A World Run Amok

What's Next?

The US Economy has serious problems and now it we realize that the US public education system is also seriously messed up-- no, more than we ever thought.

The article (linked below) discusses how states consistantly get it wrong in the hiring, firing of bad teachers and the retention of good ones. Unions are partly to blame for this but they are not the only guilty parties. Unions, started many years ago, gave workers rights, enforced safety codes making jobs less dangerous, and helped ensure employees were not wrongly dismissed or not given benefits they deserved. However, unions they have gotten so strong that occasionally I joke with my students "the only way I can get fired is if I hit you or kiss you." I can be the worst teacher who just makes you copy paragraphs from a book while I read the newspaper at my desk and yet, I still keep my job.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jNNacuhEXsSnk5r4JrH3ML1G2KdQD960MLPO0

So unions are partly to blame in that they are so strong it makes it hard to remove teachers that are truly "dead weight". However, as the article above points out, in each state, state law decides many rules regarding the hiring, firing, tenure, teacher licensing, and even the number of minutes students are to be in school during the year. It makes sense with their power than they employ some common sense and make decisions that will help school districts not only hire good people, but retain the best and re-train or eliminate the worst.

I can't help but think this is where the private schools should shine comparatively in K - 12. They are much smaller on average and smallness sometimes ensures goodness. Take my school for example, with over 4000 students and 175+ teachers it's a bit hard to make sure that all teachers are doing what they should be doing. All our teachers get evaluated by an administrator on some kind of schedule, but that can vary from a "here sign this form" to a rigorous Gestapo style evaluation that requires two weeks of detailed lesson plans, 1-2 hours of direct classroom observation and more. In my 13 years of teaching I can tell you the former is more common than the latter. In a small, private school I think there is a healthy level of scrutiny and this keeps teachers from getting lazy as they know people, parents, and others will talk if the level of rigor is not sufficient for the students - whose parents many times are paying thousands of dollars for their education.

Public schools deserve the same degree of attention and scrutiny.

What can we do in the meantime? Write letters-- to the editor, to your local officials, go to school board meetings.... heck, consider becoming a teacher yourself! There are worse ways to spend your career.

Fade to black

Hitting Rock Bottom

This morning in discussing managing stress, the subject of using alcohol as a way to do so came up. I introduced this idea as a very bad way to handle stress, as it is just one of many slippery slopes leading to alcoholism. I was surprised to hear a student, a 14 year old girl, say something to the effect "nah, getting faded is the way to go when you have worries."

This shocked me to the extent that I would have been less surprised if she volunteered that she had been born a zebra. First, she said this aloud to the class and to me. Second, apparently she is so familiar with getting "faded" that it has lost any semblance of a stigma to her, and finally, she is practicing exactly what I am warning against.

Now I'm not so naive to think that kids don't drink or smoke marijuana, I know they do. However, it's one thing to do it furtively, and another thing to declare this past-time out loud in front of classmates and your health teacher. Was she trying to be funny? Maybe, but my hunch is no. Was she that much of a stoner that she doesn't care what others think? Actually, while "Ceci" isn't an A student, she has a 2.4 GPA and has very good attendance.

---- 24 hours later---- at 7:25 am-- period 1

"Hi Ceci, do you have another shocking reference to getting faded?"

"Oh Mister, at New Years I was so drunk I fell asleep right next to the toilet and ..."

"And your mother knew about this?"

"She was drunk too!"

A few posts ago -- January 15- The Divine Cheeto-- I subtitled it "Can't blame the schools for this one"-- and it was about the parents sending (some of ) their kids to school without any food and how an empty stomach affects the ability to concentrate. Being hungry and tired is one thing but how many of our students don't even make it to their first period (or more) due to a hangover - of alcohol or in some cases, a 11pm-3:00am overdose of video games.

"Uhhhhh mom, I don't feel very good.... no, I don't have a test today... can I stay..."

In the case of Ceci, I have to report this to a special counseling program on campus called IMPACT - an acronym that I can't recall the words it stands for.

There is a pattern here in LAUSD that is repeated in many shapes and forms. It is a lack of consequences. I know people are motivated by the promise of reward or by the fear of punishment. If you remove rewards and punishments, you are basically left with 14 year old kids with intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation. At 14, they are as rare as an Alaskan governor who is for birth control education and knows her way around a world map. However the few that are self motivated didn't learn that from any teacher-- 99% of the time it's how they are raised. Sure, we as teachers can motivate, but in fighting MTV, i-tunes, Grand Theft Auto games where you can beat up on a "ho", it's a tough battle. I get them 5 hours a week, the world with it's declining values, gets them the rest of the time--- oh, 60-70 hours of free unstructured time in far too many households.

Students in LA (and we are by no means the only ones) have learned that when they fail in middle school, they still get moved ahead to the next grade. It's only in high school where if they fail they have to keep repeating the class. They can be 16 years old and still in 9th grade. But since they have never had consequences like that before-- like being 14 and still making up 6th grade classes, it seems like it is a false threat. I never got in trouble before for bad grades, why start worrying about it now?

I don't want Ceci to hit rock bottom before she learns there are some potentially grave consequences to teen drinking, including fatal car accidents, date rape, murder, suicide and more. In a way it's good that she has a "loose mouth" and that she told me about it-- so some intervention can be done and then possibly a change in behavior and a different fate. However, most kids using marijuana or alcohol don't go bragging about it school in front of adults. For them the intervention may come too late, after tragedy.

Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?

Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009.

Every year in my Life Skills class, I show the film Pleasantville to my new 9th graders. Kids that were a few weeks ago in middle school, now are in 9th grade as a compilation of all their habits, good and bad. Pleasantville is a fantasy in which two modern day people are transported back in time, about 40 years, to a time when things were simpler and well, pleasant. The disease the people have in Pleasantville is that they are stuck in a routine. Now that might not sound like an illness, stuck in a routine, but when that happens, progress and growth is not made, only stagnation.

Even by the start of 9th grade, at the age of 13-14, many students appear incapable of change. Even if their circumstances are bad, they are familiar, a routine, they are use to the conditions. Change as they said is easier said than done. Think about even your own life as an adult. How easy is it to begin a new behavior, a new habit, or change or drop a bad habit?

Obama's inauguration speech-- though I have only seen/heard it once, seems to me to have been a "call to arms", a need for those-us-everyone- to get off our butts and start doing the hard work of fixing things. His reference to Biblical scripture-- Corinthians, about "time to put away childish things" I understand may have been also quoted by Roosevelt at his own inauguration speech, during hard economic times(1933 during the Depression). So even though it's use wasn't original, it was timely again and well chosen for this moment in time. Or as a pop music artist (Elvis Costello) sang about 25 years ago, clowntime is over. The hard work begins now to solve this nations problems.

The Divine Cheeto

Can't Blame the Schools for This One

Five to ten times per year I will ask a student who is sleeping in class (generally after lunch) “what have you had to eat today?” The answer is usually “nothing” or “a bag of chips”. I remind them a car doesn’t run without gas. Forget are they concentrating? The real question is are they conscious?

Heaven forbid they leave home without their I-pod, cell phone, Personal Play Station, make-up, or other nano-device, but food, eh, I can buy some at school mom. If students don't have a backpack or paper it's almost a certain guarantee that they will at least have an I-pod in their pocket. It's the ubiquitous "Don't leave home without it" teen accessory.

Though I have never asked my 9th graders, I would assume that if given a choice of ways to die--- cancer, car accident, being shot, or other, most teens would choose OTHER and then list drowning to death in a tub of Cheetos as their preferred entrance into eternity.

It's actually funny how many 14 year old girls spend an hour (or more) on make-up and hair every morning and then have no clue how (un) attractive they look with orange fingers, lips and teeth after chomping on America's Favorite Bag of Food Coloring between classes. I tell them as a health teacher, me seeing them eat chips as they enter they might as well be smoking a cigarette. They think this is funny. Childhood obesity though, is not funny. When I am talking about it I make certain not to make eye contact with any particular student, but they're there, all over the place. In a typical class of 30 with half male, half female, I will have 5 to 6 boys weight over 175-200+ and 7 to 8 girls weighing 150 - 180 pounds. Did I mention these are 14 year olds?

Seems appropriate that this week a couple had their planned wedding in a Taco Bell. Reminds me of an 80's video title: The Decline of Western Civilization. "Nuff said.

A good article about teen obesity and perception. http://calorielab.com/news/2005/05/30/teens-definition-of-normal-weight-on-the-upward-creep/

The Taco Bell wedding http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1381900/are_the_taco_bell_wedding_and_mcdonalds.html?cat=3

The Biggest Loser

Teaching Environmental Health

The unit number on my family's townhouse is 48. That's coincidentally our Carbon Footprint number of tons of carbon dioxide that our family of 4 produce annually. That's 48 tons of CO2 that is partly responsible for the warming of our planet. That number is just less than half the national average (for a family of 4 of 110 tons) but more than twice the WORLD average of 22 tons. The US have been energy pigs for a long time. It's usually good to be number one but in this case number one is the biggest loser.

I know the right side of the political spectrum might have you believe that global warming is liberal propaganda of democratic tax and spend socialists who just want to run the US into the ground. Yeah, I don't think so. After showing and watching "An Inconvenient Truth" five times in my health classes, I think Gore makes some pretty good points-- but defending him and the movie will probably take another blog in and of itself.

There are many carbon footprint calculators out there. I chose this one http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/ and I encourage you to take the time-- maybe 4 minutes if you do it thoughtfully, and see what your impact on the planet is if you have never done so.

Nineteen years ago a book came out called "50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth". Anyone remember that? At the time it was quite popular and I still have my 95 page copy. Though it's 19 years old, the information in it still holds up pretty well. My 9th graders last week read and discussed #46, Eat Lower on the Food Chain. Then they made some pretty clever posters out of it. Things like "Save Our Planet - Eat Less Meat" and then drew a picture of a half a cow.

If you are not familiar with the idea of eating lower on the food chain it goes something like this. It takes an unbelievable amount of water to support a cow. And we aren't talking about cows drinking water or bathing. Cows tend to eat all day. The food they eat has to be grown and watered. That water runs easily into the tens of thousands of gallons before the cow is led to the slaughterhouse. Moreover, forests worldwide are cut down or burned for grazing or for the cultivation of crops, crops to feed livestock. As of 19 years ago, it stated that one-third of the land of North America is devoted either for grazing or to support food for livestock. That's one third of Mexico, the US and Canada. Holy Big Mac-Attack Batman! Additionally, the worlds 1.3 billion cows (1989 figure) produce 100 million tons of methane gas annually, a molecule that traps 25x more heat than carbon dioxide.

So the phrase "eating lower on the food chain" means simply eating less meat-- less chicken, steak, beef, pork, etc. Not only will the planet thank you, so will your waistline, your arteries, colon, and so on.

---- personal note ----

My 9th grade students marvel when I tell them that my sons (age 4 and 6) have never been to McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, etc. They look at me like I am a child abuser.

My share is $34,852.49., what's yours?

MODELING BEHAVIOR

I knew there was a reason I was feeling so good at the start of this new year, I was so busy I didn't have time to read the newspaper. Today however, I made the mistake of looking at the front page of the LA TIMES while I was burning my toast. There was an idea that the Governator (Arnold) was floating out there about closing the schools a week early to save about a billion dollars. This was an upgrade from an idea he proposed about a month earlier about closing the schools 2 weeks earlier. Don't you just love politicians? They tell the public what they are thinking of doing to see how much hue and cry there is and if there isn't much, it's a done deal.

Anyhow, we are taught as teachers to never lose our temper, lest we be modeling behavior that we DON'T want to take place in the classroom.

The federal budget deficit runs in the trillions and closer to home (CA) we are projected to be around $20 billion. With the mortgage debt crisis, many individuals suffering with the loss of their homes were criticized for making foolish borrowing decisions, though many aggressive mortgage brokers are also to blame. But why blame them or even individuals borrowers? Aren't we just following the modeling of our leaders in Washington?

The federal deficit-- national debt, the giant albatross hanging around our neck - is around $10.6 trillion, give or take a skyscraper. That's $34,852 per person, or so it was when you started reading this blog. By now it's closer to $35,000.

I don't know what the answer is to the growing national debt or the one in my home state. I just wish that long ago, our leaders had the insight to set a proper example, and spend within their the budget and not run into the red. It's a problem that is only growing and at some point we will all have to pay for it, likely with a reduced quality of life. Not sure what that means. I just know it won't be Disneyland.

LA TIMES article about the proposal to end the school year early

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-schoolyear8-2009jan08,0,4683190.story

The Internet; Jekyll and Hyde

Hola,

Today was the 2nd day of a new semester and like many new semesters I kind of need to ease into things a bit. Health class. Yesterday we brainstormed a bit about what affects our health- we had answers like stress, friends, exercise, diet, friends, family, genetics, and environment.

Today after reviewing classroom rules again about tardies, make-up work and no personal electronics, we read a one page article from the Internet about how Nicaragua is about to go on-line to power up 19 windmills to generate electricity. This fits nicely with our unit on environmental health which should be in full bloom in about 2 days.

My students are largely from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and other Central American countries. All those lie just north of Nicaragua. However, as we began reading and discussing aloud the article I routinely heard comments like "my dad was born there", often highlighted with sparkling eyes. Though many had never been to Nicaragua, they seemed to have a heightened interest in the subject. I also delighted in hearing the volunteers read and pronounce the names of individuals in the story or even the name of Nicaragua with a Spanish inflection and the pronunciation they deserved.

Now I knew from experience that I could easily find an article from the Internet related to environmental health. That was a given, 15 minutes tops. But to find something about the environment and Central America? I hit the jackpot and that was even without searching for the key words "Central America" and "environment". How far back did this story go? Two weeks. An AP writer posted it on Christmas morning. It took me all of 2 minutes to locate and decide on which environmental health article to share. Grading essays is like doing brain surgery compared to using a search engine correctly.

Of course the Internet is both a Jekyll and Hyde character. Students

(as well as adults) waste countless hours entertaining themselves with unmentionable drivel - from Myspace, cheatcodes to their favorite games, downloading music or movies illegally, to watching pornographic images and more. Today was one of those rare days when the Internet (with all of it's deserved bad press) actually facilitated a discussion about cleaner, alternative energies with a heightened interest. If I had gone to the library to find a magazine or book article about the environment to use in class I might still be there. Forget the Central America connection.

The Internet is a tool that can deliver precise and needed information in a matter of minutes. We can only hope that our students realize this someday. I find it an invaluable tool when I am looking to augment a lesson from our book about a topic we are studying. Of course, being sure about your sources or the accuracy of information is a given, but in many instances, you are trusting legitimate sources-- like the Associated Press, JAMA, or Reuters-- we can only hope they check their sources before publishing.

Article used in class.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_nicaragua_wind_power

and here is a story about something else positive about the web - http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/trend.html#more

Lions and Tigers and Public Schools, oh my!

Hey friends,

Before I get back to reviewing and discussing Daniel Gardners excellent book-- The Science of Fear-- I have to get something off my chest.

How many of us public school teachers have been at parties, events, social settings, etc. with friends and acquaintances (not in education) when the subject of schools come up. Where is Frank Jr. going this year? Really?, they say with a look of 'are you insane?' because you just told them that Frank Jr. is going to a public school. Public schools, of which most of us are products of, have about the same reputation as Paris Hilton or on a really bad day, Britney.

And this reaction is coming from friends who kind of have forgotten that they asked that question of a public school teacher. Are there smaller class sizes in private schools? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Are the teachers better, are the students better? That's hard to say. I know that when I graduated high school in '78 in the midwest that one private high school near by had a reputation for having MORE drug use-- maybe that wasn't true but the last time I checked, drugs cost $$$$ and private school kids tend to have more of that resource, again generally. Hanging out with "rich kids" sometimes buys trouble... just ask the Kennedy clan or the Max Factor heir who is locked up for 124 years for drugging and raping his dates.

In January of 1996, I started my 2nd career and began student teaching at a 7th-8th grade middle school in a part of Minneapolis that was "rough"-- two cars were stolen out of the staff parking lot, during winter! In a typical class of 25-30 you could see kids that were there, calm, prepared, and ready to learn. Conversely, you could see others that were watching unlimited television at home, unlimited video games, who probably lacked parental supervision, and in the classroom had about as much chance of success as a rhesus monkey. What's the point of that charming story? Schools (especially public)get the blame for failure where the real source of success or failure should be what happens at HOME. Is there a relationship between Joshua being the best reader in class and the fact that his parents limit his television and have never purchased a gaming system for him? Or is it a coincidence when Linda pulls straight fails in every class when she has 512 myspace "friends", averages over 400 text messages a month and sees her mother (the only adult in her home) as little as possible.

The question that is important to consider now is how much does Linda (and others like her) affect the learning climate in the classroom? To be honest, at least at my school (a high school in Los Angeles), those students tend to have greater absences so they classroom misbehavior is not that much a factor. You also have failing students that show up everyday, are quiet, but just never complete anything.

Classroom behavior (or classroom climate) is more of a factor of what the teacher does than how the students behave. A teacher without experience or without a system of classroom management will have unruly students, whether they are A or F students. Word.

So stop harping on the public schools - the only thing that still gripes me is that we still have a culture of "social promotion" in middle schools. I know there are problems with "holding kids back" but just passing them on to the next grade, despite F's doesn't teach them consequences for not trying.

Receiving F's never hurt them before so why sweat it in high school? Many are slow to get it that the rules are different in high school where they have to repeat each F. I wish they would learn this before coming to my and other classrooms as a freshman, then perhaps they might take school more seriously and finish work at home rather than just fire up the next Xbox 360 game. 'Nuff said.