Ideas for Public Education

As I sit and reflect on all of my experiences within the public school system, I began thinking of useful classes and ideas to enhance the education system.  Below is a list of classes that I think should be included into the curriculum that students should engage in.  Some of them stem from private school education.  I will then dive into the discussion of diluting two important disciplines- art and trades.

Potential Class Offerings:

Entrepreneurship

Morals & Ethics

Life Decisions

Etiquette

Behavior

Chess

Social Interaction (How to behave in social settings)

These are important classes that could assist in the growth and development of individuals on a level that is not offered currently.  Also. I feel public schools and education are moving away from two important disciplines- art and trades. We are moving away from teaching students how to act, create music, and other such arts which are so vital and important.  Let’s not ignore the fact that the entertainment industry is a multi-billion dollar industry.  Let’s not ignore the fact that a painting can be sold for millions.  The arts can be lucrative and are important to finding oneself and self-expression and schools are starting to derive from it and focus mostly on standard disciplines- English, Math and Science.  What about teaching a student to express themselves with words by writing creatively, or design a video game, or act in a play?

A huge mistake schools are also doing is deriving from the important trades and developing students into electricians, mechanics, and woodsmen.  Students are losing some of the valuable trades that teach them how to make a living for themselves and their families.  Even things like raising an animal, or teaching students how to grow vegetables hold such value in an industrial economy.  Which is possibly why we as a country outsource a lot of our work.

I also feel that schools are moving away from what’s important.   The thing that matters most is that we create the young individuals not just how to survive in this economy but to thrive. We teach now for passing the state test, instead of creating value in their education.  As I revisit some of the best experiences in school, most of the things I remember as being the most valuable and memorable were typically from field trips.  Learning outside of the school premises, away from the worksheets. Not only did I get a chance to learn inside a planetarium about stars and planets from the guide, but I was also equally learning behavior in social settings, a discipline that I think is also lacking in individuals.

I will revisit this posting later with more ideas on enhancing the education system as I experience other cultures who have advanced public education.

PTA

I had the opportunity to sit into a PTA meeting for a school.  I talked with some of the parents about participation.  The PTA is essentially like the Better Business Bureau.  It’s not part of the government body, but it has contacts in the governing body that can make change.  While at the PTA meeting, I noticed how little the attendance was.  I brought that up to one of the parents and they said, “Oh, this is way more people than usual because there was food”.  I have been most hypocritical of the schools all this time, but I was quite disappointed in the participation of the parents.  They have an opportunity to make changes by verbalizing and expressing the change they would like to school, yet in attendance was slightly under 20 parents, which was a lot because their was food.  Yes public education needs to change, and that also includes the initiative that the parents provide.

7th Grade Language Arts

9/18/14

Bertha Sadler Means Young Women’s Leadership Academy (YWLA)

Middle School filters into either LBJ or Reagan

Side note: This is the first year on gender segregation.

When I walked into the school I received a contact list for the school (a first by the way), a map of the school and the class number that I was going to be in.  Everyone in the office was extremely helpful getting me situated in the class.

I walked into what I thought was a class, and it turned out to be a homeroom.  There is no structure to the class, they are allowed to have their cell phone and tablets out and talk with whomever they wish in the class.  That was about a 30 minute time slot in which all I did was converse amongst the students.  I was greeted by the vice principal and was asked if I had any questions.  She made me feel really comfortable but also warned me that I needed to set a strong presence in the beginning of the classes because after lunch they become a little rowdy.

The bell rang and the first period came in.  I introduced myself by name, and took attendance.  I was simple and straightforward, and said to get the work done and then I would allow them free time after they finished their work.  The reference I used was work comes before play.  I asked them if they would prefer to read aloud or read individually and the entire class decided to read individually.  I had one student do everything except read the book.  I gave her about 10 chances, moved her away from everyone else, and finally sent her to the office.  The vice principal came and wanted to hear my story (which I like her involvement level).  Once I set that example, everyone in the class virtually straightened up, because they saw I meant business at this point.  The productivity level increased and every girl finished their assignment except one.  She was quiet and did not bother anyone so I let her decide not to do the work as long as she was not a distraction.  I made the mistake of allowing portable electronic devices on one condition, if they did the work.  This became a huge mistake and a distraction for everyone that was using it.  Once they all finished the assignment I collected it and then asked them to write their dream occupation, and the occupation they plan to have when they have finished educating themselves.  I will speak on this at the end of the post.  Everything was complete and the last 10 minutes of the class was theirs, there were 10 people on the computers, 2 people on tablets, 1 person on a phone and 1 person in the office.  No one picked up a book from the class.

The next class entered and right away I wanted to set the tone from the straight away.  I told them we can either do this the hard way, or we can do this the easy way for you, but either way we are going to get the work done.  I let them know that one person from the last class paid a visit to the office and if anyone planned on making that trip to save me the time now and to go ahead.  I did a complete introduction of who I am and what I do and immediately I gained their respect.  Then I had the opportunity to ask them about the things that they liked, versus the things they didn’t like from the school.  There was a whole lot of negative comments which were not balanced out by positive ones.  The virtual positive comment was that they enjoyed their homeroom (where they could do what they wanted) and their class field trips.  Everything else was negative.  They did not like the uniforms because they felt like they lost their individuality.  They did not like being an all girls school because some of their friends had already turned gay.  They did not like their teachers because they did not have fun assignments and approaches to teaching and that they were too strict.

I made the suggestion of reading it aloud, and most of the students agreed.  I noticed that the reading level was not where it should be as they were struggling with words such as dissuade for example.  Reading aloud engaged the students more, and because they were more active they understood the story better than the previous class.  They answered the questions faster than the previous class.  Then I asked them what they wanted to do for their dream job, and what they thought they would do when the finished school.

The reason why I was asking that is because I think their is confusion about being able to accomplish dreams.  This is squashed really young.  2 of the students dreams was actually what they thought it would be, and the other 21 students had differing answers.  I gave both classes a lecture that they could become what they wanted to be if they followed their hearts.  I gave them examples of students doing what they loved that was their age and already were millionaires and that they could be in the same boat.  I also explained to them that money does not equate happiness, having the opportunity to do what you love doing every day is happiness.

My thoughts one gender segregation.  I need to see the facts on where they have seen improvement over the years by separating.  Could the same be said about races, segregating by races (which virtually all schools have a higher minority than another)?  I think the students are not happy with their curriculum, I think the uniforms loses their since of individuality, and I think that gender segregation is worse in the long run because when they get into a high school that is no longer segregated they have to readjust to now all of a sudden being around boys (and being around girls for the all boys school).  I think high school is a difficult enough transition and this throws an even bigger wrench into the system.  Based on the facts that I heard from these students I am opposed to it.

I will say in conclusion to my thoughts that this school was extremely diverse, more diverse than any other school I have seen.  Students from all backgrounds were attending and it was really nice to see.

Morgan Spurlock Inside Man: Education and My Thoughts on Education

After watching Morgan Spurlocks documentary the Inside Man that focused on Education, I knew that this was a good starting point for change in the public schools systems.  We need to liven them up, make learning fun and I don’t think that paying teachers more is the way to get us to that point.  Let me explain.  Does a person become a better doctor just because they are paid more to obtain that position?  Absolutely not, in fact, I know a lot of doctors who probably graduated in the lower percentages, but hey, they are still a doctor…

After evaluating the video in depth I cam up with a couple of thoughts I would like to share.  I think teachers need to have passion. I think teachers need longer periods to have a break because teaching is exhausting. I think students need to have a break also because learning is exhausting.  I think we need to increase our reward systems for learning.  Yes, learning should be praised.  Learning itself is a reward, however, incentives in learning could simply be “two snaps”.  I don’t think that students should be held back into a grade if they already have progressed through the material.  Once I learned my time table, I should have been moving on to the next bit of information. Instead I was forced to stay back and learn at the level of the rest of my classmates, democratized learning. When Morgan walked into the first Swedish school he said, “Wow, none of the schools I ever went to looked like this”.  We need zen, we need aura, we need atmosphere that is acceptable for learning. There needs to be more arts as an elective that are included in schools with hands on experience.  I think too much focus is on general education math, science, literature, history etc.  Sure, these are very crucial points of learning but what about life skills?

The documentary also showed two different approaches to testing and both were successful.  One charter school had enormous amounts of tests and data and that school was a lower income based school and that school was preforming at a higher level than most public schools.  The Swedish school minimized testing and was able to generate the same results.  I think the similarity in both schools was the spirit and environment of which the students were learning in.  The teachers cared, the teachers were supportive, the teachers encouraged, the teachers were simply great teachers.  How were these two different schools able to foster both different and quality teachers?  On both occasions both of the teachers had to have a minimum of a Master’s degree.  Why can’t this be the acceptable standard in all cases.  In order to teach you must have a Master’s degree.  At the collegiate level you should have a PhD, I don’t think a Master’s degree is sufficient enough to teach collegiate courses, and I have a Master’s degree and teach at a University.  I know a lot of people that graduated from college and are still not ready to instruct a class even in their 30’s, and some of those individuals are teachers. 

What we must first do to create a strong environment is raise the standards for becoming a teacher.  Now teachers should have a livable wage, this is true, but they do not have to necessarily be the highest paid.  They should be qualified however.  The second stage in creating a strong environment is to create a center that enables the future of learning.  For example, if you go into a library today you will see a ton of students reading books on their tablets, yet they are surrounded by a ton of books in the library.  We have to facilitate and address the needs of learning to the younger generation.  Otherwise we will be the “Blockbuster” going bankrupt in the field of education and losing out to countries who are digitizing movies.  Now there are a ton of other things that I think should be done to enhance education, but I think this is the start that our country needs to take.  I am not fortunate enough to travel to other countries like Mr. Spurlock and study their education system, but I think research needs to be done in that method.  We need to see what these other countries are doing and why they are successful and see if their methods could be borrowed into our education system. 

I’ve been thinking about education reform a lot and I think it boils down to a new format structure.  My idea is that public schools need to have specializations.  Right now we choose a school system based on proximity to the school in America which is plagued by the economics of the households.  What I think should happen is schools should accept any student from any location, as long as they are committed to making it to the school while it is in session.  Each public school will accept students based on their desired interest of learning a specialization just as there are specializations in college.  At that school students would be more engaged in learning material that interests them.  At that school they will still need to learn the general education of course, however, a bulk of their courses will be learning topics that they enjoy.  In every school around the world there are posters that read, “Learning is FUNdamental” and I think we need to get back to that word of making school enjoyable.  While there are a lot of hurdles, and a lot of obstacles to tackle, I think the schools that Morgan visited showed how possible it is to reform our education system.

Walnut Creek Elementary 2nd Grade

I had the pleasure to go into, in my opinion, one of the best schools I have attended.  Walnut Creek Elementary had one of the most productive classes that I had the opportunity to substitute.  This second grade class was structured into 45 minute classes.  After the introduction I was instructed to bring the bilingual class to the library, where they were read to and able to check out 3 books.  The students all sat on the carpet and had a story read to them in English.  They lined up very disciplined after they checked out their three books.  After they checked out their books we returned to the class.  They were actively trained to stop at certain points in the hallway and wait until instructed to proceed.  Once they were in the classroom, they put their books up, and then proceeded to go to gym.  I tried to assist the gym teacher but she already had it under control.  They were simulating a fitness test.  This was the most exercise and activity that I’ve ever seen any class, at any grade level.  I am not certain how they would do on a regular day, but the fitness test is obviously a case for an evaluation, and I am assuming that is for a purpose and will be used to further develop the student.  After I picked up the students from gym I brought them to the classroom to work on two lessons that were planned for the students.  One was a read and answer questions with a partner sheet in Spanish, which we did as an entire class, and the second was for a geography map of the oceans and continents.  Having all of the students participate with the assignments, they found themselves equally involved and interested in the assignment.  After the two assignments, I finished my time with the students in the cafeteria.  There was a total of 1 student out of 20 who brought their lunch.  The rest of the students had to choose between either a grilled cheese sandwich or a fried fish sandwich.  Neither of those options were healthy, however, the sides they were given were fruits and vegetables.  I noticed most of the students were able to pick which fruit they wanted and as a result they ate both the vegetable and fruit.  I was completely impressed with the discipline level of the students at this school which technically is in a lower income neighborhood and consisted of virtually all Hispanic children.

Up and Coming Events

April 18th, Alamo Dome, San Antonio Texas – Golden Boy / Leija Batta Promotions

May – Austin, TX (TBD)

 

Lanier High School – PE

My experience at Lanier High School as a PE sub.

I walked in to meet one of the teachers who gave me the itinerary for the day.  I was told that I should have the students dress out (those that chose to dress out would receive credit), then complete a worksheet on blood pressure, walk a total of 12 laps, and then give them free play.  Well, I thoroughly went over the entire work sheet on blood pressure.  I managed to get all of the kids surrounding me in the gym.  What I was unable to do in the 1 hour 45 minute period is to get the kids to participate and dress out.  In fact, 75% of the class sat against the wall and played on their phones for the remaining time. This could be because all I was given for activities were three basketballs to play with, and the remainder of those kids played with those.

The three basketballs were shared, a game even started, but midway through the period the basketballs became soccer balls.  I realized that the teacher did not leave me much for the students to do.  So, fed up from not having enough material, I decided to give boxing lessons in the middle of class.  I was able to generate a crowd of 10 that were interested and wanted to learn.  In the second class I felt a little more prepared.  I managed to get into the supply closet after we finished the worksheet, and told the students to choose what they wanted to play with.  Every single student did something active, whether they dressed out or not.

Midway through the class, they seemed to have so much fun that they exhausted themselves and had to take breaks.  Isn’t this partly what physical education is about?  To learn about health and fitness and get tired.  In my third class, I was watching a volleyball class.  I virtually had to do nothing but cheer these students on.  The reason why is because they were part of the volleyball team.  They knew the drill and they needed no instruction.  They came in, set up the net, and played the entire class, and I even had to tell them that enough is enough to put up the net.  It all comes down to discipline.  The kids that are not organized lack discipline.  I will have to discuss this matter separately.

On my break period I went into a special education classroom.   It is always a humbling experience to visit the classroom.  I have been to these classes on a few occasions and they all seem the same at every single grade level.  I literally have never seen any instruction take place in the classroom, ever.  Now granted a lot of these students have learning disabilities, but does that mean that we do not push the envelope as far as we can with these students?  I sat down with a kid Reyes who never spelled or wrote the alphabet before.  I wrote all of the letters in the alphabet down and said them to him, and then I asked him to write the letter of the alphabet that I say down on the paper also.  He was able to write 75% of the letters correct the first time with no help.  Another student sat down with me and I gave him a tray with red, blue, and yellow labeled in the tray, and straws that were matched the color.  I would call out the color and ask him to put the straws in the bin that was labeled.  He was able to complete the task with no errors.  To me this shows cognitive ability, and their brains are working and functioning.  Yet, in every classroom I have been in the student is sitting at a computer watching youtube or playing a mind numbing virtual Disney game.  These students need the most attention in my opinion, and I believe it’s possible to reverse some of the effects if we show them that we believe in them.  I find them to be highly enjoyable to be around, happy and gifted.

And then there is my lunch experience…

I decided to take one of the AISD officials test and try the food in the cafeteria.  I ate two tacos with rice.  I want to be clear, the food did not taste great, but it did not taste absolutely bad.  But the results of me eating the tacos were not in my favor.  Within the next 30 minutes, I had thrown up in my mouth from acid reflux.  I do not have acid reflux, nor have I had it from any of the foods that I consume.  I guess it’s not that bad considering the meal was only $3.24, right?  There were not very healthy options readily available for the students.  I think the goal of Sodexo who controls virtually all of the cafeteria food (giving money to france) is to keep costs low for profits purpose.  Is it really that much more expensive to include alternatives like a juice bar, or a smoothie bar, fruits and vegetable servings.  The options were limited and mostly unhealthy.

Lastly, I wanted to evaluate the culture at this school.  I do not recall seeing a “prep” at the school.  A lot of the school was decorated with students that are born in the middle class and either African American or bilingual Hispanic.    Caucasians were the minority at this school, even on the volleyball team (most volleyballs stereotypically consists of Caucasians).  A lot of the students were brought up into “urban” and hip-hop culture.  A lot of students were dressed very trendy with popular brands of clothes, and it was reflected as such in the cafeteria.  From this perspective, they need teachers that come from similar backgrounds and were able to pave their own path in life.  Teachers that can relate to the students and invigorate their learning experience.

 

Elementary PE at Wooldridge

This day was completely interesting because I got to teach classes K-5 and really get to understand the behavior. I would say the Spanish speaking population in this school represented about 98% of the students that I taught during the day.  The teacher asked me to complete two tasks today – to play dragons tail, and to work on their catching with the use of bean bags.  Dragon tail is a game in which you take a colored scarf, and you try and pull the tail from another individual.  If you successfully pull their tail you make them exit the game to do 10 jumping jacks and then they return.  I added in rules such as no running, and gave them an out of bounds which if they broke either of those rules they also had to do jumping jacks.  As a result the students were extremely tired and sweaty and seemed to have a bit of fun in the process.  I had a handful of games that also helped the students strengthen their hand eye coordination by throwing and catching the bean bags.

To really analyze each grades behavior I think I should break down each grade level.

Kindergarten students are bright eyed and bushy tailed.  They do virtually everything you tell or ask of them, and they do it following the exact instructions that you give them, nothing more nothing less.  Working with the Kindergarten classes I did things differently.  I lined all 20 kids up in a row and worked with them on passing and catching.  I had to individualize it, because otherwise they would just do whatever they wanted to do with the bean bag.  I worked with each kid and helped them develop the skills, and they seemed to like the individualized attention rather than working on the skills on their own.  The only issue with that is they received less practice than all of the other grades.

First grade students I think is the grade that needs the most attention.  Here is where their learning curve grows the strongest.  I think the level of intelligence from Kindergarten to First grade is vast.  The students are able to interpret my instructions and preform.  I was rather perturbed that one of the soft spoken students came up to me and told me that she “did not know which one was her left leg” when I was instructing their stretching.  It baffled my mind that they did not know right from left because in first grade I knew my times tables 1-12.  First grade was also the grade that was most concerned about incentives.  For the classes that behaved well they would receive a “peace buck” exemplifying their behavior.  The only class that seemed to care was both first grade classes when I threatened to take away the “peace buck”.

Second and Third grade I feel is the last grade that you can mold the students how you want them to be.  Second grade was an interesting class because they are right in the middle.  Third grade is definitely the last chance that you have to mold them however.  By Third grade they have started to get the hang of school.  They also have an idea of how much they can get away with.  Second grade is still rather vulnerable.

By Fourth and Fifth grade they have been here before.  They are the veterans of the age groups in the elementary school.  They have essentially become either well behaved or a “non-listener” (meaning they are going to continue to do what they want to do regardless of how you approach them).  I think Fourth and Fifth grade can have more students per teacher than the other grades where they are most vulnerable.

 

Woolridge is an elementary school very close to Brown Elementary.  They had a sink right before they got in the lunch line, and every student that I watched washed their hands without instruction.

2nd Grade Teacher Assistant at Brown Elementary

I had the opportunity to take the back seat to get a better glance at what was going on.  At Brown Elementary the students were about 90% Latino in the classroom that I was in.  I went in to help teach and somehow took on a much more significant role in the class.  One of the interesting and unique things is that I was teaching in both Spanish and English.  The other interesting thing about how elementary school is set up, is that their home base class teaches all of the basics: English, Science, Math, Social Studies, and the students go to their elective classes to learn skills such as playing a musical instrument or painting.  They called those classes “specials”.  The teacher would drop the student off for approximately 45 minutes at a changing “special” at different periods during the week. 

I geared up to go into teaching mode where we were talking about science and different traits.  The teacher asked me to draw a scientist and label the 5 senses on the scientist.  I did this in front of all of the students on the projector.  It was interesting because the teacher said the students like to see how someone else does it and they like to copy.  I walked around to find many other imitations of my scientist on the other students papers.  I thought that was extremely important.

This moment is where I came to the conclusion that there should be no more than 10 students per teacher, particularly through the third grade.  Kindergarten through third grade is where you learn by imitating.  There is no way a teacher can successfully teach and manage a classroom of 20 by themselves as it were in Brown Elementary.  Even with about 24 kids in the classroom, and two teachers, it was still difficult to keep an eye and provide equal amounts of help to each individual.  But I think this stage is where they need the most attention.  I think this stage is where they should be disciplined about their behavior and there is no way a teacher can instill good behavior in such a large group of students.  I also think K-3rd grade teachers should be the most highly skilled.  If at this point the students can learn the most information that will ultimately decide who they become, I find it crucial to have extremely knowledgeable instructors at this level.  Ones with a multitudes of skill. 

One thing that did disturb me is that this is in an economically challenged school district.  Maybe not as bad as some of the areas that I have been in, but close to it.  After all, there was an individual attending an ice cream cart to take advantage of the kids as they exit the premises of the school grounds.  I am positive you will not find an individual encouraging the youth to come buy an ice cream at a school in a better location.  This school did not have a sink before the students attended the cafeteria like some of the other schools I have been to.  As a result the kids did not wash their hands before they ate, however, I did take notice that all of the kids that used the bathroom did wash their hands once they were finished.

7th Grade Math at Kealing

This recent substitution really hurt my heart.  I only substituted for a half day but this isn’t the first time I substituted at this school.  Previously I experienced similar results.  Kealing middle school is located in East Austin, in a soon to be gentrified neighborhood.  Currently, the students are from lower income neighborhoods.  Their behavior in the classroom could be described as:  undereducated, undisciplined, and behaviorally challenged.  I did not tell the students that I was in class conducting research on their behavior.

When I arrived the substitute prior to me gave me her instructions for the class, to hand the students the worksheet and have them complete the three pages of assignments.  She handed out the worksheets and left.  While I let them talk and work on their work, I realized most of the students in the class were not completing the assignments.  Those that were completing the assignments were doing them the wrong way.

This 7th grade class did not know how to complete long equations using PEMDAS.  Most of the students knew what this acronym meant, but they did not know how to apply it.  I thought for certain that the students would at least be close to algebraic levels by 7th grade, but they are behind.  I switched up the classroom method and began helping groups of individuals.  The class was grouped in clusters of four seats to a table.  I instructed the table on how to complete some of the harder problems and required them to go back and do the easier ones.  The method worked.  I applied this method in the second class and the students were finished and had half of the class remaining.

These students are smart, and once I explained the importance of math and how they will apply it in their life they immediately took interest.  I asked them questions like, “what do you want to accomplish in your life, what are your goals”, and they all had high expectations.  I told them that, “educating themselves to get to that goal is how they can achieve it”.  The students did have an interest in learning but I had to take a stern approach, almost like a drill sergeant.  I also had to give them individual attention to help them.

This made me think back at helping my younger brother with algebra when he was in 7th grade.  He did not understand what was going on in class.  When I showed him how to do it, in a matter of 10 minutes, he never had another math question ever and went on to progress in the math subject.  From my experience, I think math should be taught individually to make sure that the students understand it.  I do not think that you can teach this to a group as a whole.  Since math is a factual subject and you apply certain formulas, and you either have the right answer or wrong answer, I conclude that this subject matter deserves more attention.  I also think that math is a subject that is more important than others, therefore it is imperative that every single student understands this subject.

The thing that concerned me is not the students ability to learn and grasp the material.  The thing that concerned me was their behavior.  It was not disciplined at all.  They continued to talk and converse among their friends, throwing things across the room, amongst other things.  I tried to take as much control as I could with threats of sending them to the principles office, or moved to a different area of the classroom.  I only had to make an example out of one student for the others to realize that I was not simply talking, and I would act.   Most of the students said they will filter in either Reagen, LBJ, or Crockett, whose behaviors are notorious for being similar.