Weeding in the SPED Garden

April 17, 2013 at 04:52 (Education Observations, Take Aways)
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I have multiple jobs – one foot is in ed tech and I do various consulting projects. My other foot is in tutoring. An elbow is in blogging, a wrist in various other non-education writing gigs. One shoulder and hip works with parents of special needs students who need help navigating the mystery maze within hacked up fields of IEPs and 504s. Other wrist and one hand quilts (to keep me sane). I do some volunteer work (also to keep me sane). The other body parts just try to keep up.  In each part of my life, I like to consider it a garden, getting ready for new crops, to grow and bloom and make great flowers, fruits and vegetables.

My days often start at 4:00 AM as I deal with international people; the day’s end late as I tutor. I work to balance my time since so much of me is drawn in many directions all week AND on weekends – by choice.  In many ways I think I am helping shift the fulcrum the world rests on.

Currently I am dealing with a ‘weeding’ project, which is very different from pruning, composting and planting. Weeding is step one so you can clear the land. In the background you compost so you can later add this to the soil. You plant when ready and prune as necessary.

If you are a parent of a special ed student, the following will resonate with you.:

Weeding out is intense – most especially in the SPED garden.  I have to read SELPA paperwork which had to have been designed by people who truly believe any information seeing the light of day is bad information and any information which could lead a person to better analysis, decision-making and planning must be buried and the person trying to make sense of it all, burned at the stake.  These weeds are so entrenched in the garden they are often irremovable and one just tries to garden right around them.

Weeding also  includes finding out why the garden has the following random stones and boulders in it: A teacher gave a math test on perimeter, area and volume in the following manner to a student with dyslexia and other processing problems.

(1)  All problems had a formula written next to it – except in the case of the complex polygon which was a square and semi-circle. Only the formula for the semi-circle was present so students could assume the area of the square need not be calculated.

(2) The question on volume of a cylinder had no formula…..was student to answer the question OR did teacher mean to leave off/scratch out and forgot?

(3) A cone was shown with apex point up and circle opening down. Student was asked what was at top……correct answer: circle.  In previous presentations, the cone was shown circle up. Students were supposed to interpret turning cone in space. Never mind the misconception of a cone having an apex point.

(4) Picture a two layer, four cube per layer form put on paper at an angle and three of the top cubes were removed, leaving five cubes total. Same said dyslexic student was asked to draw what they say on the various faces.  No one bothered to help student number the various faces and then list those numbers/positions on chart with front, side, top, face, etc.

The does not include the supposed ‘assessment’ of 17 pages given to student for IEP (IEP took two separate sessions so assessment was able to ‘slide in under radar’ as it had not been completed prior to original IEP) with none of the accommodations  as noted in original IEP.  There has been no way for me to perform error analysis of student work as it is impossible to sort out grading system/rubric, etc.

Weeding includes talking to school psychologists so they can tell me I should call the stones shale, gneiss and chert, not explain the stones are math problems. If I were to call them stones, surely it would all make more sense as I was weeding.

In addition, weeding involves trying to understand why, week after week for three months a student who should be getting math assistance in study hall can not obtain this assistance as ‘different teachers teach math in different ways’ and the study hall teacher (also a special ed teacher) does not understand how this students math teacher does math.

I am still weeding. Hopefully I can put weeds in a pile and burn add, the ash to compost and start over.

While I have been weeding, I have been planting brand new, fresh, non- gmo seeds with the student based on math the way one would teach a math major or, in layman’s terms, using the book(s) Math on Call and Algebra to Go for concept bases, referring to Khan Academy for process, painstakingly doing notes and samples in organized fashion with student.  I tutor the student two hours a week. By the way, seeds are producing seedlings at this point!

Working with the parent, I have been composting – anything which is not understandable to student (disorganized work in folder, crazy notes, etc.) is being composted. Parent is learning all about IEP  process and throwing out any previous notions regarding the school, the SPED teachers, SPED education programs. All of it is going to compost heap to be mixed with upcoming ashes.  Amazingly, like all good compost, there is no smell. I have not taught parent about schist and chert nor gneiss. It does not help the parent.  I have taught the parent how to look for orderliness in the garden, how to ask for help – with a spade (shovel if necessary), hoe, pruning shears. I had to explain to parent there will always be stones, rocks and occasionally boulders and give the parent tools to remove, even if it requires a tractor (like me).  The parent has earned the right to see their child in a beautiful, thriving garden. The student has earned the right to grow and mature and blossom.

The gardening goal is to have IEP furrows in fine form SOON, by at least last four weeks of school. This is so all teachers can be on board in September of next school year and begin pruning in October as necessary, rather than waiting until March to look at IEP and begin the weeding.

In the weeding process, I have almost had the metaphorical hoe taken to my forehead a couple of times, had dandelion seeds scattered about to see if I would catch them and water put in the garden to flood it. This gardener has stood steadfast.  What is interesting is this garden wants so desperately to grow it is happening before my very eyes.

Update:  After participating in a final four hour marathon IEP meeting, a reasonable IEP which can be understood and implemented has been achieved.  The effort was worth the fits and starts of achievement in order to get something which truly demonstrates where student is currently at academically and how to proceed forward. Overall, this particular IEP took a minimum of 15 hours between actual meetings, phone calls, e-mails, going to classroom to attempt to ascertain disconnect from school to tutoring.  I would do it all again in a heartbeat as this student is going to become a steadfast beautiful tree in a forest of strong, brave, smart and wonderful trees.

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Cake Mix for the Easy Bake Oven

April 16, 2013 at 03:57 (A Member of the 21st Century, Education Observations, Take Aways)
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http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/07/02/120702crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=all

As a child, my grandmother had me in the kitchen cooking right along side her. My grandmother Rose was a Russian/Polish/Moving Border immigrant just around the outset of the revolution(s) over ‘there’. She grew up into her teens in the middle of no where. She taught me to cook without a cook book – it was by taste and what was at hand. Trust me, NO ONE ever starved at Rose’s table – ever! I ‘inherited’ the recipes as I was the oldest grandchild and had the time to observe, process, replicate everything from tzimmes to matzoh balls to soup, etc.  The time I spent with my grandmother is some of the most memorable moments in my life.

Since growing up I often ‘barter’ for cooking lessons. Not the high-end stuff with every other person who wants ‘cuisine’, rather with the parents and grandparents of students I tutor. Amazingly the best cooking EVER comes from people who do not have some recipe book, know the ‘tricks’ and are recent immigrants who often can not translate into English so I have to pay special attention to what they are doing in the kitchen. Parents laugh when I offer to do one or two hours of tutoring for kitchen time – in their country women would be expected to know how to cook, feed a family, etc.  In America, land of Easy Bake Ovens, this is not the case.

I bring this up as American’s have some notion/misconception of everything being fun, easy, free time enjoyable. Nothing is supposed to take effort, be a challenge, have expectations, well maybe school testing. As a tutor I  work with students who experience great frustration at having to limit TV and computer game time in order to grind the numbers for Algebra.  Often the parents are as bad….not the immigrant parents as they still understand what it means to strive for something.  American culture robs us of the ability to do activities for the right reasons.

When I served in Peace Corps Namibia 1998-1999, I still remember the two, almost three-year old who walked me to the water pump in the dark as cattle were coming home, showed me how to pump water AND was the one stirring porridge the next morning over a fire he banked. I would be horrified to let an American child near matches….We reap returns on the expectations we set for both students and teachers, not the ones we dream about and never enforce. If we ask teachers to teach to a test, we get test scores.

If simple life experiences require an Easy Bake Oven, we are doomed. Not only do we lack the skill set to take on a larger challenge – helping a child navigate through a real kitchen, we lack the ability to develop creativity. How do you help a child develop and learn real world kitchen skills? Certainly not with Easy Bake…..No offense to Hasbro.

In Kingsolver’s ‘The Poisonwood Bible’, there is a section regarding the cake mix the family packed on their trip to the middle of who knows where on the continent of Africa.  It is a metaphor  for all the things the family did not know and would learn, often through horrific and life changing circumstances. If we can not get past the metaphor of the Easy Bake Oven, we are doomed as common core rolls out. Students will actually need to apply themselves, think, reflect, correct, alter course and re-apply.  The world is NOT a mix it up and one pass through the oven door.

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A Different Set Of Concerns-Strength of Convictions

April 4, 2013 at 05:03 (Education Observations, Outside, Take Aways, What might this person(s) be thinking?)
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http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2013/04/02/public-school-reformer-michelle-rhee-sends-child-to-private-school-should-we-care/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/02/justice/georgia-cheating-scandal/

While it is quite easy to exclaim NCLB testing caused teachers and administrators in Atlanta, GA to change answers in test booklets and Michelle Rhee sends one kid to private school yet claims to be a ‘public school mother’ and so forth, the real issue is becomes the following: Where the hell is your strength of conviction?

I don’t particularly care where Michelle Rhee educates her kids – she has already proven on numerous levels she does not come from either a place of heartfelt sincerity nor background in education. What I care about is she should have enough strength of conviction to her cause and  in everything she does to be honest, have integrity and own her statements. If Michelle Rhee has to hire some one to be her ‘publicist’, there is something wrong. She needs some one to ‘couch’ what she is saying in favorable terms so others will buy into her garbage.

Ditto for the teachers and administrators in Atlanta, GA. I don’t actually care whether or not these people lied – I am outraged they did it on the backs of children who deserve better. Each and every student affected by the cheating scandal was harmed in a much more dangerous manner than test scores – they were denied an education to actually raise up their scores. Not that I actually believe Georgia has anywhere near the best or most worthy spring testing of 50 states.   Had any of the 35 involved decided to put the same time and effort into say, after school literacy, the outcome may have been the same – higher test scores, for much different reasoning.

Each and every teacher  involved should be remorseful for putting wrong interests forward and not being professional enough and own enough poise to have walked out when asked to lie/cheat for students. Maturity and integrity is knowing when to WALK OUT and not accept being asked to do something wrong – for any reason.

Ask me, I know. I have walked out of jobs for lesser reasons.  It provides for great stories and laughter at dinner parties, most especially with colleagues who know who was involved.  At the end of the day, I have my name and reputation. If I go along with the crowd, when I believe differently for reasons of moral turpitude, I am the one who has demonstrated a lack of values – not the people who put me up to the challenge. I know better.  I have no problem telling an employer exactly what I think regarding outrageous behavior in the area of ethics.  Honesty is actually amazingly easy when you apply for another job and have to explain what you found ‘unsavory’ and why you CHOSE to leave.

Teachers should have confidence to WALK out before doing something so ridiculous.  I see the behavior over and over as teachers are under the mistaken belief they will never get another job (most especially if they have tenure) and so they must play the game – whether it is testing, poor lesson planning, involvement, etc. Knowing when you are exhausted and not able to best do what students need is also a sign of maturity and dignity.

In the case of Michelle Rhee, she should be embarrassed to have to pay some one with money from the ‘StudentsFirst’ bank account to craft her answers since she can not be honest. The money spent on a publicist should be spent on students.  In fact, all charter schools should not need a marketing department or publicity department to ‘demonstrate’ their greatness. The money for said departments should be spent on students – and learning.

Again, there has to be something wrong with a system which tells you it is about the students and yet feels not one iota of contempt for deceit – whether it involves money or not.

Who do the 35 people in Atlanta think they are to take money away from students – merely since it was so easy to lie/cheat, etc. on annual test scores – when everyone else could see right through it if you compared other assessments and grades?  I don’t even think the 35 should have been involved in education. I feel the same about Michelle Rhee who believes test scores are the answer for measuring success.

Many days I wish my so-called ‘education colleagues’ would grow spines and have  courage to speak out, walk out, do whatever it takes to set the system on notice, anything but embarrassing the profession.  It is actually okay to be the one who says, “NO, I won’t play the game.”   It is actually okay to know when to leave the practice of education………

What I observe is a bunch of people who do not even have the intelligence to discern making different choices so they run with the pack of imbeciles. At the end of the day, you are very much the company you CHOOSE to keep.

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When will I use science?

March 26, 2013 at 01:51 (A Member of the 21st Century, Education Observations)
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/us-usa-neanderthal-cloning-idUSBRE90N05720130124

Previously I wrote a blog piece on Algebra as it is the fundamental and critical aspect of education which allows one to most ‘likely’ excel.  Algebra is the quintessential  beginning of abstract thinking with which students move on to a more open, questioning mind.  Math is the language of science…..

With common core standards coming down the pike in the U.S. public education system, it behooves us to think about how one will use science knowledge, which is based on the language of maths. I would like to broadly apply how science benefits us and assists in a life well lived. Above and beyond, I would like to put the kibosh on some of the ardor people find in misconstruing hypothesis for theory for fact and calling it knowledge, an abhorrence to even novice scientists.

Daily I use the most basic concepts of hypothesis vs. theory vs. fact vs. opinion when I listen to the news. I am not so naive to believe there is anything as perfect as flawless journalism and keep my mind open – to reasonable ideas. Some things which come across me in conversation, computer, newspaper, etc. are just ridiculous and make me pause to wonder who amongst people I know or am acquainted with might be a ‘believer’  (see URL above).  I pause as the actual thought in my brain is something along the lines of, “Did you complete Algebra?” and I need to restrain myself from saying what is making me smile.

If we are to actually ‘arrive’ in the 21st Century, we will need to start thinking as though we are in the 21st Century and stop relying on misguided beliefs which brought us The Salem Witch Trials, The Scopes Monkey Trial and the five (or ten or 60 ) second rule which was recently clarified by Jillian Clarke at University of Illinois, Urbana -Champaign.   In each instance, people wished to ‘believe’ something not only on the limited knowledge they had on hand at the time, the bigger issue was the lack of continuing to ASK QUESTIONS, which is what all good/great scientists do.

Those who are unwilling to experiment are not ready to accept science as science RARELY calls something a fact:

Just as in philosophy, the scientific concept of fact sometimes referred to as empirical evidence is central to building scientific theories and fundamental questions regarding the natural phenomena of Nature, scientific method, scope and validity of scientific reasoning.

In the most basic sense, a scientific fact is an objective and verifiable observation, in contrast with a hypothesis or theory, which is intended to explain or interpret facts.

Various scholars have offered significant refinements to this basic formulation (details below). Also, rigorous scientific use of the term “fact” is careful to distinguish: 1) states of affairs in the external world; from 2) assertions of fact that may be considered relevant in scientific analysis. The term is used in both senses in the philosophy of science.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fact#Fact_in_science

Being closed-minded is limiting ones ability to be creative, ask important questions and think through various ideas (Shrodinger’s Cat). Closing off the power to think is the antithesis to what anyone would wish to do if they wanted self efficacy, empowerment and a better world.

Examples where understanding and using scientific knowledge abound. I will select a few to think about and digest so the conversation can not be waylaid into something other than improving science education and scientific thought in the U.S.

There are many people who are hateful of GMO foods. If you ask these people to compare/contrast the technology used to create gene therapies for people with medical conditions, they are in favor of genetic manipulation. When asked to have discussion/dialogue on these two different yet related  concepts, most people are unable to have said conversation as they lack the basic understanding of genetics and epigenetics although they are sure anything with genetic manipulation must be bad…..unless it cures a health condition.  This should then lead into a conversation on ethics which is every part as necessary since the ability to perform a genetic change/alteration is not permission to do so (even though Der Spiegel felt a certain scientist must be running around looking for a womb to implant Neanderthal DNA recently inserted into an ova….).

As health care changes and improves, people should be allowed more and stronger input into their end of life.  In fact, people should be able to select and elect how they wish to die. Being able to understand the choices requires some degree of science knowledge and ones own risk tolerance. An example is when some one has cancer and is given options of treatment: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, nothing. Each choice has a set of risks and rewards and contains a certain determination regarding how ones life will end from cancer. Some people choose to do surgery if it is clear the doctor feels they can get the tumor out with good margin, they are young enough that anesthesia will not unduly harm them, the surgery can be life-sustaining for a period of time. Some people choose not  to do something so invasive and opt for chemo or radiation. Some people opt for all three until they can no longer take the side effects. Some people do ‘none of the above’. In each case, each person should get to decide for themselves what they feel is best for their quality of life. This is difficult if some one does not understand how the various factors come into play AND know each choice is equally valid and depends upon the person.  The misconstruction of this conversation, where  a doctor and/or medical team educates a patient so they can advocate for their end of life is known as a death panel in some circles…….

We should all be able to make decisions as to the quality of life we live. In this case, we should get to choose if we would like to be able to live long lives where we are healthy and relatively disease free  OR  would  we like a shorter life with more indulgence or even something in between. In order to make the choices, we do need to know what the various activities we do or choose not to do have to do with actuarial tables (those things insurance companies use for so much of their decision-making on risk).  An example would be nutrition. Since both diabetes and obesity are on the upswing, understanding the underlying genetic propensity AND epigenetic factors would help us to some degree in choosing what we eat as living with diabetes is not pleasant.  If we were to actually know the food groups – protein, fats and carbohydrates, we could do better in evaluating information on food packaging which is listed in this format.  We have spent at least my life time talking about milk, meat, vegetables, fruit, beans, legumes, plant, animal, fat……without really ever putting it into a context of what is fat for, what is protein for, simple vs. complex sugars in our diet and how vitamins help us process nutrients. It is difficult to tell some one not to drink soda when they do not understand how the body uses sugar.  Why is this so? Look at a school text-book, which is how most science is taught. You will note sugar (if it is even referred to as carbohydrate) is for energy. This seems logical if you don’t know better and leads to thinking a soda will help a person get through the day, not what the body has to do to process the sugar.

We have created a nation of people taught to read a science book, answer a few questions and move through life. When Harvard University began studying science misconceptions in education, they put together The Private Universe Project. One film was quite telling – it included interviews of Harvard and MIT grads on graduation day in the 1980′s NOT being able to  explain photosynthesis   http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=77      You watch the movie and immediately understand science has to be something more important and less of a ‘special’ activity.  If we are to get past people thinking we can just go out and find a womb to implant a Neanderthal, we might do well just to learn photosynthesis.

We can do better – we have to leave the books and multiple choice testing behind.  If Algebra is a gateway…..science most definitely is the road we need to walk.

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Camouflage: The ability to hide and deflect reality

March 3, 2013 at 04:41 (A Member of the 21st Century, Education Observations, Take Aways, What might this person(s) be thinking?)
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Please note this specific blog piece is my way of coping with an absolutely horrific IEP meetingI sat through this  past week. The parent was shattered – by the very people (professional educators, school psychologist, administration) who should have reached a hand out.  I tutor the student and although I have sat through a bazillion of these meetings over my career in education and am used to (often amused by) the shenanigans inherent in said meetings, this one took the cake and frosting, plate, fork and napkin. I am still trying to figure it out…..And, I get to go back in two weeks for the second half of the meeting.

IDEA 2004 (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the federal law that governs special education, emphasizes the importance of parent participation. Model forms are developed by OSPI to assist districts in meeting their regulatory obligations related to special education.

Parents can review these forms to become more informed about a district’s requirements and processes. Please note that school districts are NOT required to use these forms.  http://www.k12.wa.us/SpecialEd/Families/IEPs/ModelForms.aspx

The following are a list of basic vocabulary one would need to navigate an IEP meeting and one which if you asked the people present (non-parent or student) could rarely give you a specific, logical explanation AND have it make sense, hence the title of this blog.  This is merely a primer, of sorts. The actual details could drive you to the edge of eating chocolate.

Accommodations – An accommodation allows a student to complete the same assignment or test as other students, but with a change in the timing, formatting, setting, scheduling, response and/or presentation of the material. This accommodation does not alter in any significant way what the test or assignment measures. An accommodation is used  when the student is expected to reach the same level of proficiency as their non-disabled peers.

http://www.k12.wa.us/SpecialEd/Families/IEPs/Accommodations.aspx

IEP – Individualized Education Plan

Goals –  Goals are specific sentences which include SPECIFIC information, are MEASUREABLE (qualitative and quantitative), ACHIEVABLE BY STUDENT, RELEVANT TO STUDENT and TIME LIMITED.   http://specialed.about.com/od/iep/a/iepGoalWriting.htm

Modification –  Modifications are provided when the student is NOT expected to reach the same level of proficiency as their non-disabled peers.A modification is an adjustment to an assignment or a test that changes the standard or what the test or assignment is supposed to measure.

http://www.k12.wa.us/SpecialEd/Families/IEPs/Accommodations.aspx

SELPA – Special Education Local Plan Areas

SPED – Special Education in all of it’s manifestations from low end to high end performance, from below basic to highly talented and gifted.  This covers organic/physical disabilities and psychological (which we now know more each day are indeed organic and physical disabilities).

Curriculum -A course/class and the content which is considered included in this course/class over a specific period of time such as grade level and/or age and or school term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum

Standards –   A specific list of outcomes based on a specific curriculum.  Ideally, the outcomes would represent highest level thinking skills which generally include  the top reaches of  Dr. Bloom’s Taxonomy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom’s_Taxonomy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standards-based_education_reform_in_the_United_States

In a general manner, an IEP meeting is formal – it is scheduled in advance.  Parents, student, school administrator(s),  SPED teachers, regular ed teachers, school psychologist, case manager, social worker, etc. are involved. Some parents bring an advocate and some use an attorney, generally not at this meeting as an attorney is toooo expensive and parents who can afford an attorney can afford private education.  The meeting is designed to take place so each person has input and decisions are made on behalf of student (student can be involved when age appropriate) and the decisions are to be acted upon by each person. In effect, each person leaves the meeting with a to-do list for the next year.  The to-do list includes parents, teachers, student, psychologist, case worker, administrators. It is a team effort.

If it is a first meeting, it can be uncomfortable.  Parents have to, in a very real way, deal with not having the ‘perfect’ child (unless this is a gifted/talented student) and the white picket fence, two cars, dog, cat, etc.  There is a ‘grief’ reaction as parents are indeed grieving the loss of innocence of having a perfect child.  For some parents it is a bit of relief, acknowledgement regarding the idea they have felt something was different, if not ‘wrong’.

If it is a subsequent meeting, it can (and usually does continue) be contentious as we would all like only to hear the best, not the reality of some goals not met with success.  It re-opens the grieving process and causes the parents to reflect once again on ‘how did we get HERE’ and how do we get out – knowing there may never be a ‘get out’.  I have heard this explained as the ‘new normal’.

Since educators sit through these meetings so often, we become the equivalent of ER doctors – inured to the situation. It is not the fact we do not feel, rather, we have to sit through multiple meetings of this nature often and it is the only way we can protect ourselves from emotional hurt as students are very important to us.  Sometimes educators feel sad for a student, despite best efforts, not having achieved a goal. A teacher is truly happy when a student graduates to the next level and/or is mainstreamed. This is high achievement.

Although we deal with students for a limited basis, parents live with them. Parents of SPED students are chronically exhausted and fatigued. It is an incredible challenge to take on one SPED student, even if you have no other children.  Since we have been educated, it should be expected we are able to deal with the situation a bit more professionally.

Normally, when you go into the meeting, everyone introduces themselves. If everyone is there on time, this is done round table style. If people are showing up one at a time, it is a handshake and introduction by name of self and position/title or purpose for being at the meeting. I used to go by teacher/educator. Now I go by advocate.

It is my goal to maintain a cause/proposal and/or promote the interests of the student on behalf of parents who generally have no clue (not by choice) what an IEP meeting should be nor do they understand how school districts would do anything in their power to limit SPED services since they cost the school district so much. My intent is to make sure the student obtains everything they need, nothing less and no ‘just below the radar’ institutional racism and/or other ism is occurring which prevents the student from have an equal and appropriate education.

I am a ‘translator’. I am a reader, editor, discussion creator, persuasion instigator, cheerleader, educator and believer in hopefulness.  I feel empowered to do what is right for the student, in spite of how it may impinge upon an educator or administrator as I have worked with SPED for many years. I have had mainstreaming students, I have worked with SPED teachers and have always been on the student study team.

Knowing all of the above makes this past week all the worse. The SELPA paperwork was created not by Edward Tufte and/or some other graphic designer who had a logical intention to clearly show information…….rather, it was created by some half crazed government entity somewhere who decided cramming as much legalese onto a page and NOT making sure parents understand the information would the school district (if this sounds like what banks did with mortgage applications and the most recent financial meltdown, you would be correct!). This is ‘hide and deflect’, by intimidation. This is the big, dirty secret no one in education wishes to discuss.  Trust me, if some one wanted to fix the problem, it could have been done years ago.

Imagine going into an IEP meeting where the school psychologist gives you a wet fish handshake, states their name and NOT their position.  Imagine being the parent. Add on top one SPED teacher who had so memorized the lines of ‘curriculum and standards based’ yet could not simplify this output for the parent,  arrogantly stated all they ‘did for the student’.  When SPED teacher was asked reasonable questions to help rewrite goals, was horrified by questions and ardently REFUSED anything which might have resembled ‘change’ or different in their world.

No one was able to explain why IEP was not ‘updated’ and in fact at some point in the meeting, the SPED teacher started randomly crossing out information rather than having a discussion with all present regarding each line item. No one in the room was able to explain the actual ‘diagnosis’ and clarified for me it was too broad to define.

By all intents, if it was not institutional racism, there was such a heavy case of STUPID in the room I wanted to scream. I think in this case, stupid brought out the racism. I was frustrated and angry by the lack of professional demeanor, the fact I had to get the SPED teacher re-focused at least five times as she wished to talk about other students in class, etc. and no one else was getting her back on point. Inside I about died laughing when I was told the school would not ‘write a goal’ for reading fluency as that is something done in the elementary school (fluency is apparently not in the middle school curriculum!). I was finally able to resolve issue AND then SPED teacher asked me to write the goal…..which I would gladly do as I know how. The  school psychologist had to help the SPED teacher by reminding her it was the schools job.

By time this portion of the meeting, which should have been accomplished in an hour, was completed, I was exhausted. The parent was in tears for feeling horrible for asking questions. The parent did not legitimately understand many of the issues and no one took the time to explain. The principal practically ‘flinched’ when I stated the second meeting would include getting student into Gr 8 algebra……as in ‘had I done my homework regarding if it is necessary for students to have algebra in Gr 8′ since there were so many schools of thought on this topic.

There was so much more which went on and was included in the IEP inappropriately regarding standardized testing I had to wonder what it was the school and district so desperately needed to hide from.  I doubt I will ever find out – my task is to do a well written IEP AND make sure it is executed. If necessary, I can provide assistance to SPED teacher on how to do something. Perhaps I really do not wish to know.

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Throw on some kevlar as you get ready to teach to the common core.

February 26, 2013 at 03:40 (Education Observations, Take Aways)
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http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html

A close personal friend gave me this article under a truly hilarious pretense – she went back to look at the author after reading as she was pretty sure I wrote the article for  CNN.  Alas, I did not. I don’t know Ron Clark, don’t know of Ron Clark or his new book and in fact, generally do not read education pieces on CNN.  I felt complimented my friend thought I wrote this piece and at the same time, I am positive I ‘did’. It is the collective consciousness of any good teacher for the last 25-30 years.  It is the same thing we all say and the reasons indeed are why we leave/left education.

In no small part, a huge thank you should go out to anyone who was involved with bringing NCLB to life and Michelle Rhee as well as most charter school companies.  These people/groups helped those of us who ‘knew better’ to put on our walking shoes and leave. Those who remained, well, I often hear their complaints about the same issues, they are just to scared to leave the profession after so much effort and cost to get a credential. Ron Clark sounds like a wonderful man and surely his intentions are great. I can only hope he has staying power as there are many students who will benefit from him.

If anyone thought the past 20 years were challenging, Fall 2013 is going to make it all look easy peasy!  Taking parents from  M/C and T/F test scores to the actual task of  having their child write something compelling AND marshal evidence AND  think/reflect……well, get the kevlar ready teachers. I don’t think I envy a one of you.  Without parents on board, administrators are going to once again do what they always do when backed into a corner – blame it on teachers, take it out on teachers (ask them to ‘revise’ their grades as it were) and essentially kiss up to every parent they see.  Administrators, even those who once were teachers, do little to support teachers.

Teachers are in fact left in their classrooms, told what to do and how to execute it and most of all told to suck it up when the crazy (pretty much all) parents come to solve something for their children.  Teachers are expected to be everyone’s whipping boy/girl to make public education work. If it were not for unions, even limited unions, public education would not exist as anything more than a thought experiment.

Currently I do tutoring and work in ed tech doing a variety of things from soup to nuts, sponge to hose, etc. If a parent contacts me for tutoring and I find our personalities and world views do not mesh, I get to say, “I don’t think I would be the BEST tutor for your child” and walk away from the situation. It does not happen often, yet it does happen. Most of what I find as a tutor is a student who could benefit from some basic things – structure, note taking skills, proper math syntax, organized thinking or graphic organizers, better resources.  Usually after a few weeks to  a couple of months, the training wheels are off and the kid is soaring. I could not be happier if I tried.  Sometimes I find a new or very ‘experienced’ teacher who is intractable and the student suffers. I do everything I can to educate the parent, give them strength to ask for what should be done (and is really reasonable) at school and advocate.  I write notes, send copies of things.  Of the times I meet the teachers, I inevitably find the people mentioned by Ron Clark. The ones who will be walking out of the profession or those who should have and are now so bitter they do not teach well.

I attend IEP meetings and help parents get more than the minimum written on the IEP – the more specific and defined you can be, the more likely the chance of IEP being followed and incremental success. I educate parents on having another set of books at home,  how to parent conference, how to check in with teachers, what should be going on in a SPED classroom vs. a mainstream classroom and what mainstreaming looks like, feels like and how it ‘goes’.  I help parents in the vernacular of ‘teacher’ for the benefit of their child. Again, if parents do not demonstrate they are on board, I can leave. There is only so much I can do in this lifetime and parents need to work on ‘change’ as opposed to thinking all teachers need to change for their child.

There are students who need help with SAT/ACT studies, AP course work, etc. Not only have I worked with these students, I have found the number of students really able to do AP course work were students who got their game on before Grade 4 and mom and dad were not excuse makers.  Students who do not do well are those who are shocked by the amount of reading and work necessary for AP.  Students and their parents,  prepping for SAT/ACT end up learning  the sad facts regarding inference and analogy, grammar and algebraic reasoning are not something you can be taught in a cram course – it comes from reading, writing, discussing, thinking since forever. All I can offer them are strategies for how to take the test and think about it.  The time when parents would have done far more to help their child by enforcing SSR (silent sustained reading) at home, encouraged studying atop assigned homework, etc. was wasted and I can not come in and splash that information on their child – nor can Princeton or Kaplan Review. SAT/ACT prep works for students who made learning their priority, not blaming their teacher(s) when they did not succeed every time.

Change is incredibly difficult for parents as they believe they ‘know’ it all. They would never question a dentist, doctor, lawyer (even court appointed), Apple Technician at Apple Store…….yet questioning and blaming a teacher for any ‘less then perfect’ grades, etc. on behalf of their child MUST be the teachers fault as parents have been taught and shown how to scapegoat teachers (Michelle Rhee actually brought this to an art form). Teachers do more ‘change’ in a day then anyone other than flight traffic controllers and ER doctors.  Unfortunately, with all the change teachers do, parents are the ones who need to redouble their efforts the most.

I think next school year will be interesting. If nothing else, people such as Ron Clark will become ever more popular and revered for what they are saying – whether or not parents come to terms with reality. Thank goodness there are Ron Clark’s and hopefully I will be thankful there are parents who will read this and do those things necessary to change for their child’s benefit. It is a long road filled with cliffs, channels, hikes, bike rides, hang gliding, zip lining and all the rest of out doors metaphors.

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The Price of Tutor A and Tutor B

February 9, 2013 at 04:17 (A Member of the 21st Century, Education Observations, What might this person(s) be thinking?)
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The more I tutor, the more I confirm some of my worst fears regarding educational practices.

Each time I have a student with a teacher who tries to teach a cute ‘story’ method for doing an actual math procedure I wish to just puke.  The most recent technique I have been ‘learned in’ is the cake method or cupcake method as new terminology for being able to discern factors and use the factors to obtain a product….as in doing multiplication.  I have already been ‘learned in’ the ‘flip it over, flip it over’ song for the word reciprocal as in, “I am dividing one fraction by another and need to use the multiplication sign AND the reciprocal of the fraction”.

It is not clear to me which is worse – the teachers not being comfortable enough with math and the appropriate vocabulary to use in describing a math process, the inability to explain a process via analogy and then use the appropriate verbiage or the idea of teachers dumbing it down.  No matter how you look at the situation, it is unfair to our students.

In light of STEM (M is for math!) and the common core standards rolling out in at least 40 states, it is going to be increasingly important for teachers to step it up. I do not know if this means teachers going back to school to be ‘learned’ in the ways of math or what it will take, I just know it is wrong to short change our students.

In addition to using made up words and phrases to teach math, many teachers do not expect habits of mind from students so they can go to algebra and progress further. Students should have syntax by Grade 6 – this means you solve a problem/equation down the left side of the page and not across.  It means things such as writing neatly, not skipping steps and doing the ‘scratch math’ on the far right side of the page so the actual work of math looks neat, tidy and can be ‘read’.

I had a student upset and angry with me for NOT writing out the equation from the word problem in algebra. I asked the student to pick out the three most important words in the word problem and we would assign the variable and construct how to do the problem.  This was upsetting as the ‘tutor’ at the library read the word problem to them and gave them the equation.  The student was being ‘cheated’ by the tutor as the tutor clearly already knew how to do the math – the student needed to learn. Skipping the ‘thinking’ process for the student did not make them better understand math and it did not make the tutor a better tutor since the student just had to solve the equation.

As a tutor, I have to explain what I do and why my rates are what they are versus the tutor at the library or other tutor who will charge far less.  Tutor B can charge less as they are not actually teaching math.  In fact, sometimes I think teachers are not even teaching math and so tutors don’t feel obligated to do more themselves.

We should not teach misconceptions in science and we should not try to shortcut the thinking process in math. These mistakes, along with multiple choice tests do not benefit our students.  School reform has many trees to clear from the forest of my disbelief.  It would be different if I had this situation once in awhile……I have seen it across the bay area of  N. California and now in S. California. I saw it in New York. Places I have not seen this messiness: Namibia, Kenya, Sweden.  I know this messiness does not happen in many places as the students excel at math.  We need to meet the competition and  in our training, there can be no short cuts.

 

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What We Saw From the Cheap Seats……and what a view it was

January 24, 2013 at 05:26 (A Member of the 21st Century, Economy and Me, Education Observations, What might this person(s) be thinking?)
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The metaphor – timely. The content, based on interviews I have listened to from Regina Spektor, telling in her life and her parent’s life pre-America.  The ‘cheap seats’ are really where stuff happens and if you are not there, you just don’t really have a grasp for understanding.

The cheap seat view is actually the one which matters – it levels the playing field, so to speak. It is seldom the seat people in U.S. Government or Military use which is why  Ambassador Christopher Stevens stood out, based on what Ambassador Ryan Crocker has said. Christopher, having done Peace Corps, understood what needed to be seen from the cheap seats and this seems to be the very message missed in the castigation of Hilary Clinton by our Congress.

The cheap seats allow us to appreciate immigration reform and why children, who arrived in America as illegal immigrants, should be allowed to become educated and contributing members of our society – in spite of their parentage.  The cheap seats allow us to understand things such as the gross and overwhelming disparity in socioeconomics and educational outcomes (impoverished families have little reading material in the house/home/hovel), why sometimes a little help to get to the bottom rung of the ladder pays immense dividends (Jeffrey Sachs and debt relief in third world) and how those who have little will struggle more to get an education rather than those who already ‘have’ and just wish to express their xenophobia by making life difficult for others less fortunate.  Cheap seats help us understand why the most marginalized people lack  work habits and organization skills, self-regulation, literacy and engagement (Charlotte Danielson) since so much of their life is often in chaos – from poverty, from war, from lack of access to food, sleep, and all the other portions of Maslow’s Hierarchy.

What the cheap seats can not do is help us open our eyes.  We open our eyes based on our experience and willingness to experience that which is substantially different.  The cheap seats are apparently what Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton and Barak Obama have sat in – they get it and have an appreciation for how things are done by others who lack the  budgets of largesse.  The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, fictional as it is, definitely is a wonderous cheap seat view. The very quote, “The things we thought we needed.’ point out the differential of what we wish to believe and what we learned to understand and appreciate.

Every once in a while I have to encourage people to take a view from the cheap seats so the real work which needs to be done can actually be viewed, apart from the perceived work to be done. An example of this is NCLB, where test scores were deemed the solution to an academic crisis, completely missing the piece about some needing to get to the bottom rung of the ladder.  The pendulum is finally swinging back and taking in academic standards which are not ‘lower’ to meet a minimum threshold of test scores.

“Very difficult,” Clinton responds. “We have to ask you, based on our best assessments, what we need to do our jobs.”

It will be a long slog out of the NCLB mind-set, most especially the castigation of teachers by the public. The next few years are going to be both traumatic and dramatic as we shift from test scores ruling out decisions to deeper academics. Our students just are not there. Taking high scoring students and putting them in a different classroom is akin to playing Schrodinger’s Cat. Time will tell. The cheap seats, the ones used when we attempted to cut all corners and raise test scores, may just be the best seats in the house to understand the hurdles we have to overcome in order to get THERE from here.

“We have to do some work. That work requires we stay engaged,” she says. (Clinton)

As the State Department and Secretary of State-Hilary Clinton has stated, “We have learned things” and we will be applying what we learned. Amazingly, we would have never learned a thing if we had not sat in the cheap seats.

Clinton says: “This is my ongoing hope, that we can get it more right than wrong.”

Clinton said her department is acting to implement recommendations made by the review board.  I can only hope the U.S. Board of Ed is acting to implement some better recommendations than NCLB.

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Frontal Lobe, Redaction (sanitization) and Freedom of Speech

January 3, 2013 at 07:00 (A Member of the 21st Century, Education Observations, Take Aways, What might this person(s) be thinking?)
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http://neurosciencenews.com/frontal-lobe-impulse-control-center/

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/07/26/040726fa_fact_bilger

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redact

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=faklempt     http://www.wordnik.com/words/faklempt

http://www.businessinsider.com/student-suspended-over-adam-lanza-poem-2012-12

http://www.aclu.org/free-speech

http://home.nra.org

http://www.uscourts.gov/EducationalResources/ClassroomActivities/FirstAmendment/WhatDoesFreeSpeechMean.aspx

 

First everyone became faklempt over guns, the NRA, President Kennedy.  They became faklempt again and again and again…..with every instance of mass violence including Columbine and up to the most recent Friday 14 December 2012, Newtown, CT.   Most people were so faklempt, they were looking for mental illness, gun licenses – anything to hang onto as to what caused some one to go stark raving mad and do something crazy.  While some people are busy looking for rationale for incredibly crazy behavior, some people have begun to actually admire the previous exploits of a variety of shooters.  The admiration society has always been pretty much an ‘underground’ affair as none of these followers/worshippers want anyone to really know they wish to emulate Lee Harvey Oswald, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, James Holmes and quite probably Adam Lanza.

As we attempt to even think about healing, we became much more aware of people who sympathized with the pathos of the above people who committed heinous crimes – for whatever reason.  We are realizing the enemy is us and we need to be more aware of each other.  This new dynamic (which most likely will last up to a year and then fade again, as it has so many times before, for all but the most intimately affected) makes us hyper sensitive….or does it?  Should the new dynamic make us sensitive?

As a teacher who is often given the custody of other people’s children during the course of the day, I am very sensitive surrounding the subject of safety for my students.  As a community member, I am sensitive regarding safety as I do not believe we need to live by intimidation/violence.  The part of me which studies student behavior and thinking to better understand students with differentiated needs is sensitive as  students (sometimes adults)  with some unusual/awkward behaviors have something amiss in part of their frontal lobe (the filter if you will) and through emotional import act in ways outside the realm of normal.  I am aware as students who have filtering issues often make impulse decisions which do not benefit them in the short or long run.  I hesitate to state filtering issues can lead to violence, rather I would say filtering issues can lead to frustration.  Frustration which can not be channeled productively can lead to violence.  Some students/people have perfectly fine frontal lobes and just experienced an insubstantial upbringing where they are not able to deal with some of the adversity of life and thus also act out of frustration.

My awareness level has pretty much always been on the surface after years of teaching.  Awareness,  much like that of other teachers and administrators is tripped/triggered not so much by the normal range of ridiculous kid behaviors, instead it is based upon the outliers who are pretty far off the curve at any point.  These are most often the students who need help (whether they know it or not) and they are the ones most likely to need a productive way to channel the frustration of being different and the adversity they face due to their unique label.  This applies to the prodigies (Adam Lanza) and the students who perform at a substantially lower level for whatever reason.  Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence are NOT the same, thus the issue of the frontal lobe filter can affect some one who is indeed highly intelligent.  We notice this inconsistency most often when we talk about highly intelligent people and their odd behaviors – Einstein for example.

In most cases, the odd behavior is a phase or stage. Once a more appropriate way of dealing with others is established, the inconsistency lessens  and some one seems more normal to our perception/understanding. In other words, the package and the wrapping are congruent. Sometimes behavior has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with ones exposure to the world and upbringing. Behavior is not always related to intelligence – it can be related to exposure, social mores, and norms.  Within any group there is a ‘normal’ accepted by that group.  Those of us who know or work within those groups are aware of their normal.

The burden is knowing what is not ‘normal’ within the confines of a particular group such that you can be sensitive to alterations in the ebb and flow.  The ‘knowing’ is what could save you, your students, your community.  This ‘knowing’ is most likely why Courtni Webb was singled out for her written piece:

“I know why he pulled the trigger. Why are we oppressed by a dysfunctional community of haters and blamers?”

She may have been  singled out due to a lack of freedom of speech rights….. since Freedom of speech does NOT include

The Right to incite actions that would harm others (e.g. “[S]hout[ing] ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”). Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).

Whatever the reason, whether a ‘knowing’ or not allowing a student to incite actions which would harm others (in context of recent events), Courtni received an invaluable lesson.  If  Courtni and her mother continue to approach the situation with indignance,

“I feel like I really been made to almost look like a monster by my school and I don’t appreciate that at all,” Webb said. “Never in my life have I heard that you couldn’t mention a tragedy that happened. I didn’t say that I agree with it, I said I simply understand it.”

she will fall under speculation of poorly channeled frustration.  We all get to make a choice about our behaviors. We do not get to redact that which we wrote (intentionally or otherwise) simply due to feeling frustrated.  Choosing the path of  ’victimization’ in the current climate of frayed nerves and worried parents only raises others awareness of poorly channeled frustration.  A far better and more mature choice would be to learn about the freedom of speech (it does not mean you are free in every possible way) and seek some help in dealing with the very raw emotions which led Courtni to write what she did.

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And then it happened……people were surprised.

December 22, 2012 at 07:28 (A Member of the 21st Century, Education Observations, Take Aways)
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-mental-illness-conversation_n_2311009.html

http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drugtopics/Modern+Medicine+Now/A-tragic-lesson-in-risk-management/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/799851

As a teacher, I am allowed much less latitude in my day to day existence then the average person who is not a teacher – (no actual education experience yet has a college degree, may be a parent, after school provider service, baby sitter, etc).  This lack of latitude is not a problem, rather it presents a unique dilemma.  Society expects me (with my nifty CA State Teaching Credential) to act differently and generally better so I have little wiggle room if something goes wrong. As a science teacher, I can tell you, up front and honestly, ‘Things go wrong’ and so I do all I can for reasonable risk assessment in an attempt to avoid the ‘something going wrong’  starting small and becoming HUGE.   Adam Lanza went wrong. Come to think of it, so did NECC (New England Compounding Center).

When I have had to deal with work colleagues, administrators, parents, etc., about avoiding problems,  the  mantra I most often hear is, ‘Well we have been doing it this way for ______ (pick your amount of time) and have not had a problem’.  The second most often heard mantra is, ‘We have a license, degree, certificate…..’.  My favorite mantra: ‘Kids don’t come with operating instructions’.

I want to roll my eyes as mantra one means we can’t/won’t/are afraid to change. Mantra two indicates abdication. My favorite mantra translates into lack of use of common sense and/or asking for help.

When something goes wrong, these mantras never hold up with talking to parents, police, doctors, etc. These mantras do have the capacity to help some one feel better about the lapses and excuse ineptitude, which is why we have lawyers and insurance.  These mantras allow people to feel okay about not being a functioning member of their family, work colleagues,  group of friends and community.

We are a society so separated from reality we expect others to take responsibility for everything from poor parenting to bad grades to bad behavior. When something bad happens, we console ourselves with the concept we ‘did the best we could’ and immediately start looking where to point blame.

I have to ask – did you really do the best you could? Were you afraid in some way and so you chose to take the easier path?

Were you putting some self interest in front of your job/relationship with another person(I can’t deal with lunatic parent B so I will just give the kid a C and call it a day – even though the kid has some serious learning and behavior problems; I have to have enrollment numbers up so I will accept whatever kids come to my program;  I was afraid to address parent Q their child has behavior X consistently and it is not benefitting their age/play mates; Just this once I can let it slide – it will keep everything calm and so on) and did not step it up?

Anything in science ‘lab’ can become dangerous under the wrong circumstances so we practice, practice, practice-we practice how to use particular tools correctly, who gets to pick up broken glass (ME and any other adult only), how to stop, drop and roll (we light candles and peanuts for experiments some times), how to walk around a puddle. We talk about why, at the end of the day, it is quite important I return children to their parents in the same or better (they learn something and maybe grow a gyri on the brain!) condition and I have told them I really never wish to have to call a parent from the ER.

I am strict. My students need to demonstrate they know how to WALK with scissors pointed downward….and this is at all age levels. We learn how to position a butter knife (blunt edge) since with enough force, even a butter knife is dangerous.  I have explained that while I would do anything I could to keep them alive, I don’t feel like doing open heart surgery today so they must walk with scissors AND they must walk and HOLD scissors a particular way.  Knives and tools requiring use of ‘force’ must be pushed away from body for proper use. Fortunately for me I have not had to do heart surgery – I have had to deal with ripped clothing, scissors falling just shy of puncturing a toe as child wore sandals, scissors being used in wrong direction (don’t ask me how the child was able to do this to try and unplug the glue bottle) and kid getting cut on hand, etc.

In the case of Nancy Lanza, the story unfolded all too sadly after the fact. Apparently she practiced my favorite mantra  and the most often heard mantra about having a license (for anything, as if this makes you invisible from harm, most especially  a license for a gun).   Not only did Mrs. Lanza practice one of the mantras, her so called friends aided, abetted and abided in the mantras.  After Friday 14 December 2012 people began to blame the NRA (yet, Mrs. Lanza had a license). People were able to construct a bit of a story about Mrs. Lanza – she was generous with money yet never managed to talk about one son.  Mrs. Lanza does not seem to have any ‘close’ friends or they sure are not talking.  People confused Mrs. Lanza as a teacher.  People knew Adam was different (interestingly, kids can always tell when some one is  different even though they may not have words for the ‘different’) and yet apparently his different was ‘normal’ – AND THEN IT WAS NOT.

Some one was afraid to use the tool of truth and sincerity.

The methodology of CAREFULNESS rules what I do.  I have substantially more to lose for a ‘mistake’, no matter how well intentioned I was in avoiding the mistake.  My choices are public (they occur in a classroom for all to see and hear), my choices are constantly what parents talk about.  My choices supposedly have more impact on a child then anything their parents could/should do…….

The higher standard is sometimes frightening and often frustrating. I can lose my credential in the blink of an eye if a child is hurt  or some stranger abducts a child under my care (even if the child stated they ‘knew’ the person since a child’s knowing is distinctly different from an adult knowing) even if I told two kids to go to the bathroom together, I am expected to have eyes on the back of my head and a third eye at all times. The  same  behavior is  not  required/expected of a parent – something going ‘south’ would be called an accident.   Adam Lanza’s behavior was apparently an accident since no one seemed to see it coming and yet it seems all the signs were there and the signs were pretty blinding neon, most especially having an interest in guns and sharing guns with a child as a demonstration of responsibility.

Since my livelihood depends on how well I can inculcate the use of particular  tools, I am careful to note the following:

Bleach – great for sanitizing. Five drops in a gallon of water is good stuff when there is no clean water. A child drinking bleach left below the kitchen sink is deadly.  Scissors – awesome for arts and crafts. Kitchen scissors can be used to cut chicken bones.  Falling on scissors can cause blindness, puncture wounds, death. Pencil – great for writing on paper and drawing. Flung across the room, can cause blindness. http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c3#/video/us/2013/01/25/dnt-pencil-spears-tot-in-the-eye.whdh   Rubber band – wonderful for making a model airplane propeller turn. Horrific is shot to the face. Minimally painful if it hits a tender part of the body. Needle – great tool for sewing on a button, getting glue stuck in neck of glue bottle, making a tiny hole to demonstrate starlight in a black piece of paper. Completely dangerous on many levels up to and including carrying germs so we should not even use it to pretend we have magnetic skin.  Magnets – wonderful for holding things to refrigerator. Great for an MRI which can help in doing a medical diagnosis. Terribly bad when swallowed by children and the magnets bind in the gut.

The above are just the minimum of issues I deal with as a teacher.  Add on taking students on a field trip where the generally accepted standard is 6-10 children per adult (and many times the adults act like children).  Add on being distracted for one second by a child who does not understand the word NO  is indeed  A COMPLETE SENTENCE when stated by an adult and you start to get a tiny view of my world.

When children act out, I am clear in communicating with parents and administrators regarding what happened as I just watched my life pass before my eyes and that of the children I am in charge of.   I do not have a ‘free pass’ – ever.  I am not unempathetic, I am honest, sincere and don’t let acting out pass for the ‘next time’.  This is known as the practice of behaviorism – catching it when it happens, addressing it and moving forward instead of letting the behavior go and become a routine.

This methodical approach applies to not only  all tools above  but  the speaking tool in human relationships with family and friends.

In the same way I  would state  guns are a tool (air BB pellet guns at summer camp for target practice, hunting, use on big game drives in Africa), and require extraordinary care in use, I would state honesty and telling the truth to parents, friends and family is so important when something is ‘amiss’.

Tools and truth  are a safety issue  – improper use of a tool can have some unintended consequences and outcomes.  Improper use of truth (protecting some one from feeling hurt, their self esteem tapped, etc.)  does not help people seek help/services/support  before something unforeseen happens.  We need to treat our relationships the same way we would demonstrate respect for a tool – practice telling some one something is wrong and share how to get help; report a problem to the police (the converse of this is not ‘snitching’ and we all know how this works in neighborhoods with gangs), follow up and practice again; check things out every now and again to make sure things are in good operating condition – especially your relationships.  Don’t let being politically correct stop you from being ACTUALLY CORRECT.   If you have that ‘feeling’ inside of something being amiss, talk to your friend, their family members, etc. Report what you think is amiss- your internal gut is more accurate then you realize (Gary Zukov, The Seat of The Soul).

I have never seen cops at a shooting range practice without goggles and ear mufflers.  I am not condoning guns although I support the idea that if you have a gun, you should at a minimum know how to use it and store it appropriately.   This is what leads me to state that guns in and of themselves are not inherently dangerous, rather the people using them are dangerous.

People without care or thought or an understanding of risk management have difficulty imagining the horror of  everyday items in the house.  Liza Long noted this in her piece above. People with  problems of mental and behavioral health issues are not inherently dangerous – rather the people who have mental/behavioral  problems tend to have a proclivity to be dangerous for a variety of reasons.  Not saying something to the person or their adult care taker  due to the impoliteness factor is dangerous. You have a tool (your brain) to think through information, analyze the information and share if something is not making sense.

When you get down to it, a teacher should not be different from anyone else.  A teacher should be respected for noting when something is amiss in equal proportion to when they note something is awesome and wonderful. A teacher should be appreciated for honesty when it comes to children.  Generally this is not the case as there is no nice way to tell the truth about something being amiss.  If this were the actual case, some one somewhere in a small place called Newtown, CT would have rung a warning bell about Nancy Lanza, her relationship with guns and her son who was different and perhaps should not (in retrospect) have been shown how to shoot guns.   Some one at the college where Adam attended or a friend of Nancy’s who had kids themselves should have noted something was incongruous and at a minimum, contacted the police as a ‘heads up’ and let the police follow up.  It seems both Nancy and Adam had a unique relationship with schools.

The danger is not the ‘tool’ – the danger is in not knowing how to use a tool – any tool, not practicing enough and expecting a better outcome than if you actually made the  attempt to  thoughtful and careful about all tools, including the SPEAKING UP tool.   Speak up instead of being surprised.

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