I hope any replacement board will not make sweeping changes until they really understand what is happening. For example, a vertical curriculum is not a quick fix. No fix is a quick fix when so many students are years behind grade level. The temptation to replace principals and others can be strong once scores have fallen so low. But I am convinced that part of the reason for this district’s low scores is precisely those personnel changes. Historically, when someone did well working in a school here, they were often moved to another school with more problems. Turnover has been far too high and has created its own problems. Improvements require teamwork and teams take time to build.

So we are more than 3/4 through the school year now. I have a student I’ll call Fernando. Fernando came into 7th grade with a big smile and a friendly, helpful attitude. He proceeded to do almost no work whatsoever. Another teacher tested his reading for me. He tested at the 1st grade level. We took the MAP test. He tested at the 2nd grade level.

Aha! He had missed the Special Education Boat! I discussed this with a colleague. We agreed. We were going to start special education paperwork after he had been in System 44 for awhile, our reading program that teaches phonics. The idea was that we could use System 44 as proof of Fernando’s need for help, documentation from a state-approved intervention that the boy needed help. (It is extremely hard to get someone into special education for reasons not worth posting here. Multiple meetings and documentation of multiple interventions are needed.)

Here’s the problem: I think Fernando may be learning to read. I did very little on this, I’m ashamed to say, assuming that a kid who was 6 years behind grade level just had to have some underlying problem preventing him from learning. Also, I’m not an elementary teacher. I don’t actually know how to teach phonics.

But this week we read a difficult passage I took from the internet on school disciplinary policies. The vocabulary in that piece was at least at a 7th grade level — intended for educated adults. I figured I could teach it because interest would be high, so I used it as my current event for social studies. Fernando read twice. Fernando volunteered to read. He looked at me after both paragraphs with this look that triumphantly said, “I did it!”

A few days later, I remain essentially stunned. That thing was packed with four syllable words. I won’t know until I see the homework how well he understood, but I know he is reading so much better than he did a few months ago that I’m not sure about starting that special ed paperwork. He read those paragraphs clearly and comprehensibly. He was so proud of himself, too.

In the meantime, I still don’t understand how a kid can be 5-6 years behind grade level in reading by 7th grade without having some underlying learning disability — but perhaps he doesn’t. Regardless, I feel like I made an assumption and there’s a really good chance I was wrong. I learned something this week.

The following was taken from the special education questions section of yahoo answers and leads me to ask whether or not the relentless push to prepare all of America’s children for college is not, in fact, absolutely cruel in some cases:

Open Question

Im a little confused about colledge and universities plzz help??!!?

or is a university another name for colledge??

_____________________________________________________________________

If “colledge” were free, reading this post would not feel so painful. One reason I’m angry as I read the above post is I can just hear that well-meaning guidance counselor pushing college at this poor kid as he explains his veterinary dream.  But that counselor is not going to pay back any of this kid’s student loan debt.

The special education student who wrote that post needs real help, much more help than he or she is receiving.

The names will be changed to protect the guilty.

I don’t know if Fred and Barney have a future in crime or not. On the one hand, their unshakable contention that they were in class is admirable and this steadiness will stand them well someday in the court system. They never waver. The Assistant Principal asks them. I ask. Other teachers ask. We always get the same answer.

On the other hand, the teacher’s class they skipped is a small group that works on the computers and records events on the computers. She’s a very alert women and they weren’t there for more than a week. They certainly weren’t in my class. It’s too small to hide in that crowd. I know they weren’t in the other bilingual teacher’s class. He’s a detail-oriented man. So where were they? Their story never changes. Fred’s mom just keeps smiling grimly through conferences, as if to say, “That’s him all right!”

The other kid’s aunt looked considerably more worried. She should be. Fred and Barney are excellent liars. If not for the missing digital footprint, that reading teacher might begin to doubt her own recollections.

Parent-teacher conferences were more exciting than usual. I was able to put my students’ PowerPoints up on the big, new Smart Board. The parents were so impressed. The kids were mostly very proud. Motivation to do the next computer project is high right now.

I teach. I believe that most teachers deserve a lot more support than they get. Having said that, I support more rigorous testing for those entering the teaching profession. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study of education in different countries by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2009, the U.S. scored 17th in reading, 23rd in science, and an abysmal 31st in mathematics. The causes for these pathetic results are many, but at least part of the problem is that we allow some people to teach who simply don’t know their material well enough.

I have sat in too many seminars with fellow educators and watched these people prepare posters for the wall as we all do our prescribed group activities. These are groups of teachers preparing materials for other teachers to view. The grammatical and spelling mistakes I see often make me wince. Admittedly, these seminars frequently include bilingual teachers whose first language is not English. But I am not talking about a mistaken preposition here or there — I am talking about incorrect spellings of words that are sometimes in the most commonly used 500 or 1,000 English words.

I actually quietly corrected a couple of mistakes last time, walking up to a poster and fixing a few words. One of the presenters looked at me oddly, but I simply could not keep still. Enough is enough. If you can’t spell, have a group member who can spell do the writing on your poster.

The scary part: I’m by no means sure that the teacher who prepared that poster knows she has problems with spelling. She passed her test to teach. Her Principal is probably ignoring her errors. Her elementary school students are probably learning her errors, memorizing whatever she writes on the board. Does she even know that that “absense” has a “c” in it? Or that “enviroment” has another “n” in it?  We all make mistakes, but I see far too many of them to believe that I am merely seeing absent-minded errors.

Sometimes there is too much negativity.

Let me observe that a New Smart Board has arrived in my classroom. Real technology! The Smart Board is an interactive whiteboard that is a combination white screen and computer, operating as part of a system that includes the board, my computer, a projector and some software. A projector displays the image from my computer on the interactive whiteboard. Students can use a special pen to provide touch input to solve problems and indicate answers.

This may prevent some of my secret sneaking into the computer lab. Friday was crazy as we finished projects there and I put them on flash drives. Someday perhaps some of our technology will actually PRINT, but one step at a time.

In the meantime, the new Smart Board takes up much of my two-toned back wall. They removed the bolted bookcase, which had been painted around, and the tiles below with the two-toned paint look a bit silly, but nobody is really looking. The students are quite intrigued by the new board. They will be amazed when they realize what it can do.

Also on the positive side: I have an absolutely awesome principal. I would follow him to Mars.

Kids are great. But some students definitely lack motivation, even if they have the energy to play video games for eight hours straight each night.

How can this be fixed? If the mystery of motivation could be solved, much of urban education might come together. The pundits in Washington ignore this facet of education, but motivation is bigger than any teacher, curriculum or set of standards.

Eduhonesty: You can set the standards anywhere you damn well please. It won’t matter it you can’t convince a student to actually do some work.

Treasure meditation is supposed to be 10 minutes of visualizing and experiencing my life after I have my greatest desires. My personal meditation includes no school and no students, interestingly enough. I go to empty ocean beaches, I go to a small lake nestled in fir-covered, green hills. I see myself holding a yard of beer in a crowded Irish pub. My consciousness avoids my school.

When it does enter the school hallways, it looks sadly at the fragmented, shattered staircase they just repaired. It’s worse now than it was, more dangerous than before. They fixed it less than a month ago but the gray tiles on the front of the risers are shattering, whether kicked by students or simply unable to bear the weight placed above them. The shards of tile are slipping hazards. I keep throwing them to the ground below for some custodian to spirit away.