This Must Stop

Cyber bullying.  I have to admit that I hadn't really given much thought to cyber bullying, even though I had a vague idea of what it entailed, until yesterday.

I'm not sure if schools outside the urban realm know about the term "thot", but it's pretty much the equivalent of "slut", "hoe", "skank", or any other unpleasant word used to describe a female.  The term "thot" has taken on a life of its own and usually I chalk it off as a stupid word that adolescents arbitrarily throw around.  Then, I discovered "thot" pages. They're everywhere on social media: instagram, facebook, twitter, and a million other places that people frequent.  The worst part about these "thot" pages, is that many of them have been created by students about other students.

In short, if you click on one of these pages, you will find a picture of a so-called "thot" followed by a caption that I can't even post in this blog.  It's sickening.  It's disgusting.  It's painful, and it has to stop.  Sadly, many of my students think it's OK, because "so and so shouldn't put herself out there like that". Back in the day, you might have had your name in a bathroom stall, which albeit is bad enough, but it pails in comparison to what you see on these pages.  It's criminal, and every time I look at one of these girls in the hallway, my heart breaks.

There are so many things wrong with this picture that I don't know where to start.

1. Why do people think it's OK to publicly destroy another human being?
2. Why are these 14 and 15 year old girls posting inappropriate pictures of themselves on social media (I have a theory, trust).
3.  Why aren't these pages shut down by Facebook, Instagram, etc? 
4.  Where are the parents of all these young people?
5. Why isn't someone protecting our young people, especially young girls, from this kind of vilification?

These girls could be your niece, your cousin, a daughter of a dear friend, YOUR daughter.  We simply cannot ignore this as educators, parents, or advocates for young people.  We have to find a way to protect them when they cannot protect themselves.  I honestly think we need to have an ethics class about social media, and I think all students should be required to take it.  Can anyone say slander?  I'm not sure where to start on this issue, but I know we have to start somewhere. 

Who's with me?

Wrapping Up

I'm wrapping up my first year as department chair and my 10th year as a teacher.  It's been a challenging, rewarding, frustrating, and amazing year.  We have roughly two weeks remaining (because I refuse to count the three days they tacked on at the end) and while my motto is usually finish strong, I've come to realize that the end of the year is similar to running.  The end of the year is really about tapering for the big race, which for some is the ECA, final exams, AP exams, or for me, landing the plane.

For a long time I tried to use the last couple weeks of school for intense training, but have learned over time that the mileage, speed work, and interval training has already been done.  We did that from August until a couple of weeks ago.  We trained hard, we varied our workouts, and we grew as learners and individuals.  Now, it's time to taper.  It's time to enjoy the last few weeks with each other, to reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It's time to take the class outside and let them free write.  It's time to let them enjoy a nice game of Scrabble.  It's time to teach the fun stuff that we've had to keep locked away because we couldn't find a standard to match it, even though we knew our kids would love it.  It's time to look forward to next fall, to a fresh start, to new faces, and to new energy.

We're all tired and ready for school to be out, and that's OK. It's human.  But somewhere along the way, I think we've forgotten that it's OK for the end of the year to be a celebration.

So, let's get the party started :)

 

Avoiding Burn Out

I read a blog this morning about ways teachers can avoid burn out, and it had a lot of great information.  Yet, as the day went on, I couldn't help but think that there are some important ways that corporations and the IDOE could help with teacher burn out.  After all, if they want to retain teachers, they're going to have to take a serious look at what they are doing too.  Corporations that want to keep good people do things to keep those people.  The world of education should take note.

1. Have half days once a month.  We used to have these, but then they decided that students were getting robbed of an education and we were breaking the law so the great Tony Bennett made sure they did away with those. Problem?  For many of us, it was a much needed break.  It allowed us to work in our rooms without the students there, to plan lessons, to have a quality teacher meeting, and to have an hour lunch. An HOUR lunch.

2. Give everyone in the corporation some kind of partnership with local spas.  We get stressed and we need massages, but we don't make any money, so it's pretty much a luxury.  Yes, we can go to the guys in the middle of the mall who do a decent job, but there's something to be said for getting a quality massage without everyone looking at you.

3.  Four day work weeks.  I don't mind putting in extra time during the week if I can have three days to get my other stuff done. You know, grading, laundry, cleaning, etc. Wait, I forgot having FUN.

4.  Provide teachers with time to reflect, plan, and engage with other professionals outside of the classroom.

5.  Instead of giving everyone the same professional development, provide each teacher with a stipend to use towards a class, online PD, a conference, or anything else deemed worthy of teacher growth.

6. Pay attention to class size. It matters.  Even if research is out on whether it makes a difference in the actual classroom, it most definitely makes a difference in grading. I have friends teaching at Penn who have 150 or more students. That's a nightmare for any teacher, but especially English teachers.

7. Improve the quality of the substitute teacher pool.  I hate taking days off because everything goes wrong and my lesson plan is rarely followed. Immediate increase in stress level.

8. Sometimes students and teachers need a break from each other. We're kind of like a family in that way.  We get on each others' nerves and we need space.  Find a productive way to create that space.

9. Pay us a competitive wage. They expect us to further our education even though it means going further in debt. This debt then becomes a burden and is stressful, especially when people without a college degree are making more than we are. When I finish my doctorate, I should have the salary to go with it. Just sayin'.

10.  Do not lean on the same people to do everything. Yes, they are good, but there are other people who can share the load.  It's unfair to make your best teachers also do everything else.  It prevents them from being better teachers because they're busy trying to get everything else on the list done.

11. Mental health days...that don't require lesson plans!

The Elephant in the Room

I'm taking a risk posting this kind of reflection, but I think it's worth it. For the past few weeks I've been knee deep in research trying to solidify my dissertation topic.  I wrestled with a few ideas, had a few rejected, and finally settled on a topic that hopefully gets approved by my chair.

In a nutshell, I want to explore teacher perceptions about the impact they believe their instructional practices have on student engagement, achievement, etc.  Students often indicate that teachers are one of the most important factors in their decision to not only stay in school, but to achieve academically. 

Ah, yes, that's a lot of responsibility for one person.  For one profession.  In a lot of ways it doesn't seem fair.  In a lot of ways, it's too daunting, too exhausting, and simply too much for educators to own.  Perhaps that, along with the demands of rigid standardized testing, is one of the reasons teachers are leaving the profession in groves. 

Some educators question whether our profession has become a game of who can put on the best show.  I would argue that engagement and entertainment are two separate things, and that reciprocal teaching should happen on a daily basis.  We don't make it easier for students, rather we challenge them, we push them to do better, we raise the bar, and we ask "why not us?".  Good teachers do this.  They might not do it the same way, but they do it.

But we're tired.
 
We're tired of turning on the television and seeing a former student who is wanted in connection to robbery, assault, or murder.

We're tired of the entitlement that exists in all of our schools and every socioeconomic class.

We're tired of feeling like we care more than our students care about their own futures.

We're tired of being measured by a single test.

We're tired of students who curse, defy, and destroy others around them, including themselves.

We're tired of burying our students from senseless acts of violence.

We're tired of burying our students because they couldn't find a reason to live.

We're tired of people who don't know anything about education making serious legislative decisions.

We're tired of facing opposition from parents, rather than receiving their support.

We're tired.

Some of us are so tired that we'll leave the teaching profession.  Some already have. 

Yet, a lot of us wake up every day, stand outside our door, and refuse to give in.  We shake off our weariness, drink a cup of coffee, and remain hopeful that we're making a difference. And we do, even if it doesn't always feel like it.

Poetic Justice

Spring break is here, even if you can't tell so by looking out the window.  The dissertation process is stressing me out, and I'm only two weeks in. Shoot. Me. Now.  However, today's blog is devoted to my creative writing class!  I picked up an extra class third trimester, and it happens to be creative writing.  Honestly, I wasn't sure where to begin as I had never taught it before.  Luckily, Caelea and Kelli both have and continue to teach creative writing, and they were able to give me some helpful suggestions. 

What I'm learning quick, is that I love creative writing because there are NO standards, no standardized tests, no mini assessments, and nothing else polluting the ability of learning to take place in my room. It's a teacher's dream. I have 14 students and most of them enjoy being there even if they hadn't selected it as an elective.  I have a few drop ins that are attendance issues, but overall, I have a fantastic group of students to work with. Did I mention that they're ridiculously creative? 

I've found a lot of great ideas on the internet, but I'm trying to figure out how to bring in non-traditional literature into the mix.  If anyone has ideas for readings that I could use in my class, please let me know. I also want to play with some art inspiration.  I had planned on publishing our first magazine through issuu, but I was having technical difficulties getting one of the submissions in the final Word document. I will definitely have it up and running the Tuesday I get back to school and am excited to share their first bits of writing with others.

As for me, I've taken to writing the warm ups with them, and I honestly think it's helped me tap into my creative side again.  It's been refreshing and energizing and cleansing. Here is a warm up piece from yesterday.  Perhaps I'll come back to it and do some revising, but for now, it's just a piece of me. 


I long for freedom like a child yearns for its mother.  I'm not trapped or enclosed by bars or concrete walls, but I am surrounded by responsibilities that threaten to consume my every breath.  Pressure to succeed, a dissertation to write, students to teach, bills to pay, nagging student loan debt. Deadlines, due dates, cloudy skies, do this-do that. I long for open roads, blue skies, the smell of the salty ocean air.  I want to run for as long as I want, free from the time constraints of my daily grind.  I want to drink my coffee slowly, savoring its richness, its deep aroma that brings comfort, rather than having to down it in a minute flat.  I want to sit outside and wake up slowly, not to the sound of an alarm.  I want to look in the mirror and be content with what I see. I want to climb sand dunes and explore clay pits.  I want to lick an ice cream cone and bask in the sun.  I want to be free from the chains that bind called life.

Be Hopeful!

Today's post is a little different than most of my blogs, because while I'm engaging in reflective practice, it's about the work I do with Girls on the Run.

A couple of years ago I became a Solemate for GOTR and the WHS student council always has one of the spirit stations at the 5K race.  I wanted to bring GOTR to the West Side, as I knew there was a need for it. After a lot of planning and hard work by Lety Verduzco, we were able to secure a GOTR site through the Boys and Girls Club and a generous grant.  Lety, me, an ND grad student named Claire, and one of the founders of the Michiana chapter of GOTR Kris, are the coaches at Harrison and they are awesome women to work with.

We spend an hour and a half on Mondays and Wednesdays working with 15 girls on a myriad of issues: body image, health, exercise, decision making, cooperation, displaying gratitude, and empowering young girls.  These girls are some of the most amazing 3rd and 4th graders I have ever met.  They are intelligent, insightful, hopeful, fun, energetic, and loving.  I wish I could capture their passion for school and life for everyone in the community to see.  I also want to give a shout out to Harrison Primary, which has impressed me with their commitment to their students.  There is no doubt in my mind that quality teaching and learning is taking place in that building, and the evidence of parent outreach is tremendous.

It's refreshing to see education at the primary level, because it's so different than high school.  It also makes me kind of sad to know how much pressure these kids feel to pass ISTEP. My girls mention it every time I'm there.  But mostly, it's a reason to be hopeful of the future.  Good things are happening, but the community needs to know about them.  If not, we are left thinking that things are as bad as the media would like us to believe.

So I invite you to support public education, to support your local schools, to support the kids in your community, to volunteer, and to help shape the future. You won't be disappointed.

 

Working the Process

It's been a crazy few weeks, but it's been a good few weeks! I haven't had much time to blog since I've been working on getting my research project approved, and there's so much I want to say.  Alas, today will be devoted to the power of the process.

Too often, educators get in their own way. We think of great ideas and instantly try to implement them in the classroom without accounting for how we will need to scaffold what we're trying to teach.  I promise that scaffolding is one of those words that educators throw out all the time, but aren't really sure what it means or how to do it. The past two weeks have been victorious. I have owned scaffolding and the research process, two things which are not easy.  I spent a lot of time front loading how to annotate articles, find MIPS (most important points), formulate a thesis, and why it's important to determine the credibility of a source.  It has paid off this week as my students have begun their own research projects.

I introduced Scrible to my students as a way to organize their resources and to annotate the different sources they were using.  Shout out to Kelli Stair for introducing me to Scrible this past summer! I love it and highly recommend it for any teacher who is trying to prepare students to conduct research. Another great website is a.nnotate.com if you want students to code PDF files or Power points.

It has been neat to watch my students struggle with the research process and formulate their own ideas and thoughts about what's going on in the world.  Their projects are due next week, and I'm excited to see what they come up with :)