It was a time of revelation and reflection for me.  I had just one year ago been student teaching and had been turned down for presenting at NETA 09.  This year I got the opportunity to present twice.  Though of course I want it to always go perfect, the big point to remember and celebrate was the fact that I am moving in the direction of positively influencing the face of education.  We all are.

Remember to keep on keeping on.  We are in a long race, not a sprint.  Education is for the resilient

The global view, philosophical foundations of, and complexity within the concept towards educating exceptional students fills volumes of texts, has generated lengthy legislation, consumes courts attention at every level, yet is fleshed out each and every day in this countries classrooms, in spite of this perplexing and ineffective bureaucracy.

Are students really kept from receiving services to decrease a districts costs? Is there really a problem with the fox watching the hens? Are districts filled with, what designers and overseers of policy claim, individuals whose first tendency is to shirk, subvert, and steal, rather than educate children? What gain does an individual obtain in the field of education through shirking, subverting, and stealing?

Education cannot be based on capitalistic models. There is no limiting factor one can use to trim the fat. Every product has to be edited and polished, there is no waste, no sub par reduced price category. Humans are not products in the first place.

Dogs chase their tails trying to assess learning. Reducing learning to a stimulus response measurement cheapens the entire evolved human adaptation labeled intelligence. Limiting learning to a change of behavior places our abilities well below other species on this earth. So much of learning is below the water, only the tip of the iceberg is actually observed, or measured, yet this tiny piece of learning is what the entire accountability piece is based on. Grades are subjective in the first place.

Riding a bike can be observed. You can measure the distance one rides a bike. You can tell a human to use both hands, pedal with both feet, etc. You can observe changes in the student’s behavior during each attempt at riding the bike, but this only scratches the surface of assessing learning I feel. The total learning within the student cannot be measured. Possibly you can measure the new neurological connections made within the brain, but this still cheapens this experience. There is so much more to riding a bike than what you or I can see when watching someone ride a bike. Riding a bike comes from within the learner, beyond even what the learner is conscious of themselves. This is not entirely measurable.

So lets stick to what we can measure, distance. It’s such a small portion of what one needs to learn to ride a bike, though since it can be measured, we will go with this standard. Seems acceptable, until humans enter the picture. Each of us is unique, and therefore will perform uniquely. So what is acceptable? Lets test Lance Armstrong and Stephen Hawking. Don’t they both need to be proficient by the end of grade X? We can measure distance, so lets hold all individuals accountable to this subjective criterion. Are there points available for flair? Who will decide acceptable stylish criteria for flair? Your tastes or mine, which is more important, or does it fall on the persons desk with the largest paycheck?

What’s wrong with districts reporting on their ability to educate all of their students? Why are districts the fox? Though I am not remembering my history, am I. Society once felt, or someone once felt, that it was an inefficient use of funds to educate exceptional students. This is where the civil rights come into the picture, as all students deserve a free appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. So, back in the day, districts were the fox.

Alas, like a dog chasing its tail, I return to questions, how can districts effectively report accountability other than using standardized tests? Is there even an answer to this question?

What am I going to do tomorrow to ensure every student learns in the 48 minutes we will share together?

How will I know if the students have learned? How will I know what they have learned?

Do I control their learning to specifically only what I want them to learn? Could I, even if I tried?

Should they be allowed to learn what they feel is important?

Dear NYAT
We watched the good ‘ol multigenre video in my Experiences in Writing class today. It, in fact, started off our class and I’ve never used it at the beginning before. But something clicked….clicked like you could feel it moving in the room. (If I could name “it,” I believe my dissertation would write itself.)

It struck me today as I was watching and laughing and remembering those students and their writing that while my teaching and learning essence is unchanged, I am more a teacher than I was when you filmed that class with their work. And it reminded me of what you two remind me about much of the time.

To be a teacher (and learner for that matter) is to never settle, to always move toward the mores, and to continue to rest with and alongside those that believe in vision and the potential that vision can illuminate.

Thank you for the indirect reminder and for letting me grow alongside you two visionaries.

Laurie

-Jarred

I’m in such good spirits today!  It’s Friday and it’s been a great start to the school year.
As always, I spent several sleepless nights before the first day of school.  Do I have everything ready?  How will I do things differently this year?  What more can I do to make school fun and exciting?  One would think when I’ve had 30 first days of school I’d feel more at ease with it, but the “butterflies” come each year.  I guess I’m glad they do.  I think it means that I’m still excited about what I do.  I must admit that the job never gets any easier and actually seems much more difficult than when I started.  But I still walk out of school each day, glad for the job I have, for the opportunities I have to make a difference, and for the outstanding people I work with.  At least I feel like that almost every day!

Thanks Doreen.  I encourage anyone else that wants to share their first day/week stories with us here (hint-hint CT’s!!).  As a pre-service and now a service teacher, it is always nice to know the nerves never go away!

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“We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams”

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka

Dale

Wish me luck!

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Bright Lights Our City Podcast

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Dear NYAT:

I’ve been enjoying some G.K. Chesterton writing on public education.
Have you heard of him?  He was in the circle with C.S. Lewis and J.
R.R. Tolkein.  He’s written on virtually every subject and is
absolutely brilliant.  He forces me to think like no other writer I
know.  Here are a couple snippets to get us thinking:

“There is no such thing as education.  The thing is merely a loose
phrase for the passing on to others of whatever truth or virtue we
happen to have ourselves.  It is typical of our time that the more
doubtful we are about the value of philosophy, the more certain we are
about the value of education.  That is to say, the more doubtful we
are about whether we have any truth, the more certain we are
(apparently) that we can teach it to our children.”

“[We are] shrinking from . . . the responsibility of affirming the
truth of our human tradition and handing it on with a voice of
authority, an unshaken voice.  That is the one eternal education; to
be sure enough that something is true that you dare to tell it to a
child.”

Chesterton also talks about open-mindedness NOT being a virtue, that
the human mind is designed to come to conclusions.  He says, “An open
mind is really a mark of foolishness, like an open mouth.”  I’m
reminded of the whale shark who relieves its hunger by what’s called
“passive eating,” whereby it lets its mouth hang open and whatever
floats in, it swallows.  As Chesterton puts it: “The object of opening
the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something
solid.”

Chesterton used to be taught in nearly every English speaking
university in the world.  If you read him, you’ll understand quite
fast why he’s not read much any more at the collegiate level–he
speaks quite frankly about religion and politics and without apologies
as to how his faith influences his opinions.  He was incredibly famous
in his own time and would often publicly debate the greatest minds of
his time–George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells chief among them.  My
favorite quote of his is from a woman who came up to him on the street
and said to him, “Everybody seems to know you, Mr. Chesterton.”  He
replied, “If they don’t, they ask.”

If you want a suggestion for a book this summer, I’d recommend “G.K.
Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense” by Dale Ahlquist.  It’s an
overview of 12 of his most famous works–a quick and easy read that
will supply much to talk about and debate.  Here’s a quote about
Chesterton from the book,

“This absent-minded, overgrown elf of a man, who filled up a room when
he entered it, who laughed at his own jokes and would amuse children
at birthday parties by catching buns in his mouth, this was the man
who wrote a book that led a young atheist named C.S. Lewis to become a
Christian.  This was the man who wrote a novel that inspired Michael
Collins to lead a movement for Irish independence.  This was the man
who wrote an essay in the Illustrated London News that inspired
Mohandas Gandhi to lead a movement to end British colonial rule in
India.   This was the man who wrote a book on Charles Dickens that is
widely considered the best book ever written about that great author.”

Are you thirsty yet for some Chesterton?  Drink up, my friends.  Drink up.

enjoy

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p.s How is it going?

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Jarred

Jarred

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Jed, Dale, Laura, and I all finished our practicums this last Friday, and we have been blogging about our journeys thus far on this page and our own partitions.  It has been a mixed bag of experiences for all of us, but I know we all have made substantial progress in becoming the teachers we strive to be in the near future.  This space has allowed me to do a lot of thinking aloud, and I thank those of you who have contributed from the bottom of my heart.  You have no idea how fulfilling it is to know people out there read and contribute to our professional lifestream.  I want to continue to make this a community of people that really care about the future of pre-service teachers and the future of the education system here in the US.  I wanted to share a quote I read on Jed’s blog that struck a chord in me…

I want the community of the classroom to be about the citizens of that community and not something else.  This community celebrates differences, promotes participation and maximizes membership.  It declares, it dreams, and it develops human beings.  It is controversial, it’s conversational, and it is anything but conventional.  It asks how, it wants to know why, and when it asks when, we all say, “right now.”  It has ups it has downs, and there are highs and there are lows, but it has each other.  It has moments and momentum, even monotony.  It overcomes, it overwhelms.  It has similes and metaphors, poetry and prose.  It isn’t them and it isn’t me.  It’s us, and it’s we.  It dares to be different.

It talks.

It listens.

It is everything, and it is nothing, if we don’t make it matter.

Great thoughts, Jed.  You are a great friend, and I have no doubt you will continue to change the lives of those you teach.

Jarred

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Arts Base Research Panel Discussion

College of Education and Human Sciences research conference 2008

These students have been going through the art methods courses at UNL.  They were asked to create pieces of art over the last year expressing their experiences going through the Art Education program.  For this conference, the class turned one of the rooms into a gallery to display their work.  The panel discussed what arts-based research is and shared some of their thoughts regarding art education.

Speakers: Kelly Xavier, Mark Manners, Nick Lovett, Kelli Matza, Carolyn Albracht, Sarah Moore, Jocelyn Reiss

Other Participants: Brad Barker, Patricia French, Andrea Highstreet, Ben Jochum, Eric Little, Guy McLaughlin, Jessica Northup, Amber Reining

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PLUM CREEK SURVEY

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We are pumped to let all of you who wish contribute in yet another way, your way, have personal pages. The pages available for blogging on the site Check out the links on the main page to notyouraverageteacher.com/jarred and notyouraverageteacher.com/dale

We love the things that you are doing as teachers, don’t let those great thoughts get vaccuumed up by the custodial staff, publish them to the world.

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Here is a quick roundtable that i had at the Nebraska Holocaust Consortium. Two of the UNL pre-service group and 2 that i met from Concordia. I think most of us were reeling from the gravitas of the morning but we tried to talk about some issues relating to pro-dev. and how it seems secretive before you get your degree. Shouldn’t we have a push toward that???

How does one do this?  Well I don’t have a formula, and I haven’t had the opportunity to teach in a “first day” situation, but I know I need to be myself, and I know I must keep students active and engaged as early as the first day.  We allow students to become passive as early as the first day.  We lecture and lay guidelines, and set requirements, and we squish the energy right out of them.  It is painful to be a part of.  The newness always rubs off, but I am totally subscribing to the idea that teachers need to set the stage to expect production and energy from students as early as the first day.  Optimism of a new semester and a new class should be a powerful resource teachers use to provide momentum into the course work.  I can’t stand leaving a class feeling the first class blues.  It is negative for everyone involved.

So I want to know what you have done to capture momentum on the first day, and how did that help set the “mood” of that class for the rest of the year?  What about some horror stories?  How did you recover from a bad first day with unmotivated students?  How do we keep the energy flowing? Can we?  I am optimistic we can, but it is the first day.

This summer, Jarred, Dale and I have been engaged in a professional development book club. We’ve read Hemingway, Morrison, Fitzgerald, and others. We’re trying to accomplish a familiarity with a broader range of literature. Attempting to dig deeper into the heart of the canon, and basically throw around some ideas on exactly how we should teach this stuff. The experience has been most beneficial to me, but not really in the ways I was anticipating.
When we started I was mostly just pumped to be reading. The hustle and bustle of the school year always clutters my life to a point where reading simply doesn’t fit. I was glad that I would be reading with friends and I was hopeful that we could find some teachable books.
There are several concerns that we all share in regards to our future as teachers. How will we come up with enough material to teach a whole year? How do we keep things original and fresh? What happens when we fail? How do we get students to want to learn like we are right now? How do we achieve…well, this?
“This” is basically a place I have come to realize is the only place I want my students to be. “This” is a place where there aren’t necessarily answers, but questions that force us to become better at who we want to become. “This” isn’t safe. “This” is often difficult. But, “this” is entirely necessary. Why? Because “this” is where learning takes place. It’s a community, a backdrop, and a chance to be better.
So how do we achieve it in a classroom? Well, if I knew that I would certainly sleep much better at night. So would Dale. So would Jarred. So would all of you probably. Something that is close to my heart in regards to my profession is the attitude of adolescent males toward reading. There is a lot of research out there suggesting that we need to feed male students books with drugs, sex, and rock and roll. I see the point, and I see the logic behind it, but isn’t this like trying to engage a female student with Gossip Girl novels. Let’s give these students a little more credit. I certainly think that as teachers we need to be intentional with our curriculum selection; however, maybe our approach is the problem, and not our students.
Every student has a desire to feel included. Whether it is on the football team or the D and D club. Why shouldn’t my English class feel more like a place they want to come, as opposed to a place they have to come? Community is a big deal, and students want to feel a part of that. Each student brings their own talents into the classroom, and subsequently has tremendous value to that community. As leaders of the classroom, it should be our number one goal to attempt to utilize each student’s talents in the best way possible. Why do we choose to ignore the student who is an excellent artist when we can use her to illustrate a class written graphic novel? Why push the star quarterback to the locker room when he should be reading ‘The Things They Carried’ so he can understand what real sacrifice and leadership is all about? Why can’t that artist and that quarterback be equally valuable as citizens with the future Yale attendee?
Are teachers doing this? Are we really attempting to make our classrooms a microcosm of what the “real world” is like? In the words of Hemingway, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
For me, “this” was a place I thought I would become a better teacher. “This” is actually a place I have become a better learner, and a place where I now realize I’ve always wanted to be. Students want it to. And so, “this” is what we’ll give them.

It has taken me this long to be able to write about this tragic accident, and my prayers still go out to Chris’s family and the community.  As unfortunate as this event was, it happens all over the country every year, and educators and counselors often have to deal with unforeseen issues with their students.  In a smaller community like Bennington, events like this shake the whole community.  Teachers, coaches, and community members all have to deal with their own emotions while still being a mentor for students.  It’s tough.

Teachers and students need to lean on each other for support, and time should be taken to grieve.  Catharsis is a powerful tool towards closure, and everyone needs to have their grieving time.  I would certainly allow students time to free write about this event or anything they feel they need to write about.  This would be an excellent time to use journals where the teacher only reads the work if the student wants him/her to do so.  I understand we won’t overcome this in a day or a week, but students need to return to “normalcy” as soon as possible to understand life will go on.  Each student and case varies, but we need to treat each case with the same amount of respect and careful consideration.  Every student matters, no matter if he/she was the class president, captain of a sports team, or if the student was one absence from getting kicked out.  It is always one more life cut short of reaching full potential.  We need to learn from these issues, not sweep them under the rug.

Our students are people, and so are our administrators and teachers.  I would like to hear about some examples of school guidelines or plans of action that are in place when it comes to death of someone within the school-be it teachers, cook staff, janitors, administrators, coaches, students, etc.  Share your story, and let me know what it is like to be on the other side of the “desk”, if you will.

This is another topic for another day, but how can we stop students from feeling invincible?  Too many good people are taken because of poor decisions.  I am having a hard time dealing with this one.  I know the teachers and counselors at Bennington, and I think they do a phenomenal job working with students, but how can we bring down the frequency of teenage-alcohol related accidents?

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Here is our first cutdown version–both Jarred and I had a lot of resistance to this project on the day, we felt as if we did not get down to the heart of things-(i am cutting part of that video now) this is the video we had our colleague Laurie take to a conference–good showpiece but not sure that we are completely happy with it, take a look and watch for further videos concerning this project. thanks for the patience. Let us know about how it turned out and about your own projects that seemed to not go the way you wanted.

Jarred

This episode also delves into the issues first year teachers can face when setting up and taking field trips with their classes.

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Any suggestions on how to better service all students, or is this time necessary for all students regardless of level?

Thanks, Jarred

With summer coming up, it should be a great time for us all to get a little R&R, but please don’t stop contributing to the site. We are still working on our connection with iTunes, so please subscribe to the podcast, and don’t be afraid to call our listener line and leave a voice message that we can incorporate into future podcasts. Your content will help us make the site more useful for everyone.

As always, have a great day and thanks for contributing.

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Credit Dale for techy-alien/chipmunk like intro.

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Thank you in advance for all your support (especially Dan)!

Shout out to Angela Maiers for my morning motivation!

http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/03/how-aware-are-y.html