Cycle 3: Schools as "Embryonic Communities"

When I hear the term "Embryonic Community" I literally think of an embryo. An embryo literally has everything it needs to survive until it needs to depend on something else. I envision a seed of some sort that is inactive and seemingly "dead" until it meets the right conditions, the right environment...and something happens. Changes start, and adjustments are made. Then, before you know it the seed is no longer a seed. It grows roots to support and sustain it, then a plant shoots up. The remnant of the seed is now a plant--the seed is no more. With such thoughts springing up just at the mere mention of the word embryo, you can imagine the thoughts I have when I relate them to a school described as an "Embryonic Community". I think it’s a wonderful concept, but embryos don't have to deal with the factors that our schools are subjected to.

I stumbled across an article by John Dewey that talks about the education system prior to the industrial revolution. Long before schools ventured off into a world of development and technology, things were structured much differently. The school community prepared students to work with their hands and in the service industry. It was known that you could learn to sew and cook in school in order to survive. Nowadays, home economics is no where near a high school elective list. As a matter of fact, the only place students would hear of such a class is from an old movie or from one of their elders. Here is one quote I enjoyed from the article:
“When we turn to the school, we find that one of the most striking tendencies at present is toward the introduction of so-called manual training, shop-work, and the household arts -- sewing and cooking. This has not been done " on purpose," with a full consciousness that the school must now supply that factor of training formerly taken care of in the home, but rather by instinct, by experimenting and finding that such work takes a vital hold of pupils and gives them something which was not to be got in any other way.”
In earlier days the embryonic community that the schools created prepared the students for their daily lives and ultimately their careers. The difference between the school community then and now is that students aren’t prepared for daily life as much in school any more. Generally our education system is designed in a way that suggests that the students would be able to obtain those skills outside of school, and the article called Cooking The Books: Why we need economics back in schools shares my same sentiments.
This on a much larger scale I believe has contributed to our country’s debt (not ALL of it of course, but a portion). Think about it, how old were you when you got your first credit card? I know how old I was…I was 18. I kept up with my payments. I never “maxed out”. I was responsible. However, I didn’t find out until it was too late that spending more than 50% of your limit would decrease your credit score. Finance was a requirement for my parent’s generation, and because of it I believe they were much more cautious than my generations and the generations to come.

As a teacher, I’ve been trained to educate my students within the fine boundaries of what our society has decided that they should know. However, I take on a larger responsibility. I demonstrate what it means to be a positive example and contributor to society. Teaching them moral values as simple as treating people the way you want to be treated, and admitting it when you’re wrong. If I make a mistake, I ask my students for their forgiveness and explain why I’m apologizing. I had a particular student that had the habit of not putting things back where he got them from. Time and time again I would have to remind him specifically what I expected. The year progressed the rest of the students got the hang of it, but this one particular student still struggled. Well, I saw him working with some materials… and a while later the materials were left unattended and he was off to another task. I let it rip. I told him about following the rules, I explained how unfair it was that he didn’t apply his knowledge of my expectations, I told him that until he learned he wouldn’t be able to work with anything else. By the time he could try to deny it I didn’t let him get a word in. Well…long story short he did put his things back. Another child got them out behind him and “accidentally” left it out. I was embarrassed (so was he), and I knew I had to fix it. I humbly got down to his eye level, and just as loudly as I reprimanded him I apologized and explained why I thought it was him. I asked him to forgive me, and I praised him for doing the right thing. Then I turned to my class and made an example out of myself and explained how easy it is to make a mistake and how important it is to try to make your wrongs right when possible. Powerful lessons take place daily in the classroom. Sure it took up 15 minutes of our plans Social Studies lesson. No it wasn’t planned, but how powerful was that? I learned…and so did they.

Cycle 2: Challenges and opportunities in building classroom communities

It was my first year as a certified teacher, excited is in no way an accurate descriptor of my feelings. I looked at my mess of a room with chairs stacked high and tables flipped atop of one another I realized that the first lesson in my classroom would be one I learned and not that I taught. How the heck was I supposed to set this classroom up from scratch? I had been in several classrooms, but I never actually designed one independently. Where should my desk go? What should go on this bulletin board? Where should my rug be placed? I needed help and I knew it. I wanted the perfect learning community for my students and I knew it began with the environment that I created. I decided to set up my student’s desks in groups of four, and set up other unassigned stations for other activities to take place.

Once my students found their seats and found their places in our classroom I was better able to picture our community and who it was made of. With the students already in their small groups I was able to see who the leaders were in each group and how their personalities worked together. From there I used what I observed to create a systematic community that could run smoothly with or without me. My students learned what I expected and how to work together. I also learned that the students themselves were a key component to making sure the classroom community ran smoothly. In an article I read entitled, The Six Secrets to a Happy Classroom, Gilbert made some great points. Among them was this quote, "One of the greatest resources is untapped – the students themselves," William says. "I don't think teachers should be afraid of asking the students for advice." The idea is controversial; however, some believing it undermines the professionalism and authority of teachers.” Once I accepted the fact that the students themselves (even though they were only first graders) could actually provide valuable input in carrying out the vision I had for my classroom, my job became that much easier. Think about it. Don’t you like participating in activities that you had some input in creating? Or better yet, what if you could let your superiors know the most enjoyable parts of your job and they actually put forth effort to make sure that you had more of an opportunity to enjoy them in various ways. As I figured the puzzle out, I notice that not only was our classroom community working, but it was a pleasant fun place to be.

During one of my regularly scheduled classroom observations I sat in the back of a more the “experienced” teacher classrooms and I could literally feel the difference. The community was on task, but boy was it tight. Every child sat quietly in their seats doing the same exact assignment (some successfully…and others not so much). There wasn’t much “fun” or color in the room, and the teacher was clearly the rigid dictator. While classroom management was a definite strength, other teaching methods that have been proven to increase learning, self-confidence, and high level thinking were absent. The teacher was excellent, but I noticed the student’s voice was absent. Although I had a classroom community that “worked” I decided to do some research and figure out a way that my student’s voice could be heard even more in my classroom. I read another article called, “Incorporating Student Voiceinto Teaching Practice”, and it declared, “When students have a voice in classroom processes, they share in decision-making and the construction of knowledge. The teacher, consequently, becomes a co-learner and facilitator as well as a source of knowledge.” My entire teacher planning career I had been trained to operate as the dictator and primary decision maker, this isolated quote challenged my whole perspective. I would have to think for our classroom, not my class. I would have to rearrange my thinking in order to be successful at maintaining the classroom I envisioned. As much as I would like to say I’ve mastered this concept, I humbly admit that I haven’t.

Between standardized tests, benchmarks, unexpected tasks and much more the student’s voice is sometimes lost in our community. Standardized tests aren’t differentiated to their capabilities, neither are the test preparations assignments. I finally came to the realization that giving the students a voice in the classroom was much bigger than me as “the teacher”. It starts at the place that I get my instruction from. Overall, our educational system is clearly in the need of reformation. I was very moved by this valedictorians speech as she articulated her feeling toward the issues raised by being educated in a test driven environment, and to be honest I couldn’t have said it better myself. Take a look!

Well said young lady…well said.

Cycle One: Interpretations of the meaning and causes of failure

When I think of the meanings and causes of failure, my head begins to spin. There are so many factors, so many direct & indirect components, and just…so…much! Where do I begin? I for one am not a fan of failing anything (as a matter of fact, I don’t know anyone who is). The thought of failing stirs up all kinds of negative emotions, and comparative insecurities. I sometimes find myself going above and beyond the standard because I’ll aim to be the best, but I absolutely refuse to be at the bottom. It’s like running a marathon; I don’t always have to get the first place trophy. However, as long as I don’t finish last I know I’m alright. I think the degree of failure is determined by the individual. For some, finishing last in the marathon would be perfectly fine as long as they finish. Even though that last person is the one everyone would compare themselves to with thoughts of “at least I wasn’t last” or “I did much better than so and so”, if the person doesn’t feel like they failed…then who can dare say any different? I think failure is determined by many dynamics and is somewhat subject to perspective.  

I had a student (for sake of privacy we’ll call *Kevin) that was “failing”. He was a first grader, and he had experienced so many failures that you could smell his frustration 15 feet away. He was discouraged. He didn’t understand many concepts, and he didn’t expect to understand them. He didn’t ask questions, he misbehaved, and even his family had somewhat given up on him. It was almost as if they had labeled him “slow” instead of diving in to determine how they could help him learn. One of the saddest parts was the fact that his peers didn’t expect much of him either. I get emotional thinking about it because not only was he trapped in his position, but I couldn’t think of a sure solution. As his teacher what could I do? My goal and project became helping him get beyond where he was. Working with him I learned that his past had taught him a defense mechanism coined learned helplessness. In reading, Why Are Our Children Failing in School learned helplessness is described as a conditional response to failures they experienced in the past. He wouldn’t try some tasks because he would say, “I don’t know how” before he would even try. In his case, he had taken his failures to heart. He was the type of person to recognize he was finishing last in the marathon and stop running. Finishing wouldn’t be that important to him because he wasn’t doing well anyway.

Who’s at fault for students failing anyhow? This is a conversation that I have heard far too many times. Is it the fault of the teacher, parent, or student…or is it mixture of them all? Administrators are taught to hold their teachers accountable for student achievement and use examples of successful teachers in the past, students are sometimes excused from achievement because they should have more support than they do, and lastly parents are excused because they are education professionals and they are unaware of the “how-to”. It is absolutely ridiculous to even attempt to blame one of these people in practically all cases. What about factors like mental disabilities, chemistry with the teacher, or mere interest? It’s amazing watching an otherwise “lazy” child light up when I introduce a hands-on activity. They want to learn. They want to participate. They want to feel the experience. If they can get that involved in a learning experience that interests them, just imagine the possibilities that can be revamped to be more interesting...but that doesn't solve the problem for all students. I read an article that claimed student motivation is entirely the responsibility of the teacher. Its scary to think that some people actually feel this way. Honestly, I don't think you can attribute failure to just one cause.

A disturbing realization that I have come to is that labeling failure as often as people do is an extremely inaccurate descriptor for the issues they are attempting to address. In the article entitled Lazy--or Not?, Dawson suggests that laziness is caused by a lack of executive skills. However, my issue is trying to figure out where and when these executive skills should have been obtained. It can point to the parents who would then point back to the teachers for not picking up in the areas where they have dropped the ball...and the cycle of blame continues. Working with Kevin taught me in some instances failure is a matter of priority. As I got to know him and learned of his house burning down, mother’s drug abuse, foster care situation, and other weaknesses I understood why my board work wasn’t his first priority the first thing in the morning. As a teacher I was held accountable by my district for him not being successful, and all of the contributing factors didn’t matter to anyone else but me. Standardized test scores didn’t have a side note that explained he lost everything he had the month before, they didn’t have a side note that explained how displaced he felt with his foster mother, it didn’t explain how he missed practically 5 months of Kindergarten the year before because his mother sometimes didn’t bring him. All it showed was a failing score, and it was used proof that I had failed him as his teacher to help him get to grade level. So this brings up a new topic. What do you consider failure? My interpretation of failure depends on the situation...