Tag Archives: Education

The Red Wheel Barrow, Imagination, and the Christian Poet

It has been too long since I last posted, as bronchitis and sinusitis descended into my system and knocked me out for awhile. Unfortunately, my blog and writing had to take a back seat until I had the energy and ability to write without abandoning my family and my job. Hopefully, this blog finds you in good (or returning to good!) health. I’m pleased to announce that my review of William Carlos Williams’ Spring and All has been published by the Englewood Review of Books. An excerpt:

Originally published in 1923, Spring and All, Williams’s manifesto of imagination and poetry, became one of, if not the most, influential works for mid to late twentieth-century poets. Produced on the heels of the Great War, Williams calls for new forms, new images, new beings, and new cultures because all previous forms and ideas had led us into destruction and death. Today, we again find our American selves faced with war and economic and food crises. In a country where politicians are calling for thousands of math and science teachers, where standardized tests and business skills trump imagination and art, Williams’s monumental work yet again stands at the threshold of form and tradition, begging for a savior.

Read the entire review here. Don’t forget to share your thoughts–is it too much to associate imagination and creativity with Jesus?

Waiting for Superman

I had the opportunity to finally watch Waiting for Superman, the documentary about the quality of public schools in America. What a great movie! A few things that caught my eye/ear/mind:

  • When describing a significant fall-off in achievement between 5th and 7th grade, one principal said that there were two possibilities: either the kids are getting stupider or there’s a problem with the system. While there are numerous issues with our public education system, I find it interesting that at this moment in the film (or any moment) the role of the family is not mentioned. Three types of family involvement in education have proven to be problematic: the family where the adults are too busy/annoyed to be a part of their child’s education; the family that has to work multiple jobs to pay the bills, thus leaving the kid on his own for much of the time; the meddling parents that are overly involved and ruin life for everyone, including their own child.
  • On average, 1 in 15 doctors lose their license. 1 in 27 lawyers lose theirs. Teachers? 1 in 2500.
  • The movie concludes that public education is failing because it isn’t about the kids. It’s all about the adults. Teacher unions have shut down the majority of education reform because it encroaches on people’s “rights” to teach. The two national teaching unions have paid over 55 million dollars to political campaigns. How can a union have education in mind when that money is leaving education and going into the pockets of those creating bad education policy? I understand why unions formed, but if a teacher is doing what he/she is supposed to be doing, and doing it really well, is there a need for a union? I don’t have the right to be a teacher, I have the responsibility of being a teacher, of making sure every student that comes through my room as the opportunity and expectation to grow in leaps and bounds. My most successful moments as a teacher are when I get over myself and put my students first. (Another reason to not join our local union: the union pres. is my former high school math analysis teacher–my only C in high school. Oh and I went on to get an A in calculus the following semester in college. Oh and my mom is a calculus teacher so I had all the support in the world…except in the actual classroom. Go figure. Stay classy JCEA)
  • Recent legislation suggests that it’s entirely up to teachers to solve all the educational problems, because if a student isn’t learning, whose fault is it but the teacher’s?
  • The movie never identifies who or what the education Superman is. Maybe they are hinting that there isn’t an easy superhero rescue scene with this one, and no amount of legislation/bureaucratic muck-duck will fix the problems. But it’s a good start to look at the heart of those teaching in classrooms everyday. Is it possible for each individual teacher, each principle, each student, each family, each school–is it possible for us to be Superman, or are we already weakened by the kryptonite of self-esteem over content, testing over learning, unions over children?

Education and the Arts

In his State of the Union address, President Obama  emphasized the need for math and science teachers in order to compete with the global marketplace in education. I’m disappointed that there wasn’t emphasis on the arts. And the republican congress isn’t doing much better, cutting funding for the National Endowment of the Arts. I’ve gone back and forth on this issue in my mind over the past couple of days. I’m a firm believer in a small government that is responsible for making laws and defending the people (Uncle Sam has his fingers in way to many pies, American and otherwise). But there is also waning interest in the arts, so if the gov raises awareness and education in the area of arts, I’m all for it.

Regardless, what the bureaucrats and politicians don’t understand is that the “tangible” subjects such as math and science don’t guarantee personal growth, the ability to communicate, or well-rounded critical thinking skills. I wish that the policy makers understood the value of liberal arts, of being well-rounded, of being able to read and write analytically and creatively. (See the success of Core Knowledge. Whether you agree with the philosophy or not, you can’t argue with the results!) Instead, the arts are the first subjects cut from colleges and high schools (mainly because they don’t bring in as much money as sports. I love sports , but I love art too.). Schools are cutting literature reading to strictly nonfiction because there isn’t a place for stories and poems in the work place.

For the first time in America’s history, we are falling behind the rest of the world in both motivation and learning. It’s foolish to think that cranking out math and science whizzes will fix the problem. But literature provides us with experiences we will never have first hand, forces us to deal with situations that don’t have clear-cut, black and white answers, and forces us to deal with our past, present, and future (Check out the guy who is publishing a copy of Huck Finn without the N word so that people won’t be offended by it.  It makes about as much sense as banning Origin of Species because people are offended by it. Addition by subtraction eventually equals zero.)

Over-emphasizing math and science is not the answer, but I suppose there aren’t any affluent lobbyists in Washington that give a rip about the arts because there isn’t much money in it. And that’s what we’ve come, cut what doesn’t make money. Cut out the heart of mankind.

Reading, Research, and Retirement

I love reading.  I hate research.  I wish I could retire.

My English teachers always told me to start with a plan, so the above three sentences are my plan.  But as usual, let me elaborate.

I didn’t always love reading.  I have funny eyes–not Seinfeld funny have you, but one is lazy, the other is an overachiever and after a day of contacts I blink a lot and squint.  Real funny.  But as a kid, before I knew I had problems with my eyes, I struck out every at bat in baseball and read really slowly.  I remember our class reading My Side of the Mountain in 4th grade.  I fell behind.  I didn’t understand how everybody around me could read so fast and answer the questions before I was even halfway done with the assignment.  (Now that I’m a teacher, I realize that most of the kids scanned and wrote down partial answers just to be done with it.  But, surprise, I digress.)  I got glasses that year, and my over-achieving eye lense got fogged and I looked, well, special.  But it helped and by the time I got to college I had fallen in love with literature, the power of the story, and the depth of the poem.  Which leads me forward in this love-hate relationship of reading.

I confess that I lied to you at the beginning of this post.  I don’t feel guilty.  I actually like research.  I like learning new things.  Would I read much nonfiction if it weren’t for my grad school assignments?  Probably not, but once I’m in the process of learning it’s pretty cool.  What stinks is writing it all down in a nice little formal paper to show Professor so-and-so that I learned something.  Some people are really good at this (like my brother).  But, for the creative mind, writing a research paper is as worthwhile as a drywaller measuring a 4×8 piece of drywall.  I know, I know.  The world is a better place because of all the research (and regurgitation) that goes on, but it is also better because of the creative literature we’ve produced.  I hear my mother choking right now, as she doesn’t enjoy the literary side of things as much as I do.

Which is why I need to retire.  My father-in-law has this great job of running a pastors’ retreat in Wisconsin.  Go Buckeyes (I know it’s the Badgers people, I’m making a statement here).  But this job affords him the time to read a vast amount of books and articles that make the read-o-phyte drool.  But alas, a baby is brewing, the swamp cooler (I hear they call them evaporative coolers now) takes electricity and the house isn’t solar powered, and I like to eat.  My IRA is a block of concrete in the pond of the global market and we don’t have that much set aside for retirement yet anyways.  C’mon, I’ve had a career for 5 years now…in teaching!  Okay, retirement is a pipe dream for me and my generation, so I’ll let that dream go.

What I won’t let go is trying to juggle everything so that I can still read–to myself and my kids–and write and publish.  I’ll leave the big research to those who dig it.  And to leave you with a moan-and-groan pun, I must retire and go to class.

Textbooks, the anti-buyback

I’m a student and a teacher, but thank God I’m not a student-teacher. One of the greatest things about studying Liberal Studies is that I’m learning all sorts of things about humanity that had previously never donned on me. I just finished my winter quarter and get a week break before my next class, the Human Condition, begins. My final paper was a brief comparison contrast of haiku and sonnets. Yup, there are a few similarities that will change your life but that’s for another blog post (I don’t want to blog about it tonight because I was up until midnight last night finishing the paper and then gave a presentation in class tonight. I no longer have words for the subject right now, but I will after a little rest. Amazing how that works.).

Before class I trooped over to the bookstore to sell back as many textbooks as possible. I’ve taken three classes now that required texts (over $100 worth total, which isn’t too bad) and I don’t particularly want to keep them. I walked in with a total of 5 books. She scanned the biggest book first. It’s an art book for the class I just finished. The bookstore sold used copies for $90, new for $120. I found it on half.com for $45. If I got $30 out of I would be thrilled. They didn’t take it though because there’s a new edition coming out. Anyone interested in art? The next book, a textbook on globalism, was also denied. The next two books were worth $2 and $1.25. I paid $8 a piece for them. The final book was from my research class last summer. I paid $20 for it and they gave me $10.50 for it. What a bargain! I bought Chipotle for dinner and asked the guy behind the counter if they free drinks to teachers. They did.

But back to books. I’m not too bothered by the slanderous markups of textbooks in themselves. It’s a racket anyway. Textbook companies come out with new editions frequently because it forces students to always upgrade, thus the need to always spend new money. Recycling (or reusing) goes by the wayside. I should start a textbook company with a middle finger as my logo. But I digress.

The bookstore should buy all books back if the student purchased them from the bookstore. This sounds like a rash emotion but really, I’m not so angry that my lines of vision are blurred. I would even be exempt from my own suggestion because I chose a website over the ol’ standby. Even if they gave me ten bucks for the art book, they could still sell it themselves online for $30 and still payback their losses. Students would more likely buy from them if they new they would be guaranteed something in return.

Instead, they say they don’t take it and everybody in line behind me nods and labels me as “that guy.” So I’ve got this pretty sweet paper weight…literally…it’s heavy. It’s got lots of pictures and even a few haiku. But the haiku are in Japanese and I don’t know Japanese…yet. So here’s to art, the Renaissance, Impressionism, and bookstores. I hope they don’t catch the clap from the textbook companies.

No Child Left Untested

As our instructional coach has been telling us for weeks, it’s the most wonderful time of year. If this blog were a pasture, I just forced you step in a cow pie. Sorry. Next time wear galoshes.

The reason for my overt cynicism is the annual CSAP test–Colorado’s attempt to keep the politicians who think they have a clue what goes on in classrooms happy. The idea isn’t all bad in itself. In this grand old age of information, Data is the new Baal. Or Zeus. Or Ra. Teachers are forced to sacrifice their children to the god of data so that every child can be tested and stamped with a grade-level approval. I have issue with our particular for two reasons: it takes considerable time away from actual learning and it’s a bad test.

Fortunately, our school has a strong enough curriculum with a solid faculty that views this process as hoop-jumping for the suits. In actuality, we only miss one entire day of instruction each week for a total of two days. All in all, not too bad but when we’re crunched for time as it is with getting through all of our curriculum, two days is huge.

So the biggest problem is the test itself. It doesn’t do a good job of assessing grade-level knowledge. Good test takers do well regardless of intelligence. Here’s a great example. Several years ago, I had a sixth grade student whose brain was operating on the level of a first grader. He could write thoughts on paper, but sentences rarely flowed together elegantly. I would put him on around a 3rd grade writing level. He scored proficient on the CSAP writing test. Maybe he got lucky, but I don’t think so.

The state legislature is currently engaged in discussions as to whether or not CSAP should continue or be trashed. I read one statistic that stated the state spends close to $325 million on the stinkin test each year. How successful could schools be if they were getting that money directly? That pays for teachers, technology (especially since Microsoft has its meat hooks in the school system resulting in super bloated costs), and building maintenance. Tests provide tons of data, but I’m not sure data is always the answer. We have a problem when data transcends the needs of children. Some argue that data allows us to know how to help children. In many cases this is correct. But a month into the school year and most teachers (worth their weight in gold) will be able to identify most areas of opportunities and most strengths with most students.

Here’s the greatest irony. The largest school district in Colorado has aligned its entire curriculum district wide based on CSAP. Let’s hope this political baby gets thrown out with the bureaucratic bath water.