Tinfoil + Raccoon

End o' School Year Follies

With the encouragement of Raccoon readers, I decided that I was obligated to investigate what I could do about Juniorette's teacher who has very poor written language skills. I sent an email to the appropriate person at the district office, who responded promptly, and referred me to the building principal.  She, too, responded promptly and with concern, but I'm beginning to see how bad teachers get to keep their jobs. Basically, I am supposed to talk to the teacher, and then if the problem is not resolved (nothing that a couple years of composition and grammar won't fix), I need to file a formal complaint.

Arghhhh!!!   I explained that it was a pretty daunting task to grade your kid's teacher, and that my concerns had little to do with my daughter, since she's well aware of the problem, and is learning in spite of it.  Wouldn't you think that the school would be all over this?  Doesn't her poor teaching reflect in her students' perfomance?  My guess is that the teacher has tenure, and that no amount of righteous fuss will make a difference.  She got through a 4-year program, maybe a Master's and has somehow passed exams.  What's her incentive to improve? I've asked for additional guidance from the principal and will keep you posted. 

In other school sux news, Juniorina got her 5th grade memory book, a spiral bound book that her teacher puts together every year for each child.  She includes photos, and quotes and memories from the kids.  And there are pages of platitudes and stuff that you'd find on motivational plaques (like quotes from Dale Earnhardt).  There's a list of 10 Tips for Life, with such culturally sensitive tips as "Have good eye contact" and "Have a strong handshake."   Those are followed by "Leave your feelings in your pocket," which is seemingly countered by "Always smile."

This woman is very old school--in some ways, it's really great.  She truly loves teaching and she sincerely believes that she is doing the best she can for these kids.  A lot of the kids don't have much parental support, and maybe this sort of teaching makes a difference.

But, when I got to the six-page section "Let Your Faith Be Your Strength," complete with Bible verses, prayers and an essay from Guideposts magazine, I was flabbergasted.  I ranted on at length, until Juniorina tried to cover for her teacher by saying, "Well, she did have us sign up and write down our religions."  Juniorina wrote "Christianity" only because she didn't know that she could leave it blank, and probably because that's what all the other kids wrote. At that point my jaw dropped in disbelief. Wow!  Honestly, I don't have a problem with "Silent Night" or "The Dreidel Song" at the Christmas program, but the six pages of proselytizing crossed the line.  Am I going to do anything about this?  Nope. She's retiring.  And, at least she can spell and use punctuation.

When the Teacher Can't Write

Juniorette has a history teacher this year who is just not up to snuff. Juniorette, who has highly developed writing skills, gets all wiggy, as do I, over the handouts and tests that this teacher produces.  Tomorrow, the 8th graders will be taking their state-mandated government test.  I looked at the practice test, both online and in print, and it's full of wrong spellings, badly formed questions and incorrect or non-existent punctuation.  I'm particularly cranky about this because Juniorette took a quiz earlier this week in which she answered all the questions correctly, but wrote out full answers, rather than used the matching letters.  Despite getting all the answers right, she still failed the test. 

How does one go about grading a teacher?  Any ideas on how I would register a complaint?  If I thought she were an excellent teacher with dyslexia or some other LD, I'd not mind so much, but I've gotten no indication that she does much besides have the kids copy notes from overheads.  I also know that she has a second job at some sort of chicken wings  restaurant--that's the most notable thing to come out of her lectures this year.  Most of the teachers have been really terrific and seem very engaged and competent.  How does one getting a teaching position with sub-jr. high writing skills? 

I'm sore tempted to link to the page where her disastrous online test is, but I won't.  Here, however is a sampling of what's on the test:

• She repeatedly refers to the "US House of Representative."  Like there's just one rep.
• "What is the citizenship requirements of the US Senate?"
• Most of the questions are without questions marks.
• "What is the fraction needed in either house necessary to require voting in that house to be made public knowledge" (translation, please!)
• "What is the required number to expel a member of the House of Representative"  (answer choices are fractions)
• "What is the minimum age of a US House of Representative"

Those are the most choice samples, with plenty more to give.  This is reflective of the level of material I've seen all year.  For most of the year, she had a link to her "sylabus" on her website.  I've also found factual errors in her notes.  Am I expecting too much?

UPDATE:  Thanks to everyone for the input and encouragement. I just sent an email to the proper authority to ask how I can express concern about the qualifications of a particular instructor.  My guess is that this woman has tenure, and is there for life, but I decided I needed to say something.

DARE to Think for Yourself

Juniorina had her 5th grade DARE graduation last week. DARE, for the initiated, is a drug prevention program with a 20 year history of ineffectiveness, a product of the "Just Say No" school.  Suffice it to say, I am not a DARE supporter, especially after learning that DARE is used to meet science curriculum objectives in our district. (Earlier in the year, Juniorina's teacher expressed frustration that she wasn't able to dig into science at what she thought was the right level, because so many of the kids need remediation in math skills).  I also don't want schools teaching my kids about sex ed (besides the biological, mechanical basics) or any other "life issues" that are in my purview, as a parent.   This expensive, worthless program is in place in a school which, last year, was forced, for budgetary reasons, to share their wonderful, full-time librarian with another school, and dismiss her part-time assistant.

When I showed up at school, the kids were still on the playground, and cranky because their DARE officer made them tuck their t-shirts in because he liked them better that way.  If he was going for neatness or uniformity, it was a wash, since many of the kids were really short, and many of the t-shirts knee-length.   The funniest thing about the t-shirts is that the DARE logo is layered on top of a swirly, tie-dye design, an image straight out of Sixties drug culture.  I customized Juniorina's for her (look close at the photo).

Before I went to the ceremony, I hunted up and printed off a handful of authoritative articles with information about all the ways in which DARE is ineffective.  Mothers Against Drunk Driving does not support DARE,  and the Surgeon General has placed DARE in its category of prevention programs that do not work. This past April, President Bush proclaimed an official "National DARE Day," even though DARE was excluded from his No Child Left Behind legislation because it didn't meet the criteria for effectiveness.  Even the representative to the police department who spoke at the school ceremony said he knew that many people were critical of DARE because it didn't work.  "If we save just one child," he rationalized, "it's worth it."  My hunch is that there could be a lot more saving of children, and fewer children left behind with a full-time, qualified librarian in the building, less teaching of test-taking skills, and a science curriculum devoted to the teaching of science.

Student Booted for Talking to Soldier Mom

I try to not post stories that are making the rounds on prominent sites, but this story about a kid who was suspended from school for ten days for becoming "defiant and disorderly" when school officials made him lose a cell phone call from his soldier-mom stationed in Iraq pushed my anti-authority buttons big time.  I like that the kid admitted that he acted inappopriately, but explained how important it was to talk to his mom.  The school seemed to think they were doing him a big favor by merely suspending him and not arresting him.  What a bummer.

Which reminds me:  I'll be posting something about Juniorina's 5th grade DARE graduation soon in which she was bullied into tucking in her t-shirt by her DARE officer (seethe seethe seethe).

Toward More Gentle Correction: Purple is New Red

Here's an AP story via CNN about how teachers are shying away from using red ink to correct assignments because parents and students find it "stressful" and "abrasive."  Many teachers are switching to the more "gentle" purple, and the three top pen manufacturers, Bic, Pilot Pen and Sanford are responding by upping production of purple implements.

The disillusionment with red is part of broader shift in grading, said Vanessa Powell, a fifth-grade teacher at Snowshoe Elementary School in Wasilla, Alaska.

"It's taken a turn from 'Here's what you need to improve on' to 'Here's what you've done right,"' Powell said. "It's not that we're not pointing out mistakes, it's just that the method in which it's delivered is more positive."

Reading and writing specialist Janet Jones provides a little bit of sense in the article:

"I don't think changing to purple or green will make a huge difference if the teaching doesn't go along with it," Jones said. "If you're just looking at avoiding the color red, the students might not be as frightened, but they won't be better writers."

I was thinking of naming my editorial business "Red Pen Editorial Services."  I wonder if I would lose clients if I did this?  This is the sort of story that makes me realize I could easily turn into Andy Rooney.

"Ethnic Form for Parents"

Juniorina's 5th grade class is doing a genealogy assignment, part of which is to fill out an "Ethnic Form for Parents."  There are probably 100 ethnic groups on the form--lots of specific European and Asian groups and countries, but if your family hails from the Dark Continent, your choices are "Africans," the very 1970s "Afro American," or "South Africans."  And it's a bummer that in a school with a significant number of Hispanic/Latino kids, the options are "Mexican" and "Central and South Americans."   Predictably, indigenous folks get to choose from "American Indians,"  "Aleuts," or "Eskimos."  But, Zoroastrians, Wends, Tatars, Manx, Gypsies, and Kalmyks (?!?!?), to name a few, get their own category.  Inexplicably, Amish, Jewish  and Bosnian Muslims are on the list.  The funniest:  Canadians. 

Testing, Testing

I attended high school orienation with my 8th grader tonight. All of the departments were supposed to have tables set up with information and faculty members ready to chat.  Most of the departments just had samples of the text books used, and English and Math were nowhere to be found.  The most interesting table was Industrial Arts--they had a slick presentation, all sorts of handouts, complete lists of course descriptions and a fun faculty guy who was tossing out candy bars and happy to talk to parents and students. One table had some generic "school success" handouts, complete with lamer-than-usual clip art.   My daughter noted that a picture of a sci-fi 50s robot was next to the word "physics."  "Robots don't have anything to do with physics," she railed.

But, that took all of five minutes, so we went to the auditorium and read our books while waiting for the ubiquitous rah-rah welcome and Power Point presentation.  The whole thing rubbed me the wrong way.  Much of the presentation was geared toward advanced students and their parents--focusing on Advanced Placement and Honors courses, with a token nod to vocational, "essentials" (bottom track) and "special populations" students.  Had I been there with a non-college bound student, I would have wondered why I even bothered showing up.

There was a great deal of talk about careers and future and how what you do in high school determines where you go the rest of your life.  They honest-to-god talked about how all this stuff would go down on your "permanent record," without the slightest bit of irony.  It was delivered as an implied threat.  And there was talk of all the tests that are required throughout the "high school career" starting with the pre-pre-pre ACT in 9th grade.  The importance of these tests was stressed over and over: not because these tests contribute to real learning and understanding, but because "they are required." This too was delivered without irony and rancor.  If I were an instructor, I'd be furious at having to spend so much time on standardized test prep. I'm a parent and I'm furious that so much of my kids' time is wasted on teaching testing.

My daughter learned that she'll have more choice in high school, although not was much as she'd like.  She was quite taken by the Arts for Life table and probably would happily have signed on for the vocational track with its many offerings of computer classes.  Part of me wishes that she could take as many of those classes as she'd like, but it's all about track-track-track, test-test-test.  Real choice is an illusion,  available only to those who don't care about their future or their permanent records. 

Educating Educators about Technology and this Internet Thing

I know that teachers have a difficult job and I really do try and keep that in mind before criticizing or complaining.  But, I've had my parent and librarian buttons pushed by the apparent techno-ignorance or -phobia of one of Raccoon, Jr's instructors.  And, not to single this teacher out, it's an attitude I've encounted a disheartening number of times throughout my kids' schooling.

Juniorette is working on her 8th grade career project and I helped her narrow it down to game development--story development and scriptwriting in particular.  The purpose of the assignment, aside from career exploration, is to learn research skills.  The kids have to use different types of sources:  a book, an encyclopedia, an interview, etc.   As you can imagine, there are not heaps of super-current print resources on game development--a 1998 book on computer programming is the best book we could find in our library.  That's a book that probably should have been weeded, oh, about 4 years ago.  The other standard kid-career-report source, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, while a bit more current, doesn't have anything specific on game development.  Juniorette did find a surprisingly detailed article in Occupational Outlook Quarterly on writing for games! 

The best and most current information about careers in game development is available is "on the internet."   I helped Juniorette find some awesome resources, including a white paper on writing for games from the International Game Developers Association.  She's really buzzed about learning more. I've had numerous students over the years who have come into the library to work on research papers, and balk when I show them one of the subscription databases, chock full o' authoritative, paid-for, full-text sources.  "My teacher says I can only use one internet source," they tell me.  I explain that even though it's delivered through the internet, it's just a different presentation of a print source they'd not have access to otherwise.  Instead of photocopying the title page of the book, all the bibliographic information is delivered with the text.  Generally the students get it, but have had the law laid down by the teacher and settle for something on the shelf that might not be as good as something from a database. 

I'm glad to know that teachers are still insisting on making students look for information in a variety of formats--it's important for kids to know how to do something besides google some other kid's crappy report, not knowing how to figure out that it's some other kid's crappy report.  What I'm not sure about is if the teachers who insist on this "only one internet source" rule are simply inflexible or if they don't know the difference between some kid's crappy report and an authoritative source that just happens to be in digital format.  Instead of a small selection of  overused print sources, the databases give students access to a much wider variety of sources--literally thousands of full-text journal and magazine titles. Teachers who think this way have something akin to info-tech hiccups, which sticks them in a very non-functional, non-productive mode. Please, someone get them a glass of water! And make it a big one.

The other gripe I have is also related to this project. Juniorette has some problems with executive function and focus--that means her organizational skills are not so hot.  Assignments get forgotten at home or lost, or she doesn't quite get what she's supposed to do.  As a result, she's got some minor accommodations, like extra time to hand in assignments. Today, she was supposed to have turned in one piece of this career assignment. It was completed, but I found it under a pile of books after I'd taken her to school.  On the school's contact page is a fax number, prominently displayed, so I decided to fax the one-page assignment, thinking that was an efficient use of technology. I emailed the teacher to let her know what was going on.  This is her first response:

We do not have access to a fax. The picture is worth 20 points today. After today, it is worth 10 points. I need it today for full credit. If you choose to drop it off, just leave it with a secretary and be certain it has my name on it.

First off, she's ignoring the fact that my daughter has a 504 plan, a legal accommodation document that says she can hand stuff in a few days late without penalty. But, that's a separate issue.  What bothers me is the teacher's statement that faculty does not have access to the fax machine. I thought it seemed like a very efficient way of accommodating a student who occassionally needs and is entitled to extra help.  So, I wrote to say that I would drop off the original copy, but that she might get two copies since I had faxed one.  Here is reply # 2:

As I indicated, we don't have access to a fax. That is for office use only. Therefore, I doubt I shall get two copies.

Ignoring the unneccesary snarkiness, and going back to my previous point, why wouldn't staff be allowed to receive faxes from parents?  I imagine that the school gets reams of junk fax every day.  Are the teachers truly forbidden from using the fax machine (given teacher the benefit of the doubt)?  Or does she just not want to bother. Regardless of the answer, it's another example of technology veiwed as something special or exclusive--a stand-alone entity, rather than as an ubiquitous tool to faciliate work and play and communication.  I don't begrudge this teacher her personal Luddite leanings, but I'd appreciate if she kept them out of my daughter's education.

On the other end of the spectrum are those teachers who, like many students, lack basic information literacy and will tell their students to "look on google."  That's another post.

I'd like to acknowledge the many other teachers who "get IT,"  who don't regard it with the same fear as a caveman witnessing an eclipse, or see it as the holy grail of education.  There are also those who dream big and make invaluable contributions to the seamless blending of education and technology, but it's the informed followers who are a godsend to students and parents.