Katy’s Pedagogy Blog

This chapter was a nice summary of the direction in which we have been headed in this program. We just need to focus on how far we have come and go even farther!  I thought it very depressing that teachers who leave the field “cannot imagine ways to make their teaching career satisfying.”(p.476) How do we get so beaten down in the schools that we lose our vision? It is sad to realize how far we still have to go and easy to get bogged down in the bureaucracy.  There are many problems with public schools that are above my level but I recognize that some are within my reach. While teacher attrition is not an issue at my school, I have been at other schools where many of the attrition issues mentioned have been a factor. Bilingual teachers are overtaxed serving as translators for non spanis speaking teachers. Problems that seem to plaque all schools include mentor programs that are nonexistent unless supervisory in nature (more intimidating for a new teacher than helpful) and teacher inservices are ridiculous when what we need is time to collaborate or work in our rooms.  Changes have not been made at the county level even though we continue to fill out surveys about what we need. We just seem to get more added on.  Teacher shortages continue but I keep hearing that teacher programs are getting harder to get into for undergrads.  Low salaries and  raises that don’t cover the increase for our health insurance are a fact of life. Why is it surprising that we have shortages in math and science teachers who have at least a minor in it when they could make more money doing anything else with that degree. The only way to advance in pay is to get a higher degree or go into administration. Why do we put up with it?  Maybe because there are so many policy decisions that happen above the level of my school and even my county that affect the children with whom I work and if I get to bogged down in that my job could get pretty depressing.  I like to instead focus on the things I can change and remind myself of all the lives that I have touched already.  I think that I am even more equipped after this experience to see injustice in my school  and look for solutions to solve the problems that reflect the state of our society as a whole. I LOVED the quote from Dewey on page 492  “Learning which develops intelligence and character does not come about when only the textbook and the teacher have a say….every individual becomes educated only as he has an opportunity to contribute something from his own experience, no matter how meager or slender that backround of experience may be at a given time, and finally…..enlightenment comes from the give and take, from the exchange of experiences and ideas.” That is so powerful and I strive to think about that as I interact with all my students.

Assessment stinks- is it just evil or a necessary evil? I am not really sure. No matter what form it takes (traditional or dynamic) it is still assessment. By nature, there is will always be a power issue- ultimately there is a grade or evaluative component. Parents want to see a number to know how their kids measure up. When I start treatment with a kid, it is necessary that I take baselines to have a point of reference on how far the kids have come or how little they have progressed and ultimately that translates into a score.  There is no perfect method of assessment. Dynamic assessment leaves room for teacher bias and it seems some people always do more work than others when assignments  are vague or left up to the doer with little direction from teachers.  We use rubrics for language which are required by the county to measure progress but they are very hard to use because often kids are between scores. I can tell more about a kid from just  talking to him than I learn from his test score  or looking at the rubric from last year. When I test, kids who could benefit from therapy often do not qualify because their standard scores are too high but they can’t put together a sentence. We use dynamic assessment(language sample, checklists) but that component does not weigh as much as the traditional cut and dry test scores. 

I found it very interesting to read about the roots of  testing in China and then about report cards being based on the transmission model which seems so outdated but is still widely used. I was especially interested in the discussion of IQ. I find it wonderful but difficult to picture a society where people are not defined by a number on a test that does not give all equal opportunity for success.  Schools are so concerned with the ability of a child that it becomes the only thing driving the way that child is taught. How many times do we hear that a child is giving us the best he has based on his COGAT score or on the other hand how smart a kid is based on a high score on the same test. Gifted comes down to a score on a test, college scholarships and entrance come down to a test, entrance to grad school and many fields come down to a test. At every point along the path of my education I was measured primarily by how my number compared to others on a test. All of us had to take a test to get into this program. Universities need a way to cut off who is accepted and rejected and scores are an easy way to do in the preliminary stages.   SAT, GRE, PRAXIS, MAT- students will not be able to be anything but a number until these practices are revised. I think it comes from the top and high stakes testing will continue to give the kids who “do school” well an advantage as long as the current system is in place.

While I was reading this chapter, I kept thinking back to my first school and contrasting it with my present situation. The school was in a low income and predominantly minority suburb of Dallas, Texas.  It had high transiency and the demographics changed dramatically in the three years I was there.  The principal made it a priority to involve parents and slowly it worked. She encouraged parents to join the PTA by providing childcare for parent meetings, and utilizing bilingual parents to volunteer alongside Spanish speaking parents in classrooms.  She moved the parents from Joyce Epstein’s levels on page 391 from parenting to communicating to the beginnings of volunteering. Getting parents to come to IEP meetings was more difficult and when parents did come they had little opportunity to express their opinion. Professionals usually spoke to and made eye contact with the interpreter  rather than the parent. Documents were sent home in Spanish but phone communication was difficult because of the language barrier. The school had only one bilingual teacher and she was overused to call parents on behalf of the school. There were many barriers to engaging parents and the community but it happened slowly because the principal was persistent. I spent most of the time at that school wishing that the parents would be more involved and take more of an interest in their child’s progress.

My current school has participation and involvement that borders on too close of a relationship. Parents are seen on a daily basis in a variety of capacities. The community is involved through our partners in education program.  Several local businesses support our school with monitary gifts or services. Local high school students come daily to tutor as part of the RISE program. There is never a problem staffing school events with parent volunteers. We have an Arts in Education day where artists from the community come in for the day to provide programs for the kids.

From these 2 very different schools, I have learned that education is a top priority for all, parents just differ in how they go about it. Parents at my current school are so involved that they know exactly what to do to get the teacher they want or to ask why their child did not get into Target.  They seem to feel entitled and powerful in interactions with the school.  I could relate to the section about too much involvement and I related to too little involvement from my first school.

I also kept thinking how can teachers can find so much time outside of school to give so much. Many of the teachers discussed in the text are first year teachers, will they burn out if they keep the long hours? Do they have a family of their own? I recall spending a lot more time and money on my students before I had kids. I had a family that I was very close with and went to dinner to see how the child was carrying over to the home setting. I am not trying to say this can not be done but it would take time away from my kids and family and I am not willing to make that sacrifice on a regular basis.  I think across the board, there is not enough collaboration at my school which makes it difficult to get kids the services or help they need at school or outside. I appreciate the bridge building model although I must admit that I am having trouble thinking of ways to promote it with my own kids.  I guess that I have been in that mindset from church that it is  give to those in need is good so I have always done so. My question is how do I give examples of this sort of everyday bridge building and foster that in my children when I am not sure what that looks like in everyday life? I absolutely get it with the example of the shoes in the chapter and I would never have done that. Is it ok to send a care package anonymously to the same child because you see they have a need? Just trying to work this all out because subtle differences to us make so much of a difference to others.

I have wondered a lot over the course of this program about the culture of my school and I am thinking after reading it that we have a good start but there is always room for improvement. If schools with positive cultures share similar characteristics then how does my school stack up?

1. Shape sense making: genuine change seems to be blocked at my school and reforms are not taken seriously. RtI is a perfect example and that comes from the top even above our school administration. The process was not implemented well and necessary resources have not been given to allow students to be served appropriately. Proposals for real change are given the courtesy of an ear but seem to never really be heard.  Many suggestions for helping the RtI process run more smoothly have been ignored.

2. Teach all students well: Teachers maintain caring relationships with students who are easy to like and make teaching them easy but what about the students who are not so cute or popular. I don’t think that ALL students are taught well by ALL teachers and that seems to be ok where certain teachers are concerned. That should never be tolerated. There also does not seem to be a press for social justice or even an awareness here and teachers rarely inquire as to why things are run the way they are.

How does our mission statement really take shape? It reads “_____ School is committed to providing a safe, positive, and nurturing environment which accepts children as unique individuals and prepares them to be life-long learners.” Is our school really that safe? Probably not for the kids who are picked on at school whether it be by teachers or peers. Do all kids feel supported and encouraged at school? Not when negative comments are made about feeling sorry for smart kids who have to sit in an inclusion class. The implication of course is that some kids are not smart and they are jeopardizing their more capable peers.  I also wonder about the kids that receive tutoring after school for the CRCT. They are picked because of a dangerously low (according to school standards) score on Fall standardized testing. Do they need it or are being profiled? I am not sure.

I don’t think that all students have equal access to the curriculum and I think that tracking of a sort is still in place. For example, kids seem to be parked in special education and rarely get out. The reasons vary but seem to be related to the desire to keep a certain number of kids in special ed to maintain teaching allotments. I have also noticed that as kids go into middle school they are encouraged to take small group classes despite their success in the less restrictive inclusion setting.  The lead teacher from middle school tells parents that if small group is too easy then the kids will be promoted to inclusion but I doubt if that happens. The longer the kids stay in small group the less likely they are to keep up with the faster paced inclusion setting after missing only a few weeks. At our school I have noticed that it seems to be the same kids who get all of the honors. All one has to do is go to the fifth grade end of the year awards ceremony or look at the chorus play cast to see that. I have also noticed that there are teachers who are not concerned that groups of popular kids pick on unpopular kids but can’t stand dealing with academically challenged kids who get on their nerves or need modifications to succeed.  When kids are not succeeding, teachers are very quick to attribute the difficulty to ADHD or lack of meds but unwilling to try to help the student.

On a positive note, our school has stepped out of the box with respect to the question of small schools being more conducive to learning. We have a family grouping in which the same kids are kept together from 2nd to 5th grade and in which they participate in multi age groupings at least once a week. Very constructivist with cross grade level planning and strong team collaboration. This model is highly requested by parents.  The other thing we do is looping where a teacher moves with their class to the next grade level.

The schools diversity is often masked by the feeling that the kids have been socialized into the same middle class value system. Teachers do not seem to take the time to find out what cultural “toolkits” kids bring to the classroom or to “applaud the backgrounds and beliefs” of kids.  Lastly, I would like to say that my school is a good place to be and these are just some things that I want to consider in light of this reading and this program as a whole. I am sure that most schools have issues of one sort or another and ours are workable. There are teachers who are likeminded and open to change which is exciting! Change is coming slowly but at least it is coming!

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to listen to and learn from Paul Gorski. I feel like I have grown so much over the course of this program and then I realize I have so much to learn!  His demonstrations of inequities were so clear and thought provoking. We talked a lot in the car about the socialization factor and how our beliefs are so ingrained in how we think and even treat or look at other people. I kept thinking how long it took me to realize how I have been socialized and to critically think about how that relates to every part of my life and how I still have so much to learn. I also wondered if Paul had come in the fall if I would have gotten as much out of it as I did at this point. I think probably not because there were so many things to work through that got me to this point.   That got me thinking about how I wished more people could hear him and how much marketing makes a difference. Ruby Payne is selling out because she markets an idea that fits the current quick fix, here’s a list of things to take back to your school and use.  To be receptive to what Paul has to say would take most people more than a day. Look how long it has taken our EdS group!

I definitely took away the idea that we are more like each other than like the upper class with all the power.  We do spend a lot of time fighting each other while no one is looking at what the real problem is or even what we are fighting for! As long as that continues, nothing will change because no one works together for the solution.  He also reminded me that this really is more about race than anything.  The Paris Hilton example was great because all of those descriptors fit her but few people react negatively towards her. 
The next day when Caren and I were talking she said something that I am sure is true. The upper class probably looks down at  the middle class saying things like “they are so silly, they have to finance a car/house” or “they have to save money to buy a plane ticket.”  I also have found myself the last couple of days thinking about the impact of the consumer based mentality and the need to acquire more stuff. We passed by a huge house last night on the way home and said “they should be ashamed.” So when I think about what I can do in class. I think about teaching kids to think critically about things they see and hear to foster critical thinking skills about truth and who benefits from perpetuating a certain version of the truth. 

Who is Ruby Payne? I am really not sure since I have never heard of her until this class. From the viewpoint of this author, she seems to be out only to capitalize on a hot issue. I would like to think that she was well intentioned but missed the boat on how to go about it and ended up doing more harm than good.  As far as her being an opportunist, I think that can be said of most people who make the tour of schools on the inservice circuit. As long as the schools are looking for a quick fix in a one day inservice there will be someone waiting in line with THE ANSWER and schools are happy to pay big bucks for it. I am sure many would agree that teachers have no say in who we listen to at inservice or how much time we waste doing it. We are so tired of wasting our time on the latest buzzword. How much do schools waste annually on these ventures?

On the aha! website, Ruby states that her mission is to “postively impact the education and lives of people in poverty throughout the world.” She has been a professional educator since 1972, from high school teacher, principal, central office administrator, to educational consultant so it seems that she would have the experience “in the trenches” to write about it. How is it that she does not realize that her work is based on deficit thinking. I tend to think it is because that is the predominant view in education today. She takes the blame off the schools and places it on the kids and their environment which is what schools like to do rather than address the real problem.
I was at a conference this week where one of the speakers focused on vocabulary and how experience and exposure play a crucial role in vocab development which in turn is crucial for reading development and phonological awareness. During the break, two of my fellow conference goers began to speak about why it is that kids from “lower SES” homes are so far behind. They attributed it to what amounts to the deficit theory and I could tell that I have changed because I went off about how it isn’t that simple. On the way home I couldn’t stop thinking about how complex it is to reverse that way of thinking because it is so prevalent! I was listening to the speakers with a different perspective as a result of this program and everything they said seemed to be catering to the status quo. How many educators will ever see that this is a type of propoganda and not truth when it is so pervasive everywhere we look?

I really enjoyed reading this article because this is the setting in which I am working and living.  Mostly, I liked it because it forced me to think about my own kids age 3 years and 18 months who are paying attention to everything I do. I know that they will probably internalize the values they perceive me to have as they grow up.  What is it that I want them to learn from me? Am I being transparent enough for them to see my values clearly? I have learned so much about diversity from this class, especially in relation to the “invisible backpack” of luxuries afforded to people like me at the expense of others. I never thought about what I have acheived as anything other than the result of hard work although my culture played a tremendous part. I had the luxury of going to a private school, HOPE grant to pay my tuition expenses, a car and gas money to get me around school, money for an apartment and the meal plan…… The list does not stop there but the point is that until it was explicitly pointed out to me, I did not realize that I have these comforts at the expense of others. All of my friends and all the people I know had them too. Those of you in the North group saw my culture quilt in which I described my high school experience as living in a fish bowl. In most ways, I still feel like that. I live in the suburbs where the majority of people I interact with are white.  I have a dependable job and a safety net to catch me if I fall financially or emotionally. I have insurance and good credit which goes a long way.  Will I ever really be able to completely relate to people that are not like me? Maybe not but I can certainly try. It is definitely not easy and involves daily critical examination of my experiences. I think realizing that I am privileged and that people like me are perpetuating the status quo at the expense of others is a huge step. I will search for ways to teach my children that this is not okay and to keep them from perpetuating the stereotypes that are keeping others down. I strive to raise strong, confident, independent girls who realize that gender will impact how they are treated.

On another note, I ordered a book called “Teaching Tolerance in the Early Grades” last Fall which I am anxious to read because I hope it will give me some good ideas for showing my kids there are other ways to live outside of our fishbowl.  It always makes me wonder, though if teaching tolerance is enough? I guess it is because I think of tolerating in terms of “he tolerated that session well” or “how much can you tolerate?” It seems like a start but not the answer, more passive than active and different from the “profound shift, from viewing the world through a lens of dominance to a committment to equitably shared power and resources” as this article describes on page 1.

I am not sure what I want to write about from this reading.  I have always made an effort to treat all of my students as if they were my own children and more so now that I am a mother. It breaks my heart to think, and know, that in the course of the education of my girls there will likely be a teacher that will not treat them with the care and respect that they deserve. I would never want to be that negative influence for anyone’s child.  I do not employ behaviorist theories of management in my classroom because I have found them to be ineffective. At my school, there is not really a reward within my budget that will be enticing enough to reinforce good behavior and hard work and as a parent if I get into that cycle where does it end. I do not want kids to behave well or work hard because of what I am going to give them. I want them to work hard because they want to do well and be successful. I have tried to eliminate all external reinforcement and when the kids ask what they will get for coming I tell them “The satisfaction of learning your sound and meeting your goals. The kids have become more motivated to complete the work since I have taken the focus off of the reward system.  They get to play a game once a month in which they practice their sounds and inevitably, one child asks “Do I get a prize if I win” Are you kidding me? What about the fun you had playing or the satisfaction of winning. I am hugely concerned about the lack of intrinsic motivation that seems to be pervasive in today’s society and I don’t see that changing as long as we as teachers and parents perpetuate a system of rewards which are external.  I went to a workshop on developing intrinsic motivation several years ago and I still use a lot of the principles spoken about there: focusing on how the kids feel after they have done well or made a mistake in an attempt to avoid placing my value and judgement on their work, allowing them to express the value they place on the thought or product. At home, I scaffold this skill for my girls in hopes that they will learn to regulate their behavior in this way. I do not want them to always look to me to place value on themselves or what they have done because I will not always be there. “Substantial evidence exists that giving external rewards for good behavior can actually diminish students’ intrinsic motivation to learn or to conform to the social norms of the class.”(258) Despite this evidence, schools perpetuate the behavior approach to discipline.

Another thought that really hit home because it is so familiar with the IEP process was the idea that the “most pernicious form of control is in using one’s power (authority, charisma, language, etc.) to cause students or their parents to think that they have made unimpeded choices on their own behalf.”(274) Often as I sit in meetings, I realize that there is a huge amount of language that is over the parents head but contributes to making decisions about their child’s education. Often they are looking to us as the professionals to advise them in the best interest of their child. I have felt many times that educators use this trust to place kids based on political or funding interests with no conscience. When parents are educated, they are viewed as problems or looking for something wrong but I think they are acting out of love to insure that there child gets the education they should. The longer I work in this field the more I agree that “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” I would recommend that all parents be squeaky wheels!

I enjoyed seeing the examples of progressive teaching especially in the area of math because that has always seemed so cut and dry that I could not imagine how it could be taught in a constructivist manner.  I loved the analogy comparing “learning math through traditional instruction “to “learning to dance from a lecture and a book.”  Like the pedagogy article, the chapter sees phonics as “a hierarchy of discrete skills” that have traditionally been taught as rules.  The disturbing issue of reading instruction via direct instruction is revisited.  It seems that in the early elementary grades, teachers emphasize phonics but in the later grades where writing is concerned whole language takes over with the draft, edit, redraft process. With the issue of language arts national standards, we see the pattern of government pulling funds when educators are making progress to change.  It seems that the best way to educate children is not to advocate any one method but to look at the strategies as a menu from which we can pull to benefit each child by meeting their specific needs. We only know what does or does not work because of all the things that have been tried before and proven effective or ineffective. I think that all the approaches to education have something to offer or to learn from that will help us be better teachers.  I could not agree more with the authors statement that  ”effective teachers use multiple approaches.”(p.139)

 I have always witnessed the phonics vs. whole language camps go at it from a distance and known that there are definitely two distinct schools of thought on which is better. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I tend to be more in the whole language camp although I do not teach reading directly. I think phonics does serve a purposein the early years but my experience has shown that many children and especially those with speech impairments have difficulty learning to read through that avenue alone. I do think that phonics is an important part of any reading program but becomes boring when used as drill.  There are several tutors in our area who make big bucks selling phonics instruction to parents as the cure all to reading difficulties. They drill for skills in isolation and when the kids fail to master the goals, they blame it on the lack of emphasis on phonics in the schools.  But I digress….I had no idea that the fight over reading instruction is rooted in politics. I found it disturbing that when teachers banded together and began to show success, they were discredited so easily. I started reading the article feeling encouraged that teachers were making a change but that optimism quickly changed when I saw how the effort was stifled. I was wondering as I read the article how it was that I had no idea how the divide came about and how many other people were in the same boat. So it seems that we are always back to the same question: how do teachers stand up and be heard when there seems to be so much working against us? Is that the million dollar question or what…….