Teacher's Desk: Sticks & stones

“Sticks and stones can break my bones and words can really hurt me!” That's my update on the old schoolyard saying after I received an email message from the Facebook cause, Special Olympics, asking me to help them eradicate the casual use of the word “retard.” I abolished that word from my vocabulary a long time ago and demand the same from my students. It is considered a cuss word in my class and has no place there. A profanity report will be required from the student using it just as easily as someone saying something truly considered profane. The same goes for the word "gay."

When "gay" is used in the schoolyard, it means lame, but that doesn’t stop the hurt from a young man who is not homosexual or the middle school student who is gay, but isn’t ready to announce it to the world.

When I was chairperson of a middle school site committee, we made sure that we had a school counselor who students could go to when they were called, “gay,” and felt angry or hurt. A couple of years or so later, when I taught at a large, northeast Denver high school, my class room became a safe haven for gay and lesbian students. These students knew they could come to me for help and sanctuary.

At my current high school, an alternative high school charter, we have a prevalence of gay and lesbian students, but our students treat each other with respect, so all have a positive school experience. That is part of our school culture.

I don’t think any of us truly realize how words can really sting. I have to battle with myself not to quip because it is easy for me to put hecklers down. In a previous life, I performed stand-up comedy. Actually, it was sit-down comedy since I used a stool. I digress. I do hold my tongue, and many times I tell my students I could’ve said something, but it might have come out hurtful so I won’t---this time! My students tell me a keep it real.

Kathleen Kullback is a licensed special educator with an M. A. in school leadership and is a former candidate for the Colorado State Board of Education.

Teacher's Desk: Feeling Feisty

(Hilton Head, SC – Mar. 25) Once at the Comedy Club, sitting up front, the comedian asked me why I wasn’t laughing. “I’ll laugh when you say something funny.” was my reply, to which he became annoyed. I remembered that scene yesterday when my husband asked me a similar question, then became annoyed when I answered him. I have students who ask questions, then don’t like the answer, too. Don’t ask the question unless you can handle the answer! (And need I say: don't cross this teacher.) So what? So here we are at the beach on spring break, and all those situations came together while dining last night at a jazz spot. The trumpet player reminded me of a bullying band teacher. He was in love with the brass section and harassed the woodwinds. I began to wonder if I make the same mistakes teaching. Mr. Mack took away my love for playing music by constantly belittling me during my middle and high school years. I had an art teacher who acted much the same way, so I stayed far away from drawing, painting, and ceramics as my confidence was dashed by criticism that was not very constructive. Have I done that? I began to wonder.

Before leaving Denver, I gave most of my classes, hour quizzes. I told my students where to place their finished quiz, what to do when they finished---and---I wrote it on the board. When Dee (not her real name), a single teenaged mom, finished, she raised her hand and asked, “I’m done so where do I put this?” I repeat myself too many times around these students, so I quipped, “Take it home and flush it down the toilet if you want.” It caught her attention and another student explained what she needed to do. I praise this young lady much as she has grown tremendously in skills, attendance, and attitude. She knows I’m proud of her because I have told her, but I wonder if I dashed her hopes and aspirations. I’ll check in with her when I return from spring break.

My colleagues and I speak often of our students’ innate ability NOT to follow directions in all situations. I write the week’s schedule of objectives and pages for the week divided daily on my back board. Inevitably, I hear, “What are we doing today?” I point to the board. Daily, I will explicitly read instructions, write them down on the front board, and show examples. I get, “How do I do this, or what do I do now?” High stakes tests are the worse, because my colleagues and I are proctors, not educators, and we must read the directions using a script. We cannot explain much further.

If students would go over in their minds what was done the day before in each class before walking through the door, I truly believe they will be more attentive to directions given and classroom expectations. If they will do that one simple exercise, it won’t be Groundhog Day (the Bill Murray movie where one day is relived every day) in every class, every day. And maybe the teacher won't always be so feisty.

Kathleen Kullback is a licensed special educator with an MA in Educational Leadership and a former candidate for the State Board of Education.

Teacher's Desk: Conracks of Colo.

Maybe I need to eat my words, or at least nibble them, when the Denver Post now informs us the DPS board and superintendent support new charter school proposals, as well as, innovative schools. Although I am a strong supporter of innovation, the funny thing with innovation schools is that the district still pays for their facilities; charter schools pay for their own facilities. Innovation schools continue to pay teachers at the current pay schedule. Since charter schools pay for their own facilities, they usually cannot afford the same pay as district schools for their educators. Personally, I’m willing to take a $10,000 a year “cut” (it’s not really a cut unless I received it) by working at a school that treats me with respect and allows me to give input to improve student success. I deal with a reasonable administration and board and not a layer of bureaucracy in between. I like that. I have been checking out a lot of other education blogs lately and will continue to do so as I discover them. Ed is Watching is an Independent Institute blog informing readers of federal and state legislation involving education. Jay P. Greene’s blog is truly eclectic on many education issues. Dr. Greene is the chairman of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and President of the Manhattan Institute. David Saba and colleagues write for ABCTE. This blog informs on alternative teacher licensure. David has an on-line program for those who choose teaching as a career after receiving a baccalaureate degree without education classes. Many times it is a mid-life change for professionals in many different fields. I ran on a platform supporting alternative licensure as a candidate for the State Board of Education back in 1990 when Colorado did not have any alternatives to teacher licensure. I took advantage of alternative licensure much later on when Colorado allowed for alternative licensure. I am a graduate of such a program. I truly support this on-line program as it could bring opportunities for teaching careers in rural Colorado and provides the opportunity to develop really great teachers!!

As I finish coding the backs of CSAP booklets (a truly tedious chore), I am looking forward to my annual trip to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. My husband plays golf with his sister and we dine on awesome seafood---especially oysters! Last year, I took a tour to Daufuskie Island, a twenty-minute ferry ride away. Daufuskie is the island portrayed by author, Pat Conroy’s (Prince of Tides) book, The Water is Wide. There was a movie back in the 1980s about this story, I believe, starring Jon Voight called “Conrack.” It told the story of a 1960s idealist, Conroy, teaching isolated “Gullah” students about the world, society, life skills, and academics including music. The young teachers I work with are all “Conracks!” They don’t know that there is a “NO.” They only see “what if?” I like that.

I am lucky that many of us, including myself, value education. Accidentally, I instilled that in my youngest son. My 22-year-old son graduating from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs this May with a B. S. in Engineering has been accepted to Virginia Tech’s graduate program in doctoral studies. That is very, very uncommon to go straight into a doctoral program and he is slated to be a teaching assistant.

I hope they give him a classroom. As a 14-year-old, he was an amazing math tutor. I would really like to start a program that has the Brendans of the country go into the middle schools and speak to students about loving mathematics and what mathematics and science can do for them.

What do you think? Is this something we can develop across the country? Let me know. Kathleen Kullback is a licensed special educator at an alternative high school charter with an M.A. in educational leadership and is a former candidate to the State Board of Education.

Teacher's Desk: CSAP SNAFU

Running for a seat on the Colorado Board of Education almost two decades ago, I championed the idea of an accountability test. Little did I know I would later be suffering the angst of giving such a test. This CSAP was not what I had in mind. I was of the mindset that we give a test to measure students’ performance of Colorado academic standards that was simple, easy-to-take, easy-to-assess, and inexpensive like an Iowa, California, or ACT. Today, as site assessment leader at our school, I arrange and train proctors, keep all the different tests organized, and proctor make-up after make-up after make-up tests. The students required to take the CSAP are our recently enrolled students who generally have poor attendance, poor skills, and even poorer attitudes. Fortunately, that is usually less than 30 students for day and night school! Proctoring make-up tests takes away the planning period of two teachers and the attention of our discipline coach (dean).

Larger high schools and middle schools do wonderful give-a-ways of I-pods, video games, flat screen televisions, and gift certificates. Students are usually given a number for a drawing after each test they take. For 8th and 10th graders, that is approximately twelve hours of testing! Even though many of these students are not used to making good choices, many of them show up for every test and try to do their best. Recently, the legislature looked at forbidding schools from using incentives.

The original purpose of this test was to make schools accountable to their communities and taxpayers, as well as, compare schools’ results so that parents could make better school choices. I don’t disagree with that. There were plenty of schools in poor neighborhoods that were making excuses instead of doing the job the taxpayers were paying them to do: educate every child, no matter the child’s circumstance. I do think it is time to find a more efficient method of assessing student progress by using a simpler, less expensive assessment tool aligned with our state standards.

In March 4th’s Denver Post, www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11830285, parents at Hanson Pre-K through 8 school are using the CSAP as a weapon. They want the district to return their school, the lowest performing school in the district, to a bi-lingual approach and reinstate their beloved principal, even though objective assessments inform us the bi-lingual format is not improving student performance. By holding the school “hostage,” the school’s aggregate scores will be even lower and places the school at-risk for closure.

Instead, if the parents want a bi-lingual approach to their students’ education, and they feel their desires are ignored, they should develop their own charter school that is designed to support a bi-lingual environment. There are several schools, mostly charter schools, that take a bi-lingual or even multi-lingual approach. The Colorado League of Charter Schools and Colorado Department of Education are great resources for start-up charter schools.

Governor Ritter’s P-20 panel wants Colorado to take another look at state accountability tests, especially at the high school level. That makes sense to me, as long as there continues to be transparent accountability of student achievement.

Kathleen Kullback is a special educator with an MA in educational leadership and is a former candidate for the Colorado State Board of Education.

Teacher's Desk: Shape Up, Parents

I keep telling myself I like my job and love my students, but when the weather is mild, students’ behavior gets wild. And boy, could I use a mental health day today. I awoke this morning with a bad case of crabbiness, but unlike regular public school teachers who get ten sick days and five personal days a year, I came in. I only get five days for both personal needs and illness. I used three already because I needed two for the Jewish holidays. I understand that I work with at-risk youth, but I also know many of their parents. If these nice folks knew how disrespectful these adolescents act toward adults, I’m sure most of them would be very embarrassed.

I’m as guilty as many supporters of charter schools and vouchers about blaming poor instruction for the sorry state of not only Colorado’s but America’s declining student achievement. That is really not fair to many teachers. What I haven’t alluded to enough is the shabby habits of many of our students’ parents. Shut the television off. Turn off the video game. Give your child a healthy dinner and conversation. De-clutter a desk or table, so he has space to do homework. Ask him to show you his homework. Don’t make your teenager babysit a younger sibling and miss school. Set up doctor and dental appointments after school. Keep the iPod at home. Don’t call him on his cell phone in the middle of the day. Use the school telephone. Call his teacher regularly. Show up for parent/teacher conferences. Provide money for lunch, or better yet---make him lunch. Make your child go to bed at a reasonable time, and make sure he gets to school on time in the morning. I’m sorry if you are a single parent. I’m sorry if you are here illegally and cannot speak or understand English well. I’m sorry if you, yourself, were a high school drop out; if you are not going to be responsible in properly raising your offspring, then don’t have them. I know that sounds really harsh (I warned you I was crabby!).

Good parenting includes continuing to parent during the high school years. I know some of these young adults wear parents down, so some parents are just counting the days until the fledgling leaves the nest! But poor parenting while your child was younger had considerable effect on his behavior now. Your young adult or your small child does not need another friend. He needs a parent. He needs someone to model reasonable behavior. He needs someone to show the consequences of behavior. He needs you to say NO.

Kathleen Kullback is a special educator with an MA in educational leadership. She is a former candidate for the State Board of Education.