as a student management tool when my students were in other parts of campus, for example the gym for P.E. or the cafeteria at lunch. I would emphasize to my students that their behavior reflected on me, and that I did not want to be embarrassed by any reports of less-than-appropriate behavior. I know that I have a clear sense of what a classroom community should consist of, but other than typical classroom job assignments, I don't think I did anything, specifically, to build a community among the students.

I do believe it is possible for a classroom community to exist. I have seen it, believe it or not, through student tracking. "Many schools claim that they do not track students..." (Oakes, 2005, p. 1). For us, it begins with the Home-Language Survey that parents/guardians complete when enrolling students in school for the first time. If there is any indication that Spanish is spoken at home, either by the child or by those around him/her, the student is automatically tested through IPT (the full name of the test eludes me at the moment). If a student, usually a Pre-K student mind you, scores deficient in English, they are placed in a Spanish instruction classroom. And so as the years go by, these students continue in Spanish-instruction classrooms with the same classmates they started with in Pre-K. By the time they reach the upper elementary grades, why, they have already established family bonds. They defend each other from students in the all-English instruction classes, and they console each other through their trials and tribulations. What I have noticed most about these communities that they have built is that just like family, they are so loud when they are together. I don't mention it to insult, but more to show the ease and familiarity that they exhibit amongst each other. On the down side of this tracking, as I am sure occurs in schools across the country, is that students do not have much opportunity to interact with students in the same grade level in other classes. Oakes' statement, (2005, p. 3) "...how it both causes and supports differences in the lives of secondary students" couldn't describe this any better with the exception that I am talking about elementary students. This is not to say that sorting students by their spoken language is not an obvious route to take, but the bi-lingual program has such a negative connotation attached to it that some parents are willing to sign Denial Forms to keep their children out of these classes because they are perceived as classes in which their children will not learn anything.

In support of building a classroom community, I found the Johnson and Johnson (1986) chapter an excellent starting point with its discussion of Base Groups. The idea of "long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups with stable membership...and (b) hold each other accountable for striving to learn" (p. 175) to be something to build upon as the school year progresses. I also agreed with their idea of the Informal Cooperative Learning Groups (p.170). I found many of the strategies and the suggestion for moving from lecture to small group at 12-15 minute intervals very similar to a Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) training that our faculty received throughout this past school year. It provided for us, much like Johnson and Johnson (1986) and the chapter by Parker (2003) did, different ways to pair off students so that they do not end up in a same-partner rut, and most importantly, a safe environment for our students to grow academically. As a result, I saw students throughout the elementary grades work within these strategies and share with their classmates. I loved the low-risk environment in which students were able to build some knowledge about whatever the topic was by working with their classmates. And of course, these small group assignments/activities could be in the form of writing something or illustrating their thoughts if they could not conjure the necessary written vocabulary. When a teacher walked around the room conducting informal assessments, she was also able to steer misguided students in the right direction without pointing out their mistakes in a threatening manner. In a second grade classroom, we had a non-responsive student. Her teacher noted that she was extremely shy and that we should move on to another student, but the trainer modeled an alternative. The trainer approached the student, turned her away from the class and asked her to whisper the answer to her. She then turned back to the class and said, "Myra just told me that...Is she correct, boys and girls?" The students were so excited that "Myra" had participated. It turns out that she never actually gave an answer, but that was the spring board for encouraging her to participate with her immediate group, her classroom community, for the remainder of that lesson. Much, if not most of the chapter, I could directly relate back to my experiences and observations this past school year.

In the Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) chapter, there is a section "Students need to know the learning goals of a unit or lesson and critera for successfully demonstrating proficiency with the goals," which again related to SIOP but also a book-study that our campus participated in The Fundamental Five (Cain and Laird, 2011). The Fundamental Five talked about providing a Lesson Objective and a Closing Task for every lesson, to "Frame the Lesson." This way, in much the same way that Tomlinson and McTighe stress, students are aware of what they are going to, or should, learn, and what they should be able to complete at the end of the lesson, whether it be a task, something spoken, or a product/project. Our SIOP training expressed the same concept through Content Objective and Linguistic Objective. The end product here, because SIOP more specifically addresses bi-lingual education, being something mostly spoken or written. Referring to The Fundamental Five, I experienced how communicating the objectives and outcomes to students gave them a reference point through-out the lesson. If they lost track of the objective, they could refer to its location on the white board. And of course, objectives and tasks were always written in student-friendly language..."I will...," or "We will..." Again, providing a connection for the student, sense of knowing that the writing on the wall was speaking directly to or about them. Also, the verbs listed in Figure 6.1 (Tomlinson and McTighe, 2006 p. 87) were a central part of both SIOP and The Fundamental Five. It turns out to be a great way to make students aware of they can be actively involved in their education for the day.

To end with a little humor, I loved the example (Johnson, Johnson 1986) of the teacher providing the explanation for a simplex algorithm. It reminded me of the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) when Rose tells Gregory that he's up there having a Math Party and didn't invite anyone else. We mustn't forget to invite the students!

Cycle One: Interpretations of the Meaning and Causes of Failure

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Plain and simple, failure is the secret to success.

I will first refer to my experiences as a parent. My son once developed a secret code and used it to write, “You are evil” about a teacher assistant with whom he had had a bad experience. It earned him his first, and so far only, trip to the office. While I stood there, fuming mind you, I listened to the counselor tell him that he should not hold a grudge or be angry with anyone. When I got him home, I told him to throw that hooey out the window. I told him that it was a necessary part of life to hold grudges and to be angry. How on Earth can he be expected to know what forgiveness and moving on are if he doesn’t know what leads up to them? And what about happiness and peace? How can he truly bask in them if he doesn’t understand what the alternative is? It’s the same with success? Do you know what success is just because someone tells you that you are a successful individual? No. Success comes from knowing that a time or two before, you experienced failure.

And so it happens in our classrooms to us as teachers as much as to our students.

As a fourth grade teacher, by the time a student walks through my door, there could be a long list of failures. It becomes a daunting task to encourage a student toward success. I certainly would not want a student walking away, into yet another school year, with more self-esteem issues than what s/he came into my classroom with at the beginning of the school year. Our school counselor attempted to address this through a variety of approaches including a mentor program and a Fill the Bucket program. My principal also implemented a “Kids for Character” pledge that was recited every morning after the national anthem, and a Pillars of Character program. I was not in the classroom this year and therefore do not have a full understanding of how the Pillars of Character was implemented, but I do know that it was applied more as a campus-wide discipline plan rather than what Paul Tough describes as what occurred at KIPP. Those “Spotted” cards are more like the previously mentioned Fill the Bucket. I took the time to fill student buckets by writing little notes like, “Congratulations on being class valedictorian,” or “Thank you to Mr. G’s class for teaching me how to multiply using the Lattice Method.” IDEA Public Schools: College Academy where I live uses a similar process once or twice a year in which students write their name at the top of a sheet of paper, pass it around the classroom, and every other student must write a positive comment about every other student in the room. So, after days, weeks, months, or even years of failure, a student is finally reading anywhere from 20-30 positive comments about themselves. Maybe there is an insight that another student can provide which will allow that fearful student to overcome any one or more of the fears that Palmer discussed. This is a practice that I can see using to move several students beyond their fears and internalized failures at once. The Fill the Bucket I think is an excellent approach for those days when there is a danger of that one student not making any forward progress, from teacher to student, but I can see having a “suggestion box” type set-up where students can fill each other’s buckets, too.

I like these suggestions about how to bring students out of the failure of fear funk. Positive ways to address the issue.

On the other hand, McDermott’s closing statement, “…we must protect ourselves constantly against accepting our culture’s own definition of its problem and student instead the problems of the people…” floored me. I just submitted a reflection for another MATC course in which I indicated that I am the students I teach because I’m of the same “diverse group” that they are. That, in fact, couldn’t be further from the truth. I am Hispanic. I was poor growing up, and from the age of fifteen, I lived in a single-parent home and that allows me to identify with them to some extent. However, I am not an immigrant and I was never faced with having to learn a new language because I grew up bi-lingual. Have I been a detriment to my students because I thought I knew them?

Using Ogbu’s (p.290) definition of an involuntary minority, I recall a student who had been in our public school system since Pre-Kindergarten, but had not acquired the English language. She fought it with every fiber of her being. That school year I had an even-split student population: half English instruction, half Spanish instruction. I remember Norma physically turning her back to me when I began my English instruction.  Whether “consciously and/or unconsciously (she worked to) avoid crossing cultural and language boundaries” (Ogbu, p.291). And just like with Palmer’s “Student From Hell,” I focused on her deliberate refusal to progress in English. It was a very real fear for me because as a fourth grader, it was expected that Norma would make enough gains in her use of English to exit the bi-lingual program. I was failing to even engage her in her own progress.

To close out this post with what seems like a complete disconnect to rest, I thoroughly enjoyed “Good Video Games and Good Learning,” mostly because it provided an entirely new perspective about video games. I am far from being their number one fan as a result, but I never would have connected the higher-order thinking skills that they involve and certainly never would have thought of them as a feel-good, risk-taking environment. I have presented turn-around trainings for our teachers and on more than one occasion I have touted the importance of providing a safe classroom environment in which our students can take English acquisition risks. Should I return to the classroom, I will certainly refer to Gee’s points in order to provide my students with authentic connections between academics and their home lives.