Giving the Gift of Time

By Nick McDaniels – Last week, as you know, was teacher appreciation week. Like every year, I got a new t-shirt, candy in my mailbox in the mornings, a lunch on Friday. The administration and faculty at my school do a good job during this week and I enjoy all the gifts and the kindness.

However, this post is about one of the the best gifts I have ever heard of a teacher receiving. The gift of time. In a conversation with a few great principals, they told me about the gifts they give to their teachers. And one gift they talked about was the gift of time. Every year the principal gives teachers a gift certificate for an hour or so of time to use as they please. They cash in this certificate (with advanced notice of course) and the principal teaches their classes for them. The teachers then are free to do as they please, go out to lunch, get a massage, etc.

Teachers, under all the pressure to run data, call parents, get professionally developed, grade papers, attend meetings have a dwindling amount of time to complete their work, and most teachers, as we all know, take home hours more work. That is why this gift of time is so important to teachers. It doesn’t necessarily help them to get any more work done, but it does remind them that someone notices how much time is being put into their work. It is this type of gift, something that really reflects the work that teachers do, that makes a great teacher appreciation gift.

Unfortunately, my school is probably too large to pull off something like this with well over 100 teachers. However, if you are a principal or teacher in a small school, recommend or suggest it next year for teacher appreciation week. This type of thoughtfulness and mutual respect can really energize a staff in a positive way.

The Best Learning in My Classroom this Year Had Nothing to do with Me

By Nick McDaniels – Last week at the beginning of class, as I was taking attendance, I heard some of my students in my “quiet” class getting loud and starting to yell at each other.

Four years ago, I would have come flying into the conversation with some wisdom about why we should speak peacefully to one another. Now, I just let these things play out for a second or two because my instincts about what is and what isn’t going to get worse are better, fights don’t happen as often as they used to, and perhaps, I’m just a little more tired.

Regardless, I’m glad I let it go. After listening for a few more seconds, it occurred to me what the argument was about. No one hid someone else’s hello kitty cell phone cover, no one bonked anyone on the head for saying something dumb (this game is called Bonkaz and is as childish as it sounds), and no one made fun of (packed up) anyone’s shoes.

Of course: the ontological argument (I’m sure some more well-versed MU theologians than I might disagree about my terminology here, but bear with this non-Catholic for the sake of argument).

Why not? My students were arguing about the existence of a higher power. What fun!

I snuck from my desk up into one of the student desks, just outside of the argument — which at this point was engaging about 80% of the class. First things first, the argument was really well structured. People were listening as others spoke, people were taking time to think, people were deferring to “experts” (the preacher’s kid). I couldn’t have designed this if I had tried.

One student, Jermaine (names have been changed to protect the innocent), was asking most of the questions.

So He just snaps his fingers and the world is made? He hears everything? If I am saved, does that mean I can still go to hell? Are God and Jesus the same person? Is God a person? How come when I pray for stuff I never get it?

All open ended, all for which it was clear he had no answer. Then Marissa started weighing in with answers from her experience. And “Brother James,” the future preacher, started talking about God as perfection and humans as sinners. Then the cool guys, John and Javon, lent their approval to the conversation by quieting people down when they wanted to hear a particular answer.

I let it go for 20 minutes, void of test prep, void of teaching, oops. So fire me!

Then they asked me. What about all the other religions? What about their Gods? Can there be more than one?

I started into a discourse about world religions as constructs for creating meaning and answering the unanswerable. I tried to get them to fathom the expanse of the universe, and just when their brains started to hurt, I told them that if they needed a higher power, right where their brains started to hurt, that’s where it would be. In my mind, this seemed like a fun exercise. Naturally, they got bored, so I stopped and they started again, realizing that they didn’t need me for this one, because I, probably more than most of them, have no answers for their questions. And then Jermaine realized, as many admit, the answer often times cannot come from without. Wow! Everyone nodded and that was it.

On that day, my students asked a ton of questions, and I answered none. That sounds like bad teaching. But in this case, it was the best teaching I could have done. Sometimes we just need to get out of their way. I’m grateful to my students for reminding me of that.

The Other Shoe of High Stakes Evaluations Just Dropped

By Nick McDaniels – The other shoe just dropped for me, but we’ll get there in a minute.

Operating under a pay-for-performance structure is not good for morale or working conditions or students. For a teacher, it means waiting with your finger in the dam, holding back the pressure supporting a family, boosting the test scores, managing a classroom, navigating the common core curriculum, attending meetings, joining committees, and, at some point, actually teaching children. Why do teachers take on all of these jobs, many of which used to be handled by central office personnel or department chairs or team leaders (positions which are going the way of the dodo)? They are afraid for their jobs.

The carrot under pay-for-performance is a bigger raise (and the satisfaction of a student succeeding on a test developed at taxpayer expense by multi-national publishing and consulting corporations). There is supposedly a huge stock pile of carrots to be awarded, all so far out of reach that most are discouraged even at the thought of trying. The teachers who actually get the carrot find the taste to be soured by the hours of test-prep and sacrificed family time it took to get a nibble.

The stick under pay-for-performance is devaluation, whereby teachers are told they are not good enough, they are not doing enough, and either need to work much harder or find something else to do.

Most teachers, because we are a bunch who are industrious and eager to please, do their best to achieve the standards set no matter how unreasonable they may be in hopes that an observer or evaluator will note their hard work and reward them for it. But eventually, we will all be exposed. These systems are not set up to make teachers look good anymore than the testing regimes are set up to help students succeed. Eventually, the way the systems are designed, we will be devalued.

And then what?

Managing my Burn Out Year

By Nick McDaniels – I’ve spent some time (hopefully not too much time) thinking about a good metaphor for my job.

Most everything I thought of was amusement park related. This is probably good and bad. So here’s what I settled on and then I’ll explain how this all relates to the title.

If you’ve ever worked in the roller coaster that is an inner city school,you know there are incredibly long, almost not-worth-it, lines at the copy machines, you know there are times when a bunch of kids are moving around really fast, yelling loudly, and flailing their arms, and you know that after each ride, when you get off the train, the people you see on the next ride might be totally different people. Of course the kids are different every year, but the staff changes from year to year in sadly predictable ways.

Just like when you’re on a roller coaster, there are people who get off the train, and then go get immediately back in line for more of the same, but there are also people that take one ride, realize the hassle it takes to enjoy the ride is too much, and go eat an eight dollar, three pound turkey leg from the concession stand (this is not part of the metaphor).

Oh… and because I know you were thinking it: Working in an inner city school, like the elevator business, has its ups and downs.

So why does this happen: changes of cast from year to year (in this way it’s almost like a Circus, but I didn’t want to have to decide who in a school is the person who follows the elephants around with a big shovel)?

Burn out.

We all know the statistics. Teachers, particularly new ones, don’t stay in the classroom, or at least not in an inner city classroom for very long. I see that. I see a lot of teachers complete their contracts with their certification organizations and leave, I see some others stretch another year out of themselves and leave, and I see a few more who are sticking with it longer. I have also seen some veteran teachers who reach a point when they know it is a enough and move on to other, hopefully greener pastures.

In my fourth year now, and already committed to a fifth, I am nearing the less traveled years statistically for new teachers, but I will admit that this year I felt the burn out creeping into my psyche in a way that I never have before. We all, or the sane ones, burn out a little bit every year. You’d have to. Summer generally heals all wounds. This year however, I felt that March feeling in November. It scared me then and I know it had an impact on my year.

I’ll admit to having a rough year, new curriculum, new grade level, new classroom, large class sizes, some particularly challenging students, and the impact of a generally low school morale. All of this contributed to my burn out feeling, no doubt and the cause, while important, doesn’t matter as much as the effect.

So how have I minimized the effect? I tried to get more joy out of my students rather than worrying about test scores and curriculum. I tried to boost the morale of my colleagues. I tried to spend more time with my wife and daughter. All of these things worked to some extent. But none of them worked so much as to keep me from looking elsewhere for a job as most people do.

But the moment I pulled up the employment vacancy list, particularly looking at non-classroom positions, I realized what I was doing. I was getting off the roller coaster and going to buy an eight dollar, three pound turkey leg (maybe this part of the metaphor does work a little). I decided at this point to reaffirm my commitment to children. I needed to get back in line for another trip around the track.

There is no trick here, no secret. Just will and timely reflection. I am managing my burn out year by owning it and not letting it consume me. After multiple burn out years, it will consume you, and you probably need a change, but for me, this is my first experience. What helps me, when thinking toward next year, is remembering that every year for an inner city student, is a burn out year. Things are worse for students than they are for teachers, generally, and we see the impact that it has when they let it get to them (terrible grades and attendance, violence, etc…). I realize that my duty to my kids, is to manage my burn out, and stick it out for them, because they don’t have college degrees that can allow them to change their situation as easily as a teacher can. In this way, we, as teachers, can shoulder their burn out too by being reliable and dependable.

From this, I have found a way to gain comfort. Burn out year or not, Summer will heal things, and next year will be better. I will plan to stand up straight and make sure I am tall enough to enjoy the ride, because as we know, the times when it is fun, it is really fun, and I won’t let one year derail my commitment to children.

Ring Out Ahoya in Baltimore

By Nick McDaniels – Forgive me for taking a brief break from my usual political, educational blogging. But this weekend,

I had one of my most enjoyable Marquette moments since graduating in 2009. You see, I haven’t been back to campus since I left after student teaching. My wife has never been to Milwaukee, nor has my daughter. And aside from inviting my friends (most of them Terps anyway) over for a game viewing party during March Madness, we have not been able to experience much of the Marquette spirit I remember so well.

On Saturday, I connected with some Marquette Alums of the local Baltimore Chapter for the first time at a local family-friendly pub, Our House, for National Marquette Day. First things first, allow me to congratulate the Men’s Basketball team on an impressive win over Notre Dame. As usual, Marquette showed more passion and defensive effort than their opponent (shooting nearly 60% from the field didn’t hurt either). Also, it is important for me to congratulate Chris Otule on a great game. Chris is the only player left on the team who I worked with when I was a student-tutor. His hard work academically always impressed me and I was happy to see such a great performance from him in his last home game.

Most importantly, I want to add that this group of Marquette Alums, none of whom I knew before, welcomed us with open arms, befriended us like we all graduated together. My wife, Amie, commented as we were leaving, “What a nice group of people!” At that I realized one of reasons I miss Marquette. We, as Marquette grads (and current faculty and students), are generally a nice group of people. We are welcoming, friendly, engaging, and supportive. I am glad my family got to experience it first hand.

And for all current students who will be alums sooner or later, know that no matter where you land after graduation, you will be able to find some people to Ring Out Ahoya with. All over this country, there are Men and Women for Others (and Basketball). We are here to support you and each other because We (still) Are Marquette!

Where Will Charlie go to School?

By Nick McDaniels — My daughter, Charlie, is two and a half now, growing like a weed, with a blossoming vocabulary.

It is an exciting time as a parent. Much of her recent learning and social development cannot be attributed to her parents, both teachers, but to the wonderful instruction she receives at the childcare center. As childcare goes, from a parent’s perspective, I’m one of the lucky ones. Because I work at a vo-tech high school, there is a childcare program where high school students learn to become certified childcare providers. Wonderful teachers supervise the student-teachers who get to hone their skills on real children, one of them mine. So each day, I get to bring my child to work with me, and pick her up before I come home.

Because of her age, she will be able to stay in this program for one more year. And then…

You see, that is where we are stuck. As a public school teacher, and a graduate of Maryland Public Schools, I know the quality of education that can be offered for no cost of tuition. But as a Baltimore City Public School teacher, I also know of the deplorable conditions many of our teachers and students face. We bought a house in the city three years ago (there is no residency requirement for Baltimore school teachers so we had many cheaper choices) so that we could pay into the tax base and send our child to Baltimore’s schools. We realize that one of the only ways to improve schools is to build the middle class, build the tax base, and get all of the affluent and upper middle class parents to re-enroll their children in public schools.

To a certain extent, this is beginning to happen. The result, as you can imagine, is widespread economic and racial segregation in our schools. It is no accident that the best public schools in our city are populated by students of affluent, and in large part, white, parents, through little fault of the parents themselves.

This intentional, at least passively intentional, segregation of schools is not something that I want to subject my child to. I don’t want her to grow up subconsciously thinking that good schools can only be filled with rich, white kids. But then, as a parent, what do I do?

Send my child to a more racially diverse school that, because of institutional racism, has less resources and thus provides a less adequate education? Maybe.

Is that experience one that would instill in her the virtues of anti-racism, social justice, a peaceful heart and mind? Probably not, conditions as they are. Not with all the pressures of standardized tests. Room for a meaningful, character building education would be out the window.

So if I don’t want to send my child to a mostly white school or to a school stricken with standardized test pressure, where do I send her?

There are the charter schools, of course. The schools often provide great educations by using a completely unscalable model. This is not good for education as a whole, but certainly good for the students who go to these schools. Do I want to send my child to a school, provided we can get through a lottery stage, that all other children in the city do not have the same access to? Many of these schools require quantifiable parent commitment in the form of volunteering or fundraising, a commitment that many working class parents cannot make, thus segregating schools by class. So if I don’t want my child thinking that good schooling cannot happen in working class neighborhoods, where do I send her?

Catholic schools? The Archdiocese of Baltimore, after downsizing schools a few years ago, is undergoing a resurgence in enrollment it appears. Super Bowl winning coach, John Harbaugh, of the WORLD CHAMPION BALTIMORE RAVENS, does the commercials for the schools. There are great options for coed and single sex schools at affordable prices, that are racially diverse, outside of the pressure of standardized testing for the most part. Plus the teacher children how to be good, caring people. What more could a parent want? Well, I want all this for free. Undoubtedly, and I know the Catholic church isn’t making any money off of schools, it is easier to provide a higher quality education when parents pay for it. Am I selling out on the public schools that I want to see improve by sending my child to a private school because, if I pick up another job, I can afford it? Do my principles even matter when it comes to educational choices for my child?

Thankfully, I have another year to figure this all out. And I’m sure I won’t completely figure it out ever. That is the nature of parenting, right?

Right now I am grateful that my daughter is receiving a great early childhood education in her childcare program, where she is with students who don’t look like her, who come from other neighborhoods, have different family structures, and who will teach her that being kind and courteous and polite and well-mannered and intelligent and joyful are not just traits reserved for the kids at the rich, white schools. A strong foundation is certainly laid, now it is for my wife and I to make the necessary choices to do what is best for our daughter.

Hopefully, next year, she will have an opinion that we can take into account as well. When I asked her this morning if she wanted to go to a different school in a few years, she said, “Yes. I want to go to a blue one.” “A blue one?,” I said. “A blue one.” I guess I’ll have to work that into the school search as well.

Entering the 21st Century with an Interactive Whiteboard

By Nick McDaniels – For years now, I have been asking for an interactive whiteboard.

I figured the use of a projector and a magical pen, with all the software that is available now would improve my ability to keep records, manage a classroom, and engage students. A few months ago I acquired a Promethean board (not a new model by any means), and just a few weeks ago, it was finally hung on my wall. I have taken to it like a hungry goat to anything, taking turns with my co-teacher so that we can both be interchangeable on our technology like we like to be with everything else we do.

We have bought in heavily to Class Dojo, a web-based classroom management platform that allows a teacher to have all students (along with their cute randomly assigned avatar) projected on the board and award them points for good behavior and deduct points for bad behavior. This program allows us to create our own categories for points to award and deduct and gives us running cumulative totals by students and by class.

Though the temptation to give out negative points every time a student does something bad is there (it also comes with a great “bummer” sound effect), I am proud to say that we are giving positive points about 80% of the time.

We have been able to show video clips, pause the video, write directly on the web page to annotate the clips. And, best of all, we have been able to step back and allow students to do the work for us. They love using the pen, and love using the Class Dojo on their classmates. In general, this has been great for us as teachers, though sometimes our learning curve on the board, delays the learning of our students. That, however, I think is made up for by the general excitement and engagement surrounding the board.

Now, to make sure that you take this celebratory post with its appropriate grain of salt, know that I have one major concern.

Does the board make the learning more teacher-centered?

I have worked hard, as someone who loves his content area, who loves to talk in front of a captive audience, to make sure that my classroom is as student-centered as I can make it. With the whiteboard however, I have noticed that the content of the lessons, possibly because of the vast amount of resources available at my beck and call, have become more at my discretion, thus less student-centered. There are trade-offs with everything, of course. One thing is clear. I love my whiteboard, and so do my students, but I need to continue to check myself to make sure my students are always loving it more than I am, because there, and only there, can the use of this technology be worthwhile.

If You Can’t Beat ‘em, Boycott ‘em.

By Nick McDaniels – Most days I am proud to be a teacher.

I am proud to not give up on kids when so many people have. I am proud to make a living by the success of students rather than by their failure as so many do in this country. I am proud to be a teacher-activist who fights for the rights of teachers and students.

Recently though, and not through any action of my own, not through any action of anyone I know, not through any action of anyone in my time-zone, I became even more proud to be a teacher.

Teachers stood up on behalf of students and boycotted the single most classist act ever perpetrated upon the American people through public schools: standardized testing. Teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School, alma mater of Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, to name a few, stood together in solidarity to say that they refused to subject students to a corrupt and unfair testing regime perpetrated most impactfully on poor and minority students by the State of Washington serving as the strong arm for the federal government.

You would be hard pressed to find an inner city teacher that would not agree with their rationale and find themselves facing the same unreasonable conditions regarding testing. The tests don’t test what is in the curriculum. There is some huge company taking tax dollars to bring these tests to classrooms. The tests don’t address the state standards in a reasonable way or at all. And, very basically, testing doesn’t help children learn.

Recently I read a passage on a standardized midterm test that my students were to take. Of course, this passage, and the questions related to it, had little at all to do with anything that was in the curriculum I have been teaching all year, thus setting the students up for failure. But, more importantly, the passage, about the beauty of poetry, went on to talk about how poetry is closely linked to thought and passion, and leads us to break down barriers between cultures and languages, and is undervalued because it is boiled down to something that can be put into neat little boxes, easily defined, quizzed upon.

In other words, Americans don’t like poetry because it is taught in such a way that can be tested, and this type of philosophy, when applied to anything, will strip anything of its purest meaning and value. So what are my students to do with this amazing knowledge, this profound theory about pedagogy and literature? Answer multiple choice questions. Why not? Why not subject a bunch of students who are subjected to some of the cruelest living conditions America can offer to such a cruel irony? After reading the passage, I apologized to my students for even being a part of subjecting them to such a test. Perhaps had I seen the test more than a few days before I was supposed to give it, then I could have boycotted too.

On that day I was ashamed to be a teacher.

However, I am proud to know that there are those among us who are willing to put their jobs and livelihoods on the line to stop this unreasonable assault on often the most helpless of our American brothers and sisters. Thanks, teachers at Garfield, and all that have jumped on board since. I am with you. You make me proud to come to work.

Common Core: Curricular Choices Matter

By Nick McDaniels – I blogged earlier this year about the restrictive application of the Common Core on my teaching.

It has limited what I’m allowed to teach. As the year has gone on I have found my annual burnout happening much earlier this year than in years past. I have had this feeling confirmed as mutual by many teachers I respect.

And then, in a stroke of wisdom, another English teacher said to me, as we were trying to figure out how to get ourselves out of our attitude funk, “Yes, our class sizes have gone up, but that has happened before, the students seem less prepared, but they always do, the amount of work that is put on us in addition to teaching is increasing, but we can generally handle that. What is really making me sad, it that I am not at all invested in what I’m teaching.”

She metaphorically hit the metaphorical nail on its metaphorical head.

This year I am entirely teaching material that I am not invested in. So are my colleagues around the district. It is not that the books that we are teaching are not good, though they are certainly far from great. It is that we are not even given copies of the book and the mandatory related curriculum until a day or two before we are to begin teaching it. At best, we are reading the books a chapter ahead of the students. It is no wonder we aren’t invested in it. We don’t have time to be invested in it. That saddens us because we love teaching what we know and love.

English probably more than most subjects provides a huge amount of flexibility in terms of materials, which has generally allowed teachers to select texts that they enjoy, know their students will enjoy, and know so well that they can teach it thoroughly. This year, my colleagues and I have none of those options. The worst part of it all is that the students know it.

Being passionate and knowledgeable about the subject you teach is one of the only ways to succeed in an urban classroom. We can, for a while, fake passion. And we tried. We can’t fake knowledge and because of this prescriptivist curricular thinking, our teachers are set up for failure, and in turn, so are our students. Fortunately, we teachers, like our students, are a resilient bunch.

Let’s Actually Make School Safety a Priority

By Nick McDaniels – Political and educational leaders all over the country have been making speeches over the last few weeks appropriately addressing the issue of school safety.

While these speeches sadly but importantly remind us of the horrific and senseless tragedy in Connecticut and pay tribute to those innocent children and adults who are no longer with us, we must wonder if these speeches will have any bearing on policy that will make schools safer. While at the same time politicians and education leaders are talking about making school safe from dangerous intruders, concerned parents and students, those who lovingly embraced one another last Friday in shocking remembrance of the fragility of life, need to know that these politicians and education leaders are taking steps to make schools more internally dangerous.

Many states and districts nationally have enacted sweeping policies to reduce suspensions of students. This, in theory, is a good thing. Suspension rarely helps the student who is suspended. However, these once suspendable students who are no longer getting suspended also need other services to help them deal with anger, behavioral issues, and violence. They do not get the services because they are not funded. Now staff members and students are often forced to endure threats of physical violence, and sometimes actual violence, with limited consequences for the student.

If asked, most any parent would tell you that they are not comfortable at all with anyone being threatened or assaulted in school without serious repercussions (expulsion is usually suggested). In fact, often times when the parents of the student who commits the infraction are informed of the consequences or lack there of, they are appalled at the lack of action. As a result, students and staff members, innocent ones, who may soon be protected from dangerous intruders through new policies created in the wake of the Connecticut tragedy, will be subjected to recurring danger and abuse from other students, those not receiving the services they desperately need.

Let us take this moment now to force our educational leaders to defend all students from all dangers and not to pay timely lip service to something that deserves so much more. We must defend our dear children and teachers from dangerous intruders. We must defend our dear children and teachers from violence and abuse that fills our schools and even defend those students who are committing such acts from harming themselves and harming others. We can afford to give them the services they need and we must not let anyone tell us otherwise. We can no longer allow leaders to cut corners when in comes to safety in our schools and now, more than ever, as we are thinking about school safety, we must be sure that school safety is a priority with no exceptions.

As our thoughts are with the community who has lost so much, we must be sure to defend everyone in our schools from the pain of everyday school violence and the senseless tragedies that have affected our schools and communities across this county far too frequently over the past many years. In the memory of those lost, let us all be prepared to stand up and defend the innocence of education from those who try to take it away all at once or little bits at a time.