Reading, 'Riting, and Reality

Idolizing One Man

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:52:00 +0000

We're getting ready to read the Young Reader's Edition of Three Cups of Tea. I first read the adult version last summer, and was inspired and excited to read it with my students.

I teach at a school that emphasizes social justice; as we discussed in class last week, the school itself was founded as an act of social justice. We work every day to bring a high-quality education to a traditionally under-served population.

But our school wasn't started by a bunch of people from the outside coming in and "saving" the community, it was started by a group of parents, teachers, and community members who wanted something better for their children.

We're reading this book in part to bring a better understanding of and appreciation for the work being done in our community, and to help our kids see what it takes to change the world.

So it bugs me when I see the awe and reverence with which people regard Greg Mortenson. His work and accomplishments are undeniable, but when I heard him speak last October, he made it clear that it's really not just "one man's mission," as the book's tagline states. My school wouldn't have been started without a group of passionate, dedicated people, and students in northern Pakistan would still be scratching in the dirt without parents and community leaders who were sacrificed and took risks and carried heavy supplies up steep, muddy hills.

I'm worried about how my students will interpret the idolatry they will find when they start looking around the Internet for information. Will they be able to filter out the hero worship?

What's Working

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:51:00 +0000

Thanks, @paulawhite, for the suggestion: "we should all go write a "What's working" blog after this is over and tweet them out with the hashtag#educationnation."

So, here's what's working at my school:

Families choose to come to our school. Yes, they're chosen by lottery that parents have to enter, which weeds out the parents who don't pay any attention to their kids education. It would be better if every school in our district were a school of choice. What would happen if everyone chose their school? Would that give a psychological bump?
Every family is involved. 100% of parents attend conferences, because the teachers relentlessly track those who don't show. It's not easy. Some parents, even though they signed up for this school, can't or won't take 15 minutes twice a year to meet with their kid's teacher.
We have autonomy of curriculum and staffing. We don't have to teach a script, or even use the district-approved textbooks, as long as we teach the standards. Teachers and principals are no longer placed at our school, and teachers have a strong voice in the interview process for new colleagues.
We have an open-door policy. Anyone is welcome to visit any time without scheduling it beforehand (of course, visitors have to sign in and everything for safety, but people walk into the classroom without warning). This includes parents, community members, other teachers at our school, visitors from other schools, college students working on teaching credentials, and anyone else.
We work hard. We handle the details through email, which frees up staff meeting time for real collaboration. We haven't jumped on the formal PLC bandwagon, but we work in teams by grade level, subject area, or ad-hoc interest groups. We analyze data, but don't obsess over it.
We work hard, but we try not to burn anyone out. When someone is starting to get too stressed out, the rest of us step in to alleviate the pressure
We work hard, and we get to focus on teaching. Social events and some of the field trips are handled by the PTSA. If the parents don't step up and organize social events, they don't happen, and that's okay.
The principal is a leader, not a glory hound. We defer to him when necessary, but we take responsibility, step up, and don't wait to be told what to do.

There's more, but I'd like to watch the interview thats on MSNBC's Education Nation right now, so I'll probably do a part II later.

The Teacher Voice

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:14:00 +0000

I've started videotaping some of my classes. It's less scary than it sounds!

Everyone I know who has gotten their National Board Certification has touted the benefits of watching yourself teach, so I set up 2 cameras on opposite end of my classroom.

The first thing I notice is that my saddlebags are a bit larger than I thought. That shirt and those shorts need to separate and never see each other again. And my room is bland. Granted, the camera is facing the area that's most difficult to decorate, but poor kids who have to face that way!

After I get over my body issues and classroom aesthetics, I start to notice the kids. Most of them truly are hanging on my every word, but when I'm teaching, the only ones I notice are the ones who goof around. On the whole, the kids deserve more credit, and their teacher needs to chill out a bit.

The surprise at the kids' real behavior wanes quickly when my voice breaks through the rustle of papers. Okay, and I realize that my computer volume is almost zero. I seem to have two distinct voices: a "whole class" voice and a "real" voice. The whole class voice is obnoxious, piercing, makes me want to claw my eyes out. It's all fake and careful and kindergartenish. If a teacher talked to me that way when I was 10, I would have laughed in her face. Oh, wait, I did...only time I ever got in trouble in class.

Redemption comes when I start talking to the small groups and switch back to a normal voice.

Why do I have these two voices? I've noticed that some kids don't seem to hear me when I'm giving instructions. Whether it's the result of laziness or being an English learner, the blank stares I receive when I give instructions in a normal voice make me wonder if I'm declaiming in mermish.

How do I temper this ridiculous "whole class" voice while still making instructions clear to my English learners?

Warm Fuzzies

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:59:00 +0000

The kids are here!

Summer Orientation started on Wednesday! About 60 of our 96 new 6th graders are learning the mysteries of switching classes, completing homework, and (gulp) changing in the locker rooms.

My brain is too addled to put together any coherent description of the last three days, but I have to say this:

A few months ago, I was devastated when my students left. Now, so many of their little brothers, sisters, and cousins are in my class that I feel like they never really left. Besides, about 10 of last year's 8th graders showed up this morning to help with the 6th grade classes!
The new kids are great. Some of them have more self-confidence than they should, but that's okay. We can work with that. Structure. Discipline. Guidance.
The parents this year seem to be more intense. I have to learn to be more outgoing. I love and respect parents, but sometimes I don't show it as well as I should.

Now I'm going to eat.

UnJust

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:52:00 +0000

Out of curiosity, I threw my blog URL into Wordle.net. If you've never used this time-consuming site, take a look! It creates tag clouds in which the most frequently-used words are larger.

The result irritated me, because one of the largest words turned out to be "just," hereafter referred to as ______.

I hate that word. Do I really use it that often? Yuck!

It's one of the Evangelical Protestant catch-phrases (I love the E-Ps I grew up with, but their insipid vocabulary drives me nutso!). "I _____ Wanna Be Where You Are," "We ____ Worship You," "You're ____ So Goooooood," "I'm ______ So Blessed," on and on and on. In this context, the word has no meaning. It's a filler word that contributes to the watering down of religion's mysteries.

I often refer to myself sarcastically as "_____ a teacher," so perhaps I could just pull back on the dry humor. Problem: That less-than-witty usage wasn't the most common in my "find on this page" search.

No, I'm using it as a filler word, and it's not the only one. Is there any benefit to these banal vocabulary choices? Does the rhythm they contribute outweigh the fluff that detracts from the post? Do I express myself this way? Do people consider me uneducated, head full of fluff, unable to compose an original creative thought? Instead of encouraging my students to expand their vocabularies, have I dumbed mine down so I sound like a teenager? Like, OMG, dat would be hella bad!

Are my thoughts as vapid as my vocabulary?

Spoiled?

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:21:00 +0000

I've been spoiled rotten this summer.

2 weeks of class.

Content was worthwhile and presented in ways that enabled real learning, even though it was probably frustrating for the presenters/facilitators/teachers because we were typing and texting and playing with our video cameras.

Yeah, you heard me, our video cameras. We each got one. And learned tons of ways to use them. When we went to iFly, the leader laughed and took a picture of all of us filming the wind tunnel demo.

We went to iFly to learn how to use the wind tunnel in our science classes. And then we all got to fly in it. Twice. I learned a lot about learning, about pushing myself (the slightly re-dislocated shoulder was SO worth it!), and about using the resources in our area even though they're incredibly expensive.

Presenters (I'm calling them "presenters " and "participants" because we're all teachers and students) didn't take themselves too seriously. People just stood up and talked about what they knew. Yes, I'm sure they prepared, but it wasn't about them imparting knowledge, it was about putting information out there for all of us. Participants were asked to present on areas of expertise so that everyone could learn even more.

We get college credits for this (that will push me to the next salary step!). We get paid for this!

And, according to an email I received today, they're giving us tickets to the celebrity forum! I, with a guest, will be hobnobbing and rubbing elbows and whatever else you call it as we go to listen to such interesting and inspiring people as Resa Azlan, Yo Yo Ma, Captain "Sully," Tony Blair, and a couple other people whose names I don't remember right now.

All this makes me feel like somebody actually cares about my profession. The fancy schmancy businessy-type folks don't look down on me because I'm "just" a teacher, they support me so that I can become a better teacher. They don't see my clearance-sale clothes and the hair I cut myself, they see a hard-working professional with good ideas and an important job.

In a few short weeks, I'll be back at school, battling the IT director and being snubbed by middle-management types at the District Office. I'll be packing students into my run-down classroom with the nasty carpet and broken closet doors, fighting off the cockroaches, taping together books, and hoping against hope that there will be both toilet paper and paper towel in the restroom.

I spent two weeks in an environment where I was treated like something special, and it's not hyperbole when I say that I'll never be the same.

How do I provide the same experience for my students?

Thievery and Plagiarism

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:38:00 +0000

It's tempting to delete this post right now, because it proves just how lazy I am.

Yesterday, when I was linking to one of my blog posts, I didn't want to go through the two or three steps to type in my blog address and search for the post. Instead, I googled a unique phrase so that I could go directly to the page.

Most of the search results were variations on my blog page: cached versions, the blog index, etc. However, there was one other page that included the same statistically improbable phrase. I looked at the preview.

And looked again.

That was my blog post.

I clicked the link and found someone else's blog. They had copied and pasted my entire post, and now it was just sitting there next to some...less-than-quality pictures. Oh, and the entire rest of the page was in Chinese. Thanks, Google Translate. It looks like the rest of the blog is just copy-paste of other posts - news articles, commentaries, and other blogs, without giving any credit to the original author.

So, what do you think? What's the deal with pages like this?

I'd link to it, but I really don't want to be associated with those pics!

Being a Student

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:21:00 +0000

I spent the last 2 weeks in some fairly intense classes. Aside from content, here's what I liked about them:

Grades weren't a big deal.
No homework. Well, there were assignments and presentations, but it didn't feel like homework.
We were allowed, even encouraged to multi-task. Laptops and cell phones weren't forbidden, and they set up chat boards and forums for us to use.
The entire building was designed for learning and collaboration. One classroom had rows just for the old-school people, but the rest of the rooms were set up with various configurations of chairs, tables, and pods.
"Students" who were experts in the teachers' weaker areas were given class time to present on their specialty. I got 30 minutes to teach a session on Interactive White Boards :)

So, how much of this was possible simply because we are adults? What could I transfer to my 6th grade classroom?

Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:24:00 +0000

The last day of school always sees a few tears, but the last two years leaned more toward "See you in August, and have a great summer! Don't forget to do your homework!"

Now, it's goodbye. My kids, who have been mine for three years, are gone. I'm excited for them, because most of them are going to great high schools, and the ones who are going to the worse schools have had long talks with me about how they're going to succeed and make it through college.

You wouldn't believe the progress these kids made. Students like MQ, whose language barrier and learning disability combined to make school miserable. I could barely understand what she read or wrote when she first came, but we worked together and she surrounded herself with a core group of friends who tutored her on every homework assignment. MQ stayed after school, asked questions during lunch, and studiously listened and took notes during every lecture. She wasn't the one chatting through collaborative assignments; instead, she was asking me and her friends for help. The result? Her last exhibition research project, on Rube-Goldberg machines, was interesting and informative. This kid, who had so much working against her, partnered with a friend who would help her without doing the work for her, asked questions, stayed on track with her research even when it got difficult, and when I asked her to memorize the types of machines and show them in the Rube-Goldberg contraptions, she did it, even though that sort of memorization is so difficult for her. MQ has her work cut out for her in high school, but I'm completely confident that she'll make it.

Another success story is Eva. (Have I used that alias before? This is a different student.) When she came in, Eva was one of the top students, but she did everything by the book and froze up when we asked her to think for herself. In her 7th grade year, we finally had it out when she turned in another insipid essay, this time a research report about Japan. I gave it back to her with a rather pointed note about not wanting an encyclopedia entry, and she rose to the occasion. Eva took that paper, poured her heart on it, and brought back a revision that showed how much she loved and admired the civilization. Early this year, as part of the group that visited the super-dooper private high school, Eva had to stand up and give an impromptu speech to a group of strangers. This shy little mouse did it, and realized how much worth and potential she had. Throughout the year, she spoke up more and more, and, with her best friend (whom I also love dearly), gave an inspiring, tear-inducing valedictorian speech at last night's promotion ceremony. Eva always had the brains, the motivation, the desire for excellence, and now she has found her voice. Watch out for this one!

They're going on to bigger and better things, but it's the end of an era for me. The staff has come to a consensus that this is the best class we've ever had. The kids are nice, caring, and even the ones who have their issues with school are still pleasant. I had the pleasure of working with a consistent, capable team, and 2 of the 3 years saw fantastic principals.

Watching this year end is tearing my heart out just a little. No, a lot. Before I came to this school, I was ready to quit teaching. The first two years at soul-sucking bigschool almost killed me, and even the first year here left me a little dubious. The last three years have been anything but easy, but I've wrapped my entire life around these kids, and now they're gone. Will I grow to love the next class as much? Will it seem just a little less shiny? This hurts. I'm grieving. Can I put myself through this again?

Well, somebody taketh away!

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:55:00 +0000

One of the great ironies of the Education profession: We are (sorta) entrusted with 30 or more students at a time, and yet we can't seem to be trusted with anything else!

I recently met some people (McActivPeople, to be exact) who wanted to plan a conference in my area. Great! My school would love to host it! After getting approval of both principals on the shared campus, talking to my District Office contact about how to get approval, sitting down with the McActivRepresentative (who is a wonderful person, by the way), and sketching out a plan, I got an email.

From my district office contact. I'm pretty sure it was written by her boss.

"Please give us the contact information of your McActivRepresentative. These things are usually planned through our office."

Yes, you read that correctly. Not, "Oh, great! Thanks for starting this process! How can we offer our support and make this the best conference ever, bringing rare good publicity to our district and encouraging our teachers with real professional development rather than bashing them down with the mediocre shit we usually offer?"

Not, "I'm glad that you're excited and taking initiative. Let's talk so that we can make sure we're following proper protocols."

Nope. Basically, they're saying "there's no was a measly little teacher could plan a conference worthy of our district's untarnished reputation. Now that you've made the contact, hand over your work so that we can transform it into another poorly-planned, cheaply run, narrow-minded district love fest where everyone sits around getting talked at all day and our department gets to stand up and welcome everyone and feel all important."

I have to wonder how much of this comes from the recent furlough days we agreed to if the parcel tax doesn't pass. They know we, the teachers, want to see cuts at the bloated, croneyistic district office, and they see that their jobs could be on the chopping block if they don't prove their worth. What better way than by making work for themselves?

Isn't there something better they could be doing?

Back in touch with reality...

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:22:00 +0000

The last few weeks have been pure bliss.

No, not the mind-controlling, freaky-naked-lizard-alien bliss, but actual this-job-is-so-amazing-I-would-do-almost-all-of-it-for-free bliss.

You see, I finally get to teach poetry. Even though it only addresses three questions on the CST, I've managed to justify scheduling three weeks that "accidentally" overran and turned into four weeks.

At the end of every year, the kids fill out a survey, and one of the questions is always "what do you wish we had learned this year?" A large contingent always makes some remark about how they wish we could have spent more time on poetry, and I always agree with them. It's just that the enormous vise-grip that is the state test squeezes the life out of our schedule, and the good parts (you know, poetry) get condensed to as little time as possible.

So, for the last four weeks, we have been exploring lyric, narrative, and free verse poetry. The kids have read, analyzed, performed, and written all three types, and it's been beautiful. They come ready for class. They listen to the information, complete the activities, and read just for the sake of reading. Kids who have gone through puberty since they last finished a homework assignment are bringing me their poetry to read, turning in work early, and happily skipping home with their writing in one hand and passing grade report in the other.

And me? Oh, I'm great! I'm giving myself a birthday present on Monday: the kids are presenting dramatic readings of free verse poetry. Happy Birthday to me!

I'm not going to rant about how testing kills motivation, or how kids will bend over backwards when they are learning something meaningful. Instead, I'm just going to revel in the totally-non-reptilian bliss that is teaching poetry.

Timeline

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:27:00 +0000

Monday: No school.
Tuesday: First day of Midterm Exams. Rain, thunder, wind. The first two are great. Wind, however, makes me incredibly tense. Part of the reason I left Oklahoma.
Wednesday: Second day of Midterm Exams. Rain, thunder, wind, and OH, YEAH! A tornado warning! Wind still makes me tense, and tornadoes are on my short list of things that truly scare me. Another part of the reason I left Oklahoma. Colleague's car gets crunched by a loon driving way too fast by the school.
Thursday: Midterm hiatus, minimum day, also my 100-minute prep that comes twice a week. Lighter rain, only a little bit of thunder, and the kids didn't really talk about the tornado. Would have been an easy day, except for the 2 girls whose families decided to jump into their middle-school drama. Seriously, people, you're adults, they're adolescent girls. Let them work it out. You REALLY want to press charges? Okay...I guess I'll call the officer on campus...who is off in 5 minutes... Behavior like this is one of the reasons I left the school in Oklahoma. Wait, WHAT, officer? You're blaming ME for this??? You obviously have no clue what goes on at this school, how hard we work to maintain a culture of safety and respect. We've been working with these girls since they joined the school last year. You might have noticed that this is the first time you've ever had to come over to this end of the campus! Don't blame me because you ended up staying an extra hour.
Friday: Midterm Exams day 3. More rain, without the wind, thunder, tornadoes, and drama. Stayed for the Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser, hobnobbed and took pictures, and may have convinced a few more parents to send their kids on the Washington DC trip. The fundraiser was a HUGE success, and I came home happy.
Saturday: 12:41. Still in sweats, under a fleece blanket, with my cat on my lap. Played two rounds of Age of Empires III, then messed around in Photoshop before it froze. Ignoring the 6-inch stack of grading, even though report card grades are due Monday. Or are they? Maybe it's Wednesday. Husband brought me hot chocolate before going in to the office, and I peeled myself out from under the cat long enough to grab some oatmeal. Was this really just a 4-day week?

Jesus Rifles

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:33:00 +0000

When I was a kid, learning how to be religious, I made myself a cute little bracelet out of wooden beads. On some of the beads, I painted flowers, while others were festooned with religious symbols of a distinctly Protestant nature. To finish it off, every third bead was oh-so-carefully emblazoned with a Bible reference. I wore my bracelet with pride, imagining myself an incredible witness for Christ, sure that everyone would notice the beads and want to talk about them, and expecting that the references would remind me to be a better person.

After a day or two, I learned a hard truth.

Obscure abbreviations coupled with numbers separated by a colon mean nothing.

Sure, many people recognize John 3:16, even if they don't know the verse or why so many people care about it. People on both sides of the Prop 8 debate know that there's a book called Leviticus, and every apocalypse theory buff loves (or hates) Revelation. No, not RevelationS. (Just like it's not "SafewayS," but that's another issue.).

But there's nothing magical about a few letters and numbers, be they on a wooden bracelet created by a kid figuring out her religious identity, printed on the bottom of a cup that happens to contain one of the greatest fast-food shakes in America, or engraved as part of a serial number on a rifle scope.

Yeah, people actually do that. The verses in question reference light, which apparently has something to do with how the scopes work, although I'm not sure how shooting people has anything to do with following Christ.

Now, many religions recognize that objects can be blessed, set aside for a purpose, imbued with something extra. Sometime in the near future, my priest will come to my home and pray and fling water about the place, and will somehow extend the grace of God into our home.

Ancient rituals and prayers can convey grace. I'm pretty sure that other actions or objects can bless something, as well, but Scripture references? I don't think they do any more to rifle scopes than they did to my soon-forgotten beads.

Back to the Future

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:26:00 +0000

Our children are our future.

I'm going back to the children tomorrow.

Therefore, I'm going back to the future.

Immunity

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:51:00 +0000

Someone once gave me false hope by explaining that after 2 or 3 years, a teacher's immune system adjusted and the person wouldn't get sick as often.

I don't remember who that person was, but he or she is a big fat liar and should be damned to the part of hell where kids sneeze in your face, let you know that they had swine flu AFTER they've been coughing in your classroom for three weeks, and pick their noses just before they turn in essays.

After conquering a bout of the flu, with the assistance of self-harm-inducing Tamiflu, I had a week or two of peace before my darling husband, whose job requires him to meet with teachers all over the area, brought home a precious little sniffle.

I was hoping to stay late on Friday to help my students with a project. Didn't happen. I had to resort to "I shall stay until the Kleenex runs out." Not as poetic as Poppins, but hey, she's practically perfect in every way.

I was hoping to spend the weekend brainstorming new and amazing lesson plans for the new and amazing grading period, attending church for the first time in weeks (It's St. Nicholas day, and our church is named for St. Nick, so it's a pretty good day to go), and picking out a Christmas tree. Instead, I spent it in bed reading mediocre but loveable novels. Made it through a Temperance Brennan and 1-1/2 Twilight volumes. I crawled out of my room this afternoon to throw together examples for tomorrows lesson, and now I'm ready to crawl back.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping just to make it through the school day. Let's see what happens.

Good night, and good health.

Your, um, daughter?

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:41:00 +0000

I took a group of my 8th grade girls to visit a Catholic college-prep girls' only school. Most people come with their daughters, but my girls' parents were unable to attend because of work.
After sending the girls to the gym for their student presentation, I made my way to the library for the parent information session.

Here's the problem: I'm 27. I was 14 when most of my girls were born. I look my age.

Every time a presenter mentioned something about "your daughters," I got funny looks. Their thoughts were almost audible: "Is she really a parent of an 8th grade girl?" "Does she just look really young? How does she do that?" I was ready to market my own line of wrinkle-reducing potions when the other leader of my group, an alumnus of the school, stood up and introduced herself.

She mentioned that she and another teacher had brought a group of students. I was sitting across the room from her, and made no move to identify myself, but there was an instant sigh of relief as heads whipped around, frantic eyes zeroing in on me, tentative smiles begging for confirmation that I was, in fact, that other teacher and not a parent.

Prejudice? No, not here! Never!

Inequity Sux

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:48:00 +0000

Field Trip! I took a group of girls to the local college-prep catholic girls' high school for the 8th grade day, and came back feeling 2 extreme emotions: excitement and anger.

I'm excited because this is an amazing opportunity. Twenty-two girls went today, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of them were accepted to the school. The teachers are phenomenal, the resources are out of this world, and the academic program, with its Social Justice focus, is everything I could want for my girls.

Here's where the anger comes in.

Why should only a few of my girls (and the guys who are accepted to the all-boys school) get these opportunities? The students at my school are no less deserving than those whose parents can shell out $13,500 every year.

I don't begrudge the school or its students the resources they have, especially because they seem to make good use of their location and don't buy or build things they don't need. Their library isn't impressive, but they're just down the street from the amazing 8-floor City/University library.

They should have the lab equipment and darkrooms and art studio.

So should every kid.

They should have the amazing teachers who benefit from worthwhile professional development.

So should every kid.

They should have the interactive curriculum enhanced by local and global trips.

So should every kid.

When I arrived back at school, I discovered a visitor. One of our students who graduated a few years ago was back to say hello, and she described her high school experience. "Some of the teachers are really good, but if they stick you with a bad teacher, it's terrible." This bright, intelligent young adult went on to describe schedule problems, missed opportunities, and trouble that she never would have faced at a private college prep school.

Our free public schools should be well-equipped to prepare our kids to compete. The problem isn't just that we don't have enough money; the problem is misused funding, an inappropriate focus on standardized testing, and a lack of quality teacher training.

And our kids suffer for it.

What a surprise: Teacher Talk Strains Voices, Especially For Women

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:38:00 +0000

ScienceDaily published an article this week entitled Teacher Talk Strains Voices, Especially For Women. A study by the National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS) concluded that female teachers use their voices 10% more than their male counterparts while teaching, and 7% more at home. The deputy director of the NCVS alluded to a higher number of voice problems in females, although the article failed to enumerate the type and severity of those problems. So, I'll have to fill in my own details:

I probably do talk more than my male colleagues, although I doubt that I speak louder. Perhaps my "teaching" voice is louder as compared to my everyday voice, though - I've always been one of those weaker speakers, despite my best strengthening efforts. You'd think that constant talking since the start of my career would help, but it hasn't, really.

I do have a number of voice problems. I'm recovering from the flu, which hit me like a bus last week, and my first symptom was a sore throat and a strained voice. Yes, strained like the peas meant to be fed with a small rubber-coated spoon. Mushy and kinda gross.

This is my 6th year of teaching, but it's the first in which I haven't lost my voice the second week of school. Also the first when my calves aren't killing me at the end of the day, but that's due in part to my decision that it really is okay to wear sneakers to school.

My singing voice has gotten worse. It was already pretty bad to begin with, but now it's absolutely horrible. I may also be losing my hearing.

When will OSHA recognize this as a safety hazard and require school districts to purchase those cool teacher microphones that hang around your neck?

Sweet Success

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:50:00 +0000

A gigantic environmentally-friendly lightbulb flashed on in my class yesterday. One student, whom I'll call Emily because that's totally not her name (and I'm sad about the lack of a new Bones episode this week) finally figured out how to write! I'm not quite sure what happened. I had already given detailed instructions, and this is my third year as her Language Arts teacher so I KNOW that she's been taught this stuff before, but she's just never really done well with writing.

During the after-school homework center yesterday, Emily was a little distracted by her friends (completely engrossed in a conversation), so I separated the group. Not an uncommon occurence. Instead of sitting and pouting like some of them tend to do, she started working on the book report. She needed more guidance, so I gave her the same step-by-step instructions I've been teaching her class since 2007. This was the time! It worked! She had already read her book carefully, which may have been the missing ingredient before. She took the instructions, worked on them, brought her writing to me to check, revised, checked it again, revised it again, and ended up with a composition that rivals the top students in the class!

Emily was completely shocked with herself, and I think I am too. Honestly, if I hadn't watched her write it, I would have doubted her honesty.

What in incredible boost this is for both of us! Emily is a good kid, and if she doesn't always work as hard as she could, she has shown the desire to do well. Algebra has been a pain for her, and I've seen her self-confidence take a blow, but now she knows, like I already knew, that she's capable.

Lesson learned for me, too. Even though I've been with them for a really long time, a number of my students might need just one more explanation, just a little bit more help, so they can get it.

Promethean Training San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:40:00 +0000

The alarm went off waaaaay too early for a Saturday morning, and I found myself blinded by the rising sun in my rear view mirror as I headed up to The City (that's San Francisco for you non-Bay Area friends) to O'Connell High School for a Promethean training conference.

I arrived in time to check in, pick up my pre-printed name tag and stylish Promethean-orange gym bag full of goodies, and select my breakout sessions. Well, that took slightly longer than it should have. This interesting lady must have had an earlier morning than mine. Based on the glazed look on her face, I don't think she was being pushy, I suspect that in her altered mindset she just didn't see me 2 steps away from the table. She stood in front of the sign in sheet I wanted for several minutes, gazing as if analyzing the effect of the black ink and white paper on the orange tablecloth, writing nothing, then turned around, gave me a Luna Lovegood-esque smile, and wandered along to get in someone else's path.

The bag full of goodies was nice, but mean. A USB drive (4G, baby!) with all of the day's presentations, a cheap-looking pen that writes really well, a folder with maps and schedules and such, a lanyard to hold our ActivPens (remember my earlier post about the McActivNation.com?), and (drumroll please), an ActivExpression device. What? Really? They're GIVING us one of these? Wait, why are they only giving us one? Are we supposed to use it today and then give it back? As these thoughts of wonderment raced through my head, my greedy paws reached down, rummaging through to get a firm grasp...my fingers grasped the device...

...and sank about 1/8th of an inch into the soft rubber foam.

My heart sank, and I'm sure someone with a hidden camera was laughing at my look of dismay as I discovered that no, Promethean was not struck by a sudden sense of generosity (that would come later), but rather had given us stress-ball-like things in the SHAPE of the ActivExpression devices (seriously, if you haven't clicked the link yet, check it out. These things are amazing!).

Still, the USB drive and the pen and the bag were pretty cool, and I was glad to see that they printed out as few things as possible. Smart people.

After a super-healthy carb-and-sugar breakfast of my favorite type of donut (maple-glazed old-fashioned), my favorite bagel (blueberry with strawberry jam), and some decent decaf coffee with real milk (bless these people!), I made my way into the general session and sat in the back with some other people from my district.

It's a good thing we were sitting in the back, because...well...I'll let my twitter posts tell you.

Wow. They just started the mood music. Please let this be a joke!about 11 hours ago from txt

#promethean it doesn't sound like a joke...about 11 hours ago from txt

#promethean the mood music is still going! I wonder if this guy brings the pianist to classroom...about 11 hours ago from txt

#promethean this should have ended 2O minutes ago. At least. Is he this self-aggrandizing in his classroom?about 11 hours ago from txt

#promethean this guy has no problem complimenting himself. Okay, you made a difference. Great. Now teach us something!about 11 hours ago from txt

#promethean this music makes me feel like i'm on hold...about 11 hours ago from txt

#promethean he's done! The whole message was "you touch lives. Don't give up." thanks, i didn't know that!about 11 hours ago from txt

Now, that's not the whole story (check my twitter feed for that), but it is the reason why it's a REALLY good thing we were sitting in the back. It was hard to keep from giggling! I did enjoy seeing the multimedia magazine his class produced, and the presentation gave me some ideas of things I could do with my own students.

When the keynote speaker was done with his Hallmark card, we went to our breakout sessions. Having suffered through two years of BTSA, I appreciated the simplicity of this conference: we went to a total of two breakout sessions, 2 hours each, and learned enough information to be useful but not so much that we were completely overwhelmed. No stupid activities, no patronizing or time-wasting presenters, just information and guided practice. In my first session, I learned how to use three of the slightly-more-complicated features of the software. The second session focused on the design of our classroom presentations (like a PowerPoint slideshow, only WAY better). It was led by the keynote speaker, and I was a little dubious after his silliness that morning, but it turned out to be informative and helpful. The first hour saw instruction and examples, and the second hour was help creating our own flipcharts. I learned that I can make 3-D slideshows. How cool is that?

The final session was a demonstration of super-cool features and devices followed by the afore-mentioned generosity. They raffled off technology stuff, including a class set of ActivExpression devices, which one of the Tech people from my district won! I was sitting right beside her, so I'm first on the list to borrow it :D

The conference was a lot of fun! They used the Giants - A's rivalry (this is the 20th anniversary of when the two teams played each other in the World Series) and had us each select a team to support. Most of us came dressed in our team colors, which eliminated the need for stupid ice-breakers. Of course, the balance was tipped toward the Giants, considering that the Promethean color is orange (and the Giants are a better team!). I learned some new skills, got the seeds of new ideas, and am ready to go improve my own instruction.

Yay for the Promethean McActiveNation.com!

Drama, advocacy, and oops...

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:02:00 +0000

This may come as a shock to you all, so please be sure you're sitting down.

Sometimes 8th grade students don't react in the way you intended.

Are you okay? Breathing? Should I get you some oxygen? Because I know that's a shock to your system!

Here's the story.

No, here's the background.

Our school has an Advisory class. Students in this class stay together for each subject instead of splitting up and going their separate ways. They have different teachers and go to different rooms, but we work to achieve truly tight-knit teams.

Sometimes that backfires.

Now here's the story.

On Friday, I checked homework for one of the classes, whose Advisory teacher happens to be fairly new to the school and is having a hard time being consistent with all-school practices. The Language Arts class usually ends with a reflection, and I started the time with a conversation about the homework that I had just checked. I explained that based on the quality of this work compared to what they have created in the past, I could tell that they were not using their homework and Advisory time well. After a brief discussion of what they could do and where they needed help, they started writing. The question for the written reflection had two parts: "Are you doing your best in Advisory?" and "What do you need to do to make your class better?"

Now, I expected that a few students might realize that their Advisory class could be a LOT better if they controlled themselves, rather than relying on the teacher to control them. They're not little children, after all. I hoped that they would step up and lead the class.

However, it slipped my mind that we've also been emphasizing the skill of self-advocacy. These students will be leaving our little cocoon next year and jumping into large high schools, and we've been talking a lot about how important is to speak up for what you need.

So, this class took the written reflection, and apparently combined it with the self-advocacy lessons...and had a class meeting during lunch. Based on the random conversations I heard after school, they drew up a list of everything that was wrong with their class, especially the Advisory teacher, and presented it to him after lunch. They chose to "make their Advisory better" by telling the teacher what was wrong with him!

I don't know much more than that, and I don't know how much to worry.

Are the kids truly working to improve their class, or have I given them silent permission to be rebellious? Is this going to deal a blow to the school culture, or will it be the crisis that turns us all toward a better path?

Am I going to be seen as an instigator? This other teacher and I don't always see eye-to-eye and, although I try to be professional, the kids have surely noticed by now, especially since he has made a habit of criticizing me in front of them while I'm in the room. I didn't actively want to cause trouble in this class, but trouble has been brewing since the first week of school. Am I an instigator? Is this my silent revenge?

How do I handle this?

Shameless Plug

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Yes, it's my first blog post in a while, and I'm out begging. Please check out my request on DonorsChoose.org! People who donate, even small donations like $10 or $25, get thank you cards and super-cute pictures of the kids using their new dictionaries!

share

That link looks weird. If it doesn't work, post a comment and I'll fix it.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Creepy Stalker Tech Guy

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:45:00 +0000

As promised, I'm finally sitting down, practically at the scene of the crime, to let you laugh and cry with me over the antics of our own local Creepy Stalker Tech Guy.

I hope you appreciate the risks I'm taking in telling this story. No, I probably won't be kidnapped or tortured, but getting on the wrong side of the computer tech people in any business can sink you like a lead balloon, and I wouldn't be surprised if CreepyStalkerTechGuy has installed a keystroke-logger on my machine.

Scary, you say? Yeah. It is.

It all began at the start of the last school year. In years past, work orders for computer-related problems could take forever to process, so we were all happy when the district hired a few more IT people and assigned one of them to our school site, which is shared by two schools. I needed some software updates, so the new guy came in after school.

I quickly discovered that he talks better than he works.

Within 30 minutes, he had poured out his entire life story, moaning and groaning about how he kept losing jobs because he had to go to court over a custody battle from his nasty divorce, but he was ready to start dating again, get back into a relationship...

...and suddenly I recognized the warning signs I haven't seen since high school. This guy was about to ask me out! There were students still on campus, people wandering in and out of the room, and he was planning the unthinkable!

So, quick as I could, I "accidentally" dropped a pencil on the desk in front of him and, of course, picked it up with my LEFT hand. He saw the diamond and caught the hint, or so I thought.

"So, are you engaged or married?"

"I'm married."

"Oh..." He thought for a moment.

And then came the icing on the cake.

"Are you...HAPPILY married?"

I didn't think my eyebrows could travel any further up my forehead, but apparently my bugging eyes weren't the "SHUT UP" signal to him that they are to my students. A terse "yes" ended the conversation, but not forever.

On subsequent trips to our school, which happened way more often that I would have liked, he continued his creepy flirting with myself and other teachers, made comments to a male teacher about how much he likes working at our site because of all the attractive females, talked the ears off our overworked administrative assistant and, worst of all, tried to start a conversation with me about "all these people who don't speak English." Not a good plan - our school is 87% Hispanic. Just because we're the only two caucasian redheads within 20 miles does NOT mean we're MFEO!

By now, everyone at the school was having fun laughing about how much attention our whole site was getting, thanks to me, but it was becoming really creepy. Then, my friend put in a computer work order to have some new software installed, and it was software that I had been wanting. When I saw CreepyStalkerTechGuy in the office the next day, I asked, half-joking, if he was there to install the upgrade. Imagine my surprise when he started following me to my classroom. As I told him, I didn't even remember if I had put the work order in yet.

After spending two hours - yes, TWO HOURS!!! - in my classroom, he was running through the work orders to see if he could come up with any other reason to stay. "Um, do you need Shockwave?" As I checked off the work order, I realized something. Something that was going to get me into hot (scalding, boiling, pressure-cooker) water with my friend. This wasn't my work order, it was hers! She had already left for the day, so I asked him to come back at 11 the next day, when she would just be dismissing her summer school class.

He came at 10. He very rudely informed her that he had a lot of work to do, and that if she couldn't give him the computer right then - in the middle of her class - that she'd just have to wait until he could come back.

Um, CreepyStalkerTechGuy? You do know that we only have, like, 10 people on our staff, right? And we all are pretty good friends? And we talk, like, all the time? So everyone is quite aware that you spent 2 hours at my computer, ignoring everyone else at my school and the other 40 people on this site who ALL have computer needs the week before school starts, including the guys who ended up not having the Internet the second day of school when ALL OF OUR ATTENDANCE AND GRADES ARE KEPT ONLINE??? YOU DON'T KNOW THIS???

This has gone way beyond funny, "oh, he's got a crush on Manda, put her name on your work orders and trade computers with her so that the work will get done quickly." No, this has gone to the point where I have HR's extension on a post-it by my phone, and if he pulls this crap one more time, he'll probably lose his job.

Again.

But it's HARD!

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:27:00 +0000

The first assignments are due on Tuesday, and the after school homework centers have been ringing with the proclamation: it's HARD!

Yes, dear, it's supposed to be hard. You're in 8th grade. It's Algebra. What, you think it should be easy?

Most of my students are tackling their most difficult assignments first; they are ferocious in their desire to conquer the Algebra and Physical Science, to prove that they can do it, to exercise their atrophied brains, but how long will the honeymoon last? Soon they'll start dropping off, deciding that it's not worth doing because it's just too hard.

Some of my favorite writers have described the writing process, and something seems to be missing: how easy it all is. Stephen Fry just posted a mini-blog about a looming deadline, and he, along with his gazillions of commenters, seems to be constantly surprised by how difficult it is to finish a novel. He quotes his friend Douglas Adams (oh, to have such friends!), saying "'It is almost impossibly hard, [...] It is supposed to be. But once you truly understand how difficult it is,' he added, with signature paradoxicality, 'it all becomes a lot easier.' " The "Why We Write" series over at Wordpress lists writer after writer who, like Fry, find their work as difficult and sometimes dreary as the most burnt-out Algebra student.

This is a long weekend, ironically named "Labor Day." On Tuesday, we'll all get back to the hard work of teaching students to work hard.

A Dell's Demise

noreply@blogger.com (Manda) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:45:00 +0000

I love technology. If I could find a computer that would brush my teeth for me, it would be mine as soon as possible.

I love technology in my classroom. Every yearly plan since I started teaching has included awesome variety of lesson plans using software, blogs, typing programs, movie making, and a list of websites that almost rivals Larry Ferlazzo's. Just kidding. Nobody rivals Ferlazzo.

Here's the problem: my computer is about to crash. It's SOOOOO slow that it took me 30 minutes to print 3 seating charts from Excel today. No, not to MAKE the seating charts. Those were already done. To. PRINT. them. You know, select the cells, go to the page setup, fit to 1x1, print, OK? Yeah. 30 minutes. Seriously, I'm already making funeral arrangements - do you think white carnations are too passe?

I'm preparing for the inevitable by saving EVERYTHING on a flash drive AND uploading it to Google Docs in order to make it as non-panic-inducing as possible, but when THE CRASH happens, I'll be stuck. I probably won't get another computer, even though there are a bazillion new computers sitting in the district warehouse, because the school budget can't cover it. It really doesn't help that more than half our staff has suffered the loss of their computers in the last year. (All of these machines are 5 or 6 year old Dells. Surprised?).

When teachers lose the use of their computers, we have to spend the rest of the year (and possibly the year after) using machines from the laptop carts that were SUPPOSED to be for student use. Of course, these laptops were bought at the same as the teacher computers, so they're no better than what we have. This practice leads to days like today, when I was planning on using 18 machines from a cart...and I ended up with 6 kinda-sorta working computers. So much for teaching students how to use technology. How much can they learn when 6 kids are crowded around one ridiculously slow machine?

I won't even start on Dell chargers, except to say that I will NEVER EVER EVER buy another Dell because of how terrible their chargers and power supplies are.

I'm tempted to go get myself a netbook (can't afford anything more), but will it run the Promethean software for my board? Can I even GET that software? Of course, the district won't allow me anywhere NEAR the wireless internet with my own machine, which means I'll have to haul out my Big Ol' CAT 5 cord (I'm already asking for a 50' CAT 6 for Christmas). Besides, I was promised a teacher laptop when I signed my contract, and golly-gee-willikers, I think I should have one that works!

Which brings me to another point: The district won't let us do FREAKING ANYTHING to our computers. I can't install or uninstall software, even programs that are horribly outdated behemoths I never use. Not a chance!!! I can't even change basic options, like Power Management configurations. All of those awesome videos and free software resources? Not a chance! You might download naughty things and show them to all the poor innocent young children!!! They've locked down the machines "for our protection," but what good does that do when I've STILL managed to get the DownandUp virus? In order to get anything fixed on my compuer, I have to put in a work order and hope that CreepyStalkerGuy comes to fix it. By the way, CreepyStalkerGuy knows less about computers than I do, and I took the majority of my computer classes before 2000.

So, sorry Scott McLeod. You have awesome ideas to go with your strong opinions but, unfortunately, neither does me any good. I had the best-laid plans for my students to collaborate online, communicate, learn and grow and become part of the global community. Instead, thanks to the idiocy of our setup, the only thing my students know about technology is how frustrated their teachers are.

Photo Credit Kevin on Flickr Creative Commons