Gladly Would I Teach

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“My Access” Helps Students Write

I have my doubts about this new program that reviews student writing and offers suggestions for revision, but I really hope it works. Imagine how much help such a program would be for English teachers who drown under stacks of essays. Although I have my doubts, an English teacher interviewed in the article states:

“It’s important that teachers go back and explain that the score is not necessarily reflective of their overall writing,” said Warren, who teaches advanced placement and honor students. “As far as the mechanics go, it’s dead-on with the spelling and grammatical errors.”

Actually, if the program can check and teach grammatical and mechanical errors so teachers can narrow their focus to teaching the content of papers, I would be ecstatic.

I just wish I had the money to give “My Access” a try!

Radio thief makes amends 55 years later

What a nice story!

“The financial gift aside, this note illustrates the fact that it is never too late to right our wrongs,” Burrows said. “It is heartwarming to know that this person has had a 55-year weight lifted off their shoulders.”

Holidays are times for students to relax and rejuvenate. Although some excellent teachers disagree with me, I don’t think teachers should assign homework over vacations. (My one exception to this rule is for summer reading.)

This morning we are returning to school after a full week of Thanksgiving vacation. What a blessing to have an entire week off!  For years the district where I teach granted students three days of vacation and two days for teachers. A few years ago they rearranged the calendar so we could have a break over the entire week. What a great idea. Whereas in the past teachers and students were “sucking wind” to survive until final exams that were administered a few days before Christmas, this morning we will return to class happier, rested, and perhaps a little heavier.

If we give homework over the holidays, even homework that only takes an hour or two, we defeat part of the purpose of vacations. While it’s true that we could wedge in another novel or another paper if kids read and write over the holidays, do we really need to do that?

When I left my classroom on Friday, the week before Thanksgiving, I also left behind all of my school work. Yes, I still had some work to do but nothing that couldn’t wait until after the holidays. I wanted my students to have that same privilege.

When my students arrive in a little over an hour, I want them happy, rested, and ready to learn!

This morning’s LA Times contains an inspirational story of Bruce Kravets, a 66-year-old middle school math teacher who refuses to retire.  The article fascinated me because it contrasts sharply with the opinions of so many teachers.

Last night as I read through the Facebook status updates of some of my teacher friends, I was struck by how many of them reflected anxiety and unhappiness about having to return to school after the one-week Thanksgiving break. In an online teacher discussion forum I check regularly, several teachers yesterday reported that they couldn’t wait to retire. Yet, here is a teacher who won’t retire, a teacher who actually works without a paycheck.

Retired Los Angeles teacher keeps at it, for free

Bruce Kravets keeps coming back to school after 42 years because

He couldn’t think of anything more fun or rewarding than teaching algebra, geometry, logic and stage craft.

After 32 years of teaching, I think I understand how Kravets feels. I’m thinking of leaving high school teaching and teaching at the college level, but I can’t imagine retiring now. I actually believe that teaching becomes easier as we age. Yes, there are exceptions, but, for the most part, good teachers who enjoy their jobs probably are able to prepare effective lessons faster, reach difficult students easier and with less tension, maintain the interest of students longer, mentor younger colleagues with more patience, and prevent parental complaints with greater understanding than they could as younger or less experienced teachers. In fact, physical tasks may be the only areas where older teachers  may encounter more trouble than previous years.

Does this mean all good teachers will stay in the classroom beyond retirement age? Of course not! Many excellent teachers retire because they have other things they want to accomplish or because they are tired of the routine of daily teaching.

As this article illustrates, however, good teachers who are respected by their peers, administrators, students, and former students might just stay around for a few years past their retirement.

And we need them!

Amidst the circuitous, excessive, intensive, unmitigated, and never-ending teacher assessments, why hasn’t someone uncovered a way to evaluate a teacher’s heart?

It’s too bad we can’t find those special teachers with huge hearts because I’m convinced that if we could find those special teachers, study them, and then replicate them, we would resolve all of the problems with public education.

Teachers with heart are those caring, diligent, intelligent, dedicated, and optimistic teachers who love kids when kids are at their worst, who believe in kids long after the kids no longer believe in themselves, and who continue to find enthusiastic ways to reach kids even when they must conduct state-mandated reviews, tests, activities, etc., etc. etc.

Teachers with heart are the unforgettable souls at the front of the classroom who truly change lives.

I thought about teachers with heart today as I read Matt Halpey’s Look At My Happy Rainbow, a wonderful blog from a kindergarten teacher. Although my students are 17 and 18, I still read Matt’s blog about five year olds because it makes me smile. Indeed, Matt has a teacher’s heart, and his daily posts illustrate his love and concern for his students, love and concern that truly change lives. I have recommended Matt’s blog to all of my former students who are or who want to become teachers.

If you want a daily moment where you can  forget your troubles and take a glimpse inside the world of five year olds and a teacher who gently leads them, please set aside time to read Matt’s blog.

Look At My Happy Rainbow!

It may not change your life, but I guarantee Matt’s blog will brighten your day, make you smile, and remind you of the importance of a teacher’s heart.

Please take the time to read this essay by Cindi Rigsbee,  a 2009 National Teacher of the Year finalist. I promise it will rejuvenate your teaching soul. Cindi refers to Parker Palmer’s Courage to Teach, a beautiful book about teaching that I highly recommend because it touches on so many of the fears and triumphs of teaching.

Here’s a link to Cindi Rigsbee’s essay in Teacher Magazine:

Called to Teach

Called to teach – I wonder today how many of our young teachers feel called to teach. Decades ago we talked about teaching as a true calling and a devotion to help others. We talked about needing to have the “fire in the belly” to teach. We emphasized that teachers had to have big hearts and an insatiable desire to help students. Today I’m afraid too much of that missionary zeal is lost in the paper shuffle of NCLB or state standards or country, state, district dictates about how, when, where, and why teachers should conduct lessons.

In his book, Palmer emphasizes:

In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform will never be achieved by renewing appropriations, restructuring schools, rewriting curricula, and revising texts if we continue to demean and dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends (p. 3).

We need to find more teachers who are called to teach.

Usually when we think of Thanksgiving and the blessings we have been given, we immediately think of family, friends, and good health.

In such a bad economy when so many teachers have lost their jobs or taken pay cuts, this year I am even more thankful for my job.

I am thankful that I have a job I enjoy tremendously.

I am thankful that I work with other teachers who respect and support each other.

I am thankful to have the absolute best students that any teacher could hope to have. They are smart and inquisitive, but, just as importantly, they are kind and thoughtful and supportive of each other and of me.

I am thankful to work with parents of students who support their children while also loosening their grips slightly to allow their children to grow up.

I am thankful to remain in contact with scores and scores of former students from a year ago, a decade ago, or 2-3 decades ago who remember me fondly and who remind me of the daily blessings of teachers.

As I type this blog post while sitting inside The 1927 Lake Lure Inn in North Carolina, I am also thankful for the people who take the time to visit this blog occasionally.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Oh, that we all could count our blessings every day instead of only at Thanksgiving!

The Puzzle of Boys

An administrator observed a teacher friend of mine a couple of years ago and kept a checklist of how many times she called on girls to answer questions. In a conference a few days later, he told the teacher that he had to keep a checklist in order to make sure the teacher didn’t overlook girls and that she had called on more boys during his observation than girls. He claimed that too many teachers overlook girls.

I’m afraid the administrator was a little behind the times. While we worried about girls a decade ago, the tide has turned, and it appears that girls are excelling in school at a much greater level than boys. Take a look at just about any college campus except engineering schools, and the girls outnumber the boys. What has happened to create this change?

The Chronicle of Higher Learning posted a fascinating story about how various researchers interpret the current functioning of boys. Are they really so different from girls? What does it mean to say that a child is “all boy”? Should we worry about boys? In addition to providing excellent information about boys, the article closes with a reading list of books that explore this issue.

After 32 years in  high school, I think it’s time for me to graduate and move on to college. I’m hoping to find a college teaching position that will allow me to work with students who want to become teachers.

So, I’m spending part of my Thanksgiving holidays traveling around and visiting campuses in North Carolina since that’s where I will eventually meet family for Thanksgiving dinner. (I know this isn’t the customary job-hunting method, but it can’t hurt.) I made sure to finish all of my work on Sunday so I could actually rest over the holidays and not have to think about grading papers, returning emails. designing lessons, etc.

Tonight as I unpacked in a hotel in High Point, NC, I was greeted by one of those happy unexpected events that made me pause and smile. Without any warning, I just happened to have booked a 7th-floor room overlooking the street where the town held its Christmas parade tonight. So, two days before Thanksgiving, children dressed in red and white danced down the street along with sparkling floats, drum corps, dignataries in cars, and the ever-present high school bands. I pulled up a chair to the window and watched the entire parade.

Although I smiled the entire time, I felt a little guilty when I saw so many school organizations because I knew a teacher was down there supervising each group. I knew that scores of teachers gave up part of their holiday night so their students could participate. I also knew that most of those teachers donated their time. They won’t get extra paychecks or even extra pats on the back for their help or their devotion, and most of them probably won’t even care because they participated to help kids.

I suspect the police officers who supervised the parade were paid for their services along with the street sweepers who are out cleaning the streets as I type this message. I just wish those dedicated teachers would get another day of vacation to make up for the time they spent today preparing for the parade and for tonight as they marched beside their students.

I felt guilty, but I thoroughly enjoyed the parade, even the part where the young children danced to “Thriller,” apparently a new Michael Jackson Christmas classic.

Is American Education Neglecting Gifted Children?

In a recent article from THE Journal, David Nagel examines a 2008-2009 report on Gifted Children that emphasizes that gifted children do not receive the attention or special programs that they need.  Nagel states:

The report found that gifted students are being neglected at all levels in the United States, from weak or non-existent policies at the state level to uneven funding at the district level to a lack of teacher preparation at the classroom level.

As a teacher of Advanced Placement students, I grapple with this problem daily. Georgia provides funds for gifted classes so long as the classes are no larger than 21 (or is it 22?).Smaller classes allow teachers to provide more individual help to gifted students as well as providing a variety of activities to support their interests and learning styles. Unfortunately, however, my school rarely collects this money because our gifted classes (or AP classes that contain gifted students) exceed the state limits. Instead of teaching 21 or fewer students, I generally have 27-30 students.

Part of our problem in AP English is our open-door policy for AP English Language. We welcome students who work hard and who agree to tackle a challenging course even if they have not taken honors English courses before AP. These students are generally successful in AP English, but the students we add to our classes raise the enrollment so much that we no longer qualify for gifted funds, and our gifted students do not receive the specialized help that they require.

What do I do?

Do I kick out the students who are not gifted even when I know that they will profit from taking the course?

Do I champion the cause of gifted children and demand smaller classes for these exceedingly accelerated students?

I’m not sure what the answer is. What I do know is that all children, gifted, learning disabled, behavior disordered, and even those “average” children who have not been tagged with labels deserve smaller classes and more intensive help from teachers.

Oh, that we could afford to place every student in a class with no more than 21 students!