Tag: challenge

Most schools today are not able to make the necessary changes they need to make to be a 21st Century school. It’s not just about technology, teaching, and learning.

Here’s what I see:

• Schools putting in wifi and maybe enough bandwidth for one device per user.

• Training teachers on the specific devices and software with a few examples for the classroom.
• A few schools going 1:1 at school. Very few school-home connections.
• Very little community and parent involvement at the school.
• Most funding for 1:1 is soft money with little available for ongoing support.
• Top down mandates and decisions about types of technology allowed.
• Firewalls and blocking software that do not give access to most Web 2.0 tools and social media.
• Focus on increasing student achievement (i.e. raising test scores).
• Lots of talk about student-centered learning with only pockets of best practices.
• Cuts in arts, physical education, counseling, libraries, and technology.
• In-flexible curriculum where students have no say in their interests or passions.
• No emphasis on the skills and values employers are looking for in their employees. See post.
• Most educational conferences still focus on testing, technology, and status quo and not on real change in the classroom. Talking about the future is sexy but teachers don’t think it’s doable in their classroom.
• Teacher education programs are subject-specific silos and tenure-driven organizations. [source]
• Collaborative planning time, if there is any, is mostly used for lesson plans tied to textbooks and tests.

Change is difficult. Everything is changing around us. Our children are not prepared for today. Just ask your neighbors who have their children who graduated from college who are not able to find work. This is a national crisis. Media and politicians point fingers at schools and teachers as the problems. This is not right. Everything is changing. All of us need to pull together and look at how society is changing. It is all children we are putting at-risk now. Teachers need to be valued instead of blamed for all the ills of society.

I work with public and private schools — high poverty and wealthy schools around the country. Change is slow no matter what type of school.

High poverty schools keep trying different strategies. One year it’s the technology. Another year it’s professional learning communities. After that, something else. The problem with high poverty schools is bigger than one thing. Teacher retention is an issue. Social issues in that community play a big factor. Families in crisis is such a big issue that children get lost in the system. They come to school barely able to function. Teachers can only do so much. Class sizes are too large and many teachers are inexperienced to deal with many of the issues they children face.

With wealthy schools, the test scores tend to be high so parents and teachers don’t see a need to make changes. In fact, there is a concern about taking some risks then seeing scores fall. The issue for these schools is not academic achievement, it’s more of a social issue. The students from wealthier schools have issues they are not talking about: drugs, eating disorders, pregnancies, depression, wrong career choices, children graduating and not finding jobs, etc.

Nothing will happen if the school or district doesn’t support change and talk about the real problems at hand.

I am looking for schools that really want to make change and address the real issues that are happening with their students, teachers, and the school community. I know a few making some amazing strides where students shine and show entrepreneurial skills like the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Duke School in Durham, North Carolina where the university, teachers and students design innovative curriculum together.

I’m going to look for examples, interview people, rant, yell, shake up some systems. It’s all about our kids now. I challenge myself, you, and all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. It’s time to plan and develop a vision for local communities so their students can be global citizens of the 21st century.

Are you ready?

I have an idea that could provide high schools and universities extra revenue and open opportunities for students that might want to give up or drop out. Look at students who are bored. I see them. I see them roll their eyes and shake their heads.

What if students that believe they already know the content could challenge the class? I wish I could have done that during my master’s program. There were several courses where I knew the information and had even taught some of the content. I would have paid to challenge the course, but this was not an option. So I sat through hours and hours of lectures that I could have delivered myself. What a waste! A waste of my time and the professors. I know there were others in the class who knew the content also. The professor could pull together the learning objectives, outcomes, and multiple assessments (tests and/or culminating product). The student can then pay a fee to challenge the course. They could have three times to challenge it, and each time they pay a fee to take the challenge.

Teachers can determine prior knowledge and then allow students to challenge what they know. This could be an option in high school or maybe even middle school. This would be more like independent study where each student learns at their own speed. Those students that challenge the class or content get credit for the class if they master the challenge.

Now the challenge for schools is how to fund students that master the challenge and find other learning opportunities for them that stretch their abilities. Just imagine differentiating to this level. Think about a math student who is two levels above the rest of the class. Let them challenge the current level and then give them an opportunity to do research, create a project, or take an online class that moves them to the next level.

I read Chris Lehman’s post on “What we should remember” about why we teach. It’s all about our kids. That’s it! Thank you Chris for a thought-provoking post! I am in awe of what your students are able to do at the Science Leadership Academy and hope more people get involved in Educon 2.3 end of January.

I work mostly with middle school students. Remember what it was like to be in middle school or junior high. This was my toughest time in school. I remember falling in love with a boy who didn’t even know my name. I remember loving Paul McCartney because I knew he would see me in the audience and want to date me. I remember almost everything but my teachers’ names or even what happened in the classrooms. I remember embarrassing times and scary times. It was an awkward time where friendships meant more than my own family. I remember not feeling smart because I don’t remember anyone telling me I was smart.

What I wore, how I looked meant more than what I learned. So are middle school students different today than I was then? Most of the schools I work with are Title I schools with high percentages of free and reduced lunches. This was the target for NCLB. I’m sorry to say there are more poor children left behind now than ever before. I grew up in a safe environment where we didn’t have to worry about life and death decisions. I love Glee and believe all children are smart and talented. I grew up in a house with artists who never new there was a box to be in or lines to color in. However, Glee represents a middle class school. I’m white and grew up in middle class neighborhoods. I had no idea what children from high poverty schools go through. Yesterday I read “I am” poems and autobiographies from some of the children from one of the middle schools I work with. I cried. I really cried. I was sitting in the faculty room of one school and couldn’t even imagine what many of these students endure.

I don’t want to share their personal stories here but imagine most children in this school had a family member shot; knew someone in prison probably a father or brother; come from a broken home; do not have enough money for breakfast; don’t have a warm coat; may lose their home; some are homeless. When you realize that some of these students sleep in their bathtubs because that is the only safe place from bullets, you wonder if they’ll stay in school. I read about 12 year old girls who believe their only goal is to get pregnant. That way they have someone who will love them. Oh my! I heard this before, when I started with the Technology Challenge Grant in Oakland in 1998. We were working with 4th-8th grade students. I just thought it was getting better. It seems much much worse now.

The dropout rate is higher than being reported because we lose kids in middle school. The numbers reported are only high school dropout rates. Middle school is where we need to focus our energy. If we really want to make a difference, we need to change middle schools around the country.  Teachers only know what they were taught or how they have been teaching or what is asked of them by the administration. Teachers cannot do this without the support of their administration and the district office. My next post will be some ideas for them. Chris writes some great questions in his post for teachers and principals. So here’s my ideas for middle school teachers to reach their students:

• greet your children when they arrive to your classroom by name and shake their hands.
• have compassion and empathy for your students perception and positions.
• realize that all children are smart — find out how they are smart and celebrate it.
• create opportunities for success in every classroom.
• design engaging learning environments where students own their learning.
• be an advisor to several children if there is no counseling program.
• get to know your students’ families and invite them to your classroom or visit their home.
• have students keep a journal for their eyes only — unless they want to share it with you and others.
• bring in content experts either to your classroom or virtually.
• connect your classroom to other classrooms around the world.
• connect your curriculum to real-world applications that make sense to your students and their lives.
• create replacement units that engage your students of some content areas in the pacing guide.
• ask students to ask three other students before asking you.
• encourage questions – lots of questions and post them around the room.
• be more of a co-learner and facilitator of learning.
• take some risks and be okay about failing some of the time.
• if you cannot take risks, then rethink your job there. Go where your core beliefs are the same.
• and if there are no other jobs and you feel lucky to have this job, then use some of the ideas here with your students.

Learning in middle schools of the past for today’s children is an oxymoron. 11-13 year olds have different perspectives on life and what they need to know than adults no matter their situation. Add poverty and crime and hopelessnes and it is an almost impossible thing to ask of these students and teachers. Our current school system is broken especially for these kids at these ages. I am only one person and realize the challenge to make this kind of change is enormous. We cannot lose any more children. They are all precious and special and gifted and smart. They are our future. I will do whatever I can to support teachers as they do what they can to help students reach their fullest potential.