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Teacher Appreciation Day … or Not

Jennifer Wagaman — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:49:17 +0000

Teachers are being laid off, furlough days added to the calendar in order to cut back on pay roll, programs are cut, class sizes increasing and the worst is yet to come. Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, tells teachers in an open letter that “in the next decade, half of America’s teachers are likely to retire”. I wonder how many are being forced to retire or how many are jumping ship before things get any worse?

So now we stop to appreciate our teachers. Let’s look at what we’ve done to teachers in the past few years: Teachers are having to find second jobs to pay the bills; the best teachers looking for new jobs. Some districts are questioning whether 12th grade is a necessity, while a the same time looking at trying to educate 3 year olds. Test scores are now the only thing that matters and teachers no longer promote honesty and integrity as filling in the bubble on a scan-tron, even when the answer is not known, is of a higher priority. (I am a Bad Teacher, by Valarie Strauss)

Here are some questions I have about the whole situation:

1. How many administrators eat out each week? (because we can’t afford to on a teacher’s salary after pay cuts and mandatory raises in our pension contribution…)

2. How many government budget makers are struggling to pay for health insurance? (because many teachers have to pay this by themselves now, something that is quite difficult unless a spouse has another career that pays well)

3. How may students can you physically stuff into a single room and expect to learn?

4. How will eliminating 12th grade help colleges who already complain about having to provide remedial support for incoming freshmen?

5. How will bringing in students 1-2 years sooner (3 and 4 years-old) improve a system that can’t figure out how to educate them starting at age 5?

6. How does cutting pay for teachers solve anything? (unless you really want fewer teachers in the school systems, then that will help)

My prediction – at least 2 more years of worsening before it begins to hold steady. In that amount of time, who knows how many teachers will be left? The fact of the matter is that we need good veteran teachers to mentor and help train up the new teaches entering the field. Without the veteran teachers, new teachers will have a bigger steeper learning curve.

Arne Duncan makes bold claims: “I hear you, I value you, and I respect you.” A statement that is hard to swallow when teachers feel their cries fall on deaf ears, find that their value now lies in the accuracy of student’s ability to fill out a scan-tron sheet and respect for their job lies in a dwindling paycheck that doesn’t cover all the bills anymore.

Budget makers – your values are showing through as you continue to cut back education funding. Where will it stop? When will the education of the next generation be a priority? Cut out the rhetoric, talk means nothing. Put yourself in a classroom and find out what teachers do every day. Stop asking teachers to get kids to pass a test while pulling the rug out from under them at the same time.

Or are we going to start offering free and reduced lunches to teachers as well as the kids?

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day

Eliminating Grading Scale (Push for Mastery)

Jennifer Wagaman — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:36:13 +0000

Teachers today will usually all agree on a couple things:

1. There is not enough time to teach a single skill until all students have mastered it.

2. This lack of mastery is a result of a curriculum that requires them to move ahead too quickly.

I personally think it is not the fault of the curriculum that prevents mastery, but the schedule and setup of the public school system that does not allow enough focus on academics.

I grew up homeschooled, a fact that is often surprising to people, and recently had a conversation with my mom about how we were graded. Easy answer – we weren’t. There was no need to provide grades because we simply worked on a skill until it was mastered. There was not room for B’s and C’s because the expectation was that we would LEARN the material, not that we would become somewhat familiar with the material.

If someone were to suggest eliminating the grading scale, parents and teachers alike would probably spin into a tizzy, trying to figure out how to know whether their children (or students) were learning anything in school. If only teachers had the time during the day to teach students to the point of mastery, then grades would not be necessary because parents would know that their children were LEARNING.

Lets take a moment now to look at how much time teachers generally spend teaching per day (this does not take into account testing, pretesting, etc. This is based on one schedule at a public elementary school – other schools will obviously have different schedules with different total teaching/down times).

Students arrived: 9:00AM

Math: 9:30-10:15

Specials- 10:15-11:15

Lunch and recess: 11:30-12:30

Water/bathroom break/quiet reading at desks – 12:30-1:00

Language Arts (reading and writing combined) – 1:00-2:00

Social studies – 2:00-2:45

Pack up/clean up/read aloud – 2:45-3:15

Dismissal: 3:15

Total time teaching in classroom: 2.5 hours

Total time at school: 6 hours and 15 minutes.

Then you throw in field trips, assemblies, discipline problems that interrupt instructional time, etc. and that amount of instructional time reduces even more.

So let me ask you – is it the curriculum that is the “cause” of the lack of teacher’s ability to teach a skill until student’s have mastered it?

How to Improve Standardized Test Scores

Jennifer Wagaman — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:46:03 +0000

When preparing students for the standardized state tests that contribute to the No Child Left Behind Act and AYP, there are a few things that it is important for teachers to keep in mind. First, it is important to note that everyone as an opinion as to how to improve test scores. The bottom line is, what brings about results? So much of what schools/teachers/administrators choose to do or have others do, is based on opinions and ideas and not research.

Here are some tips for improving test scores based on research from the National Center for Educational Statistics. Check out these tips for improving test scores, then follow the links to read more and find out what surprising things actually make no difference in the test scores.

First, my opinion – be sure that in the ever present push to get through each standard on the state mandated curriculum, that children are learning why they need to know the information. Understanding the facts may help them pass a test, but understanding how that information is applicable to their lives is priceless and will ultimately result in better educated adults. It may also be worthy of note to reduce test stress.

Here are research-based specific things that teachers can do to ensure higher test scores.

To Improve Elementary Reading Test Scores:

Make reading a fun and enjoyable activity. Research shows that students who perform well on standardized reading tests enjoy reading and find it fun.
Focus on building student vocabulary.
Provide time for silent reading

Read more tips on improving reading test scores.

To Improve Elementary Level Math Test Scores:

Spend 3-5 hours on math. While this may seem simple, it provides teachers the amount of time necessary to teach each skill.
Avoid excess homework. Research shows that an excess of 15 minutes of math homework each day might actually hinder the goal of improving test scores.
Ability grouping is helpful as well, providing teachers the ability to focus on a single level of student ability at a time and really bring up the skill set of each group.

Read more tips on improving math test scores.

Teach Middle or High School level? Here are some tips for you on improving reading test scores:

Raising Middle School Reading Test Scores

Raising High School Reading Test Scores

Student Assessment

Jennifer Wagaman — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:51:30 +0000

Student assessment is a vital part of teaching. There is some confusion surrounding lesson plan assessment, though. Student assessment is not an opportunity to find out if a student learned the required material. Rather, it is an opportunity for teachers to measure the success of their own teaching methods.

With this understanding comes a bit of confusion, though, as teacher performance begins to play into teacher salary. While it is true that student assessment demonstrates teacher effectiveness, it is not true that a standardized test can demonstrate the overall effectiveness of any one teacher, school or school district.

When the proper tools and ample amount of teaching time is provided to teachers, all students should learn. Unfortunately, though, all students cannot be expected to learn at the same rate. Even two students in the same grade cannot be expected to learn at the same rate, and expecting teachers to have all students passing the same test at the same time is ludicrous.

Instead, teachers should be held responsible for student learning. If John knows 50% of the information on a test prior to instruction, that teacher should be held responsible for Johns increase in knowledge to, say, 80% on the same test. The problem is, without knowing what the student starting level is, there is no way to hold teachers properly responsible for student growth.

Changing the Focus of Education

Jennifer Wagaman — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:42:56 +0000

Too much focus has been placed on test scores and standards in the public school system today. While there has been some improvement in test scores as more and more focus is placed on reaching these specifically defined testing objectives, the question of improving the school system is still being asked daily. Instead of asking what new strategy or focus will help students meet testing goals, what would happen if teachers took the tests and threw them out the window?

Could the focus on tests and scores be misplaced? While schools are focusing more on test scores, some parents are choosing to “unschool” their children, an extreme version of homeschooling that has drawn criticism from many. While unschooling does have its downsides, namely, that students may not learn the necessary information to compete with their peers, the concept behind it may be closer to true education than the public school option.

Perhaps taking the focus off of tests and scores and objectives would allow teachers the option of focusing more on educating students – not imparting knowledge but helping students learn how to learn. Read more about Unschooling America’s Children.

No Child Left Behind?

Jennifer Wagaman — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:25:49 +0000

As test scores come back for area schools, parents and teachers alike are inspecting them, looking at what schools passed and what school did not pass. More and more schools are passing the state tests, with more and more students in each category testing at a proficient level.

What do these test scores actually tell us? Are teachers doing their jobs better? Are students getting smarter?

The only thing these scores tell us is that students are getting better at passing a specific test. This would indicate that students are learning the basic skills required by these tests and that teachers are doing a better job teaching these skills.

The better question to ask is: are these state tests looking at the right thing? Are these tests measuring the skills that our students need to learn?

The Obama Effect

Jennifer Wagaman — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:15:46 +0000

A recent study by Dr. Friedman and his associates entitled “The ‘Obama Effect’: How a Salient Role Model Reduces Race-Based Performance Differences,” in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (forthcoming), looks at the effect that President Obama had upon test takers.

Traditionally, African Americans perform lower than their Caucasian counterparts on the same test, but after President Obama became president, this achievement gap effectively disappeared. Researchers believe that expectation based on race has a huge impact on the achievement of individuals. This study shows the power of a role model in impacting the expectations and achievement of a group of people.

Time will tell whether the Obama effect will have a long term impact, and more studies are needed to verify the findings, but the implications are vast. In essence, African American students perform better simply by having an African American role model demonstrating the importance of a good education.

Teachers, especially those who teach low achieving students such as special education students and minorities, need to learn how to extend the Obama effect to each of their students. They need to teach their students that they can achieve, and help them believe it through positive role models and effective teaching strategies.

This study demonstrating the Obama effect is only the beginning of the necessary changes in the educational system.

For more info: The Obama Effect

How to Increase Student Motivation

Jennifer Wagaman — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:43:16 +0000

A nearly universal struggle among teachers is the issue of student motivation. Regardless of grade, many students have begun to have an attitude that school is a waste of their time. What has caused this motivational issue? I have to wonder if part of the reason is not the focus on testing and achievement.

We are so focused on increasing student test scores that we have lost the ability to teach lessons in a motivating way. Instead of teaching students why it is important to be able to solve certain math problems, we focus on correct answers and high test scores. While correct answers are important, motivated students will learn more than unmotivated students, resulting in improved student grades and higher test scores.

Whenever teaching a lesson, teachers should ask themselves, “if I were the student learning this, why should I care?” If there is no obvious answer to this question embedded into the lesson plan, then the lesson will not motivate students. Every lesson you teach should include an answer to the question “so what?”

Here are some examples for how to write motivational math lessons.

The Problem with the Public School System

Jennifer Wagaman — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:26:18 +0000

Research has been done that shows that half of teachers leave their positions by the end of the first five years teaching. (Teacher Attrition Rates, Why Teachers Quit) This is an alarming fact. While new teachers bring fresh ideas and up to date information into the classroom, experienced teachers bring better classroom management, deeper curriculum knowledge and greater understanding of how to teach, which translates into higher student test scores.

The main reasons teachers site for leaving their jobs include low pay, lack of administrative support and classroom management issues. While there are many others, these three seem to be at the top of the list for most people. Other reasons include the inability to motivate students to learn, bureaucracy, lack of preparation time and mounds of paperwork.

While some things are more difficult to change, such as pay rates and preparation time, other issues can be improved upon and should be improved upon quickly. The better the system in place for our teachers, the better the education our children will receive. This will translate into higher test scores, which will make the school district and the government happy.

The bottom line: The problem in the public school system today is not the teachers. The problem is not the students. The problem is not the curriculum or the amount of time spent on each subject or the type of testing. The problem is lack of pay, lack of administrative support and student discipline issues. The reasons teachers are leaving the field is the reason student test scores are low. Fix one and you will fix the other.

Preparing for State Testing

Jennifer Wagaman — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:51:17 +0000

Stress begins to rise in schools all across the country as the state testing draws near. Students feel this stress, as do teachers, their families and friends. The relief once the test is over is huge, yet with the lingering wonder as to whether or not the students did well enough to help the school pass AYP.

It is important that even with the overwhelming importance of No Child Left Behind and making Annual Yearly Progress, that teachers keep in mind the importance of the task at hand. It is a given that teachers are going to teach to the test as much as possible, but that should not be at the expense of the education of each child in the classroom.

It’s important to keep students calm and stress free. Allowing excess stress will only create potential health issues and prevent further learning from happening. While some stress is good to ensure students try their best, excess stress is detrimental to the end goal of higher test scores and educated children.

Read more tips on how to improve standardized test scores.