All my fault

Eleven years in and you’d figure that I’d have learned by now that leaving things to the last minute is not good for sleep patterns.

I can’t say that I don’t have late nights because I actually don’t usually get to sleep until around 10:30.  Sometimes I go over when I find something interesting for kids; some lesson plan or activity that gets the mind whirling and the blood flowing.  Then you realize it’s late and you are bummed that you have to stop and interrupt the excitement with sleep.  Well, this week did not have one of those nights.  See, I pretty much did nothing in terms of grading during my two and a half weeks off during Winter Break.  Sure, I did the usual planning for the week and bounced around blogs looking for ideas.  But the grading part of my educational duties took a back seat to family, driving, the holidays, basketball, reading, and most importantly, resting.  I did this with full knowledge that grades were due on the Wednesday of my return.  Oops.

I figured that between my prep and my time between the end of school and basketball (3-4:30 pm) that I’d be able to grade essays, grade projects, input scores, and still do everything else that I usually do.  Well, Monday was full of basketball crisis and parents wondering about grades.  After hardly a handful of essays, basketball practice was there and then a glass of wine at home and my bed.  Tuesday involved cramming and cramming and cramming, and it took longer than I thought.  In fact, I came home and immediately started the long process of imputing three classes of exams.  By the time midnight rolled around I was done with the grading but need the wine unwind time.  Bed was around 1:30 and 5 a.m. came really fast.  Short-day Wednesday could have saved my rear end if it wasn’t for the belt that broke during lunch (had to scream home and replace), the faculty meeting during PLC time, or the basketball game.  Grades were due at midnight.  I was actually at a decent clip when the second to last project’s online links decided not to work.  I couldn’t finish the last two sections I wanted to grade!  A furious Facebook post and within ten minutes the new links were in my hand but it was time to head to the gym to watch the freshmen.  I ended up reading the project parts and adding in the grade from my phone during the game and then coached while my JV Boy’s lead us to a victory over Montgomery High School of Santa Rosa.  Hyped up about the game I didn’t calm down and get to bed until 11:30, at which time my cats decided that play time was in effect.  Needless to say I got about 8 hours of total sleep in two nights so this weekend is a godsend.

However the stress could have been alleviated by grading during my break, which is sounding more and more wrong these days.  That’s one of the two things I’m reflecting on with this post.  Yep, I’m getting more and more bitter not about planning and exploring at home, but grading at home is just something that is really grating on me.  The second thing I’m reflecting on is the simple idea of grades, which I’m finding more and more idiotic.  Not the grades themselves, just the folly of actually having to input stuff over and over again only because I need something to justify to parents.  Here’s a tip for all parents out there; I know how well your kid knows the subject and all the quizzes and bullshit are basically there because you really don’t want a true college experience.  Give me five or six assignments in the semester and I’ll know.  Earlier this semester a student was freaking out because a few make-up assignments had not been computed into the grade, which at the time was a B+.  In the conversation it was obvious that the student was gravely concerned about the A so I just stopped the conversation and said, “Jon it is totally clear to me that you know your stuff.  Barring you punching me in the face or falling off the planet, you’re getting the A.”  That put the student at ease even though grades weren’t coming out for over a month.  Surprise, the student got the A.  Know how I knew that? 

Because I know my stuff.     

Do teachers dislike creative students?

Marginal Revolution is my favorite economics blog on the Internet.  It brings forth some really interesting theories that combine practical economics and current affairs. 

One of the truly interesting posts was a little under a month ago and asked the question “Do teachers really like creative students?”  The comments on the post are even more engaging than the post itself.  They show a real disconnect with society and education.  Many of them seem to be created by adults that felt like teachers absolutely crushed their ability to be creative.  Teachers had rules and standards, those rules and standards did not involve creativity, those same rules and standards bored the students to death, and public education is screwed up.  Much of their support comes from a Ken Robinson TED talk about the current public education system being designed for disciplined and orderly, factory like learning.  According to the argument creativity needs to be promoted, individualized, and students need to be assessed according to true output, not necessarily grades and tests. 

Let’s first off get rid of two types of teachers before we start this discussion; bad teachers (who won’t be good, never mind creative) and beginning teachers (who need to learn how to survive first).  Then let's look at the ideas behind “creativity”, which seems to have evolved to the point of “hey, if I can’t do what I want, when I want to, then my creativity (or freedom to do anything for that matter) is being censored.”  How about a little definition.

“the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination”

For one to be creative, one must actually know the traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, and the like that exist in the world.  Meaning one must actually be educated on what exists now before they can create meaningful new ideas.  This isn’t stifling creativity, it’s creating the foundation in which creativity can evolve.  Often when a student or parent complains about a school’s lack of creativity, they use the argument that the knowledge presented is not useful or a waste of time.  Yet often the problem is that the student has not shown that they actually have mastered the concept or the activity, whether it be from rebellion, boredom, or simply not knowing it.  That’s called maturity and discipline.  Creativity without some maturity and discipline is just some child drawing outside the lines and calling himself creative. 

Let’s take a simple definition like democracy.  You don’t know how many kids scoff at needing to read articles and text about democracy, insisting that they already knew the basic, fundamental concepts of the theory.  The problem is that they really don’t.  They know “rule by the people” and how good it must be because the United States practices it.  Breaking down basic theories makes students have to dig deeper and actually find other styles of democracies.  Boring?  Well, sometimes it is, as with many things in life.  This “anti-boredom” campaign has created the excuse that details don’t matter as long as some vague semblance of the objective is completed.  It might end up being creative work but it is often not meaningful, not practical, or simply wrong. 

Often comments in Tabarrock’s post refer to teachers marking down students for getting answers right in a paper but not doing something as simple as typeset, margins, or citations.  Well, then the student is not only not being creative, the student is being lazy.  You might have understood the concept but you failed to address a simple part of the assignment.  Details, regardless of how much you know, matter.  Think of that when you are flying a in a plane, undergoing surgery, paying your bills, or when your nation is fighting in a war. 

The blog’s author has a simple “personalize education” approach to creativity, which makes me question how much his parental instinct got in the way of his economics fundamentals.  I would love to personalize every one of my student’s education except for one problem; it is totally inefficient.  Public education is a never-ending exercise in marginal cost/marginal benefit.  And while I’ll agree that those that claim to lead public education are often wrong in the approach, it also needs to be understood that the job of public education is to educate the masses with the scarce resources available.  Individualized education is not practical in any sense of the word and to be perfectly honest, that type of education should be done by the parents.  After all, the kids learn much more from Mommy and Daddy than anything they will learn at school.                

Corporate sponsorships and the Easter Bunny are dangerous to students

In a time when school budgets are getting slashed and extra curricular programs are being slowly destroyed it would make sense to reach out to the business community for a little support.  You know, make connections, build relationships, open opportunities for students, provide some revenue enhancements…..

Wait a minute.  Revenue enhancement?  Do you mean corporate sponsorships at a school?  HOW DARE WE EXPOSE LITTLE JOHNNY TO A COCA-COLA LOGO!

In a recent study by the National Education Policy Center, it was stated that corporate sponsorships limited a student’s ability to engage in critical thinking.  In the brief it explains that Johnny’s value judgments will be corrupted by the one place advertising is not common (which is untrue) and that simply marketing a product sends a message that the school is willing to sell out aspects of higher level thinking to promote a consumer culture that doesn’t want you to think.  Basically the mission of the school is to educate and the mission of the corporation is to enhance their profit margin, and the two missions conflict. 

There are two problems with this hypothesis.  First is the idea that children are somehow exempt from marketing when they step on a school campus.  Never mind that every textbook, pencil, and many school posters show corporate names and logos (Scholastic or Pearson or Prentice Hall), the students themselves are the most influential billboards for corporations.  It is not a coincidence that the most marketed to demographic is the American teenager since in just takes one opinion leader to create a trend that could involve thousands of potential customers.  That kind of marketing has been around for decades and there hasn’t been much movement towards clamping down on that aspect of consumerism.  

The second problem is the continued perception that schools are somehow spineless to create contracts with corporations that benefit students.  If the school’s fundamental concern is education then why not create a sponsorship policy that reflects that?  Demand that the contract reflect opportunities for kids that goes beyond money for advertisements.  Some school districts are doing that now and colleges have been doing it for a long time.  And while some corporations might try and play hard ball, insisting that the marketing has to be this way or that, the school always has a real neat option.  No.  But if the corporation is smart and realizes that hundreds or thousands of potential customers (and employees) are there, they’ll work with a school district to create a plan that benefits everyone. 

In the end the main reason why many tear into corporate sponsorships is political.  School boards are made up of people that often show political bias in decision making.  The lone negative vote when Santa Rosa dealt with sponsorships was going to vote “no” regardless of the benefit to the schools.  Wal-Mart could cure cancer, solve the national deficit, and film a better ending to the X-Files and that vote would have still been “no”.  So much for common sense public policy.

Avoiding the Terrible Teacher

I hit more “Read Later” buttons for Instapaper on Cool Cat Teacher’s blog than any other.  Take away the fact that she works towards integrating technology and what you have is a woman who could probably be considered one of the more competent Master Teachers to anyone that cares to listen.  Ms. Vicki Davis (Cool Cat’s real name) has the gift of taking something intricate and complex (like teaching), and simplifying it down to its basic thought.  In the whole edublogsphere her words could be considered downright profound because teachers often miss the more basic ideas of running a classroom.

It was Cool’s post on the Terrible Teacher that got me today.  In it she describes the ten things that a teacher does that could classify them as “terrible”, ranging from monotonous instruction to teachers who take cell phone calls in class.  They ten things are simple in theory but I find that I observe them time and again in my own setting, and it is a clear sign that teachers are still a big part of the problem.  In the past couple of weeks I’ve seen a teacher instruct from behind a desk, a teacher take cell phone calls during class, and I was told by a student that multiple teachers regularly say that they hate their job.  All of that enrages me because it not only hurts the kids of those teachers, it kills the image of the profession. 

Check and see if you do any of Vicki’s Terrible Teacher Ten.  If you find yourself straying into any of the categories, change it.  Yes, it really is that simple.    

Um, next time gift me some real estate.....please..

I have to be honest.  I completely forget about gifts from students at Christmas time.

But when they show up I get a really big smile because it's kinda one of those time honored traditions that is a one of the perks of being a teacher.  You know, the apple on the desk kind of thing that shows some appreciation from either the student or the parent of the student (who knows).

Unless you live in Alabama, where if you are an illegal immigrant giving a gift to a teacher, apparently both can be charged with high crimes and executed on New Years Eve.  Yes the season of giving has been toned down in the Heart of Dixie because some in the legislature feel like teachers should be equal to lawmakers; even though teachers have no political power, make less money, have worse health benefits, and don't get the opportunity to sleep around with college aged interns.  The state of Alabama has instead listed the acceptable gifts for the teaching profession. 

1) Fruit baskets, homemade cookies, etc.

2) Christmas ornaments of little intrinsic value

3) Coffee mugs filled with candy or of a holiday nature.

4) Any item that the teacher may use to assist him/her in performing his or her functions as a teacher, such as notebooks, school supplies, etc.

5) CDs or books of a nominal value, scarves, etc.

Maybe "homemade cookies" needs to be looked at with more scrutiny, because in Mendocino County all homemade products have the potential of making you see monkeys on ceiling.  Christmas ornaments of "little intrinsic value" is interesting.  "Any item ......to assist a teacher in his/her....functions".  Well, I use a laptop more than any other item.  That would really help.  "Books of nominal value" sounds good.  But since this law is supposed to discourage gift cards it means that my Amazon card or Mendocino Book Company gift certificate might be in Jeopardy.  And why the hell are books and scarves in the same category?  I find it funny that teachers and students are being put in the same relationship as politicians and lobbyists.  Ok, I don't find it funny.  Instead I find that gives me more validation on why I will probably never visit Alabama, and why the North won the Civil War.  Any state that makes a law this stupid doesn't deserve its own historical social status.

This year less than five percent of my students left me a gift.  The most gifted items were homemade goods (I have yet to see monkeys) and little nick-nacks.  I have to admit that my favorite was a gift certificate for the local book shop, which clearly shows that I'm a nerdy teacher because I also teach sons and daughters of winemakers.  I'll let you think about that for a second.

I have yet to see an attempt by a student to buy off grades, even during the holiday season.  This isn't to say that I haven't tried.  Being an Economics teacher I regularly remind students that I can be bought for the right price.  Since I would probably be fired and my reputation tarnished for life, and I would need to be comfortable for a long time, I tell students that somewhere in the tens-of-millions range would be appropriate for whatever grade they deem fit.  They scoff at the number and call me unreasonable.  From now on I can say "Hey, you can always move to Alabama."

  

Merry Xmas

I really didn't know an appropriate title for this post other than Merry Christmas, partially because apparently it's not politically correct to say "Merry Christmas" any more.  Seems like those of other faiths or none (or my infinitely sensitive Jedi faith) are routinely offended by a day that is supposed to celebrate the birth of a carpenter (that most don't care about) instead of celebrating what most Americans should be celebrating; buying useless gifts for people that will probably return them and dreading family get-togethers.  So if the title happens to offend you this holiday season, just wait until you open your gifts from Wal-Mart.

I'm in the midst of the yearly Christmas Road Tour, coming this morning from Ashland, Oregon.  We'll be heading back home via Chico to visit more family, briefly hang out with our beautiful cats at home, and then hoof it out again for more family.  Since I just got out of school two days ago and have been basically driving ever since, I could use a day to do, well, nothing.

The end of school brought a smile to my face when about half the students that came to me with Short Term Independent Study contracts chose instead to delay their trip until Finals were complete.  That makes me happy.  Very happy.  They instead participated in Mock Congress, were very involved, got the Finals review, and completed the Final with a much better chance of success than if they were to have left for a month and taken it upon return.  Those that left?  Well, I can't say that I'm very optimistic about not only the end of Government, but also the beginning weeks of Economics that they will miss.  One out of the half dozen has remained in contact via the Internet.  One.  And she's trying her ass off to keep up while being out of the country.  I totally admire that.

I had my first Finals cheat this year.  Initially I thought it was a phone but it ended up being a cheat sheet.  How to did I deal with it?  I stepped to a corner of the classroom and asked the student if cheating was taking place.  After initially denying the allegation, a confession was made and the student retrieved the paper.  I calmly went back to the desk and allowed the student to finish the Final.  Afterwards I told the student that the Final would be scored a zero.  You might ask "Why have the student Finish?  Why not make the consequence immediate?"  With the Final about a quarter over I had to ask myself if I wanted the incident to be a complete distraction to the other 30 students.  The measure was taken for the good of the class and the minor debate about whether or not a zero on the Final was "fair" was done when class was over.  I think it was the right move.

I have two and a half weeks off, which really aren't weeks off of basketball (which resumes in a week) and are not timed very well with my wife's school district (which returns in a week).  Maybe I'll catch up on some blogging.

By the way, our basketball team is 10-2.  Kinda cool.

Overnighters

Taking kids on regular field trips is exhausting for me.  I worry like a mother and watch like a hawk.  As mellow as some people tell me to be I always come back to the fact that I’m responsible for someone’s child and that my job could very well be on the line if something goes horribly wrong.

Now take that feeling and start multiplying it, because that’s where I’m at tonight.  I’m doing my annual basketball overnight tournament trip to Napa…….well the tournament is in Napa while we stay in Fairfield.  It’s stressful and contains little in the realm of sleep.  Mix teenagers loaded up on junk all packed into little rooms and the recipe that comes out can be, interesting. 

I’m always considering taking students on weeklong excursions, either with some travel organization or creating something that I can do to go to Washington D.C.   The problem is that I can’t possible see myself enjoying the time because I would constantly be concerned about someone else’s child.  And not to sound like a crotchety old man but manners are not high on the priority list these days when dealing with many kids.  That means either I need to constantly remind them what good manners are about or enact consequences when the rules are blatantly broken.  It’s work.  A lot of work.

But at the moment I have a rare pause in my responsibilities.  A group of parents came down and everyone went their separate ways for dinner, which is a good and a bad thing.  Coaches probably know what I mean when I say “went their separate ways”  and that’s never a great thing for a team sport.  But it gives me a breather to blog and check out the Net.  What I really want to do is sleep.  I’m flat ass blasted tired.  But I’ve got a couple of hours yet to make sure that all the kids are accounted for and down for the night, even with the plethora of parents here at the hotel.

They are, after all, my responsibility.