All posts by Dana Huff

English Department Chair/English teacher, doctoral candidate at Northeastern University, reader, writer, bread baker, sometime soapmaker, amateur foodie. Wife and mom of three.
Blogging

Trends in Education Blogging

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I have noticed two interesting trends in educational blogging. First, most of the teacher bloggers I’ve come across are new teachers with less than three years experience. Second, educator blogs tend to be complain fests in the manner that my old teachers’ lounge was. Before you get upset with me, let me explain that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either trend, necessarily. I just think educational blogging could be more.

It may be a cliché, but in my experience, that doesn’t make it less true: new teachers tend to have the most enthusiasm and the desire to try the newest thing. Therefore, it makes sense that many of our veteran teachers have not started blogging. I don’t mean to generalize, but most of the long-term veteran teachers I’ve worked with are not crazy about integrating technology and use it as little as possible. Many of them balked at Georgia’s requirement to be proficient in technology in order to re-certify. Computer gradebooks and e-mail were high on the complaint list, too. What’s the point of Power Point? I suppose I might feel the same way if I had been teaching very well, thank you very much, for 25 years without Power Point. I would indeed be very suprised to find that many of these types of teachers even know what a blog is, much less are open to the possibilities of blogging for students and teachers.

I have worked in several schools in which discussion in the teachers’ lounge dengerated quickly and often into the realm of complaining about our students’ discipline and the lack of support by administration. This sort of discussion has now become fodder for many teacher blogs on the Internet. In these blogs, teachers tend to take on an air of the soldier in the trenches — the commanding officers are clueless; we’re on our own, and it’s survival of the fittest. Frankly, it is depressing. I know, I know it is the reality in a lot of schools. I have taught in those schools. I know what it is like to drive to work and cry the whole way because I didn’t want to be there. I know what it is like to want to scrap teaching altogether. I understand the need for support from other teachers. That’s why we need to vent. When I read your blogs, I empathize. Last year, I climbed over the fence. I never thought I’d teach in private schools. I had been told by a non-authority who didn’t know much about it that the pay was awful. I took a job in a private school because I couldn’t find one in a public school. My pay and benefits did not decrease. The happiness I feel each day when I’m going to work cannot compete with my experiences in public school. I am excited to be teaching again. I am rejuvenated. I don’t have discipline issues. I have taught for two years at my school and not given a single detention. I am not advocating jumping ship. You all don’t have to make the same decision I did. But frankly, there are opportunities out there. You can teach somewhere that doesn’t make you miserable every day you go to work.

After having written this, I can’t help but feel I’ve just made the lot of you angry with me. So be it. My bit on technology expressed my concern over integration of new teaching methods. I would love to hear about the ideas of veteran teachers. Can you imagine how much younger teachers can learn about methods, ideas that worked, approaches to material? My bit about complaint fests expressed my concern over your happiness. May you find a place to be happy, because we need you. We don’t want to lose you as an educator.

Assessment

Required AP?

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From the Eugene Register-Guard:

For North Eugene High School’s incoming juniors, Advanced Placement English will no longer be the domain of the academic elite.In a bold attempt to boost student success by raising expectations for all, the school is requiring all 260 juniors this fall to take a rigorous, yearlong AP language and composition class. No exceptions.

That means the straight-A, honors-track students will share their AP classes with students learning English as their second language, students on special education plans and students who, for a host of reasons, would rather have a tooth extracted than set foot in a college-level class.

As an English teacher, I have a HUGE problem with this. AP is not the “domain of the academic elite,” so much as it is the domain of those students who are willing to work very hard. I know many teachers are opposed to “tracking,” but it enables teachers to focus their instruction to meet the needs of their students. I cannot imagine, as a “straight-A, honors-track student,” that I would be taking a college-level high school English class with students who “would rather have a tooth extracted than set foot in a college-level class.”

I do not believe that education is a one-size-fits-all proposition. Our students have different needs. Students in this AP class at North Eugene are not going to be prepared to take the AP exam in the spring, because they will not be able to move at the necessary pace in order to prepare adequately for the exam.

Does that mean I don’t believe in rigor for all? One need only look over my site at the kind of material I teach in order to see that that isn’t the case. I teach three different levels, and I challenge all three. I don’t believe in frustrating kids by working at a pace too fast or too slow for them. Either way, they will quickly lose interest in the class, and they will not learn anything.

I really don’t think I’m alone in this. I think many teachers look at mandates like this and see how detrimental it will be for all kids:

“There was a lot of worry on the part of our ELL (English language learner) and special education staff,” Principal Peter Tromba said. “Some of them were mad.” … Tromba said he warmed to the AP proposal after initial doubts. In his view, he said, “Having kids be exposed to that curriculum and being challenged and being in a college-level class is a good thing. The data show all kids do better.”Research also has suggested a link between performance on AP exams and later success in college, said David Conley, director of the University of Oregon’s Center for Educational Policy Research.

First of all, I wonder what data shows that kids of all levels, not just those who are high-achievers already and are willing to work hard, do better in college because they have taken AP courses. English teachers in Eugene are worried.

“It’s a damn difficult class,” said Eileen Babbs, English department head at South Eugene High School.While she likes the notion of challenging all students, she said her department’s philosophy holds that AP courses are designed only for students who are ready for the rigors of college study.

One of the issues that needs to be addressed is why are classes in other levels not challenging? Second, what exactly are the reasons for a movement to eliminate tracking? If self-esteem is an issue, I have to wonder how students would feel if they failed a class that was not taught at their level. I know there are issues with tracking, but isn’t it just like educators to throw out a practice when tweaking it might be all that is needed?

Attempting to teach AP English to students of all levels just sounds like a long exercise in frustration to me.

Issues

Supply and Demand

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Many teachers are upset about testing requirements of NCLB, but I wonder if, in all the furor, many haven’t forgotten about the provision requiring highly qualified teachers in each classroom? It would seem that some of us, like the teachers referenced in a recent U.S. News and World Report article, will find our degrees, our skills, and our experience in high demand.

Sharp young teachers are in a seller’s market these days–and not just because of shortages plaguing many parts of the country. While the testing requirements of No Child Left Behind may have received more attention, the federal law is equally clear that all kids deserve fine teachers and that staffing solutions of years past–too many people with subpar credentials or assigned to subjects out of their field–no longer pass muster. By the end of this school year, all teachers of core academic classes must be “highly qualified” in their content area, and administrators are racing to beat the deadline.

Teaching? Lucrative? Maybe not. But at least teachers will be more level with their counterparts in other professions.

Technical/Site Issues

Site Updates

It’s been a while since I posted any new lessons, and I still need to convert some of my documents into PDF’s in order to make downloads easier for some. I have a full plate for much of this month, so I’m not sure when those site updates will happen.

Meanwhile, I wanted to direct your attention to the Teachers’ Lounge Wiki, a site where teachers can share their ideas with others. There are some fabulous lesson ideas there. I have had TLW linked in my sidebar for some time, but I can’t recall if I plugged in an actual blog post.

Technology

Teachers and Technology

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How do you use technology in your classroom? According to an article by eSchool News online, approximately 86 percent of teachers say computer technology has changed their teaching methods “at least some,” while 55 percent reported that it has changed instruction “a great deal.”

The perception among many students is that they know more about technology than their teachers. This perception is not entirely unwarranted. Gone are the days when teachers can ignore technology, and teachers that do, do so at their peril. Students can and will easily plagiarize any among possibly thousands or millions of (usually poorly written) essays. Students can easily throw together a web site or Power Point demonstration with minimal effort and a few snazzy elements, unduly “wowing” the technologically naive teacher.

For the past four years of my career, I have been required to use gradebook software to send attendance and report grades. E-mail has become a dominant form of communication. My home state of Georgia has a technology requirement for teachers who plan to renew their teaching certificates. A teacher must take a class, assemble a portfolio, or take a test to meet the requirement. The Internet offers a wealth of information I would have coveted as a first year teacher, but which was unavailable back in 1997 when the World Wide Web was a smaller place.

I am very excited about the prospect of using blogs as classroom tools. My classroom blog is still just getting off the ground. I have asked students for feedback on using the blog. Frankly, they’re new to the idea of a class blog, too, and I’m not sure what they think. I have found Power Point demonstrations to be an entertaining way to convey information. A peer taught me how to create a Jeopardy game for test reviews using Power Point, and students have had a lot of fun with that when I’ve used it. One of my favorite uses of technology has been creating scavenger hunts or other web-based lessons for my students. Here are a few samples:

However, using technology takes a great deal of time. On the one hand, teachers have access to information at their fingertips, and I’m sure not as much library/book research is required for planning lessons; however creating web sites, Power Point demonstrations, and the like take much longer than planning other types of lessons. I think some teachers, particularly those intimidated by computers, conclude that it just isn’t worth it.

I think our peers — other teachers — are best at teaching teachers how to use technology in the classroom. We can show each other real-classroom applications and break it down in a way everyone can understand. For me, the importance and, if you will, “rarity” of what I do was underscored by two students. I was showing my Hemingway Power Point to students, and it was easier to access from my web site rather than try to locate the file (I was a bit scattered, as I didn’t have time to set up the laptop and projector — this time, it wasn’t my fault). When I pulled up the site, a student remarked, “You have a website?” I laughed and reminded the student (as did several of his classmates) that I had told them about the site the first day of class and it was on the syllabus. He said, “Yeah, I know, but when teachers say they have a website they usually mean a School Notes page or something.” I said, “Yeah, I know. My website’s COOOL!” I don’t mean to sound like I’m knocking School Notes. I do think that if you want to branch out — hosting files, really playing with the site’s appearance and content — School Notes is a bit limited. Another student, upon hearing about my site complimented my computer skills. To me, what my students get out of the technology I use is the bottom line.

Uncategorized

My School in the News

The AJC higlighted our school today in an article about our upcoming groundbreaking (free registration or BugMeNot).

After visiting our sister school, Gann Academy in Boston, I am really excited about moving to our permanent campus. We are, as the article indicated, currently in temporary buildings. Our school has a nice camp feel to it, but the kids are packed in tightly. The article says we have 127 students, but it’s actually over 150 as of this year. Our enrollment was 127 last year.

Issues

Cobb Laptop Saga Comes to an End?

Cobb County (GA.) Schools Superintendent Joseph Redden announced his resignation today (free registration or BugMeNot). Is it just me, or does this passage seem a little less “newsy” and more opinionated?

Redden’s departure from the 104,000-student system surprises few, if any. Redden had defended himself and his staff of wrongdoing after a critical report on the bidding process for what would have been one of the nation’s largest efforts to provide laptop computers to students. But his situation had become increasingly dysfunctional.The ambitious program proposed by Redden in February would eventually have provided computers for all the school system’s teachers and all students in grades six through 12. In unveiling the idea, Redden chose to emphasize the magnitude of the program rather than the incremental steps that might have been an easier sell.

After a divisive public debate, a lawsuit brought by a former county commissioner stopped the program last month, not on its merits but on the plan to fund it with proceeds from a special sales tax approved in 2003. Then, Aug. 14, came the stinging report by a corporate investigator alleging bias and deception in the bidding process for the contract that had been won by Apple Computer.

Most of the buzz in the education blogosphere seemed to indicate that many educators felt Cobb should have been able to get the laptops. I live in the next county over from Cobb, and I teach at a private school. I still can’t figure out how this would have been affordable. We have about 150 students, and we can’t afford to get them laptops. Cobb has over 100,000 students.

Other than that, from personal experience, I can say it’s great when students have laptops. There are a few who try to abuse it — play solitaire or IM — but for the most part, it really helps them organize and neaten up their work.

Assessment, Issues, Teaching Writing

Writing on the SAT

Will Fitzhugh answers some of the questions raised by College Board vice-president Wayne Camara in his article in Journal of College Admission, Summer 2005.

Specifically, why is it that readers for the SAT are instructed to ignore factual errors in essays? Fitzhugh rightly wonders how to “reconcile this with Wayne Camara’s statement that ‘The essay on the SAT writing test…is consistent with the kind of writing students are expected to do in college classrooms.'”

My tenth grade students write a five-page research paper using MLA style. Based on my memories of college, that is going to be the single most useful skill I can teach them, as I had to write papers in science, history, music, and even P.E. classes as well as English classes. Sadly, the “bang it out in 25 minutes” SAT writing sample — which is not required to be factual — will do little to assess how ready students are for college writing.

Uncategorized

Homeschooling Pre-K

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Perhaps you already know about Georgia’s state-funded pre-K program. I actually taught pre-K for most of a full school year (November 2001-May 2002). What you may not know is how ridiculously hard it is to get into programs. I don’t want you to think I’m lazy, but we only have one car, and I have limited time in the mornings to drop my daughter Maggie off, so I had to confine my searches for pre-K openings to the public school and daycare centers in our area or on the way to work. No luck. Everyone has a (long) waiting list.

My daughter Maggie is bright. She’s very precocious. He has a highly-developed vocabulary, she recognizes all of the standard shapes and most of the odd ones (like diamonds, trapezoids, etc.), she can count fairly well, and she retains things she learns like a sponge. I know what you’re thinking. Every parent thinks their child is gifted. I can very clearly recall having a conversation with my supervising teacher in which she described her younger daughter as gifted, while her older daughter worked hard and was bright, but clearly could not be labeled gifted. At the time, it sort of shocked me. After having earned my gifted certification and having had three children, I understand a little better that Cheryl was not showing favoritism, but merely being objective about her children. So I have three children. I think the eldest is bright, but distractable. Her vocabulary was not as developed as Maggie’s is when she was four. Likewise, my younger son Dylan seems decidedly uninterested in talking at two years old. He says “car” and “mama,” but aside from that, not much moves him to speak. I find it hard to assess his abilities, because he either cannot verbalize them or is uninterested in doing so.

So back to Maggie. She really needs school. She wants to go so badly. But I haven’t been able to find a pre-K program with space. So I have decided that rather than let her “languish” before Kindergarten (yes, I realize how absurd that sounds, but I’m not a pushy parent — I just see an eagerness to learn, and I want to develop it) that I will homeschool her in pre-K. I bought some books at the local teacher store, but I am most eager to receive guidance from any early educators who stumble upon this.

Sadly, I think the thing Maggie really needs out of school is socialization with other children, but since I can’t provide that right now, I’m going to try my best to at least provide some learning experiences. I bought the following books:

They look pretty good, but I’m a high school teacher, essentially, and teaching someone to read — even someone as eager as Maggie — is a task I find daunting. I am looking forward to working with Maggie, too, but I will be happy to receive any advice my fellow educators have to offer.

Issues

Teacher Shortage and Competence

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Ever since I was finishing up my teaching degree in 1996-97, I’ve been hearing about this projected teacher shortage (free registration or BugMeNot). With increasing demands of NCLB, and complaints about the calibre of teaching candidates (and teachers themselves), not to mention concerns about teacher education, what on earth are we going to do to address this critical issue? Frankly, I know I for one have no desire to return to public schools. I’m way too happy in my current position.

For most of my career, it did seem like I was one of the younger teachers. One by one, I’ve seen colleagues retire after 30 odd years in education. It was actually kind of difficult to find a teaching position when I first went looking. I imagine that at some point, some schools will be desperate for bodies in the classroom, and I wonder what will happen when the number of schools who fail to make AYP skyrockets.

In a somewhat related issue, this is probably old news, but it was new to me. I recently read an article about a New York teacher who failed his certification exam several times paid a former homeless man with Asperger’s syndrome to take his exam for him. We don’t have tenure in Georgia. I think a principal with a documented case file on a problematic teacher could very easily dismiss said teacher from his/her position, and I doubt it would take years, which is something about which tenure-opponents frequently complain when issues of teacher competence make the news. Frankly, I’m of the opinion that a teacher ought to be able to pass a test. I guess this infamous 1999 NY Post article is no longer available for free from the source (free preview), but honestly… if this is not a hoax, and there are teachers who really wrote such things on communication that went home, there is something really scary going on, and frankly, I wouldn’t want such teachers teaching my child.

I think the bottom line for all of us as educators is to advocate for ourselves, but also think about our own children, or if we have none, our hypothetical children, and ask ourselves — would I want this for my child?

You know, the other day, I was talking with a colleague, and she mentioned that there is not one person she’s ever talked to or taught that doesn’t have some story about a destructive teacher. The teacher that in some way inflicted a wrong that still bothers us to this day. My mother will never forget Miss Allen, who broke her brand new crayon on the first day of school in junior high when she borrowed it to demonstrate something, then excused it with a glib, “Oh, well, it’s better like this anyway.” Incidentally, I had Miss Allen myself when I went to middle school and suffered no ill effects. From this incident, I can only assume we sometimes inadvertently cause harm. Barbara, my colleage, says that is her rule of thumb as a teacher — first, do no harm.

Personally, I think if your writing skills resemble those of the teachers in that NY Post article or if you are unable to pass certification tests after repeated attempts, you need to ask yourself if you aren’t doing your students serious harm.