Education Short List

Ahh, math word problems – the nemesis of every K-12 student.

The three things I get the most tutoring calls for is handwriting, study skills, and math, specifically math word problems.

I totally get it – word problems are difficult. It’s only been in the past three years that I have felt comfortable with them. Yet there are still times when I get completely stumped.

But, starting out in elementary school it doesn’t need to be so hard. First, teachers should stop telling their students that word problems are really difficult to learn. By doing this repeatedly throughout a child’s education, you are basically setting them up to fail. Instead, just teach word problems like it’s any other lesson. Thereby teaching students that word problems do have their difficulty but can be learned and mastered. I would also suggest using pictures, or even better – math manipulatives – to give a visual representation to the problems that students are doing.

Another strategy is to examine word problems from real life. Any good saleswoman will tell you that if you can make a connection with a prospective buyer, then you have already won. The same concept is very true for math word problems. If you can get your students to make a personal connection to the work, it becomes that much easier for them to understand and comprehend them. I like to use examples about buying games or eating lunch. “If you are given $9.80 from your family on Monday to buy lunch for the whole week; how much do you have to spend each day? Say you want to buy pizza on Monday, and that is $1.75; sandwich and a salad is $3.00 on Tuesday; what is the rest that is left?” Get the students involved, talk about percentages and fractions too. “The game you want is listed as $29.50; but it says that you can take 25% off, what is the new price?” Have students work in pairs or small groups. By bringing their own world to the lessons they are learning, it gives them ownership and makes them feel important; while at the same time allowing them to learn.

As for when it comes to taking a test that is filled with word problems, I have a four step process that gives the test taker a better chance at being successful.
1. remember that word problems are meant to be confusing and contain more information than is needed to complete the actual question
2. Read the actual question FIRST
3. Read the whole problem and the question. Put a box around any information that directly relates to what the question is asking you.
4. Complete the problem.

By breaking down word problems and demystifying why they are so difficult, you allow your students to be more successful and help them to understand and use a concept that will be very helpful later on in life.

When I first started working in education, I was a substitute teacher. I worked in several districts and in a variety of classroom settings.

Although I have loads of stories, perhaps the two that get told the most are of when I got a concussion. Yep, and not only once – but twice. That’s right, on two separate occasions in two separate schools I got a concussion.

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The first happened in a Special Needs classroom that I was very familiar with. At Las Lomas Elementary, there was a teacher who was new and in trainings a lot, so I became her regular substitute teacher. There were three very well-trained aides with me too, they made each day flow seamlessly.

On one particular day, one of the aides – Sally – told me to be aware of D and his new behavior. D is an autistic boy, who was seven at the time; he didn’t have a strong verbal vocabulary, but was very aware of his surroundings. Sally was telling me how D had this new angry maniacal laugh, and right when he stops laughing he goes into a fit.
“Well, what does the laugh sound like? So I know to watch out for it. “
“I’ll let you know it when he does it.”
On cue Daniel starts to laugh his new scary demonic laugh.
Sally says, “That’s it.”
I turn around just as Daniel picks up a wood black and throws it at my face.

Now this little boy may be autistic, but he needs to grow up to be an MLB pitcher. With the most amazing accuracy he picked up and threw this wood block so absolutely perfect at me that it hit the bridge of my nose. Of course my eyes began to water; and luckily since there were three other adults in the room I went to the nurse’s office. There I got an ice pack and some aspirin. I re-entered the room with a big ice pack planted on the middle of my face, and all of the kids began holding their faces like I was. I knew that I wasn’t going t o be able to hold this ice pack to my face all day. So unfortunately that knock from the block ended up swelling so badly that it resulted in me receiving an actual concussion. Luckily the swelling did go down and I was fine. Until the next time.

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Some time after the block throwing incident, I was called in to work as a substitute at GGUSD. I had never worked at this particular district before, but I wanted to. I was a larger district and close to my home. Obviously I was glad to get a call from them. However, I am sad to report that it was the last call I received from them as well.

On the day in question, I arrived to a very busy room – full of students, adult volunteers (who also needed direction) and lots of notes. This particular day the class was to do centers. One of the centers included listening to an audio cassette, the cassette player was underneath where the television was hanging. The TV that was perfectly set up at eye level…the TV that I ran smack into….

As the class was settling in, I was trying to multi-task, obviously unsuccessfully. An adult volunteer came into the classroom, just as I was putting the tape into the tape player, and BANG! I hit the TV with such force that my vision became blurry, my nose starting running, and I began to cry from the force of the smack.

Since I was apparently becoming an expert on concussions, I immediately put the volunteers in charge and stumbled my way back to the main office and into the nurse’s office. The nurse became very panicked, she had never seen a teacher who got a concussion. To make it even more entertaining she informed me that I hit the TV so hard that I had the letters from it imprinted on my forehead! It goes without saying that everyone had to come and look at the ‘RCA’ on this new girl’s face.

I did end up having to leave school and have my then boyfriend take me to the E.R. But it’s fine, I just will never be able to play football professionally. Oh, and that school district? Managed to lose my phone number because they never called me again. I can’t imagine why.

In the past two weeks there have been so many print articles and news stories about education that have gotten me fired up. Too many for me to take them one by one and present them to you. So here I have complied a few, with my added commentary, for you to peruse.

Evening News with Katie Couric — All teachers being fired from schools in Rhode Island

This story focused on a school district in Rhode Island that is planning on firing ALL of the teachers at one of its schools. The reason why? Not meeting NCLB standards and it gives them a chance to get approximately $2 million in national aid.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/23/eveningnews/main6236348.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;3

Video of Evening News Program

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6236440n&tag=related;photovideo

Firing All Teachers in Rhode Island School

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Longview Principal Fired for Funds

Very similar to the previous story, a principal is fired for low test scores and the hopes of millions in federal financial aid.
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Popular-Longview-principal-forced-to-quit-by-low-scores-84807537.html

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Oregon’s Online Education Choices

Since families, students and parents alike, are ‘fed up’ with the public school options, there is an increase in alternative school settings. One of the largest of those being online schools.
http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/going-school-online/

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Oregon’s Failing Schools

Also from Oregon, the state releases the new data and research on the success rates of the public school system.
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/01/report_oregon_fails_at_measuri.html

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Commentary on President’s Education Address

President Obama’s March 1st speech on Education
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/us/02obama.html

President Obama on Education, Specifically Commencement
http://www.whitehouse.gov/commencement

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All of these articles talk about education, how it’s failing, and how ‘we’ are going to make it better. And it frustrates me deeply. Firing a principal? Firing all of the teachers? NCLB? The whole point of school is to gain an education – TO LEARN. Test scores aren’t the only indicator of learning. And, each student and school operates under different circumstances. How is an all English speaking upper class school able to compare with an all English learning language school? It can’t. And for some reason we continue to treat them as the same. Until the playing field is equalled out, the schools will never be the same. And lots of children, teachers, and schools will get left behind. and forgotten.

Really, what about the Olympics can’t be made into a lesson? There’s history, athletics, mathematics, geography, measurements, distance, arts, public speaking, coloring/drawing, graphs, reports, research, languages, foreign cultures, etc.

For me, as an educator, the biggest frustration I had with graduate school was that my professors wanted me to bring more to my lessons and give my students more; but never gave me the direction on how to do that. By taking this long-term option of integrating the Olympics – a teacher has a great opportunity to do more with the lessons they are already teaching.

For elementary school:
– find a map of the world and locate the countries that are participating in the Olympics on it

- coloring: the flags of the different countries could provide fine motor skills functions lessons for pre-k -3rd grade

- biography reports

- reading stories from other countries or stories about the Olympics

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MathOlympicsMedalsGraphIdea35.htm

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/PEMDOlympicOpeningCeremoniesAndGameDaysK6.htm

For middle school:
- Book Reports about athletics, athletes, biographies, history of the Olympics, countries, using the country and creating a personal family history timeline

- listen to music and national anthems from various countries

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/17/gk2/olympic.html

For high school:
- Reports about athletics, athletes, biographies, history of the Olympics, countries, using the country and creating a personal family history timeline. The same idea as the middle school lessons, but more indepth and have them include resources

- Pick a country and discover their journey to the Olympics

http://www.vancouver2010.com/

http://eduforum.vancouver2010.com/

These are just a few ideas I can think of off the top of my head. Here are some additional links that should support your work academically. I’d like to know if you have any other ideas or lessons that have worked for you in the past.

And families — don’t be afraid to get in this action yourself!

There is a bit of irony involved with this article – as the majority of public schools across the country are in the midst of their yearly dose of state testing. Furthermore, college students have just finished up their finals for the year; at the same time, high schoolers get ready to take their exams for the end of this school year.

Nonetheless, it is a valid point – do our schools test too much? Personally, yes I do believe that our students are tested far beyond what they need to be. And this is a topic that I will be bringing up again at a later point. So until that happens, here’s another article from The New York Times.

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Do Schools Test Too Much?
Daniel Koretz is a professor of education at Harvard. His book Measuring Up examines our national obsession with standardized tests.

Does U.S. education policy rely too heavily on test scores?
Yes. We need accountability in education, and standardized tests give comparable information from different schools. But tests don’t measure things like complex problem-solving ability, creativity, and persistence. High-stakes testing puts pressure on teachers to take shortcuts to raise scores and can give an illusion of progress.

Doesn’t an improved score show real progress?
Not necessarily. There are many ways to prepare students too narrowly for a specific test. If you substitute another test designed to measure similar knowledge and skills, the “improvements” sometimes shrink markedly or even vanish altogether. Employers and college professors don’t care how students do on a particular math test—they want them to know math.

Should teacher compensation be linked to test scores?
If pay is linked to performance, tests will have to be part of the package, but it would be a mistake to use them as the only criterion. A good teacher keeps students engaged, fosters curiosity, and helps students learn from their mistakes. Test scores alone can’t measure that.

— Lyric Wallwork Winik

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Even though this article is from last year, it is still relevant – since most schools across the country have either already starting their state testing for the year or are gearing up to.

Over the past six years, I’ve been in a lot of classroom and met a lot of students. As in life, there were those that stuck out in my mind; who are still in my thoughts today.

I met J when she was in the 3rd grade. She was a tall bean pole with dark brown hair, caramel skin, and big brown eyes. She was very bright and eager to succeed academically. But, I didn’t get to really know her until she was my student in 4th grade.

Academically, J was the best in her grade. But, instead of being pushy or snotty about it, she completely understood that school came easier to her rather than others. Once I suggested to J that she use her smarts to help others. Right away she sought out a peer who was struggling in class, and helped him. Quite often, during silent reading, I would find that she had taken different students outside to either read to them, or have them read to her. This peer-to-peer interaction was so great, for J and the others. She was a teacher’s dream in that way. She also liked to help around the classroom; during her free time and recess I knew that I could count on J to be of assistance.

There was one time, when we had to do a writing assessment, that J did not perform the way in which I thought she would. talk about the writing assessment. I was no longer J’s teacher, but her writing teacher was worried about how she was going to do on the exam. So she sent J to me. J was crying and sobbing. She was soo worried about this exam; she wanted to be perfect. She stayed with me the whole morning. Part of the time she sat under the desk, just sort of shaking.

As with all students, an educator wants to see their pupils succeed; to have them go on and follow their dreams and passions. I remember J told me once of wanting to be the first Mexican American president, female president. But that she couldn’t, because her father told her that a woman wasn’t going to be president, as well as that a Mexican-American girl couldn’t be President. I reaffirmed for her, that since she was born in the U.S. that there was no stopping her dream. I wonder what she thought that now the U.S. has an African American as the president. Or if she felt a kinship to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor; since both are of Latino decent.

Often I think of J becoming an adult and being the first Mexican-American female President. If I ever had a student who could, it was J.

Even now that she is in 7th grade, I think of her fondly. She was part of the inspiration for the line of educational games that I have been creating. I know that she is going to go far.

In the London Observer, a column was written in October, advocating sending children off to school at the age of four, or younger; even though a new report in Britain, by the Cambridge Review came out stating that toddlers’ brains aren’t cognitively developed enough for it. The columnist, Barbara Ellen, who is a the mother discusses how children need to “go to school and do your job – so that everyone else can do theirs.”

Even though I know that Ms. Ellen’s column is personal commentary, I was saddened to read it just the same. As a child whose parents worked, and went to day care, and now as an educator – I can with complete confidence that too much pressure is put on the ‘power’ of pre-school.

I agree with the findings of The Cambridge Review, children just aren’t ready for pre-school and the demands now put on it. Yes, it is important for kids to be socialized and to gain new experiences – but it should be more of an exploratory styled learning; not mandated schooling.

Also, the idea of going to school should not be viewed as a job; rather as a learning experience. This concept, of school being a job is another reason I’m not a big advocate of pre-school. Earlier and earlier we are forcing kids to put down the blocks and start earning grades; to prove their intelligence as well as their ability to sit still at younger ages. There are two things wrong with that ideal. One, school was always meant as a place to learn; go through trial and error, to come out smarter, brighter, and more capable for the future. This is not the way school is any longer. But, two, by placing our children in formal educational environments at younger ages, we are taking away the only play structure they have left. Each kindergarten teacher I know always wishes that the kids who didn’t go to preschool did. When I ask them why, they respond with, ‘it would make them pay attention better in kindergarten.’

Children are able to do what they can do by the time they are able and ready to do it. Although that sounds very vague – it is, for a reason. Each person grows differently, and are ready to meet new skills and obstacles are various times in their lives. By pressuring youngsters to do tasks that their brains and bodies aren’t ready for, is to set them up for failure. Then this failure metastasizes itself into parental worry and concern over their child’s academic progress. Which then becomes the point when parents call my tutoring company to request services for their toddler.

No joke. I’ve had people call that’ve wanted to teach their pre-schooler how to read, count, cut paper better, write letters better, and even speak more clearly. One mother was on the verge of crying, while at the same time, telling me that she knows she’s overreacting but just wants her son to get into the right college (the child in question is three). I respond to each parent by telling them that the best way to help their children is to let them play, explore, and learn on their own without the pressure of perfection.

Obviously, I understand that day care and preschool are, as Ms. Ellen puts it “free daycare for families…” and, that for a large part of society having a full-time stay at home family member isn’t an option. That makes sense. But, what I am suggesting is that less value is placed on the necessity of giving children a formal education at such young ages; and more value is focused on the joys that should be part of each childhood.

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/101972/United_Kingdom_The_case_for_starting_school_at_age_4

United Kingdom: The case for starting school at age 4
Delaying school past age 4 is certainly not best for the family as a whole, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer.
BEST COLUMNS – EUROPE
•
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2009

Barbara Ellen
 The Observer

The authors of a major new report on British education say our children start school several years too early and should stay home until age 6. “Are they insane?” asked Barbara Ellen. The average British kid now goes off to nursery school at age 4, and “most of us would be horrified if our children were to start school later.” Most mothers work, after all, and many of us are single moms; preschool is a safe and positive form of free day care. 

The report, from the Cambridge Primary Review, argues that very young children are not socially or developmentally ready to be plunked into formal education. That may be so, and perhaps it is best for some kids to delay school—but it’s certainly not best for the family as a whole. Toddlers are notoriously difficult to live with, and given that both parents are already stressed out at work, by the time a kid is 4, the parents are ready to snap. That’s why “school holidays are so stressful” and can only be survived with the help of that blessed “electronic nanny” known as the television. 

We love our kids, of course. But at the same time, we are relieved beyond measure when we can finally say to them: “Listen, kid, go to school and do your job—so that everyone else can do theirs.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/18/barbara-ellen-starting-school

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/oct/16/cambridge-primary-review-vernon-coaker

Starting last year I found at least five articles the discussed the cutback schools had made in order to finish out the school year. Although I applaud districts for their creativity, I struggled to understand how our modern day society thought that these cuts were alright. Why wasn’t anyone thinking about the impact that these cuts would have on the students and their teachers?

Here in Oregon, we let go over 2,000 teachers in the past year. The qualified experienced educators were let go, while newer college graduates were hired (since it would cost less to pay them); all of this was done in order to save more money. Again, very creative. However, I don’t want to discuss how much that upsets me. Instead, I want to highlight the difficulties this financial crisis is having on the people who matter the most in the schools – the students. It doesn’t matter how creative school districts are at juggling funds, we are still impacting their learning.

Last school year I had three students who were directly affected by the money pitfalls of their schools.

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First was V; my hyperactive elementary school boy. Usually during the year he was given a weekly bulletin. It was great, it gave families, students, and tutors a chance to prepare for the upcoming week. V and I could breakdown what he needed to focus on day by day. But after his Spring Break the bulletins started showing up on blue paper, then every other week, and by May not at all. So, this tool that helped V (and others) wasn’t available any longer; all because the school could no longer afford to buy paper. Can’t. afford. Paper. Paper….

Another story dealing with V, and another student of mine from the same school, began having all of their worksheets on blue paper. Both boys informed me that their school ran out of white paper and couldn’t afford to buy more that year. Thereby forcing teachers to, not only use colored paper, but to use it sparingly – because once there were out of it that was it for the year. This happened in April.

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For J and the high-schoolers he went to school with, they had an interesting way to take tests – on overhead projector transparencies. Let me repeat that. In all of his classes last year, students had to take their own paper and use it to take exams from an overhead. There are several issues with this that I had a hard time knowing where to put my focus.

The teachers weren’t able to give students a paper test, or even paper to write the test on. What about the students who didn’t have paper? There sure hoped another classmate brought extra. What about students who had a hard time seeing the transparency? Or what would happen in a student missed part of the information? Maybe they skipped a question? However you look at it, this wasn’t a good situation.

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Which is just like what my other student J had to cope with in his film studies class last winter. Typically the students would watch movies, or clips of them, discuss it as a group, and then do an assignment on what they watched. But what happens when the teacher can no longer afford to rent the movies needed to study? Oh, well, the students have to go and rent them themselves. Exactly. Remind me again how this is giving students a proper education?

All three of these stores are all true and all part of the reality that is facing students in the American school system. It’s a lose – lose – lose situation. Without getting too political, there are changes that need to be made so we can stop shortchanging the individuals who truly have the most to lose, and need the most to gain – the students.

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On a caveat, last night I watched the new to find out that the state of Utah’s Department of Education is considering getting rid of 12th grade. Yup, the WHOLE YEAR. Tell me again why this is a good idea?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700008175/Lawmakers-mull-ed-budget-cut-ideas.html

As if we needed more reason to encourage our kids to get healthy.

Parade Magazine
http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/100110-should-students-be-forced-to-get-fit.html

I think that our kids should be forced to be fit. When I was in school, not too many eons ago, we had to do jumping jacks, sit ups, run a mile, and get dirty too. Now, those things are elective. Parents don’t want their kids to get dirty or exert themselves too much. Coupled with the lack of certified physical education instructors – our kids are fat, out of shape, and aren’t aware that it is going to get worse. We are the adults, it’s our responsibility – and privilege – to show our children and our students the right way to get healthy.

Oregon prescription for fitness

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2010/01/doctors_prescribe_play_to_get.html

Another article (how many more is it going to take to convince people to eat better?), this one from The Oregonian; that discusses how doctors are getting more involved with childhood obesity. Here, the article directly relates to others I have posted about the need for play. Playing, being physically active, not only is the best way to stay in shape – but it exercises the mind as well. Does anyone see the link between the increase of obesity and A.D.D diagnoses and the increase of television watching tied in with the decrease of physical activity?

This week I read an opinion/commentary from a student who is a graduate of the Class of 2009. The young woman talked about the gloomy career prospects, how dismissal and bleak all of the reports are for the recent graduates. Yet, instead of letting this bring her down and fret about her future, she sees it as an opportunity to have a life.

How very refreshing and, honestly, unexpected. I will admit that when I read of the title of her column, it wasn’t what I was thinking it was going to be. And that is really great. Furthermore, it wasn’t the outlook I had when I graduated in 2000 – the first year where jobs for undergrads started to dwindle. I was nervous, worried, scared, and confused. Here, these graduates are looking at this continuous change in the job market as a good thing.

Since all the employment and economic reports are forecasting dread for the Classes of 2009 and now, 2010 – the students have decided to, as Sinatra sang, ‘ Do It My Way’. The author talks about having several part-time jobs, taking on fun internships, starting an organic farm, taking art classes. How inspiring! I wondered, if all college students felt like this. So I asked my brother, who is graduating this spring (woohoo). He has creative plans as well. He wants to take time off, walk along the coast of the Pacific and make his way down to Mexico and volunteer with a group of Mexicans that he believes in. Then he plans to, as he puts it, “live in poverty while helping the poor through Americorps (hey that rhymes). The best part is, he couldn’t be happier. He’s glad that he doesn’t feel the pressure like I did, to get a high paying job in an office to start paying off his college loans. He would much rather do work that he is passionate about.

This got me to thinking. Maybe this isn’t something older sister and parents need to be terrified of. Not only is it not a bad thing that my brother, the article author, and others’ aren’t going to land a crappy entry-level job (which certainly was the case for me). Instead they can follow their passions or take time to discover what their passions are.

Yes, there will be bills to pay and student loans to repay. But I graduated ten years ago and I still have student loans; and I know plenty of other people that do too. Furthermore, I’m jealous of this open-minded attitude. It’s just now, in my 30s, that I am getting on track to have a career I like and the chance to follow my passions ( social justice education and theatre).

Perhaps it’s a good direction for the whole country. If a new surge is placed on creativity, finding a passion in a career – then new advancements can be made. Really, look at history, it is only when someone who wants to devote their time and energy to a project is able to make real changes – not the office secretary who is counting down the minutes until they can leave to go home.

I’m excited for my brother, and other younger siblings, and other graduates who will walk away with a degree and an open road map of opportunities