**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**
By Lisa Mims
Karen Fitzgibbons, a teacher at Bennett Elementary in Wolforth, Texas, wrote that she was, in all-caps, “ANGRY” over the officer’s resignation, blaming “the blacks” for causing “racial tension,” according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “I guess that’s what happens when you flunk out of school and have no education,” she continued. “I’m sure their parents are just as guilty for not knowing what their kids were doing; or knew it and didn’t care. “I’m almost to the point of wanting them all segregated on one side of town so they can hurt each other and leave the innocent people alone. Maybe the 50s and 60s were really on to something. Now, let the bashing of my true and honest opinion begin….GO! #imnotracist #imsickofthemcausingtrouble #itwasatagedcommunity” As an educator, when I read Ms.Fitzgibbon’s quotes, all I could think, well after my initial thought of, “What an idiot!”, was about the children of color who had the misfortune to be in her class.
Didn’t anyone know how she was? How could she have hidden it so well? Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she didn’t have to. The teacher’s Wall of Silence is just as pervasive as the police. You usually have to do, or say, something horrible, for another teacher to expose you. (If you see something, say something!)
After I did some research, I realized she probably posted it because she thought she could. After all, Wolfforth, Texas is a red state, less than 2% of the school is African-American, and the population of the town is 2.5% black. Worrying about how others would respond probably wasn’t a priority.
If Ms.Fitzgibbons had chosen to speak to her friends privately about her #imnoracist viewpoint, she would have been fine. She would have continued to go to work, views packed away on a “need to know” basis. But, I guess she was so ANGRY, she was going to let the world know how she felt,(By the way, if you #imnoracist, you probably are), damn the consequences.
I don’t believe she really thought there would be consequences.She could say what she felt about “the blacks”, and everyone would cheer her on. Kudos to those who called her out, and kudos to her district for firing her!
Ms.Fitzgibbons, maybe you should have read your district policy before you posted your vitriol.
Here’s the thing, Ms.Fitzgibbons is not alone. In a world where the majority of public school students are children of color, and their teachers are white, there are one or more in many schools around the country. The only difference is, most have enough sense not to post it on Facebook. They save it for the Teacher’s Lounge, or vent in the privacy of their homes.
These “Karen FitzGibbons”, destroy children of color, one day at a time. Put-downs, insults, and sarcasm are their weapons of choice.They label them Special Education at the drop of a hat, dole out multiple suspensions, advise parents, (although they have no medical degrees), to medicate their children, keep them out of gifted programs and AP classes, and/or tell them they cannot go to college.
It’s not difficult to get away with these attacks, because, for many reasons, parents of children of color, do not, or have no idea how to, advocate for their children.
So, it continues.
Reread Ms.Fitzgibbons’ views, they are so full of hate. What type of influence did she have on her students’ views toward people of another race? What chance would a student of color stand in her classroom? Do you think a teacher like Karen Fitzgibbons is a fluke?
Diary of a Public School Teacher is a blog where Lisa Mims shares her thoughts about any aspect of the teaching profession. She is a DEN (Discovery Education Network) STAR Educator! She loves writing and has contributed posts to Free Technology for Teachers, Edudemic, TeachHub, GoAnimate, Edutopia, etc.
A trend is emerging when it comes to P-20 education: optional preschool is becoming a thing of the past. As a nation, we’re finally beginning to accept that preschool is beneficial—even necessary—for the success of most American children. It’s why Obama has invested billions in early childhood education, and Presidential hopefuls such as Hillary Clinton are emphatic about preschool’s importance.
As someone who has extensively written about preschool-related initiatives on this site, I’ve seen enough to uncover some unexpected benefits that come from early childhood education, and I want to share a few of them with you:
1. More preschool means a child is more prepared for Kindergarten.
A study has found that children who attend all-day preschool are much better prepared for Kindergarten than children who go to half-day programs.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs studied 1,000 3-and 4-year-olds enrolled in 11 Chicago schools. Students who attended preschool seven hours a day were compared to those who attended three hour programs, then tested at the commencement of preschool to see if they were socially and academically prepared to begin kindergarten.
The study found 59 percent of the students enrolled in the half-day program to be ready compared to 81 percent of the all-day preschool attendees.
2. Even better, preschool means a child is more prepared for life.
Research shows that students who start the formal education experience, even one year earlier than Kindergarten, fare better long term in their academic careers.
3. Preschool may be one key to correcting the achievement gap.
Remember the study mentioned in point #1? Well, in that same study, researchers discovered that 78 percent of white students were prepared to enter kindergarten compared to 74 percent of black children and 62 percent of Native American and Hispanic students.
Last year, Minnesota contributed $40 million in funding for pre-K scholarships for low- income families. Thanks to those dollars, 5,800 students were able to attend preschool. About 15,000 more students still need access to pre-K scholarships, but Minnesota made an important stride.
4. Preschool can help the most at-risk ethnic group, Native Americans, achieve better success.
In education circles, we talk a lot about the way black and Latino students struggle in K-12 classrooms through a combination of cultural circumstances and inequality.
But the reality is that American Indian K-12 students are the most at-risk of any minority group for either dropping out of high school or never making it to college. The American Indian Fund reports that American Indians who earn a bachelor’s degree represent less than 1 percent of all of these degree earners. It is not shocking then to realize that 28 percent of American Indians lived in poverty compared to 15 percent of the general population, according to 2010 U.S. Census figures. A college education opens doors for a higher quality of life.
However, the path to college starts long before the application process.
Fortunately, the American Indian College Fund’s Early Childhood Education program recognizes this. They sponsored a meeting which brought together 45 representatives from four American Indian tribal colleges who discussed strategies for better early childhood education and family involvement in the community.
The representatives looked at how the American Indian community can better prepare children for long-term academic success, targeting learning opportunities from birth to 8 years of age.
5. Crime rates could drop in cities like Detroit—if more children went to preschool.
Jose Diaz of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation conducted the study “Cost Savings of School Readiness Per Additional At-Risk Child in Detroit and Michigan” where the findings appear. The research was commissioned by the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation and it suggests that investing in early childhood education could cut Detroit’s crime rate and save taxpayers in the state millions of dollars, according to a story on the study by The Detroit News. The story says that Detroit taxpayers would save around $96,000 for each child who was enrolled in a quality early education program and Michigan taxpayers would save $47,000 for each child.
The figure was derived from adding cost savings to special education, public assistance, childcare subsidies, the victims of crime and the criminal justice system. The majority of the savings would come from the criminal justice system.
Currently, only 4 percent of prisoners in Michigan under the age of 20 years old graduated from high school.
As it is right now, thirty eight states offer free, voluntary preschool learning programs and nearly 1.6 million low-income families receive assistance from the federal Child Care Development Fund to pursue early childhood education. And imagine this: that fund is just one portion of President Obama’s $75 billion plan to expand early childhood learning in order to give American student a stronger foundation going into Kindergarten.
Granted, not everyone agrees with the idea of concentrating so much energy on early childhood education. Some critics think that universal preschool, for example, is just a way to add more education jobs (especially since some proponents want to insist that states accepting federal preschool dollars pay preschool teachers at the same rate as elementary ones).
But overall, I expect that in the next decade, our terminology will change from K-12 to PK-12 when we talk about student benchmarks. More states will lobby for pre-K funding and more families, from low- to high-income, will seek out early learning options to set their kids up for academic success.
So what do you think? Will preschool ever be considered as necessary as kindergarten through twelfth grade? What are some benefits (or even drawbacks) of increasing the number of early childhood education programs?
As usual, I am interested to hear from you, so please leave a comment.
The BYOD Listening Project asks: In the rush to control students’ devices, have we overlooked the ‘moment of teaching’?
By Sharon Price Campbel
If you’re a teacher in the U.S., you have likely bumped into BYOD (bring your own device). Especially in recent years, school districts are rushing to “leave no device behind” and education technology companies are coming up with myriad new products and services to deliver the promise of BYOD Nirvana. At conferences and in district offices, educators are spearheading many iterations of teaching and learning opportunities.
What can we learn from the previous megatrends in education technology? The first small wave of technology occurred when computers were installed in public school offices. They were not to be touched by the likes of teachers, but by trained office professionals only. It took another decade for computers to become available to educators in the teacher’s lounge. By the turn of the millennium, computer-literate teachers began to ask for, beg for, and write grants for computers in the classroom.
A flood of federal money available for technology purchases created the second wave, the Educational Technology Tsunami. To cash in on the gold rush, business suppliers slapped “education friendly” labels on business equipment. Manufacturers racing to get their share of the federal bucks cut corners on research, design, and quality control to get products into the marketplace. Classrooms became a nightmare of unsupported, unreliable hardware and buggy software. Classroom teachers who had been enthusiastic became concerned about job security. They feared reporting faulty equipment and feared that they had inadequate computer skills. When the federal funding ended, school districts found themselves unable to financially support their technological machines and dreams.
Riding the same surge was the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. Its unattainable expectations, on top of education’s first attempt to merge onto the digital freeway, nearly crashed education. Systems had been too quickly adopted and inadequately designed, and were incapable of the tasks they were purchased to perform. School districts became the graveyards of metal hulks and husks of educational technology—and federally-driven, data-based, student failure.
Since then, we have learned and improved. Manufactures and legislators are beginning to include educators in the conversation about expectations and realistic outcomes for tomorrow’s teaching tools. Teachers are getting very good at forming their own independent learning communities, and ideas are spreading faster than ever before. It was during this hyper-connected, surging wave of mobile device integration into all aspects of life that we ushered in BYOD.
It will take work. Early concerns about device security/privacy, unrestricted web access, and the potential for distractions in the classroom have driven the marketplace toward an obsession with control. There are now dozens of device management products that offer instructors and districts varying levels of control over student devices; however, these products don’t serve the fundamental purpose of BYOD in education, which is to improve instruction, empower students for self-directed learning, and leverage this generation of students’ technological prowess to turn the current model of instruction on its head.
In the rush to control students’ devices, we have overlooked the “moment of teaching.” Very few teachers are able to accomplish ordinary tasks, such as grabbing a picture from a document camera and getting it to each student device, without having to halt instruction and fiddle with far too many steps to integrate into teaching. So why is instructional software so clunky when we need it the most? The answer is that most companies making this software rarely set foot in an actual classroom. They are so focused on features and functions that they overlook how the product is used in the classroom during instruction. If one of the purposes of device management is to minimize distractions, shouldn’t the product just work and require no active management on the part of the teacher? Yet most device management products require that the teacher be behind his or her computer to share learning resources or to monitor and control student devices.
We can’t rely on product developers to just deliver brilliance. Rarely through history have major innovations been the result of one person or team, instead they have been the result of teams building on the work of or listening to others. The BYOD marketplace should be listening to the visceral and rational experiences of teachers, administrators, and students to make better products.
EXO U is sponsoring the BYOD Listening Project to strike up a dialogue between teachers, students, parents, administrators, and the marketplace, with the goal of pinning down and solving the increasing challenges that teachers and students face when attempting to integrate devices into a daily classroom teaching. I am serving as a moderator for the project, and we’re asking for your perspective on mobile devices in the classroom. What works? What doesn’t? Where are the significant pain points or problems at the interface of mobile devices and learning?
The BYOD Listening Project is asking for your engagement and in return, we will analyze, collate, and report themes and major takeaways. Our aim is to provide highly useful data and models for BYOD implementation that improve that moment of teaching.
Sharon Price Campbel has taught in Napa County Juvenile Offender programs, an alternative high school, and Youth Employment programs. For the last 28 years she has been a middle school teacher. In 2009, she was named a California School Master, the oldest, most prestigious California education award.
“You’re in engineering!?! Wow, you must be super-smart…”
It has been over 10 years since I was a first-year engineering undergraduate student; but when I remember the time a fellow female student made this comment, I can still feel a visceral, bodily reaction: my muscles tense, my heart rate increases, my breath quickens.
Comments like these on the surface appear as compliments. But when unpacked, they reveal subversive attitudes about women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
As I think back to this encounter, there are two aspects that stay with me. First was the surprised, skeptical tone of the other student’s voice that conveyed it was surprising and unusual (or, to put it more crudely, freakish) that I was in engineering. Second was the attitude that since I was in engineering, this could be explained only if there was something exceptional or outstanding (or, once again, freakish) about me. Women remain an underrepresented group in STEM. In Canada, women account for 23% of engineering graduates and 30% of mathematics and computer graduates. In the United States, women are 12% of the engineering and 26% of the computingworkforce.
The reality is that STEM professions are most commonly male and it remains surprising when these professional roles are held by women. The large gender imbalance means that women may naturally feel they’re outsiders at school and at work. This situation is often uncomfortable and mentally demanding, when even just showing up and doing your job comes with constant social stresses and anxiety. Ironically, the difficulties that they (we) encounter often dissuade the next generation of women from joining us. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle that we need to break.
Fight or flight, designed for quick response
Because of their underrepresentation, women in STEM often regularly question their place in these professions. When things feel uncomfortable – like when I was confronted with that comment a decade ago – our brains can overinterpret the situation as an imminent threat. And there’s an evolutionary reason for that physical response.
This stress response evolved in human beings to help us navigate a wild, dangerous and unpredictable world. When faced with imminent danger, like a pouncing tiger, our bodies have evolved an automatic reaction to help us react fast. Stress hormones are released, the heart beats harder and faster, breathing becomes rapid and muscles tense, ready for action.
This automatic response prepares our bodies for possible actions: fight or flight! From the perspective of evolutionary adaptation, it’s in our best interests NOT to distinguish between life-threatening and non-life-threatening dangers. Act first, think later. In the African wilds in which early humans roamed, the consequence of underreacting could mean death.
Good during lion attack, less good during daily life
In modern life, we don’t have to worry much about attacks from lions, tigers or bears. But adaptive mechanisms are still very much a part of our brain’s biology.
The flight-or-flight response is intended to be short-term. The problem comes in when stress becomes a daily part of life, triggering a physiological response that’s actually detrimental to health over the long term. Repeated and long-term releases of the stress hormone cortisol cause changes in brain structure that leave individuals more susceptible to anxiety and mood disorders, including depression. When exposed to long-term stress, the brain structure called the hippocampus shrinks, affecting one’s short-term memory and ability to learn.
These physical stress responses can unfortunately run at a constant low level of activation in people who are made to feel like they don’t belong or aren’t good enough – such as women in STEM. Social situations like my undergraduate encounter – and their ramifications – are a part of day-to-day life.
Sadly, the percentages of women working in these fields have remained stagnant for decades. In 1987, women represented 20% of the STEM workforce in Canada. In 2015, their numbers remain unchanged at 22%. In the United States, the reality is very similar, with women representing24% of the workforce. Confrontational reactions like “You’re in engineering!?!” communicate the message that as a woman, one may not belong in the social group of engineering. The brain perceives these kinds of social interactions as threatening, dangerous and stressful.
The social cues that women may not belong in male-dominated STEM fields can often be subtle. For example, researchers have shown that the presence in labs of objects considered stereotypical of computer science, such as Star Trek and video game posters, are perceived as stereotypically masculine and can dissuade women from expressing interest in topics like computer programming.
Moreover, seemingly complimentary “Wow, you must be super-smart!” comments also communicate an even more troubling possibility that, in order to belong in this group (of men), as a woman, one must be exceptional. Women + Engineering = Super Smart.
But what if a female student is not exceptionally intelligent? What if she is only ordinarily smart? Or, even more troubling, what if she does not believe that she is smart at all? In her mind, she becomes a sheep in wolf’s clothing, an impostor who has tricked those around her into accepting her into a group where she does not belong. From the brain’s perspective, this is literally interpreted as being in the lion’s den.
Women can flourish in STEM, but it can mean shutting out the noise. USAID Asia, CC BY-NC
STEM should welcome everyone
So what can be done? If we are to increase the participation of women in STEM fields, we must make workplace and educational environments inclusive. In order to thrive, female students need to believe that they belong in technical professions, in both academia and the private sector.
The social marginalization caused by gender imbalances in STEM programs can be mitigated. Targeted intervention programs that foster social belonging and coping mechanisms to deal with stress and threat can help women develop skills to handle the mental challenges caused by gender inequality and help women integrate into their male-dominated environment.
Connecting female students with female professional role modelssuch as mentors or instructors has also been extremely effective at improving women’s self-concept and commitment to STEM.
Finally, campaigns like the #Ilooklikeanengineer hashtag disrupt our common stereotyping of STEM professionals and help support a cultural shift.
The rates of female representation in STEM will not change overnight. It will probably be at least another generation before parity becomes an achievable target. But it’s through changing these attitudes and stereotypes that we will reduce some of the social stresses on women in these fields, helping women choose STEM as a career path, stay in these fields, and most importantly, remain healthy and happy.
This past weekend was the kickoff for the college football season. It seemed that every social media newsfeed was full of people cheering on their alma maters or sending shout outs to their favorite college mascots. The start of football season on the professional level and every tier below it has become an iconic fall tradition of American culture. This glorification of a sport, particularly in the case of college athletes, put priorities in the wrong spot though.
Does our collective obsession with college football and other collegiate sports give K-12 kids the wrong idea about the purpose of higher education?
Let’s face it; athleticism is at least partially genetic. People love to mention the story of Michael Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team as an example of motivation for anyone who faces adversity. No disrespect to Mike, but his raw athletic ability had to be apparent during his high school years. The fact that he was cut from the varsity team was likely more a result of relying on that talent, and not putting in the effort to hone it. Once he realized what a lot of practice and persistence, paired with unmatched talent, could mean in his life he was able to excel at what he was already good at doing.
Call me cynical, but not every kid who is cut from a sports team has the ability to be like Mike by just putting his nose to the grindstone.
The same goes for college athletes, many of whom are put on a pedestal by peers, coaches and parents. Yes the feats of the human body are admirable but should a young adult with athletic ability be treated better by an institution of higher learning than one whose strengths are in engineering or the life sciences? The promise of fame and fortune (achieved after a college career if NCAA rules are followed) make a “career” as a college athlete look glamorous. But what is lost from an academic standpoint?
Colleges and universities do not elevate athletes in principle, of course. There is no bylaw that mandates the best athletes be given advantages or treated better than everyone else on campus. But money talks. The highest grossing college football program is at the University of Texas and it brings in an astonishing $90 million annually to the school. You can add the Ohio State University, the University of Florida and the University of Notre Dame to the short list of college football programs that consistently bring in revenue in the tens of millions to their schools.
The direct financial impact is not the only way football, and other popular athletic programs, aid in a school’s bottom line. A strong athletic program brings in more future students and rallies boosters under a common cause. To call college football a cash cow is an understatement; these programs are more like the blue whales of university revenue outside of actual tuition.
So students athletes like Aaron Hernandez are allowed to act suspiciously, getting into violent bar fights, as long as they are part of an epic college team headlined by Tim Tebow. Years later when Hernandez is accused of involvement in multiple murders, and no longer a college football player, people claim that there was always something “odd” about him. So why did he get a pass?
Of course most college athletes walk the line. They hone their athletic abilities while showing respect to academics and the reputation of their schools. They should be applauded for their accomplishments but not to the point that academics take on a role of secondary importance on campus. It’s not the fault of the athletes, most of whom are just young adults. It is the fault of the school officials and supporters that send the message from grade school that sports culture is greater than academics.
What do you say? Does the cultural obsession with college sports send younger students the wrong message about the purpose of higher education?
“**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**
A guest column by Bruce Deitrick Price
If you try to find something intelligent going on in the public schools, you’ll probably end up frustrated. Like Diogenes looking for an honest man.
Is it really so bad?
I think so. Our Education Establishment, which is far more ideology-driven than most people realize, has been tossing out content willy-nilly for decades. That’s the simplest way to advance their Progressive (i.e., collectivist) agenda. Kids who don’t know much will be easier to manipulate. (This first point is impossible to refute. All surveys reveal that American citizens no longer know even the most basic things: how many stars are on the flag, how many quarts are in a gallon, where Texas is on a map—the sort of easy information that children should learn by middle school.)
Just as destructive, our Education Establishment works systematically to undermine those habits of mind which schools, for thousands of years, tried to encourage: precision, promptness, industriousness, attention to detail, concentration, self-discipline, etc.
Our schools are abandoning much of what was once designated by the word “education.” Our K-12 schools prefer social engineering and psychological manipulation. So, we see the education commissars arrogantly scheming at the dark intersection of sabotage, surrender, and thespianism.
In sports, they have the perfect term for what is happening: the flop.
That’s when a player, particularly in basketball or soccer, pretends to be bumped aggressively. Picture perfectly healthy athletes, not hit hard, reeling over backward in order to create the illusion that they have been knocked down.
Typically, a single athlete flops. Occasionally you see two flopping in tandem. But imagine you have what would, in the Olympics, be a new event: synchronized flopping. That’s what we have in education. Every facet is flopping simultaneously. Content is dismissed. Proven methods are deliberately ignored. Memorization is scorned. Discipline is systematically undercut. Ambition is stigmatized. Ennobling goals are mocked. Everything except grand but empty platitudes is flopped and dropped.
Everybody— from Obama and Arne Duncan down to superintendents and principals and all the way to administrators and teachers—knows how to flop. They lie on the ground, grunting and grimacing, Oh, the pain of a school system that never seems able to stay on its feet. Alas, constant flopping is its destiny. Its chosen destiny.
Realize that virtually all the literacy “experts” in America endorse gimmicks that are known not to work. Consider that the entire Education Establishment cheered for New Math and Reform Math, even though all the scores went down. Reflect that Common Core embraces so many bad ideas it can probably be summed up in four words: “biggest flop in history” (in both senses).
There is a long list of things that kids need to focus on and did focus on, once upon a time. Nowadays, the Education Establishment encourages children to wander pointlessly in their own personal voids. Education is an afterthought. I suggest that flopping is the main activity throughout the public schools and has been for at least a half-century.
John Dewey and all his friends (let’s say the top 500 people) had PhD’s in Education, Psychology or Sociology. Basically, these were new fields without any solid content except the raging desire to tell everybody else what to do and how to think. These nouveau intellectuals viewed themselves as world-changers, much like President Obama with his pretentious notion he’s going to fundamentally transform the country.
John Dewey circa 1900 thought exactly the same thing. He and his gang were going to fundamentally transform America. They would do it by flopping –- that is, pretending to fail –- in every aspect of traditional K-12 education. It would be failure by careful design. It would be failure by dramatic acting. We are still living with the wreckage and decline caused by this synchronized flopping.
It’s hard not to think in terms of comedy, Ponzi schemes, bank scandals, absurd frauds. Remember when the Mafia robbed the JFK airport in the 1970s (the robbery depicted in Goodfellas). One night, the bad guys just walked in and took what they wanted. That’s what has happened in our public schools. The people in charge turn their backs and let thieves and shysters sneak in and loot the place.
Apparently, an upper echelon degree in education today is a degree in flopping. You learn how to underperform in all of your duties.
Teach children to read? Oh, of course. You will give this task everything you’ve got and somehow make sure that millions of children are still illiterate in the eighth grade. That’s the art of the flop.
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Bruce Deitrick Price’s ed site is Improve-Education.org. (His new novel is The Man Who Falls In Love With His Wife, romantic drama set in Manhattan. Info and e-book here. )
There is so much paperwork that a teacher needs to do within a few weeks of starting a new school year. In fact, your cabinets may look as if though they have been hit by a tornado. Your cabinets are most likely overflowing with folders, teaching materials, handmade cards from students, wads of paper, pencils and other stationery, all of which seem to be appearing on their own. Remember that the bigger the mess, the more time it will take you to rummage through and find what you are looking for, which may cause you to lose precious minutes. Use these tips to keep your cabinet organized and in order:
Create a designated place for your material. All folders should be marked and kept in one place. There should also be a separate place for personal belongings.
Highlight all original copies of master sheets with a yellow colored highlighter, to tell you that this is the master, preventing you from giving it away or losing it.
Label all your files and folders, and mark the worksheets based on the folder that they need to go into. Once you have identified the specific folders that each worksheet goes into, you can ask a student or volunteer to help you with the filing.
Many times there are some sessions in a year that require more material than others. If you feel that material from one session is crowding your cabinet, try putting all the relevant teaching material into one box. Remember to label it and store it in a cabinet in the classroom. You can then find all the required material ready for use when the time comes.
Every three months go through everything in your cabinet and ask these questions
Do I really need this?
What specific purpose will I use it for?
Should I keep it in my cabinet?
Is this a duplicate of something that I already have?
Is it outdated or can it come in handy even now?
Is it relevant to my current assignment or will I only need it later?
Don’t clutter your cabinet just because you do not have the heart to throw some things away. When you discard items, put them in a carton labeled as ‘free’ and let everyone know that they can dig around to see if they can use anything. Something that you discard may be useful to someone else.
**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**
A guest post by Madison Payton
Teachers sit in front of a sea of papers that must be graded. Curriculum needs to be mapped out and constantly revised to meet the needs of their scholars. We attend meetings about how to bring rigor, engagement, and how to create Common Core aligned assessments to prepare scholars for state exams which determines our effectiveness as teachers. If the day to day, week to week, month to month tasks do not frustrate you, then we are placed in the role as counselors, social workers, surrogate parents, mediators, coaches, and advocates; and this is not just for a couple of scholars but practically all of them. The system that was meant create learning communities has actually destroyed all that we have left as educators. Schools can’t possibly create and foster positive learning environments for scholars if the educators in front of them lack their own community to develop as effective and compassionate educators.
If we as communities are supposed to foster a positive culture among our scholars we must do the same for the teachers within these environments. The answer is sometimes difficult to find within the school because we can turn into the gossip kids in the cafeteria focusing more on the problems then actual solutions. As teachers we have to think outside of the box and seek professional learning communities outside of our schools so that we can be critical of our practices and find solutions that can be applied throughout our schools. Professional learning communities are essential to development of any educator because they enable the educator to engage and collaborate with a specific community that recurs in cycles of inquiry and actions that are grounded in research in order to better the academic and social development of the scholars they teach.
There are several ways we can build professional learning communities: searching on various social media platforms, professional meet-ups and content specific organizations, and summer PDs. Before you begin to spread your wings to build your network, make a list of specific objectives that incorporate your interests and needs that you wish to address from building and connecting with professional learning communities. Once objectives are crafted then create strategies and benchmarks that will help you reach those objectives. Having a plan is important when diving into the world of building your professional learning community; it is not about working harder, it is about working smarter.
Below are some ways teachers can effectively build their own professional learning communities.
Twitter
Twitter is an amazing tool to use when you are trying to connect with educators from across the country. My wife showed me that if you are strategic you are always receiving a steady flow of information specific to your interests and needs. Some cool features of twitter are specific chats that occur weekly or monthly. Some of the popular ones are: #edchat, #edtechchat, #satchat, #engchat, #sschat, #digchat, etc. The more active you are in these chats usually means that you develop more connections that can build your professional learning community. You can also create lists specific to your interests and connect with like-minded educators. The benefit of having a list is that it allows you to specifically see what those educators are tweeting and allows better engagement. Again, the more specific you are about what you want and need the better these lists will be.
These are the new rage because they are usually free and they connects educators with similar passions. It is important when building your professional learning community that you are engaging with people who are like you and who are not like you. The common ground is that we are in it to develop as educators and we can learn from different perspectives and methodologies of how to teach our scholars.
For more information go to www.meetup.com and search for groups of your interests. Here are my favorite groups:
These are great opportunities to be away with a group of professionals for a few days talking about real solutions to the problems that plague education. After these events are over you can stay in touch and reinforce best practices that were learned and maintain connections. These experiences also provide socio-emotional support that helps ensure the success and retention of good teachers like you. Programs are affordable or free depending on your interests and the competitiveness of the program. A brand new program that I have been recently accepted into is the Stanford University Hollyhock Fellowship. It was designed to give early career teachers the support needed to stay in the profession of education. The program is unique because it is competitive, free for participants, provides a $1000 stipend per year, and consists of yearlong professional development with mentors. This is a perfect place to grow your professional learning community because the fellowship already filters the applicant pool, which means fellows are passionate educators like you. After the conclusion of a fellowship or conference, your task is to just keep those contacts going and maintain your newfound relationships.
Professional learning communities save our profession from dying and can renew educators’ commitment to the field. There is no better investment than diving into the world of self-reflection, challenges and exponential growth to be a better educator. After all, we can only be better educators for our scholars if we are actively engaged and learning just like we expect from those who are learning from us throughout the year.
Madison Payton is an ELA educator at Eagle Academy For Young Men II located in Brownsville. His passions are professional development, reading and writing. He is establishing his school’s first writing center this fall, which he is really excited about all of the possibilities this resource can provide for his school community.
There is no question that field trips are an essential part of strengthening the curriculum and creating an interactive learning experience for today’s students. In fact, most independent schools pride themselves on the unconventional and unique off-campus learning opportunities provided to their students on both day trips and extended travel. However, before blindly embarking on these endeavors, it is important for schools to ensure that they are properly safeguarding themselves against liability in case of an unfortunate event. The truth is that these opportunities can come with a multi-million dollar price tag if proper safeguards are not put into place.
This lesson was recently learned by a Connecticut school after a $41.7 million verdict was entered against it when a jury found that it was negligent in not preventing a student from contracting encephalitis during an international trip. Specifically, the jury found that the school was negligent in not warning the student and her parents that she would be traveling in the mountainous and forested terrain of China, and that these areas posed a high risk for insect-transmitted diseases. The jury found that the school’s failure to warn the student prevented her from protecting herself from insect bites with repellents, long-sleeved shirts and pants, and by avoiding brushy undergrowth. In addition, the chaperone allowed the student to hike down a mountain unaccompanied on the day the student likely contracted the disease.
While it is impossible for any school to fully insulate itself from all possible liability arising from field trips, through proper preparation and the implementation of certain precautions, schools can manage the risk and limit their exposure.
Review and Analysis of Each Trip
First, schools should create and implement a detailed process for reviewing the details of every proposed field trip to ensure that any and all possible risks have been assessed and addressed before the trip takes place, and communicated to the students and parents. The review process should include a review of the transportation utilized throughout the trip, any risks associated with the destination, the physical requirements of the trip, the manner in which the trip will be supervised, the manner of implementation of contingent emergency procedures, and whether the School’s insurance policy covers the excursion.
A thorough and independent investigation should be conducted with respect to each facet of the trip and any known dangers associated with same. The investigation should include checking with the State Department to determine whether there has been a travel advisory posted for the destination and checking with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine whether there are any health advisories for the destination. The investigative findings should be shared with the students and parents in a timely fashion. In addition, any and all precautions that could be taken to minimize those risks should be shared as well. Parents should also be encouraged to conduct their own independent research and share any concerns they may have with the school.
Implement and Enforce Strict Guidelines
It is imperative that every person participating on the trip has a complete understanding of the behavioral expectations and disciplinary procedures and consequences associated with the trip. In addition to making it clear that all school policies apply on every trip, schools should also make trip participants aware of any trip-specific behavioral expectations (such as a no alcohol policy in countries where alcohol is legal) and the consequences for violating the rules, policies, and expectations (such as being escorted back to campus at the expense of the student). Each student participating in the trip and his/her parents should provide written acknowledgment of receipt so that they are less likely to challenge the enforcement of those rules in the event they are enforced.
Prepare Proper Documentation
As set forth above, the most important safeguard to limit liability associated with injuries related to field trips is disclosure of all information related to the trip, including any possible safety risks, to parents and students. This can and should be done in the context of a release. It is imperative that the parents of every student who participates in a field trip has executed a proper release. The more detailed and comprehensive the release, the more likely that it will be upheld in the unfortunate event of an injury to a student. At a minimum, the release should include: 1) the names of the parents and student; 2) the objective of the trip; 3) a detailed itinerary, including every location that the student will visit and any risks associated with same; 4) a list of every activity the student will engage in and the physical demand, if any, of each activity; 5) a list of any supplies the student should bring with him/her, including supplies that may minimize the exposure to any risks; 6) the transportation plan for the duration of the trip; 7) all anticipated costs and expenses; 8) a medical authorization; 9) agreement by the parents and student to adhere to all School policies and specific trip guidelines; and 10) a hold harmless clause. In most cases, liability release forms will not prevent recovery for cases where gross negligence or willful misconduct is found on behalf of the School or its agents. That is why it is prudent to train all adults who will serve as chaperones on all field trips.
Require Training
Every adult participant should be trained before participating in a school-sponsored trip. The training should include a review of all applicable school policies and any trip-specific rules. It should also include a review of the expectations for adult behavior on the trip, including, the prohibition of smoking and drinking, adult/student boundaries, and the need to act as a role model for the students. During the training, it is also important to provide a detailed review of the itinerary, discuss any potential problems and how they should be handled, and go through the emergency contingency plans. Every adult on the trip should be a benefit to the school and not an added risk. Ensuring that they are properly trained helps the school achieve that goal.
While impossible to eliminate liability completely, managing the risk appropriately will help limit exposure.
Candice C. Pinares-Baez is an associate in the Fort Lauderdale office of Fisher & Phillips. She focuses her practice on defending employment related lawsuits and administrative complaints encompassing a variety of issues, including discrimination claims arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Florida Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal and state employment laws, and related tort actions. Candice has successfully litigated matters before state and federal courts and she also advises clients on preventive measures aimed at reducing employment-related claims.
**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**
A guest post by Jennifer Fraser
We keep telling kids they must not be bystanders, but what really happens when students speak up about bullying? Why are they so afraid?
Not only do they risk becoming the bully’s next target, but it seems that all too often when students report on bullying a reversal occurs and they become the ones who are in trouble. They are seen as a problem. If the bully is a teacher or a coach, these students might even be shamed or humiliated for daring to jeopardize the adult’s reputation.
If we truly do want students to report on peer bullying and report on abuse by adults in caregiver positions, then we need to change the way in which these complaints are handled in schools and in the law. The first thing a lawyer will ask a bullied child – whether it is by peers or teachers – why didn’t you transfer schools? Expecting the victim to leave suggests that the victim is at fault. If my house is robbed twice, the lawyer will not ask me why I didn’t move. If I’m sexually harassed at work, the lawyer will not ask me why I didn’t find another boss. So why do lawyers ask students bullied at school why they didn’t leave?
In Rod Mickleburgh’s Globe and Mail article, written after Amanda Todd’s suicide as a result of bullying, he consulted with another family whose son, Ashkan Sultani, also committed suicide after being bullied. Sultani’s father pointed out that both his son and Amanda were vulnerable because they had learning disabilities. Rather than be accorded special care, as the Ministry of Education documents state educators and administrators must use, Ashkan’s father found that there was a reversal: bullies were exonerated and victims were held accountable: “Too often, [Ashkan’s father] said, school officials become defensive when approached by parents with concerns their child is being bullied. ‘They don’t want to admit there’s a problem. Or, the first thing they do is try to find out what is wrong with the person getting bullied. How come he doesn’t fit in?’”[1]
This reversal is intensified when students report on teacher or coach conduct.
In the articles I have read about Assistant Coach and Whistleblower Eric Murdock, whose contract was not renewed after he went public with his concerns about basketball coach Mike Rice’s abusive conduct, there is a glaring lack of a proper process in place for reporting on bullying or abuse. Although Mike Rice yelled in apparent fury when coaching games, it was actually his conduct at practices that got him fired. As reported by Steve Eder in the New York Times, there were all kinds of warning signs that abuse was occurring and the administrators were already aware prior to video footage hitting the news:
There was the upperclassman who earlier in the year had come forward to say that he felt bullied. There was an outburst during a game that led to Mr. Rice’s ejection. And there were the months of allegations from a former assistant, who repeatedly claimed that Mr. Rice was abusive.
Tim Pernetti, the athletic director, knew all of that and had repeatedly tried to rein in Mr. Rice, according to a 50-page report that Rutgers commissioned outside lawyers to prepare. He personally reprimanded him, attended Mr. Rice’s practices and even assigned the university’s sports psychologist to work with the team, the report said.[2]
Note that the University commissioned a legal report, but they do not appear to consult Human Resources personnel in terms of the whistleblower’s vulnerable position nor do they consult experts in student health to assess the harm being done to student-athletes.
I acted as Whistleblower once at an independent school. Being Whistleblower is the adult version of not being a bystander and from my experience, I understand why students do not speak up. Just like it seems to do for bully victims, a reversal happened: I was treated as if I was a problem employee. The Headmaster exonerated the teachers about whom 14 students gave testimonies detailing bullying conduct and allowed a toxic environment to emerge around me so that I ultimately resigned.
There wasn’t just one student who came forward to say he was feeling bullied, there were 14. There was a Lawyer/ parent’s report informing the school that “child abuse” was occurring in 2011. There were at least thirty parent complaints in 2012 alone. There were many warning signs. It seems that at best, institutions like Rutgers and my former school lack the necessary processes for handling abuse situations; at worst, they have significant conflict of interest in themselves investigating student concerns. There is clearly work that needs to be done in terms of Human Resources, record keeping, anonymous reporting, proper oversight and so on if we truly do want students to not be bystanders.
In a 2013 article in TheAtlantic psychologist, Dr. Joseph Burgo studies the power of reversal whereby the abuser positions himself as the victim and he uses cyclist Lance Armstrong’s conduct as an example. Witnesses who first spoke up about Armstrong’s performance enhancing drug-use were humiliated by the cyclist in the press: “To shore up his winner status, Armstrong wanted to make his detractors appear like contemptible losers; he tried to turn public opinion against them, enlisting the support of his many fans.” In Canada, disgraced Canadian musician, writer, and former CBC radio broadcaster, Jian Ghomeshi presented himself on Facebook as being the victim after being accused of sexual assault: “I’ve been fired from the CBC because of the risk of my private sex life being made public as a result of a campaign of false allegations pursued by a jilted ex girlfriend and a freelance writer.”[3] He has since been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault.
Notably, this dual personality type or charismatic bully appears to be especially attracted to competitive sports because of the win-lose dynamic. Dr. Burgo explains:
It helps to view the bully as a kind of competitor on the social playing field, one who strives not only to win but to triumph over the social losers and destroy their sense of self. As in competitive sport, where winners and losers exist in a binary relation to one another, the bully is yoked in identity to his victims. To a significant degree, his self-image depends upon having those losers to persecute: “I am a winner because you are a loser” [emphasis in the original].
The Headmaster and Board of Governors of my former School responded to students and parent reports of abusive behavior by the adult involved by publicly discrediting them in a report written by a lawyer that said the students were telling manufacturing evidence and lying.
This is why students do not speak up. This is why Whistleblowers are so rare. We can keep encouraging students to report bullying and more importantly abuse, but they won’t do it until they actually know that they will be respected and protected. At present, that is not the case. For further discussion, please see my forthcoming book: Teaching Bullies: Zero Tolerance on the Court or in the Classroom.
[1] Rod Mickleburgh, “Before Amanda Todd, the Sultani family suffered silently,” The Globe and Mail, October 23, 2012 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/before-amanda-todd-the-sultani-family-suffered-silently/article4633468
[3] Staff, “Full Text: Jian Ghomeshi’s Facebook Post Why He Believes CBC Fired Him,” Global News, Oct 2014: http://globalnews.ca/news/1637310/full-text-jian-ghomeshis-post-on-why-he-believes-cbc-fired-him/
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Jennifer Fraser has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto and is a published writer. She is presently teaching creative writing and International Bacclaureate literature classes at an independent school in British Columbia.
