Teacher in a Strange Land

Artsy Smartsy

First, read this--Claus von Zastrow's brilliant, poignantly hilarious treatise on why public schools and teachers just can't win, posted last week on the Public School Insights blog. It encompasses the entire range of criticisms--building yurts with tongue depressors!--and skillfully illustrates the "painted into a corner" nature of being a public school advocate these days. No matter what you believe, no matter how thoughtful your research-based educational practice, someone disagrees. Probably viciously.

Conflict over the role of the arts in intellectual development and public schooling is one of the oldest of these squabbles. As a music teacher, I was pink-slipped six times in 30 years and shifted to a new position 17 times; I've spent a professional lifetime defending the necessity of the arts in school curriculum, from every angle. As human beings, we were created and designed to make representations--in sound, drama, movement and image--of the things that matter most to civilization. 

People who believe that children do not need well-designed experiences with the arts to be fully educated are wrong. The evidence comes from the fact that children naturally create art, music, dance and dramatic play all by themselves, with no education whatsoever--and that all aspects of human communication, from political to religious to commercial, revolve around artistic expression. Developing aesthetic discretion is a useful skill for children, not to mention a lifelong pleasure.

Yesterday, in the Washington Post, David C. Levy, former director of the Corcoran Gallery and founder of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, takes on the challenge of flaws and gaps in K-12 arts education in America. The piece starts strong--but then Levy jumps on the knee-jerk Teacher Blame Bandwagon, claiming that  art education is suffering because school art teachers are lousy artists--"many of them can barely draw." He attempts to soften this indictment by mentioning that art schools are guilty, too: they require a "smorgasbord of classes in unrelated media," making rigorous training and serious specialization impossible. Then, he asserts that the situation is vastly better for prospective musicians (who have a range of "elite musical ensembles" with a "demanding meritocracy" to sharpen their skills).

Really?

Levy's irritating and erroneous assumptions about arts education pile up; he claims that schools don't stress artistic skill development, preferring to let kids just "express themselves"--and that most children begin playing musical instruments early enough to have ten years of instruction with a competent professional before pursuing a music degree. Perhaps in some major cities--but not in my neck of the woods. Levy may well know a great deal about the professional art and music world, but he's clueless about the vagaries of K-12 scheduling, hiring and programming and regional support for the arts--not to mention the nature of teaching large groups of children, where a jack-of-all-trades artistic sensibility comes in handy, as does a bagful of tricks for keeping "media" on the table, rather than in the hair or on the clothes.

The vast majority of kids learn to understand the making of art, and to sing, dance and play an instrument, in a classroom. While there is certainly variance in the quality of teaching, most arts teachers want nothing more than to develop skills and excellence in their students, to ignite a musical or artistic passion that burns well past graduation.  Only three or four in 100 students will pursue a career in the arts, but all of them need to learn some basic skills, as an entry point to enriched taste and enjoyment. College-bound high school students in traditional public schools have no room in their schedules to take a variety of arts courses--even if their school offered them.  Elementary schoolkids who get a 45 -minute art class once a week are lucky, indeed. The picture, as Levy notes, may be gloomy--but let's not point fingers at teachers.

It's not only wrong-headed--it's counterproductive.

In one of my district's financial crises, a high school art teacher who taught jewelry, pottery and graphic design was shifted to an elementary art job (13 weeks apiece in three K-4 schools). As Fine Arts Department chair, I was sent to make sure he was "doing a good job," since he was vocally disappointed when jewelry-making and graphic design courses were dropped from the school curriculum. I watched him teach perspective to first graders, their first art lesson with the new teacher. He used words like "foreground" and "horizon," explaining as he went along. They drew houses. Amazing, realistic houses. They were incredibly excited, and couldn't wait to show their drawings to their parents.

I was beyond impressed, but he was nonchalant.

"Just basic art," he said. ”Anybody can teach perspective."

Image: Flickr Creative Commons, Jansen Mann

Trust Never Sleeps

 At 10:38 this morning, I got an e-message from a mildly progressive group that sends me regular (requested) e-mails on political and economic issues. The subject line: Reality Check on Health Care Lies. At 11:01 a.m. this morning I got a message from one of the women in my virtual book group. Subject line: Information on the Obama Death Plan.

Now--I like the women in this book group. I share lots of personal information with them--my feelings on literary themes, love and life. I respect them. And I can only assume that the woman who sent the "death plan" forward (which--to make matters worse--came from her shady-pants congressman) has strong feelings on retaining her health care. I respect those too.  

While I was staring at the flat-out falsehoods and phony bogeymen on my screen, and wondering how much money Big Pharma and Big Insurance are ponying up to preserve their dominance in perpetuity, another book club member took a deep breath and hit "reply to all." Hey, she said. This is too important! We have to get health care right--and we're not going to do it unless a little civility and rationality can be injected into the discussion.

By 12:01, Book Club Member #2 had been both warmly supported and excoriated (sample: You obviously live in the Twilight Zone, you freak), and the hostilities had enlarged to include a rundown of the negative impact of Equal Rights Amendment  on school sports (yeah--I know--it never actually passed--but when you're on a roll, why stop for the facts...). 

So--whom do you trust?

For me, that's the critical question on all of the issues alive and bubbling in the Home of the Brave. I have little faith in political parties--either of them, at the moment--although individual political figures do inspire me to trust. As do some education thinkers, non-profits, writers, scholars, friends.

At 12:47, I got a link to this blog, wherein the Eduflack wonders what happened to raging dissent in education policy world. He dismisses certain parties who are speaking now  as chronic whiners (including dissatisfied Chicago Public Schools parent groups)--and suggests that people had better start pushing back against favored policy initiatives or they "will have little ground to stand on if they want to play 'I told you so' a year or two from now."

None of this--attack now or lose your right to attack later?--strikes me as productive talk, the kind of dialogue that might lead us to making better decisions about education.

At 1:05 p.m., while eating my lunch, I noticed that Heather Wolpert-Gawron had posted a new blog. Heather is a person whose viewpoints I do trust--not just because she's a teacher (there are lots of untrustworthy teachers)--but because she's smart and knows whereof she speaks, when it comes to schools and kids. A quick clip from Heather's musings (prodded by an article in which Arne Duncan says it's likely that the swine flu will impact school attendance and wouldn't it be great if teachers would use this health crisis to inject innovative technology into their instruction):

But once again, schools are being put to the task of solving a problem that the other elements have a hand in creating and solving. After all, families with no healthcare and no childcare options continuously send their sick children to school. And the government has never devoted enough funds to develop deep-seated educational technology in our schools. Yet here we are, a la NCLB, with a missive and no guidance or enough resources.

The funny part about Arne Duncan's message? He trusts that teachers will try to do the right thing for kids, come the great swine flu epidemic.

 It's 4:30, and I'm weary of reading angry e-mail. I'm wondering whether a country where rugged individualism is celebrated above other values--where "get them before they get you" is our modus operandi--can ever elevate mutual benefits to the community over "me and mine first." Another funny thing: trust in schools absolutely raises student achievement.  You know where they did the critical research? Chicago.

“In schools characterized by high relational trust, educators were more likely to experiment with new practices and work together with parents and colleagues to advance improvements. As a result, these schools were also more likely to demonstrate marked gains in student learning. In contrast, schools with weak trust relations saw virtually no improvement in their reading or mathematics scores."                   Anthony Bryk & Barbara Schneider

Image: seenyaRita, Flickr Creative Commons

Twenty Questions (about Education Me)

So yeah, I'm on Facebook now, too, like 90 million other people (no--seriously--it's up to 90 million). And it sure is fun hearing about how everyone is cleaning their garage, hiring a babysitter, or getting a fat-free caramel latte (venti). I admit to succumbing to a couple of those quizzy things--Fifteen Albums that Defined My Life, What is Your Stripper Name?--but only the good ones. Frankly, I don't care where your cell phone is (in one word).

There are things I really would like to know about people, however--and not always the twenty-five "random" things they choose. Since most people who visit the Strange Land are teacher types, I have hereby created Twenty Questions for Educators. I invite you to delete my answers and post your own TQ. If you do, please link back, so I can find you and read your answers. Only number one is demographic--and the rest might require some thinking. Thinking is good

1. Teaching assignments, how long? Mostly K-12 vocal/instrumental music with sojourns in 7th grade math and ESL, 30+ years

2. Favorite Class Taught and Why? Eighth grade Jazz Band, any given year. Always last hour, always heavy on the boys, always loud and crazy--but those kids, given a few weeks of intense instruction, picked up mad skills and loved to play. Sheer exuberance, every day.

3. Worst Class Taught and Why? A class inexplicably called Enrichment, where teachers got to send middle school kids who didn't do their homework, pulling them out of their electives. My job: making them do all their homework, via coercion, threats and (very occasionally) instruction. There were usually only 8 or 10 kids present, but it was 55 minutes of resistance hell, and it wasn't my assignments they were resisting.

4. Favorite Class Taken? A graduate class, Futuristics and Education. I learned more about policy options, preferable futures and the purposes of education there than any classes in foundations or policy.

5. Favorite Education Book?   Amusing Ourselves to Death (Neil Postman). Why America is an anti-intellectual nation, and how that impacts schooling, big-time.

6. Best Teacher Buddy? Lots of choices here: Daryl Bean, my music-sharing friend--or Kirk Taylor, Most Thoughtful English Teacher Ever--or Janelle Horrocks-Boehmer, the person who taught my personal children sex ed with no-nonsense humor. And many more.

7. Best Administrator? Tom Sparrow. Only my principal one year, but he was the ultimate progressive booster, willing to try any reasonable new idea, and genuinely crazy about the kids.

8. Most Disappointing Experience? Staff meetings. Every one of them. The boredom, the boredom.

9. Most Thrilling Moment? The first time my high school band took top ratings at a festival. I was a young director and went in thinking we were a third-rate group--it was my first year, our instruments were crappy and the music I had chosen was too hard. I had giant holes in any number of sections  and only one french horn. But the kids played their hearts out. I knew, 30 seconds into the performance, that we were OK--and then we came away with the coveted first division. I also won some teaching awards, further along in my career, but that day was pure exhilaration.

10. Funniest Incident in Your Classroom? I once had a kid pee into a trumpet mute, after I said he could wait three minutes until the bell rang to use the restroom. It wasn't funny at the time. Not to me, anyway.

11. Most memorable student? This is a sad one. I had a brilliant 8th grade trombonist who wrote, spoke and thought like a wry but cynical adult. Like having an adolescent Jack Kerouac in class. I swear he was an old soul. There were problems at home. When he was in 9th grade, he took his own life, via self-immolation. That was a dozen years ago , and I'm still haunted.

12. What about unions? Essential but usually unimaginative. To have such power and resources, then regularly squander them on petty, predictable scripts. I see hopeful glimmers that Next Gen teachers will change that.

13. What about charter schools? World-class idea--the devil is in the execution.

14. What about merit pay? Thoughtful pay for performance plans: a hearty yes. Bonuses for raising test scores: dreadful idea.

15. What does "21st century learning" mean? Finally getting some ideas that have been around forever into practice: collaboration, global awareness, innovation, design. 21st century learning is not simply adding more technology or extra math and science. Nor is it incompatible with mastering a strong knowledge base. It's a real thing, however.

16. What makes a teacher "effective?" Ability to engender learning in context--a unique combination of factors that students instantly recognize, and policymakers have trouble quantifying.

17. Most overrated "reform?" Teach for America, or any other program that positions teaching as something anyone can do for two years before moving on to their real careers, rather than a complex professional occupation.

18. Best professional development? National Board Certification. Hands down.

19. Personal education hero? Terry Dozier. 

20. Priorities, if you could spend $5 billion on education?  Better teachers in high-needs schools; innovation grants for creating new kinds of schools; serious teacher development--content knowledge, leadership, instructional improvement; a policy academy where practicing educators and policymakers jointly investigated research and creative options for problem-solving.

Carnival of Education: Virtual Inaugural Balls Edition

"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."                                                                             President Obama

This is the first Presidential Inauguration since the Carnival's inception, in June of 2005. While the festivities last night in Washington D.C. were as open and democratic as any, not many garden-variety educators could be in attendance. Too far away, too cold, too expensive--and  of course, teachers who might love to go would have to round up a sub. So--welcome to the first-ever Virtual Inaugural Balls for EdBloggers!!

We've set up each "ballroom" so teachers will feel at home but festive: there are delicious hot lunches on Styrofoam trays, drinking fountains (without gum wads), functioning copy machines everyplace and no lunch duty. Sheer luxury, for those whose faith and determination in the classroom decides the fate of children every day.

In the auditorium, the Inspiration Ball is in full swing. YoYo Ma and Itzhak Perlman are playing on stage with Anthony McGill and Gabriela Montero. Listen for a moment--then stroll around to hear the words of educators who are moved to eloquence by this historic day. While you're still listening to the music, think with Susan Graham about Simple Gifts, and the fact that the next president may be sitting in your classroom.

Mary Tedrow reflects on Inauguration Day posted at her blog Walking to School. Mary, who lives in Virginia, sees the day's snow delay in her district as serendipitous but providential--tests were  canceled, and students can now witness history. Cindi Rigsbee, North Carolina Teacher of the Year and finalist for National Teacher of the Year, thinks about the past and the promise of the future through the words of Langston Hughes in Holding Dreams... posted at The Dream Teacher.

Australian Penny Ryder takes us on a whimsical tour of the important and very influential teachers in her personal history in Good Teachers - Primary School  found on her blog, Teaching Challenges. And over in the corner, the Honorable John Lewis is deep in conversation with Public School Insights, talking about the stirring example set by Martin Luther King, Jr.  Renee Moore of  TeachMoore joins them, asking What About the Children?  

The Education Optimists are there, too, musing about The Dream and The Inauguration. Cossondra George appears with a letter to President Obama in her hand sharing her ideas from Middle School, day by day from a teacher's point of view. Then Tracy Rosen of Leading From The Heart joins them, urging them to  Cherish the quiet moments. Click on her post to see a photograph that will stir your soul.

And speaking of stirring the soul, see Michaele Sommerville's touching An Incredible Inauguration posted at Kindergarten's 3 R's: Respect, Resources, & Rants. Watching the Inauguration on television, Michaele's kiddos obediently stand up when Dianne Feinstein asks the audience to stand--and when Michaele explains that the new president is "...promising us that he'll do a good job, protect us, and help us help ourselves and others," they ask "Does he promise everybody, or just the grown-ups?"  As we drift out of the Inspiration Ball, members of the Teacher Leaders Network, in their TLN Teacher Voices, are attempting to condense inspiration into Six-Word Inaugural Addresses. 

With stars in our eyes, the next stop is a dose of cold reality: the Challenges Ball, held (naturally) in the basement boiler room. Here's teacherken meeting us at the door and reminding us that the victory only begins at the ballot box, and is incomplete until we fulfill that goal of delivering a better life for people on the ground in The Election Isn't Democracy.

Mathew Needleman shares the overwhelming problems faced by schools in California in A Bailout for LAUSD? posted at his Open Court Resources.com Blog. Meanwhile, woodlassnyc is teaching 50 kids at a time (because the NYC contract allows it) in Breaking my silence, musically speaking which you can find at Under Assault: Teaching in NYC.

Heather Wolpert-Gawron wonders about how to solve those problems in urban schools in NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: Michelle Rhee posted at tweenteacher.com--is getting tough the answer? And Larry Ferlazzo asks about Charter Schools As Immigrant Havens--is this what charter schools were designed to do?

Nothing's a more serious challenge in 2009 than school safety, but Carol Richtsmeier's wry Fatsos, Lockdowns & Stella posted at Bellringers will make you laugh out loud. Stelllllaaaah! And Mister Teacher of  Learn Me Good who says I love teaching vocabulary will build yours with ten new synonyms for alcohol. Finally, Mark Perry at Just a Substitute Teacher Blog....., throws down a new and hilarious challenge: the Freeze Faker…. You can't make this stuff up.

Enough with the challenges--time to roll up sleeves and put that inspiration to work. Let's move into the very crowded teachers' workroom, where the Creative Solutions Ball is ongoing. First: a ceremonial presentation of the Robert Heinlein Medal of Commendation to Darren of Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher for his blog Grokking Trig, which includes a short video of some strangers, er, students in math land. Very cool--and way to suck up to the Carnival host, Darren.

Travis A. Wittwer thoughtfully suggests a universal solution-- Collaboration, not Isolation posted at Stories from School: Practice meets Policy, in which he (correctly) uses the word Sisyphistic. And speaking of collaboration, Pat presents Survival Tips for Student Teachers posted at Successful Teaching--good stuff, indeed.  And A Guide to Raising Great Kids proposes starting with Truthfulness. Excellent advice.

Larry Ferlazzo's back upstairs--this time he's got some social studies and history videos that won't get blocked by filters--check these out because Larry's the master of useful tools. Then, Marcus Smith show us 3 Quick Ways to Dramatically Enhance Your Creativity. Handy.

Speaking of practical tools, Steve Spangler's Blog is all about Oklahoma Hands-on Science Boot Camp for Teachers. Oklahoma, you're OK.  Chanman says this classroom management tool appears to be working...so far: I have a better idea: how about YOU tell your parents! posted at Buckhorn Road. And I really liked Jason Dyer's  Hint Tokens (Getting Students to Struggle) posted at The Number Warrior. Jason says it's a method that may help if your students like to give up when the going gets tough. Don't all students resist struggling?

As we leave the Creative Solutions Ball, there's a final resource being shared: One Family presents Kids With Special Needs and Learning Disabilities – Teaching and Student Educational Resources posted at One Family's Blog. 

Let's make a quick stop in the technology lab to see who's tap-dancing (virtually, of course) at the 21st Century Learning Ball. It's Bill Ferriter, who's just hosted a Conversation on Readicide  at The Tempered Radical, with readers and author Kelly Gallagher on the impact that standardized testing has had on reading instruction in the American classroom. This link will connect readers a rich conversation---and to a series of posts Bill's written about Gallagher's new book, Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it."  Jim McGuire also presents Why Skimming Matters Most posted at The Reading Workshop, saying, "This post looks considers if skimming is the most important reading skill in today's Web 2.0 world."

Lots of reading going on at the ball tonight--Angela presents The Internet vs. "Real" Reading on her The Cornerstone Blog, and HappyCampers at Reese's View Of The World introduce another literacy tool: LookyBook: Bibliovores Beware!

Tom DeRosa offers the second part of a year-long collaborative project for teachers: 52 Teachers, 52 Lessons: Week 2 posted at I Want to Teach Forever. This is cool stuff. And if you're not blogged out already, Kelly Sonora presents Top 50 Educational Policy Blogs posted at Online University Lowdown.

A serious and sobering 21st Century story at NY Education Examiner: 'I want to share with you my son’s cyber bullying experience.' posted by ball attendee Lorri Giovinco-Harte: "A mother discusses her son's experience of becoming a victim of an impostor profile on MySpace." And finally, we see Andrew Heath who is using only technology tools in his quest for Learning Vietnamese in Eight Months. Read A New Project to Learn Vietnamese--it's fascinating.

Even the most enthusiastic ball-goer needs a quiet moment to escape. Let's sit for a moment in the library Dialogue Lounge, where bloggers have come to discuss important issues with their dancing shoes off.

Tom White is musing about What To Do About Homework through his amusing post on Stories from School: Practice meets Policy. Says Tom: As a junior, I completely neglected my history report on the Reconstruction. It was due on a Monday, and I had plans for the weekend that did not include Rebuilding the South on my IBM Selectric." Andrea Hermitt goes further, considering:  Should homework be abolished? on Education Examiner at Examiner.com.

Supervision vs. Observation is the topic at Circle Time "Lead From The Start" with John Holland intelligently pondering the purposes and differences between supervision and observation. And Greg wonders And Where Does He Get His Life Back? posted at Rhymes With Right--what happens when someone may have been falsely accused?

Should we be Asking Teachers to be Therapists? Andrew Bernardin thinks that putting the onus on teachers for first graders' self-esteem may come back to haunt us later, in The Evolving Mind. Hall monitor presents an uncharacteristically sober assessment of severing teachers for financial reasons in  Mt. Pleasant school to offer buyouts to senior faculty, staff  posted at DetentionSlip.org, saying, "It seems some schools have already put a price on the future of education." And Joanne Jacobs is deconstructing real life vs. Friday Night Lights in TV is a poor college counselor posted at the eponymous Joanne Jacobs.

One last ball--the Higher Education Ball, which is on the third floor. Because the third floor is...higher, of course. siobhan curious presents a fun introspection, in which I do not become a Unitarian after all posted at Siobhan Curious, saying, "This post is the conclusion of a three-part story in which my search for a community comes full circle and ends in the classroom. Bob O'Hara offers Academic Advising in House Systems and Residential College Systems from Higher Education News from the Collegiate Way. Says Bob: "Many colleges and universities around the world are establishing "house" or "residential college" systems. Here's how to arrange academic advising in such a system."

More higher ed chat: Richard Adams tells us How To Select The Best University For You, and Mark Montgomery shares Weighted GPA, Unweighted GPA, Class Rank, and College Admission at Great College Advice.

It's getting late. School tomorrow. The EdBloggers Virtual Balls have been civilized affairs--no frozen canaries or coat-check rebellions. But then, educators have lots of practice in dealing with crises. They know how to make people line up in an orderly fashion and keep their hands to themselves.

On the way out the door, we can amuse ourselves with rip-snorting Inauguration Trivia from Mamacita posted at Scheiss Weekly. Mamacita, you rock! And John Holland shares the most amazing coda:  Kids Say Amazing Things: Tell Us! This is why we're in the biz, folks.

 

And here's a marketplace of educational products and services, presented to the Carnival:

Jim presents Best Student Credit Cards posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Rob Stone presents Education - advice videos on School posted at VideoJug: LIfe Explained. On Film. Denise presents Free Online Math for Middle School and Up posted at Let's play math! Matthew Paulson presents Teach Values While Shopping for Your Kids Clothes posted at American Consumer News. College Degrees presents Top online accredited Colleges, Accredited online Degree Programs, Associates, Bachelors, Masters » The College Degrees . Com posted at TheCollegeDegrees.Com Blog. William James presents Content Creation Workshop..You Think It Makes Sense? posted at Internet Marketing | Information Marketing | Blog Marketing | Business Success.  Simone presents How to get a higher band for IELTS Speaking | IELTS-Blog posted at IELTS-Blog. Jacob Richman presents Learn Hebrew with Pictures and Audio posted at Good News from Israel.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of education using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Images: Swells_catskillgirlll@flickr, creative commons; disco balls_monosodium@morguefile.com

Teach Your Children Well

I’ve been living in Christmasland for the past few days, a place where all education policy battles, not to mention my personal worldly cares, have been swept away by family, music, laughter and carbohydrates. Laissez le bon temps roulez.

But today, I made a trek back to the Core Knowledge Blog, curious to see what CKB commenters, generally a cerebral and rational bunch, had made of Fred Strine’s guest blogger post on December 21: 1984 Now.

I have run across Strine’s seething tirades on the failures of contemporary educational practice before. Whenever they pop up, they’re quickly detected and distributed by a certain genre of ed-blogger—those whose life goal is proving, once and for all, that public education in America went straight to hell somewhere around 1965. For them, Strine is the educational equivalent of a Thomas Sowell: he “gets it” and is willing to sell out his teacher brethren for the opportunity to publicly rant.

In his post, Strine notes that he is an English teacher, with 36 years in the classroom. Two things are immediately apparent; first—and this ought to be obvious to anyone who actually attended school—thirty-six years of teaching may make you exceptionally experienced, but they don’t necessarily make you an effective teacher. You can respect Strine’s long tenure, but there is no guarantee that he is a wise and perceptive observer, or correct in his assessment of what goes on in contemporary schooling.

Second, for a person who spent three and a half decades red-penciling student essays, it’s difficult to ascertain exactly what content points Strine is trying to hammer home in this article, and what evidence proves they’re true. He is apoplectic about so many things—bad grammar, ignorant young teachers, educational jargon, calculators, rampant cheating, self-esteem and progressivism in education, which he dates back more than a century. Even the metaphorical literary reference to Orwell’s 1984 doesn’t really work—I’m guessing that many thoughtful educators today would position federal testing mandates as Big Brother, and handy phrases such as “scientifically based research” or “no child left behind” as newspeak. One wonders: should we simply go back to those good old  pre-progressive days when 12% of the population attended high school, studying Latin, rhetoric and logic?

Comments on 1984 Now ranged from wry verbal chuckling—who is this curmudgeon?—to empathy from those also trying valiantly to uphold time-honored principles of good grammar and composition, to those who see any anti-teacher post as an opening to get in more dumb-and-lazy-teacher digs, exhorting America to wake up. Before it’s too late, of course.

A screed like Strine’s is not required to end with policy implications or suggestions for making American schools better, but an author’s credibility is enhanced when he can sketch out some concrete ideas for addressing such egregious shortcomings. Anyone with a 36-year commitment to teaching surely has thought seriously about changes that would improve education in America. Something better than “let’s get back to a well-rounded, grounded education for all.” Ever met anyone who did not believe that every American child deserves a good-quality, comprehensive education? Me, neither. Nor do I believe that there was once a golden era of educational superiority.

I have known many, many Fred Strines in my own 31 years in the classroom. Some of them were my oldest and best teacher buddies. And I am sympathetic to teachers who pursue an unending quest for structure, rigor, discipline and depth in curriculum and instruction (which are inseparable, in a well-run academic program). With an average class size of 60+ students, I am also a great believer in direct instruction. I just don’t think you raise the educational bar via scattershot attacks on colleagues, students, parents, pedagogical strategies and irritating verbiage.

I went to ratemyteachers.com (the existence of which is proof of the apocalypse to some) to see how Fred Strine fared with his students. I wasn’t surprised to see that he gets pretty good marks—there are lots of students who appreciate a teacher with high standards and strong content knowledge. Most of them see Mr. Strine as a fairly easy grader, too (smiling)—and a couple do not seem to have absorbed his lessons on the use of the apostrophe, or the past tense of certain verbs, such as “teach.” C’est la vie, Mr. Strine. You did your best.

Live-blogging the NME Conference, Ends and Beginnings

Before I wrap up here, a couple of thoughts about the Network of Michigan Educators and our mission. Mike Schmidt of Ford Motor Company said yesterday that we need to move from continuous improvement to continuous innovation, in industry and education. And I think that’s what the NME has done.  We began—at least three times—as a group of recognized educators, looking to lead school reform in Michigan. We have been forced, several times, to re-define our vision and re-think what our “work” looks like.

We are funded by businesses and organizations who believe that we’ll make better decisions in education if we listen to the voices of accomplished practitioners—but we have to seek new funding every year. Our leadership team--Dave Borth, Frank Miracola, Cindy Hasselbring, Lauren Childs, Mike Weiskopf, Randy Cook and me--with our sponsor from the Michigan Department of Education, the marvelous Jean Shane, pedal very hard to keep the Network moving forward, accompanied by an incredible Steering Committee of teachers who show up to plan a great conference.

An independent network of people who are passionate about schools and teaching is not a concept many people understand. The NME invites newly recognized teachers into the group every year, and most of them have a hard time wrapping their brains around the purpose of the annual meeting, since they’ve never attended a conference that’s part 21st century learning, part policy academy, part teacher leadership, part sharing best practices and part networking. Sometimes, their principals have a hard time understanding why they should release an honored teacher to attend a leadership conference—and one of our perennial questions is figuring out how to get ourselves into roles where we can influence public thinking about our schools.

We have built partnerships with the Michigan Department of Education, the State Board of Education, a number of education-related businesses and organizations, who are eager to hear independent perspectives on key issues in education. Two years ago, we started “Ask the Network” –a place where policymakers could collect data from a select group of teachers via web-based Zoomerang surveys. Those surveys have turned into useful policy briefs. We are growing and changing.

And now the conference is ending. Have we pulled in some eager recruits?

Reflection Questions and Thoughts, via an “Open Mic” session at the end of the conference:

Would have been helpful to see more specific examples of how students at Henry Ford Academy “worked different” from other classrooms. If this is what we need to be doing, we need models.

It was nice to have common ground and develop relationships—how about a dance to keep everyone together after the banquet?

I was very taken with Mike Flanagan’s comments about resentment against teachers’ long summers and legacy costs. This truly is something we need to think about.

I am an older teacher and I’d like to have more basic technology training as an option at the conference. I feel behind, but I want to catch up.

I thought, at first, that the opening message was very depressing, but as the conference went on, I felt as if we could do things to genuinely help.

I am a student teacher and I was impressed at how intelligent everyone was! (laughter)

Re-imagine, re-invent, re-think. I have to get ahead of what I’m already doing—and I’m excited to do it. We are being pruned—but we’ll regrow, even stronger and more beautiful than ever.

August 18-20, the MI Dept of Ed will host a teaching and learning conference in Lansing—NME members can be vital presenters and contributors. This is a place where teachers can lead other practitioners.

As a brand new teacher, it was a great encouragement to be here, and see my future.

We need our own social networking site to stay connected. (This is going to happen.)

As a teacher who is new to the state, it’s energizing to be with the best and brightest.

I loved the Community Conversations. Like the old Sam Cooke song says…”Change is gonna come.” Things aren’t staying the same—let’s go forward together.

Thanks to the State Board members who came! They asked us questions and listened to what we had to say—that’s amazing.

Thanks to the Steering Committee for an awesome conference!

And the perfect way to end a conference: gift cards for Meijer for mileage reimbursement. Since they’re expecting 14 inches of snow in the western side of the state, people are anxious to get on the roads before dark. Back to our hometowns and our own schools.

Live-blogging the NME Conference: Teacher-created Resources

Breakout rooms are full and there’s the sound of teachers (used to being Head Talker in their daily lives) with their ideas released. I go to see Brian Langely’s session (partly because I can get into the room, and partly because Brian is way cool). Brian had a brainburst a few months ago—teachers themselves need to aggregate their own resources, instead of having to sort through the commercially generated “stuff.” He's developed a framework for a teacher-to-teacher share site.

Brian’s site is called Oneteacher.org and it’s in its early stages of development, which is something of a miracle, considering that Brian teaches full-time and has three children, aged 2 and under. (Pause to think about that.)  This is my favorite kind of project—teacher-generated, filtered through the mind of a real educator, and being continuously created. Teachers just suggest, recommend—and annotate their own favorites. It’s a quick and easy posting system.

Cool conversations spring up, teachers working through their own ideas about technology use—why don’t we share ideas about using tech? why is someone always “training” us? why do I have to go to my son-in-law for help with something that’s so central for my job? One teacher remarks “This conference is a shot in the arm for me. I need this.” 

MUSIC EDUCATION CARNIVAL ~ OCTOBER 2008

MUSIC EDUCATION CARNIVAL!! STEP RIGHT UP!! SPECIAL ATTRACTION: NEW MUSIC MEME!!

This week, Teacher in a Strange Land is hosting the Music Education Carnival. New on the blogging Carnival scene, MEC is celebrating its fourth outing. Look for it on the first day of each month. And if you have something to submit (Yes! Please!)—next month’s Music Education Carnival is set to rumble at Travis J. Weller's place, November 1. The submission form is here.

Let’s begin the carny action with a meme. I picked up the tag from Dina over at The Line.

A meme is a little cultural nugget—a provocative question, a video that nobody can resist, a comment or idea that strikes a chord—which spreads virally. After you respond to the meme, you tag other bloggers and—voila!—everyone is talking, watching and reading about the same thing.  This meme is a question uniquely appropriate for musicians:

What five songs on your iPod do you consider guilty pleasures?

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. And when you send out tags to your friends, you can mention that you saw it first on the Music Education Carnival, then send them back here to read the Carnival. My five iPod guilty pleasures appear at the end of the Carnival, and will undoubtedly make you feel better about any shameful selections on your MP3 player.

MUSINGS ON MUSIC EDUCATION--LET THE CARNIVAL BEGIN

Music Education Carnival co-founder Joel is up first some great advice on Pacing: What Every Great Band Director Knows. Highly recommended, especially for new teachers or those needing a lifeline. Check out Joel's other good stuff at So You Want to Teach?

Thomas J. West gives us the lowdown on First Act Musical Instruments: Are They Worth the Price? Thomas plays investigator and shares consumer reviews and his own experiences in an even-handed synopsis.

High marks to Michael Antmann who tackles assessment in Making the Grade, Assessment in Band, Part I. Some cogent thinking--and next time, Michael promises to tackle the dreaded practice record dilemma.

Citius, Altius, Fortius says Music Education Carnival co-founder Dr. Joe Pisano. Dusting off my four years' of HS Latin, I mistranslated the title...it's not "Higher, Faster, Louder" (a.k.a. "what to look for in a marching band chart"), but  Faster, Higher, Stronger. Dr. Pisano's post is about excellence, persistence and believing in the cause of high-quality music education. Inspiring, indeed.

Listen and Learn is music therapist Rachel Rambach's site, where she offers reflections on her work and songs, like Fall into Fall. Rachel, is there a "Spring into Spring" forthcoming?

Nancy Flanagan, your host here at Teacher in a Strange Land, shares what happens when percussionists are extreme visual learners in Mr. Holland Teaches Me a Lesson.

Finally, as a flutist, I heartily approve of Thomas West's second submission, Flute Teaching for the Non-flutist. And I'm picky. Read it, and learn.

TECHIES AT THE CARNIVAL

Larry Ferlazzo offers us One of the Coolest Online Music Tools Ever. It's Contrapunctus Variations, an online tool that lets you compose using your computer mouse. Larry confesses that it's a little hard to explain--but then he does a good job of whetting our interest. Visit Larry and see.

You can find anything online, including free music. Go and see Fiona King who will lead you to 100 Places to Find Free Christian Music Online.

Interested in finding local bands' websites? Try here.

WordPress Hacker offers Navigation Tabs for those who blog on WP.

IN A CATEGORY BY HIMSELF

Barry Wright III, in his blog, Style Life, muses on learning to play the bass guitar. He has observations on how and where he practices (Duke University Chapel steps). Interesting take from a self-taught musician--we can learn a few things from Barry.

AND BROWSE THE CARNIVAL MIDWAY...

Woman Tribune offers a social networking site for independent musicians: PureSound Records.

Paul Heingarten, lifelong musician, is starting a new ezine about music and you're invited. Find out more!

Or teach yourself guitar--see here.

AND A LATE--BUT TERRIFIC--SUGGESTION FROM EUGENE CANTERA:

Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher takes piano lessons? No fake. See the big bruiser's reflections on what winning a Super Bowl has in common with practicing when your pinky is sore: no excuses. Thanks, Eugene--a great way to end the Carnival.

SO THAT'S IT...The Music Education Carnival is over for October. See you next month. Bring your friends.

And be sure to pass along the fun meme (below). What's on YOUR iPod that you'd rather not share with your classically trained musician friends?

Five Guilty Pleasures on my iPod:

#1) “Boulder to Birmingham” (Starland Vocal Band). Yup. The same vocally folks who gave us “Afternoon Delight” --which is NOT in my iTunes.

#2) “The Land Before Time” film score selections (James Horner). Can’t help it. Fell in love with this when my kids were tykes, about 18 years ago.

#3) “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (Dolly Parton). Reminds me of my grandma, who used to sing this while she was ironing. May she rest in peace. My grandma, that is, not Dolly.

#4) “Whiskey, if You Were a Woman” (Highway 101). The lead singer's voice could cut glass, but I have this secret affinity for country music that sounds like country music used to. 

#5) "Imagine" (David Archuleta). I loathe American Idol. But for some reason, I didn't see this rendition as sacrilege. I liked it enough to pop for 99 cents, anyway, and listen to it when I'm feeling all moody.

Images: Clarinet by Puddleduck/Graffiti by XanderT/Maracas by Chelle/morguefile.com

MEME: FIVE THINGS POLICY-MAKERS OUGHT TO KNOW

Starting a little meme here at Teacher in a Strange Land:

Five Things I Wish Policy-Makers Knew About My Classroom

1. There is no such thing as a foolproof curriculum that works reliably for all kids, or even most kids. Policymakers may wish those magic programs existed, so schools could buy guaranteed progress—but surefire lessons are an illusion. 

2. Teaching should be fun, sometimes. Teachers who are having fun are better and more effective teachers than those who approach the work with a grim determination to prevail.

3. It is grueling to sit still and listen for six consecutive hours with only 4-minute breaks every hour to move to another room AND use the facilities. It is also tough to stand in line for 18 minutes to get a piece of rubber pizza, then eat it in the remaining 8 minutes while standing up because all the tables are full of 8^th graders. In other words, keep kids’ “working conditions” in mind when deciding what that work should be.

4. Kids do not always know more about technology than their teachers. There are still many things their teachers know better, and those are the most important things about effective use of technologies: how to evaluate information, how to detect deception and junk, how to reflect and critique, how to be persuasive, how to connect disparate subjects and ideas, how to polish and refine, how to test and apply theories, how to innovate, how to appreciate. It’s not about the hardware and software.

5. Schools today—and students today—are vastly different than they were when Any Given Policymaker attended. And that’s a good thing.

I’ll be sending the meme tag off to six cool new teacher-bloggers, over at “Stories from School: Practice meets Policy.” The six—Kelly, Shelly, Travis, Tom, Kim and Richelle—teach in Washington state, and all are National Board Certified Teachers. Their joint blog was designed as a platform for their thoughts about how their practice has been impacted by policy at all levels, so they ought to have some good ideas.

Here are the rules for sharing/sending this meme:

1. Create a list of five things you wish policymakers knew or understood about your classroom, your school or your students. Post it on your blog.

2. Title your blog post “Meme: Five Things Policymakers Ought to Know” and link it back to this blog (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/teacher_in_a_strange_land/)

3. Invite as many bloggers as you like to create their own lists of five things policymakers should know, and link back to your blog. In Blog World, it’s considered friendly and appropriate to ask a blogger whose work you admire to participate, without a formal introduction.

Image/Blondeb/Morguefile

CARNIVAL IN A STRANGE LAND

“I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth at the right time — and then shut up.” ~ Jubal Harshaw, “Stranger in a Strange Land” (Robt. Heinlein)

 Welcome, welcome! The Carnival this week has been set up in a Strange Land, where inconsistencies, inspirations, the incomprehensible, immoral and imaginative in education are investigated and illuminated. In a Strange Land, we do try to serve as fair witnesses, to grok education practice and policy. And—we love all educators, but teachers most of all.

In a Brave New World, we all need guideposts:

And who better than the estimable Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach to lead the way with a truly wise and comprehensive post on 9 Principles for Implementation: The Big Shift ? You can find Sheryl N-B every day making the future real at 21st Century Learning.

Gonna start an extreme Strange Land Fan Club for eduwonkette, a blogger so smart she’s had her gender questioned. Read In Which We Make Sweeping Generalizations from a Sample of 69 Teach for America Teachers in North Carolina –and learn.

If we got to redesign a brave new ed-world, we could start by Redefining Basic Skills posted at TeachMoore by wise woman Renee Moore. Says Renee: How many facts does a child really need to know, and why does s/he have to learn them by a certain age or grade level? Meet a fellow traveler, Renee—here’s Andrea, at Andrea's Buzzing About... and her new blog Are You 'Slow'? "When we mistake speed for ability — or rather, lack of speed for lack of ability — we misinterpret a person’s intelligence and their ability to learn."

My best blogging buddy, Bill Ferriter, presents Middle Schoolers and MySpace posted at The Tempered Radical. If there were ever a Strange New Land, it’s MySpace. And if there is a teacher who groks kids and technology, it's Bill.

Susan N. Graham discusses prize teacher pork and some tips on not becoming somebody’s teacher-leader lunch in the first blog ever to make me salivate: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? posted at A Place at the Table.

Professionalism for teachers in this new world? Rich reading from fellow Teacher Leaders Network big thinker, Anthony Cody in Class Struggle: Empowering the Teaching Profession | Edutopia posted at Anthony Cody's Blog.

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction—even science fiction—as these perspectives from the field reveal:

John Holland, my favorite fair witness, takes a risk and states the obvious in Lead from the Start: research finding: "what teachers do with kids" matters posted at Circle Time "Lead From The Start". Relationships, they aren't just for preschool anymore.

Must-read blog: New York State ELA Exam Plugs Teach For America and Working as a Grocery Bagger posted at The Chancellor's New Clothes. Kristina’s synopsis: "This is a two part post about encouraging students to be subservient and to accept inexperienced teachers as their saviors."  Teacher in a Strange Land's take: There’s a lot more going on in this blog than is captured by Kristina’s brief comment. Read. And start blogging. Stranger than fiction indeed.

Stuff about interesting little citizens: check out With Great Expectations: Spring Break? posted by dayle timmons at With Great Expectations. More itty-bitty citizen stuff: Michaele Sommerville presents 1/2 Day, Extended Day, Full Day Kindergarten posted at Kindergarten's 3 R's: Respect, Resources, & Rants. Rounding out a truly inspiring little-kid trilogy, first-time Carnival submitter Jane presents Show, Not Tell... (Why I Love Student-Led Conferences) posted at My Life with Daniel.

Cossondra George, also in her Carnival debut, gives us The Arbitrary-ness of Education posted at Middle School, day by day from a teacher's point of view. Arbitrary—good word for middle schoolers.

Ms. Cornelius always looks at things from a new point of view. Check out That's why it's called a grade point AVERAGE. posted at A Shrewdness of Apes, which features, among many other interesting phenomena, the Cult That Is Marching Band.

Should Everyone Attend College? asks Corey Bunje Bower at Thoughts on Education Policy. Good question. Who gets to answer? Go check out Corey’s blog. He has lots of questions. Woodlassnyc asks another good question at When did education turn into an industrial complex? in her blog, Under Assault: Teaching in NYC.

Mrs. Bluebird, thinking about the real and surreal, in Failing to Launch and How to Take 60 7th Graders Camping and Live to Tell About It - Part 1 posted at Bluebird's Classroom, notes that this is "Part I in a series." Bluebird, how many more parts can there be? Tune in to next week’s Carnival, or cut to the chase: Chris Wondra on Why I Don't Do Field Trips posted at Think Thank Thunk. Chris, who appears to have had a bad experience, says: Overnight field trips + Teens = Sex? You'd better believe it. And if you're brave enough to supervise an overnighter, you'd better be ready to prevent it--or pay a price. Shudder.

Siobhan Curious presents some classroom insights in sharing leadership with students posted at Siobhan Curious, my nominee for best science fiction-y blog name. Nominee for best posting title?  About this blog and its title posted by Dana at Epic Adventures Are Often Uncomfortable. The ability to tackle the adventures—epic and ordinary—that life throws at us is one of the most important skills we can teach to our students. Thus said Dana, speaking a mouthful.

Last-Minute Conversions posted by NYC Educator, who says, "What do you do with kids who do no work all year and then request a miracle four weeks before school ends?” TIASL’s response: Introduce ‘em to the concept of science fiction.

Mister Teacher dips into fiction himself with A really sorry movie parody posted at Learn Me Good. Sez Mr. T: "My parody of Speed Racer -- E-Raser." We get it, T. And muse over at me-ander channels yet another movie: Meeting The Parents.

historyiselementary presents Ah....the Month of May posted at History Is Elementary. A very pretty blog interface and some lovely thoughts. Speaking of lovely thoughts, California Teacher Guy posted some over at CaliforniaTeacherGuy—one of those random sweet moments that makes a teacher understand that maybe it’s a good day, after all.

OK. How about 10 Ways to Make Certain That Your Kids Hate School, Become Lazy & Dependent Learners, Drive Their Teachers Crazy, & End Up Living in Your Basement Until They Are 40 - posts - Homework. Dinner. Life. Longest blog title winner, posted by Angela Norton Tyler, who says, "in this post, Angela shares a story about how she used to do too much for her daughter." Way, way too much, evidently. A good one.

Sarah Weisz says Everyone wants to be in Teach for America posted at Teaching Excellence Network. Not exactly everyone, but certainly lots of bright young things. Here’s the money quote, however: why [are] fabulous, bright, committed teachers...still leaving in such great numbers?

One fabulous, bright, committed teacher who isn’t going anywhere, Pat, shares Perceptions About Teaching over at Successful Teaching. And check out Darren and Ronald Reagan, man of steel (brass?), in Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher in his post Free Speech And Rudeness.

Junkies is The Science Goddess's offering this week, on What It's Like on the Inside. Inside, outside, junkies…who knew?

From a strange but different land (the UK) oldandrew submits A Brief History of Education Part 5. The Battleground School posted at Scenes From The Battleground. Online distance learning programs are providing much-needed services for Gifted Students. Check out Bright and Wired: The Gifted Kids Network posted at On Living By Learning.

Revisiting AERA, Bill Ayers, the Weather Underground and Public Education comes from Matthew K at Education for the Aughts.  Is Matthew old enough to remember Bill Ayers?  Teacher in a Strange Land is.

A little science, a little math, a little rock and roll:

One of my blogging heroes, the eponymous Joanne Jacobs (Joanne Jacobs), pokes at us with What do math-smart women want? Are men from Mars? Are women from Venus? Read about why women prefer to “work with organic things.” Hmmm.

In Reflections of a Techie, math/science teacher-techie Marsha Ratzel muses on the intricacies of Homework, Feedback and Improving Grades. A+ stuff—but Marsha, what’s a shoulder partner? This blog involves lots of paradigm-shift thinking.

Great discussion on STEM over at the award-winning Teacher Voices, featuring some of the smarter teachers on the planet: The Teacher Leaders Network.

Greg Laden presents How Society Will Accept Rational Science: The Best Way to Frame Global Warming and Evolution . Check Greg Laden's Blog for more Real Science and a cool picture of what I hope is Greg dancing with his beautiful daughter.

IB a Math Teacher presents Scapegoat posted at 3σ → Left. And IB happy to share this link. Over at Let's play math!, Denise shares The Function Machine Game , a game of math and pre-algebra, for students in grade 5 + up. Denise, meet IB.

Steve Spangler's Blog features Wild About Tie Dye—a little bit hippie, a little bit chemistry. Mamacita says: Be sure to read the comments left by the students.

And over at the Strange Land midway, a selection of items and ideas for sale, organizations for your consideration -- things to marvel at and to wonder about.

Michael Snyder presents Radical Depopulation Of The Earth - The Solution To Mankind's Problems? posted at Shattered Paradigm.

Mark Montgomery presents College Applications: They Can Make You Sick. No kidding. Mark posts at Great College Advice. And—has Mark been talking to Jay Mathews? How Good are Advanced Placement (AP) Courses? Are They Worth Taking?

Mathew Needleman presents Differentiate This: Reflections posted at Open Court Resources.com Blog.

Paul Li presents Brain Training for Kids posted at Lumosity Brain Health, saying, "Teachers and parents should be aware that brain games is a fun way to help children improve their memory, attention, and processing speed and might be more beneficial to children with ADHD/ADD than medication."

Shaheen Lakhan presents Democracy vs. Domestic Violence posted at GNIF Brain Blogger, saying, "People are looking at how we are affected by the groups we belong to that are treated unequally and subjected to various kinds of stress and discrimination -- a field called intersectionality. Poor education contributes to domestic violence and other violent and criminal behavior."

David Cassell presents Masters Or Doctorate - Which One? posted at selectcoursesblog.com. Do we hafta choose?

James DeLelys presents WORDS » Articles posted at WORDS.

Matthew Paulson presents Avoid Default When Struggling With a Student Loan » American Consumer News posted at American Consumer News.

Carol Richtsmeier presents Spring Yearbooks, the 6 o’clock News & Not It posted at Bellringers.

Dana presents The Education Industrial Complex posted at Principled Discovery.

Dave Saba presents MO does equal momentum | American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence posted at DoE- Dave on Ed, saying, "Missouri and Utah - lots happening here."

TherapyDoc presents Jerry Springer at Northwestern University Law posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, "Should he have been the speaker at law school graduation? He was."

cate3 presents Powerful Learning Trick - the continuing saga posted at Why Homeschool, saying, "Henry writes about a way to help students remember more of what they learn."

Carnies are packing up—but please return to a Strange Land again.  It's been great having you here.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of education using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

"Remind me to write a popular article on the compulsive reading of news [on education]. The theme will be that most neuroses and some psychoses can be traced to the unnecessary and unhealthy habit of daily wallowing in the troubles and sins of five billion strangers." ~ Jubal Harshaw, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” (Robt. Heinlein)