Guilty

I know I'm as guilty as anyone here. We all like to think we are completely unbiased, but seriously, we are only human. I had one student, who early on, really pushed my buttons. I thought to myself that "it's no big deal, I dealt with several kids like this last year." I new that he was just there to try and give me trouble all year. After our first edit session, I was blown away with how well he took to editing. I took him aside and had a real conversation with him about what he would like to achieve in class. I told him that I would show him everything I could this year. He has become a group leader and one of my most trusted students...and most talented. We never really discussed why we butted heads early on, but I'm certain he was just bored. That experience really opened my eyes to the possibility that I might have others like him, and it has really made me a more self aware teacher.

Assumptions

I believe everyone has made assumptions of someones expectations and abilities especially regarding assessments. I try not to do it, but I have found myself doing it as a coach and a teacher in the past. As a coach I did it in 2004 when we were killing the clock in an important district football game. We had the lead and I put in a young back to give him reps, yet with the hopes that he can get us a first down to keep the clock ticking away. We called a simple inside trap play (run up the middle) and he busted it like an escapee from prison and ran 80 yards for a touchdown. So much for low expectations or abilities. This young man was named to the All-Star game in 2005. I just did the same thing in the classroom, when I assigned one of my 24/7/365 type of student an important role in the mock trial we just completed. I told him he better come prepared or his grade would reflect it. I was not saying it as encouragement unfortunately, it was more like a threat. Well this young man not only nailed his role like an academy award winner, but walked around like he was Valedictorian. Both opportunities gave both young men the boost they needed to kick start them athletically and academically respectfully. So from now on (it only took me 6 years to understand it) I will not assume or pre-assess ones ability until they have demonstrated that ability to me first hand.

Who are we????

Some would argue that schools cannot be all things to all people, and that schools are changing too much in order to meet such challenges. How do you feel? What do you think the role of the school should be?

I do feel like schools are changing too much to try to accommodate all people. I know at our school we have so many different types of diplomas that you can get, which seems to be more confusing rather than helpful. Students try to decide if they should be IB, CP, AP, or Tech prep and then they try to figure out what that means. I feel like the school (especially high school) should be a place where students learn characteristics of what a good student looks like. I look back and realize that I made great grades but do not remember much from my high school days. What I did learn was how to get my work done on time, time management, and organization. These skills helped me when I went off to culinary school and faced information that had never been taught to me before.

At the beginning of this class, we had to find out what our mission for the CTAE program was and I was surprised to read ours just because I do not feel like we follow it often. Our #1 goal in our school seems to be placed on academics but many of our students need to be focusing on career traits rather than college. I wish everyone could go to college but it is not in the cards for everyone and so I feel that we need to divide and conquer rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

can we be everything ?

I think that the role of the school should be to educate, motivate, and empower. I don't necessarily believe that this should be through books only. I think that the school should focus on training teachers how to embrace the differences in students so that there are not so many children left on the side of the road. I see so many children that are super smart but cannot pass to the next level. I have noticed that education really seems to be a numbers game sometimes, meaning we may be so worried about impressing the state with our numbers we forget that these are people. We may laugh with them, and teach them a few life lessons, but are we truly trying to educate, motivate, and empower. I say no because the numbers would be better and so many would not be lost upon entering the workforce. Someone told me a long time ago to focus on the people and everything else will fall into place. No we can't save the world but we can start by having a little more compassion.

Today's Schools vs. the Schools of Yester-years

I agree that schools cannnot be all things to all people. I also agree that the shcools are changing too much in order to meet the many challenges that we face with our students and education. Our yester-years were so much simpler and there were few external distractions as there are today. Education was the priority then. Today, education is not the priority. The students today care less about getting to class on time and they care less about completing assignments on time. They lack the foresight about graduating from high-school on time and about their lives after graduation. The expectations fo the students has been lowered. Rather thatn the bar being raised, it is being lowered. The lack of parental involvement in the homes as well as in the schools is a major part of the problem. It is impossible for the schools to take on the great burden of raising todays kids. There is only so much that we as educators can do. We have our own lives and families to maintain. My goal as an educator is to prepare my students academically so that they can be successful in this competitive society. I am doing my best and I will trust the Lord wth the outcomes.

Changing Schools

All of you know that I was diagnosed with a learning disability in middle school. Without the extra help that I received, I am not sure that I would have ever graded from high school. With that being said, I think the government needs to be careful that our schools remain a place for general education and not a glorified come one come all service. I am going to try to be careful as I say this because in no means do I want to offend anyone. I believe special education has its place and think there should be schools set aside for severely profound students. I am sure there is plenty of research to say that I am wrong and these students should be in the general populace of the students at our schools. From my limited interactions, the teachers in our special education department work very hard, but their classes are mixed with different special needs. How are they to help all of the students that they have when they cannot specialize to help their specific needs? Last year, I had an autistic student. I loved him to death, but there is not one thing that my class did for him in an education setting. His paraprofessional pretty much took the tests for him. He was never able to edit a piece of video or to run a video camera. I believe if we are not careful, the general ed. students begin to suffer due to the modifications I had to make for him. It slowed the class down so much that we didn't get as much done in that class. I will finish it with a thought I had from last night. I had to chaperone prom. Early on before most of the students arrived, a severely profound student was dropped off by her parents. My first thoughts were, "How sweet!". She looked beautiful. She had a nice dress on and I thought "She must be having the time of her life." As the next hour and a half to two hours went by, I kept noticing the special ed. teacher pacing her back and forth through the main hall. She screamed at times and the teacher kept saying, "They know she can't stand loud noises and music." I don't know what this little girl was thinking in her head, but do we truly believe she was having a good time? On one of the videos we were watching at NTI this summer, one of the most profound statements I had ever heard that probably changed my life not only as a teacher, but also as a parent, he said, "Fair is not getting everything equal. Fair is getting what YOU need." I am not sure as a school system we were fair to that little girl. I still don't believe she got what she needed.

A school for everyone...I think...

In Columbus, the high schools operate on a "magnet system". Meaning that all of the high schools offer some magnet program the others do not. This allows the students of the county to "choose" where they go by applying to different magnet programs. My understanding is that all of this was put into place after Columbus High School wanted to become a "liberal arts magnet academy". In order to make it okay for Columbus High to basically operate a private school in a public system the school district made it mandatory for all of the other schools to create magnet programs (or so the legend goes). I cannot complain too much as I have the magnet system to thank for my own job. On the surface this system seems to work, giving students different options to suit their different needs. But, by making all of the schools open to all of the students of the area many other problems are created. One problem I find especially troublesome is the lack of the schools as a community institution. Students can leave the school they are attending to attend their "home school" (the school to which they are assigned geographically) from year to year. This makes school spirit and parent involvement hard to come by. Students are often attending school at the opposite side of town from where they live, making it difficult for parents to attend functions, or, for the students to arrange transportation to any after school function requiring outside transportation. Schools should serve as a place for communities to come together, decide what is important for their children to learn and have those values taught to the students effectively. While all schools in Columbus work hard to meet state standards and exceed in achievement levels, the community atmosphere is missing in many of the schools (the magnet system also extends to several middle and elementary schools). The school should be a place where learning is not the only thing of value that is taking place. Being an integral part of the community makes the students/faculty/staff experience at a particular school more enjoyable for all involved.

School Role

The role of the school should do just what it's design to do and more. School is designed to educate,counsel,guide,expose and discipline. As a Teacher there are more responsibilities that come along with it that we don't expect. As my colleague stated in her post education starts at home and school highlight the subject matter. As we know some students don't have the exposure to education at home. Naturally, the school are held accountable to close the gap. In most cases Students are expected to have a health/balance home life. Unfortunately, more and more students are considered at risk. In turn the school has to counsel student to assist with self-esteem and other situation. The school also have to help the student to caught up with their academic due to the fact they don't receive reinforcement at home and they have negative/complex circumstances at home. This cycle repeats itself over and over again. The school role continues to change and no one can really stick to one thing which define the school role. Since there are so many things schools are having to do along with education, students and teachers are not able to focus on the main goal education.

Angel

All or Nothing

This question presents an opportunity to think about the role of schools in today's society, specifically in Georgia. Each student has a different need that presents in a different way daily. As educators, we have an expectation that we are ALL knowing, All seeing and have answers to ALL questions. I have found as a parent and educator that those terms are ALL wrong. When faced with such drastic economic short falls as we are currently experiencing, it becomes increasingly hard to recognize the shortfalls of individual students while keeping up with the rigor of the everyday grind. Knowing that we will receive larger student class sizes and smaller paychecks simply adds to the stress of our daily tasks. With those factors in mind I would have to say no schools can't be all things to all people.

Then there is the question of what schools can be. The role of the school should be that of a mediator between the parent and the child. The school should be responsible for providing the infrastructure required to educate a child. Some students will take the material given and build the building to educational specifications. Some will build a structure that is not sound but with assistance from the mediator (school) will restructure the foundations required to complete the assignment. Then there are those that will be left with a pile of ruble that may not be formed into any effective structure. With the school as the mediator it is vitally important that parents identify the resources required to complement instructional mediation. As a parent, I feel that it is my civil duty to recognize characteristics in my children that may not be recognized in a classroom of 30 + children. As we all know, all parents don't have that commitment and sometimes the access to the resources required to support the student.
That leaves us with the question of, what happens when a parent can't provide the support required to complete educational structure? No Child Left Behind? Instructional differentiation? Career Technical Education? House Bill 1232 mandating parent-teacher conferences for failing students? These are the hypothesis that we find on the table each and every day we report to the classroom. We know that smaller class sizes work. We can't afford smaller class sizes, so what next? That's the million dollar question with more answers than the opposition to healthcare reform. In the mean time, I will keep working 1 class at a time to do my best to impact the needs of the future through the needs of each student I teach!

Role Reversal

I believe the roles of the school have changed tremendously. There has been a lot of blaming in the last few years in regards to the role of the school and the role of the family/home/parent. My theory is, If parents were more accountable or at least mandated by law to be more accountable, the role of the school could be better defined. With all of the cultural, economic and educational disparities, learning and the idea of school mean different things to different people. As a minority woman from a single parent home, education meant the world to me. It was the difference between leaving my poverty stricken neighborhood for a better life overflowing with opportunities or becoming another statistic in my neighborhood- an uneducated teen mother. My mother stressed the importance of education, manners, home-training, respect and everything else associated with raising a child during that time. She was one of the biggest supporters of all of my teachers that I ever knew. She never sided with me instead of the teachers. The school knew if we got out of line...one threat of a phone call home would cause my brothers and I to "tighten" up. Why do you ask?? We were afraid of being embarrassed in front of our peers. We were also afraid of our mother coming to the "school-house" and tanning our hide, going home and getting another "licking" and then going to grandma's and getting an even harsher scolding. It was clear to us that the school was a place to excel in learning and also a place to make our family proud of us (and not in sports but academics). We were taught that you didn't go to school to play. You went to school to learn. You get your socialization at recess and not in the classroom. Today, many students come to school to socialize. If they learn something oh well...if they don't so what. There's no one in the home that bothers to ask "how was school today?" or "what did you learn today?"
As for my answer for the purpose of the school today...in all honesty....I have no idea. I've seen the penduluum swing in both directions with the students being caught in the backswing. Some are able to catch on and hang on for dear live while others are pushed to the side and pushed thru the system. With all of the "new program" ideas that come at a high price, the value of education has been sacrificed. I think some school systems have wasted funding on nonsense ideas of the powers that be that were short lived, costly and worthless to the masses.

At the end of this semester, my pathway will be phased out. While it is bitter-sweet, I am ready to go back into industry. Being an educator in the public school setting has exposed me to a lot as a parent. Now I am a bit more prepared and ready for the state of my child's education. It has caused me to re-evaluate my purpose as a parent. Learning begins in the home, it is highlighted at school and those highlights are re-enforced again at home and in our community.

What should the schools be to the people?

There was a time when those who could excel had to wait patiently for the rest to catch up so the lessons could advance. There were also those who got left behind because the rest had to keep moving. Those in the middle were the ones for whom the pace was created. Increasingly, there is a more diverse setting wherein superlatives can pull away from the pack. Inversely, there are more opportunities for srtugglers to slow down and refocus. Those in the middle can truck along without being stretched to either end of this spectrum. In other words, the schools are attempting to provide an education suited to each children's need and abilities. Notice I said "attempting". More often than not, the middle must cater to the strugglers because class sizes and budget cuts limit instructional resources for the strugglers. AP students receive dummed down versions of the "gifted" classes because the curriculum simply does not provide challenging environments for those desiring more. It all comes back down to the old way.....shoot down the middle.

What Schools Should Be

I believe schools are a place where learning happens or at least it should happen. Being in school
is not an act of learning just by showing up, like so many of my students believe. I try to let them know this right off the bat. I tell them, I will provide as safe of an environment as possible, but it
is up to them to follow the rules and learn. I am fairly conservative and believe we are not baby sitters. I do not put up with disrespect and believe we lead by example. I stand up every morning during the pledge and ask that each student do the same. I also, believe that being dressed appropriately is part of learning respect. A school is not a playground. I believe if a student shows up just to play and cause problems the three strike rule should apply. I think that
corporal punishment should be re-instituted. It was used on me and made me think twice before I acted up or did something I should not. Without it, we have to fill out to many forms and walk on egg shells for the students. I see kids doing the same things over and over to only have to serve ISS. I believe in a very strict policy and I believe until the schools can regain appropriate punishment we can not be near as affective as we should.

Schools

Schools are like churches....the church is not a building, doctrine or even the denomination it is the people. Schools are the same way. It is not the newest building, the high tech equipment, the curriculum being taught or the available pathways. Schools are the students and the teachers. The culture of learning be it prepping for Georgia Tech or Lanier Tech. Being in National Honor Society or the National Technical Honor Society. Some teachers and classes are there as a "drop out prevention role" and some are there for the "Honor Roll". Teaching is communication, motivation and inspiration. No matter what the subject matter is or what the student's capacity is to learn. All students need accountability and responsibility. That leads to discipline to live and learn no matter what is being taught. We need to put down the excuses and raise up our expectations in the educational field. We need to get back to good old teaching fundamentals. We can't forget that the word FUN is in fundamentals. We also can't forget the word MENTAL is in there as well and that means intellect. We all must once again have fun learning and teaching!

School's Today

The School's today have first and obligation to the world, the nation , and the community to resemble a pillar of strength not only to the community but also to today's learners , Yes as educators we are faced with students that endure economic strife and the hardships of gang violence that e currently plaque today's youth . The school offer a pillar of hope to many that find refuge in the four walls . For some students just the ideas of a building that offers love and support from caring individuals ,that consist of everyone that touches a child life daily ,from the bus driver to the lunch lady ,to the office secretary ,lets not forget the school nurse ,the coaches and those teachers like myself that love children and love the institute of teaching . I do realize that the school cannot be all things to all people ,however for those that reach out for a helping hand ,teachers can all things to all people . The teaching industry currently is in a state of turmoil ,however me must press on through ! Prayer changes things.

Selina

The Role of Schools

Values are deteriorating at a pandemic rate. We see this at our schools everyday. Teachers should provide academic guidance and reinforce the foundation of positive values established by good parenting. Unfortunately, good parenting is becoming less and less a priority. Children who lack guidance will loose their way. Many of our students are already headed down the wrong path. In middle school, it’s so obvious which students are fortunate to have positive, supportive and involved parents. As I stand in the hallway everyday, I overhear student conversations. I am worried about the future of our society when I hear some of these conversations. With unsupervised use of the internet, television, and cell phones, students are creating a world for themselves which is frightening. The innocence lost between 6th and 8th grade is depressing. Even more depressing, is seeing more and more students experience this lost prior to the 6th grade. Absentee parenting has to stop. Being a part of a child’s life is not enough; equally important is leading by positive, respectful example. The domino effect will corrupt our society if things don’t change. Students who lack guidance will become parents who don’t have the skills to provide guidance. If things don’t change, the corruption of our society is going to be devastating.

Schools cannot be all things to all people, nor should it be. We live in a society with a prevailing sense of false entitlement. Normal stages of child development involve pointing a finger and saying, “She did it!” or “He made me do it!”, or even saying “I am not going to follow your rules and you can’t make me!” This is not normal adult development. Society, as a whole, is taking this to a dangerous level. When parents are doing this, what can you do except shake your head and wonder about our future. No one is entitled to this type of behavior. Parents are not entitled to use schools as their surrogate parenting partner. The role of schools is to provide opportunity for intellectual and personal enrichment. The role of teachers is to facilitate this enrichment and serve as role models of positive behavior. As teachers, we must remember we are in the trenches with those who are fighting the good fight, in our nonviolent, structured, day in and day out battle. The reward is seeing the little warriors who are in the struggle with us and knowing they have loving, supporting parents at home. Perhaps the most amazing, rare and beautiful moments are when we find the little warrior on his or her own, managing to continue the battle and somehow win along the way. That’s when we know there is something out there greater than ourselves.

Super Schools

I have been thinking about the expectations placed on teachers and schools for quite a while now. We have so many demands placed on us from every different direction. Our administrators expect us to perform magic in our classrooms with very little money. Some parents expect us to teach their children the subject matter, discipline, self control, character, manners, etc., etc. Then we have the students. Some of them really want us to teach them and some of them would really rather not learn anything at all. I feel like the school system is constantly changing to try and reach those who are in the latter catagory. I realize that it is important for us to try to reach those who are not interested, however, I sometimes feel that we do that at the expense of the other students. We try so hard in high school to make school enjoyable that we are creating a society of people who don't do anything that they don't "want" to do. These kids expect that college is going to be the same way. WRONG! Not only is college not like that, but the real world is not like that. In the jobs that I've had, no one has ever catered to me so that I would do my job. I hate to say it, but to be successful, sometimes (a lot of times) you have to dig in and do things that you might not enjoy doing.

Lots of Changes...

Schools have definitely changed a lot over the past couple of years! I believe the economy is the cause of the majority of these changes. Politics have overwhelmed our school systems. Just this week the county I work in has decided to shut down one of our elementary schools that has been around for over 30 years. How sad is this? Just to save some money. I understand that we are hurting for money and we must do what we need to do to save, but I just think there are other ways of going about this. As a school we are supposed to educate the students. How can we educate them to best of our abilities if we put 32 students in a classroom? We will not be able to give them the support that they need. Not only are the students going to suffer, but this is also going to put over 100 teachers out of a job. It used to be that teaching was the safest profession around, my how times have changed... For many students school is a safe haven for them to come. I just hope we can carry on that name for these students.

Give them the Tools

In the health care field you learn early on that you cannot save everyone. You use the best tools you have available, but sometimes things do not go well. Fortunately, we do not loose students to illness and death in the classroom, but we still try to save them all. We have staff that includes many non teaching positions such as social workers, psychologists, therapists, counselors, grief counselors, graduation coaches and dietitians to name a few. Yet despite all of these helping professionals students still get in trouble, get pregnant, get drunk, use drugs, go to jail, & are disrespectful (not a good day today !) Why is that? Why is it the more support we give to students and the community, the worse things seem to get?
Bottom line is that we are not their parents. We are outsiders trying to do a job. That job is to give students the tools that they need to learn and be successful in the process. All this in the few hours a week that we see them. Yes ,we make an impact on a lot of lives, but I do not believe an impact that supersedes parents. We hope that we are teaching them to be successful adults, but in reality we are only a small part of that process.
In this economic climate some of those helping support services may go by the wayside. I fear that even more will fall in the teacher's laps, or will that force families to retake the responsibility that is theirs anyway?

DON'T GET ME STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I was in school it was mandatory for the parents to show up and meet the teachers. I wish that would happen again so you can really see and talk to each parent to make sure they have your back when it comes to teaching their child. We had prayer every morning in school prayer did not hurt anybody. Now when we pledge to the flag of the United States of America the students do not have to stand what type of crap is that my friends and family fought for this country no respect. I am going to stop now on this subject!!!!! The role of the school should be to communicate with the parents and kids and stop changing things so much.

Schools are Schools.

When did reading writing and arithmetic's become an all encompassing responsibility. When I went to school, we didn't have a lot of color or words pasted everywhere. When I went to school we still had corporal punishment. Somehow we managed to learn to read, spell, and have proper grammar. We learned how to compute mathematics. We learned history and some of us even liked it. My best teacher was not a man who had colorful words on his walls. He was a man who treated us fairly, yet firmly maintained his control in his classroom. He was a man who challenged his students to be smarter than they wanted to be. Or, felt they needed to be. When I went to school, parents still trusted and respected a teacher, regardless if the children tried to deny an action, or said the teacher doesn't like me. I think the pressure to be "all things" is too great for any government institution. Parents and students alike are responsible for their own academic careers. As would anyone of us be in our own careers. Furthermore, we have our own family relationships to cultivate. As much as I would like to save every kid from poverty I know I can't. So I use the approach of I can show you what I know, but it's up to the student if he or she wants to learn. I have to say, it's been most effective. Five of my seniors are now taking on small repair and not so small jobs and have spoken with other student's about it. Now the kids are starting to realize money can be made! And then they realize, it's up to the individual and his or her aspirations, not the schools responsibility.