So a new student arrived. I did the perky new student introduction. Welcome to the class!

I introduced the poor guy. Then I asked those questions from MeTV shows. You’re new? Where did you come from? You’re local? Oh, but you were not here before? Were you at the local Catholic school? Where have you been in school?

Awkward moment: When your new student tells you he just got out of jail.

I felt pretty bad about maneuvering him into that public admission, needless to say.

Eduhonesty: Maybe this post should be a reminder to talk to students privately before barging into their business. I blew this one badly.

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he
knows.”

~ Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 – 1969)

I’ve written this before, but it’s worth a repeat of sorts. Some days I’m really tired of big words. I have lists filled with words to use to create lesson plans. They’re not allowed to merely “review” anymore. It’s not active enough. They’re not allowed to “learn.” Learning is not specific enough.

They have to classify, generalize, illustrate, paraphrase, summarize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, research and demonstrate, among other action verbs. Many administrators want to see these words and I tend to oblige them. These same administrators produce erudite presentations showing their own grasp of multi-syllabic words.

Eduhonesty: Don’t get me wrong. I love big words. I play spelling games for fun. But there is a large difference between seeking the most effective word and showing off to impress the audience. We appear condescending and pretentious when we use too many polysyllabic words in a single sentence. We also appear insecure.

Let me take a stand: There’s nothing wrong with a goal such as “Students will learn the difference between a metaphor and a simile.” We can gussy this sentence up all we want, but the truth is that extra verbiage in a lesson plan won’t help students to learn any faster or better. The extra time we spend on the lesson plan may be taken away from planning actual instruction too.

Many students struggle to connect with their social studies classes. Yet the content of these classes permeates the news and daily life. We make some connections using primary and other sources from the internet.

But if we want students to understand their place in the civic scheme, why not have them attend village board meetings? Or park board meetings? Even zoning boards and planning commissions are likely to have their moments. So many towns offer a direct view into the politics. We don’t take enough advantage of outside resources.

I suggest the little nippers check out their local school board meetings.

She once said to me, “My brain just doesn’t work,” somewhat blithely but entirely sincerely as she explained away an assignment gone wrong.

Yet she’s pretty good at math. She catches on quickly.

I wonder how she came to that original belief about her abilities.

Fortunately, she seems to be realizing she her brain has more power than she once supposed.

“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”

Malcolm Forbes (1919 – 1990), in Forbes Magazine, courtesy of bob@lakesideadvisors.com.

Eduhonesty: Forbes was lucky enough not to see the current post-NCLB educational apocalypse. Currently, I sometimes think we are emptying minds as we teach students that the purpose of education is to pass tests. With this focus, the joy of learning may become utterly lost. Students hear, “You need to know this for the test,” — all the time.

How often do they hear, “Isn’t this fascinating?”

Among other considerations, curricula aligned to the test can ensure that teachers won’t get a chance to teach interesting material that they and their students will enjoy.

Example: I love geometric proofs. A small, but mathematically hardy, group of students can be expected to feel the same way. No true mathematician exists who can’t and doesn’t produce proofs. Unfortunately for students, some expert in my state determined that proofs represented such a small percentage of overall standardized test requirements that teaching proofs was a poor use of instructional time. My then-high school stopped teaching proofs, except for a brief, essentially useless introduction to the idea.

Student Sets Teacher Gabriela Peñalba On Fire: Police
The Huffington Post | Posted: 11/28/2013 1:35 pm EST | Updated: 11/29/2013 8:11 am EST

A Tennessee high school teacher was set on fire by one of her students, cops said.

WATE reports that Gabriela Penalba, 23, turned her back to her class on Monday morning at West High School in Knoxville when a 15-year-old male student set her hair and shirt ablaze using his lighter, police said.

Students quickly put the fire out.

Gawker notes that the student allegedly “exploited the commotion” by throwing the lighter out the window and fleeing before being captured by police.

The quick thinking of her students helped Penalba avoid any burns, according to WBIR.

The student faces aggravated assault and evading arrest charges.

His name has not been released because he’s a minor and has not been charged as an adult.

Eduhonesty: This story hit the news. Many don’t. America’s children almost all go to school until their mid-to-late teens. Last year, I had one who was hearing the voice of Satan. This year I’ve got one with eyes as cold as dry ice. I’d say less than 1% of my students are scary — but for a high school teacher that nets out to 1 or 2 a year and statistics don’t always have much to do with reality. I’ve gone years without trouble and I’ve had multiple sources of possible trouble in one year. I once had a student put a foreign substance in my coffee. Fortunately, classmates alerted me. A fair number of my colleagues have been hit or otherwise harassed over the years. One ended up leaving the state as a result of student violence and its aftermath.

From a University of Illinois publication: http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0727LIttleVillage_KimShinew_MonikaStodolska.html

“The largest Hispanic neighborhood in metropolitan Chicago, Little Village is an area plagued by high crime rates and gang violence. Although the community comprises only 4.4 square miles, police recorded 2,625 crimes there during 2006, including 1,222 thefts, 268 robberies, 22 criminal sexual assaults and 11 murders.”

I assure readers that a fair number of these crimes were committed by local middle school and high school students. These kids don’t settle down just because they entered the halls of their local school. They don’t declare a truce at the school doorway.

There’s a reason for all the cameras and surveillance equipment in America’s schools nowadays.

Having taught once does not make anyone an educational expert. The opposite may be true.

This country is filled with educational administrators who left the classroom for the board office or administrative positions in schools. Many of these administrators were excellent teachers. Whether they left for higher salaries, the chance to influence district reform efforts, or any of a number of valid reasons, these administrators are often sincere when they say, “I miss the kids and the classroom.”

But let’s be clear: Many people move up because they are stressed out or even burnt out, while remaining unwilling to walk away from the investment they have put into education. One common path out of the classroom involves taking evening classes and then moving into administration, leaving unmanageable classes and underappreciated students behind.

Some teachers move up for the greater good.

Others move up because they can’t cut it in the classroom.

Eduhonesty: The best teachers, those who love teaching and can teach, tend to stay in the classroom. Why leave a job you love? (As I noted, some solid reasons to climb the admin ladder DO exist — such as $$$.) If America wants to know how to reform eduction, we ought to ask the classroom teachers. They are the true success stories in American education.

We are racing into Common Core Standards, just as we raced into the Danielson Framework, and No Child Left Behind.

Why don’t we ask working teachers if they believe these schemes will benefit students? We have the technology necessary to conduct the polls needed to find out what educators think. We ought to use that technology.

When this issue arises, many times politicians and pundits will say that some of the creators of the latest new educational policy are former educators. How many? What percentage? Relatively few teachers have been involved in some of our most sweeping legislation.

From http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/11/florida_teacher_i_was_among_th.html:

Florida Teacher: “I Was Among Those Who Reviewed the Common Core in 2009”
By Anthony Cody on November 6, 2013 11:43 AM

One of the sticky issues regarding the Common Core remains the secretive way the standards were first written, and the almost total absence of classroom educators from that process — which I first pointed out in 2009. To this concern we have been repeatedly told that teachers were involved in a review process that followed this initial “confidential” process to write the first draft. The Common Core website features a document entitled “Myths v. Facts About the Common Core Core Standards.” b

The document states:

Myth: No teachers were involved in writing the Standards.

Fact: The common core state standards drafting process relied on teachers and standards experts from across the country. In addition, there were many state experts that came together to create the most thoughtful and transparent process of standard setting. This was only made possible by many states working together. For more information, please visit: www.corestandards.org

As I reported in 2009, the two “Working Groups” that actually wrote the first drafts of the standards do NOT include a single classroom teacher. You can see for yourself on this list provided by the National Governors Association. The two “Feedback Groups” include only one classroom teacher.

Eduhonesty: Supposedly, educators were interviewed about Common Core after the fact, but there’s little sign that their input affected the final product.

Who are the experts in education? In my view, they are the classroom teachers who try to make all these legislative plans work, day in and day out. Why don’t we make more use of this pool of expert knowledge? Why did the Common Core ignore this resource?

I can guess at the answer. Because scores are low in some cases, teachers are blamed for not having created the higher scores that politicians desire. But what if the major factors leading to those low scores have little to do with actual instruction? What if poverty and parental educational deficits, just as examples, factor much more critically in our educational disparities and failures?

Education is the only field I can think of where the experts on the front-line are virtually ignored by the planners creating policy for the field.

So the kid’s supposed to be in detention. Yet he keeps leaving detention to go to his classes because detention is boring him. We keep trying to send him back to detention. After awhile, it’s really pretty funny. I say, “Manuel,” get back to detention.” I nudge him out the door. He gives me a big, goofy grin and heads out into the hallway. His escort flashes a tired smile at me. Again.

Most kids escaping detention go home, or hide in a cafeteria or bathroom. This guy keeps coming to class. I find him kind of endearing. I doubt security feels the same way.

Many students wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. We played review games and ate sugary treats. The mood was buoyant. I had fun today. I don’t write about that often enough.