Parks’ Neighborhood

can you teach to teach?

though i think arne duncan's speech on "teacher colleges" was pretty well-crafted, i don't know if i truly still understand the concept of a teacher's college. before i get into explaining why perhaps the most important thing could be to fund these institutions, i think i need to see if i actually believe in what they are aimed at doing.

i think a part of my mis-understanding of the idea of a "teacher college" comes from my belief that leaders are born, not made. without going into much depth, i would say that i firmly believe that people - even to go so far as to say most people - are born leaders. whether they encounter an injustice, an all-important issue, or they desire for a leadership role depends on what happens to them. they will either fulfill their role or they will not. i think they are very few leaders who are able to take on their position - any position - without some bumps and falls in the beginning. i don't think there are any leadership books, programs, or training institutions that can prepare leaders to be perfect, effective and on point from the word "go."

in the same manner, i find it difficult to believe that a college can do that. granted, i believe that programs and symposiums and presentations and discussions can be lifesavers. ann's paper-folding class? i rocked those ideas with my rambunctious, still-not-understood-by-me children for half a term. our conversations about what was going wrong in our classrooms, our different approaches, and our views on poverty and achievement kept my sanity. the bond that has been formed between our cohort as "professionals" (i use that word mostly for others) has given me a great forum for establishing effective classroom literacy, management, and teaching methods.

all that said, i think most of the people who are drawn to a program such as the mississippi teacher corps are set apart from other individuals from the starting gate. therefore, looking at our program and trying to imagine what a teacher college might look like is somewhat puzzling to me. but, if these colleges, institutions, and programs of study are anything like the experience i have had as a little duckling teacher, i can say nothing more but that they MUST continue to be funded, and funded to the fullest extent.

though one could argue that after all the teachers have decided to not continue, there are no more programs to train new teachers, and students have become accustomed to learning from webcasts and internet presentations, they are simply receiving information. and that is not what education is about. though we are in the business of getting children the knowledge they need to make it in the "real world," we also give them much more. the teacher that changed your life? it wasn't because they made you memorize the geography of south africa. it wasn't because you could understand the functions of the forearm, or you understand the historical significance of the bay of pigs. it was something that touched you, beyond the information parted.

as george savile pointed out,

Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught.

i could beg nothing more than than individuals be given the full benefit to be conduits of that process for years to come.

Arne's speech

bhbonds
6 days ago
1 comment

I agree on the whole with most everything Duncan has to say. I remember saying a lot of those things several years ago during my Rotary interview. Teaching as a profession has been too long like working in a fast food joint-- a low-paying job that's easy to get, that too often turns the preparation of wholesome sustenance into a slipshod assembly-line process...and more times than not ends up with too many of the people one would least want handling something important doing exactly that.

The phasing out of the baby-boomers is not an added difficulty to the state of education; it is an opportunity, an opportunity to make the changes to the other problems Duncan addresses and have, not just a new generation of teachers, but a new evolution of teachers take the reigns.

Like warrior-monks.

I'd like to see a new wave of teachers who do more than teach to tests and who rely more on trenched experience than empty research. It is a perfect time to revamp our schools of education, which I must admit I have always thought were Mickey Mouse courses. It would be nice to see a change of emphasis from a minimum of subject area classes and too many less-than-valuable education courses to a system that requires a great deal of core subject-work and supplements that in-depth knowledge with a greater hands-on apprenticeship.

The only thing I particularly disagreed with was Duncan's over-reliance on number-crunching. If we set out to raise the bar for teachers, I don't think we will need as much data to ensure good education. The type of teachers who would meet the new criteria and pass through the improved coursework should have the aptitude to discern skill diagnostics, lesson effectiveness, effectivness of differentiation without converting all this first-hand knowledge to numbers then to charts and then back to hands-on work again. If we are truly expecting to work towards having a better grade of teachers, then we should expect these teacher to be adept at what is at heart a very organic, personal, moment-critical job. A sharp eye, good understanding, and a GRADEBOOK should be enough for the type of teachers we are aiming to make. Measuring a teacher's effectiveness from the admin's point of view should be easily accomplished with results on periodic communal tests. As is, at least from my admittedly VERY limited experience, the amount of data-collection, organization, and bureaucratic paperwork I am required to do tends to stifle rather than aid my efforts.

Exciting News from Six Apart (and the YouTube Conduit is Fixed)

Team Vox
Nov 17, 2009
37 comments

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

TypePad Micro

2 comments

A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

Home and the like (and musings on Pete's speech)

bhbonds
Nov 16, 2009
4 comments

I, as per usual, went home this weekend.

Though I rarely do anything but sleep when I get there, I can't say how much this postage stamp of two-hours-away-nowhere means to me. Just a hot bath from my native tub wakes up something inside, and in a few minutes that something swells to the surface, coming oh so closely to breaking down the surly grimace y'all have all come to not hate (to my surprise).

Add to that a trip to the creek to find some fossils, and a chance to talk to Tommy Bonds, however briefly, and all is right with my very small world.

I am Antaeus.

It was not all gold this week: The sieving trip yielded few sharks' teeth, and alongside that disappointment, almost too metaphorically, came a leech upon my heel. This leech I removed, jarred, and am now keeping alive via finger-pricked blood droplets...

Yeah, I know. It's a strange, unfathomable act, voluntarily feeding my life-force to this vile, unthinking mass, guided only by bloodlust and base instincts.

And, yeah, I know that you know where I'm going with that last line...

A month ago, I was deep in disgust and thinking of my relationship with my students on equal terms. It was a rough week. I talked to myself a lot, and I drank a lot of whisky and pepper.

Things improved, as they were bound to, of course--and I am happy with what I do, and I love my students...I've even grown love for some kids who aren't even mine, though they come hang around in my room and promise to fire on me. I'm talking about Killa Nick. But I still wonder from time to time what led me here, what led me to do what I have pretty unequivocally stated I will continue to do til the day I die (Bondses dont really retire, so much as keel over at work). It was harder to answer this question to myself as I talked with my dad.

My dad is getting older and I can see some of the joy shifting away from his work. He runs his own business and has to deal with some hairy people. He told me this story:

He did a septic tank job a year ago. The man couldn't pay for the work, so my dad allowed him to pay the thousand out over eight months of installments. When the last check finally arrived, Deddy noticed it was fifty dollars over and called the man to see if it was an intentional mistake. "No," the man said, "the wife wrote the last check, and she miscounted." My dad said he'd get the fifty to him as soon as he had a chance. Within a week's time, the man (and then his wife) called my dad four times to wonder why the money hadn't come yet. Eight months of patience on one man's part didn't add up to a week of the other's. The money was hand-delivered in short order.

It reminded me of an earlier job I had worked. Sod-laying. At the time, we did sod-laying at an hourly rate. I, one morning, felt the power of a good breakfast of Fruity Pebbles and laid thirteen pallets of sod in about seven hours time. You probably don't know much about laying sod, but that's a rate that is pretty demi-godly for a man on his lonesome. Working fast only worked against me, as it was less pay I would receive...and it was even more a foot-shot since most other folks charged sod-laying by the pallet at fifty dollars a pallet. I did what should've been a 1300 dollar job for just over 800. The woman was very appreciative of my hardwork at the end of the day. She helped me load the pallets into the back of my pick-up, thanking me all the while.

Two days later, after the pallets were brought back and thrown on a brush-pile to burn as trash; she called. Pallets, she learned, were redeemable at the sod-farm for five dollars a pallet.

We, it seemed, had cheated her out of sixty-five dollars. She was very disheartened and disbelieving, after thinking she'd found honest people who seemed to work so hard, that we would do something so horrible. This was at ten pm.

My dad hung up the phone, put his boots on, and delivered the pallets to her yard in an hour's time.

These two anecdotes are tangents to you, maybe; but, no, they're not. The time I spent working for my dad, I found solace in being on a machine or working with the ground. I was, as I am, Antaeus. It was an artform that transcended trade. It was a chance at mastery, to take a rake, shovel, then a back-hoe and a bull-dozer and make them as graceful self-extensions as a paintbrush or a foil.

I still picture in my mind what I consider to be a moment of zen, a shared nirvana, a moment two souls reached out of flesh and through a network of gears and levers and still became one--

the day I watched my dad and his high school buddy work on dozers together.

They brought massive, seemingly unwieldy machines together, blade to blade within a fraction of an inch to share loads of dirt that would've been too much for either separately. The moved like ballet-dancers, saying nothing, relying on little more than eye-brow signals and the type of intuition that comes from knowing each other, knowing one's own machine, and knowing together exactly the one right way the thing should be done.

I aspired to reach this zenith.

I loved my machine.

I loved construction.

The only part I didn't like was working for the public.

Dumbasses.

So naturally... now I have a career in the public schools.

Why?

It's a shrug really.

Well, no, it's not.

And I reiterate a heart-to-heart shared with Trevor.

The simple truth is that I have always looked for some way to justify the breaths I take. A man can live either for hedonism or for service. Long ago, I learned I was too moralistic for hedonism--and even when my morals would falter, my virtue was caught by a net of being kinda ugly and not much fun to be around. Hedonism was not the way I'd make my life. Service was what was left. Determined all my life to do something of import, some kinda good, I've been all over, and I've yet to prove to myself that my life alone is a difference to anyone else. My hope in teaching is that I will finally see in myself this difference being made. It is more than a hope, maybe. Maybe too much more than a hope.

What I saw with Pete's speech was a presentation of my thoughts displayed more humorously than I'd ever be able to phrase them. The speech was good. But there was more to the speech than the one man talking. I think the positive interaction of all present to this speech (apart, but still an accomplishment of Pete) served to do more than the words alone could. There was present an entire community. Some felt the difference they made. Some questioned it. And yet, all were convivial and content. This was a hot tub of water.

Seeing this video, and listening to the restated accomplishments of those present stirred me. I am trying to do more. I want to do a lot for my students. I want to reach that level of accomplishment, not for the attention, but to fall blade to blade with that Winters quote. I want my kids to remember me. I want kids like Killa Nick to remember me. I want to do for my kids all that is possible...and I want to do for them all that goes beyond--even--and most especially for the horrible students. I want to bleed for the slug.

Tonight, though I have been fairly happy with my work, I want to do more. I will stay up late tonight. I will write out my worksheets. I will write out my essay and questions based on "a person's choice to be a leech". And I will wonder how I can work harder to be the type of teacher that earns his place in the memories of his students. I will muse on projects to come, decide a definite time to start debate team and build of it a winning team. And, I will hope to hell this fervor lasts into the morrow.

YouTube Conduit

Team Vox
Nov 16, 2009
10 comments

As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.

The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.

When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.

It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.

Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.

As always, thanks for your patience.

~daisy

The Amazon Conduit is Fixed

Team Vox
Nov 2, 2009
23 comments

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

Tunica River Park

Chimaobi
Oct 31, 2009
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The Tunica River Park affords a host of opportunities for people who are seeking to understand the historical importance of the Mississippi River's usage from its beginnings with the Native Americans and conquistadors up through it's present-day significance as a major channel for transporting goods and individuals through the American midwest. In an ideal world my students would be able to visit the park and take advantage of the plethora of exhibits and time periods featured at the museum. However, structuring this time to maximize my students' learning must be undertaken carefully so that my students get the full effect of the academic experience of the Tunica River Park and do not simply view the excursion as pointless field trip.

Some of the before school activities that I could have my students complete are:
            1) Completing a KWL chart to document students' knowledge prior to visiting the Tunic River Park
            2) Researching the history of the Mississippi River and how it has been used in the past by disparate groups
            3) Visiting a local river (i.e. the Yazoo River) and having students read about its historic regional significance

Some of the activities I could have my students complete while they are at the Tunic River Park are:
             1) Creating a timeline to document the settling of the area around the Mississippi River
             2) Describing the work of major figures who settles or worked along the Mississippi River
             3) Formulating a schedule for other groups of students to complete a walking tour of the park on their own visit

Some of the activities I could have my students complete after their visit to the Tunica River Park include:
             1) Finishing their KWL chart by filling in five things they learned from their visit to the Tunica River Park
             2) Developing a community service project to spread the word throughout the Delta about the river's import
             3) Writing a persuasive letter to a member of Congress urging them to allot money for sharing the river's history

"Is this what success is all about?" - Shawn Carter

Chimaobi
Oct 31, 2009
1 comment

When teaching in the districts that MTC places us in, tangible success is often hard to come by. Failure seems to be what is constantly in our face as we think of all the things that our students are doing besides learning, all the places that our students will likely end up besides college, and all the classroom management issues we face that make us want to roll over and call out sick. Every. Single. Day. Still, it's in the little things that teachers anywhere but especially in "critical needs" districts must focus on to maintain drive and focus and continue doing what too many others have deemed highly improbable or flatly impossible for centuries: educating poor Blacks.

In many of these districts MTC teachers teach in standardized tests are seen as foreboding signs of eminent doom and embarrassment. In these places, teaching "to the test" is often resorted to as the means through which educational salvation is reached. Teaching to the test is one thing but when you're in a school environment where, from day one, what's communicated to teachers is that teaching to the test is the ONLY thing, well then you're at KIPP. On some level this is understandable as testing determines so much at charter schools like KIPP from our enrollment to our ability to woo private funders to the very renewal of our charter with the state of Arkansas. However, I cannot help but shake my philosophical belief that I have more important life skills to teach my students than finding equivalent fractions and answering multiple choice items using process of elimination.

In any event, our big state test in Arkansas is called the ACTAAP or the Benchmark Exam. KIPP Delta in Helena has some of the highest test scores in the state at the middle school and high school levels. Last year, 94% of our 7th graders at KIPP Delta scored proficient or advanced on the mathematics Benchmark Exam compared to 66% of 7th graders statewide and only 33% of students in Helena-West Helena's regular public school system. What makes this even more remarkable to many is that our school is 99% Black, 99% free/reduced lunch, and in the heart of dilapidated downtown Helena close by local housing projects, gang territory, drugs, and prostitution. Last year's 7th grade math teacher who got these results was so successful that she has been given the green light to found her own school which will be opening in Blytheville, Arkansas in the fall of 2010 as a new KIPP middle school. She's only a year older than me. The venerable 7th grade math slot was thus available when I applied to KIPP this past spring and who teaches this course with the districtwide spotlight on it now?: me. The Black, hood guy from Harvard with two years of (social studies) teaching experience who's a few credits away from a master's degree in education.

Anyway, to my success story. In preparation for the end-of-the-year Benchmark Exam we take practice Benchmark Exams every month. We chart the progress of our students and use the practice Benchmark Exams to target particular students and skills for remediation and re-teaching. Results are scrutinized for hours on end at the individual, school, and district levels. It is highly nerve-wrecking to see where your students are at month-by-month and to know that the results will be known almost immediately by your peers and superiors and reflect your quality as a teacher. Lovely. In any event, the first practice Benchmark Exam we took was in late September. We took a second one two weeks ago in late October and although the success or failure of my students on the September exam could largely be attributed to what my students came into 7th grade knowing, my school director was clear in communicating that the October exam's results would be all my own.

Much to my surprise and the surprise of many a colleague, I'm sure, not only did my students' scores increase from the first to the second practice Benchmark Exam but these were the only scores that increased in any grade level, in any subject area at the entire school. Fifth, sixth, and eighth grade math scores went down. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade literacy scores went down. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight grade reading scores went down. Fifth and seventh grade science scores went down (we don't do sixth and eighth grade science testing). ONLY 7TH GRADE MATH SCORES WENT UP!!! I was elated when I saw the numbers displayed on the dry erase board at our faculty meeting the night we stayed at school until 10 p.m. grading exams and inputting results on our district network for more scrutiny. When looking at the individual students and their performances from the first to the second practice Benchmark Exam, I also noticed that most of the students whose scores increased were taught by me and not by the more experienced and better respected 8th grade math teacher who takes 15 of my 7th graders into his algebra class each day.

That's wassup. Right?

My Success Story

bhbonds
Oct 31, 2009
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I wish I had one amazing success that really stood out. Sadly, having thought about this impending blog for a long time, I still haven't come up with one of these. I do, though, have a series of smaller successes. Among the top of these is the mix of opinions that has grown around me among the children of my school: "mane, he makes us work--all we ever do is work up in here" juxtaposed against "you're my favorite teacher". I've managed, though not perfectly, to create an atmosphere that is both rigorous and lax--hardworking and yet without the aspects of "professionality" that I believe are less appealing. I let my kids peak their minds, even if negatively about me, I laugh, and I play...and we friggin work.

I have several students that I didn't figure I'd get along with based off of our first interactions. One of these, a girl who in the third week cried because she wanted to get out of my class and found she couldn't: "that man--he don't care about me--I told him I couldn't work 'cause I had a headache and just said 'it don't matter'"... now I can joke with this girl. She tries to cheat often in my class...but I catch her at it...and I deal with this in a congenial way. Another student, K, though he was immediately one of my favorite students and one of my students with the most promise, he was one who squandered his talents (in drawing, dancing, rap, sports, and what I imagine to be EVERYTHING else) and slept through class. He kept up an aloof gangsta mentality that was supported by his best [worst' friend], who was also in my class. I didn't know exactly how to get on K's good side. A couple days ago, K was eating a peppermint in my class and accidentally got it lodged in his throat. I waited to see if he was actually choking, then applied the heimlich when it was evident that he was. Since then, he has improved his work ethic in my class by 300%. The third of theses student is that same best/worst friend of K. Dc for the longest time came to my class with no other purpose than to be a badass... insubordination, refusal to work, threats, both veiled and open....I can't even explain what has caused Dc's progression from this state, yet now, though he is still rough around the edges, don't get me wrong, he is not a model student by any means, he is civil, shows up on time, and he completes his work.

All this success, meagre though it may be, still stands mitigated by an equal amount of failure. I am happy though in what I have done--not content enough to hold steady I feel my students are really learning. I feel that ALL of them are learning. And this is a very good thing.