New Athenian Academy

With the continuing debate about school budgets, I thought I would look into the actual costs of educating children in K12 public schools.  Turns out it’s very hard to get any definite information on school budgets and costs.  I know, I know public schools are public entities and therefore have to have their budgets open to the public.  But have you ever tried to read one of those?  I might as well be written in Klingon.  I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.  So I went searching for news stories/press releases/anything to give me some insight into this crazy confusing area…

I found a couple of articles about the local school system and their budget.  So I will start there…

Looking at next year’s budget, the school board approved a total operating budget of $274 million.  Wow!  I cannot even comprehend that number.  It should be sufficient to run a school system for a year, right?  Well, maybe not.

An interesting note about that $274 million: only 23% comes from local property taxes.  What a minute!  I thought school systems were primarily funded by property taxes.  Well I guess not anymore.  A majority of the funds seem to be coming from the state (an estimated $207.2 million in fact).  Again I have not found a good explanation of exactly how, but I’m assuming that the state funds are primarily from state income taxes.  I don’t know how else the state could spend ~$207.2 million for one metropolitan area’s schools.  So we are seeing a dramatic shift in where the money is coming from.  Interesting note…

Back to the total, I found some interesting things about this number.  The $274 million is a decrease of 7% from last year.  I know the local schools have all been hit in the last few years with budget cuts.  The local school system had to decrease its budget by 15%.  They started two-three years ago in preparation for the upcoming cuts.  So we have been in a transition period, tyring to trim the budget and reduce costs where ever possible.  Mostly that has translated to fewer staff positions and the closing of a high school.  So we’ve been cutting the budget already.  Now next year another 7% must be trimmed.

Looking a bit deeper into the approved budget, I found a break down of some of the big dollar items:

1. $19.9 million for capital projects
2. $19 million for transportation
3. $12.3 million for debt service
4. $8 million for racial balance.
5. $3.8 million for pensions
6. $3.3 million for bus replacement

1. is usually detailing building up keep.  With almost 60 buildings, the local system has a lot of costs involved in keeping them habitable.  Those in the system know that not all buildings are alike.  Some have heating/cooling problems.  Some have crumbling facades (being that many are over 50 years old).  Some are too small or not handicap accessible.  Some are only wired for technology through a very janky system.  In total, the buildings are in bad shape and definitely need some upkeep money.  In a dream world, all the buildings would be renovated 30 year into their life, but that’s not the case.  Instead we have to devote $19.9 million just for upkeep.

2. We have a lot of kids to get to and from school.  I understand… but isn’t there some way to decrease this amount?  See #4.

3. Like many modern businesses, the local school system, at various times, didn’t have the money it needed.  So what did it do?  Borrow of course.  And now there needs to be a portion of the budget devoted to paying back these loans.  Oh how I love our credit obsessed society!

4. Why is this in here?  Well it all started in the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.  You know, the one that demanded school systems not segregate.  Well the local system didn’t desegregate until the 1970s after a court case was brought against the system.  Since the 1970s, the local system has routinely bussed the “inner city” students to the “suburban” schools to achieve a racial balance.  (Make sure you replace “inner city” with “minority” and “suburban” with “white” to fully understand that sentence.)  Even now we are dedicating $8 million and consequently a huge portion of the transportation section to bus students from their neighborhood school across town to achieve some type of artificial integrated school.  This really needs to be revisited.  Are we making the best choice for these students?  Is forced integration the way to fix our segregated town?  Shouldn’t we focused on getting every kid a valued education instead of worrying about the variety of skin tones in the classroom?

5.  I am all for teachers having pensions, but this section really brings up the larger topic of teacher pay.  For my thoughts, you can read my previous blog post — $120,000 for 20 years of service?

6. Okay, I realize that after some time, vehicles need to be replaced.  What I don’t understand is the amount?  Really are they that expensive?  Or a better question might be, can we do with a lesser amount that the current fleet?  This definitely connects back to #2 and #4.

Currently there are 31,568 students attending the system.  If we take our raw total of $274 million and divide by the amount of students, we are spending $8679.68 per student.  Now I know that figure doesn’t actually tell us anything, but it’s the one that school systems like to put out there in the media.  ”System A spends $10,000 per student and System B spends $8000 per student.  Clearly System A is better.”  Like almost everything that comes out about this topic, the figures are misleading.  We don’t actually spend ~$8700 per student.  But how much do we actually spend?  Unfortunately the answer is buried somewhere in all the Klingon garbage.  If you find an answer, please share!  I would really like to know.  Maybe them we could really discuss the real cost of education…

“There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you’ll be free, if you truly wish to be.” — Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Just imagine.  For one class period, just imagine.  Anywhere your little mind goes.  Anything your little mind creates.  Imagine… I want to take one day and just imagine.  Have the thoughts flow freely through my mind.  Jot down ideas or interesting thoughts.  Exercise my imagination.  Take it out for a spin.

Too often my imagination is held captive.  Growing up, we are encouraged to leave our imagination in childhood.  We need to be realistic, practical.  We cannot be fanciful or pretend.  What if we left it out?  What if we went back to our carefree childhood and looked at the world through our imagination?  What if we looked at our classes with our imagination?  Makes them much more exciting doesn’t it!

I had a teacher in high school that loved for us to use our imagination.  I had her for three out of my four years (Straight Talk [study skills crap], American Literature, AP Language, and Great Books).  During my first year with her, we went to our imagination almost every day.  My favorite memory was our Dr. Seuss reflection.  We read “Oh the Places You’ll Go” and then took a walk around the outside of the school.  We were supposed to let our minds run free, just use our imagination.  I first pictured the world of Dr. Seuss and thought about how fun it would be to live in that world, scary but fun.  Then slowly my imagination took me down my own future path.  What did I want to be when I grew up?  What did I want to be like?  What did I want to accomplish?  What did I want my house, my kids, my clothes to look like?  Where did I see myself going?

It was a great exercise in looking inward and forward.  I loved it.  We talked about that day so much that she made sure we did it a few more times during the class.  We used different written pieces, but always let our imagination roam.

I think we all need to get back to that mindset of wild childhood.  A journey into the unknown.  Perhaps this would help us connect with our students.  And perhaps this would help our students connect with the material.  How are they to truly understand U.S. history if they cannot even imagine the lives of those who came before us?

Imagination — it’s our most powerful tool in education.  Let’s use it more often.

“Each diploma is a lighted match… Each one of you is a fuse.” – Edward Koch

I’ve been thinking a lot about graduation.  My brother is graduating from college this year.  My other brother graduated from college last January.  This got me thinking about how we view graduation in the education world.

Is it a beginning?  An end?  A meaningless ritual?  A solemn occasion?  A Celebration?

Looking back, I was very bored with my high school graduation.  To me, it was a meaningless ritual. I wasn’t excited about graduation.  I had to keep myself awake during the ceremony.  None of the speakers shared anything interesting or useful.  I don’t even know where my diploma is right now.  I’m assuming in a box somewhere, but which box, I don’t know.  I viewed it as something I had to do to get to college.  I was more interested in getting to college.  By graduation, I knew where I was going (Ball State University), what I was going to major in (Secondary Education – Math), and which dorm I was going to reside in (Schmidt-Wilson 7th floor).  I wanted to get to the next step.

I asked a friend about her experience.  *Disclaimer: She and I attended the same high school, graduated at the same time, were in many of the same classes, both went on to college, and keep in touch.  In fact, she’s sitting across from my as a write this.*  She thinks there are two different views of graduation depending on what the student is going to do.  For college bound students, high school graduation is just a step to the next level.  Freshman year of college was just our 13th year of schooling.  For the kids who aren’t going to college, graduation is really an ending.  A huge accomplishment, but one that is viewed as an end of a era.

As a high school teacher, I had a slightly different experience.  Our school really put emphasis on graduation as an event.  It was a solemn occasion punctuated by pomp and circumstance, marching in a line, somber speeches, and tears.  I hated it.  I felt like we were emphasizing graduation as a huge accomplishment.  I hoped that my graduating seniors would have higher aspirations than a high school diploma, but maybe I was mistaken.

Overall, I think we have a interesting view of graduation.  Every school seems to place a different importance on the ceremony itself.  Whatever the view or emphasis, I think we need to remember that while high school graduation is an obstacle to overcome, it shouldn’t be the only thing we strive to accomplish.  It should be a “congratulations!  Now what is your next goal?”  We should focus on the next step.

“If history were taught in the form of stories it would never be forgotten.” — Rudyard Kipling

I have always thought of history as one big story of us.  But somehow that idea seems lost on most students.  It’s a shame.

I try to teach history in the form of stories.  Unfortunately pesky things like tests and chapters seem to get in the way.  I always feel like I’m stopping to check to see if students are absorbing the information and that interrupt the flow.  I would love to get rid of tests altogether, but there needs to be an assessment strategy.  I love the idea of portfolios, but those take planning, a grading rubric, and commitment on every one’s part.  This could work better with a storymode of teaching.  But I’m still concerned that students won’t see thebeauty in the stories.

History is wonderful.  Anyone can find something to love.  It has action, drama, comedy, romance, horror… everything anyone could want.  My students have no problem going to see a movie, but when faced with academic history, they immediately see it as dry and boring.  We need to break the mold.  Bring back the excitement.  Tell a story.  Begin at the beginning, introduce the characters, face an obstacle, overcome said obstacle, wrap up a temporary ending (because of course history continues beyond the simple episode).

It’s all one big long complicated story.  But one that I long for on a daily basis.

“When you speak your words echo only across the room.  But when you write, your words echo down the ages.” — Bud Gardner

So I love writing… but like many casual writers, I often have trouble getting started.  And if I have problems getting started, I know my students have trouble.  How do teachers deal with this dilemma?

Keep in mind, I was trained as a high school social studies teacher.  The only type of writing that I really teach my students is a standard history research paper.  I almost always give them a prompt and they work from the prompt.

Unfortunately most of the writing that I do and the increasingly more of the writing that I ask students to do does not have a specific prompt.

For example, I have been using a lot more reflective type papers for my psychology, sociology, and government classes.  These are meant to be a way for students to organize their thoughts on the topic.  However, students find these hard to start.  And I understand.

My advice: jot down some phrases, words, ideas, people, nouns.  Just as a start to get some things on paper.  Then try to connect the words on the paper.  Really that’s it.  But I still find problems with getting started.

I will keep trying.  And i will encourage my students to keep trying.

As part of my real job, I routinely read blogs about social networking, privacy, and security.  While scrolling through a tech blog, I ran across the article at the end of the post.  It jumped straight out at me.  A tech and education article in one!  And a topic that  have a wrestled with throughout my entire teaching career.

Do we allow students to use Wikipedia as a research source?

I use Wikipedia.  I use it for basic information.  I skim the entries.  And I often scroll down to the references and bibliography at the bottom of the page to get more information.  I have written enough research papers to tell credible and non credible sources.  I gravitate toward primary sources, but recognize the bias inherent in every source.  I have been taught all this and therefore am okay with Wikipedia.  Believe me I have found many mistakes or ambiguous statements on Wikipedia.

Through all this, I always banned its use for my students.  Why?  Because I was not confident that they could wade through the muck to find the gems.  They had never really been taught to research correctly.  And it wasn’t my job to teach them.  I am the social studies teacher, not the English teacher.  The English teacher should focus on research methods.

Wait, stop!  That should also be my job.  A huge part of every social studies class is research.  I need to teach my students how to correctly research.  How to discriminate the good from the bad.  How to use sites like Wikipedia as starting points.  How to move to more interesting sources.  This should be the lesson, not an overreaching ban.

We, teachers, need to rethink how we use technology in the classroom.  The internert is amazing.  It can open up so many doors to educational journeys and discoveries.  We need to take the locks off, arm our students with flashlights and safety helmets, and send them into the unknown.  They’ll succeed eventually, even if we have to pick them up and dust them off a few times in the beginning.  With time and guidance, they will be able to reach the light at the end of the tunnel safely.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/teachers-please-stop-prohibiting-the-use-of-wikipedia/4319

“The best gift of all: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in one another.”

It truly is the best thing of all.   It would be wonderful if all my students came from the perfect happy family, but I know that’s not reality.  I have had students that came from many types of families: good, bad, atrocious, quirky, none, etc…  It is hard to remember that not all students came from the same household and therefore they are going to act very differently.

To begin with, teachers start the year completely in the dark when it comes to students.  We get a gaggle of kids with no insights, no direction.  It takes time for students to open up about their family lives (unless they are 7 years old, then they love to share about their family).  I’m not saying that I want someone to tell me everything about my students before I meet them, but a heads up on some situations might be nice.

Thankfully, when I started I did have a few teachers give me a heads up on a few of the students.  I took all the information  with a grain of salt, but it did give me some direction in how to approach them.  After teaching for a few weeks, I started to notice some quirks about some of the students.  I quietly asked some of the other teachesr about the quirks, hopeful that I would gain some insight into how to reach these students.  Sometimes I got a tidbit of info that would help.  Other times I got a “that’s just a bad kid” line.  Often I didn’t listen to the “bad kid” lines, and it was a good thing.

Eventually some of the students started to share their triumphs and struggles.  In those stories, I would get a little glimpse into their family life.  And sometimes it shoclked me.  How did such a nice kid come from that crazy household?  Conversely, how did such a trouble maker come from a seemingly great family?  Their stories really gave me pause.  And sometimes, after hearing their story, I didn’t want to know anymore about their family life.  Not because I was uncaring, but because I cared too much.  If I knew something wasn’t quite right, I would feel the need to fix it for them.  (*If I had ever heard of abuse I would of course report it to the authorities, but I never heard about any.  The problems I wanted to fix were not anything illegal, but just not the way I would treat kids.)

Even though I think of all my students as my children, they aren’t.  They are a part of someone else’s family.  I am their teacher, not their problem fixer.  Some battles they are going to have to fight on their own.  But I will always be there to listen if they need to talk.  And just maybe their families will become a great environment.  Or maybe they already are.

I have a plain black and white composition notebook that I carry around with me everywhere.  It resides in my big pink bag with a few pens, a reading book or two, various mail pieces, and a laptop.  I could get rid of everything in the bag except for the composition book (and a pen of course, I’m not going to write with my own blood).   Try as I might to move completely into the technological age, I can’t give up that notebook.

The notebook carries my ideas, my to-do lists, dates to remember, interesting links, notes to friends.  It’s a catch-all lifeline.  It’s an extension of me that a laptop just can not replace.  I am not dependent on my electronics like many people today.  But I dependent on my notebook.  It’s comfort item, much like the security blanket or bunny you had when you were 3.  It makes me feel safe and secure… me.

“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” — James Michener

Taking a pen (preferably some bright color like purple or green) and touching it to a clean sheet a paper…. magical.  I never know what’s going to come out of the pen: powerful prose, mundane grocery list, fantastical fiction, fragmented schedule.  It’s a mystery.  And I like it that way.

Typing on the laptop, I really focus on my writing.  It’s not necessarily whatever comes out.  I think about what I want to commit to the blank screen.  Of course, any mistake I make is easy to correct (that awesome delete button), but sometimes the mistakes are more revealing and inspirational for other ideas.  I like the mistakes.  There’s just no way to see the creative process on a laptop,  We don’t leave our mistakes in a Pages document (yes, I am a Mac user and love it!), we erase and write.  We are left with a clean copy, void of doodles, cross outs, random notes.

I have a love affair with notebooks and the written word.   No matter how much I use my laptop, I will still have a magic composition book in my bag ready for that extra note or interesting quote.  As much as my techie friends make fun of me for it, I don’t care.  I love that notebook.  And when I it up and there are no blank pages left, have no fear, I have 10 more in a box in the garage due to my school supply addiction.  I will just grab a new one, crack that spine, and let the ink start flowing.

“When you speak, your words echo only across the room. But when you write, your words echo down the ages.” — Bud Gardner

For the past few weeks, I have been volunteering in one of my children’s classes.  After seeing the way another teacher runs the classroom and trying to integrate myself into that structure, I started thinking about this whole concept.  Parent Volunteers… Do teacher like them?  Loathe them? Struggle with control? Welcome with open arms? Try to limit the number or time?

Being a high school teacher, the only time I had parent volunteers for was for large scale extracurricular activities (like the musical).  I never once had a parent volunteer to help me in the classroom.  I never even thought to ask.  I had them under control.  The workload wasn’t enough to necessitate an extra pair of hands and a brain.  (Also why I never had a student helper.  I just didn’t have enough work to keep them busy). So for any insight into the topic, I needed to look elsewhere.  The perfect starting place — my children.

I had mentioned to his teacher that I was currently unemployed and would love to help anyway she needed.  A few weeks ago, she got back to me and welcomed my help three days a week for about an hour.  I arrived the first day.  The kids had been told I was coming to help them work on special skills and activities.  I was introduced to the class by my kid (BTW have your kid introduce you to someone else sometime.  It’s a hoot.  All he could say was “This is my mom. Her name’s Tobe. She takes us to the library a lot.”  That’s it.  What an introduction!). The teacher again explained that I would be working with individual students at the back of the class, so they needed to listen for their name to be called.

While they were working on a math sheet, the teacher and I chatted a bit.  She asked what I used to do.  When I talked about my teaching experience, I thought I say a look of relief cross her face.  She showed me what I was to be working on that day, math standards review, and how to record my findings.  The first day went well.  As I was leaving, she asked if I would be back.  Of course, next Thursday would be fine.  Again thought I saw a look of relief.

As the weeks have progressed I have gotten to know all 23 students in the class, their strengths, weaknesses, interests, quirks.  When I come into the classroom, they usually turn and smile, but continue with whatever they were doing.  I think I have integrated into the classroom fairly well.  The teacher I usually chat for a minute about the day or what I am going to be working on or who she wants me to focus on.  We exchange pleasantries and then I get to work.  In this case, I really think the teacher is grateful for my help and I don’t think I am upsetting any balance in classroom.

Two recent incidences have added more questions to my ideas about parent volunteers.

Last week was the Halloween Party.  The entire school has a costume parade around the building and the next door high school.  Then all the kids go back to their classrooms for a party of some kind.  The 2nd grade teachers had asked for parent volunteers to help with the party as well as bring in treats of various kinds.  Of course, I volunteered for the class that I have been working with.  I was the first parent to arrive on the day of the party.  I stood quietly to the side while the kids finished up their work and cleaned off their desks.  As the teacher began giving instructions, most parents started to arrive.  Throughout the costume changing, parade, and later party, the other parents kept deferring to me if the teacher was occupied.  I didn’t step up and take charge in the beginning, so I wondered why they were doing it.  Maybe it was my familiarity with the students (i.e. calling them by name, helping them into their costumes).  At any rate, I became the de facto parent leader.  The party was a great success, but was definitely odd to work with or lead other parents.  I’ve never been put in that position before.  Then I thought about how the teacher saw it.  During the game time, most of the parents sat at the back of the room and just watched.  The teacher asked me to help supervise a specific game, so I got directly involved.  I wondered if there were just other bodies in the room, or if there was a value to having the parents there.

The other incident is actually an ongoing occurrence.  A JA volunteer comes in once a week for 6 weeks to teach the students about community, business, government, and economics.  In college I taught JA to 2nd and 3rd graders as part of my volunteering hours.  I loved it!  I got to teach an age level that I knew I didn’t want to focus on for my degree and it gave me time in a classroom.  Anyway this particular JA volunteer is the mom of one of the students in the class.  And I have some major problems with her.  First, she sometimes comes and sometimes doesn’t.  The teacher warned me that she is not the most consistent volunteer she’s ever had.  Bad start.  Next, when teaching the lessons, it seems like she’s never prepared.  There’s a lot of dead time and confusion in her instructions.  Ever time, I sit at the back of the room working with a student and have to restrain myself from jumping in and explaining the directions to the students.  I get so impatient with her.  Then, she yells.  When she has to stop and take a minute to figure out the lesson or activity, the kids start to talk.  They’re 7, it’s what they do when giving dead air.  Instead of calmly getting them back on track, she yells at them.  To me, this behavior is way out of line.  The teacher should step in, but then again, this is a parent we are dealing with.  Finally, she acts like I am her personal assistant.  I am not there to help her, I am there to help specific students with a specific task.  She doesn’t even ask, just thrusts something at me to pass out.  I really dread JA days. I wonder if the teacher also dreads JA days.  At this point in our relationship, it would be inappropriate for me to ask, but I still wonder.

All of these experiences really make me wonder about parent volunteers.  What do teacher actually think about them?  Do they have a blanket ban?  An understood welcome?  A invite, but with restrictions or limits?  Maybe if we become better friends, I’ll ask my kid’s teacher.  Or maybe I should contact some of the elementary teachers from my former school, get their thoughts on the subject.  I definitely don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but I do like volunteering with students.  Maybe I will just have to watch my boundaries.  We’ll see how it goes.

As part of my other job, I peruse a lot of tech centered blogs.  From Some Teachers, Excitement About Classroom Tech by Joshua Brustein on Bits: Business, Innovation, Technology, and Society from the Mew York Times caught my eye the other day.  Also, I have been interested lately how teachers are using technology in their classrooms.  I’ve been following a few blogs that focus on this: The Fischbowl and Kevin’s Meandering Mind.

My experience with education and technology is fairly limited.  I used the Internet for lesson planning, some videos, and of course PowerPoint for my lectures, but that’s about it.  My last school had wifi but not in the modulars (where my classroom was).  Supposedly the metal in the trailers disrupted the wifi.  Sounds like a bunch of phooey.  Whatever the reason, wifi didn’t work.  So I could not hook my computer up to the projector and still be connected to the net.  This limited my use of online based technology.  Other than that, I wasn’t very versed in the many programs out there.  If I had been reading these blogs last year, I’m sure I would have had more ideas of how to integrate the two.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  I stuck with fairly low tech teaching.  But I am very excited to see how other teachers are actually using technology in the classroom in really inventive ways.

Two different quotes from the article really popped out at me.

Some educators and people in the technology industry see this trend as a chance to rethink some of education’s traditional dogmas… like the idea of students spending six hours each day sitting in classrooms where teachers split lessons into 45-minute periods.

I’ve grown more and more disenchanted with the idea of a eight period day where all the subjects are separated and cut off from one another.  Technology could really push us into integration of topics and collaboration that many teachers like but are really unsure of how to do it correctly or don’t get the support from the office.

…tools for online communication, paired with mobile devices, allowed them to offer students different ways of interacting and collaborating on projects. Blogs and social networks make students more likely to be engaged in class material when they are at home, for instance, and software like Skype has revolutionized the traditional idea of the pen pal.

This could really help connect students around the world or even with grading homework and the like.  Instant feedback becomes a reality with online communication and things like cell phones.  We could tell students exactly what they did wrong and right.  They could correct instantly and resubmit.  The possibilities are endless.  I always gave my students my personal cell phone number to call if they needed help on an assignment, direction for studying, or just needed to talk.  That was fairly low tech, but with expanded communication teachers could really be in touch with their students and their needs.

Of course there are many great ideas out there.  And more ideas will constantly be discovered and tested.  But in my mind it all comes down to two things: money and investment.  School systems need money (ether more or a different allocation of existing) to get many of these programs off the ground.  They also need to be invested.  Meaning they need people who know how to use the technology and support those people and teachers who attempt to use.  I have seen many great ideas (hello American literature/U.S. History block) fall the wayside at schools because the office and staff was not invested.  We could revolutionize education now if only we took advantage of what’s already out there.