Teaching Mediocrity

from avitable.com

Mediocrity is starting to creep into the world of education and specifically into the practice of teaching. I am afraid that it might always have been there and I am just now becoming increasingly aware of it. While many might want to place the full blame on teachers, I think there might be plenty of blame to go around. There are a handful of people that are responsible for the prevalence of mediocrity in the profession of teaching.

Media perpetuates it

This is obvious in the fact that they are fixated on stories that paint teachers in a negative light rather than focusing on the great things happening on a daily basis. In a recent session at a local technology conference there were reporters from NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox and they all admitted they don’t even have education reporters on staff. What does that say about their priorities? This is sad because they have some real power to sway public opinion about teachers and the current trends in education.

Administrators allow it

Most administrators encourage mediocre teaching more through their inaction rather than their actions. Lots of people feel as though teacher tenure is a problem and keeps poor teachers around. However, a tenured teacher can be let go if the administrator goes through the legwork to do so. Unfortunately, many do not put in the work to do this and the cycle of poor teaching is just reinforced. In most cases, teachers keep their heads down until their reach tenure because one they get it; they know administrators won’t do anything to remove them. In some cases, the administrators have not been properly trained on what “good teaching” looks like and therefore are not good judges of it. Sadly some administrators were not good teachers themselves and therefore don’t even know what a good teacher looks like. (I think they wear a tieJ) Another area is the lack of administrator presence in most schools beyond the front office. Are administrators in classrooms observing, teaching or interacting with kids on a regular basis? If not, they cannot hope to have an understanding of the quality of teaching or learning happening in their schools.

Unions protect it

In many states teacher unions have been slammed and in some cases dismembered. Now, I value the intent of a union to protect the rights of its members as well as its role in collective bargaining. There are many things teacher unions do in favor of teachers. With all that being said though, they are guilty of protecting mediocre teachers in many ways. Again, I am not suggesting we need to toss out teachers due to low standardized test scores as some have suggested. However, there are things being done in schools by teachers that should be immediate grounds for removal and not be blocked by a union. In many other blue collar unions, they uphold the highest standard of their profession and certainly don’t protect those that fail to live up to that standard.

In addition, unions often create combative and adversarial situations between its members and policy makers and administrations. This leads to change being near impossible and again continues the cycle of the status quo on many fronts.

Parents are oblivious to it

As a parent and a teacher, I have a unique perspective of being on both sides of the education fence. Most parents, though, are not aware of the education their kids are receiving beyond the infrequent notes or emails that come home. They assume since school worked for them, it should be the same and often do not question much of what happens. There are too many examples of things going on in schools without parent’s knowledge. Parents need to take a more active role and schools need to be more transparent and welcome parents into the schools. Also, parents should not have to “settle” for mediocre teaching for their kids.

Kids deal with it

Students are obviously the ones that hurt from the prevalence of mediocrity in our profession. On a daily basis they go through classes taught by a spectrum of teachers. In many cases, they have fabulous teachers that care for them and are outstanding in what they do. Yet, they still have a handful of teachers that in most people’s opinion should not be teaching. Their response is often just to complain amongst themselves and just deal with it. This is also reinforced at home when a parent simply says, “that’s school…just deal with it and hope for a better teacher next year.” I am not saying kids need to rebel against their teachers, but they certainly need to exercise their voice and demand the best. In most cases, kids know what good teaching is and what is not.

Policy makers force it

From policy that ignores what is best for kids, to policy makers with no education experience, the world of educational policy is doomed to continued mediocrity. In the face of common sense and sound research, our educational policies do nothing to lift up the profession of teaching. Instead, it ranks and files teachers and students with little regard to what life is truly like in a classroom and what their policies mean for kids or teachers. The few attempts to lift up our profession are often superficial with no real intent to change but are more often a political agenda in an election year.

Teachers ignore it

Teachers are probably the biggest problem within our own profession. We don’t want to confront our fellow teachers when we see opportunities for growth within them.  Instead, we just shut our doors and do good by our own kids. Heaven forbid if we made a suggestion or offered criticism without fear of personally offending someone. We don’t share our good lessons because we are afraid somebody else will get credit for our hard work. In some cases we are being ranked against our colleagues and we would not want anyone having an advantage. When our own teachers are lifted up and recognized we shun them out of jealousy and envy. If we have a mediocre administrator we do nothing but complain in our lounges or behind closed doors because we fear repercussions for speaking out. Many of our teachers instruct in the exact same manner they were taught when they were in school 10, 15, or 25 years ago. If we are non-tenured we take what is given to us and do exactly what we are told for fear of losing our job. We want our students to be lifelong learners and yet we fail to model this on a daily basis. In reality, many of us are just as afraid of failure as our own students. This is not totally our faults as our administrations, policy makers and in some cases the media have made it clear that failure is not an option for teachers in any way.

Teaching is what I do, and I strive for excellence in that every single day. I would be lying if I said there were not days when some of these factors get to me. Yet, I will keep teaching. I will keep pushing my fellow teachers even if they get upset with me. I will keep celebrating my fellow teachers even if it makes others jealous. I will keep challenging my administration even if it gets me into trouble. I will keep trying to get a seat at the table with the policy makers even if they repeatedly ignore me. I will keep looking at ways to make sure every student I have is given nothing but the best that I have to offer. Bottom line, I will keep teaching and keep striving to be better than mediocre and demand nothing short of that from those around me…

We Are All On A Journey

I have been spending my time lately presenting, attending and learning at a whole host of conferences. There is a distinct theme bubbling up in all of these conferences regardless of the location or size. Everyone is at a different place in their learning journey.

As I sit through session after session, I am finding less and less that is new to me. One might find this frustrating but I think it is a good sign. As I write this, I am sitting in a session where the speaker is sharing Prezi and Voicethread. Clearly this is not new to me or to a majority of my readers here. Yet, there are folks in the session frantically writing down these tools on their yellow legal pad. Seriously? Are these people living under a rock?

Well, last year I remember being very frustrated at the lack of technology use when I attended these technology conferences. Yet, I have to remind myself that I too, was a legal pad user not too long ago. I truly believe we are all on a journey and at different places along that path. It is disheartening to see some of the negative thoughts in the blogosphere or twitter streams bashing teachers that are not “with it” yet. I don’t know that we need to ridicule these teachers as much as help them on their journey.

Some teachers are at the front end of technology use or education trends due to the resources available to them and other environmental variables. I presented today and mentioned Khan Academy, Hole in the Wall Theory, Daniel Pink and the Flipped Classroom…many of the attendees were unaware of any of these things. This was a good thing for me, because that is more people that I can hopefully open a door for. Rather than chastise those for not being “informed” let’s bring them along.

I would rather have a room full of newbies that know nothing about what I am talking about. First, they won’t know if I am totally of full of it. Also, that just means I have an opportunity to challenge their thinking and potentially open their eyes to something new. We all have an obligation to help people on the journey because we all started somewhere and at some point someone helped us too.

The World Has Changed...My First Keynote

Here is the first official keynote I have been privileged to give. It was for a local school district's professional development day and I had a blast! The angle of the camera wasn't great but I think the sound was solid. I hit three big topics; Student Motivation at 1:38, Technology at 26:11 and Challenging the Status Quo at 47:22.

If you pay attention you will notice a small error in my editing. The title on the top of the last section does read "Student Motivation" rather than "Status Quo" as it should. However, due to the nearly 21 hours of rendering the file, plus several hours of uploading and processing on youtube...I am going to let it ride. :)

As with anything I do, I would love feedback.

Concerns With Common Core

Yes, there are lots of negatives being tossed around about Common Core and its impact on education and our country in general. I am not going to address the millions of dollars that will be lined in a whole host of pockets…none of which will be educators. In addition, I won’t bother spending time on the notion that standards are good or bad or that these particular standards were largely written be non-educators. And finally, I am not going to worry about the fact that the movement of Common Core is more political than educational. So…here are my three concerns with the implementation of the Common Core standards as it pertains to the classroom teacher.

First, the new Common Core standards are in fact better than some state standards…my state included. They are broad in scope and do allow for individualization by local districts and communities. In fact, there are many higher-order thinking skills addressed, which is a positive sign. However, my first concern is that we will take these new skills and try to reduce them to a bubble sheet test yet again. In addition to that, we will take those tests and use them as a tool to get rid of teachers and condemn schools to failure. Will the new tests in fact reflect the higher level skills or be watered down to drill and skill?

Another potential pitfall of Common Core implementation is the overall setup of our schools, specifically putting kids into grade levels based on age. Within these new standards they have laid out learning progressions that explain how a child should progress along various learning pathways. To me this sounds great. A step by step process of learning is what kids should have. Yet, our system is not set up to handle this. If a student has not yet reached a particular “step” in a learning pathway by the end of the school year, they will still be pushed up to the next grade. This is the equivalent of putting a kid on a ten speed bike before they have mastered a tricycle just because they get older. Does this make sense?

The final concern I have is the overall training provided for new and existing teachers, especially in the sciences. As the new ELA standards come out they are being infused into other areas such as Science and Social Science. While I agree that literacy skills need to be used in these other core classes, who is training these teachers? Are science teachers being trained on how to teacher literacy skills in their classes? Will these teachers be held accountable for teaching these skills as part of their evaluations?

While I am an eternal skeptic by nature, I am trying to give Common Core the benefit of the doubt. Yet, I feel as though we are putting the cart before the horse and not really thinking these things through all the way. What is more concerning is the fact that much of the educational so called reform, Common Core included, is being pushed by non-educators and businesses that stand to make a large amount of money. 

Problems or Symptoms

Lots of topics are at the forefront of discussion in education these days. As I am continually reflecting on these things, I wonder if we might be chasing our tails with a few of them. Are we treating the problems or the symptoms?

I have been vocal about my disdain for homework and the negative impacts it has on students, teachers and families. However, if we are going to do anything about the issue of homework, don’t we first have to look at the overcrowding of curriculum in our classrooms? Can we solve the homework problem before we solve the curriculum problem? I honestly feel bad for teachers who have just an overwhelming amount of content they are being required to get through in the course of a school year. Our schools have made the decision that quantity of curriculum is more important that quality. Until we switch that, homework will remain a topic of discussion from the teacher’s lounge to the dinner table.

We also discuss the problem associated with lack of funding in our schools. Many people have lamented about programs being cut and resources drying up. Yet, if we spent our money better would that help? Rather than looking at getting more, should we first assess how we spend what we have? I know this is easier said than done but it is a starting point at least.

Another issue is about the blame that teachers seem to shoulder when students or schools are under performing. Is that fair, when the only ones that have actual power cause real change are the administrators? Yes, teachers have control in classroom but they have little power to change curriculum, policy, rules or funding. Teachers can’t get rid of bad teachers among their ranks. Administrators are able to do many of the things that will impact large scale change in a school. Why not focus more on creating instructional leaders within schools and give them the power to promote positive change in a building? Yes, teachers need to be held accountable, but so too should administrators. Teachers are often the product of their leader. Don’t underestimate the power of a bad administrator to run a school into the ground of a great one to push a building to new heights.

Social media is also getting hammered as a viable tool in schools. Most schools block its use and are quick to share numerous examples of the negatives of social media. There are many stories of students and teachers getting themselves into trouble through the use of a variety of social media outlets. Yet, we are missing the point when we block and push it away. First, if we don’t teach our kids how to use these tools…who will? Also, social media does not create the problems but rather it exposes them. Let’s not focus on blocking things that are part of our students’ lives, but instead help them learn how to use these tools responsibly. Let’s stop chasing our tails and blocking things before we understand them and educate our students on them.

Are we looking at the problems or the symptoms? If we continue to treat and address the symptoms, the problem will not go away. 

Schools Fail Boys

Before you read, understand that this might be offensive or considered sexist, but I feel a need to share some thoughts I have had recently in regards to boys in our schools. We are failing them. I base my argument on the basis that yes, I am a boy myself, as well as the fact that I grew up with two brothers and have two sons of my own. With that in mind, I feel as though I have a fair amount of experience with boys in schools.

The first area in which I feel we are failing our boy students is the lack of male teachers in the classrooms. This is more prevalent in the primary grades where a child may go through their entire elementary experience without a single male classroom teacher. While I am certainly not saying there is something wrong with female teachers, I do see the importance of a strong male role model in boy’s lives. This is especially true of boys that come from divorced homes where they live with their mothers. Again, I am not saying single mothers can’t raise boys well, but boys need a positive male figure in their lives. I see a fair share of boys that lack a male role model at home and it is obvious in the way they conduct themselves in a classroom and with peers. While this may be cliché, boys need that male figure to help them grow up and “be a man”.

Another place in which I see us falling short with boys is the overall structure of our schools. Boys are inherently rambunctious, active and often loud. Yet, we ask them to sit in nice rows, be quiet, keep their hands to themselves and stay out of the dirt. If they fail to do this, we discipline them and if that doesn’t work we label and medicate them…all for just being boys. How can we create more boy friendly learning environments that support and encourage those naturally boy-like characteristics?

My final concern for boys in our schools is our post-Columbine obsession with zero tolerance policies in schools. Yes, I fully support the need for safety in our schools and bullying should not have a place among our kids. We should do everything in our power as teachers and parents to ensure every child comes to school and feels safe. However, have we gone too far with the zero tolerance policies? As a child I spent many days shooting my brothers and various other objects with a variety of Nerf, BB or pretend guns. Personally, I probably told my buddies or brothers that I was going to “kill them” numerous times. It was something all the boys I know did and none of us grew up to commit heinous crimes or end up behind bars. Yet, if a kindergartner is overheard playing “gun games” on the playground, he will be in the principal’s office and his parents will have a meeting with the social worker. If you doubt that, don’t. This happened to someone close to me this fall. Again, I realize the need for all kids to feel safe and go to school feeling secure, but at what expense? Millions of boys across this country play shooting games, gun games, and pretend “killing” and will grow up to live happy and successful lives.

I don’t want to sound like I am making excuses for boys because I am not. However, it seems as though schools are setting up boys for failure from the moment they walk in until they either comply or get through to graduation.

For some additional thoughts on this subject I encourage you to take a look at this TED Talk from Ali Carr-Chellman. 

Dallas Takeaways

The past six days I was in Dallas, TX as part of the National Teacher of the Year program sponsored by CCSSO. It was amazing to meet and learn with outstanding teachers from nearly every state in our country and many of our territories abroad. As with any such experience it takes a while to unpack all of the experiences and learning that takes place. I know in the days and weeks the follow I will continue to reflect back and revisit those experiences. However, I have some initial takeaways that I am sure will apply to any teacher.

Know your message:

We had an entire session aimed to help us craft and deliver our “message” about education. Now, I know that as teachers of the year, we will be asked our opinions about a great many things and always need to be ready to provide a response. However, any teacher should be prepared with their message. What do you stand for? If you had to sum up what education is about or should be, what would you say?

Tell our own stories:

If you follow me on twitter you might have seen my venting tweet the other day.

I was sitting in a session where the presenter was advising us all on how to deal with the media. When talking about social media, he used some pretty heavy scare tactics and exaggerated stories. He mentioned teachers that had been fired or dismissed for inappropriate use of social media and blogs that said bad things about the teaching profession. As politely and professionally as I could, I stood up and pointed out that yes, teachers have been disciplined for activities on social media. However, that is not a product of social media but rather of poor decisions of a human. I also pointed out that social media such as twitter and blogs is the one true place teachers can tell the stories they want. It is here that we share our successes or failures without the bias or slant of a journalist. I strongly urge all teachers to use all tools of media to share their stories and be a positive face for our profession. Don’t fear it, but embrace it.

Perspective:

In our final session of the week we did a small group activity with some role playing. We were discussing the topic of teacher evaluation and were using the roles of parent, teacher, administrator and policy maker. Through our discussions it was easy to see how we often only see things from the perspective of a teacher and maybe a parent. We rarely take into consideration the decision making process of an administrator or a policy maker in the government. That is not to say that we now agree with every decision that has been made in our collective states in regards to education. However, it gave us a perspective that I know I never really think about. In moving forward I am going to attempt to keep that in mind and look at the decisions in education through all lenses and not just that of a teacher.

All in all it was a great trip and learning opportunity. With that being said, I did have one tremendous disappointment. When I stepped outside of the airport I yelled, “The stars at night are big and bright…” but I didn’t get a reply. So bummed…