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Testing, Matt Damon, and Imagination

  • Posted on August 4, 2011 at 2:57 pm

This was painted by Annalisa, one of my students....being allowed to express herself!

As the summer winds down and I am spending time preparing for the new school year, I find myself thinking about my own potential as a teacher.  I feel blessed to be able to teach art in this 21st Century where politicians seem to think the only thing of value is math and science.  It boggles my mind when I think about my own potential as a child.  I have always felt that I had a deprived childhood because I didn’t have any art classes in my K-12 education.  It is truly remarkable that I have spent much of my adult life as an art teacher.  I would never have pursued art in college, if it hadn’t been for the student friends that happened to see my drawings.  They kept asking me why I wasn’t taking any art classes.  I remember drawing pictures and putting them up on my bulletin board.  I had no training.  I just liked to draw with a simple pencil and paper.

I grew up in a large family with 14 kids.  I have always felt that when you grow up in large families with little money you learn to be creative.  Maybe you have to find new ways to play because you don’t have that fancy toy your friend has or maybe you have to fix something because you don’t have the money to buy a new one.  Regardless of the reasons, I feel my family circumstance contributed to my creativity.  In addition to that is the fact that I had good parents.  They both were teachers, but they also were devoted to their family.  The family came first.  My parents would go without many things to provide for the big brood they had.  I can remember my mom coming home from teaching at the end of a long day.  She would lie down on the couch with a cold compress on her head.  She did this almost daily, but then she would always get up and make the family meal.  Everything would be from scratch.  We never went out to eat!

From very early on, I knew I was going to college.  I’m not sure why I knew this as my two older sisters weren’t as fortunate.  Maybe because I’m the youngest, I had a better opportunity as a girl to go on to college.  My oldest brothers all went on to college.  The four oldest each went on for their doctorates.  The fact that both of my parents even had gone to college was quite remarkable.  They didn’t come from wealthy families and they were born in 1909 and 1911.  Education, obviously, has always been important in my family!  This is one the reasons I find the current turmoil in education about standardized testing so ridiculous.  As I grew up in a family of 14 children, we were as different as the day is long.  We weren’t clones of each other.  We all had remarkably different personalities and interests.  Some of us were probably better “test takers” than others, but taking a test could never really determine who we became as adults! Some of us might have even been considered “late bloomers”.   I don’t think any of us ever would want to remember our K-12 experience in school as being about testing!  However, today students are spending much valuable time preparing for “important” tests.  Much of the school day is designed and structured around that yearly test.  Each school has to make adequate yearly progress.  This test taking business is just going to get worse.  Recently, here in Michigan, the governor signed a new bill into law that will eventually require 49% of a teacher’s evaluation to be tied to student test scores.  As a parent there is no way I would want my child subjected to this kind of education.

My son is 27, so he isn’t part of this craziness.  I look at my students much like my child.  Since I had my son so many years ago, I have always felt that I should treat my students the way I would want my son to be treated by a teacher.  I always wanted my child to dream big and be creative.  I wanted him to see possibilities and use his imagination.  I worry for the students of today.  Are we doing everything we can to make them into compliant little test takers?  Is that really what a teacher is supposed to be doing?  As an art teacher, I know my job is a big one in this high stakes testing time.  I have to give my students wings so they can access their creativity and play with their imagination.  So much of time in school is spent with the constant pressure in the back of everyone’s mind to improve test scores.  Now, it will even be elevated as teachers discover that their jobs may be on the line, if they can’t get their students to pass the state test!  Now, most of you reading my blog probably have some reservations about all of this test taking and what it really means for the future.  However, some of you may think teachers are just not doing their jobs today, because you keep hearing about how we have fallen behind in the world!  Truthfully, politicians have chosen to go after teachers because many of us belong to the last strong union standing.   Do you really think it’s the fault of the teacher if a student can’t pass a state test?  There are a lot of reasons students don’t pass tests.  One thing we know for sure is poverty plays a part in test taking.  At our school and probably many others we make sure students have a snack before they take the “big” test!  There are many factors that can affect test scores.  These are everything from poor nutrition, to lack of sleep, to inadequate test taking strategies (Yes there is a strategy for this!), attention problems, distractions, to even daydreaming!  Some days are also better than other days.  Maybe you just had a bad day that day.  Who knows what’s going on in a student’s head on any given day?  I remember a young lady that came into my art room that seemed out of sorts to me.  I asked her what was wrong.  She first said nothing and then she told me that she had been in an accident that morning.  The point I’m trying to make here is that teaching shouldn’t be about just taking a test and yet it seems like that is all the politicians care about.

This was painted by another student of mine, Cleanna. Shouldn't we be opening the door to imagination and creativity in our schools?

If you think back to your favorite teacher, I bet you don’t think about the fact that he or she taught you how to take a great test!  You probably think about the day when you felt special, like your teacher really cared about you!  I hope I make students feel special when they come into my art room.  I really do care about them.  The other day I was at the Three Rivers’ Meijer store shopping and an older woman was so upset because of some “screaming brats” in the store.  She thought she had an ally in me.  She thought the parents were terrible that couldn’t control their children!  She also thought they didn’t care that other people were annoyed by them.  I told her I was a middle school teacher.  It was obvious she wouldn’t want that job!  She told me she likes dogs but not kids.  She could tolerate her own children but even her grand children had better behave or she’d give them the boot!   I let her know that I like all of my students even the ones that frustrate me.  So many people that criticize teachers would not ever want to be stuck with thirty middle school students themselves.  Most of the teachers I know really care about their students just like I do.  We realize that at the middle school level students can bounce around with their behavior.  They have good and bad days.  They need adults around them that really care about them and can help them transition into adulthood.  If teachers are left worrying about test taking it gives less time for teachers to really spend caring about their students’ individual needs.  We are not all clones of each other and the students we teach are as different as my brothers and sisters were from me when I was growing up.  At the middle school I always think it’s interesting because there is no one student that can show us what a middle school student is, as they come in all different shapes and sizes, and interests!  So, I’m left asking myself the question why we have a government that insists on a test where one size fits all.  Matt Damon gets it and I really hope you take the time to listen to his full speech from last weekend.  It’s not that long but at one point he says, “None of these qualities that make me who I am can be tested.”  Truthfully, none of the qualities that I bring to my art classroom as a teacher can be determined and evaluated by a student test score either.

I am so excited about this new school year, not because my students will be great test takers, but because I can’t wait to work with my students and push their imaginations and creativity.  Just like any other year, I have a thousand things racing through my mind.  I’m filled with ideas for lesson plans for the new school year.  I can’t wait to share my ideas with my students, so they can take the seed of an idea that I begin and create something totally new and different from any other person.  As the government has us all “race to the top”, I’ll have my students all chart a new path for their own creativity and learning.  They will learn from each other.  They won’t run over each other racing for some golden imaginary ring devoted to test taking.  My students, for the brief time they are with me, will hopefully have an opportunity to access their imagination, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.  These are skills that will serve them well in this 21st Century!

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Mr. Prince Goes to Dubai

  • Posted on May 16, 2011 at 8:55 pm

Erik Prince

Our own, Michigan grown, Eric Prince is off to bigger and better things in Dubai.  It seems that business is good since September 11, 2001 for mercenary soldiers.  His business was Blackwater.  Now that Blackwater has its problems, he has changed the name.  It seems he didn’t like that word, mercenary, back in the day.  I grabbed this from Wikipedia.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Prince

When the term “mercenaries” was used to describe Blackwater employees, Prince objected, characterizing them instead as “loyal Americans”. (According to Pelton, who interviewed Prince on his military vision, Prince sees Blackwater’s role in American affairs as similar “to that of Baron von Steuben, Kościuszko, Rochambeau, and LaFayette” — soldiers of fortune who helped fight in American War of Independence. He also compares them to the Flying Tigers, World War II-era fighter pilots who fought for pay in the Pacific theater.[64])

Of course now, that’s exactly what his team of soldiers is currently in Dubai.  This article in the New York Times is quite interesting.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1&hp

You have to wonder about everything from the technology he is using to the knowledge that he knows about American affairs and think about how he is applying all of this in Dubai.  Of course Wikipedia has all of these silly ideas about what he may be up to.  One of them is to be a high school teacher.  That is laughable except for the fact that he is a major contributor to the Mackinac Center by way of the back door version of the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C.  Teachers in Michigan should be well aware of the Mackinac Center as that organization has been breeding contempt for public education and teacher labor unions for years.  I remember getting pamphlets in my school mailbox that were not exactly public school teacher friendly.  http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/mackinac-maddow-conservative-koch-prince

You may recall this segment of the Rachel Maddow show:

From the New York Times article I found this:

The United Arab Emirates — an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state — are closely allied with the United States, and American officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington.

What I really want to know is what does that mean?  Is this just one more way that we are funneling more money to military exploits and war profiteering businesses?  I am left wondering about these things.  I found this article during my search today.  If you read nothing else from the links that I have given you today, read this article.

http://blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7358/2011-05-14.html

We are in a cycle of never ending war created by the war profiteers who are continually fed by our government.  Life as we know it is over unless we stand up and demand changes in Washington D.C.  We cannot sit silently and watch our public schools system continually chastised as “broken”.   Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid also considered “broken”.  Our government, through the use of a media with a penchant for just making money and politicians who also like that good old lobbyist money, keeps telling us that government can’t do anything right.  Everything must be privatized because private companies are better than government.  Erik Prince is a part of all of that private company meme.  We have given the war profiteers the keys to the kingdom and now they rule everything.  They will even decide what your kids are going to learn in school.  I love this video because this guy, Will Richardson, says it like it is.  He says, “Life prep is not test prep.”  In the video he is appalled at the constant use of testing our students are faced with.  At one point he has a Tweet from a parent that bemoans the fact that her Kindergarten child is looking for ways to get out of school.  Richardson goes on to say, “This system is killing our kids.  It is taking all of the imagination, all of the creativity, all of the initiatives, all of the engagement right out of it.”

If we want to suck the life out of our children, let’s keep teaching for a test and test till the cows come home.  It seems to be what the war profiteers want this because it keeps everyone under control.  However, if we want an engaged society that knows how to problem solve and students that can think for themselves, let’s try a different approach.  You may think it is funny that I put this in here.  What, you are thinking, does all of this Eric Prince business, have to do with education.  Well, if he’s connected to the Mackinac Center, it speaks volume and you and I should all be alarmed!  It’s all about making money folks.  Everything is for profit, even your child’s education.

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Why Teachers Like Me Support Unions

  • Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:01 pm

I grew up in a teacher household.  My parents were both teachers.  I think they were amazing, especially when you think back to the time when they were growing up.  My parents were born in 1909 and 1911.  Dad grew up in a very large family.  It really is amazing that so many of his family received a great education.  Mom grew up in a smaller family that was more prosperous, but she also was fortunate to have received a great education.  They met at Central, fell in love during the depression and raised a huge family together.  They were hard working farm people.  Mom went back to teaching when I was young in the late fifties.  Dad joined her when we had farm difficulties and they both were hired by Kingston Public Schools in the “thumb” of Michigan in the early sixties.  We used to summer back up north in Leelanau county on our old farm where dad continued farming and working for Jimmy Johnson as a mechanic over in Empire.  Mom and Dad both worked so hard.  We needed that income in the summer when dad worked the other jobs and farmed.  We lived a simple life.  We only went on one big vacation when I was growing up.  We went out west and saw my brother, Jim, in California.  That was a big deal!  My brothers and I picked cherries and strawberries in the summer.  We all worked for the common good of the family. My parents were both proud members of the NEA, MEA and of course KEA.  When they first started teaching salaries were very low.  I don’t know how they managed really.  After my dad died, I went up to clean his house and organize it.  One paper I came across sure explained a lot for me about our Christmas times.  Dad and mom had built a huge pole barn and they had a loan that evidently was written as a yearly note.  The note came due just before Christmas each year.  It was over a thousand dollars.  I don’t remember the exact amount but I remember thinking about their pay and how hard they worked all year long.  If dad hadn’t worked the farm in the summer and also worked as a mechanic, they wouldn’t have been able to pay that bill.  I remember when mom made “Egg ala Goldenrod”.  As a kid I remember it stuck to the roof of my mouth and it was awful.  It was eggplant fried in egg and it was something cheap because they could grow it.  Looking back I knew times were tough when we were eating that!  We used to go to my aunt and uncle’s place and get some free clothing.  Of course they had a large family and their children got first dibs.  The clothing was donated from church.  I remember a brown and black pin striped jumper that I wore for my school pictures that came from that room at my aunt’s place.  Around the time I became a sixth grader things got better.  Mom became involved in getting a union in Kingston.  I know she worked on negotiations.  When I was in high school we were living over in Cass City.  I remember a lot was going on with the Reese teachers.  One day our family drove over to Reese.  I must have been a junior in school.  We went over to support the teachers.  The teachers were on strike.  They were the Reese 44.  In the end, they all lost their jobs even though they had been a part of the community for years.  They were thrown out like yesterday’s paper.  They took a stand and lost.  I remember how my parents felt for those teachers.  They felt a kinship and solidarity with them.  You may have to scroll down the page a bit but check out the video from the past president of the Reese union.  He went on to work for the MEA but he never taught again! http://www.mea.org/voice/june08/reese44.html Recently, all that my parents and teachers all over the country have fought for over the years has been summarily dismissed by politicians who have been hell bent on destroying the teachers’ unions.  Some young teachers today have no idea how it was back in the days before unions.  Teachers were completely at will.  If some school board member had a kid graduating from college and they needed a job, a teacher could be let go to make room for the kid.  Teachers could be let go because a superintendent or principal had a personality conflict with them. I really never thought I’d be a teacher.  I saw everything my parents went through and even the Reese 44.  My mom loved teaching and she even had that teacher voice.  She could be yelling at us kids one moment and then answer the phone ever so sweetly the next.  Any teacher knows all about that.  My dad had to deal with a lot of rough boys that were coming in from Teen Ranch.  It was kind of a place for wayward boys.  They called my dad “Cotton Top” because of his white hair.  He was given many of those hard to handle students I think because he could handle them.  It probably helped that he had ten boys of his own.  Dad taught math and science and mom taught English and home economics.  Dad also coached junior high and my mother headed up the Future Homemakers of America.  I’m not sure FHA is even around any more.  My parents were dedicated teachers.  Mom would work on her lesson plans for the year throughout the summer months.  When I decided to become an art major my mom encouraged me to get my teaching certificate I think so I would have a “marketable skill” to go with my degree.  After graduation I first taught at Fowler, Michigan.  I loved teaching in Fowler.  I remember the excitement of my first teaching job. I left Fowler to follow my husband to Oklahoma.  In Oklahoma I wanted to develop my art which was pottery so that’s what I worked on.  I made pottery and went to art shows.  I took courses out at Southwestern Oklahoma State University with Montee Hoke, a fellow potter from MSU.  A few years later my husband left me in Oklahoma with my two month old baby, Josh.  I continued working and selling pottery to support us.  I saved up my money so I could move back to Michigan to be close to my parents.  I wanted my son to know his grandparents.  I continued making my living off my artwork in Michigan.  When my son was in kindergarten, I took my pottery wheel and clay in to school to demonstrate.  I had a blast!  I loved working with the kids and I started thinking about going back to teaching.  I’d been out for quite a few years so this was not an easy decision.  I had to go back to school to get my certificate updated.  I wasn’t sure how I could do that.  The thought of taking classes after so many years away from it boggled my mind.  My parents helped me and even loaned me the money that I needed for school.  My parents always believed in me and encouraged me.  I am so thankful that I listened to their wise counsel. I went to Central Michigan University when Josh was in second grade.  He started school at Glen Lake and then went to Mt. Pleasant and back up to Glen Lake at the end of the winter term.  These were both public schools.  That was a lot for a kid but it was an adventure for both of us!  Josh became friends with his first “black” friend, Kyle.  This was my son’s first real exposure to diversity.  It was a great learning experience, even if the school year was disrupted a couple of times.  His teachers at Glen Lake knew what I was doing so they knew he would be coming back and they were supportive. I taught the next year at Manistee and then the following year we moved to Sturgis.  I’ve been teaching at Sturgis since August of 1993.  I can’t believe how time has just flown by.  I love teaching art.  I think about teaching all the time.  I’m constantly researching things online and looking up things in my countless books because I always want to do more.  When I’m shopping I see things through my teacher’s eyes and think about how I can use something I’ve seen in a lesson plan.  Working with young people is both challenging and exciting.  I love middle school students because they are so energetic and full of ideas. Being in a union has helped me in many ways to become a better teacher.  I fully believe in a great public school system.  It is the great leveler of our society.  If you can get a good education, you have the potential to go far.  Unions are more than just there for bargaining rights that deal with salary and benefits.  There is solidarity to working towards a common goal in education.  The teachers that I know first have an obligation to their students.  The goal is to provide students with the best possible education.  Many teachers work hard to improve their teaching ability by taking courses, attending professional development seminars and even by doing research on their own.  Teachers have to stay updated on material.  Most have embraced the computer technology age and were among the first to get computers and learn how to use them.  We all work with our administrations to try and design curriculum that is both challenging and exciting.  While some people may feel it is “us” against “them” at my school it really isn’t.  We are all interested in the best interest of the students.  Administrators and teachers work side by side on planning and coming up with strategies to improve the school and the school climate.  The teacher unions across this country have bargained to restrict class size, accommodate students with special needs and even promoting curriculum that benefits all children. While teaching I have learned to respect all workers, union and non-union.  I feel a kinship with all workers that strive to earn a fair, living wage.  In my mind, our country was built by unions and the middle class grew out of unions.  I saw how my parents were better off after teachers became unionized.  I wouldn’t want to be summarily dismissed like those teachers who were called the Reese 44.  They were in the early stages of union formation.  What they lost, the rest of us gained.  They took a stand and the rest of us benefited from their bravery. Today we have brave union workers standing up for all union workers.  They have been protesting in Wisconsin and many other states.  Most people don’t realize how difficult it is to take a stand.  I can write on my blog, but these people are the real heroes.  They faithfully show up to do the tough work and to take the abuse for the rest of us.  The rest of us sit here not wanting to make any waves, hoping that our jobs are secure and knowing that the wave of teacher bashing is knocking at our door.  Most people that know me know how dedicated I am to my profession.  I am a proud NEA member.  I wear my red blouse today as a badge of honor.  The real heroes though are marching on the capital buildings and they wear what is truly a red badge of courage.  They have a target on their backs and most of us hope that target doesn’t move our way.  However, it is moving our way!  It is moving like a wave across this nation by a group of politicians that have decided that we, the teachers of America, are the problem.  I will wear my red today and I will be proud of my profession and my union because I truly know that I give everything I can to my students.  I live to teach, not just teach to live.  Politicians may think they know me, but they don’t know the half of who I really am and what my dedication and profession is all about.  I believe in sharing knowledge and helping people get the best education possible.  It doesn’t matter to me if you are poor, wealthy or somewhere in between.  I want to spark the imagination of all my students and I go to school and make my classroom a “home away from home” for your child.  I stay after to help students that need more time or just to give them a place to go.  My dedication and commitment would not be questioned by people that know me.  The people that question my integrity are paper pushers that live in a world of political corruption where money for war is never questioned, but money for education is always questioned.  The cousins to these people have invaded our states where tax breaks for big companies is more important than the education of our children.  Under President Bush we were asked to do more with less.  We have done that.  Now we have more politicians asking us to do more with less. I’ve always believed in the goodness of people.  Some people think I can be naïve because I really want the best to come out of people.  I certainly don’t want to see the worse side of a person.  I know these politicians can do better.  I know that the standard they want me to live at as a teacher is one that they are not expecting of themselves.  Many politicians, especially in Washington D.C. are millionaires.  As a single teacher my standard of living is pretty simple.  I drive an old car and live in a little house.  There is no glitz and no glamour.  My life is one of dedication to my profession.  I would like to ask these politicians to ask themselves a simple question that President Kennedy challenged us with a long time ago.  I would say, “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country?”  I ask this question because destroying the middle class and the education of the middle class and the poor by not funding education properly is destroying our country.  If we want a prosperous society, then we must fully fund education, save the middle class, and give a hand of kindness to the poor and struggling in this country.  We don’t need to prop up business with huge tax incentives, pander to the wealthy with lavish tax cuts, spend unheard of amounts of money on endless war and of course we don’t need to spend a couple billion dollars on the next election.  We need a society that is more interested in the content of our character than in the size of the pocketbook or wallet that we carry.  Workers of this country need to unite today in solidarity.  If you can do this one little thing, it might start a chain reaction.  As Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”  Wear your red proudly today and show your patriotism for your country and for all working Americans.  Our local union president has asked us to wear red for the rest of the Tuesdays until school is out.  It’s nice to have my Tuesday outfit ready to go for the rest of the school year.  I will wear my red and be proud to be a National Education Association member!

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Jon Stewart “Must See” TV and Frances Perkins

  • Posted on March 4, 2011 at 9:53 pm

Last night I stayed up late just to watch the Daily show because I knew Diane Ravitch was going to be on the show.  It was too late to stay up but I’m not sorry I watched it.  Jon has a great staff.  They put together all of the important elements in their clips and it is truly “must see” TV.  If you do nothing else tonight, watch Jon Stewart’s whole show.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-march-3-2011-diane-ravitch

Diane mentioned Finland because that country has been sited so many times for their world standing in education.  Diane talks about this and also the relation of education test scores to poverty which I have written about here on my post many times before.

It is amazing that teachers have become the “scapegoat” for all that is wrong with education today.

After checking out Jon’s show you might want to get the new book on Frances Perkins.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins

I, like most Americans, don’t know enough about our history.  Frances Perkins was FDR’s labor secretary.  My sister is reading a book about her and it sounds fascinating.  The book is, “The Woman Behind the New Deal” by Kirsten Downey.

If you cannot afford to buy the book, remember you can get it at your local library.  They will even have it shipped in from another library for you.

What is shocking to me is how little I know about this amazing woman.  She was truly a champion for workers’ rights and we all need to learn more about her.  When you think about the fact that a state like Mississippi hasn’t even elected one woman to congress in all of their history, then you read about Frances and “New Deal”, you will be absolutely amazed.  http://womenincongress.house.gov/

We need more women like Frances Perkins in public office today.

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A Tale of Two Cities

  • Posted on February 27, 2011 at 8:20 pm

This weekend, just like every other weekend this year, I have been busy working on assignments for a couple of courses I’m taking.  When I finished today, I sat down and watched CNN and HLN news.  I couldn’t help but notice two news posts that seemed like a strange juxtaposition to be next to each other.  One showcased Oscar opulence and the other a scene from the state house at Madison, Wisconsin where protesters are camped out and being asked to leave.  http://www.wkow.com/global/category.asp?c=123753

Tonight belongs to Oscar but I, for one, could care less who or what gets an Oscar.  Watching the news where Wolfgang Puck showed off little Oscar chocolates coated with 24K gold just kind of repulsed me as I thought about what is happening in Wisconsin.  The heat and pressure is really being put on the teachers.  The next move is layoff notices which are now being sent out to teachers by many school boards across the state.  http://lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_4f6825c2-4160-11e0-afd8-001cc4c002e0.html

Of course we all know that Governor Walker is threatening to layoff state employees as well.  While this is being played out in Wisconsin, Hollywood is busy with all the Oscar parties and events.  The Oscar swag bag could pay for a teacher, benefits and all.  http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/2011/02/27/oscars-2011-even-the-losers-get-75000-plus-in-swag-bag/

It is kind of scary the tale of these two cities.  One full of opulence and one filled with normal people doing normal jobs just asking for the right to negotiate.  It’s even scarier when a simple gift bag for the 1600 or so Oscar elite is worth more than what most teachers received in a year’s salary and benefits.  Winners’ swag bags are worth twice as much.  Imagine a gift worth $150,000!  It’s hard to fathom how the rich, powerful and famous live.  I’m just a teacher.  I drive a 2001 Ford Taurus and I live a simple life but now the government has put a target on my back because I’m paid too well.  I have to “share” the sacrifice.  I don’t have a problem with sharing a sacrifice as long as everyone has to give their fair share.  What I want to know is what sacrifices are the wealthy facing?  What will they be missing in their opulent lifestyles?  Will the Koch brothers have a few less billion to throw around?  Will the Hollywood elite have to give up a few thousand from their swag bag?

Educating our children should be the top priority in our country.  Our children are our most precious resource.  The best thing you can give your child is a good education from dedicated professionals.  I know what I put into my teaching and I see my colleagues doing the same.  I’m sure Wisconsin teachers are dedicated as well.  There may be a few bad apples as every profession has those people that might be considered “lazy”.  However, the truth is teaching is a profession that has come a long way.  Teachers used to be able to teach with an 8th grade education.  Those days are long gone as most teachers have earned the equivalent of their Masters and beyond.  Teachers want to be paid for being the professionals they have become.  Teachers have had a lot of pressure to keep up with the times.  For years teachers have been the first to learn about the new technologies when they come out and they have worked hard to get that technology installed in school districts.  There is much more to the profession of teaching today than has been in the past.  Teachers have to learn new strategies for teaching the 21st century student who has been raised with an appetite for TV, video games and computer gadgets.  Teachers attend conferences, take more college courses and get involved in professional development to improve their teaching ability.  This effort is on going and lasts for the lifetime of the teacher.  Many people have no idea what is really going on in schools today.  They hear something about a test score and think they know the whole story.  Much of what a teacher does on any given day could never show up on a test.  I’ve listened to children tell me how their parent died and why their sad to letting me know they’re hungry, to even showing me their excitement at learning something new in my class.  These are precious moments.  Sometimes I’m teaching and sometimes I’m listening and sometimes I’m just someone showing a young soul that I care about them.  You may see me as someone that needs to share a sacrifice.  I see myself as someone that puts her hand out every day and lifts up children that need a helping hand!

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Feeling Funny About Those Bedbugs

  • Posted on September 21, 2010 at 7:42 pm

I am so sick of hearing about bedbugs.  Every time I see another news program on bedbugs, I swear I start to itch.  It’s just so disgusting.  I sure don’t want to go to any motels any time soon.  When I saw the piece on the bedbugs at the New York movie theater, it really upset me.  It seems  I can’t even enjoy a decent movie without worrying about these disgusting little creatures.

Many years ago I had a nephew that had scabies.  His parents thought it was an allergic rash so they unwittingly exposed all of the other little children to scabies over the Christmas holiday.   I didn’t get them, but my precious child did.  When we discovered what it really was, it took some time to rid my child and all of his belongings of this disgusting little pest.  This was back when I lived a couple miles from my parents up by Maple City.  The kids would come over to play because my son had a lot of toys and a very cool castle bed that I had made for him.  Some of the kids spent the night, including my nephew with the rash.  (My nephew is a great kid so he will remain nameless.)  Family members that ended up treating their kids for scabies will remember the Christmas from “Scabies Hell”.  It took years to recover from the memory of the “SCABIES FROM HELL” nightmare experience.  I still use Dial soap today, even though it probably doesn’t make any difference what soap I use.

I have no intention of finding myself in “bedbug hell”.  I’m avoiding anything that may put me in contact with these buggy little creatures.  I don’t think I’m going to go to any motels any time soon, but if I do, I’ll probably go with a can of “Raid” and spray the bed!

Teaching is another story.  I saw a program that said students could unwittingly bring the bedbugs to school with them.  As a teacher, I think I’m going to be on “bedbug alert” all year!  Just the thought of these creatures makes me itch.  I always watch for head scratching as that can be a sure sign of head lice.  Now I’ll be wondering every time I see a child with a bite on his/her skin. I really don’t want to be paranoid.  I love teaching, but I hate creepy, crawly, creatures that like to snack on people!  Maybe if the press will stop reporting all these bedbug incidents, I could forget about them.  However, those reports keep popping up every few weeks, even tonight!  You know, if you have gotten this far into my post, you are probably itching already!

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It Takes a Whole Village to Raise a Child

  • Posted on September 14, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Global Children

We each must do all we can to help our children reach their full potential.

Today President Obama gave an education speech to the children of America.  Our Superintendent, Rob Olsen, required that we have our students watch the speech.  The speech was well received by the students in my sixth grade art class.  We had a discussion after the speech and I truly believe the students liked what they heard.  However, one girl did moan when the president said that they must do their homework.  Listening to the speech I remembered a quote from an African Proverb:  “It takes a whole village to raise a child”.  Of course, Hillary Clinton also made this point in her book, “It Takes a Village.”

It does take a village to raise a child especially today with all of the economic upheaval many families are facing.  All of us, not just teachers and students, need to step up and make sure our children are getting whatever they need to grow into productive, happy adults.  At Sturgis Middle School, where I teach, all the staff really works hard to create a “family” atmosphere with the students.  It has been my experience that our staff of teachers, administrators and support staff all care deeply about the welfare of our students.  It isn’t just about raising scores on a test even though we all put forth much effort to create a positive testing environment.  Many teachers and staff have worked hard to make sure students get what they need when their physical or emotional needs aren’t met.  In fact our mission statement ensures that all of us get what we need to be the best that we can be.  “Sturgis Middle School is dedicated to the academic, emotional and social development of each individual.”  We have always felt that all of us need to be a part of the mission statement.  Teachers need to continually develop their craft just as students hone in on their academic abilities.  We encourage each other whether we are teachers, administrators or support staff to aim high in whatever we are doing in our lives!

When the president spoke today I think it was a very positive speech for students to hear.  They hear these same things from their teachers, family and other important people in their lives but I think there was something special about a president encouraging my students to do their best.  President Obama talked about possibilities.  He told students to stay focused on education.  He said, “Nobody gets to write your destiny but you!”  He also said, “The farther you go in school, the farther you go in life.”  My students took much of what he said to heart.  I asked the students why they think the president said it is more important now than ever before to get a good education.  This prompted much discussion about jobs going to China and such.  However, one resourceful young boy said, “We must get educated so we can take care of the pollution and carbon emissions.”  I thought for his age this was a substantial response as well as very thoughtful.  I told him how President Clinton had told my son’s graduation class from the University of Michigan about the same thing.  President Clinton implied that his generation messed up the world and my son’s generation would have to fix the pollution and such.

President Obama went on to tell the students to show up on time, pay attention in class, do their homework, and that excellence is essential for success.  He reminded them that they couldn’t just sit around waiting for luck to happen and that hard work can make the difference.  He told them that excelling isn’t about being smarter, it’s about working harder than anyone else.  He also encouraged them to encourage each other and to be proud of each other’s successes.  He encouraged them to fulfill the promise to be the best that they can be.  He told them life is precious and filled with diversity but we all should recognize ourselves in each other.  These were all inspiring words for my students.  He closed by mentioning a little girl’s letter from Georgia.  He quoted her letter by saying, “I try to achieve my dreams and help others to do the same.”

That final quote from the girl from Georgia says it all.  We must all step up and help our children and each other achieve our dreams.  We can’t give up and nor should our children when faced with adversity.  We must march on and create a life that is fulfilling and complete.  Our children should be encouraged to be the best they can be and we as adults must help them accomplish their goals.  If you don’t have a child or you are not a teacher, think about mentoring a child, assisting a coach, volunteering at a school or anything else that supports our children.  If you cannot be present then give your support through charitable organizations that help children get the clothes, heat and other essentials that they need.  We must all remember that education is not just taught by a teacher with a degree.  We can all help in the education of our youth by remembering that it does indeed take a village to raise a child!

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We’ve Gotta Have Art

  • Posted on April 2, 2010 at 11:11 am

Teaching middle school art today is very different from when I was young and just out of college.  I remember the enthusiasm I had for teaching my first class in Fowler, Michigan.  It was so exciting to be out of school and to finally get a job.  I graduated in December of 1977.  It was in the middle of the school year and there weren’t any jobs really available.  I started working at Sugar Loaf Mountain resort as a hostess for the restaurant.  It didn’t pay very much and I didn’t stay long after they wanted me to design wine labels for the same pay as the hostess job.  I also found it very elitist in their attitude.  As an employee we were not supposed to fraternize with the tourists coming to ski the mountain.  I didn’t have a problem with that but they really didn’t want us to even go to the bar or restaurant.  It felt more like the hired help wasn’t good enough to sit next to the wealthy establishment.  I found the place rather stifling with their rules and expectations for the “hired help”.  They found out I had an art background so they wanted to use that.  Regardless of their motives I soon found employment at Kmart in the camera department.  I really enjoyed working at Kmart as they put me in an area where I had a lot of expertise and they respected my intelligence.  In the summer when I was interviewing for a teaching position the management was overwhelmingly supportive.  I was given the time I needed to interview and people were very happy when I snagged my first teaching job.  It felt like a family at Kmart as everyone was very encouraging of the young people that had gone to college and were looking for jobs in their fields.

When I arrived at Fowler I got right to work on working with the young students to create art.  We had so much fun together.  At the end of the school year I organized an art show while the gym teacher organized a dance and the music teacher had a concert.  We had a great turn out from the community and this was established for each year until I left a few years later.  I did manage to paint an eagle with two boys, with scaffolding, on the gym wall.  What an experience that was for someone who is afraid of heights!  I took a break from teaching and devoted myself to my art, making pottery and traveling to different art shows in Oklahoma and Michigan.  For many years I was happy doing this but when my son started kindergarten I volunteered to bring in my pottery wheel and demonstrate for the students.  I fired pottery pieces the students made and fell in love with the idea of teaching again.  I decided to update my teaching credentials.

A lot had happened in my years away from teaching.  Something called D.B.A.E (Disciplined Based Art Education) happened.  I was out of the loop but I easily got back into the loop.  However, teaching art has to be more about art production than anything else.  The art history, aesthetics and art criticism are all important but working with young people today it is so important to actually get their hands on the art materials and help them experience what it feels like to produce art.  In this age of text messaging and quick technology fixes I think it is more important than ever to develop creativity within my students.  So many students don’t have a clue how things are really made and why we buy the things that we do.  While art is all around them in designs that they purchase from their shoes, totes, mp3 players and phones so many of them are clueless about the thought that these items are purchased because of their interesting design concepts.  Some of them think that a computer spits out the design.  They don’t think about what person may have put the idea into the computer.  I try to point this out to my students because there is vast ignorance from most people about these issues.  Art is so important in all of our lives today whether we are aware of it or not.  We are surrounded by art in many forms and we make decisions about art on a daily basis whether it is decorating our homes or buying a car.  Art surrounds us in ways we don’t even think about!

I had an opportunity to review my art curriculum this year.  I was able to add a document camera and a projector to my teaching tool box.  This has resulted in a major change in my instruction delivery.  When I would show students how to do things in the past they would have to look at a mirror placed strategically over my head.  Now it’s projected.  If I’m doing something very detailed I can even zoom in for the students.  That student sitting in the very back of the room can now actually see what I’m trying to show them.  I marvel at this new technology and how computers have snuck their way into the art classroom through art programs and even online galleries.  Some people might think art is a thing of the past but art really is evolving and is the future.  We, as consumers, will always be drawn to beauty and grace.  Art will be in our future designs and really the creativity of our nation is dependent on the continued exposure to all the arts in their many forms.  Without art we become a mass produced society, plastic in many ways, without a heart.  It is art that nourishes our souls and completes our craving to be unique, to know that we are original beings and that we aren’t just one of many but one in a million!

When I was young and a beginning teacher I never thought about how teaching art might change.  It was all pretty basic in my mind.  You draw, paint, and sculpt; whatever medium you use art remains fairly unchangeable in its end result.  However, now I realize that art and its medium is constantly changing.  Today we have artists creating art through recyclables, computers, videos and much more.  Art is never stagnant and never stays the same.  Art is truly the most original thing that one can do.  Art continues to allow our imaginations to soar and our creativity to flourish.  Today there is more to art than ever as we search for new ways to express ourselves.  The importance of art in this rigid testing structure of education cannot be overly emphasized.  If we are to truly think, dream and imagine we must have art in our lives and we must nourish our souls with the making of art.

A video from our high school art teachers and the 2010 Scholastic Art Awards

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Union Busting

  • Posted on February 24, 2010 at 9:29 pm

Central Falls High School

Every union in the United States of America will be busted in time.  Unions really built the middle class.  If it wasn’t for unions all wages would have been kept low for most people.  When a union goes into a community it puts pressure on other companies to up their wages in order to recruit good workers and also to include things like health insurance.  Since Ronald Reagan it has been fashionable to bust the unions.  He busted the air traffic controllers.  It’s been down hill ever since for anyone belonging to a union.  Today I think there are only about 8% of the people that even belong to a union.  The next unions to take the hit are going to be the teacher’s unions.  They are going to be busted.  The government is doing everything they can to talk about the poor quality of teachers, which really is bogus.  Teachers are more qualified today than they ever have been.  They have degrees that include a major in the area they are teaching.  Many have other things they bring to their teaching experience whether it is other work experiences or even travel experiences.

Today I came home and saw this on the news.  http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/24/rhode.island.teachers/index.html?hpt=T2

The Superintendent stays and every teacher, principal, etc. is fired.  This is incredible.  If you read the article you will see that they have made some gains with testing.  The trouble was in the negotiations.  This is a drastic move by the board of education.  I know I wouldn’t want my child to go to this school.  They care so little for the children that they will expose them to an all new crew.  They may hire up to 50% back but who knows who the “chosen” ones will be.  Probably the ones that keep their mouths shut and don’t ask any questions or rock the boat in any way.  Any one with a brain knows that not all of these teachers fired are poor teachers.  Maybe none of them are as it is a largely Hispanic community where English is a second language.  NCLB has very difficult standards of testing for these new English learners.  It amazes me that they expect so much from them so quickly.  Our Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, applauds this move.  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433×195524 This shows me where Obama stands on the issue of unions.  When the government wants to go into communities and fire teachers and staff and then create a new or charter school in its place that is all about destroying public schools and unions.  I cannot be convinced that this is a great move for this community.  I know how I feel about my students and I know how hard I work each and every day to help students find success.  I don’t believe this school in Rhode Island doesn’t have hard working, talented teachers that just got fired!

As I was looking online I came across this.  http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsblog.projo.com/mocchi_poster.jpg&imgrefurl=http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/08/funeral-set-for.html&usg=__bxvIHLt5FbMjPvVznexbC1TmHRo=&h=341&w=512&sz=58&hl=en&start=5&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=GgLaNIjFpBvt6M:&tbnh=87&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcentral%2Bfalls%2Bhigh%2Bschool%2Bteachers%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS231US233%26tbs%3Disch:1 This school started the year with tragedy, a well liked teacher died in a crash and now their going to lose all of their teachers.  Wow, this school is in crisis and these poor kids are being treated like just a bunch of numbers on a score card for testing!

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Great Teachers Have a Great Heart

  • Posted on February 10, 2010 at 12:24 pm

I was listening to Dylan Ratigan’s show this morning as we have a snow day and it got me thinking and this is why I felt a need to write today.  He had a man on from New York that was pushing charter schools.  They talked about how to improve education.  This always gets me going because these talking heads from the media and the so called “leaders” of education never talk about the one thing that’s going to make a difference in a child’s educational life.  The child needs a teacher with a heart as well as the educational ability.  You can’t make someone love teaching but there are a lot of people out there that love to teach that are kept out of the education system through the “screening” process of interviews during college.  If we rely solely on the resume of a person for hiring teachers we will never end up transforming schools.  To transform schools we must have people teaching and administrating that care not just about their own children but about everyone’s children.  We must have teachers and administrators that have a heart and understand that the job is not about them but about the children.

I’ve been busy over the past month.  I was working on the middle school art curriculum review.  My school has been very supportive of the arts in education which includes both the visual, and the performing arts.  I needed to make an assessment of what I was currently doing and what I thought would be the best direction for the future.  I was to compile a wish list of items that I feel are necessary to develop the best possible art program.  I want to say, “I love my job.”  I needed time to do the review and do the work on Atlas, (A program on the web that helps teachers develop curriculum.) that was required of me.  I was given two days with a substitute, so I could get the work done.  Of course I had to devote time outside of this as well to adequately complete the review.  The reason I’m writing about this is to share the fact that my time wasn’t wasted.  Often times in school we are asked to fill out papers or some other request that ends up being put in a file and forgotten about.  Many teachers know this and get tired of repeating the same old task only knowing that it will end up being a big waste of their time.  Time is often wasted in school when we are asked to sit through meetings where it appears that we are working together as a team on some big plan.  Often times I believe the decisions are already made about the plan by the administration and the meeting is set up to make the teachers feel like they we’re a part of that the decision.  This time the decisions were made by me, the teacher, with the final financial decision made by the administration.  To me this makes the most sense as I am closer to what is happening in the art classroom than anyone else.  When treated with respect, as I was, a teacher will rise to the occasion.  When treated disrespectfully a teacher can also fall to failure.  I’m happy to say my requests were honored.

I know there are teachers out there that are not like me.  They go through the motions waiting for the day they can retire.  I’ve even heard young teachers discuss retirement, which always puzzles me.  They may think they are doing the best possible job for their students and blame any failures on the system, the parents, and anything else that pushes their buttons but the truth is there are many reasons for failure and one of them is at the heart of why someone becomes a teacher.  If we are to listen to the government the implication is that teachers today are not qualified to do their jobs.  Teachers are tested even though they just went through four or five years of test taking in college.  Teachers are required to have a major in the subject area they are teaching which means many classes taken in a single area whether it is math, science or art.  The government leaders would have us believe that we need to improve the teacher quality through their math, science and other abilities.  I think this is a false premise.  While there may be teachers that slip through the cracks with their educational abilities.  I think we need to have teachers that have the heart of a teacher.  We need teachers that are excited about children.  We need teachers that can look at a troubled child and see possibilities not problems.  We need teachers that can develop relationships with their students to ensure success.

Students today have a lot more going on than when I was in school.  Many of them come from homes with multiple marriages or live in relationships.  They have half brothers and sisters, dads out of the picture and moms and dads out dating.  I don’t remember anything like that when I was going to school in the sixties and seventies.  The lack of stability in many of their home lives can create chaos for any young person.  I think that the school system needs to insure the quality of their teachers by making sure that they hire people with great paper credentials that also have that heart necessary to teach in these troubled times.  You can improve your resume through classes and professional development but your heart is another matter.  If you are considering teaching ask yourself, “Why?”  Is it because you want the summers off, or you think it’s a good job while raising your own children, you like sports and want to coach or do you really love working with children and helping them develop their abilities?  To be a great teacher you have to stop thinking about what you need and start thinking about what your students need because it’s not about you!  You have to not be the star of the show but be able to set yourself aside and help develop the true stars of the show, your students.  Some people are too self-centered to be a great teacher.  Great teachers inspire others.  They don’t suck out the air in the room with their verbosity and pomposity.  We can all think back to the teachers that inspired us.  I bet you will remember teachers that made you feel good, smart or special.  The teachers we remember with hatred and disgust made us feel bad, stupid, small and unimportant.  If we really want students to excel in this world they keep labeling the “global community” than we must hire teachers that inspire and are devoted to their students.  We must hire teachers that have a heart and love teaching children.

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