I
took a job at a school a LONG drive from where I live. I got there and
they told me that there was already someone in the room to sub. The
teacher had called her and she had accepted the job - only instead of
accepting the job officially, she just listed herself as "unavailable",
which meant that the sub caller COULDN'T call her - and I took the job
instead. So when I got there, they sent me home. They
do have some rules and I could have insisted on the job, since I had
the job number. But when the teacher had asked for that specific sub
and she was already there, I didn't feel like insisting. They did offer to find me another job, but I am too
picky to take any old job that they can't find anyone else to do. That part is my own fault. I have been stuck
sorting mail, filling in for study halls and detention rooms, shelving
books, and photocopying and I just don't care to do those things. And, since I chose to leave, I did 45+ miles of driving
for nothing - not even mileage. They have lots of other jobs available for today, but they
aren't ones that I would normally take, so I am back home. Too bad
for them.
Subbing is the pits. Sometimes. Several people have suggested to me that I find a different job. I have actually looked into doing so, but my computer skills are not current enough to get a decent job in IT. I am overqualified for jobs I could be hired for and underqualified for jobs I would be interested in. I actually enjoy subbing on good days. I just wish there were more good days.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Teachers' Own Spelling and Grammar
Yes, it is a pet peeve of mine. Teachers make a HUGE number of spelling, grammar, and usage errors, when they write (or word process) their notes to me, their sub. But I have to admit that the funniest error was a teacher who spelled his own name wrong in large letters at the top of the note. I know it was wrong, because he spelled in correctly several other places in his room and on his materials. Names are usually spelled the same in all locations.
I know I make a large number of typos. And I usually don't see them until I hit send or publish. And, I know teachers are often in a hurry when they write the sub notes. So, I usually cringe and just go on, but it worries me a bit, when I can see that teachers really don't know the difference between "whose" and "who's", or "their" and "there", etc.
I know I make a large number of typos. And I usually don't see them until I hit send or publish. And, I know teachers are often in a hurry when they write the sub notes. So, I usually cringe and just go on, but it worries me a bit, when I can see that teachers really don't know the difference between "whose" and "who's", or "their" and "there", etc.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Re: Things We Should Stop Doing to High-Ability Students
Original article by Tamar Wyschogrod
http://smokingtowardnewjersey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/five-things-we-should-stop-doing-to.html?spref=tw
I have a couple of minor complaints about this article and some major comments.
First of all, a minor complaint: in the second paragraph, I think high-ability is equated with high-achieving. They are IMNSHO different things. I don't object to the use of high-ability to equate to "gifted", but high-ability does not necessarily translate to high-achieving. And high-achieving does not necessarily translate to high-ability. That last statement needs to be explained a bit more. While it does take a certain amount of ability in order to achieve highly, in most of the things required for school, a modest amount of ability combined with hard work and support from parents, teachers, or peers is sufficient to result in high-achievement, or at least noticeably above average achievement.
Secondly, crappy differentiation is crappy, because it is difficult, takes time, and is politically a hard sell with kids. I have written quite a few times about the problems with touting differentiation as the solution for high-ability students. Check the tag if you are interested, but basically, it simply isn't enough for HG+ students, teachers can't do it (conceptually difficult), and teachers don't do it (not enough time).
I haven't ever addressed specifically the last point of the above paragraph's opening statement: differentiation is politically a hard sell with kids. There are a few kids, for whom getting something different is such a relief that they don't care how their classmates view it. There are also a few kids who take getting something different to mean that they are somehow better than their classmates. But, IME, a lot of the students react to getting something different with either embarrassment or reluctance. They might be embarrassed because they are afraid that their classmates will take the view that they are "stuck up" or they might be embarrassed that they are singled out - "out"ed, as a smart kid, when they were just trying to "pass". And, there are a lot of high-ability kids who look at differentiation as just more work for them to do (as the author points out). Given a list of options for projects, they choose the easy ones, even though they aren't very challenging, because they are less work. Not all high-ability kids WANT higher challenge work.
Now for the rest of the article.
Group Projects. Yes, in general, these are the bane of the high-ability students. This comes largely from the teacher-training recommendations for group constitutions - one high-ability student, two average students, one low ability student. High-ability student can sometimes cajole one average student into helping, but oftentimes ends up doing most of the work. What does the low ability student learn? That s/he is too dumb to help and it is best to just clown around so that the others don't notice. One teacher inservice that I attended said that group projects aren't themselves the problem. It is the make-up of the groups. She recommended never including high-ability students with low-ability students. Her recommendation: groups of four should have similar abilities, e.g., one or two high ability students and 2 or 3 moderate ability students. That way, the lower ability groups can't get away with doing little or nothing, and the teacher might be able to adjust the project so that they, too, learn something (differentiation).
Crappy Differentiation. Already discussed.
Contests instead of Curriculum. I like contests. They can be interesting and motivating for gifted kids. But I agree that they are no substitute for curriculum. But just regular classroom differentiated curriculum isn't good enough. It isn't challenging enough, it isn't (usually) at the correct level, and it isn't consistent enough. High-ability kids need real and regular work. It isn't fair to make the average kids work hard at learning and let the high-ability kids coast. They don't learn good work habits. They don't learn how to react to difficulties. They don't learn how to learn. That is why I am actually opposed to gifted advocates insisting on touting differentiation. It isn't working. High-ability kids need classes designed for their abilities. The easiest way to do this is by structural changes - subject acceleration, whole grade acceleration, grouping across multiple classes, and possibly cluster-grouping. I am still uncertain about cluster-grouping, because, as a sub, I have yet to see it in action.
Ignoring Their Achievements
This isn't a biggie with me. I think schools are doing better at touting achievements of high-ability kids. Yes, in some cases, it still feels like tokenism, but this is one area where I think schools have been reasonably responsive.
Low Standards
It seems like, in many classrooms, there is a race to the bottom. We don't want the low-ability kids to feel bad, so we teach lessons where all kids can achieve. We don't require good spelling in science class, because there are kids who simply can't spell well (true, even for high-ability kids). We don't check social studies tests for correct grammar, because it is a chore to even get them to write in complete sentences, let alone write a paragraph that is longer than two sentences. We make tests so that everyone who learns the material can get an A. (relevant discussion on LinkedIn Math Education). And most importantly, we don't give teachers enough time to hold kids to higher standards. You can't teach kids to write well, if, every time you ask them to write, you have to spend hours and hours of your own personal time - not planning time - grading those papers. 30 students X 3 minutes per paper ==> 1 1/2 hours of grading for one paper in one subject. That is the ENTIRE planning time for 3 days.
Thanks for some interesting food for thought to Tamar Wyschogrod.
http://smokingtowardnewjersey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/five-things-we-should-stop-doing-to.html?spref=tw
I have a couple of minor complaints about this article and some major comments.
First of all, a minor complaint: in the second paragraph, I think high-ability is equated with high-achieving. They are IMNSHO different things. I don't object to the use of high-ability to equate to "gifted", but high-ability does not necessarily translate to high-achieving. And high-achieving does not necessarily translate to high-ability. That last statement needs to be explained a bit more. While it does take a certain amount of ability in order to achieve highly, in most of the things required for school, a modest amount of ability combined with hard work and support from parents, teachers, or peers is sufficient to result in high-achievement, or at least noticeably above average achievement.
Secondly, crappy differentiation is crappy, because it is difficult, takes time, and is politically a hard sell with kids. I have written quite a few times about the problems with touting differentiation as the solution for high-ability students. Check the tag if you are interested, but basically, it simply isn't enough for HG+ students, teachers can't do it (conceptually difficult), and teachers don't do it (not enough time).
I haven't ever addressed specifically the last point of the above paragraph's opening statement: differentiation is politically a hard sell with kids. There are a few kids, for whom getting something different is such a relief that they don't care how their classmates view it. There are also a few kids who take getting something different to mean that they are somehow better than their classmates. But, IME, a lot of the students react to getting something different with either embarrassment or reluctance. They might be embarrassed because they are afraid that their classmates will take the view that they are "stuck up" or they might be embarrassed that they are singled out - "out"ed, as a smart kid, when they were just trying to "pass". And, there are a lot of high-ability kids who look at differentiation as just more work for them to do (as the author points out). Given a list of options for projects, they choose the easy ones, even though they aren't very challenging, because they are less work. Not all high-ability kids WANT higher challenge work.
Now for the rest of the article.
Group Projects. Yes, in general, these are the bane of the high-ability students. This comes largely from the teacher-training recommendations for group constitutions - one high-ability student, two average students, one low ability student. High-ability student can sometimes cajole one average student into helping, but oftentimes ends up doing most of the work. What does the low ability student learn? That s/he is too dumb to help and it is best to just clown around so that the others don't notice. One teacher inservice that I attended said that group projects aren't themselves the problem. It is the make-up of the groups. She recommended never including high-ability students with low-ability students. Her recommendation: groups of four should have similar abilities, e.g., one or two high ability students and 2 or 3 moderate ability students. That way, the lower ability groups can't get away with doing little or nothing, and the teacher might be able to adjust the project so that they, too, learn something (differentiation).
Crappy Differentiation. Already discussed.
Contests instead of Curriculum. I like contests. They can be interesting and motivating for gifted kids. But I agree that they are no substitute for curriculum. But just regular classroom differentiated curriculum isn't good enough. It isn't challenging enough, it isn't (usually) at the correct level, and it isn't consistent enough. High-ability kids need real and regular work. It isn't fair to make the average kids work hard at learning and let the high-ability kids coast. They don't learn good work habits. They don't learn how to react to difficulties. They don't learn how to learn. That is why I am actually opposed to gifted advocates insisting on touting differentiation. It isn't working. High-ability kids need classes designed for their abilities. The easiest way to do this is by structural changes - subject acceleration, whole grade acceleration, grouping across multiple classes, and possibly cluster-grouping. I am still uncertain about cluster-grouping, because, as a sub, I have yet to see it in action.
Ignoring Their Achievements
This isn't a biggie with me. I think schools are doing better at touting achievements of high-ability kids. Yes, in some cases, it still feels like tokenism, but this is one area where I think schools have been reasonably responsive.
Low Standards
It seems like, in many classrooms, there is a race to the bottom. We don't want the low-ability kids to feel bad, so we teach lessons where all kids can achieve. We don't require good spelling in science class, because there are kids who simply can't spell well (true, even for high-ability kids). We don't check social studies tests for correct grammar, because it is a chore to even get them to write in complete sentences, let alone write a paragraph that is longer than two sentences. We make tests so that everyone who learns the material can get an A. (relevant discussion on LinkedIn Math Education). And most importantly, we don't give teachers enough time to hold kids to higher standards. You can't teach kids to write well, if, every time you ask them to write, you have to spend hours and hours of your own personal time - not planning time - grading those papers. 30 students X 3 minutes per paper ==> 1 1/2 hours of grading for one paper in one subject. That is the ENTIRE planning time for 3 days.
Thanks for some interesting food for thought to Tamar Wyschogrod.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Biggest Mistake
This is going to be a very personal post, so if you are only interested in general observations, this one isn't for you.
Many years ago, when I was 15, I spent the summer at the Foreign Language League program in Mayrhofen, Austria. I loved learning a foreign language and I was good at it. So, the following year, with the support of my parents, I applied for and was accepted as a foreign student with Youth for Understanding. I spent my year, which was actually closer to 14 months, in Germany with a family of three girls and had a wonderful year.
My American parents were conservative Republicans. They were supporters of the war in Vietnam. They voted Republican in virtually every election. My maternal grandparents were also religious and staunchly Republican. I even got to see some of the Republican presidential candidates when they came to Iowa. Politics isn't really my thing, but what I heard growing up was mainly Republican rhetoric and Methodist religion.
I have also enjoyed singing for most of my life. I played violin in my high school orchestra and in the Des Moines All-City orchestra. Like most teenagers, I also listened to popular music. One of the popular songs at the time was The Ballad of the Green Beret - a very pro-soldier, pro-war song. Imagine my surprise, when I found out that the song had been translated into German, but in German was a very anti-war song.
The family that I lived with wasn't wealthy. The father was a baker and the mother worked in the bakery. But, interestingly, they were much better informed about politics than I was. They actually discussed politics and important news events among themselves. Reading the newspaper and discussing its contents were regular parts of the day. They weren't religious, although some of them were members of the church (you had to sign a formal document withdrawing from church, otherwise you were deemed a member of the church).
So, I discovered that interested and informed people could have completely different opinions about the world situation. I discovered that good and moral people didn't have to attend church to maintain their righteousness.
After I returned to the United States and went to college, I tried briefly to be religious again, but my politics had changed. I was no longer a Republican and I protested the Vietnamese War. And over the many intervening years, I have remained much, much more liberal than most of my family and I am now non-religious - close to being a secular humanist.
It was a big shock to me a couple of years ago that my mother told me that sending me to Germany was the biggest mistake she had made in raising me. I was too young, too vulnerable, too easily swayed to the "other side". I understand that she disagrees with my liberal positions and especially my support for the Democratic party, but I have long since been an adult and to think still that I have been brainwashed by my experience in Germany makes me feel as though I am being seen as a child - incapable of making my own decisions in a reasonable manner.
I feel that my year in Germany was one of the best years of my life. It was a turning point in helping me understand other cultures and other people. It was a turning point in understanding myself - or at least an important beginning.
I am very sorry she regrets that I had this wonderful experience. It feels very much like rejection to me. And it is too late to salve it over. My mother is now 98 years old and suffering from dementia - but she wasn't when she made those hurtful statements.
Many years ago, when I was 15, I spent the summer at the Foreign Language League program in Mayrhofen, Austria. I loved learning a foreign language and I was good at it. So, the following year, with the support of my parents, I applied for and was accepted as a foreign student with Youth for Understanding. I spent my year, which was actually closer to 14 months, in Germany with a family of three girls and had a wonderful year.
My American parents were conservative Republicans. They were supporters of the war in Vietnam. They voted Republican in virtually every election. My maternal grandparents were also religious and staunchly Republican. I even got to see some of the Republican presidential candidates when they came to Iowa. Politics isn't really my thing, but what I heard growing up was mainly Republican rhetoric and Methodist religion.
I have also enjoyed singing for most of my life. I played violin in my high school orchestra and in the Des Moines All-City orchestra. Like most teenagers, I also listened to popular music. One of the popular songs at the time was The Ballad of the Green Beret - a very pro-soldier, pro-war song. Imagine my surprise, when I found out that the song had been translated into German, but in German was a very anti-war song.
The family that I lived with wasn't wealthy. The father was a baker and the mother worked in the bakery. But, interestingly, they were much better informed about politics than I was. They actually discussed politics and important news events among themselves. Reading the newspaper and discussing its contents were regular parts of the day. They weren't religious, although some of them were members of the church (you had to sign a formal document withdrawing from church, otherwise you were deemed a member of the church).
So, I discovered that interested and informed people could have completely different opinions about the world situation. I discovered that good and moral people didn't have to attend church to maintain their righteousness.
After I returned to the United States and went to college, I tried briefly to be religious again, but my politics had changed. I was no longer a Republican and I protested the Vietnamese War. And over the many intervening years, I have remained much, much more liberal than most of my family and I am now non-religious - close to being a secular humanist.
It was a big shock to me a couple of years ago that my mother told me that sending me to Germany was the biggest mistake she had made in raising me. I was too young, too vulnerable, too easily swayed to the "other side". I understand that she disagrees with my liberal positions and especially my support for the Democratic party, but I have long since been an adult and to think still that I have been brainwashed by my experience in Germany makes me feel as though I am being seen as a child - incapable of making my own decisions in a reasonable manner.
I feel that my year in Germany was one of the best years of my life. It was a turning point in helping me understand other cultures and other people. It was a turning point in understanding myself - or at least an important beginning.
I am very sorry she regrets that I had this wonderful experience. It feels very much like rejection to me. And it is too late to salve it over. My mother is now 98 years old and suffering from dementia - but she wasn't when she made those hurtful statements.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Firearms for Teachers - No
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/nyregion/firing-at-man-in-times-square-police-wound-two-bystanders.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
JS posted the above link on Facebook. These were my comments:
I just can't see teachers being able to spend enough time in order to be competent at the use of firearms. They are under time stress already - too much to do and not enough time to do it in. It is already a major factor in burn-out.
And, if we are training teachers, shouldn't we be training them to teach, not shoot?
________
And, once again, I am going to compare teachers to doctors. Would you expect your doctor to have to carry a firearm in the hospital? Would you want her to spend many hours of her work week keeping her shooting skills sharp? Yes, there may be doctors who enjoy shooting practice and who already keep up their shooting skills, but, for the most part, we acknowledge that doctors are probably too busy for this to be a requirement of their work life.
This is the SAME for teachers. They are way too busy already. It takes regular practice to retain skills at shooting. Without the regular practice and training, skills deteriorate - ask any police officer. And, as in the above article, even trained police officers don't have a high hit rate. Doctors don't have the time to train like police officers; teachers don't either.
JS posted the above link on Facebook. These were my comments:
I just can't see teachers being able to spend enough time in order to be competent at the use of firearms. They are under time stress already - too much to do and not enough time to do it in. It is already a major factor in burn-out.
And, if we are training teachers, shouldn't we be training them to teach, not shoot?
________
And, once again, I am going to compare teachers to doctors. Would you expect your doctor to have to carry a firearm in the hospital? Would you want her to spend many hours of her work week keeping her shooting skills sharp? Yes, there may be doctors who enjoy shooting practice and who already keep up their shooting skills, but, for the most part, we acknowledge that doctors are probably too busy for this to be a requirement of their work life.
This is the SAME for teachers. They are way too busy already. It takes regular practice to retain skills at shooting. Without the regular practice and training, skills deteriorate - ask any police officer. And, as in the above article, even trained police officers don't have a high hit rate. Doctors don't have the time to train like police officers; teachers don't either.
Saturday, September 07, 2013
Handwriting
OK, I get it that teachers are no longer teaching cursive. That curriculum has been pushed out with the emphasis on the language arts block and the math block, leaving little time for cursive writing. It is even a struggle to include social studies and science. But this rant is aimed at teaching PRINTING. I have subbed for 3rd through 6th graders recently. In each of these classes, the MAJORITY of the students didn't even print correctly on their papers. There was a mixture of capital and small letters, with B's and P's being the biggest culprits, but many other letters capitalized at random. One student even wrote half of her B's correctly, but the other half incorrectly. When I asked her why she didn't write them correctly, she said she didn't think it was important.
Another boy, who did the same thing said that he usually types things on the computer. Ah, ha! A clue. Has auto-correct gotten to be so good that students don't even notice when they are typing the wrong thing? Of course, on the computer, it is easier not to type capital letters at all. MS Word will even correct sentences to automatically capitalize the first word. Some students don't even seem to know that the word "I" is always capitalized. And, they seem unconcerned by all of their errors.
The assignment for the 5th graders was to write up a science experiment. Specifically, they were to write a conclusion, with three requirements: 1) they had to restate their hypothesis, 2) they had to include their data, and 3) they had to use complete sentences. They could also state whether their hypothesis was supported or not and whether their experiment seemed to be reliable. Only about 5 of the students managed to write a conclusion what was acceptable their first time around. Many of the write-ups were almost illegible. To be fair, it would have helped if the worksheet had included lines on which to write the conclusion, and it is the beginning of the school year. Still, I felt justified, even as a sub, in sending them back to improve their written conclusions.
There are still times when students will need to use printing, as far as I can tell. I think teachers should hold students to printing the letters with correct capitalization - and spacing, which was another problem I haven't even touched on. One word would run right into another word and it was hard to decipher which word was which, because, frequently, both were misspelled. Even the word "hypothesis" was usually misspelled - and it was there for them to simply copy.
Another boy, who did the same thing said that he usually types things on the computer. Ah, ha! A clue. Has auto-correct gotten to be so good that students don't even notice when they are typing the wrong thing? Of course, on the computer, it is easier not to type capital letters at all. MS Word will even correct sentences to automatically capitalize the first word. Some students don't even seem to know that the word "I" is always capitalized. And, they seem unconcerned by all of their errors.
The assignment for the 5th graders was to write up a science experiment. Specifically, they were to write a conclusion, with three requirements: 1) they had to restate their hypothesis, 2) they had to include their data, and 3) they had to use complete sentences. They could also state whether their hypothesis was supported or not and whether their experiment seemed to be reliable. Only about 5 of the students managed to write a conclusion what was acceptable their first time around. Many of the write-ups were almost illegible. To be fair, it would have helped if the worksheet had included lines on which to write the conclusion, and it is the beginning of the school year. Still, I felt justified, even as a sub, in sending them back to improve their written conclusions.
There are still times when students will need to use printing, as far as I can tell. I think teachers should hold students to printing the letters with correct capitalization - and spacing, which was another problem I haven't even touched on. One word would run right into another word and it was hard to decipher which word was which, because, frequently, both were misspelled. Even the word "hypothesis" was usually misspelled - and it was there for them to simply copy.
Sunday, September 01, 2013
Common Core Pre-Test
I have thought of a different way of viewing Common Core tests this year. This is our educational system's pre-test. We are seeing where we are now and where we need to go. If we view it this way, it could be valuable to not have been able to teach what is on the test. We can see where we are already doing fine and where we need to go.
There are, of course, a number of caveats with this. We have to learn as we go. We have to be willing to change the standards, change the test, change the implementations of the standards, and change the uses to which the tests are put. There is unlikely to be enough money and time to do this well. (See my previous post.)
There are, of course, a number of caveats with this. We have to learn as we go. We have to be willing to change the standards, change the test, change the implementations of the standards, and change the uses to which the tests are put. There is unlikely to be enough money and time to do this well. (See my previous post.)
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Book Review: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan CainMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was interesting and brought up a number of observations about introverts that made sense to me. It has colored my reading of several educational psychology studies that I have read concurrently. There were times when I wished the author had edited it down a bit, but I must admit that those extra anecdotes did keep me reading, whereas straight exposition might not have.
I have known for a long time that I am an introvert, but it always puzzled me how an introvert like me could also be a teacher, since teachers have to interact with SO MANY people in the day. Moreover, I am a substitute teacher and I have to interact with many NEW people every day I work. The explanation helps me understand why I am SO TIRED when I get finished with a day of subbing and also why, though I know I SHOULD "network" with other teachers at lunch time, instead, I retreat to the classroom and eat alone and in peace.
View all my reviews
Saturday, August 24, 2013
The Common Core and the Common Good and Where the Smart Kids Are: Comments on Recent Blog Posts by Famous People
This post is in regard to the following two articles:
The Common Core and the Common Good
Where the Smart Kids Are
From what I see, Mr. Blow (The Common Core and the Common Good) is correct. There is nothing wrong per se about the common core standards. What is wrong is how they are being implemented and general conditions of teaching these days. Teachers work directly with students too many hours of the day and don't have nearly enough time to prepare lessons, to look for top quality lessons, to grade student products, to work with other teachers, to work with parents, etc. It is as though you were being given a test on your knowledge of differential equations, before you had a chance to study them, and were then given a test on the subject, to be completed in 10 minutes.
I am wondering if it is even possible that Common Core will be implemented well. Schools are on such stringent budgets right now; class sizes are rising higher and higher; curriculum specialist positions have been cut drastically. My sister is the assistant superintendent for a school district and they have repeatedly cut her budget. Many years ago, she had curriculum coordinators in each of the broad subject areas, but over the years they have cut and cut and much of the burden has fallen solely on her. People just can't get it into their heads that teachers and school administrators have to have enough time and support to do their jobs well. Yes, you need well trained, intelligent teachers, but you can't get by with hiring just one of those well-trained, intelligent people and expecting them to do the jobs of several people at once.
And as for Annie Murphy Paul's article about students in high schools in other countries, I believe that the problem starts at a much younger age than high school. I was subbing in a school recently in a mixed-age classroom of 3rd and 4th graders. I asked the students I taught (as per teacher instructions) what the best part of their day was. The answer was overwhelmingly “recess”, followed by “going home”. When pressed to mention something they had done DURING instructional time, most of the students could not think of a single thing. The students seem to think that education is something that is done TO them and not what they do for themselves. There is no buy-in to the process. They aren’t interested in the gimmicks that we try to use to get them involved; they aren’t interested in finding out answers to any questions. In fact, they don’t even HAVE any questions more complex than where to get paper and pencils, how much time they have until recess or lunch. They have no concern for the abysmal quality of their work, because, in fact, it doesn't seem to them that it is THEIR work, it is work they have to do for the teacher.
The students were supposed to write a "sticker story". Using stickers to make a picture or using stickers to represent individual words, they were to write a story with details and a beginning, middle, and end. They were to use grammar and spelling as well as they possibly could. This writing was to become part of their portfolios. It is a good thing this is the "before" sample, as I found the writing to be terrible. Some of the stories were clever and humorous (considering that they were 3rd and 4th graders), but the mechanics of the stories were awful. Most of the students could not even print correctly (mixtures of capital and small letters at random). Most did not capitalize or punctuate correctly. Spelling was abysmal. And very few of the stories actually followed the directions, with a beginning, middle, and end. I helped a number of kids get a story outline, but even that didn't help. Many of the students told me that they weren't good at X, one (or more) of the requirements of the writing, so they simply gave up. We just can't allow students to say this. We have to STOP giving students a pass on this. We need to insist that they keep trying until they CAN do it. We have to help them learn to CARE about the quality of THEIR work.
Another assignment that they had was to compute the "value" of their names, given that A = 1 cent, B = 2 cents, and so forth. Even though they insisted that they had done this "last year" and it was "2nd grade work" (which they were, actually, correct about), there was at least 1/3 of the class that couldn't do it. They couldn't figure out how to write their names and assign each letter a "value", and ultimately, they couldn't add a sequence of 7 or 8 (or however many) numbers. And, yes, this WAS modeled for them.
Now, I know that I am "just a sub", but I know, also, that it takes time to make sure that each of the students gets help in doing the assignment. Fortunately, two students were absent from an already not-so-big class (21 students; 19 there today), so I was able to help individually the students who could not do the assignment - and to make sure that the ones who tried to hide that they couldn't do it were still held to its completion. But many teachers are not fortunate to have such small classes.
We have to stop allowing students to say that they aren't good at something. That is the whole reason for them being in school - to learn to be better at things. Teachers seem to have the mantra now that students should be valued for their differences and that students don't need to be good at everything. That is certainly still true, but they can and should be held to being much better at the fundamentals - and I include arithmetic and basic writing as part of those fundamentals. We can't keep allowing kids to beg off doing better than this.
I was disappointed and discouraged by the level of skills I saw.
There are times when I would like to turn the whole school model upside down. I subbed once in a school for teenage students who, either because of jobs or child care responsibilities or disciplinary reasons could not attend a regular high school. Instead, they came in whenever they could to a large, open space room. In the center of this room were tables and computers for student access. Around the periphery of the room were cubicles for the teachers. Students could make appointments with the teachers for instructional time, either individually or in groups, or could just ask teachers questions during the course of their work. Yes, there were requirements, but, like the Korean schools, the requirements were in the form of exit exams for various courses or various types of diplomas. It was the STUDENT's goal to finish the coursework. The teachers were there to help.
I would like to see this type of buy-in at the younger grades, too. Kids come to school so eager to learn and then it gradually disappears, until by 3rd or 4th grade, they are already jaded. I wish I could be a long term observer in some other countries around the world to see what it is about their schools and their cultures that keeps students committed to THEIR educations.
The Common Core and the Common Good
Where the Smart Kids Are
From what I see, Mr. Blow (The Common Core and the Common Good) is correct. There is nothing wrong per se about the common core standards. What is wrong is how they are being implemented and general conditions of teaching these days. Teachers work directly with students too many hours of the day and don't have nearly enough time to prepare lessons, to look for top quality lessons, to grade student products, to work with other teachers, to work with parents, etc. It is as though you were being given a test on your knowledge of differential equations, before you had a chance to study them, and were then given a test on the subject, to be completed in 10 minutes.
I am wondering if it is even possible that Common Core will be implemented well. Schools are on such stringent budgets right now; class sizes are rising higher and higher; curriculum specialist positions have been cut drastically. My sister is the assistant superintendent for a school district and they have repeatedly cut her budget. Many years ago, she had curriculum coordinators in each of the broad subject areas, but over the years they have cut and cut and much of the burden has fallen solely on her. People just can't get it into their heads that teachers and school administrators have to have enough time and support to do their jobs well. Yes, you need well trained, intelligent teachers, but you can't get by with hiring just one of those well-trained, intelligent people and expecting them to do the jobs of several people at once.
And as for Annie Murphy Paul's article about students in high schools in other countries, I believe that the problem starts at a much younger age than high school. I was subbing in a school recently in a mixed-age classroom of 3rd and 4th graders. I asked the students I taught (as per teacher instructions) what the best part of their day was. The answer was overwhelmingly “recess”, followed by “going home”. When pressed to mention something they had done DURING instructional time, most of the students could not think of a single thing. The students seem to think that education is something that is done TO them and not what they do for themselves. There is no buy-in to the process. They aren’t interested in the gimmicks that we try to use to get them involved; they aren’t interested in finding out answers to any questions. In fact, they don’t even HAVE any questions more complex than where to get paper and pencils, how much time they have until recess or lunch. They have no concern for the abysmal quality of their work, because, in fact, it doesn't seem to them that it is THEIR work, it is work they have to do for the teacher.
The students were supposed to write a "sticker story". Using stickers to make a picture or using stickers to represent individual words, they were to write a story with details and a beginning, middle, and end. They were to use grammar and spelling as well as they possibly could. This writing was to become part of their portfolios. It is a good thing this is the "before" sample, as I found the writing to be terrible. Some of the stories were clever and humorous (considering that they were 3rd and 4th graders), but the mechanics of the stories were awful. Most of the students could not even print correctly (mixtures of capital and small letters at random). Most did not capitalize or punctuate correctly. Spelling was abysmal. And very few of the stories actually followed the directions, with a beginning, middle, and end. I helped a number of kids get a story outline, but even that didn't help. Many of the students told me that they weren't good at X, one (or more) of the requirements of the writing, so they simply gave up. We just can't allow students to say this. We have to STOP giving students a pass on this. We need to insist that they keep trying until they CAN do it. We have to help them learn to CARE about the quality of THEIR work.
Another assignment that they had was to compute the "value" of their names, given that A = 1 cent, B = 2 cents, and so forth. Even though they insisted that they had done this "last year" and it was "2nd grade work" (which they were, actually, correct about), there was at least 1/3 of the class that couldn't do it. They couldn't figure out how to write their names and assign each letter a "value", and ultimately, they couldn't add a sequence of 7 or 8 (or however many) numbers. And, yes, this WAS modeled for them.
Now, I know that I am "just a sub", but I know, also, that it takes time to make sure that each of the students gets help in doing the assignment. Fortunately, two students were absent from an already not-so-big class (21 students; 19 there today), so I was able to help individually the students who could not do the assignment - and to make sure that the ones who tried to hide that they couldn't do it were still held to its completion. But many teachers are not fortunate to have such small classes.
We have to stop allowing students to say that they aren't good at something. That is the whole reason for them being in school - to learn to be better at things. Teachers seem to have the mantra now that students should be valued for their differences and that students don't need to be good at everything. That is certainly still true, but they can and should be held to being much better at the fundamentals - and I include arithmetic and basic writing as part of those fundamentals. We can't keep allowing kids to beg off doing better than this.
I was disappointed and discouraged by the level of skills I saw.
There are times when I would like to turn the whole school model upside down. I subbed once in a school for teenage students who, either because of jobs or child care responsibilities or disciplinary reasons could not attend a regular high school. Instead, they came in whenever they could to a large, open space room. In the center of this room were tables and computers for student access. Around the periphery of the room were cubicles for the teachers. Students could make appointments with the teachers for instructional time, either individually or in groups, or could just ask teachers questions during the course of their work. Yes, there were requirements, but, like the Korean schools, the requirements were in the form of exit exams for various courses or various types of diplomas. It was the STUDENT's goal to finish the coursework. The teachers were there to help.
I would like to see this type of buy-in at the younger grades, too. Kids come to school so eager to learn and then it gradually disappears, until by 3rd or 4th grade, they are already jaded. I wish I could be a long term observer in some other countries around the world to see what it is about their schools and their cultures that keeps students committed to THEIR educations.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Friday, August 09, 2013
Getting Ready for a New School Year as a Sub
The "Back to School" sales have started and I have started thinking about the upcoming school year. I have already done a few of the practical things. I bought a large pack of pencils, some eraser tops, a package of loose leaf paper, some dry erase markers, a ruler, and, yes, a bit reluctantly, stickers. Even with a teacher discount that came to almost $40 - nearly half of a day's pay. And it certainly won't be all I spend out of my own money. Printer paper, needed for printing up emergency lessons, printer ink, notebooks to organize lesson ideas, books for extra read-a-loud times. Sometimes I wonder if I would save money by just retiring from subbing. Gas is getting to be so expensive; school-appropriate clothes are, too.
Then there are the legal things. I have already told the three school districts that I subbed for last year that I would be returning, but I may take one of those districts off of my list. The main road that I need to use to get there is always congested, but will be a whole lot worse this year, due to construction. The alternate road that I could use, I won't use in the winter, because it is scary to me then - strong cross winds on slippery and steep highways make me nervous. I have also applied to sub in an additional neighboring district. I need several districts, in case they decide to limit subs to fewer than 30 hours, in order to avoid having to offer us health insurance. I would actually like to sub in fewer districts, not more, so I could get to know some of the schools, teachers, secretaries, and most of all kids better, but I am cutting down on the grade levels and subjects that I will sub for, so I might need at least three school districts, in order to stay reasonably busy.
And, I am steeling myself to keep my self-esteem in tact, in spite of not being able to earn anywhere near a reasonable salary. Even if I sub EVERY school day, 180 X around $95 ==> around $17,100, which doesn't even come close to something one could live on here. And, this year, I will have to buy my own health insurance, since my husband is retiring and moving to Medicare and I am not quite old enough for that.
And there are lots of other things I need to think of too: how to organize my emergency lesson plans, where can I find new things to interest kids in the odd times here and there that come up unexpectedly - an assembly is cancelled; the materials for a planned lesson aren't available; the lesson that a teacher had planned isn't enough to fill the time slot. I look for things all year long, actually, but now I need to be able to have them available right at hand.
And, most importantly, I need to think about the kids I will meet and teach. What can I offer them in a single day that will help make their lives better? How can I be more than just a place holder for a day? And will I get to see any of the kids I taught last year again this year? There are a few I would love to see again.
Then there are the legal things. I have already told the three school districts that I subbed for last year that I would be returning, but I may take one of those districts off of my list. The main road that I need to use to get there is always congested, but will be a whole lot worse this year, due to construction. The alternate road that I could use, I won't use in the winter, because it is scary to me then - strong cross winds on slippery and steep highways make me nervous. I have also applied to sub in an additional neighboring district. I need several districts, in case they decide to limit subs to fewer than 30 hours, in order to avoid having to offer us health insurance. I would actually like to sub in fewer districts, not more, so I could get to know some of the schools, teachers, secretaries, and most of all kids better, but I am cutting down on the grade levels and subjects that I will sub for, so I might need at least three school districts, in order to stay reasonably busy.
And, I am steeling myself to keep my self-esteem in tact, in spite of not being able to earn anywhere near a reasonable salary. Even if I sub EVERY school day, 180 X around $95 ==> around $17,100, which doesn't even come close to something one could live on here. And, this year, I will have to buy my own health insurance, since my husband is retiring and moving to Medicare and I am not quite old enough for that.
And there are lots of other things I need to think of too: how to organize my emergency lesson plans, where can I find new things to interest kids in the odd times here and there that come up unexpectedly - an assembly is cancelled; the materials for a planned lesson aren't available; the lesson that a teacher had planned isn't enough to fill the time slot. I look for things all year long, actually, but now I need to be able to have them available right at hand.
And, most importantly, I need to think about the kids I will meet and teach. What can I offer them in a single day that will help make their lives better? How can I be more than just a place holder for a day? And will I get to see any of the kids I taught last year again this year? There are a few I would love to see again.
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
Re: Before Reading or Watching Videos, Students Should Experiment First by David Plotnikoff
Thoughts about this article:
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/before-reading-or-watching-videos-students-should-first-experiment/
General conclusion: it is more effective for students to experiment BEFORE learning about something through text or video than doing the same lessons in the opposite sequence (text or video first, then experimentation).
My thoughts:
I think this is true for a lot of science. When I was a kid (100+ years ago), kids had lots of active experience with science - collecting rocks, growing vegetables, building dams in the creek, using a teeter-totter. When they came to school, the science lesson used practical experience to build the theory on. Nowadays, kids have lots of virtual and digital experience, but much less hands-on experience - many have never hammered nails or fixed a bicycle or made cakes from scratch. So the theoretical lessons often aren't rooted in personal knowledge.
In school, many teachers have found that manipulatives are difficult to manage with large classes, so those lessons have disappeared - at least it appears so to me. I am a sub and I often find unopened manipulatives and shrink-wrapped science kits in teachers' classrooms at the end of the school year.
Many years ago, I was tasked to teach gifted classes, with no specific curriculum and few materials. I did have a hot plate and some beakers, though, so I decided to teach a Kitchen Physics-like set of lessons - with sugar cubes, food dye, water, and the beakers and hot plate (and a thermometer). The kids were skeptical at first. They wanted me to tell them what to do. So, I started with a simple experiment on how long it would take the sugar cube to dissolve in the water. And I asked them what else they needed to know. I helped them frame a group experiment in a scientific way. Hypothesis, test, explain, discuss what is still unclear. The first few times through the cycle, they didn't even know how to ask questions, but soon they caught on and were completely surprised at how interesting the simple system could be.
Kids enjoy the hands-on lessons, but I fully agree with teachers that they are harder to manage with ever increasing class sizes and substantially less time that can be devoted to science.
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/before-reading-or-watching-videos-students-should-first-experiment/
General conclusion: it is more effective for students to experiment BEFORE learning about something through text or video than doing the same lessons in the opposite sequence (text or video first, then experimentation).
My thoughts:
I think this is true for a lot of science. When I was a kid (100+ years ago), kids had lots of active experience with science - collecting rocks, growing vegetables, building dams in the creek, using a teeter-totter. When they came to school, the science lesson used practical experience to build the theory on. Nowadays, kids have lots of virtual and digital experience, but much less hands-on experience - many have never hammered nails or fixed a bicycle or made cakes from scratch. So the theoretical lessons often aren't rooted in personal knowledge.
In school, many teachers have found that manipulatives are difficult to manage with large classes, so those lessons have disappeared - at least it appears so to me. I am a sub and I often find unopened manipulatives and shrink-wrapped science kits in teachers' classrooms at the end of the school year.
Many years ago, I was tasked to teach gifted classes, with no specific curriculum and few materials. I did have a hot plate and some beakers, though, so I decided to teach a Kitchen Physics-like set of lessons - with sugar cubes, food dye, water, and the beakers and hot plate (and a thermometer). The kids were skeptical at first. They wanted me to tell them what to do. So, I started with a simple experiment on how long it would take the sugar cube to dissolve in the water. And I asked them what else they needed to know. I helped them frame a group experiment in a scientific way. Hypothesis, test, explain, discuss what is still unclear. The first few times through the cycle, they didn't even know how to ask questions, but soon they caught on and were completely surprised at how interesting the simple system could be.
Kids enjoy the hands-on lessons, but I fully agree with teachers that they are harder to manage with ever increasing class sizes and substantially less time that can be devoted to science.
Thursday, August 01, 2013
A Thought Experiment - the Able Teaching the Less Able
Imagine for a moment, you are required by your boss to attend a workshop for training purposes. Unfortunately, the workshop topic is something you already know a lot about, maybe even more than the person teaching the workshop. The instructor breaks the whole group into smaller groups to work on part of the topic. No one in your group understands the topic very well, so you spend a lot of time showing them how to do it. Some of them get it, but it takes so long to explain it to a few of them that you get a bit frustrated. You could be spending your time actually doing your work, rather than wasting it this way. In fact, you are a bit resentful that the instructor is getting paid a lot to teach this workshop and you have to pretend to be patient with it for the whole DAY. What a waste!
Now, imagine that you had to do this EVERY DAY, probably for the next dozen years. And add to that that you are a person who thrives on challenge, a person who craves complexity, depth, exploration.
And now imagine how a gifted child feels when s/he is asked to help the slower kids in the class. Occasionally, it can be fun. Sometimes, it helps you understand the topic better. But as a daily routine it is excruciatingly painful.
Now, imagine that you had to do this EVERY DAY, probably for the next dozen years. And add to that that you are a person who thrives on challenge, a person who craves complexity, depth, exploration.
And now imagine how a gifted child feels when s/he is asked to help the slower kids in the class. Occasionally, it can be fun. Sometimes, it helps you understand the topic better. But as a daily routine it is excruciatingly painful.
Monday, July 29, 2013
The Demise of the Teeter-Totter - and Its Implications for Algebra
Years
ago, I was teaching in an elementary school computer lab. There was a
software program I was using, where the students were supposed to
balance bags of gold. On one side of the balance was a bag, for
example, weighing 7 pounds, and they had to balance it with a
combination of two or three other bags, e.g., 2 and 5, 3 and 4, or 1, 2,
and 4. I was AMAZED and discouraged that so many of the students found
this difficult. You see, years before that, teeter totters had been
removed from many public playgrounds, because of insurance mandates. Many kids just
didn't and don't know how balances work. This has big implications for
mathematics and equation solving.
A few years later, I was substitute teaching in a 5th grade and the lesson was on balancing equations. Again, I observed that the students simply didn't understand how balances worked. They could not predict what would happen if something heavy was added to one side of an equation that was balanced. No wonder so many of them are lost in beginning algebra.
I am not sure we can bring back teeter-totters, but we can certainly bring back playing with balances in the younger grades. Get the equipment out and let kids play with it.
A few years later, I was substitute teaching in a 5th grade and the lesson was on balancing equations. Again, I observed that the students simply didn't understand how balances worked. They could not predict what would happen if something heavy was added to one side of an equation that was balanced. No wonder so many of them are lost in beginning algebra.
I am not sure we can bring back teeter-totters, but we can certainly bring back playing with balances in the younger grades. Get the equipment out and let kids play with it.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Temperature in Celsius
I have long thought that the United States should go metric, because it is a much more sensible system of measurement. The metric system for lengths seems simple and easily understood. A meter is quite tangible and centimeters also look familiar and comfortable. I can even get used to grams and kilograms. Grams are a bit too light to make complete sense, and the prefix kilo- makes it seem much heavier than it really is, but I can get used to that, too. Liquid volumes have become more familiar, now that beverages often come in liter bottles. I have had a harder time, though, with temperature. So, I decided to make up a rhyme for myself to help me remember the approximate meanings of the different temperatures. I wanted something relatively simple - possibly something I could use with kids. Here is a poster with my first attempt.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Book-Related Posts Moved to Book Blog
I think I have all of my book-related posts moved to the other blog. They
are probably somewhat out of chronological order, but I am not going to
worry about that. I will get them deleted out of this blog soon.
Three blogs: book blog; education, social issues, serious stuff; less
serious and more personal stuff. There is some less serious stuff in
this blog, especially older stuff, but I am not going to move it, since no one cares,
except me, anyway.
First in Line
I might as well say it: I hate getting kids lined up to go somewhere like art or PE or lunch. It takes way too much time and it seems demeaning to me. Do adults line up to go somewhere? Do we insist that they walk single file without talking? Do the adults in the hall avoid talking when they pass rooms with their doors open? No, no, and definitely not. Yes, I understand that we want to avoid clogging up the halls, when many classes are moving around, and lines do help. But I really don't like them.
And furthermore, I especially don't like the fact that kids actually fight over who gets to be first in line and who gets to be in front of whom. "She cut in line", "You can't save places in line!", "No frontsies", etc. Why is it that kids, almost universally want to be first in line? or ahead in line? I can understand why adults want to be first to get on the airplane - so that they get prime luggage storage space and so that they don't have to force their way past cramped seating crowded with people. But what is it that kids are fighting for? Being first in line conveys no extra privilege. It doesn't raise them in the esteem of their teachers or their peers.
To be fair, not all of the kids want to be ahead in a line. There are those who prefer the end of the line, especially if the teacher walks at the front. They can get away with more at the end of the line. And there are a few, usually the more passive kids with fewer friends, who don't seem to care (but, even so I wonder if that is just a front).
So the question remains, what is it about those stupid lines that is of such social/psychological significance? Over and over again.
And furthermore, I especially don't like the fact that kids actually fight over who gets to be first in line and who gets to be in front of whom. "She cut in line", "You can't save places in line!", "No frontsies", etc. Why is it that kids, almost universally want to be first in line? or ahead in line? I can understand why adults want to be first to get on the airplane - so that they get prime luggage storage space and so that they don't have to force their way past cramped seating crowded with people. But what is it that kids are fighting for? Being first in line conveys no extra privilege. It doesn't raise them in the esteem of their teachers or their peers.
To be fair, not all of the kids want to be ahead in a line. There are those who prefer the end of the line, especially if the teacher walks at the front. They can get away with more at the end of the line. And there are a few, usually the more passive kids with fewer friends, who don't seem to care (but, even so I wonder if that is just a front).
So the question remains, what is it about those stupid lines that is of such social/psychological significance? Over and over again.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Mansplaining to a Sub
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mansplaining
The tendency of some men to mistakenly believe that they automatically know more about any given topic than does a woman and who, consequently, proceed to explain to her- correctly or not- things that she already knows.
Woman A: When he started mansplaining to me what it really meant to be a woman in the 21st century, I got up and left.
In a recent discussion on Facebook, there were a lot of comments about mansplaining - where men would explain something technical to a woman who was an expert in the area, even in spite of knowing that she was an expert. I mentioned that this seems to me to be a more specific example of what I might call "downsplaining" - explaining to someone who may or may not be an expert in the area something that the explainer feels he or she should also be an expert in, just to demonstrate his or her expertise. This post is a musing on that idea and is still a "thought in progress".
Some examples: when I am subbing, I often get called for jobs for either a half day or for days where the teacher is in the building, but is working on something else, usually joint planning with other staff members. In this case, the teacher is often there to go over the day with me and to make sure I understand the plans. In these cases, I am often subjected to "downsplaining", explaining in great detail even minor points about the lesson plans. One time, a teacher took 5 minutes to tell me how to give a spelling test. Another time, a teacher took 10 minutes to tell me how to teach an Everyday Math lesson. I told her that I had been trained specifically in Everyday Math, but she continued to explain the entire lesson anyway.
The fact is, this happens over and over again and it puzzled me why they should feel the need to do this. I am older, I am a certified teacher (as are all subs in this district), and I feel as though I do not present myself as lacking confidence or needing assurance. So I looked for other explanations and it seems that mansplaining, if generalized, fills the bill.
Many teachers feel, rightly, that their classrooms are their area of expertise. When a sub comes in to take over, there are several things that they are thinking of. One of them is whether the sub can handle the class. When the teacher thinks of handling the class, though, they are thinking of things that cause them the biggest challenges. Sometimes these things are new curricula, sometimes planning lessons for areas that are not their strengths, sometimes they are dealing with challenging kids. They feel that they need to explain over and over again the things that are their own challenges with the class(es). Even when I assure them that I have a good background in science, they feel the need to explain the science lesson (that is mostly just reading), because THEY are a bit unsure about science.
But dealing with lesson plans is seldom the biggest worry for me as a sub. I have subbed and taught for many years. Giving a spelling test, trust me, is not a difficult proposition, even if the teacher happens to use a different format than standard.
Oftentimes they are correct about dealing with challenging kids, and I appreciate the hints they give me there. But, interestingly the things they emphasize are often the things I least need help on. What I would like to know is who can I call if I need help. How do I get that person to come to the classroom if I need him/her?
And, since the teacher him/herself does not worry about special classes (the kids just go when they are supposed to), s/he doesn't list all of the special classes, their times and their durations, and the students who go to them. If "Joey" just walks out of the room at 10:25, it is no big deal to her, but it is a worry for the sub.
So, I think, actually, mansplaining is a subset of downsplaining, where the person doing the 'splaining assumes that he or she knows more about the subject at hand and needs to explain it in excruciating detail, both to show that he or she is an expert, but also to assert dominance. The interesting thing to me is that they things they choose to 'splain are often precisely the things that they are a bit shaky on. Things about which they are confident frequently don't get explained.
And, as an aside, I tried to start a discussion about this topic on the Substitute Teacher Network on LinkedIn, but the owner of the group said that it was "too political" and refused to post it. I feel censored and may have to quit the group. He has censored a post of mine before and I agreed to withdraw that one, but now I am feeling that maybe that group isn't right for me. Too bad, it was giving me some good information.
The tendency of some men to mistakenly believe that they automatically know more about any given topic than does a woman and who, consequently, proceed to explain to her- correctly or not- things that she already knows.
Woman A: When he started mansplaining to me what it really meant to be a woman in the 21st century, I got up and left.
In a recent discussion on Facebook, there were a lot of comments about mansplaining - where men would explain something technical to a woman who was an expert in the area, even in spite of knowing that she was an expert. I mentioned that this seems to me to be a more specific example of what I might call "downsplaining" - explaining to someone who may or may not be an expert in the area something that the explainer feels he or she should also be an expert in, just to demonstrate his or her expertise. This post is a musing on that idea and is still a "thought in progress".
Some examples: when I am subbing, I often get called for jobs for either a half day or for days where the teacher is in the building, but is working on something else, usually joint planning with other staff members. In this case, the teacher is often there to go over the day with me and to make sure I understand the plans. In these cases, I am often subjected to "downsplaining", explaining in great detail even minor points about the lesson plans. One time, a teacher took 5 minutes to tell me how to give a spelling test. Another time, a teacher took 10 minutes to tell me how to teach an Everyday Math lesson. I told her that I had been trained specifically in Everyday Math, but she continued to explain the entire lesson anyway.
The fact is, this happens over and over again and it puzzled me why they should feel the need to do this. I am older, I am a certified teacher (as are all subs in this district), and I feel as though I do not present myself as lacking confidence or needing assurance. So I looked for other explanations and it seems that mansplaining, if generalized, fills the bill.
Many teachers feel, rightly, that their classrooms are their area of expertise. When a sub comes in to take over, there are several things that they are thinking of. One of them is whether the sub can handle the class. When the teacher thinks of handling the class, though, they are thinking of things that cause them the biggest challenges. Sometimes these things are new curricula, sometimes planning lessons for areas that are not their strengths, sometimes they are dealing with challenging kids. They feel that they need to explain over and over again the things that are their own challenges with the class(es). Even when I assure them that I have a good background in science, they feel the need to explain the science lesson (that is mostly just reading), because THEY are a bit unsure about science.
But dealing with lesson plans is seldom the biggest worry for me as a sub. I have subbed and taught for many years. Giving a spelling test, trust me, is not a difficult proposition, even if the teacher happens to use a different format than standard.
Oftentimes they are correct about dealing with challenging kids, and I appreciate the hints they give me there. But, interestingly the things they emphasize are often the things I least need help on. What I would like to know is who can I call if I need help. How do I get that person to come to the classroom if I need him/her?
And, since the teacher him/herself does not worry about special classes (the kids just go when they are supposed to), s/he doesn't list all of the special classes, their times and their durations, and the students who go to them. If "Joey" just walks out of the room at 10:25, it is no big deal to her, but it is a worry for the sub.
So, I think, actually, mansplaining is a subset of downsplaining, where the person doing the 'splaining assumes that he or she knows more about the subject at hand and needs to explain it in excruciating detail, both to show that he or she is an expert, but also to assert dominance. The interesting thing to me is that they things they choose to 'splain are often precisely the things that they are a bit shaky on. Things about which they are confident frequently don't get explained.
And, as an aside, I tried to start a discussion about this topic on the Substitute Teacher Network on LinkedIn, but the owner of the group said that it was "too political" and refused to post it. I feel censored and may have to quit the group. He has censored a post of mine before and I agreed to withdraw that one, but now I am feeling that maybe that group isn't right for me. Too bad, it was giving me some good information.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Book Reviews Moving to Other Blog
I am in the process of moving my book reviews to one of my other blogs. That means they will be out of chronological order, but I guess that isn't that important. This blog will continue to be mostly about education, especially gifted education, and other social issues that interest me. Book reviews will be in the second blog and personal and unrelated stuff will be in the third (Wordpress) blog.
I am also gradually adding labels (tags) to the posts. I am not sure how they help, but maybe I will find that they do.
I changed the title of this post to include "Moving" instead of "Moved", as it is taking me longer than I foresaw.
I am also gradually adding labels (tags) to the posts. I am not sure how they help, but maybe I will find that they do.
I changed the title of this post to include "Moving" instead of "Moved", as it is taking me longer than I foresaw.
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
There is reading and then there is READING.
This is a reflection on the following post:
www.creativitypost.com/education/save_the_readers
There is something I observed recently while subbing. Frequently, teachers will have time in their lesson plans for kids to do silent reading, often called Read to Self, SSR, or some similar acronym. There seem to be two types of readers: the kind who are deeply immersed in books that have mostly text and few illustrations and the kind who are reading either non-fiction, graphic novels, or books with a lot of pictures and very little text. Looking more closely, especially with the non-fiction books, the students who choose to read those are actually doing very little reading. They will look at the pictures and glance at the captions, but they rarely actually read the text. There has been a big push lately to include more non-fiction reading, especially in an attempt to lure boys to do more reading. But from what I can see, this may be backfiring, as readers of non-fiction aren't actually reading much. They ARE getting a lot of information from pictures, but that is a different skill.
www.creativitypost.com/education/save_the_readers
There is something I observed recently while subbing. Frequently, teachers will have time in their lesson plans for kids to do silent reading, often called Read to Self, SSR, or some similar acronym. There seem to be two types of readers: the kind who are deeply immersed in books that have mostly text and few illustrations and the kind who are reading either non-fiction, graphic novels, or books with a lot of pictures and very little text. Looking more closely, especially with the non-fiction books, the students who choose to read those are actually doing very little reading. They will look at the pictures and glance at the captions, but they rarely actually read the text. There has been a big push lately to include more non-fiction reading, especially in an attempt to lure boys to do more reading. But from what I can see, this may be backfiring, as readers of non-fiction aren't actually reading much. They ARE getting a lot of information from pictures, but that is a different skill.
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