by

Manny Scott

In March I presented at the Collaborative Conference for Student Achievement in Greensboro, NC. You can find the materials link from the session here.
The most powerful experience of the conference for me was speaker Manuel Scott. Manny Scott began his keynote by singing a cappella, the spiritual If I Can Help Somebody. The first stanza is “If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody how they’re traveling wrong, then my living shall not be in vain”.  The room was reverent as he began to speak.
Manuel Scott grew up in inner city California and was one of the students characterized in the book/movie Freedom Writers. His message is, in part, to ensure that teachers don’t give up on students; especially those who give the biggest reasons to leave them alone. He offered that there are many, many damaged children who need help, guidance, interventions, and reminds us that often a life is what hangs in the balance.
You can learn more about Manny and his work here.

by

Here Comes the Boom

The movie, “Here Comes the Boom” provided a pleasant surprise as I watched this week.  Kevin James plays a school teacher, Voss, who takes up ring fighting.  His mission is to raise money to save the job of a music teacher whose program is set to be cut.  James’ character does not start as a noble teacher but a worn down, sub-standard teacher who is late, barely tends his classes, and tries to get out of duties.  The story that develops is while he is inspired by this music teacher, it rekindles his own passion and he begins to instill passion in others as well.  There were a few poignant quotes. 

The school nurse character says to Voss, “I don’t know how [our school] got so off track.” Voss replies, “It’s not our fault, it’s the system.”  The nurse retorts, “So it’s the system that’s creating teachers who just don’t care?”  Voss sighs, “You know the deal, we can’t speed up to help the gifted kids, can’t slow down to help the slower ones.  It’s about moving cattle through, you know, it’s a numbers game.”  To which the nurse replies, “That’s what they want but what about you?”  Voss says, “There was a time when [I cared and got excited…].”

This scene touches on a truth that really is a complication of the “system”.  In recent years, education has focused so squarely on growth and testing to ensure every child is the same that it has fostered the mentioned “numbers game” and “cattle” metaphor.  Teachers feel the pressure to practice tests to the point that, for so many, it has quenched their passion.

Passion is the most important ingredient in teaching.  Without passion teachers don’t enjoy their work and students become apathetic to learning; they see no reason in it. 

Later in the movie as Voss is finding success and rekindling his passion he is speaking to his brother.  Voss says to his brother, who is working at a job he doesn’t enjoy,

“You’ve got to go after your dreams; you’ve got to find your passion and then let it guide you.”

Finally, at the end when faced with losing a match (and not earning the money for the teacher’s salary) with his students watching, the music teacher tells Voss that it is alright to give up because,

“Our students are witnessing complete resolve in the face of an unbearable obstacle, they are invested.  They are inspired, that’s what we’re supposed to do as teachers, right?  Inspire.”

In order for teachers to inspire students they must have enough autonomy to be able to share their passion.  Too often teachers are forced to pace with other teachers using cookie cutter lessons or use plans that are all about the numbers rather than hands on creative, and practical methods they would prefer.  Rather than spending planning time developing tantalizing lessons, the teachers have to crunch numbers like statisticians trying to figure out how to bring a subgroup up to passing. There are even schools which force the scripted, say this, give this material type lessons.  If students learned from this type of environment there would be no need for a person in the room, particularly a well educated one. 

This was not the best movie I have seen but it certainly had some thoughtful moments for anyone concerned about the education of our children.

by

Who’s the Boss

From a Diigo list I came across an article with Tony Danza about his year teaching English at Northeast High in Philadelphia. The title of his book drew me in, I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had. I have to admit I didn’t watch his show, Teach, or even know it aired. After seeing this quote, “how do we send a message to students that being in school and making the most of their time there is important”, I started looking deeper because it sounded like a sincere quote from a teacher rather than an actor. An Amazon review really puts his year and the book into perspective. The book is now on my read list but the quote haunts me.  How do we send a message? OR Why has the message been lost?

Thoughts here?

After his commencement speech at Northeast High Mr. Danza said, “he enriched his own life by being a part of theirs[the students]“. This is the reason teachers stick with their job year after year.

danza

by

Subtraction Poetry

This is an interesting idea I came across earlier in the year. Thank you to Austin Kleon, a writer and artist who lives in Texas, for the idea. The idea of subtraction poetry involves taking words away in order for the information to take a new form.
Using a Mac computer with Preview, take a piece of informational text in pdf, annotate to strike through the unwanted words and highlight the final product. How might you or your students use this?

by

Sound Booth on the Cheap

Also posted in my Discovery blog.
If you teach using laptops or other portable devices, chances are you have had students record something during class. Keeping a “quiet on the set” atmosphere during these times is difficult. What you need is a sound booth!
To create this budget sound booth you need an empty paper box, spray adhesive, egg crate foam, and hot glue.

Step one, carefully break the seal on the paper box so it opens flat. Step two, cut egg crate foam to size for the inner area of the box. Step three, in a well ventilated area, spray the adhesive to the interior of the box and the back of foam. Line up and press the foam into place. Step four, bring the sides in to create an angle, about 45 degrees. Mark the corners, top and bottom where they overlap. Step five, hot glue the top and bottom to hold the new angle.

Thank you to innovative fellow teacher, Andy Harrison. He fashioned a much nicer sound booth which was the inspiration for a hands on professional development.

Feel free to use the invitation made using Powtoon beta.