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03 Apr 2006 - 21:13
Today was Christopher's first day back to school today after a week out sick. I asked him how it went.
highlights
None of this stuff is the teachers' doing. Lord only knows how they feel about it. If I were a 6th grade teacher, and I was responsible for how my students fared on the state test, I'd be furious. Character education is Goal 3 in the district's Strategic Plan, and the reference to 'inaction' is a Scott Fried meme. Many's the time I've sat in an auditorium listening to Scott Fried tell us parents that Irvington Middle School will teach 'our children' that inaction is action.***
the good news No Name-calling Week is coming to Irvington Middle School! And not a moment too soon, as Christopher's school nickname has advanced from 'fat' to 'stupid' to, now, 'douche bag.' A one-week moratorium on douche bag is a fine idea.
* I hope he showed his work. ** That's how Ed feels. Ed says we're constantly breaking middle school laws but we can't figure out what the laws are. *** Wait! I'm not sure. Is this a Scott Fried meme or a Raina Kor meme? And if it's a Raina Kor meme, will it go away next year when she moves to Main Street School?
Show Your Work
Character Education in Irvington
What Works Clearinghouse assessment character ed
Character Ed at the DOE
a brief history of character education
a first grade teacher focuses on moral decline
zero tolerance for zero tolerance
self esteem vs character ed
constructivist character ed
Michael Josephson, father of character education in U.S.
character ed & shaming
Irvington character education wall calendar
Facing History and Ourselves
-- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006 Back to main page.
Please consider registering as a regular user.
Look here for syntax help.
Does he know what a douche bag is? -- TracyW - 03 Apr 2006
ohmygod!!!!!! i didn't even think of that!!!!! you made me burst out laughing -- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006
actually, i don't even know what a douche bag is exactly -- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006
Middle school kids have been calling each other that since back when middle school was junior high, 30+ years ago. -- GoogleMaster - 03 Apr 2006
THAT JUST GOES TO SHOW THEY NEEDED NO NAMECALLING WEEK -- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006
actually, i don't even know what a douche bag is exactly Google it. -- TracyW - 03 Apr 2006
this is a job for ask.com! -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
I know what it is. -- BarryGarelick - 04 Apr 2006
I know what it is too, and it's definitely something that would make a middle schooler go 'ewwww'. -- CarolynJohnston - 04 Apr 2006
yeah well it makes me go ewwww, too (pretty sure Christopher has no idea what a douche bag is) -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
speaking of which, somebody's got to tell him the facts of life pretty soon here it's not gonna be me -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
this morning he said they start 'Health' next quarter I said, oh great he said, 'Why don't you like health?' I said, It's a huge Education Industry, they teach you to use condoms Christopher said, 'Oh we're not up to that yet' -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
Apparently they're up to the part where the kids watch a videotape about how to help a person with a severed arm -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
I am just PRAYING TO GOD the school doesn't ask me to send in a costume -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
Costume? I don't get it. -- GoogleMaster - 04 Apr 2006
costumes........ In the next two weeks I have to sort through 'household odds and ends' to locate items for a Medieval costume for social studies. This is another Enrichment Activity paid for by the Irvington Education Foundation. Like the Jason Project. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Irvington parents raise $200,000 a year for enrichment. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
I used to think that was fantastic; I used to contribute. I started to realize that enrichment has costs when the IEF funded No Put Downs at Main Street School. All the teachers were required to spend 20 minutes on No Put Downs every single morning for something like 6 months. Prime time. The program not only can't possible prevent bullying; I think it might increase the danger to a child who actually was being bullied (it encourages victims never to defend themselves). I know the literature on bullying fairly well, since Christopher was bullied in 2nd grade. I would not tell a child who was being bullied to handle things the way No Put Downs says to handle things. One last thing: at the end of last year one of Christopher's friends was still being bullied. When I found out about it I told his mom what to tell him to do, based on the resources I used for Christopher (mainly Fred Frankel's book). Then I never heard back. Two weeks later I ran into her and asked her how things were going and she said, 'He's not being bullied any more.' So basically I solved someone else's bullying problem in the space of one email & one phone conversation with his mom. His mom had, I think, just one conversation with him. Cost in Lost Instructional Time? Zero. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Character education has now swallowed up the entire district (I'm hoping not the high school). At the middle school character education is 'embedded' in every single course. Period. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Who thinks up this Enrichment stuff? Surely none of the other parents like it. They're the ones who are schlepping the "buy some candy or giftwrap" forms to the office to foist upon their unsuspecting coworkers, and they're the ones who are buying 10 boxes of merchandise they didn't want so their kids won't look like total losers for not selling as much as the other kids whose parents work in bigger offices. At some point someone (other than you; I gather you have done this plenty of times) has got to stand up and say "Enough! This is a waste of time and a waste of money. The money is a small matter for us in Irvington, but we can't get back our children's time." How much of the semester is wasted on these Enrichment Activities? Medieval peasant costume could be fun. Just dress him up in some filthy rags that smell like manure. That'll show the IEF. Heh. Disclaimer: In my childhood, I sold merchandise (food) that no one wanted, in order to support organizations to which I belonged. However, my parents made me sell my own stuff, which was excruciatingly painful for a terribly shy child. To this day, I only buy "support merchandise" if the child is doing his/her own legwork. -- GoogleMaster - 05 Apr 2006
On costumes: There's always "skyclad". Just say it's a religious requirement. (Woad is optional.) Random aside: The pigment in woad is the same as that in indigo. (Blue-jean blue.) And I understand that woad is a mild intoxicant. -- DougSundseth - 05 Apr 2006
Is this Ms. K in the green shirt? This isn't Christopher from 5th grade, is it? -- GoogleMaster - 05 Apr 2006
Our district actually gets a grant for character education. Build up character in one class only to tear it back down in all the others. Yeah, that's gonna be valid research. -- KDeRosa - 05 Apr 2006
Some of this might be coming from the state. I know in IL there is something called Social and Emotional growth in the standards. It's pretty detailed and more far-reaching than one would think. I'll have to see if I can find it and post the details. -- SusanS - 05 Apr 2006
Google Master oh that's hilarious! no, that's not Ms. K. Ms. K is extremely pretty. That's Another Whole Thing. Mrs. R. is middle-aged and overweight; Ms. K. is young and lovely. For 500 dollars, which teacher got the Principal On The White Steed treatment? -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
The other thing is that Scott's first reaction to Ed's email was to say, I'm sure we can work something out. Let's talk on Monday.' Then when he called on Monday he was rude, aggressive, defensive, and insulting. ('I've spoken to Ms. K. None of the other children is having problems.') It seems pretty clear to us that he changed his tune after talking to Ms. K. Both are now stonewalling. Ms. K has obviously been told not to respond to questions about he blueprint grade (she's responding promptly to other issues). That's not gonna work. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Christopher isn't in that picture....I'm not sure that's his grade, though the kids all look familiar. Hey-here's a job for Google Master! I want to know whether the IEF raised less money this year than last. I think they did; I know they were calling us up to the last minute to tell us there were still tickets available for the gala. Ed swears they sold out in past years. (I'm not sure about that...) -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
As far as I can tell, character education (this round of character education) grows out of Columbine. So Susan is right; the state may be requiring some kind of program....(and I know many states do). -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Medieval peasant costume could be fun. Just dress him up in some filthy rags that smell like manure I LOVE IT!!!! -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Parents LOVE enrichment. We are going to be PARIAHS when we out ourselves as People Who Are Against Enrichment.... That's not quite true. One parent, who also has a Ph.D. (and whose child is in KUMON) gave a lovely and eloquent impromptu speech against enrichment at the PTSA forum. It was extraodinary; I couldn't have done it. (I'm going to have to start practicing, that's for sure.) She said that she doesn't want any extras until she knows that her daughter is receiving a sound education in the basics. Until then, she said, she wasn't going to be able to sleep at night. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
We have a Too Much Money problem in Irvington. Being strapped for cash imposes some discipline on spending - and, by extension, on curriculum. In Irvington, the general philosophy is 'More is more.' We keep raising more money to buy more stuff and the parents who raise more money to buy more stuff are the 'Famous Parents' who are lauded by the administration, etc. At no point is there a pause to assess whether more-more stuff is good. I get it perfectly. One's basic feeling about one's child is: anything for my child. A parent would die for his child. That is core parent psychology. One of my hypotheses about how things go wrong in a district like ours is the mismatch between evolutionary history and current circumstances. We aren't fighting tigers anymore, and our ferocious devotion to our children gets channeled into fundraising for enrichment. That's almost certainly an excellent channel in a middle class district. Our district has too much money, and too much stuff. The basics have disappeared from view. No one talks about them; no one mentions them; they don't appear in the glossy 8-page Irvington Insights newsletter. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
character education in Irvington
Today was Christopher's first day back to school today after a week out sick. I asked him how it went.
highlights
- In study skills class, the kids "made a collage of stuff that is meaningful to us and expresses us."*
- Last week, in study skills, they discussed self-esteem. Too bad he wasn't there, because if he had been he could have revealed that losing 20 points on an otherwise almost-perfect 4-hour math assignment because he didn't write down mental math makes him feel like a character in a Kafka story.**
- Tonight's social studies assignment: "Write a full and complete paragraph on how you solve conflicts at home and in school with your friends. How do your actions or inactions affect conflicts?"
None of this stuff is the teachers' doing. Lord only knows how they feel about it. If I were a 6th grade teacher, and I was responsible for how my students fared on the state test, I'd be furious. Character education is Goal 3 in the district's Strategic Plan, and the reference to 'inaction' is a Scott Fried meme. Many's the time I've sat in an auditorium listening to Scott Fried tell us parents that Irvington Middle School will teach 'our children' that inaction is action.***
the good news No Name-calling Week is coming to Irvington Middle School! And not a moment too soon, as Christopher's school nickname has advanced from 'fat' to 'stupid' to, now, 'douche bag.' A one-week moratorium on douche bag is a fine idea.
* I hope he showed his work. ** That's how Ed feels. Ed says we're constantly breaking middle school laws but we can't figure out what the laws are. *** Wait! I'm not sure. Is this a Scott Fried meme or a Raina Kor meme? And if it's a Raina Kor meme, will it go away next year when she moves to Main Street School?
Show Your Work
Character Education in Irvington
What Works Clearinghouse assessment character ed
Character Ed at the DOE
a brief history of character education
a first grade teacher focuses on moral decline
zero tolerance for zero tolerance
self esteem vs character ed
constructivist character ed
Michael Josephson, father of character education in U.S.
character ed & shaming
Irvington character education wall calendar
Facing History and Ourselves
-- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006 Back to main page.
Comments
After entering a comment, users can login anonymously as KtmGuest (password: guest) when prompted.Please consider registering as a regular user.
Look here for syntax help.
Does he know what a douche bag is? -- TracyW - 03 Apr 2006
ohmygod!!!!!! i didn't even think of that!!!!! you made me burst out laughing -- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006
actually, i don't even know what a douche bag is exactly -- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006
Middle school kids have been calling each other that since back when middle school was junior high, 30+ years ago. -- GoogleMaster - 03 Apr 2006
THAT JUST GOES TO SHOW THEY NEEDED NO NAMECALLING WEEK -- CatherineJohnson - 03 Apr 2006
actually, i don't even know what a douche bag is exactly Google it. -- TracyW - 03 Apr 2006
this is a job for ask.com! -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
I know what it is. -- BarryGarelick - 04 Apr 2006
I know what it is too, and it's definitely something that would make a middle schooler go 'ewwww'. -- CarolynJohnston - 04 Apr 2006
yeah well it makes me go ewwww, too (pretty sure Christopher has no idea what a douche bag is) -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
speaking of which, somebody's got to tell him the facts of life pretty soon here it's not gonna be me -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
this morning he said they start 'Health' next quarter I said, oh great he said, 'Why don't you like health?' I said, It's a huge Education Industry, they teach you to use condoms Christopher said, 'Oh we're not up to that yet' -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
Apparently they're up to the part where the kids watch a videotape about how to help a person with a severed arm -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
I am just PRAYING TO GOD the school doesn't ask me to send in a costume -- CatherineJohnson - 04 Apr 2006
Costume? I don't get it. -- GoogleMaster - 04 Apr 2006
costumes........ In the next two weeks I have to sort through 'household odds and ends' to locate items for a Medieval costume for social studies. This is another Enrichment Activity paid for by the Irvington Education Foundation. Like the Jason Project. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Irvington parents raise $200,000 a year for enrichment. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
I used to think that was fantastic; I used to contribute. I started to realize that enrichment has costs when the IEF funded No Put Downs at Main Street School. All the teachers were required to spend 20 minutes on No Put Downs every single morning for something like 6 months. Prime time. The program not only can't possible prevent bullying; I think it might increase the danger to a child who actually was being bullied (it encourages victims never to defend themselves). I know the literature on bullying fairly well, since Christopher was bullied in 2nd grade. I would not tell a child who was being bullied to handle things the way No Put Downs says to handle things. One last thing: at the end of last year one of Christopher's friends was still being bullied. When I found out about it I told his mom what to tell him to do, based on the resources I used for Christopher (mainly Fred Frankel's book). Then I never heard back. Two weeks later I ran into her and asked her how things were going and she said, 'He's not being bullied any more.' So basically I solved someone else's bullying problem in the space of one email & one phone conversation with his mom. His mom had, I think, just one conversation with him. Cost in Lost Instructional Time? Zero. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Character education has now swallowed up the entire district (I'm hoping not the high school). At the middle school character education is 'embedded' in every single course. Period. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Who thinks up this Enrichment stuff? Surely none of the other parents like it. They're the ones who are schlepping the "buy some candy or giftwrap" forms to the office to foist upon their unsuspecting coworkers, and they're the ones who are buying 10 boxes of merchandise they didn't want so their kids won't look like total losers for not selling as much as the other kids whose parents work in bigger offices. At some point someone (other than you; I gather you have done this plenty of times) has got to stand up and say "Enough! This is a waste of time and a waste of money. The money is a small matter for us in Irvington, but we can't get back our children's time." How much of the semester is wasted on these Enrichment Activities? Medieval peasant costume could be fun. Just dress him up in some filthy rags that smell like manure. That'll show the IEF. Heh. Disclaimer: In my childhood, I sold merchandise (food) that no one wanted, in order to support organizations to which I belonged. However, my parents made me sell my own stuff, which was excruciatingly painful for a terribly shy child. To this day, I only buy "support merchandise" if the child is doing his/her own legwork. -- GoogleMaster - 05 Apr 2006
On costumes: There's always "skyclad". Just say it's a religious requirement. (Woad is optional.) Random aside: The pigment in woad is the same as that in indigo. (Blue-jean blue.) And I understand that woad is a mild intoxicant. -- DougSundseth - 05 Apr 2006
Is this Ms. K in the green shirt? This isn't Christopher from 5th grade, is it? -- GoogleMaster - 05 Apr 2006
Our district actually gets a grant for character education. Build up character in one class only to tear it back down in all the others. Yeah, that's gonna be valid research. -- KDeRosa - 05 Apr 2006
Some of this might be coming from the state. I know in IL there is something called Social and Emotional growth in the standards. It's pretty detailed and more far-reaching than one would think. I'll have to see if I can find it and post the details. -- SusanS - 05 Apr 2006
Google Master oh that's hilarious! no, that's not Ms. K. Ms. K is extremely pretty. That's Another Whole Thing. Mrs. R. is middle-aged and overweight; Ms. K. is young and lovely. For 500 dollars, which teacher got the Principal On The White Steed treatment? -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
The other thing is that Scott's first reaction to Ed's email was to say, I'm sure we can work something out. Let's talk on Monday.' Then when he called on Monday he was rude, aggressive, defensive, and insulting. ('I've spoken to Ms. K. None of the other children is having problems.') It seems pretty clear to us that he changed his tune after talking to Ms. K. Both are now stonewalling. Ms. K has obviously been told not to respond to questions about he blueprint grade (she's responding promptly to other issues). That's not gonna work. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Christopher isn't in that picture....I'm not sure that's his grade, though the kids all look familiar. Hey-here's a job for Google Master! I want to know whether the IEF raised less money this year than last. I think they did; I know they were calling us up to the last minute to tell us there were still tickets available for the gala. Ed swears they sold out in past years. (I'm not sure about that...) -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
As far as I can tell, character education (this round of character education) grows out of Columbine. So Susan is right; the state may be requiring some kind of program....(and I know many states do). -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Medieval peasant costume could be fun. Just dress him up in some filthy rags that smell like manure I LOVE IT!!!! -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
Parents LOVE enrichment. We are going to be PARIAHS when we out ourselves as People Who Are Against Enrichment.... That's not quite true. One parent, who also has a Ph.D. (and whose child is in KUMON) gave a lovely and eloquent impromptu speech against enrichment at the PTSA forum. It was extraodinary; I couldn't have done it. (I'm going to have to start practicing, that's for sure.) She said that she doesn't want any extras until she knows that her daughter is receiving a sound education in the basics. Until then, she said, she wasn't going to be able to sleep at night. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
We have a Too Much Money problem in Irvington. Being strapped for cash imposes some discipline on spending - and, by extension, on curriculum. In Irvington, the general philosophy is 'More is more.' We keep raising more money to buy more stuff and the parents who raise more money to buy more stuff are the 'Famous Parents' who are lauded by the administration, etc. At no point is there a pause to assess whether more-more stuff is good. I get it perfectly. One's basic feeling about one's child is: anything for my child. A parent would die for his child. That is core parent psychology. One of my hypotheses about how things go wrong in a district like ours is the mismatch between evolutionary history and current circumstances. We aren't fighting tigers anymore, and our ferocious devotion to our children gets channeled into fundraising for enrichment. That's almost certainly an excellent channel in a middle class district. Our district has too much money, and too much stuff. The basics have disappeared from view. No one talks about them; no one mentions them; they don't appear in the glossy 8-page Irvington Insights newsletter. -- CatherineJohnson - 05 Apr 2006
| WebLogForm | |
|---|---|
| Title: | character education in Irvington |
| TopicType: | WebLog |
| SubjectArea: | AboutCurricula, MiddleSchoolMath |
| LogDate: | 200604031712 |