Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday, April 4, 2011
Time for a Change
I think we should stop taking the DC-BAS (and/or take it 1 time fairly early in the year), and use all the money we would save to hire literacy, math and science SPECIALISTS who can assist schools and teachers in planning, implementing and tracking data for innovative programs that boost student achievement not just on tests but in LIFE and preparation for college.
Discovery Education is making millions off of DCPS to provide us with less-than-useless information that has had little to discernible and lasting impact on student achievement (and that is on their own scale, which I don't accept in the first place). Where is the data for how well our students have improved in college matriculation and completion rates? As far as I know, the only report I've seen from 2006 gives us an exceptionally low rating (~10% completion in 5 years), and somehow I don't see improvement on these multiple choice tests (which is negligible at best after years of obsessing over it) improving our students' ability to go and succeed in college and future careers which SHOULD be the main goal. I have talked to a lot of teachers, professional developers, instructional coaches, and administrators across the District about this, making it my personal mission to find one teacher who legitimately believes that the DC-BAS gives them useful information that they can use to help improve student achievement and isn't a waste of their time, and have not been able to find one. I know we have to take the DC-CAS to receive our federal funding, but I am also sure we do not have to take the DC-BAS to do so (having seen that other states do not waste their time and focus on tests like this nearly as much as we do, and those states are far more successful than we are). It is time to admit that Discovery Education is not working for us and move on.
The BAS is not aligned to our curriculum or the DC-CAS, it dumbs down education, it stresses out our students and I see it bleeding into larger and larger areas of our school as more and more students are tested and retested sometimes 4 years in a row! Our schedules get disrupted for several days each testing cycle, and as the testing date for the CAS nears, more and more students begin to disappear to drill for the test based on poor information from Discovery Education. And to what end? Not only do the students miss out on the real education opportunities in their classes, the school still doesn't meet AYP. The idea that a private company (whose only interest is in making a profit) gets to write our test, write our textbooks, our workbooks, and dictate our curriculum so that we can fail to jump through the AYP hoop for the 7th+ year in a row outrages me. I get more outraged when the District's administrative answer is to spend more time and money obsessing over this data. Hiring Instructional Coaches who then get sandbagged with dumbing down our education to drill our ever-larger cohort of tested students. Clearly Discovery Education and the BAS are NOT WORKING to improve our scores and meet AYP on the state tests, and they are most certainly not improving our students' chances of success in life outside of school and in college.
The fact that nobody on the administrative level is openly questioning the very validity of this test also outrages me. We tell our kids that we expect the best from them, that we are preparing them for college and then spend elementary, middle and 2 years of high school wasting their time and stressing them out on a lower-level test that most of them do not pass, while the real teaching has to get done on the side-lines. The most successful schools in our region do not obsess over the DC-BAS at the high school level (the top performing private schools don't even touch these toxic tests). But those of us whose students fail to meet "proficiency" "standards" over and over again get the extreme joy of restructuring - which so far I can safely say has NOT worked in the District.
I spend almost all of my free time reading education policy journals, news publications, articles and blogs (it is a bit obsessive some times). There are numerous studies, anecdotal evidence, and books that go against this narrative of 'accountability' and demonstrate the obvious fact that this is just a method for large testing corporations to bilk states for millions of dollars and get us nowhere. Where is the accountability for Discovery Education? Diane Ravitch who used to be a major proponent of these tests has come full circle and is writing and fighting to end this madness and move towards a curriculum that does not try and whittle down everything we do to a performance on a poorly written, graded and unfair set of tests. Others have written about how those who score our tests not only pay barely above minimum wage, but also change the scores if they deviate from the 'predicted' outcome. Making these tests a larger and larger part of teachers' and schools' 'accountability' is dangerous and only damaging our students' chances of success upon leaving these institutions. When our principals get ousted on a regular basis for 'failure to improve test scores' that disrupts our learning environment over and over again. When teachers get fired or told they are performing poorly based on test scores, it demoralizes them and makes it more likely that they'll either leave or begin focusing their curriculum solely on test prep (if they haven't already). It is time for our administrators to show some real leadership instead of following the real status quo which is the group that thinks that we can judge our schools performance almost exclusively on how students perform on a poorly written multiple choice exam.
If we want to seriously talk curriculum and saving money, and if we truly want to light 'fires in the mind' of our students, I say get rid of Discovery Education and stop letting them steal money from the District to give us useless information that we don't need and that dumbs-down our curriculum. Spend the money we would save by giving us real time and more support in the areas that we already know we are not performing well enough in.
Instead of asking kids to pick a 'theme' from a multiple choice test, have teachers actually discuss the themes and support their arguments with evidence from actual books (not just snippets and little poorly written passages) in class. Instead of having us spend countless hours and manpower 'analyzing' data and focusing on 'bubble' students in failed attempts to just pass a test, why not make education authentic and meaningful to their lives and accept that blatant test-prep fails our students on every level that matters? When you look at the best schools in the District and nation, they do not focus on lower-level testing as much as we do. We've been doing it since I arrived in DCPS, we had been doing it before, it is not working. It is time to re-evaluate what is going on here and try to change our mindsets and question the very box we are being put into. If my 10th grade student who can write me a 5 page paper analyzing human rights abuses in Guatemala and putting it into a global historical context turns around and fails the DC-BAS, then what is really going on here?
This is our chance to take some real leadership and make some real changes to what is going on. I know it isn't going to happen, that those in power want to hold on to it and keep their money, but it would be hypocritical of me to sit back and talk 'innovation' while really we are letting the status quo continue on and on and get worse and worse.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Field Trips
In the past month I have taken 2 different classes on 2 different field trips. The first group were my AP seniors. We got a bus and went to the American History museum to see four of the original freedom riders talk. The 2nd trip was with my 4th period 10th graders. We got a bus and went to the National Geographic Society building to participate in a training conference for Model United Nations. The one thing these two trips had in common: I was super angry at my students on the bus ride back. The anger built up during both trips throughout the day. I could not get over how whiny and disinterested my students were compared to all their peers from other schools (including schools that are supposed to be just like ours). While other students sat up straight and listened, my students slouched, slept or (in the case of my 10th graders only) talked out of turn and inappropriately.
Field trips are supposed to be a chance to expose my students to life outside of our ward and our school; A chance for them to get inspired and it really pisses me off when it doesn't seem to work. And as the field trip continues through the day I get more and more upset at the prospect of another attempt at inspiring my students failing miserably. I don't expect 'life changing movie moments' but I DO hope that I can see a glimmer of hope that my students are taking interest and getting at least something out of the trip.
But my attitude towards this has changed. On the bus ride back from my second field trip I talked with my neighboring teacher who also took his students to train for the MUN. He saw the trip in a different light. While he also was disappointed in some of the students' behaviors he also saw a lot more positive aspects to alight on.
1) They could have been worse. Overall in the scheme of things they were a little loud and boisterous at times, but some of them were really on point, and they weren't so out of hand that they got kicked out or made the organization wish we hadn't come.
2) They were exposed to how other students behave and act, and to activities that were challenging and outside of their comfort zone. While it would have been ideal for them to adjust on the trip itself, it doesn't mean that they didn't take something away from the trip just because they had some instances of poor behavior.
3) We were the only school to bring a large group. While other schools had Model United Nations clubs or selected a small group of their elite upper-classmen, we brought as many of our 10th grade regular students as we could. This means that we aren't going to be exactly like the others because our group is the 'rawest' of them all. We should also be proud of the fact that we are really trying to expose those who rarely get these kind of academic opportunities to a very challenging and enriching arena.
4) We learned which students we will definitely not bring to the real Model United Conference at the State Department in May.
When we got back I was quite a bit calmer. I think I mostly agree with my colleague. While I don't think I need to feel bad about my anger, I've decided that one of the key things is to keep working with my kids and not shut down over it. My anger is legitimate, I want my students to become more engaged because I want their lives to be better and I want something (anything) to work. But they're 10th graders, they have a long way to go and some of them will get better. I can't just get angry at them, instead I have to better express why I'm getting upset to them and how much I want to see their potential get pushed in a more productive direction.
Friday I had a great class with 4 of the students who showed up (attendance is a HUGE problem with this class, but that is a whole other topic). They got into the activities we did and they really seemed to understand the causes of World War I (a topic that I seem to have skill at making interesting). So I guess there may be hope, just have to keep up a positive attitude while also recognizing the weaknesses and continuing to push myself and my students to improve.
Field trips are supposed to be a chance to expose my students to life outside of our ward and our school; A chance for them to get inspired and it really pisses me off when it doesn't seem to work. And as the field trip continues through the day I get more and more upset at the prospect of another attempt at inspiring my students failing miserably. I don't expect 'life changing movie moments' but I DO hope that I can see a glimmer of hope that my students are taking interest and getting at least something out of the trip.
But my attitude towards this has changed. On the bus ride back from my second field trip I talked with my neighboring teacher who also took his students to train for the MUN. He saw the trip in a different light. While he also was disappointed in some of the students' behaviors he also saw a lot more positive aspects to alight on.
1) They could have been worse. Overall in the scheme of things they were a little loud and boisterous at times, but some of them were really on point, and they weren't so out of hand that they got kicked out or made the organization wish we hadn't come.
2) They were exposed to how other students behave and act, and to activities that were challenging and outside of their comfort zone. While it would have been ideal for them to adjust on the trip itself, it doesn't mean that they didn't take something away from the trip just because they had some instances of poor behavior.
3) We were the only school to bring a large group. While other schools had Model United Nations clubs or selected a small group of their elite upper-classmen, we brought as many of our 10th grade regular students as we could. This means that we aren't going to be exactly like the others because our group is the 'rawest' of them all. We should also be proud of the fact that we are really trying to expose those who rarely get these kind of academic opportunities to a very challenging and enriching arena.
4) We learned which students we will definitely not bring to the real Model United Conference at the State Department in May.
When we got back I was quite a bit calmer. I think I mostly agree with my colleague. While I don't think I need to feel bad about my anger, I've decided that one of the key things is to keep working with my kids and not shut down over it. My anger is legitimate, I want my students to become more engaged because I want their lives to be better and I want something (anything) to work. But they're 10th graders, they have a long way to go and some of them will get better. I can't just get angry at them, instead I have to better express why I'm getting upset to them and how much I want to see their potential get pushed in a more productive direction.
Friday I had a great class with 4 of the students who showed up (attendance is a HUGE problem with this class, but that is a whole other topic). They got into the activities we did and they really seemed to understand the causes of World War I (a topic that I seem to have skill at making interesting). So I guess there may be hope, just have to keep up a positive attitude while also recognizing the weaknesses and continuing to push myself and my students to improve.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Restaurant Week @ the Oval Room
Just ate at the Oval Room w/Liz. It was amazingly good and I wanted to write about what I had before I forget. I had a hard time deciding what to get because almost every single item on the menu was something I really wanted to eat. But we eventually had to make some choices since Restaurant Week doesn't really work if you order everything :). For those who don't know, Restaurant Week in DC involves a fixed price dinner menu (set at 35.10) where you get an appetizer, entree and dessert. Definitely a great chance to try some of the best restaurants in DC (at least those who participate).
In the end, I got the following:
In the end, I got the following:
- Appetizer: Pastrami cured salmon, dijon sauce, romaine rib and pumpernickle. It was very beautiful though a little small. It was also quite spicy which made it a bit hard to really enjoy the salmon as much as I wanted to. I almost got a fried blue crab with a buffalo sauce, but it was a $5 upcharge and may have been a bit crazy since I was planning on getting the scallops. Still, very very good. Liz got heirloom tomato salad with a very fancy pepper sauce that was also excellent.
- Entree: Sea scallops with a stew of cauliflower, chorizo and apricots. I got three HUGE scallops, cooked perfectly with a very sweet stew (that was more like a sauce really) underneath. Liz got a steak which was amazing and that she loved very much.
- Dessert: Maybe the toughest category to choose from. I was really torn between the a 'warm carrot cake, rum raisin puree and cream cheese ice cream' and an 'almond brown butter cake, peach salad and sour cream ice cream' not to mention a 'goat cheese sorbet, berries and cumin short dough cookies.' Lucky for me Liz got the berries w/cumin cookies because she loves cumin in everything and is very kind and avoided the chocolate dessert so I could try it :). I went with the Carrot cake and it was EPIC. SO GOOD. I just wish they'd served like three times as much. Liz and I discussed how the amounts they gave were really quite perfect because you left feeling pleasantly full and not sick... but I wanted to get sick off of that carrot cake, I would eat it until I passed out. YUM.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Schoolpocalypse
Today my school imploded.
Lets start at the beginning:
1) For the past few weeks there has been talk about a "Reduction in Force" or RIF. Michelle Rhee and the Mayor have claimed that we are $40 million or so short in funds and therefore need to fire a bunch of people. The Council claims that the District has known about these costs for a long time and it should not be surprising or an 'all of a sudden thing' so it is impossible to really know what is going on. One could be paranoid about Rhee and Fenty (which I'm sorta tending towards) or the Council is full of bull.
2) Students begin to hear all sorts of rumors and statements from politicians, the news, etc. about what is happening and talk about it and worry about it quite a bit for the past week.
3) Students arrive at school this morning and find there are no security guards. They believe (falsely) that this is part of the RIF and decide to 'protest' outside the school and not go to class. [Turns out that the security company that DCPS employs went bankrupt today and so this was just extremely unfortunate timing.]
4) We eventually get the kids to come inside because they really weren't protesting they were just hanging out talking and refusing to go to class. This is about 30 minutes into the day at this point.
5) First period is uneventful and I cover second period due to a teacher being absent. Things go well in that class and I actually get the kids to work through the period which is a miracle.
6) Then the principal announces that the kids will get an extra 20 min. at lunch to protest and let out their pent up energy. It also gets announced that there is a debate meeting at lunch when it is supposed to be after school (I'm the debate coach).
7) Lunch happens. The FBLA has a meeting that I help out a little bit with and then I head downstairs to check and see if any debate kids went to the non-existent lunch meeting and find a few of them and tell them to come to the meeting after-school.
8) A few minutes after I get downstairs, two very large boys barrel into the hallway I'm standing in having a huge fight. There are two police trying to break it up and a huge crowd of yelling and riled up kids. I get run in to by one of the fighting boys as I'm struggling to keep some of the kids away.
9) The police get the boys away and the kids seem to be milling about and I'm trying to get them into the cafeteria again and then all of a sudden there is a STAMPEDE (I mean this literally) towards the doors at the stairs. ALL the kids run full tilt, screaming to get upstairs. My boss had just gotten to me and pushed me to the wall so I wouldn't get flattened and those who stayed behind just stare fabbergasted. I have never seen anything like it.
10) I make it upstairs a few minutes later after assessing the downstairs situation and end up in the atrium. There I end up trying to disperse more students and break up a few more fights and almost fights. It seemed like every time more than 10 kids were in the same place a fight broke out.
11) As that calmed down a girl collapsed and had an asthma attack. We had to call paramedics and once again general insanity ensued.
12) I eventually collected about 1/3 of my students for 3rd period and that went very very calmly. For 4th period I helped a few students on applications and scholarships.
13) Then at 3:10 we get an announcement for teachers to check their emails. As the bell rings students are running around the halls yelling about how they don't have to have certain teachers ever again and how they hope so and so gets fired. And I have no idea what is going on but I tell them to shut up because what they're saying is really mean.
14) Kids tell me I have to check my email so I go back in my room and do so... at this point I am VERY nervous. There are kids standing around me and I open up an email that has the new master schedule. I read it over looking for my name and luckily I find it. All it says is I'm teaching World History II and American History. I don't know what this means and I won't really know until Monday apparently.
15) I have a debate team meeting for 1 hour after school w/about 6 kids (which is a miracle in and of itself so congrats to them for holding it together for debate).
Apparently tomorrow I'm going to the debate competition w/the kids... we'll see how that goes. Hopefully they'll come and have fun.
Craziest. Day. Ever.
Lets start at the beginning:
1) For the past few weeks there has been talk about a "Reduction in Force" or RIF. Michelle Rhee and the Mayor have claimed that we are $40 million or so short in funds and therefore need to fire a bunch of people. The Council claims that the District has known about these costs for a long time and it should not be surprising or an 'all of a sudden thing' so it is impossible to really know what is going on. One could be paranoid about Rhee and Fenty (which I'm sorta tending towards) or the Council is full of bull.
2) Students begin to hear all sorts of rumors and statements from politicians, the news, etc. about what is happening and talk about it and worry about it quite a bit for the past week.
3) Students arrive at school this morning and find there are no security guards. They believe (falsely) that this is part of the RIF and decide to 'protest' outside the school and not go to class. [Turns out that the security company that DCPS employs went bankrupt today and so this was just extremely unfortunate timing.]
4) We eventually get the kids to come inside because they really weren't protesting they were just hanging out talking and refusing to go to class. This is about 30 minutes into the day at this point.
5) First period is uneventful and I cover second period due to a teacher being absent. Things go well in that class and I actually get the kids to work through the period which is a miracle.
6) Then the principal announces that the kids will get an extra 20 min. at lunch to protest and let out their pent up energy. It also gets announced that there is a debate meeting at lunch when it is supposed to be after school (I'm the debate coach).
7) Lunch happens. The FBLA has a meeting that I help out a little bit with and then I head downstairs to check and see if any debate kids went to the non-existent lunch meeting and find a few of them and tell them to come to the meeting after-school.
8) A few minutes after I get downstairs, two very large boys barrel into the hallway I'm standing in having a huge fight. There are two police trying to break it up and a huge crowd of yelling and riled up kids. I get run in to by one of the fighting boys as I'm struggling to keep some of the kids away.
9) The police get the boys away and the kids seem to be milling about and I'm trying to get them into the cafeteria again and then all of a sudden there is a STAMPEDE (I mean this literally) towards the doors at the stairs. ALL the kids run full tilt, screaming to get upstairs. My boss had just gotten to me and pushed me to the wall so I wouldn't get flattened and those who stayed behind just stare fabbergasted. I have never seen anything like it.
10) I make it upstairs a few minutes later after assessing the downstairs situation and end up in the atrium. There I end up trying to disperse more students and break up a few more fights and almost fights. It seemed like every time more than 10 kids were in the same place a fight broke out.
11) As that calmed down a girl collapsed and had an asthma attack. We had to call paramedics and once again general insanity ensued.
12) I eventually collected about 1/3 of my students for 3rd period and that went very very calmly. For 4th period I helped a few students on applications and scholarships.
13) Then at 3:10 we get an announcement for teachers to check their emails. As the bell rings students are running around the halls yelling about how they don't have to have certain teachers ever again and how they hope so and so gets fired. And I have no idea what is going on but I tell them to shut up because what they're saying is really mean.
14) Kids tell me I have to check my email so I go back in my room and do so... at this point I am VERY nervous. There are kids standing around me and I open up an email that has the new master schedule. I read it over looking for my name and luckily I find it. All it says is I'm teaching World History II and American History. I don't know what this means and I won't really know until Monday apparently.
15) I have a debate team meeting for 1 hour after school w/about 6 kids (which is a miracle in and of itself so congrats to them for holding it together for debate).
Apparently tomorrow I'm going to the debate competition w/the kids... we'll see how that goes. Hopefully they'll come and have fun.
Craziest. Day. Ever.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
In Rio!!
Janet and I have arrive safely in Rio and have now been here for about 24 hours. We met at the airport, both having long but uneventful flights. Our stuff arrived, and we hopped in a taxi and drove to our hostel in Copa Cabana. The hostel is called Stone of a Beach. It is nice and has good security. Our room is on the second floor and has a private bath and a veranda, which just about doubles the size of the room.
Yesterday we walked towards the beach, went to a buffet for lunch, and walked down Copa´s beach to Ipanema where there was another nice series of beaches. We walked around a rocky point between the two beaches and then headed back to the hostel. The beaches are very scenic (despite all the tall buildings not far off of them) with dramatic rock outcroppings and cliffs surrounding them.
When we got back to the hostel we took it easy for a few hours, planning our route up the Bahia coast and then we went upstairs to the rooftop bar/hot tub/grill area and got yet another buffet (I´m sensing a theme here in Brazil. A tasty theme) - this time it was BBQ. Now one thing I can say beyond a doubt is Brazilians know how to cook meat. The BBQ was great. I had chicken, sausage and a bit of steak (in small quantities). The sides were alright-doesn´t seem to be high on the list of importance, but they focus on what is important.
The weather is slated to be perfect for our stay in Rio. Clear blue skies, in the 70s and (most importantly) not humid. Today we are probably going to go see the huge Jesus Christ statue and maybe a tour of some other sites in Rio. We also want to take a ´favela´ tour - a tour of some of the poorer areas in Rio, and then of course hang out at the beach and relax.
Yesterday we walked towards the beach, went to a buffet for lunch, and walked down Copa´s beach to Ipanema where there was another nice series of beaches. We walked around a rocky point between the two beaches and then headed back to the hostel. The beaches are very scenic (despite all the tall buildings not far off of them) with dramatic rock outcroppings and cliffs surrounding them.
When we got back to the hostel we took it easy for a few hours, planning our route up the Bahia coast and then we went upstairs to the rooftop bar/hot tub/grill area and got yet another buffet (I´m sensing a theme here in Brazil. A tasty theme) - this time it was BBQ. Now one thing I can say beyond a doubt is Brazilians know how to cook meat. The BBQ was great. I had chicken, sausage and a bit of steak (in small quantities). The sides were alright-doesn´t seem to be high on the list of importance, but they focus on what is important.
The weather is slated to be perfect for our stay in Rio. Clear blue skies, in the 70s and (most importantly) not humid. Today we are probably going to go see the huge Jesus Christ statue and maybe a tour of some other sites in Rio. We also want to take a ´favela´ tour - a tour of some of the poorer areas in Rio, and then of course hang out at the beach and relax.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Cardinal Sin
I am being very bad in fourth period. While I have assigned a worthwhile project to the students and I intend for them to do a good job on it, I feel that I am basically just having them work on the assignments in class with little instruction. Project Based Learning at its finest. That being said, I am NOT wasting their time with busywork, I just also may not be strictly teaching new skills but having them practice ones they already have. I suppose if I throw in some formative assessment I can work it out.
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