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Ken and Doug have been been over at Ed Wonk, arguing about whether schools should be held accountable for student achievement. Ed Wonk says students and parents have responsibilities, too. What can he do if a student refuses to do a simple 5-minute assignment? This is a tough one for me, because while I'm foursquare on the side of school accountability, 'Ed Wonk' is a teacher, and teachers are getting mulched. (Doug and Ken both say this themselves several times in their comments.) I'm at a loss as to what one individual teacher can do. On the other hand, Temple made an enormous difference for animal welfare working inside the meatpacking industry. The odds were against her. She was a woman in a macho industry when women weren't welcome, she was a free-lance designer with no management experience or power, and she was autistic. Her autism was her strength. Half the time she didn't even know people were mad at her, or laughing in her face. One time she gave a talk to a cattleman's gathering and thought it went well. Afterwards a member of the audience came up to her and said he felt really bad about the way everyone had treated her. She didn't know what he was talking about. She just kept trying to make things better for animals. Today, 30 years after her career began, she's done it. What can one teacher hemmed in by bad policy, lazy and/or damaged students, and dysfunctional and/or demoralized parents do? I don't know. My feeling is that the solitary individual has a responsibility to try to make a difference, and then, after he fails, to keep on trying. Which I imagine is what Ed Wonk is doing.
speaking of which Ed is good at academic politics. (Synchronicity moment. I typed the word 'Ed' and the phone rang; it was Ed. He's in Paris.) Background: our Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent are drafting a policy, to be voted on by the school board, to make it impossible for me to teach Singapore Math in the after-school program. Under new policy no parent will be allowed to teach any academic course that might conceivably overlap or conflict with content being taught in school; hence no Spanish class in the after-school program, either, though a class in Chinese may be allowed. Apparently, this is the way it's done in Ardsley. [ed.: Ardsley?] Ed says there's a fundamental principle at stake, which is that the administration should not regulate parent activities. He told me to call the PTSA president and ask for an invitation to speak to the executive board. I did, and I'll be talking to the board next week. Meanwhile the President says she wants to show the Singapore Math material to her husband, who has a Ph.D. in computer science, proving the Jayne Mansfield dictum that all publicity is good publicity. (It was Jayne Mansfield who said that, wasn't it?) My points:
I probably won't press that last point. On the other hand, maybe I will.
what can one person do? Which brings me back to the question of what one person can do. When it comes to complaining about a lousy math curriculum, one person can be a gadfly. A gadfly, or a thorn in the side, or both. I've done a bang-up job on that front, it seems. What one teacher can do inside a classroom is a tougher question. I wonder what Siegfried Engelmann would say. Could you create your own formative assessment/Kumon-like series of tiny little in-class lessons that work with undereducated, burned-out 12-year olds?
what is the student's responsibility, anyway? After allowing Christopher to sign a document acknowledging full responsibility for his grades (I'll be recanting via email tonight, now that I've given myself a day to cool off) my question is: what is his responsibility? What is mine? By which I mean.....what does the school have a right to expect from us? It's crystal clear to me that Mrs. Roth is out of line. I've now talked to other parents in the class, and on the subject of Mrs. Roth they could be my long-lost twins. She's mean, parents say, and she doesn't teach. Moms are spending hours on the internet, pulling grammar lessons, pulling information on how to teach persuasive writing, pulling this, pulling that. Worse yet, more than one of the children in her class believes that Mrs. Roth specifically hates him or her. These children don't perceive her as uniformly disliking everyone (she probably doesn't dislike anyone; she's just enjoying her caustic performance humor, which was on display Back to School night. She's an entertainer, and her jokes are all at the children's expense.) So, no, the children don't think Mrs. Roth is just a mean person who dislikes all the children. They think she dislikes them personally. They spend two class hours a day with this woman. There's something new and bad practically every week. Actually that's not true; it's not every week. It just feels like every week. This week's debacle was the 'Feature Story.' Apparently, the Feature Story was supposed to be a persuasive essay. Christopher didn't know that, and I didn't know it, either. Another parent told me Mrs. Roth did give the kids an assignment sheet, which I didn't see. I don't know what happened to it. Is this a breach of responsibility on Christopher's part? I'm going to say no. At this stage of the game, it's Mrs. Roth's responsibility to find out if her students know what the assignment is. The fact that she handed out a piece of paper isn't good enough. I want formative assessment on the question of: Do these kids know what I've asked them to do? So Christopher didn't do the assignment correctly. He wrote a very nice explanatory paper on school violence (what could have prompted him to develop an interest in school violence, I wonder), laying out one or two reasons for school violence, and two possible solutions. Then he told which solution he preferred, and why. The paper was short, well-organized, and well-written. Mrs. Roth thought it was terrible, and told him so, loudly, in front of the class. Then she accused him of 'not trying' and 'not working.' He was humiliated. I've had it. Number one, no child needs to be humiliated in front of the class. Number two, where is the instruction? Christopher has no idea what a persuasive essay is, yet he was asked to write one. Meanwhile I, the parent, do not hear the words 'feature story' and think 'persuasive essay.' I have yet to see a single constructive or informative comment written on a paper Christopher has turned in to Mrs. Roth; I have yet to see any comment written on any paper at all. When Mrs. Roth came back from 6 weeks out with pneumonia, she told the class, "Your stories are horrible. They don't deserve to go in a book." And that was that. My story is horrible; next time I'll try to write something not horrible. I have yet to see any sequence of writing instruction: rough drafts, revisions, 2nd revisions, anything at all. [correction: Christopher says they wrote a rough draft in class and handed it in. And that was that. Mrs. Roth provided no feedback..] So....I guess I'm going to have to take back my question. In theory I'm interested in what Christopher's & my responsibilities to the school may be. In reality, I'm far more riveted by the question of what the school's responsibility is to us. But I am interested in any thoughts all of you have on the subject of student and parent responsibility in middle school.
-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Dec 2005 Back to: Main Page.
Ken and Doug have been been over at Ed Wonk, arguing about whether schools should be held accountable for student achievement. Ed Wonk says students and parents have responsibilities, too. What can he do if a student refuses to do a simple 5-minute assignment? This is a tough one for me, because while I'm foursquare on the side of school accountability, 'Ed Wonk' is a teacher, and teachers are getting mulched. (Doug and Ken both say this themselves several times in their comments.) I'm at a loss as to what one individual teacher can do. On the other hand, Temple made an enormous difference for animal welfare working inside the meatpacking industry. The odds were against her. She was a woman in a macho industry when women weren't welcome, she was a free-lance designer with no management experience or power, and she was autistic. Her autism was her strength. Half the time she didn't even know people were mad at her, or laughing in her face. One time she gave a talk to a cattleman's gathering and thought it went well. Afterwards a member of the audience came up to her and said he felt really bad about the way everyone had treated her. She didn't know what he was talking about. She just kept trying to make things better for animals. Today, 30 years after her career began, she's done it. What can one teacher hemmed in by bad policy, lazy and/or damaged students, and dysfunctional and/or demoralized parents do? I don't know. My feeling is that the solitary individual has a responsibility to try to make a difference, and then, after he fails, to keep on trying. Which I imagine is what Ed Wonk is doing.
speaking of which Ed is good at academic politics. (Synchronicity moment. I typed the word 'Ed' and the phone rang; it was Ed. He's in Paris.) Background: our Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent are drafting a policy, to be voted on by the school board, to make it impossible for me to teach Singapore Math in the after-school program. Under new policy no parent will be allowed to teach any academic course that might conceivably overlap or conflict with content being taught in school; hence no Spanish class in the after-school program, either, though a class in Chinese may be allowed. Apparently, this is the way it's done in Ardsley. [ed.: Ardsley?] Ed says there's a fundamental principle at stake, which is that the administration should not regulate parent activities. He told me to call the PTSA president and ask for an invitation to speak to the executive board. I did, and I'll be talking to the board next week. Meanwhile the President says she wants to show the Singapore Math material to her husband, who has a Ph.D. in computer science, proving the Jayne Mansfield dictum that all publicity is good publicity. (It was Jayne Mansfield who said that, wasn't it?) My points:
- the administration should not oversee parent activities
- the administration should support any and all academic enrichment programs parents are willing to supply
- the after-school program should be expanded to the middle school (the PTSA isn't allowed to set foot inside the middle school)
- the administration should write and submit to the school board a formal declaration of gratitude to the PTSA for offering innovative and cutting edge academic enrichment courses in its world-class after-school program
I probably won't press that last point. On the other hand, maybe I will.
what can one person do? Which brings me back to the question of what one person can do. When it comes to complaining about a lousy math curriculum, one person can be a gadfly. A gadfly, or a thorn in the side, or both. I've done a bang-up job on that front, it seems. What one teacher can do inside a classroom is a tougher question. I wonder what Siegfried Engelmann would say. Could you create your own formative assessment/Kumon-like series of tiny little in-class lessons that work with undereducated, burned-out 12-year olds?
what is the student's responsibility, anyway? After allowing Christopher to sign a document acknowledging full responsibility for his grades (I'll be recanting via email tonight, now that I've given myself a day to cool off) my question is: what is his responsibility? What is mine? By which I mean.....what does the school have a right to expect from us? It's crystal clear to me that Mrs. Roth is out of line. I've now talked to other parents in the class, and on the subject of Mrs. Roth they could be my long-lost twins. She's mean, parents say, and she doesn't teach. Moms are spending hours on the internet, pulling grammar lessons, pulling information on how to teach persuasive writing, pulling this, pulling that. Worse yet, more than one of the children in her class believes that Mrs. Roth specifically hates him or her. These children don't perceive her as uniformly disliking everyone (she probably doesn't dislike anyone; she's just enjoying her caustic performance humor, which was on display Back to School night. She's an entertainer, and her jokes are all at the children's expense.) So, no, the children don't think Mrs. Roth is just a mean person who dislikes all the children. They think she dislikes them personally. They spend two class hours a day with this woman. There's something new and bad practically every week. Actually that's not true; it's not every week. It just feels like every week. This week's debacle was the 'Feature Story.' Apparently, the Feature Story was supposed to be a persuasive essay. Christopher didn't know that, and I didn't know it, either. Another parent told me Mrs. Roth did give the kids an assignment sheet, which I didn't see. I don't know what happened to it. Is this a breach of responsibility on Christopher's part? I'm going to say no. At this stage of the game, it's Mrs. Roth's responsibility to find out if her students know what the assignment is. The fact that she handed out a piece of paper isn't good enough. I want formative assessment on the question of: Do these kids know what I've asked them to do? So Christopher didn't do the assignment correctly. He wrote a very nice explanatory paper on school violence (what could have prompted him to develop an interest in school violence, I wonder), laying out one or two reasons for school violence, and two possible solutions. Then he told which solution he preferred, and why. The paper was short, well-organized, and well-written. Mrs. Roth thought it was terrible, and told him so, loudly, in front of the class. Then she accused him of 'not trying' and 'not working.' He was humiliated. I've had it. Number one, no child needs to be humiliated in front of the class. Number two, where is the instruction? Christopher has no idea what a persuasive essay is, yet he was asked to write one. Meanwhile I, the parent, do not hear the words 'feature story' and think 'persuasive essay.' I have yet to see a single constructive or informative comment written on a paper Christopher has turned in to Mrs. Roth; I have yet to see any comment written on any paper at all. When Mrs. Roth came back from 6 weeks out with pneumonia, she told the class, "Your stories are horrible. They don't deserve to go in a book." And that was that. My story is horrible; next time I'll try to write something not horrible. I have yet to see any sequence of writing instruction: rough drafts, revisions, 2nd revisions, anything at all. [correction: Christopher says they wrote a rough draft in class and handed it in. And that was that. Mrs. Roth provided no feedback..] So....I guess I'm going to have to take back my question. In theory I'm interested in what Christopher's & my responsibilities to the school may be. In reality, I'm far more riveted by the question of what the school's responsibility is to us. But I am interested in any thoughts all of you have on the subject of student and parent responsibility in middle school.
-- CatherineJohnson - 02 Dec 2005 Back to: Main Page.