Tags for "K 12 Education"
Prisoners or Students?
"Hey! Where's your pass?"
"Where are you going? Get to class!"
"Who let you in this copy room?"
"Get to the back of the line!"
All of these are greetings given to... Welcome to Op-Education
As this is my introductory post, I suppose offering some background information about myself might be nice. I am twenty-three years old and live in Tempe, Arizona where I attend Arizona State University as a student of Philosophy. I am a passionate musician, a good friend, a dedicated vegan, and an open-minded biped if I do say so myself. I enjoy thinking outside the box, as well as exploring many different methods for accomplishing goals that are usually pursued in routine ways. I... Using the Master’s Tools
Critical pedagogy was my tool of choice: an educational philosophy accredited to the late Paolo Freire, which... Smart, funny and slightly disruptive
- Minna D., San Francisco, CA, 9th grade teacher
This is a classic situation. The pace and structure of school carries with it expectations of what young people are and should be like. We expect our children to be able to "shut up and pay attention." But what do we really mean by that? In this situation it's not only that you want him to pay attention, it's that you want him to pay attention to what you... Worry is an expression of love
I've come to love the worry parents feel and often express (including my own). I didn't start there, but as my kids got older and I found my own anxieties arrive at how my son spent his day, I found myself needing to rethink my responses to worry.
The way I see it, the worry a so called... From Student to Conformist
I loved school. Every minute of it. There wasn't a day when I thought it was a drag to go to school. It was perfect for me. We learned to learn. My teachers taught to teach. We weren't tested, graded or analyzed. I had a second family of twenty-four kids my age and a teacher who probably knew me better than I knew myself at most times. The thought of leaving broke my heart a little every time I thought about graduation. It seemed... Skinner Box to Freedom
"Stop doing that and apologize."
"What? She doesn't care."
"She's not going to tell you she cares, but I do.... Got goals?
But then ... (think the soundtrack to Jaws) it is time to set professional goals. There is nothing in the year that brings more discomfort than the goal-related meetings, and we have at least three each year. These meetings make me sweat and give me a horrible pain between my right shoulder and my neck, in fact, I am trying to stretch it out as I type.
Here is the issue: my goal needs to be in alignment with the school and district goals. In a nutshell, that means that my goal... Teacher and Student Roles
The teacher calls the shots, runs the show, sets the agenda and the deadlines, informs students of how things will go on in their classroom, and is the person who has the knowledge -- which is to be passed on from his or her mind to the students of the classroom. And this is all usually done through teacher-led discourse and method, within the constraints of school curriculum of course.
The students (in theory) are to absorb all of the knowledge being offered to them, respond diligently and respectfully to the teacher's commands and direction, raise... The Mention of Detention
English 9, period 2. We were all hurrying into our places at our desks before the bell rang. My friend swore loudly and announced he had forgotten his homework.
“I am so getting a detention,” he said unhappily.
You see, if you forget your homework, come late to class, come unprepared to class, grab the wrong binder for that class, fail a test, speak out of turn, or goof off, you receive a mandatory one-hour invite to an after school detention. If you miss, skip or are unable to attend this detention, you receive a two-hour detention on Friday. If you fail to attend the Friday attention, you get a “quiet”... Resisting What I Know
My adventure in... Lightening the Load
Erika M., Chicago IL - High School Teacher and Adviser
I have a few initial thoughts and also... The Nature of Ideas
To me, this means that public school in its current form is sacred to most Americans. The faith put in it is such that there isn't always an open mind when alternatives are suggested. It may not be a religious institution,... Question the Answers
Outright lies and misinformation, however, are another matter entirely. Why weren't we introduced to, say, theories about Shakespeare's true identity, or alternatives to vivisection? Neither of these were lies, of course, but the information we were instructed to memorize was presented as the be-all and end-all, without the possibility of another reality. Wouldn't school have been so much more interesting... The Day I “Couldn’t Talk”
After the bell rang and I began to walk to class, I realized that I had not yet talked to any of my students. And I got an idea.
As I have mentioned in a previous blog entry, I don't do a lot of talking in the first few minutes of class.... On Motivation, Schools, and Post-Its: New Books for 2010
What better way to embrace the optimism and hope of the beginning of a new year than reading inspiring books?
I recently picked up two new books that speak to heart of why and how education ought to be more democratic. They carry a great deal of wisdom and practical ideas for schools and learning, and they both connect the value of greater voice in learning to the creation of a more vibrant society.
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
, by Daniel H. Pink (2009: Riverhead Books), throws out the underlying assumption of most businesses and schools: that people need to be controlled by rewards and punishments in order for work to get done or...
Reverse Pressure: The Pressure to Fail
Meeting the status quo. That's what it's all about. Don't do too well, don't stand out. Kids use the term “rebel” fairly often in my school. In dictionary terms, this means someone or a group of people who rise up against the government. In my school, it's someone who fails. Someone who steals. Someone who is not in a good place... The Plans of Mice and Men
We developed this model for educational reform while I was out of the classroom for a year and Khadigah had just graduated from undergrad with her newly minted teacher's certificate. For a nine minute synopsis of our model, watch our video:
This video summarizes my vision for my return to the classroom. My... Working for Freire’s “True Word”
Our man, Freire, is calling us out--PUT YO' MONEY WHERE YO' MOUTH IS! Words without reflection are pointless. Words without action are likewise pointless. It is only when we balance our words with reflection and action that we can call ourselves thinkers and transformers. (Sigh. Where are the Freires of the world? 'Cause I'm single and ready to mingle! If you're there--mouths silently--call me.)
All kidding aside, this is exactly what I have moved to implement in my classroom--a movement from thoughts and words to... Quadrant Spelling
In my last posting, I wrote about the day I taught my students about quadrant graphs. The fact that I did so while not talking, using only hand signals and finger pointing, is what I mentioned in the post. I neglected to mention why I chose to introduce the graphs.
From what I can tell, the California State Standards first mention quadrant graphs in seventh grade. I choose to teach them now, in fourth grade, not as a math component, but as part of my spelling program. Rather than posting the spelling words on a chart, or writing them in a composition book, or simply reading them from their workbook, I place them on a quadrant graph that is superimposed over a pocket chart. The result...
Posted on Oct 20, 2009 - 01:14 AM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
I'm 5'2" and about 105 lbs. I'm small--so walking through the hallways of the new school in which I just got a teaching position, I get mistaken all the time as a student, by students and teachers alike. This gives my students the impression that I'm a pushover, and staff the idea that I won't last in this school past a couple of months. But what my misleading physique grants me is a world into the daily feelings of my students inside a building they will spend four of their formative years in--if they make it through four."Hey! Where's your pass?"
"Where are you going? Get to class!"
"Who let you in this copy room?"
"Get to the back of the line!"
All of these are greetings given to... Welcome to Op-Education
Posted on Oct 25, 2009 - 10:50 PM by Shawn Strader in Op-Education
Hello, and welcome to Op-Education. I am delighted to have you as a reader. My name is Shawn Gaillard, and it seems like I will be blogging pretty regularly for IDEA. I must say that I am truly excited!As this is my introductory post, I suppose offering some background information about myself might be nice. I am twenty-three years old and live in Tempe, Arizona where I attend Arizona State University as a student of Philosophy. I am a passionate musician, a good friend, a dedicated vegan, and an open-minded biped if I do say so myself. I enjoy thinking outside the box, as well as exploring many different methods for accomplishing goals that are usually pursued in routine ways. I... Using the Master’s Tools
Posted on Nov 01, 2009 - 06:47 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
My first week into teaching after my year in graduate school, I was filled with grand ideas and ideals as to what I would do in my classroom to help my students liberate themselves from the intellectual shackles of US public education. I entered my classroom and my school with the belief that my students and I would revolutionize the educational experience in Detroit forever--no hyperbole intended. This is how deeply I believed in my students and their potential to be positive change agents in a world which deemed them failures or equally insulting, average at best.Critical pedagogy was my tool of choice: an educational philosophy accredited to the late Paolo Freire, which... Smart, funny and slightly disruptive
Posted on Nov 04, 2009 - 11:27 PM by Jonah Canner in Got Questions?
I have one kid I can't get to shut up and pay attention. He's smart, funny, and cute and is just always playing and being slightly disruptive. It's like being quiet for one minute is impossible. I don't want to totally shut him down, but I want to be able to work with him. What do I do?- Minna D., San Francisco, CA, 9th grade teacher
This is a classic situation. The pace and structure of school carries with it expectations of what young people are and should be like. We expect our children to be able to "shut up and pay attention." But what do we really mean by that? In this situation it's not only that you want him to pay attention, it's that you want him to pay attention to what you... Worry is an expression of love
Posted on Nov 05, 2009 - 03:32 PM by Scott Nine in Uncharted Parenting
As a parent of a ten- and two-year old, I continue to be awed and humbled by what parenting asks of me. Whoever said that raising children is like watching your heart move around outside your body was spot on. As an educator who spends my day with other people's kids, I'm also deeply aware of the ways parents and educators can work and grow together as well as the potential impact when we don't.I've come to love the worry parents feel and often express (including my own). I didn't start there, but as my kids got older and I found my own anxieties arrive at how my son spent his day, I found myself needing to rethink my responses to worry.
The way I see it, the worry a so called... From Student to Conformist
Posted on Nov 06, 2009 - 09:58 PM by Claire Russell in Pulse
Hi, my name is Claire Russell. I am a freshman at a mainstream public high school in rural Maine. I attended a "Waldorf-inspired" alternative school from the moment I walked into my first day of kindergarten, until the day I graduated from eighth grade last June.I loved school. Every minute of it. There wasn't a day when I thought it was a drag to go to school. It was perfect for me. We learned to learn. My teachers taught to teach. We weren't tested, graded or analyzed. I had a second family of twenty-four kids my age and a teacher who probably knew me better than I knew myself at most times. The thought of leaving broke my heart a little every time I thought about graduation. It seemed... Skinner Box to Freedom
Posted on Nov 17, 2009 - 08:44 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
So, there I stood. In front of my thirty 9th graders, hour after hour, watching them write letters to each other, put their gum under their desks, talk to their neighbors while the assigned worksheet on the parts of speech I just spent the night before diligently creating fell silently to the floor. Think I am being melodramatic? I wish! In one class, I laughed to myself for a solid thirty seconds (a long time in high school time), after I spent three minutes going back and forth with a student as to why throwing wads of paper at a girl he did not like was unacceptable."Stop doing that and apologize."
"What? She doesn't care."
"She's not going to tell you she cares, but I do.... Got goals?
Posted on Nov 18, 2009 - 10:57 AM by Alison Bagg Brink in ImprovEducation
This is my thirteenth fall as a teacher. This year has been wonderful so far. I have great students, colleagues that I respect, and a curriculum for the majority of my classes that I agree with philosophically.But then ... (think the soundtrack to Jaws) it is time to set professional goals. There is nothing in the year that brings more discomfort than the goal-related meetings, and we have at least three each year. These meetings make me sweat and give me a horrible pain between my right shoulder and my neck, in fact, I am trying to stretch it out as I type.
Here is the issue: my goal needs to be in alignment with the school and district goals. In a nutshell, that means that my goal... Teacher and Student Roles
Posted on Nov 20, 2009 - 02:52 PM by Shawn Strader in Op-Education
Just about anybody who has attended public school has experienced the distinction that seems to often exist between student and teacher.The teacher calls the shots, runs the show, sets the agenda and the deadlines, informs students of how things will go on in their classroom, and is the person who has the knowledge -- which is to be passed on from his or her mind to the students of the classroom. And this is all usually done through teacher-led discourse and method, within the constraints of school curriculum of course.
The students (in theory) are to absorb all of the knowledge being offered to them, respond diligently and respectfully to the teacher's commands and direction, raise... The Mention of Detention
Posted on Nov 22, 2009 - 05:39 PM by Claire Russell in Pulse
Just so everyone knows, I will be blogging every two weeks. Usually on Sundays.English 9, period 2. We were all hurrying into our places at our desks before the bell rang. My friend swore loudly and announced he had forgotten his homework.
“I am so getting a detention,” he said unhappily.
You see, if you forget your homework, come late to class, come unprepared to class, grab the wrong binder for that class, fail a test, speak out of turn, or goof off, you receive a mandatory one-hour invite to an after school detention. If you miss, skip or are unable to attend this detention, you receive a two-hour detention on Friday. If you fail to attend the Friday attention, you get a “quiet”... Resisting What I Know
Posted on Nov 24, 2009 - 03:36 PM by Tanya Reza in Op-Education
This past September, I was hired to teach first grade at a private Islamic school. The school housed grades K-12, and in addition to the standard language arts, mathematics, science and social studies; religious instruction and Arabic language were also offered. Due to low enrollment and a reduction in the anticipated school budget, I was laid off shortly after being hired. In the brief one week period that I actually taught, I struggled between doing what was right versus doing what was easy. In other words, I strived to teach in a manner that lived up to my ideals. However, I found myself defaulting to methods and practices that I despised about my own education.My adventure in... Lightening the Load
Posted on Nov 25, 2009 - 10:03 AM by Jonah Canner in Got Questions?
I am a high school teacher and adviser and lately the students seem to be pulling away, into smaller groups or individually. Many of them are pretty stressed with college applications and some realities setting in. Some of them are also bringing a lot of negativity into our meetings. We want to get everyone back together, and more bonded together as a group, so that we can bring each other up and support each other more than spreading negativity. We tried the human knot activity at our last meeting for an hour and weren't able to get it done. I am open to any and all suggestions that you have.Erika M., Chicago IL - High School Teacher and Adviser
I have a few initial thoughts and also... The Nature of Ideas
Posted on Dec 13, 2009 - 11:47 PM by Kris Sage in Sage Wonderings
One of the things that I found appealing about democratic education is that, in its essence, it's a challenge against a widely accepted norm. There are many different suggested ways within democratic and alternative education circles to challenge the norm, but most all of them are against public school in its current form. But it's worth noting that not only is it a challenge against the norm - it's a challenge against a norm that many people do not think twice about.To me, this means that public school in its current form is sacred to most Americans. The faith put in it is such that there isn't always an open mind when alternatives are suggested. It may not be a religious institution,... Question the Answers
Posted on Dec 18, 2009 - 01:14 AM by Sara Schmidt in Uncharted Parenting
Like many people, I have found fault with plenty of school textbooks. I remember pointing out an error in my Geometry text to my teacher, who smiled and said, "Whoops, looks like they missed that one." Well, an unfinished circle isn't such a big deal; anyone could have made that mistake.Outright lies and misinformation, however, are another matter entirely. Why weren't we introduced to, say, theories about Shakespeare's true identity, or alternatives to vivisection? Neither of these were lies, of course, but the information we were instructed to memorize was presented as the be-all and end-all, without the possibility of another reality. Wouldn't school have been so much more interesting... The Day I “Couldn’t Talk”
Posted on Jan 02, 2010 - 02:15 PM by Tim Curley in ImprovEducation
One recent Monday, I did what I usually do before school. I stood outside the main entry, and greeted the kids as they were dropped off at the curb. I walked through the cafeteria and said hello to the older kids, the younger kids, and the few parents who eat breakfast at school. I do this because I see my role at school as being much more than a classroom teacher. El Verano School is a community, and I feel that we all need to share in that community.After the bell rang and I began to walk to class, I realized that I had not yet talked to any of my students. And I got an idea.
As I have mentioned in a previous blog entry, I don't do a lot of talking in the first few minutes of class.... On Motivation, Schools, and Post-Its: New Books for 2010
Posted on Jan 05, 2010 - 08:33 AM by Dana Bennis in The Landscape
Happy New Year! It's 2010.What better way to embrace the optimism and hope of the beginning of a new year than reading inspiring books?
I recently picked up two new books that speak to heart of why and how education ought to be more democratic. They carry a great deal of wisdom and practical ideas for schools and learning, and they both connect the value of greater voice in learning to the creation of a more vibrant society.
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
, by Daniel H. Pink (2009: Riverhead Books), throws out the underlying assumption of most businesses and schools: that people need to be controlled by rewards and punishments in order for work to get done or...
Reverse Pressure: The Pressure to Fail
Posted on Jan 10, 2010 - 05:20 PM by Claire Russell in Pulse
In schools across America, young teens walk their halls with the heavy burden of perfection always upon them. Whoever instills this need for being flawless is often the one pushing young people. Their parents, their teachers, their family. However, at my school there is a new kind of pressure that is exceedingly different from the classic one: The pressure to fail.Meeting the status quo. That's what it's all about. Don't do too well, don't stand out. Kids use the term “rebel” fairly often in my school. In dictionary terms, this means someone or a group of people who rise up against the government. In my school, it's someone who fails. Someone who steals. Someone who is not in a good place... The Plans of Mice and Men
Posted on Jan 11, 2010 - 08:04 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
My friend and partner, Khadigah Alasry, in the fight to make education real again, developed a vision for a model of reform last year. We started presenting this model within the U.S. and over the internet. We've been invited to present in Dublin, the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, Dubai, Paris, and other places but due to our lack of funds and now time, we have had to kindly decline.We developed this model for educational reform while I was out of the classroom for a year and Khadigah had just graduated from undergrad with her newly minted teacher's certificate. For a nine minute synopsis of our model, watch our video:
This video summarizes my vision for my return to the classroom. My... Working for Freire’s “True Word”
Posted on Jan 18, 2010 - 06:26 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve
Paolo Freire writes, "Human existence cannot be silent nor can it be nourished by false words, but only by true words, with which men and women transform the world."Our man, Freire, is calling us out--PUT YO' MONEY WHERE YO' MOUTH IS! Words without reflection are pointless. Words without action are likewise pointless. It is only when we balance our words with reflection and action that we can call ourselves thinkers and transformers. (Sigh. Where are the Freires of the world? 'Cause I'm single and ready to mingle! If you're there--mouths silently--call me.)
All kidding aside, this is exactly what I have moved to implement in my classroom--a movement from thoughts and words to... Quadrant Spelling
Posted on Jan 19, 2010 - 08:00 PM by Tim Curley in ImprovEducation
In my last posting, I wrote about the day I taught my students about quadrant graphs. The fact that I did so while not talking, using only hand signals and finger pointing, is what I mentioned in the post. I neglected to mention why I chose to introduce the graphs. From what I can tell, the California State Standards first mention quadrant graphs in seventh grade. I choose to teach them now, in fourth grade, not as a math component, but as part of my spelling program. Rather than posting the spelling words on a chart, or writing them in a composition book, or simply reading them from their workbook, I place them on a quadrant graph that is superimposed over a pocket chart. The result...