Working hard to make sure teachers are inspiring the youth of tomorrow.
The state of Michigan requires that schools offer students 1098 hours of instruction each school year. These hours equate to around 180 days of school. I am sure most states have a mandated minimum amount of time for instruction. WHY? How are these hours calculated? Why are we concerned with how many hours are offered? NOT what was learned or how many hours the students was actually in class? Do all students learn at the same rate?
Over this holiday break, our family traveled to Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. Being a budget minded teacher, having a family of five the most efficient mode of transportation was in a car, driving 1,200+ miles from Michigan. We loaded into the car filled with excitement, ready to enjoy our vacation in the sunshine state on our first trip to Disney World. We departed Christmas afternoon heading south on I-75 with great excitement. As I piloted our Chevrolet Traverse down the interstate, I noticed numerous brown signs flying by the window. Signs for historic sites and national and state parks. The famed horse parks of Kentucky, Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and Civil War battle fields of Georgia. Were we missing something?
Disney World is a wonderful place, Walt Disney created it to educate and entertain. Should it be the sole focus of the millions that flock there every year? I began to question my planning of the trip. Should I have planned stops along the way to help my children understand all the wonderful places in the United States? To help them understand our country and its history? Maybe I need to schedule another trip to visit the marvelous sites we missed.
I began to notice a parallel in education. Teachers seem to focus on the end destination of standardized test scores instead of the journey of education. Tests like Disney World will always be there and are constantly changing. I see to many teachers abandoning great teaching activities to focus on test scores. It is sad to hear about students who are being rushed to tests, having fun engaging learning experiences lost to test preparation. How we travel to Disney or the Standardized test is our choice. Teachers need to make the trip a journey that students will remember, full of adventure and excitement, because unlike Disney World students don’t want to return to the standardized tests. A Teachers job is to make them to want to return to YOUR Classroom.
Our current education system focuses on clock time to measure learning. The current buzz around teacher evaluations is that students should have a years worth of growth during a school year. These leaves two critical questions:
Looking at my children, I struggle with this concept. They have all grown but in so many different ways and at very different rates. My three children have all been completely different when it comes to hitting “growth milestones”. My two boys Griffin (10) and Gavin (6) we late walkers and talkers. On the other hand Grace (6) was early. Then again my boys are way ahead on the height and weight milestones where Grace is “just” average. Having watched Griffin grow academically over 6 years of school, I have noticed he excels in Math, Science and Social Studies but struggles as a reader and writer.
Don’t we all have different strengths and weaknesses? Shouldn’t school honor this, allowing us to move faster in areas where we can, while helping us continue moving forward in areas of need?
Friday started like any typical school day, teachers slowly trickling into school as the first bell approaches. The copy machine running, students being dropped off out front. Then the PA booms “Teachers were are short on Substitutes today, Please answer the phone when it rings.” Teachers’ moods instantly change as “not again” is moaned by one passing teacher. The Technology Director walks down to one classroom doorway with sub folder in hand stating “Not what I was expecting to do, but it can’t be that bad!”
I hear of this scene all over Metro Detroit. I assume it is happening all over the country. School districts are faced with a growing problem. Substitute teachers are scarce! This problem does a disservice to all staff working in education! Administrators have to scramble to find staff to cover classrooms or cover the classes themselves. Teachers have to sacrifice their limited prep time to teach other classrooms. Support personnel have to abandon their caseloads for the day. Some districts are still struggling to fill full time teaching positions.
This problem most effects out students. How can learning happen when high quality subs aren’t available? or when class size inflate due to lack of teachers? It has gotten to the point where State Superintendent of Education is offering ways to address the “teacher shortage”. “Teaching is the most noble and important of professions and I have no doubt there are people out there who are willing to make a difference,” Flanagan said.
The Michigan Department of Education proposal offers up alternative certification and accelerated paths into teaching. I don’t feel this helps with the urgent need for substitutes around the state. It might help fill the vacancies in some districts. Schools need subs. There are a few ways to fill this need!
1. College Students- Every college of education student should be registered to be a substitute this way when there is a great need to them in schools, they can step up and help out. Great experience and every college student needs some extra cash.
2. Substitutes should get service credit- When I was a sub, my hours counted as service credit towards my retirement. This left a few years ago when school districts were encouraged to privatize their substitute services. Look where this has gotten us. I know many qualified teachers who refuse to sub for this very reason.
3. Community outreach- Districts need to reach out the the religious and other community service organizations to help provide guest teachers when they are short. Local businesses can take an hour or two and let employees help out in the community by teaching the next generation of employees.
The education of the children of our communities should be addressed by everyone in the community. WE all need to work together to solve this shortage. It should not just be pressed upon the school employees.
Did you know October is “Connected Educator Month”? Of those of us educators that are connected via Twitter, Facebook, Google + etc, We can’t miss it. Every 5th tweet in my stream seems to be promoting a #CE14 twitter chat or a webinar about connecting.
But what about unconnected educators? Do they even know that CE Month is happening? What is the purpose of Connected Educator Month? Is it for all of us who are connected to share how we connect with each other? I hope not. That would be “preaching to the choir”. We know how to connect. We use tools that we like and find engaging. We all have well established and growing Professional Learning Networks.
Connected Educator Month should be about helping those educators who aren’t connected to see the value of connecting. Connected educators need to reach out of their comfort zones of technology connections and connect with those not in our Professional Learning Network. This means spending energy to connect in a DIFFERENT mode. We can’t promote Twitter, Facebook, or Google + on those networks, we will only reach those that are already there. Having a Connected Educator conversation on twitter draws in nobody new.
As I walk the hallways of my school, October has begun. The Principal has mentioned that it is National Bullying Prevention Month. High school conferences are on the horizon as well is progress report grades. Football and volleyball dominate the after school agenda, along with a fall dance, Homecoming at the high school and Halloween is in the air. No mentions of Connected Educator Month anywhere. .
How do we draw attention to the power of connections to the unconnected teacher? Many organizations have online magazines promoting CE Month. I even wrote an article for one last year. Few teachers have time to read these on a regular basis. We are too worried about reaching the students in front of us everyday. The power of connecting can really only be shared in small conversations. I recently has a conversation with two unconnected educators, they asked why and how I had time. I shared my story and experience. It helped them understand more. Will they connect? Maybe.
A better way that telling is showing! The Warren Education Association President has asked for help connecting on twitter. Since we have been friend for 3 years he has seen how I connect and he is trying something new. He has offered up his office conference room for me to show him and anyone else who wants to learn. Tonight during the #michED chat, We will be meeting up to connect. I will be showing a few people the how and answering questions.
Connected educators need to take the time to show others the power! Lets branch out! Have a Greet and Tweet. So that Connected Educator Month can be about adding more members to our connected community.
Sweat to Inspire 