About Face

Diane Ravitch, former member of President Bush's Education Department and former defender of No Child Left Behind, has changed her mind. From a recent New York Times article:

Among the topics on which Dr. Ravitch has reversed her views is the main federal law on public schools, No Child Left Behind, which is up for a rewrite in coming weeks in Congress. She once supported it, but now says its requirements for testing in math and reading have squeezed vital subjects like history and art out of classrooms.

He may be a jerk, but he's right

Have you seen this yet?

NYU Business Professor Slams Student

Some highlights:

In addition, your logic effectively means you cannot be held accountable for any code of conduct before taking a class. For the record, we also have no stated policy against bursting into show tunes in the middle of class, urinating on desks or taking that revolutionary hair removal system for a spin. However, xxxx, there is a baseline level of decorum (i.e., manners) that we expect of grown men and women who the admissions department have deemed tomorrow's business leaders.

Getting a good job, working long hours, keeping your skills relevant, navigating the politics of an organization, finding a live/work balance...these are all really hard, xxxx. In contrast, respecting institutions, having manners, demonstrating a level of humility...these are all (relatively) easy. Get the easy stuff right xxxx.

Put in words kids my sons' age can understand. Don't be tardy to school. Be polite. Don't pee on the floor. Get the easy stuff right.

One way to fix ailing schools

All Teachers Fired at Rhode Island School

This CNN story details the battle in American education between teachers doing what is right and the teachers' union demanding that we pay them to do it. Who should have the responsibility for students' education?

In our house, I have that responsibility. I have fired teachers before. I have removed my child from a class that wasn't meeting his educational needs. I am on of "those" mothers. You know, the one who requests teachers. The one who is an advocate for "her" children. I check their grades at least every other day. I know when their assignments are due. I am not just a parent, but also an educator. I am also well-educated myself. I know what is required by both higher-education and the working world and I intend to make sure my kids are prepared.

Not all parents have my skill-set. Not even all the parents in my neighborhood.

New York City also thinks that poor teachers should go.

I guess I wonder who they are going to hire when they let everyone go. We have a great school and really good test scores, but there are several teachers I would not let my children have. There are applicants who would love to teach in my school, but I doubt any of them would agree to teach in a district that fired an entire high school staff and whoe population is not prepared to "advocate" for their own families.

Maybe the newly unemployed teachers should move to Los Angeles?

Teachers to Gain Control of Schools

Elite Public Education

The Fordham Institute published a study on "private public schools." Those being defined as schools in which low-income students make up less than 5% of the student body. I wanted to see where my school fell on the scale. None of the schools in my district are on this list, by the way.

Here is a random school from the list - Groveland Elementary, in Wayzata, MN:

Percent Low-Income - 3.13 %
Percent White - 90%
Persent Asian - 4%
Percent Black - 2 %
Percent Hispanic - 3 %

And now my school:

Percent Reduced or Free Lunch - 13%
Percent White/Asian - 75%
Percent Black - 6%
Percent Hispanic - 19%

And here is a school less than five miles away:

Persent Reduced or Free Lunch - 5%
Percent White/Asian - 83%
Persent Black - 3%
Percent Hispanic - 14%

What keeps them off the list, I wonder? The number of Hispanic children. I think if they would check the percent of Hispanc children in school against the average Hispanic population of South Texas, they would find that 14% percent is actually pretty low.

Considering the numbers this Memorial Elementary in Weslaco, TX put up:

Percent Low-Income - 0.11 %
Percent White - 5%
Persent Asian - 2%
Percent Black - 0%
Percent Hispanic - 93 %

Kind of blows some of your preconceived notions out of the water. Doesn't it?

Is your school on the list?

Books for Boys

I have read a number of articles lately about the dearth of books for boys, like this one in Education Week.

Authors Share Tips on How to Hook Boys on Books

Sorry, but I think these articles are missing the point.

There are some wonderful books for boys out there. Books with wonderful male main characters. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Nick McIver to name a few. We just finished The Call of The Wild and are quickly moving through Robinson Crusoe. The books for boys are out there. I will admit they are not as numerous as books for girls, but part of me says, "Thank goodness." I don't need a boy's version of Twilight or How to Be Popular or The Summer I Turned Pretty.

In my opinion the problem is not that the books aren't out there. I think the problem is that we expect less of the boys and they meet those expectations. I will never forget the day my son came home with a choice from the library, selected just for him by the librarian ... Captain Underpants. This for a boy who had already finished The Chronicles of Narnia (in their original order he likes to say). I personally returned that book to the library and suggested if the librarian needed help in the library during my son's library time, I would be more than happy to come and volunteer (she never did call).

Why aren't we reading to our boys like we read to our girls? Why can't we send our boys off with adventure classics and show them that classic does not mean boring? Why don't we have mother/son book clubs just like we have mother/daughter book clubs? Why don't you take your son to a book signing?

I don't think the problem is a lack of books for boys. (But go ahead and bring them on ... if they are good we will read them.) I think the problem is that we read less with our boys and expect less of them. Let's be honest, the problem starts at home.

Are you in need of some great "Books for Boys" resources? Check out the side bar with some of my choices from Library Thing or follow these links ...

Boys Rule Boys Read!
Guys Read
Book Club 4 Boys

Nothing I didn't already believe

I read (really, skimmed, is a better word) Real Educationby Charles Murray this weekend. His "four simple truths for bringing America's schools back to reality" seem so common sense to me that it scares me a little that the book needed to be published. However, it did need to be published. Walking through the halls of many schools and talking to many of my teacher friends I have seen the great need for this book.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has become the opposite ... don't move any child ahead for fear someone will feel bad about themselves. Unfortunately, my slogan doesn't have a great abbreviation (DMACAFFSWFBAT). I see students struggling to meet basic standards that they are not capable of meeting. These kids aren't dumb or stupid, they just don't have the mind that grasps the concepts. One kid I know who has failed multiple math TAKS tests is a gifted writer. On girl can out-math me but struggles with reading. Can't we give these kids some real help? Can't we embrace the differences in our kids and teach to them, not to the test?

I wish I had the answers.

Some memorable quotes from the book:

For a society of immigrants such as ours, the core knowledge is our shared identity that makes us Americans together rather than hyphenated Americans.

Even the best schools will inevitably have students who do not perform at grade level.

If academically gifted children come to the end of middle school reading enthusiastically and enjoying the challenge of intellectual tasts, their test scores are irrelevant. (emphasis mine) Let gifted children go as fast as they can

Choices to not attend college or to drop out of college and go to work need our understanding and--this is imperative--our respect.

Hard Work and Imagination Were Partners

A few weeks ago, I finished listening to Walter Issacson's biography, Einstein: His Life and Universe and throughly enjoyed it. Here is the story of a genius who combined hard work and imagination to achieve great things. His story is compelling and the book is very well-written. I enjoyed learning about Einstein's life, but the biggest lessons I pulled from the book relate to the state of education today. Einstein and I have the same opinions ... you know what they say, "Great minds ..."

As we move to the end of the school year, I will write here what I would like to send to the teachers my boys will have next year. The words are Einstein's:

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Remember this when Boy-oneder wants to tell you about a book he read and how he would have changed the ending to make it better. Remember this when Sonshine writes about his imaginary friend in his journal.

Critical comments by students should be taken in a friendly spirit.

No offense is meant, but he does know more about Greek mythology and animals than you do. Those are his passions. You are a generalist and he is a specialist.

Accumulation of material should not stifle the student's independence. A society's competitive advantage will come not from how well the schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity.

No one will care in 15 or 20 years that these kids passed the TAKS test. They will care that they can write a coherent sentence and use their imaginations to solve real-world problems. My kids can read a textbook on their own ... bring creativity into their classrooms. We would not be fixing the Hubble telescope if someone hadn't dreamed we could get to the moon.

An appreciation for the methods of science is a useful asset for a responsible citizenry.

I take my kids to church so that they can develop a deeper understanding of the Bible and God's amazing creation. If you tell my 4th grade student that Darwin was wrong, he will ask you to prove your theory. He understands the scientific process. So do I. Leave matters of Faith to me.

Spelling List Wordzzle

Boy-oneder had to write a story using his spelling words.  The assingment reminded me of Views From Raven's Nest weekly wordzzle challenge (which we have participated in exactly once).  Here it is.  The underlined words are his spelling words.

                                      MY TRIP TO THE SHOPPING MALL 

One peaceful night we looked in the pantry and realized we didn’t have any tuna for dinner. We all looked at each other, and then I got a idea. I happily said, “Let’s go to the grocery store.” We hopped in the car and drove off.  Usually we go to a grocery store 19 miles away, but there’s a new one 5 miles away. When we got there we met some homeless people and gave them some quarters. Other people were thoughtless and just passed them by. A beautiful store worker told us exactly where the tuna was. We were a little forceful while we were rummaging through the fish. We found the tuna and went to check it out when I realized my brother was missing. Dad stayed at the door in case he came back. We were clueless about where he was hiding.  We found him by the balloon man. He was lightly picking up a balloon that the balloon man dropped. We thought he was just being careless. We looked at Michael seriously and told him to come home with us. We easily bought the tuna. When we got home, Michael yelled, “Hey, the tuna is in the refrigerator!” We looked at each other, then we burst out laughing. For the next few weeks tuna was plentiful in our house.  That is the true story of how my brother became a balloon man’s assistant. 

Our First Encounter with the Bard of Avon

started out as a disaster.

I guess I should begin with my good intentions. After years of reading in one of my daily go-to blogs (Mental-multivitamin) about the joy of sharing Shakespeare with kids, I decided to take the first step. Houston's wonderful Miller Outdoor Theatre and Houston Grand Opera's Opera To Go program were presenting an adapted version of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. School in May after TAKS tests are out of the way is a joke ... I knew this would be a better opportunity to learn than being in the classroom. Besides it was a beautiful day. We would sleep in, drive downtown to see the show, eat lunch at the zoo and make our way home.

Except J doesn't sleep in and was very grouchy in the morning. M didn't want to miss PE that day. My lovely husband kept asking (over and over) why I thought this was more important than school. And I was out of all breakfast making material.

By 8:30 everyone was in a bad mood. Especially me. I tend to get a little testy when the reality doesn't meet my expectation. After 14 years of marriage and 2 boys, one would think I might have gotten over that. I haven't. We were all a little tired from a VERY busy week and we were all hungry. I finally gave up on getting anyone in any of the clothes I would have liked them to wear and decided a nice leisurely breakfast at Starbucks with a steaming chai was out of the question.

M had on his favorite green and orange plaid pants and his best red, white, and blue striped shirt while J sported the jean shorts and moldy T-shirt look. We went through the What-A-Burger drive through. I put the audio version of The Last Olympian on my iPod, hooked it up to the radio, and drove to the theater in peace and quiet.

Thankfully, the reality got a lot closer to my vision as the day went on. I had prepared well for this excursion. J had an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet to read and M had a Romeo and Juliet word search to work on while we waited. The production was fun and lighthearted and only 45-minutes. We all enjoyed the performance and J said he would like to see the whole thing, even if it is three hours long.

I don't think my boys developed a life-long love of Shakespeare from the day, but at least they know who he is.

I Got Carried Away

Have I mentioned how much I love the Texas Bluebonnet Book program? Oh yes, here and here. I think last year's books were better than this year's choices, and one of the standouts was This is Just to Say. My favorite poem from the book follows:

to Kyle
I Got Carried Away
Rueben

Kyle, I'm sorry
for hitting you so hard in dodge ball.
I really just get carried away
in situations like that.
Kids screaming and ducking,
Coach bellowing,
all those red rubber balls
thumping like heartbeats
against the walls and ceiling,
blinking back and forth
like stop lights
(that really mean

go,

Go,

GO!)

See,
I even got
carried away
in this poem.