Category: Community Based

Community Based Activities

Dear Governor Veto HB 571

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Gag

Dear Governor Snyder-

House Bill 571 is not good for our state. It is not good for our schools, communities, police and fire departments. It is just poor legislation. Kim Russell Writes in detail about this bill for WXYZ TV here.  As she says the bill will gag public entities from giving factual information about any bond issues for 60 days prior to an election. They are already ban by law from lobbying/ advertising in favor of bonds.

If you choose to sign this bill you will effectively ruin Michigan. Our already aging infrastructure will crumble. Why shouldn’t public entities be allow to share facts about bond issues? This would be the equivalent to banning politicians from campaigning for 60 days prior to their election! Oh wait no, public institutions aren’t allowed to campaign. It means politicians couldn’t answer questions about facts in their campaign or give any interviews what so ever.

It seems many GOP state legislators did not read the bill carefully enough and are regretting signing it.  If you won’t listen to those that are most affected by the bill. You should at least listen to those in your party who feel that it is an overstep by the government.

Most voters don’t pay attention to bond issues until right before the election. If you sign this bill you will be eliminating their ability to get the facts, creating many uninformed voters. A better bill would be not to allow any information about campaigns until 60 days prior.

House Bill 571 is not go for anyone,   only going to serve deep pocketed special interests. PLEASE listen to your state and veto this bill.

Be a Lorax for Education

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

 

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Photo from Flickr HotRod

My class has been studying how humans impact our environment. I have been impressed with the passion my 6th graders have show towards protecting our resources. They have been shocked to hear about how little concern industrialists had for the environment. As a culminating activity for the class I choose to show the film of the Dr. Seuss classic the Lorax. The book was written in 1971 as a reflection on the side effects of industrialization. The Lorax speaks for the trees when addressing the industrialist Once-ler, hoping to stop the waste and destruction of the natural resources. The Lorax pleas fall on greedy ears as the Once-ler’s sole concern is profits and “human good”. Only after the last tree is cut down does the Once-ler realize the faults of his ways. The damage had been done.

As I watched the film, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels to education today. Teachers are the Lorax, speaking for the students, hoping the Once-ler Education Reformers listen. The Once-lers are killing the natural joy students have for learning. Making schools focus on content instead of students needs. Saying reforms are for the good of society. Reformers fail to listen to the experts like the Once-ler didn’t listen to the Lorax until it was too late. I don’t want to see a generation hate education because reformers fail to listen. We need more Lorax to speak up on behalf of our students before it is too late.

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I speak for the students and their joy for learning! Without FUN and Joy in learning we will fail to have an inspired generation.

Join me in Philadelphia at #AMLE2017 as I will lead a Spark session on being an Educational Lorax! 

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Dancing out our Fridays

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire
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Photo by W. Janda

How does your school celebrate a successful completion of the week? At ours we have started a dancing tradition! Students work hard in classes to reach learning targets, their hard work needs to be celebrated as a community. Grades are individual accomplishments that show learning. Some families celebrate these grades by going out to dinner or reward grades by giving money for the number of A’s on a report card. These celebrations don’t happen at a high frequency, 4 time per year at most.

Our new principal decided we needed more visible celebrations IN SCHOOL. After a hard weeks work we dance out the last 10 minutes of our Fridays.  On Wednesday a survey is posted and shared with students and staff to ask for a song to inspire our dance moves. At 3:00 PM announcements are made to remind students of coming events. Then the music comes on the PA, students and staff get up out of their seats and GROVE to the music. The hallways fill up with smiles and movement. Their is no better way for a student to end the day than dancing with a smile out the door.

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This small celebration has breathed new life and spirit into our building. Office referrals are down and smiles are up! Maybe one of these days we will have live music or be on the Ellen Show, but for now we love moving to the tunes and having fun as a community!

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Photo by D. Sikora

7 Educational What ifs ….

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

 Educators need to start thinking outside the box; focusing on WHAT IF questions. Here are some society needs to tackle.

  1. What if we funded education like we do sports? We spend billions on sports annually, do they add as much value to the world as our educational system?
  2. What if we stopped bashing teachers and supported them? Teachers have been slammed everywhere they go lately. Just think if teachers felt valued and were treated like professionals.
  3. What if all businesses had vested interests in their community schools? Businesses seem so disconnected with today’s school system, shouldn’t they be more involved.
  4. What if there was more collaboration in education? Currently most educational models have schools competing for students, shouldn’t they be collaborating for students’ learning instead?
  5. What if education was about sharing ideas instead of making capitalist profits? Many business models are set up to profiteer off of our public schools, should it be more about the common good!
  6. What if teacher voice was valued more than special interest think tanks and politicians? Teachers are the experts, shouldn’t they be listened to more than all the so-called educational reformers with no classroom experience.
  7. What if university schools of education worked with in school districts? Many schools of education are so disconnected with real schools. Need to make teaching schools, just like teaching hospitals for doctors.

I am sure their are many more What if questions we need to be asking, be sure to add yours to the comments.

7 hour work day and summer free must be the life ….

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire
Photo by Todd Bloch
Photo by Todd Bloch

Tuesday morning I was taking out the trash, my neighbor waived then said “7 hour work day and summer free must be the life” jokingly as he placed the cans at the curb. Teachers hear these sentiments from non-educators all the time. Trolls fill the internet with animosity towards the teacher workday. Comments like “Teachers get full time pay but only work part-time” perpetuate the myth that teaching is a well paid, easy, part-time job. The common teacher comeback is “just work a day in my shoes”, ending the exchange. Ironically, when talking to others about teaching middle school the most common response is “you can’t pay me enough to teach teenagers.”

Why do comments like these feel like daggers in the heart of teachers? Teachers work hard and are passionate about what they do. Our career choice is unlike most other professions for many reasons:

  • Teacher preparation hour is like most other jobs. If teachers are lucky they get 30 minutes of preparation time per day. Most elementary teachers have roughly 200 minutes per week. This is when teachers can grade paper, design lessons, organize room, tutor students, communicate with parents, read and reply to staff communications and go to the bathroom.
  • Going to the bathroom has to be scheduled. Teachers spend most of their day in front of students, going to the bathroom can be a challenge. Elementary teachers especially have a struggle since they don’t have passing time between classes.
  • All meetings and collaboration happens after the bells. Most jobs have all their meetings during the scheduled day. For teachers this never happens because teachers need to be in front of students. Teachers spend countless hours before and after school in meetings or collaborating with co-workers to make the school days go freely. Think about all the afternoon and evening activities you see your children’s teachers attending. This is on own the teachers time. Many teachers have to miss events for their own children to be there for their students.
  • No going in late, cutting out early or extending lunch like most jobs for appointments. If a teacher has a doctor’s appointment it has to be after school hours or in the summer. Otherwise the teacher has to take the time off. Juggling these appointment can be a major struggle for educators that need to going to regular appointments. Just ask a teacher who has been pregnant during the school year.
  • Homework. Teachers have the most. What doesn’t get accomplished during their prep time still has to be completed at home for instruction to continue the next day.
  • During summer teacher do get a break but also attend professional development and hone their skills for the next year.

Teaching is a tough job. It is getting tougher with the lack of public support for our profession. If you are jealous of a teacher’s life then become a teacher don’t bash one. Nobody is bashing professional athletes for only playing at most 162 games in a season, so why bash teachers who make far less? Let’s stop bashing others and start understand what we each do to make this world a better place.

Teachers do one of the most important jobs in the world: EDUCATING the next generation. Shouldn’t their jobs be respected and supported rather than bashed?

#semicolonEDU Reflextion 

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

 My Semi-Colon Side-Burns

Time for a pause; pause for summer: pause from stress to reflect.

This week Dr Joe Mazza, Nick Provenzano and many other brave  educators have shared their stories about dealing with depression, suicide and mental illness. Their actions are bring much needed light to mental health and how it effects all of us. The Semi-Colon Project exists to help anyone in need have hope that their story will continue. As an educator it is important to recognize students in need of help, academic and mental. Everyone has a story and it must be shared. Here is mine:

April 1, 1988 my life changed forever. Until this date my life was “normal”, sure I was a bit of a nerd, didn’t have a ton of friends and lacked social skills, but that is normal for a 17 year old. My parents and I were flying back from a college visit in Wooster, OH to our home in Quincy, IL. I was seated in the co-pilot seat in front with my father, my mother was in the back two rows behind on the pilot’s side. My father was an accomplished pilot having flow since his youth. The weather was beyond his control.

The flight ended  with me awakening 3 days later in the hospital. My parents having perished upon impact. My body was ravaged with injuries. I was the lone survivor of the crash. (My brothers skipped the trip to stay home with my grandmother.) Many nights I cried myself to sleep in the hospital. I kept asking myself: Why didn’t I die?I was nothing special, My father was a local doctor; my mother was very involved in our community and church, why did I survive and they have to pass? More than once during my physical recovery from broken bones, I considered taking my own life.

Lucky for me I was in the hospital where my father had worked, many doctors, nurses and community members stopped by to support me. One day the hospital chaplain stopped in to talk. As I shared my depression and desire to end my story, he made me pause to listen to his. He shared how his life was tragedy but also joy. He stopped in every day for the rest of my stay (3 1/2 months) to make sure that I knew I survived for a yet to be determined reason.

Every year since not only have I dealt with the physical pains of the accident but I fall into bouts of mental pains of depression. I can’t tolerate April Fool’s day, which can be difficult as a teacher. I feel lucky to have made it this far in my life.

We all have a story, we just need to share it. Society has to move from the position of judgement to one of understanding and respect. It shouldn’t be about whether you are black, white, gay, strait, battling mental illness or physical impairments: We are all humans, pause to hear each others story and give everyone respect!