Mega Bites and Messages

Does anyone besides me remember a campaign promise to get ride of NCLB? The Republican’s promised us accountablility and reform with NCLB-we got additional paperwork-teachers forced to teach to tests and Science and History losing out to increase Math and Reading scores.

The only thing I can agree with Sec. Duncan on is the need to increase the number of days in the school year. Let’s get honest this has not been done because there is an entire industry build on tourism, camps, and lessons that some people can afford to purchase. IN some districts this has been addressed by adding intersessions. The interesting thing about the intercessions is that they allow teachers to teach like they used to-using creativity. Teachers love them and so do the kids. Follow ups on this type of project based learning shows BETTER retenion.

It is interesting to note ” Republicans were among the first U.S. politicians to propose significant federal aid for education. But by the 20th century, the party had shifted its position to a general skepticism that at times gave way to limited support. Even at the times when backing limited aid, though, the party retained its stipulation that in administering the aid, the federal government must in no way interfere with state and local control of schools. ” These were the days I was a republican.

Then in 1985, after Reagan’s first Secretary of Education, Terrel Bell, resigned, conservative William J. Bennett took his place. Bennett announced that he would use the post as a “bully pulpit” to push conservative policies and values. Bennett argued for a Western Civilization-based core curriculum and against multicultural programs. Suddenly the influx of religion-I am Catholic-and it was clear it was HIS religious views! The first Bush advocated institutional competition among schools and adequate training for entering the job market. President Bush also renewed the call for a tuition tax credit. Ok it seemed like we were back in the realm of reality…

Then the elections of 1994. Republicans gained control of Congress, and quickly set out to slash funds from various education programs, arguing that the government’s deficit necessitates cutbacks. Republican Representative Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America” further targeted education and job training for budget reductions as Congress and the Clinton administration fought over balancing the budget. Now the far religious right seemed to be in firm control. Education regained a bit of funding under Clinton but was left in the dust as he focused on saving his own job. Enter the second Bush (Did I mention I liked his father better) and real person in charge his VP. No Child Left Behind fully entrenched the governent into the education process taking away any sense of local control and basically assumes that all children were alike everywhere! The party of limited governent became the party Of BIG HUGE GOVERNENT and BIG BROTHER. This for me was the last bullet I was going to bite and left the party. Okay there was the Patroit Act and failure to grant civil rights that also pushed me out of the party.So here I am a girl who lives in the town that gave us Gerald R Ford now a Democrat. I never thought I would see the day that the Republican party was all about more government!

Now we have a newly elected Sec of Education who agains wants to increase the role of the Federal Government. Sec Duncan…wake up!!!!! Everything you are suggesting has been done under the Republicans and failed.

Here’s a new approach-Let’s get rid of all the huge administrations in public schools. Let’s run them more like the private schools who do not have all the layers. Have a few teachers do double duty as the curriculum experts, bump their pay and get rid of the overpaid leaders who sit in offices, hold meetings, go to conferences and issue orders from on high. Teachers are not Mommies-we are professionals. We need discipline restored to the schools. Since more testing and more restrictions has not worked-how about letting the teachers take a crack at fixing things???

Today is the second day of my summer vacation…and my thoughts turn to education. Okay, maybe I’m a teaching junkie. Without a classroom of kids-how do I get my fix? Trust me it is not going to happen watching the Board of Education Meetings. There is no place where teachers seem to be so completely devalued right now as in the district I work for. Can you believe they are actually replacing Alt. Ed teachers with Novanet? A board member actually said that the software is “high qualified.” hmmm….It is Not reading the Education Secretaries cluess drivel. Instead I turn to my PLN and check out the twitter tweets to read, reflect and ponder.

A few realities-teaching will never get me a bonus check…not an end of the year thank you gift-heck this year I was not even handed a copy of the yearbook that I produced! Frankly with my computer skills there are jobs where I could make much more money with my computer skills. Still I teach…Still I plan…I ponder…I explore…I dream! I guess as a teaching junkie it is simply a part of me.
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Summer is a chance to actually think about how I would change education-or given a clean slate what would I like to see education look like. My thoughts turn not to the new technologies I love instead I reflect back on the one-room school house. By its very nature the multi-age nature of the room required collaboration. The world was their classroom-projects abounded-by the very nature of classroom/school instruction had to be differentiated. What I dream of is a school/learning center where content rich instruction is a spring board to help teach kids to be problem solvers, and to frankly construct big questions. Less about tests-and more about learning. Replacing entitlement thinking with service based pnderings. To become more child centered we must also become more honest with parents. Bullying, and bad behavior has no place in a learning environment. We do the children no favor when we make excuses for them! Praise is earned through efforts. Too often we deal with those children we want to save, and the many we fail to see-are lost. In many districts it is these children that leave us-because we have failed to meet their needs. How much time do we spend with each student? Let’s shift our thinking-equal time for all.

Living in Michigan and watching Detroit die- it is clear that the work world of the future will provide very little stability, and very few will hold one job for 30 plus years. What will work look like in the light of this huge shift ? From a manufacturing base to and informational society? Can we incorporate the new technologies to help us or will end up digitally connect yet alone? I read the Time article with a mixture of anticipation and fear.”According to consulting giant McKinsey & Co., nearly 85% of new jobs created between 1998 and 2006 involved complex “knowledge work” like problem-solving and concocting corporate strategy. Job opportunities in mathematics and across the sciences are also expected to expand. The U.S. Department of Labor spotlights network systems and data communications as well as computer-software engineering among the occupations projected to grow most explosively by 2016. Over the next seven years, the number of jobs in the information-technology sector is expected to swell 24% — a figure more than twice the overall job-growth rate. ”

In this new society is there a place for everyone? Let us not develop a society of geeks verses service clerks. In this picture where are the artists, the musicain, the writers-those people who add to the texture and beauty of the society. To this end I propose a more open ended view of learning. Yes we must engage students and challenge their minds-but we must also impart that everything will not be entertaining nor easy. Multiply choice tests that students store in short term memory simply do not help built the cognitive schema needed. Not all students are internally motivated, there are indeed conditions that educators cannot control that impact learning. There is no one size fits all system for education and learning. This is why tests fail to give us a good measurement picture. Instead, a project, a work of art, something constructed, planned built-give us insights. I found that allowing students to actually construct test questions lead to better retention that any one student who took the test. The schema behind what they choose as important, the reasoning behind the answer choices-the place where intellect lives. Just as animals adapt to their enviroment we to much adapt our instruction, our learning, and our visions.