#TBT to #Dinovember

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." -Roald Dahl

Abe and I were Claire and Owen from
Jurassic World for Halloween!

2015 marks my 3rd year of Dino-monthing in my classroom, but the first year of true Dinovember, and not Dinocember, or Dinouary. As I am teaching 4th grade this year, and we don't have a dinosaur unit, my dinosaurs just appeared the first Monday of November, and moved about my classroom at will every day, until the end of November. While unconnected to our academic topics, my students simply rolled with it, as they already know I love dinosaurs. I have dinosaur magnets, dinosaur borders on my bulletin boards, a couple dinosaurs on my bookshelf, and a giant dinosaur welcome sign. I also made a point to wear something with dinosaurs on it every day of the week. This year I debuted a dino skirt from my sister, and some sweet dino dresses from the internet, some earrings, necklaces, and a scarf. And if my friends didn't know of my dino obsession like my kids do, I started with some sweet Dinoctober pumpkins to get in the mood, and had a related costume for Halloween. 

My Dinoctober pumkin!

So, without further ado: Dinovember 2015!

Jurassic times call for Jurassic measures

Dinovember Day 1: It started on a rainy day, but my dinos were warm and dry inside, setting a bad example of playing with the rulers. As I often tell my kids, as they're drumming with pencils or sword fighting with markers: "Those are tools, not toys."

Whiteboards always make math problems more fun!

Dinovember Day 2: At any age, kindergarten to 4th grade and far beyond, writing on whiteboards will likely never cease to be fun!

Way more fun to build towers than count with these.

Dinovember Day 3: We got these giant tubs of math manipulatives with our new curriculum, and one is just full of base 10 blocks. These are kind of foamy and green, a departure from the classic plastic yellow, but still do the job!

I'm an adult with a children's book problem.

Dinovember Day 4: My favorite day, as I get to display my dinosaur book collection, which is ever growing. I got some new ones from the book fair, and others from the thrift shop. 

Dinosaurs everywhere-
note the cards I use to assign class jobs. 

Dinovember Day 5: At my school, they have weekly "awards". There's a spirit award for the most kids in a class to be wearing school colors the previous Friday. It's a stuffed falcon (which is our mascot). There's a golden jumprope, for the class who had the best PE day. There's a golden apple for....honestly, I'm not 100% sure. And, there's the golden shoes, for best behavior in the hallways. The 4th graders are a notoriously loud bunch, and not great at hallway walking, but we have our moments, and the previous week was noted. So the dinosaurs had to enjoy our hard earned week with the shoes...because since then, they have not been to our room.

Nothing like a brand new box of crayons, and some coloring pages.

Dinovember Day 6: Apparently coloring helps with mindfulness, and is all the craze for adults right now. I have never stopped enjoying coloring, and these dinosaurs are over 65 million years ahead of the trend.

At least they're having fun.

Dinovember Day 7: Unclear what game my dinos are trying to play here, what with two incomplete decks of cards, no semblance of organized piles, or turn taking. 52 card pick up, perhaps?

Headphones were obviously not designed for miniature dinosaurs.

Dinovember Day 8: My school's big thing is being the first school in our city to be one-to-one with devices. As a result, I have a class set of chromebooks! The kids love them, there's tons of cool sites that are educational, and I am definitely a Google Classroom convert. It saves paper, and is super easy to assign assignments. 

This game gives you good practice reading obscure dinosaur names.

Dinovember Day 9: I have gone to the thrift shop more times this year than any other. Mostly for kids books, but I created a classroom board game collection and ended up finding this gem: Dinosaur Bingo! Perfect for Dinovember!

Target's dollar store Jenga is called Jumbling Tower.

Dinovember Day 10: Again, we see here that dinosaurs are not great at taking turns, but pretty graceful when it comes to not knocking over unstable towers.

Another thrift shop find!

Dinovember Day 11: There is no such thing as a water dinosaur. Or a flying dinosaur, for that matter. Mosasaurus, who got some fame as a larger-than-life attraction at Jurassic World, and beloved Pterodactyl are not, technically speaking, dinosaurs. That being said, my dinos, for not being water reptiles, were surprisingly adept at naval battle strategy. 

The theme for my parent teacher conferences this week
was to suggest practicing multiplication facts at home.

Dinovember Day 12: I didn't have enough dominos for my dinos to all use them...and the abacus is also not big enough for 6 to share....so, random math items day!

This game was actually not from the thrift shop,
but donated to me from a neighbor.

Dinovember Day 13: The dinosaurs were totally on board for a game of sweet revenge, and actually seem to be following the rules, and taking turns for once!

It's hard to tell, but they are painting pictures of dinos!

Dinovember Day 14: Water coloring is tons of fun, and we've only managed to pull out the water colors twice this year. I have a couple other projects I want to do with my students, but it's so hard to find the time! The dinosaurs had all the time in the world though, because they don't have silly pacing guides, and a million other requirements to get through each day, with not enough time in the schedule for it all.

These blocks haven't gotten much playing time this year
sitting in my garage.

Dinovember Day 15: The final day of Dinovember! Broke out some kindergarten toys, because while my 4th graders don't play with alphabet blocks, my dinosaurs certainly will!

Yay dinosaurs!

By the end, it became clear that Dinocember, much less Dinouary, would not be a thing--I (ahem, my dinosaurs) were running out of things to do--there were way more toys back in kindergarten. While my dinos are secured back at home, waiting for next year, I continue to enjoy dinosaurs every month--not just with my classroom decorations. I got to see some sweet fossils and a special exhibit on sauropods over winter break in Cleveland. I feel so lucky to have grown up in a family that valued educational experiences, and fostered my love of learning so that now, as an adult, I still love visiting museums and learning new things about random topics. I wish my students--many of whom say they don't do anything, or just play video games, or watch TV over weekends and breaks--had the same opportunities to foster their curiosity and visit museums often. Unfortunately, it falls on schools to provide a lot of those experiences because they don't get them at home. And it's really a shame that schools make it so hard to go on field trips--busses are soooo expensive, as are entry fees sometimes, and its hard to get enough parent drivers. Many parents can't take off work, or perhaps don't have licenses, or any number of things. Plus, while field trips, hands on learning, and seeing things for real are some of the best, most engaging, most enriching educational (and life) experiences, if it's not directly related to reading/writing/math--things that are on those annoying standardized tests--it is very hard to provide experiences we know the kids need and deserve. I still do what I can--this year was a pretty decent year for field trips--Sutter's Fort, Yolo Basin Wildlife Area, and our local watersheds of Alamo Creek and Lagoon Valley. But, as a constant refrain in teaching, I wish I could do more.

On Being An Optimist And Spending All My Money

"Teaching is the greatest act of optimism." -Colleen Wilcox

"We expect teachers to reach unattainable goals with inadequate resources. The miracle is this: they often do." -Haim Ginott

With the exception of being a morning person (I'm not), teaching fits me well. I love kids books, school supplies, and I'm a little bit of a hoarder. I believe in the power of education, I assume good intentions, and I think that every kid is capable of learning. It's not always easy to maintain these beliefs. Rather, it's rarely easy, yet every day I have a new chance to try again.

In related news, both Target and Amazon have benefited greatly from my becoming a teacher. While theoretically teachers shouldn't have to buy their own supplies, the reality is that teachers spend a great deal of money--their own money--on school supplies. I certainly have. It's more than just the basics. A lot of the basics are covered either by the school, or rather through parent donations (a result of budget cuts), but if you want to have a decent amount of options for activities or even just putting stuff on the walls, you've got to do a little extra. I have been slowly building up my room, spending money I didn't really have, until my first paycheck came along. It's also been very entertaining to watch my Amazon recommendations shift to kids books and school supplies.

Luckily I didn't have to spend a giant amount on a rug; the school got it for me. It was a very exciting day when it finally arrived. My room finally felt like a kindergarten room! I still have mixed feelings about my desks (I'd rather have tables, or just smaller desks), but hey, I have a sweet rug!

I've got to take pleasure in the little things, like a beautiful rug, and unexpectedly calm moments, because it's easy to get bogged down by everything that is going wrong. The rug didn't really solve behavior issues, because no matter how visual those carpet rectangles are, I have several students (okay, it feels like at least half the class) who cannot for the life of them just stay in one section for longer than 10 seconds. I couldn't have lasted a week in kindergarten if I wasn't optimistic. I have to stay positive, despite constantly feeling like I don't know what I'm doing, or I'm not doing enough for my students. 

So I continue to be as consistent as I can, stick to our routine, and follow through on consequences. Kindergarten is WAY more complicated than anyone, even me, could have expected. I continue to spend more money than I probably should on things for my classroom, from things to help me organize the million things I have to keep track of, to more things (puzzles, prizes, toys, art/school supplies) for my students. Teaching is a huge investment of time and emotion. My weekends are full of prep, and thinking about what I can do differently or what more I can do for my students. There is really no leaving your work at work as a teacher, because the job becomes so personal. 

Yet, I can't imagine doing anything else.

Politics Shmolitics

It's a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes. -Douglas Adams

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -also Douglas Adams

I'll be the first to admit that I don't really understand politics, or how the budget works, or why our government functions the way it does. I don't understand how we got to where we are today--how illogical our politicians are and how a lot of America believes them. Most of all, I don't understand how politicians can say they love our country but are clearly working towards easy fixes and short term gains (ie getting elected). If politicians truly loved and wanted what's best for America, well, education wouldn't have all these budget cuts. And teachers would be paid what they deserve.

But it's not just teaching, it's early childhood education, providing resources and materials to schools, hiring reading/math/art/science specialists, having enough staff to give every student the attention they need and deserve, providing professional development to improve teacher effectiveness, keeping class sizes down, and actually use the information research tells us will help raise test scores. (hint: it's not teaching to the test and eliminating art).

 I've now begun reading the news enough to realize that there are a couple of NY Times columnists who I repeatedly read and agree with. Nicholas Kristof is one, and nearly a year ago I bookmarked this column that he wrote, intending to address it in my blog in a more timely manner. Oops.

But he makes a good point about the long term returns of investing in schools/early education. It just makes sense:

"Maybe it seems absurd to propose expansion of early childhood education at a time when budgets are being slashed. Yet James Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago, has shown that investments in early childhood education pay for themselves. Indeed, he argues that they pay a return of 7 percent or more — better than many investments on Wall Street."

More recently, Kristof addressed the Chicago Teacher's Strike, bringing it back to early childhood education.

America’s education system has become less a ladder of opportunity than a structure to transmit inequity from one generation to the next. [...] The single most important step we could take has nothing to do with unions and everything to do with providing early-childhood education to at-risk kids. 

What I like about Kristof though, is he recognizes what our top priority should be: students. Unfortunately, politics often gets in the way. Yes, unions are important, but they get in the way sometimes too. You might remember the images from Waiting for Superman of the teachers who should be fired for ineffectiveness being sent to rubber rooms, where they are still paid because they are protected. That's not the way it should be. Judging teacher effectiveness is a whole other issue I'm not going to go into just now, but maybe if teachers were well paid and not expected to perform miracles in overcrowded, under-resourced schools--rather given plenty of professional development, we wouldn't have this issue. Teachers should definitely be held accountable for what they can be reasonably expected to do, and it should be easier to fire bad teachers, and hire good ones.

You can't just start giving students a test and claim some teacher is more or less effective based on the results. That's not fair. That's like giving an exam on the first day of a course, and basing your grade on that test before learning any of the information. The fact is, there are a lot of inequalities amongst schools, and it is unfair to judge two very different schools on the same test without first making sure both schools have the resources to reasonably have students at the same standard. So there's one reason why NCLB hasn't fixed our education system.

There is no easy solution, so politicians, journalists and the general population: stop pretending there is one. Stop pretending it's just teacher's unions, or the teacher's themselves who are solely at fault. They may play a small part, but so does access to resources, health, early elementary education, poverty, societal attitudes and a million other issues.

I don't have the answers, and I'm not sure anyone does right now. But we really need to start using the research that is out there, versus playing some stupid blame game. It's no one's fault, and it's all of our faults. Let's move on. I'm hopeful--every week I see more and more articles about what education can and should look like. But now we need to move from words on a paper to action. Yes we can!

Sharing is Caring

My first couple of weeks have been great, mainly because it's refreshing to be back with the kids at school. As much fun as I had in August helping out teachers and being around the school and not having to dress nice, and chatting with staff members, having students in the building reminded me why I am here. And it's so different coming in knowing kids and staff--I feel so much more confident going into this year than I did for the first half of last year. However, I've also had this slow-motion start. For a lot of different reasons, my first couple of weeks have been pretty unstructured and un-busy. This won't be for much longer-I'll start working with kids soon, and it'll all be good. But until then, I've spent some time making little tasks last longer than necessary, and reading up on some online news articles. Which I could argue are mostly education related, and so helps with my professional development, so it's okay that I'm doing this at work. Anyway, I thought I'd make this post a little share-fest, with no overarching theme.

*****

We should take great care not to kill the idealism of the younger generation. [...]  AmeriCorps is not a cure-all for that adversity, but it will give more hope, and research shows some impressive returns for the communities served by AmeriCorps, as well as for the members themselves. For a small living stipend and a scholarship after service is complete, AmeriCorps members meet pressing local and national needs. They invest in their country, and their country invests in them.

Let's think about this for a moment: America needs jobs. America needs to figure out its budget. But what the government wants to cut are programs like AmeriCorps. Well gee, that makes so much sense. Let's cut a program that not only provides jobs, but jobs where the employees are serving in tough areas for not a lot of money. And what is AmeriCorps reminiscent of? The Civilian Conservation Corps, which Franklin Roosevelt successfully started to address unemployment during the Great Depression.

*****

“This push on tests,” he told me, “is missing out on some serious parts of what it means to be a successful human.”  

“All kids this age are having mini-implosions every day,” he said. “I mean, it’s middle school, the worst years of their lives. But the kids who make it are the ones who can tell themselves: ‘I can rise above this little situation. I’m O.K. Tomorrow is a new day.’ ”

“The idea of building grit and building self-control is that you get that through failure,” Randolph explained. “And in most highly academic environments in the United States, no one fails anything.” 

Besides the sweet pictures that go along with this article (seriously, take a second look-they're way cooler than they seem), these ideas of character traits and success fascinated me, psych major that I am. What I think most interested me was the discussion of the difference between the population who attends expensive private schools and KIPP school students. 


When implementing a character curriculum, you could give KIPP students a "character point average," and it would be motivating to work on weaknesses because it's been shown that these traits help get into college. But for the private school kids, character would just become another test to beat. College wouldn't be the same motivation, because there is never any question about whether those kids are going to college. Either way though, character is important. Those who have certain traits--like grit or zest, are more likely to succeed and persevere through the challenges of college.

*****

The application of such research-based strategies to homework is a yet-untapped opportunity to raise student achievement. Science has shown us how to turn homework into a potent catalyst for learning. Our assignment now is to make it happen.

It's frustrating to see that there is so much research out there that helps illuminate how kids best learn, and what works and what doesn't in schools, but that for the most part, policy makers are running in the opposite direction, mostly for monetary reasons. 

*****

The most credible analyses have shown that the chief causes were not demographics or TV watching, but vast curricular changes, especially in the critical early grades. In the decades before the Great Verbal Decline, a content-rich elementary school experience evolved into a content-light, skills-based, test-centered approach.

Verbal scores on the SATs have been declining. Not just verbal scores--today we looked at our MCA test results and everyone in St. Paul declined in math. Reading was mixed. But no one was too close to the 100% NCLB wants for 2014. It's not realistic. Not if the results you demand basically ends up with teaching to tests. Tests that aren't necessarily fair in the first place. And now you're not fostering a love of learning, you're creating an environment where kids don't want to be. It's heartbreaking when every now and then a kid tells me he or she hates school. Yes, we need standards, and objective measures, but we also need kids to graduate--and be literate.

*****

“The real take-home message,” said Peter Ellison, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard who was not involved in the study, is that “male parental care is important. It’s important enough that it’s actually shaped the physiology of men. Unfortunately,” Dr. Ellison added, “I think American males have been brainwashed” to believe lower testosterone means that “maybe you’re a wimp, that it’s because you’re not really a man. My hope would be that this kind of research has an impact on the American male. It would make them realize that we’re meant to be active fathers and participate in the care of our offspring.”

 This article is about how fathers, especially those involved in their children's lives show lowered testosterone levels. It reminded me of a conversation I had with a teacher about one of her students last year. T can be a trouble maker, but he'll admit it. He knows right from wrong, he just has poor impulse control. He also looks up to his dad--last year he was almost in tears because his dad said he'd come to this school event, but hadn't shown up. Unfortunately, his dad isn't the role model T needs--seems to care more about his car than his kid. So his testosterone is probably as high as it ever was. It's heartbreaking, because there's so much potential, and so much a teacher can't control. Especially when most teachers are female--boys need strong male role models, and so many just aren't getting them.

*****

Spears and other researchers argue that this sort of decision fatigue is a major — and hitherto ignored — factor in trapping people in poverty. Because their financial situation forces them to make so many trade-offs, they have less willpower to devote to school, work and other activities that might get them into the middle class.

Decision fatigue is an interesting topic that is putting a name to something many of us already experience. The more decisions you make throughout the day, the less will power you'll eventually have. Once you've depleted those energy stores, there are two common responses. One, is impulsive--buy that Cosmopolitan or that pack of gum when checking out at a grocery store. Get some fries on your way home from work. Buy some shoes/books/movies that you don't really need online. Maybe this is why I (and my parents) often go to REI for one thing, and walk out with five. Spend enough time picking out the item we came for, and get distracted by that nice sweater on sale.  The second response is to maintain the status quo--stick with the default choice, or avoid making a choice at all. This is why people who are up for parole are more likely to get it if they're early in the day--once the decision fatigue sinks in, keeping someone in jail is the safer choice, and can be changed later.


And just like anything I post on this blog, there's the connection to education, which stuck out to me. Even though my kids may not be making most of their decisions--there parents are making those tough trade offs for them--the effect of decision fatigue is still going to hurt them. If their parents don't have the energy to focus on education, you lose some support from home, and parental support is a huge factor in success in school.

*****

The main reason I'm sharing this article is for the following quote:

When I asked Bogin to explain Shchedrovitsky, he asked a question. “Does 2 + 2 = 4? No! Because two cats plus two sausages is what? Two cats. Two drops of water plus two drops of water? One drop of water.” 

Bogin is the founder of the New Humanitarian School in Moscow, where the author sent his three kids while he was living in Russia as a NYTimes foreign correspondent. It was interesting to read about the challenges they went through--but also that this school was not like one you might expect from Russia. One small part of the article that struck me the most was the brief discussion of the almost rebellious success of the school, and the government's reaction-or lack thereof.

He had devised a compelling model that could help rescue the education system. But he was ignored [...] “The authorities do not prevent him from working, but they don’t have any use for him either,” Fadeyev said. “They don’t understand that education reform is the only real source for the revitalization of our country.”

And it struck me that maybe, as high and mighty Americans think we are compared to other countries in terms of democracy and freedom and such, maybe we're not that different from Russia in that we're overlooking education. Overlooking what works best for our children in favor of what looks best from the perspective of lawmakers, and in favor of not spending money.

*****

But how do we expect to entice the best and brightest to become teachers when we keep tearing the profession down? We take the people who so desperately want to make a difference that they enter a field where they know that they’ll be overworked and underpaid, and we scapegoat them as the cause of a societywide failure. 

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t seek to reform our education system. We should, and we must. Nor am I saying that all teachers are great teachers. They aren’t. But let’s be honest: No profession is full of peak performers. At least this one is infused with nobility. 

 Well, maybe if we start treating teachers with the respect they deserve, then the best and brightest may stick around. There are some amazing teachers out there--I work alongside many of them--but it's hard when everyone higher on the food chain beats them down and institutes policies that make them put in more work than necessary, you take some of their energy from pursuing their passion, and pour it down the drain of stupid requirements that takes the fun and creativity out of teaching. 


It's heartening to find articles that back up what I'm thinking about--it means that I'm not having these crazy radical thoughts, and that as it turns out I do, in fact, have a grasp on reality. It gives me hope that if others are thinking what I'm thinking, then these ideas should ideally trickle to the top, and change, for the better, can occur.

*****

Well, that may have been longer than intended. (Shocking, I know. I'm always so concise.) Gold stars to anyone who made it this far. I will literally give you a sticker if you read this whole post. One per article you took the time to read. Goodness knows I have enough stickers. A whole drawer full of them at work, just waiting for my kids (or friends) to do a good job. 

Money Money Money, Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World

"If all the rich and all of the church people should send their children to the public schools they would feel bound to concentrate their money on improving these schools until they met the highest ideals." -
Susan B. Anthony

"In recent years, we've become enamored with our own past success. Lulled into complacency by the glitter of our own achievements. We've become accustomed to the title of Military Superpower, forgetting the qualities that got us there. We've become accustomed to our economic dominance in the world, forgetting that it wasn't reckless deals and get rich quick schemes that got us where we are, but hard work and smart ideas, quality products and wise investments." -Barack Obama, Arizona State Commencement Speech, 2009

My dad has been saving articles about education from the NY Times for me. And they're good--but kind of depressing. Being part of a school impacted by budget cuts, I see first hand what's going on on a larger scale. And reading these articles, I see that it's not just St. Paul, or Minnesota, or Davis, or California that are affected. (The elementary school I attended was closed due to budget cuts while I was in college.) It's Levittown, Pennsylvania, or South Bronx, New York. It's *insert almost any city in the US.* I went to a school board meeting last month, and half of it was a budget presentation. And most of the public comments were complaining about budget cuts--everyone had a story, and a program or job that was unfairly shafted with the new proposal. But there's simply not enough money to go around.

Unfortunately, money speaks louder than what research/logic shows is best for kids. Dave Eggers and Nínive Clements Calegari wrote a great article titled "The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries." The way America values and views the job of teaching affects education. Eggers and Calegari compared how we handle failures in education with failures in the military:

When we don’t get the results we want in our military endeavors, we don’t blame the soldiers. We don’t say, “It’s these lazy soldiers and their bloated benefits plans! That’s why we haven’t done better in Afghanistan!” No, if the results aren’t there, we blame the planners. We blame the generals, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No one contemplates blaming the men and women fighting every day in the trenches for little pay and scant recognition.

And it's true--instead of giving schools extra funding and help so that they can better serve their youth, we take away funding.
There are some wonderful teachers out there who make amazing strides with the children they teach. But these days, it's in spite of the budget (or lack of), and in spite of standardized testing. From another article titled "The Math of Heartbreak," a teacher said "You want to be able to say that the amount of money you have to work with doesn't matter, and you can do the same quality job with less. And we can try to do that, but in what other enterprise is that true?" Unfortunately, money makes the world go round.

Money doesn't buy happiness--but to be happy you still need enough to get by. According to happiness research, there is a correlation between money and happiness--to a point. Once you reach a certain amount of money, your happiness won't increase by getting more. That certain amount though, is the amount to live comfortably. And if you're struggling to get by, as a teacher, how is that going to help your students? The more outside stressors there are, the less energy you're going to have for your kids. And for some of them, you're the last line of defense for a better future, because they're not getting much help in their home life. And instead of empowering kids, the government is telling them they don't care enough about their future to afford everyone a quality education, regardless of color, gender, socioeconomic status, what have you.

Yes, I know the government is having budget issues. And you know what's really going to make a difference? Not cutting the education budget. Because that's an investment in the future. And the amount you're saving now is just pocket change compared to the amount you need to fix the budget. It's like expecting the economy to be fixed because we cut funding for NPR. It's an investment to close the achievement gap--which by slashing the budget we're maintaining--and increasing the gap, and the cycle of poverty. Which it seems that a lot of (rich white male) members of government don't care about, because they're not personally affected by it.

Eggers and Calegari briefly address the money issue:

For those who say, “How do we pay for this?” — well, how are we paying for three concurrent wars? How did we pay for the interstate highway system? Or the bailout of the savings and loans in 1989 and that of the investment banks in 2008? How did we pay for the equally ambitious project of sending Americans to the moon? We had the vision and we had the will and we found a way.

We're AMERICA for goodness sakes. With liberty and justice for all. Those shouldn't just be words, or an ideal. America stands for freedom and equality, but we're not doing a very good job at living up to that. Education has the potential to even the playing field, so to speak. We can do better.

Teachers: Clearly The Number One Threat To America

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. ~Aristotle

It'll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers. ~Anonymous


So with all this stuff going down in Wisconsin, and with budget cuts in educations, and ironically named proposals that instead of building "stronger schools and stronger communities" make their decisions based on economics--not based on what's right for the kids, it really makes me wonder what politicians (mainly republicans) are thinking. Because it doesn't actually seem to me like they are.

Moreover, Americans are silly. When polled, they may think that the budget should be the highest priority, but then don't want anything to be cut. Clearly, some sacrifices need to be made. But not in education. Like I've mentioned before, I believe that education is the key to our future. In the long run, it's what's going to get us out of the messes we're in--if we can lower the achievement gap, hopefully that will also help lower the poverty and inequalities we see in America, or send less people to prison (which is a huge expenditure compared to what we spend on our children.) And all of this should hopefully lead to a stronger public who will depend less on welfare and maybe more likely to stimulate the economy.

What's funny is that I often joke that "I clearly don't want to go into education for the money." So it baffles me when anyone claims that teachers get too many benefits/too much money for the job they do--and summer vacation! Aren't teachers notorious for not getting paid enough? We only entrust our children to them every day. Clearly our kids aren't worth the money to take care of our teachers.

"One thing we could do, is not extend the bush tax cuts to the top 2% of the country. That would earn us 700 billion dollars over the next 10 years. Oh, and maybe also we could close some corporate tax loopholes." No, we can't do that. That makes too much sense. We need to get the money from teachers.

Fox news on bankers: Banks create jobs, why do we feel comfortable bashing job creators? "See bankers, unlike teachers, provide a valuable service. And they don't work till 3. Their bell doesn't ring till 4."

I love John Stewart. He's hilarious, and makes some damn good points.

I guess my questions is, do any of these people have kids? Do they value their children's educations AT ALL? Have they ever met a teacher? Shoot, do they even remember going to school--did they? Even if your child goes to some fancy private school, there are still going to be teachers who are dedicated to their jobs. And when you think back to elementary, junior high or high school, isn't there at least one teacher you felt like made a difference? Sure, I've had bad teachers. But more often than not, they've been good.

I personally believe that the English teacher I had in 7th and 9th grade is the sole reason I have decent writing skills whatsoever. My junior high French teacher is probably the reason I tested out of 3 terms of French when entering college. (Yeah, that's right, junior high. I did take French in high school too). And my APUSH teacher junior year of high school was the best teacher I've ever had, and has helped inspire me to want to be a teacher, in addition to being someone I still try to visit whenever I go back to my hometown. (And taking educational psychology--with a specific professor--is what really solidified that thought of becoming a teacher, and turned my beginning-of-senior-year-of-I-still-don't-know-what-I'm-going-to-do-with-my-life-panic into a solid idea of where my passion might be.)

"Around the country, many teachers see demands to cut their income, benefits and say in how schools are run through collective bargaining as attacks not just on their livelihoods, but on their value to society." (NY Times)

And working in an elementary school--not anyone can be a teacher. Believe me. It's not just understanding the material, it's getting a bunch of unruly children to actually sit down and listen for long enough to try to explain it. The teachers I work with are amazing--and put in so many extra hours on lesson planning, grading, and trying to figure out the best way to handle each individual child. No one goes into teaching for the money--they go into teaching because they care about your kids and the value of education. Some bad teachers may not have started out that way--they may have burnt out but kept working because hey, jobs are valuable, and everyone needs a paycheck. They may become disillusioned because the government keeps cutting education budgets, because, hard as they tried, they don't have to means to give each kid the attention they deserve. It's not their fault--it's society's, for slowly abandoning them and undervaluing them, and then blaming them for America's problems. I read an article somewhere that mentioned that America's economy, the last time it was stable/strong was also when the unions were strongest. They aren't perfect, but they aren't the root problem. Yes, teachers need to be held accountable if they are going to abuse their power. But so does everybody else.

What's Wrong With America

"At the desk where I sit, I have learned one great truth. The answer for all our national problems-the answer for all the problems of the world-come to a single word. That word is education." -Lyndon B. Johnson

"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week." -Evan Esar

Sure, I've never proclaimed to have any expertise in the area of politics and government, but in light of things happening both locally and nationally, I have now determined what I think is wrong with America.

First: On a national level there is a bill that proposes to cut--and possible eliminate funding to AmeriCorps. On a local level, my school district has a new proposal called "Strong Schools Strong Communities" which is ironic, given that it was mainly created to work within cut budgets, not based on school performances, or what's best for the students. The school I work at was slated to be closed at the end of the year. Now, some of the staff and families at my school were not going to have that. So at a school board meeting, a huge crowd turned up, and students, staff and parents spoke. It was enough that the superintendent decided to move the school to a new location, because the main reason it was closing was because the student population is too small--but there was no way that we could grow within the building we were in. We were designed to be a small school--which I think is a huge strength. There's really no question that smaller class sizes is better for students. And smaller schools allows for a much tighter community.

So, what's wrong with America? America doesn't have its priorities in order. It seems as if the government looks for quick fixes when looking at the budget. Putting more money into education might not help the economy or the deficit within a year, but in the long run, by investing in youth, we can keep down costs in the future--if everyone has equal access to quality education, maybe less people will be in jail, or need to be on welfare, and more people will be positive, contributing members of society. So by closing schools, or setting up less effective school systems to save some money, it's going to cost more in the long run.

As for cutting funding for AmeriCorps, my initial reaction is, are you kidding me? By cutting these programs, you're cutting community members who are integral to the sites they are serving. So not only are you, in someways pulling the legs out from under a lot of non-profits, schools or community centers who would have trouble funding new employees to do some of that work, but AmeriCorps is actually a pretty good deal. It's encouraging people to be involved in service--the motto is "Getting things done for America." Plus, members just get a living stipend--I think it averages out to 3-5 dollars per hour? So really it's a good deal--you get wonderful dedicated people making a difference, working for under minimum wage. And most AmeriCorps jobs relate to education, which is really the most valuable investment you could make.

Not to mention the fact teaching is probably the most under paid and under appreciated profession out there. Yeah, there are some bad teachers out there, and with some teachers unions, some people are still teaching who really shouldn't be, but overall teachers are incredible, dedicated, wonderful people who put in so much energy into their students. They also have a huge influence on the children who are our future. Shouldn't we put a little more effort into providing our children with the best education we can? Especially given that it's just embarrassing that the US may be such a rich and powerful country, yet we're falling behind in educational success.

This video is a trailer for Waiting for Superman--I'm posting it not because I'm promoting the movie, but because it touches upon what I've been talking about. In fact, until the very end, it's just an infographic, and doesn't seem like a trailer at all. The documentary itself brings up a lot of really interesting statistics, and despite being critiqued for hating on teachers unions, there is so much more to the film. It balances statistics with personal stories of several students. It's easier to make someone care if they feel more emotionally involved--showing a bright, adorable kid who has dreams that will be much tougher if she can't get into a certain school based on a lottery is going to tug more heart strings than a bunch of numbers.

TakePart: Participant Media - Waiting For 'Superman' - Infographic from Jr.canest on Vimeo.

Well, now that I've figured out what's wrong, shouldn't I propose some solution? I suppose that would be more useful. But like I said at the beginning, I can't say I really get politics or the government. I'm doing my best at a local level, hoping that I can make a difference in some kid's life. Most of the students I work with are on free or reduced lunch, and most of them are students of color, which means, statistically speaking, I'm working with a group that's mostly at-risk. At a larger level, I don't have a solution, but I have hope that things will look up. My school isn't closing, which is a small victory in the big picture, but an important one for those whose lives it affects. And shows that what is right, and what is best for the kids can sometimes trump budget issues, and we need more of that in America.