Times Have Changed So Why Haven't We?

SO, it’s has been a week and no one is knocking my door down about the Educational Revolution. That’s ok because I can see from word of mouth that people believe in the Revolution and have not came together or had a voice to articulate exactly what the problem is as they are lead to freedom. This is a little melodramatic but it is very true.

We know that education is suffering in many ways. Education is suffering nationwide. More special need students are being identified all the time. Viable students are dropping out of school according to the America’s Promise Alliance. In April 2008, ABC World News segment ("Failing Grades," April 1) featured a report from America's Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that showed 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year. This is a good jumping off place to start. The information we have is communicating something to us. We have to figure out the whys, hows and an action plan.

Last blog, I discussed how students could get behind and not really be noticed. I also stated a plan of action:
learning how to examine students developmentally, emotionally and physically; learning how to customize interventions to fit the students; and making this fabric part of our educational system. It would be revolutionary to utilize these practices.

The lack of understanding students to their core leads to a lack of vision in education. I’ll say it again, education lacks vision. This does not mean there not great things happening in education, do not get me wrong. There are wonderful programs, teachers and administrators that serve students well. What I’m talking about is the student that is not served well. This kind of student is growing in numbers by leaps and bounds. The student could look like one that ignores the teacher, sleeps in class, or just does not turn in work. The student could also look like the student who tries hard to please yet struggles anyway. The student could look like a reading disability that does not qualify for special education services. The student could look like many things. The disservice in education is that all are not getting what they need. It’s no one fault. They need too much for the current system to handle. That’s why we need a revolution.

Look, times are different and we have to change with the times. Our children are over exposed to stimuli. Input is constantly coming into the senses of people today: videos, ipods, text messages, computer screens, cell phones, etc. This upbeat of sensory heightens the system and the system craves for more. Kids in elementary and middle school are on video games, text messages and even Facebook!

Constantly, I hear kids saying they are bored. One student said it today as an excuse of why he drew an obscene picture! Students are not bored they are unregulated or unable to sit for periods of time without input. Am I over exaggerating? No. With the changing times, lack of real community, family time and bounding our children are being raised by the television and the media. How many moms or dads need a break and they put little Johnny in front of a movie or his favorite show, in which they TiVo'd for him! When the kid starts emulating the characters, speaking in gibberish or lost in fantasy thoughts we think something is wrong with the kid.

This form of thinking something is wrong with the kid permeates throughout education for those that struggle. Unlike mom and dad that start the ball rolling with too much media, teachers get what they get in a student. That student can come with a fertilized foundation for educational growth or with nothing but a blank slate somewhat ready to learn. Regardless, at sometime in the educational journey an educator, administrator and or parent starts to “victimize the victim” when the child is not learning and the interventions are not working.

The lack of understanding students to their core leads to a lack of vision in education. That’s why we need a revolution.

Join the Educational Revolution!

I consider myself an Education Reformer. Through the years I have tried to reform education from the inside out. It has not worked. What makes me so smart, nothing really? I think every teacher wants to assist students with learning to the best of their ability. At least that is my deepest desire, to assist kids that struggled to overcome their challenges. Which in turn, produces more well-rounded, self-sufficient, educated people as citizens for our county. Does this seem far-fetched?

This is my general premise as per my paper, The Multi-Sensory Classroom (Aug. 2004):
“Each child develops sensory/motor preskills at a very young age (e.g., auditory processing, fine and gross motor skills, visual perception, reflexes, tactile processing, sensory modulation). These bottom levels of sensory/motor development are often taken for granted because they are basic and develop automatically in the typically developing child. When we teach a student at school, the child uses these sensory/motor preskills as a foundation for learning. Children in whom these preskills have not fully developed find learning difficult if not impossible; they become our struggling or special-needs children. Without the appropriate developmental foundation, they cannot build the abstract thinking skills we try to teach them in school. “
Therefore, students may struggle in an educational setting and it may not be obviously apparent why the struggle exists.

So here’s my beef. Many students receive the necessary tools to overcome struggles in public education by the support of parents, teachers and interventions. There are a great number of students who do not receive additional support for whatever reason. This fact needs to change very rapidly.

Case in point, let’s examines the test scores for the high school exit exam for California. According to the California Department of Education website’s data for July of 2008, 13, 237 students took the Math portion of the California Exit Exam and 13, 373 students took the English portion of the exam. 29% of the students passed the Math and 30% passed the English portions of the test for the state. That means that 9,423 students failed the Math and 9,420 failed the English! Holy Smoke!

I cannot be the only one screaming in the wildness. Where are you? Please don’t give me the spill about more qualified teachers and incentives. In today’s, New York Times, Week in Review section on page 5 there is an advertisement from the President of America Federation of Teachers. The name of the article which is really an advertisement is called, “ What Matters Most: Words into Action”. In the ad-like article the president, Randi Weingarten explains this problem in education, “ For too long and too often, teacher evaluation –in both design and implementation – has failed to achieve what must be our goal: continuously improving and informing teaching so as to better education all students”. She goes on to give an example from Colorado of the school board and teacher union working together. Then at the end she says that school board members, teachers, union leaders all feel the same way, they want what’s best for the kids. I felt the article was about working relationships in these difficult financial times. Maybe that needs to be the focus for the advertisement that educational higher ups and teacher unions do not need to eat each other alive so they can eventually help kids. Although our students are failing right now and I don’t want any kid to miss several years of learning because people who make a lot of money can’t get along. We are talking about kid’s futures here. Give me a break!

I’m tired of the Infomercial Education. The kind that keeps promising that magic ellixir yet, the product is just so-so. The real conversation needs to be around the individual differences of students or their learning styles and needs. Administrators, school boards, teachers and all school staff members need to be trained in how to recognize a struggling student’s needs: emotionally, developmentally and physically. They also need to know how to build or recognize curriculum for these needs and drive the curriculum based on assessment data, not a hunch or a feeling. I’m not saying that public education can fix it all and is a one-stop shop. But let’s be honest students come to school with all of these issues and as a whole we cannot ignore the numbers. Our students in this state are not making the cut. Our interventions are not making the cut. Identifying student’s needs are not based on each student’s individual differences or assessments yet blanket interventions are thrown on major problems.
So, we need an Educational Revolution…stay tuned how to join the fight.

Living or Learning Problem: Do You Care?

Sometimes our kids have living problems not learning problems in education today. Life at times is so complicated. I grew up in simpler times. The students of today have many challenges to face: death, suicide, sexuality, drugs, alcohol, etc. Some kids have challenges just getting to school.

This week one of my most lethargic students warmed up to my class and me. He was a lump. I have tried to engage him in conversation,... nothing. He would sluggishly give me one-word answers to my questions. I’d ask about his life, nothing. Yes or no answers followed without affect or expression. How many months of school has it been? I was pulling out all my stops because I know through experience and research that a relationship is a starting point and cultivation for learning. I would put on my best face on day after day but each day he was ultra flat therefore, non-engaged. You can’t win them all right? Wrong because somehow, someway, something got to him. This week he was Mr. Delightful! I don’t know what turned it but it turned. He worked harder, made positive comments and became an asset to the classroom. Most likely he was having living problems not a learning problem.

According to Eutopia.com,” New America Media, a nationwide network of over 700 ethnic-media organizations, and the University of California’s Office of the President, conducted a survey of young people in California to better understand what young adults ages 16-22 feel are the primary issues impacting their lives.” http://www.edutopia.org/challenges-young-adults The study spoke with 601 young Californians. Here are the results of the survey as they reported in the study.

CALIFORNIA DREAMERS: A PUBLIC OPINION PORTRAIT
OF THE MOST DIVERSE GENERATION THE NATION HAS KNOWN
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=340
Fig. 1



In the graph young people identified family breakdown as the number one problem followed by violence in the neighborhood and poverty.

In another situation I was walking to the office and an educational assistant was having a disagreement with a middle school girl. I stopped and asked the educational assistant what seemed to be the problem. The assistant quickly let me know the girl refused to work and now was refusing to go to the dean. I volunteered to take her. I asked the young lady what was wrong. She blew me off with a simple nothing which means I’m not telling you, you don’t care. I implored her and then she exploded with a river of mind-blowing information. Her brother had been arrested for attempted murder and he was her caretaker. She had a mother but her brother is the one that cared for her. She knew he was in Long Beach but that’s all she knew and she was freaked out. I told her I’d be freaked out too. Then I said the thing that any of you would of said, “we can find him and you can write him a letter”. She melted with hope as tears filled her eyes. That’s all she needed was hope and help. We cannot have an educational system that is not human. Our souls have to touch the young people souls. We have to care about their lives. Is this our job? Who cares? If a kid needs you, step up. It may be a living problem they need help with not a learning problem.

If The World is Going to End in 2010 Why Should I Work Hard?

“The world is coming to an end in 2012 so why should I work hard?http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/2012/ Well, that was quite a shocking statement to receive early in the morning. One of my female high school students made this statement in response to me inquiring about her plans after high school in June. It was a simple question; I did not expect an Armageddon prediction. At first, I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I took a step back. I often take a step back in the classroom setting as an educator of high school students. The middle class part of me that looks into the face of a “give me more generation” did not want to take a step back. The other part of me that is a patient teacher and caring soul instinctively knew this would be a chance to step closer to my student’s frank feelings and offer comfort when there was doubt. What a statement to make! It was obviously about fear of today, tomorrow and the hereafter.

I asked her to explain her point of view and she weaved a web of indecision and new aged fear as she spoke about the world ending, how much easier life would be as a male, and wanting the easy way out

At times like this, I want to weep. I want to weep for a generation that does not have anyone to talk to about life. I want to weep for young people who live in a culture of fear and the adrenaline rush of fear like it’s a new soft drink on the market. I want to weep for the lack of faith, adventure and fullness of just living life.

Instead of weeping, I smile and say, “It’s hard for all of us to grow up and be responsible”.
“I’m not talking about that”, she retorts.

“Actually you are talking about that”, I say gently.

“Making plans for the future, following through with the plans you make and learning to care for yourself is responsibility”, I said lightly because too much weight would cause her to disregard another you must listen statement.

This sunk in for a minute. I watched it saturate over her like a warm glass of milk easing down her throat.

“Fear of Tomorrow” was not included in today’s lesson plan. Change of game plan- so we discussed how she had the same opportunities as males and yes, in this world sometimes it is harder for women. Instead of squashing her fear, I symbolically held her thoughts as we worked them through one by one. After quite some discussion she implored, “If the world was coming to an end what would you do?”

“I would live my life”, I proclaimed. “I would not live in fear”. Her brown eyes bore through me like she was looking for the truth in my statement. I continued, “ I have lived for awhile now and the world was going to end in 1984, 1999 and then again in 2000. “So, 2012?” I shrugged,” I would live my life and enjoy myself.”

She thought for a minute. “You made it right?” her words filled the silence. I could not take this in at the time. It is rare that a teenager shares this kind of kudo with an adult. I am taken aback; she thinks I made it. She sees me as a success. This harden teenager that threatened to vandalize my car upon our first few meetings. This threat was a simplistic ploy to scare me away from getting to know her. This young women is the same fragile soul that told me, “I feel so bad I just want to live under the covers.” after a tragic shooting that left a friend dead. Hard expressions, frown lines and eyes of bewilderment often searched me for answers along with a “you don’t care”, “I don’t care” attitude of resentment for a life that hasn’t really started.

I see a sense of hope slowly build in her eyes. I knew my eyes lit up as
I said, “The world is your oyster. You can do anything you want. You can dream. You can travel. You can see other things. It is an exciting time of your life.”

Her faces seems like she is reasoning the possibility that she too can do it. Together we develop a plan to start walking toward her goals. To see if working in the field of veterinary services would suit her. With some persuasion, she’s planed to go to the pet store this week to ask for an application. If they are not hiring she is going to ask to volunteer so she can be around animals.

The bell rings and she stops at the door on her way out and looks at me.

“You are cool Ms. Johnson.” I smile. She has second thoughts, “I need a lot of guidance”, she admits. Your friend offered to go with you to the pet store I reminded her. She looked at her friend standing closed by and she asked for help. She asked for help.

I suppose that was the lesson for the day. Just ask for help..

School Kids Can't Read!

“We’re not asking them to read nearly enough,” Ms. Pimentel said, an expert on English and reading standards who is a member of the National Assessment Governing Board that oversees the test that showed little to no growth in the area of reading.

Really? I am wondering how long Ms. Pimentel has been inside of the classroom teaching struggling readers. I have been in the classroom working with struggling learners and readers for 15 years. I don’t agree with Ms. Pimentel.

According to the New York Times, “The nation’s schoolchildren have made little or no progress in reading proficiency in recent years, according to results released Wednesday from the largest nationwide reading test. The scores continue a 17-year trend of sluggish achievement in reading that contrasts with substantial gains in mathematics during roughly the same period.”


As I watch students struggle in high school with decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling and writing, a few things come to mind. Let’s take John, for instance he does not know how to spell words that are not phonic or words that you cannot sound out. Therefore, he is embarrassed about his spelling and does not write. How did he get like this? It’s not just lack of instruction or directions that cause this kind of remediation. I have said before that students need developmental, social emotional and physical support to learn. Where did we fall short for John? Somewhere down the road, John did not get what he needed to continue growing.


We have to get away from this one fix show of education. It is not a one trick pony it is a system. My friend told me the other day that the educational system is not to teach the mass but to offer what is offered. Whoever gets it gets it and whoever doesn’t doesn't. So, according to his logic the ones who did not get it recycle into no man’s land?

I say NO! Our children can learn if given the instruction, environment and developmental pieces necessary. I have done it and so can the next guy. Students will make gains if given what they need to learn.

We can continue to have another 17 year studies that does not tell us any causality or start using common sense to teach the child not he standard. If we do this students will improve because we will give them the needed support to improve.