The Road to 65, Mile 309: The Sardine Can

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on October 4, 2015 in distraction issues, Education, impediments

October 2, 2015, Prescott- It seems that some school administrators regard placing large numbers of unsettled people into a classroom, late in the day, as a necessary test of the mettle of classroom teachers. I disagree. The classroom is a place of learning, not an arena for adult machismo.

I have yet to meet any child, either adolescent or younger, who truly enjoys being stuffed into a sardine can of a room, regardless of how much he or she seems to get a bang out of causing a disturbance that throws the learning exercise off track. It’s human nature to strive for improvement, just as it’s human nature to strike out at being treated like an afterthought.

These thoughts come to mind, after a particularly difficult end to a generally good day. Dealing with people who were jabbing one another with sharp pens and pencils, and yelling over the soundtrack of a video on a totalitarian State is not my idea of paradise, and truth be known, it is not something I will have to do again, any time soon. First, the Principal of the school has hired more teachers to reduce the class sizes, and after Fall Break, the school promises to be a more equitable place. Secondly, I will have only Fridays to offer my services there, as a more permanent job will occupy me, the first four days of the workweek.

My point remains, however, that the only way people, of any age, are going to learn is if those devising the system of learning regard their charges as worthy of the same respect they demand for themselves. By this, I mean deep learning- not just the cognitive command of facts and data.

The Road to 65, Mile 308: October Beginnings

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on October 2, 2015 in Education, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values

October 1, 2015, Chino Valley- I made my last visit to Del Rio School for a while, spending the day with a class of second-graders, with whom I have worked a few times in the past. I will actually miss this school, and several others, but throwing myself into the well-being of a specific group of children, day-to-day, for at least two months, and hopefully longer, is something I need to do. It’s necessary for my own sense that I can do good by a classroom, over a long period of time. It’s necessary for the children, whose skills are undeveloped, and thus seen by the Masters of the Universe as “low”.

In another iteration, I covered for a teacher on maternity leave, for five months. The children loved me, and I, them. I had the support of the school administration. The teacher, sad to say, did not like my work and made it very clear, especially at the end. I digress.

It was a good day today, and it will be another good day tomorrow, at Mile High Middle School, in Prescott. I can work in Prescott schools on Fridays, until the Winter Break, at least, so the separation is less than final. My first priority, though, will now be Mingus Springs’ third grade class.

October will see me back on the trails- the first few days of Fall Break- next week, and on several weekends hereafter. Son will be out here, at the end of the month, and I will make my now traditional visit to San Diego, at Thanksgiving time. My Faith also factors directly into the schedule: Besides being the cornerstone of my daily life, Baha’i events will occupy me, this coming Saturday, (as will community service, here in Prescott); at the beginning of November and on several days throughout the Fall. I can never tell when the needs of trusted friends may arise and take me off on an errand of mercy, as happened a week ago, today.

October is always a fascinating month- and not the least because of our fun traditions of Halloween. I have always enjoyed treating children, from my front door, over the years, in places like Toltec City, Tuba City, Jeddito, Salome, Phoenix and Prescott. This Halloween will find me at a friend’s house in Tucson, perhaps finagling front door duty.

The crispness of the air, and the changing leaves of the Northland, will also bring me and mine a renewed energy. I had my mid-year check-up yesterday, and all my vitals are in top form. Fall will be a great season.

The Road to 65, Mile 299: What Is School?

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on September 23, 2015 in Education, Personal Values

September 22, 2015, Chino Valley- I am gratified that my sleep and energy levels are proving more than adequate to do the job I have been given- and will get more in tune with the students and their needs, in short order. A lot of time and energy will need to be devoted to shoring up their skill levels, to say the least.

Much has been said about the “dumbing down” of the curriculum, with an idea that the common denominator, in a polyglot world, is pop culture. There are uses to which phenomena, like Hip Hop can be put, but seriously, I see no good use for lowered expectations,double negatives, coarse speech and mangled grammar.

A longtime friend complained today, that teachers are getting all the blame, for students’ lack of success, and that people should stop crying Victim, every time they are criticized. She is right on both counts, and I attribute these phenomena to false pride, if not narcissism- and both are rooted in insecurity.

Teachers are just part of the team that raises and nurtures a child. Parents, extended family, community members, and the child herself, are equal partners in this effort. No one should get off the hook, when a child fails.

I will need to do a lot of one-on-one and small group tutoring, both during, and outside of, the school day, in order to bring my students up to speed. There will also need to be consistent parental encouragement and efforts to provide a stable home life. The child needs to be taught responsibility, as one of the finest supervisors I have ever had kept saying, day in and day out, in the Fall of 2001. That supervisor was 18 years of age. She was a prodigy, and is now a Master Teacher, at age 33.

School is more than just a building. It is a community, a center, a medium of exchange (in the ideal sense, not in the financial sense). It needs to be a refuge of hope and of strength. We have a long road ahead.

The Road to 65, Mile 293: Transition

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on September 17, 2015 in Education, impediments, Personal goals

September 16, 2015, Prescott- Someone remarked to me, online,this evening, that my generation is finished and that I should get in my “slot”, with regard to working with youth. I know enough about this person to understand that he was just trying to get a rise out of me. It didn’t work, in that way, but it did strike me as ironic,as did his plaint that I was “bouncing around too much”.

The irony is that I have entered a five-year period of relative settlement, following four years of “bouncing around”. At a time in life when many people, especially those in the Western countries, almost demand that we retire from work, and berate those who don’t, I am returning to a regular work schedule. The reasons are two: First, I am not ready to leave the world of education behind. Second, another Western value is that we remain independent and do not burden others, financially.

I recently read of a woman, age 100, who is still working as an educator. I applaud her! In my case, I plan to work until age 70, take a two-year sabbatical of focused travel, then return to work for three more years or so. I think 75 will be a good age for me to stop gainful employment, but I don’t know as I will ever occupy a “slot”, determined by others. Conversely, I don’t ever presume to think I will know what is best for others.

So, as my transition back to having a room full of children as my daily, and long-term, responsibility begins, and I get acquainted with my students, starting next week, I ask the gadfly, and all others who look askance at those of us who do not go gently into that good night, to stay tuned. I have lots left.

The Road to 65, Mile 265: Pesky Testing

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on August 21, 2015 in distraction issues, Education, Social

August 20, 2015, Chino Valley- I stood outside Mingus Springs Charter School, this morning, and again at lunch recess, and marveled at how sweeping a view there is, in three directions. Bill Williams Mountain is visible to the north, and Granite Mountain, to the south. Eastward, the brown hills of the St. Matthews Range are interspersed with the greenery spreading out from the Verde River watershed. The kids get to see this, four days a week, and, like a child who experienced the green hills and riverbanks of Saugus, MA, some fifty-five to sixty years ago, they probably feel comforted with the scenes, while taking them pretty much for granted.mandatory

My primary task, today, was to oversee another thing that people have come to take for granted, in today’s schools: Mandatory testing. This round of tests, for the latest educational fad: Common Core, is to determine students’ present level of competence, relative to The New Standards. It’s a pre-test, in other words, and has two parts, reading and math. There will be a post-test, in April and May, and the two will, of course, be used to determine a student’s progress, and the school’s efficacy.

I’ve seen a lot of arcane material, and circumlocution, in the presentations of some Common Core advocates. Like any educational flavour-of-the-year, or decade, it has its good points and its drawbacks. Some claim it is pushing a socialist agenda. Others see it more as fascism, a brazen move by the Feds to implement mind control. I wouldn’t go anywhere near that far: It’s a fad, much like No Child Left Behind, and before that, The First Days of School, and before that, A Nation at Risk. Core Learning, Discovery Learning, New Math, Character Counts, Responsible Thinking, Immersion Learning- all have had their time in the sun, and some have managed to stick around, here and there, and do a measure of good.

When I first started working as a school counselor, in the 1980’s, my job partly entailed supporting the Principal’s pet project: Score High on CAT (California Achievement Tests). In the early 2000’s, the heyday of Harry Wong’s “The First Days of School”, there were no fewer than FOUR standardized tests being thrown at the students, in April alone, as part of the build-up to No Child Left Behind.

I was left behind, after that, and fortuitously, as I would spend 2005-11 as Penny’s primary caretaker. More insidiously, though, I feel the children were, and are, being left behind, as their natural curiosity and sense of self- worth are getting squished by the pell-mell Race to The Top (Oops, that is so 2010!) Try as the Big Boys and Girls might, they don’t get it. I had to come down hard on the normally co-operative students, just to get this Assigned Task accomplished. It’s a money game, and we all know it. Without the testing, Federal dollars are withheld. Without the testing, the students would focus on more intensive study of things that actually interest them, and which could be more practical in their lives.

So, how will the trade-off settle? It’ll be another fascinating year, no matter which school(s) in which I find myself.