April 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

A Call for Investment: Our Schools, Our Children, Our Future

By Kathleen Sullivan

Teaching is challenging, rewarding, exciting, exhausting, and never boring. Actually, every day is a new adventure. Lately, I’ve been struggling; Not with teaching students, but with everything else that goes along with being a teacher in a needy urban district where resources are stretched thin.

I am struggling with teaching well over 100 children a day while wearing so many other hats. Our students walk through our doors saddled with burdens. Some children are from difficult home lives, some are homeless. Others have arrived on our doorstep from war-torn nations, refugee camps, or from countries of sheer chaos. Students often show up hungry. Others are in need of shoes and clothes. Some are grieving the loss of a parent, which vary from parents who have no contact with their children, to parents who have died or been killed, to parents who have been lost to addiction, mental illness, or incarceration.

Even so, teaching is easy compared to the mental anguish and emotional drain of serving as counselor to children who are emotionally scarred. Our social worker/adjustment counselor oversees 600 students four days a week. She has a consistent caseload of 40 students, and an additional 10 plus extra students each day to tend to as each daily crisis arises. If you do the math, you will understand that teachers absorb much of the pain and agony some students bring to school with them each day.

In addition to students in crisis, we are also teaching students with intellectual, emotional and mental disorders with limited special education support in our classrooms. I love my job, I love my students, but I am exhausted and drained. If teachers are to prevail at making every child successful, we need help in our classrooms. We need help to meet the needs of our kids who are experiencing personal and emotional crisis. We need special education assistance for our students who need individual support.

When I think about what our struggling students lack, I have come to realize that no matter what their burdens are, they are each lacking consistency. School is their safety net. School is their refuge. Each day, for eight hours, they are safe. They have structure and they are surrounded by people who want them to grow into productive, conscientious, caring adults. For our students to succeed, they need assistance within the walls of that refuge.

Teachers will teach all students. Teachers will accommodate workloads and differentiate instruction to reach all types of learners. We will provide kindness, empathy, and respect. We step in when counselors are not readily available to children in crisis. When special education students are not getting enough individual attention, teachers spend extra time to meet the needs of these students and give them the academic support they need to make gains. How do we continue to spread ourselves to meet the needs of all our students?

Should we invest in staffing counseling within our schools so that counselors have reasonable caseloads of students and teachers can teach? Should we rethink how special education services are delivered by special education teachers so that students are properly supported, and budget appropriately?  Should we have additional staff to teach and support the large number of English language learners so that they are successful in meeting standards?

The answer is yes. We need to invest in our kids by providing them with access to counseling. We need to invest in our kids by providing our special needs students with specialized teachers working alongside general education teachers in their classrooms. All children can learn with the proper emotional and academic support no matter what their challenges. Some may learn differently, at a slower pace, or at different levels, but they can achieve if we provide the proper support.  We must support our students.

 

Kathleen Sullivan teaches 5th grade science at a public school in Malden, Massachusetts.

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December 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A teacher on Newtown shooting: Ensuring all voices are heard

While flying home from a meeting other educators at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, I find myself looking down over the snow-capped mountaintops and fluffy clouds thinking about teachers and voice.

I am filled with empathy for voices recently and violently snuffed out – teachers, a principal, and 20 children at an elementary school in Connecticut. This hits very close to home. I am a teacher and a principal. My life is filled with students, those with whom I work and my own children.

This is also taking me back to the horrible days following the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, where I live. It is true that I cannot truly understand the pain of losing a child or a parent to gun violence. But I can understand how deeply a community is injured by this type of act. The violence of January 8 remains an enigma to me, as I am sure the violence of these past days will be to the community of Newtown, Connecticut.

So, the question becomes: How to respond? My answer, at least a part of it, is using my voice.

I have been fortunate to have had a number of chances lately to use my voice. Through VIVA Teachers, two presentations at national conferences, and on the local news, I have been able to make sure my voice is heard.

Promoting Student Voice
When thinking about the students and teachers with whom I work, I often find myself wanting to create opportunities for them to use their voices. I certainly hear this phrase frequently around the education community. Nevertheless, my thinking keeps going back to the idea that every one has a voice of his or her own.

It is not up to me, as a teacher, to give students a voice. Instead, it is up to me to make sure that I do not silence the voices they already have. To paraphrase the words of one of my educational inspirations, Louise Rosenblatt, it is important for us as teachers to make sure we are creating opportunities for students to imagine beyond their lived experiences. That means getting them to read both deeply and widely, to think critically, to use their voices. All of those are necessary for them to evolve into the kind of thinking, empathetic, participatory citizens we all need to make our democracy work.

Speak Up to Make a Difference
I continue to learn that it is important to introduce my voice as a teacher into the conversation frequently and with purpose. This is true whether I am in line at the grocery store and hear people talking about teachers, students and schooling or representing VIVA Teachers when meeting with policy makers.

Much like our students, our voices are ours. Our voices need to be part of the larger conversationn happening around education in a way that is real, experienced-based and practical.

There is nothing preventing us, except perhaps the belief that it won’t make a difference. I don’t know that our voices will always make a difference; but, I know for sure that standing silent ensures that will be true.

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October 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Two-Front War on Education

Lesley goes to Education Nation

The War for Education is being fought on two fronts – in legislative chambers and the classroom– and our students are the casualties. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Even at an event that should have been aimed at solutions, the Teacher Town Hall at NBC’s Education Nation, wasn’t. The topics this year were teacher evaluation, common core and rigorous testing. As I sat there listening, the passionate teachers in the room stood up to lament their frustrations and received emotional support from the crowd in the form of applause, nodding heads, and fervent outcries in agreement.

In retrospect, if the point of the day was to educate the viewing audience about what frustrates teachers, then the day was a success. If the purpose was to brainstorm new ways to combat challenges in education, then as the kids would say, “Epic Fail.”

As I sat there listening, I was struck that I have heard all of this before in the teachers’ lounge and on the VIVA platform. I was there to hear something new. I wanted these teachers to realize the power of their platform and share their ideas for making education better.

The event ended before I got a chance to speak. If I had, I would have pointed out that a poll showed that 71% of the public already trusts teachers. I would have asked: Why, then, are we investing so much energy in teacher evaluations and testing to prove to the public that teachers
are doing their job? I would have challenged the teachers in the room to pose real solutions not just keep lamenting the problems we face, such as:

  • Politicians attempt to make legislative decisions based on the advice of researchers and constituents who have an opinion about education.
  • Then teachers have to figure out how to continue delivering high quality education while meeting the requirements of the new mandates. Even if these laws go away (the desire of many educators), they would just be replaced with new ones.
  • The politicians must prove to the American public that the policies are working so they require more and more data as “proof.”
  • Teachers feel more and more overwhelmed by policies that yield them little control but require much of their energy.

Since the beginning of the school year, I have sat in meetings from Michigan to New York – both formal and informal; I’m hearing a consistent plea from my colleagues. How can I make this work? Where do I find the time? How can I continue doing what is right for kids although it is not tested?

Here’s my solution – a teacher Town Hall meeting with a panel of experts in TEACHING (unlike the soon-to-be-first-year teacher who was featured on NBC’s Teacher Town Hall). Imagine the rich discussion about what teachers can control facilitated by the likes of Wormeli, Danielson, Ravitch, Rice and Wong (just to name a few).

By shining a spotlight on the creative solutions that teachers – the real experts – use to deal with the mandates of new laws and the dynamics of a changing society, we will elevate teachers to be the experts in their profession. We can show the public how teachers have come to deal with problems that the general public and lawmakers never even realized schools face. For example, did you know that simply changing the way a teacher passes out materials can yield two extra weeks of instructional time per school year? That is a process teachers can control which will give them back valuable instructional time now taken away by standardized testing.

A meaningful Town Hall would spotlight the ingenuity of teachers instead of continuing to paint the profession as a bunch of whiny people who complain about everything.

It doesn’t matter whether the teacher is inner city or rural. We all have to cope with poverty, parents who are not involved (or over involved), a litany of legislation, too few resources and too many demands.

Teachers need to use vehicles such as VIVA to provide meaningful solutions while spotlighting the challenges legislation has created (thus showing people who write policy how their decisions have complicated – and arguably hampered – student achievement). That’s how teachers can provide policy makers with ideas for laws that would improve teachers’ lives and, therefore, increase student achievement.

Lesley Hagelgans teaches Language Arts at Marshall Middle School in Marshall, Michigan. She was a member of the National VIVA Task Force.

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October 5, 2012 By 1 Comment

Shouldn’t all teachers be on the same side?

By Freeda Pirillis

So often, teachers are asked to share their opinions on what’s broken in education and what needs fixing. But who is asking the questions and leading the conversation, who is listening, and who ultimately makes the decisions that impact the daily lives of teachers and students? Within those answers lies the disconnect between teacher input and true teacher voice.

It seems teachers can find vehicles to engage in conversations on educational issues, evident in the education blogs online, the teaching associations that have flourished in the last 10 years, developing fellowships and hand selecting educators to promote their missions in the name of teacher voice. What is absent generally is the opportunity that VIVA Teachers offers for teachers to engage in solution-driven dialogue with their teaching colleagues, emphasizing visible, systemic change for teachers, by teachers.

This absence in true dialogue made way for a lot of noise and confusion in at the two-hour Education Nation Teacher Town Hall, hosted by Brian Williams and NBC Studios at the New York Public Library on Sept. 23, 2012.

A Platform for Teachers

I headed to the town hall hoping to hear from a multitude of teachers that truly represented the teaching force in the United States. I believed the experience would bring me closer to the colleagues I have in the other school districts, grade levels, and content areas.

When I arrived, I was greeted by a woman who wanted to know who I was, whom I was affiliated with, and what the VIVA Project was? Did I represent the AFT? Was I a teacher? Whose side was I on? Those questions seemed to suggest a divide between the groups. I have always believed teachers, regardless of teaching context, were on the same side, working towards a common goal, and we all had a shared interest in creating equitable learning conditions for our students and teaching conditions for each other. Could I be wrong?

Teacher Voice: A Sampling?

As a VIVA Teacher Leader, I understood why I was in the room, but quickly learned there was one section of teachers who were Teachers of the Year, teachers from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, several individuals I recognized from my time at the Department of Education, and a large group from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

I no longer believed true, balanced teacher voice was being represented in this distinguished group of educators and union employees who now had the microphone and the platform to make their voice heard.

Transparently Divided

Throughout the discussion, there seemed to be a clear divide between the public and charter teachers. Several teachers stood up to cheer on their charter school, the work they do, how much more they go above and beyond public school teachers; the room quickly devolved to a shouting match. Union and non-union teachers argued over the level of commitment to their job, to their school, and ultimately, to their students, based on the length of their school day and how deep they dig into their pockets to provide supplies to their students.

I was shocked to see such divisions in teachers who share such common ground.

The Issues: A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep

The show began with the topic of teacher preparation, which we looked at closely in our VIVA National Report, Voices from the Classroom. Our ideas seemed to resonate with the teachers at Education Nation who agreed that teachers need hands-on experience in the classroom prior to completion of their coursework and they need ongoing support from master teachers and/or mentors in their first three years of teaching. But teacher training was just one small part of the two-hour discussion.

Throughout, Williams shifted from topic to topic, inviting audience commentary on the effects of poverty on school systems, the shift to Common Core, the role of parents, providing wraparound services…each topic deserving a two-hour time slot on its own.

While I appreciated the role of the town hall to bring teacher voice to the table on each of these topics, the show did offer the solution-oriented nature of a VIVA Idea Exchange. In my opinion, the VIVA Teachers Idea Exchange platform offers real solutions, concrete examples of what is and is not working in schools across the country. The solutions are centered on the contexts with which teachers work, within the state and local mandates of their schools. VIVA is able to accomplish what I believe Education Nation’s Teacher Town Hall intended to represent in a two-hour segment: teacher voice and teacher activism. However, it fell short and I left feeling uninspired by my colleagues from across the United States.

The Take Away

My experience at Education Nation reinforced the validity of VIVA’s mission to elevate Authentic teacher voice. While I believe the Education Nation Summit provides a space for educators to come to the table and discuss a range of issues, I found little in the way of solutions and strongly believe that is what sets VIVA apart from the rest.

As a nation, we have a long road to travel on the path to reform and while I believe we have a common goal–our students–we are transparently divided and, therefore, stuck.

Freeda Pirillis was a member of the team that wrote the first VIVA report, Voices from the Classroom.

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September 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

My “It” Moment at VIVA Teachers

By Charlene Mendoza
VIVA Arizona Teachers Idea Exchange

As teachers, we know that moment when “it” happens. That moment when we know the bait was taken, the interest engaged, the inquiry begun or the spark ignited. That moment when the energy begins to flow and the classroom transforms into an active, engaging learning environment. For me, that describes my experience participating in the VIVA Arizona Charter Teachers Idea Exchange.

When I first saw the invitation to participate, I was mildly interested. As a teacher, my inbox is flooded with messages that appear to be similar in nature. Check this out! Buy this resource! Tell us what you think! Stop this! Start that! I am accustomed to being asked for a “teacher’s perspective” which often seems to give credence to another initiative or plan which typically does not really represent what I said, wrote, feel or believe. It is more like a celebrity endorsement…I talked to a “real teacher” and so my (fill in the blank here) is valid. Needless to say, I was skeptical.

Joining the Idea Exchange Conversation

I participated in an Idea Exchange about implementing the Common Core Standards in Arizona. As the topic was relevant to me, I logged on. At first, there were not a ton of responses, so, I decided to make a post that was relatively benign. Then, I began to get notices of responses to my post, questions from other teachers, ideas from other teachers, challenges from other teachers and suggestions of resources from other teachers.

I began to read other posts and respond to them. I was hooked! I had discovered a forum where a group of interested, articulate teaching professionals were engaged in a collaborative, collegial, constructive, critical conversation on my own schedule!

Although I was intrigued, I did not recognize at the time how valuable that experience was and still is. I continue to be enriched by the experience. Too often, talk in education devolves to complaints about what is being forced upon us or why whatever “it” is really is not much different than whatever “it” was before.

Rediscovering My Voice

By participating in the Idea Exchange, I rediscovered my voice and reignited my passion and found a place to use both.

This certainly does not mean that we all agreed about everything or even that we all became lifelong friends or anything like that. What it does mean, though, is that participating in the Idea Exchange connected me to others who were willing to be interested and engaged in real life conversations that pushed my thinking, sparked my interest and helped me to work more effectively with my students and colleagues.

I hope you accept the invitation to participate in the VIVA New Jersey Charter Teachers Idea Exchange! The experience is more than worth it.

 

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September 16, 2012 By 1 Comment

The Complex Alchemy of Helping Students Learn

When I first started working on K-12 policy, about 10 years ago in the charter school movement, my favorite activity was visiting schools.  As a non-educator, I found it intimidating yet exhilarating to go into a school building and see what was going on.  Making a school hum is such a complex task and I loved the way the school administrators and teachers would break it down for me.

Empty classroom photo from Wiki CommonsI still don’t pretend to be an expert on the complex alchemy of teaching students. But now when I walk into a school, I pretty quickly get an idea of what I am going to find.

There are schools that have the culture of scholarship lurking in every corner of the building. It’s clear that students “get” the reason they are there.  In other schools, that energy and focus is found inside classrooms but not in the halls, cafeteria or other common spaces.  Same goes for the administrative space—some just give a visitor a 110% vibe of love of learning and clarity of purpose.  Others are well run, efficient but lack that zing.

Rarely have I visited a school in real crisis or chaos (they don’t let outsiders into those buildings, do they?)  so I’m not suggesting that any of the schools I visit are that painful 5% of truly awful schools.  But, what makes the difference between a school that soars and a school that plugs along?

Believing in the Wisdom of Teachers

I launched VIVA Teachers because I know the answer to these questions lies in the wisdom and work of classroom teachers.  It’s the sum of each teacher’s work in each class they teach that adds up to a school.  And somewhere between the syllabus for each class, the mix of classes a student takes, and the instruction that happens in every room every day is the DNA of how that school grabs its students and helps them tackle the work of scholarship.

But, students bring a lot to the table too.  Without a doubt their homes, their neighborhoods and their family resources are a big part of what they bring. There’s something else too—their spirit, their perspective, their yearnings, their ability to see long and short term, to sit down, to wrestle with a problem or an issue until they “get it.”

How do you describe this set of traits in students? How do you measure their use of those skills and “social intelligence” in the work of being in school and learning? It’s a topic that fascinates me and is increasingly grabbing academic attention and the headlines.

VIVA NJ Charter Teachers Idea Exchange

I’m so proud that VIVA Teachers is partnering with The New Jersey Charter Schools Association to give New Jersey charter school teachers a chance to explore these questions and bring their hard-earned experience from their classrooms to the fore via the VIVA NJ Charter Teachers Idea Exchange, which launches Sept. 17.

I can’t wait to hear what these committed teachers say and how they think we can translate those truths into a better understanding of what makes a school succeed.  I’m especially excited that we have the nation’s foremost researchers from The University of Pennsylvania in on the discussion.  Talk about bringing research into your classroom work!

Thank you for taking up the important work of educating New Jersey’s children and thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us so we can make sure every single child in NJ has a truly equal opportunity to learn.

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September 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Whither the Truthiness? A Civics Lesson, Thanks to Stephen Colbert!

via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: David Shankbone

Stephen Colbert tickles my funnybone. A lot. He has his finger on the zeitgeist of America. These days, my good pal Stephen often talks about “truthiness.” As always, he’s spot on: We’ve got a whole lotta truthiness going around in our country these days. What we’re lacking is truth. Especially when it comes to the public discourse about education reform.

I believe public education is a harbinger of our national spirit. The way we approach public education sends strong signals–to America’s students about our faith in their talents, their dreams and their ambitions, and to all of us who believe excellence in education and ample investment in public schools is a common good.

Of late, there’s been a strong, positive move in our country’s public education policy away from truthiness. We are starting to look at the truth—often hard truth—about what we’re giving our children–all of them, regardless of the color of their skin or the size of their family income.

The move to a Common Core is essentially a public discussion of what we want our kids to know. Federal programs such as Race To The Top and the in need of refreshing No Child Left Behind legislation are geared toward excellence and demands that we have high expectations for every American student The US Department of Education’s push for a concerted effort to turn around our country’s 5,000 worst public schools, those that are producing an outsized percentage of students who dropout or fail to develop the skills to succeed after high school are positive.

Of course, there still is enough truthiness around to fill many hours of Colbert’s show. VIVA Teachers believes the antidote lies in listening to classroom teachers. Classroom teachers bear the brunt of the crazy consequences of policy wrought from truthiness rather than truth.

It’s simply time to let classroom teachers speak for themselves and for public officials and public administrators to listen before acting. If we keep engaging in the dance of truthiness, our children will continue to suffer with subpar educational environments, a low bar on what we call “knowledge” and the scourge of dramatic inequality. More importantly, we’ll all suffer
from the erosion of our government, a lack of ability to have a reasoned public discussion about anything and more of the name calling and mud slinging from our public officials that does nothing to move our country forward.

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August 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

VIVA Teacher Leader Xian Barrett on CNN’s blog


CNN Editor’s note: Xian Barrett teaches law and Chicago history at Gage Park High School in Chicago, Illinois. In 2009, he was selected one of ten Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellows by the U.S. Department of Education. This article is in response to comments on a previous story about Chicago teacher work days. Originally published on CNN’s School Thought Blog. Click here to read the story on CNN’s site.

Educators will often observe with some frustration that our profession is one of the few that people from all walks of life feel comfortable commenting on and often criticizing. Precious few know the intimate details of what our days are like. While the negative feedback can often be disheartening, I think we must regard the public’s interest in our work as a great opportunity—it shows that people care deeply about the calling to which we have devoted our lives.

If some people’s perceptions of what we do with our workdays does not match up with the reality, we have an obligation to inform them of that reality. This need has been particularly noticeable in the public discourse on the length of our school day.

Much has been made of the shortness of our school day, especially here in Chicago. The oft-cited 296 minutes is the amount of time Chicago elementary school teachers are in front of students. As a high school teacher, my contract requires that I teach five 45-minute periods each day. On Fridays, each class is shortened by 4 minutes to allow for a 30-minute homeroom period. Doing the math, that’s 225 minutes each day, with 235 minutes on Fridays.

I can understand how that sounds like a short day.

However, to count a teacher’s working minutes by looking at the time we are directly teaching students is like only counting the minutes that a dentist has the drill in your mouth.

Just as you want to your dentist to prepare before operating on your teeth, parents should want educators to prepare before we teach your child. We have many duties beyond the time we are directly instructing students.

How much time do I really spend each day?

Most Chicago teachers give our all in very challenging conditions. A recent Gates study suggests that the average teacher works 53 hours per week, while University of Illinois researchers found that Chicago teachers work approximately 58 hours per week. Several years ago, I counted my own hours and found that I was consistently working between 70-90 hours each week.  Through challenging conditions, we impact hundreds of students positively every day; sometimes in small ways, sometimes in earth shattering, life-changing ways.

I teach 9th grade world studies. In a given day, between classes, organizational activities, hallway interaction, phone calls and social media interaction, I will engage between 200-250 students, former students and parents.  At my current school, I report to work at 7:22 a.m. and can clock out at 2:15 p.m. with a 45 minute lunch period. This compares similarly with the lengths of school days in the higher performing suburban districts. In Chicago, public high school days that are the “shortest in the country” exist only in the minds of those attempting to impose a longer school day.

In addition to teaching five classes, one 45-minute period at school is reserved for preparation; we get four of these each week. There is little time to prepare anything as students are there as well, catching up on work or participating in our “restorative justice program,” where students help each other design constructive programs to restore damage they caused by breaking rules. This program saves us time in the long run; a reduction in student misconducts has reduced missed time dealing with discipline and has lowered the number of students failing for disciplinary reasons.

Another period is dedicated to our mandated common planning time. We review the district’s latest initiatives or analyze our student achievement data. The students spend nearly four weeks of class time taking standardized tests

The last period of the day is spent with my cooperative special education teacher as we plan for the next week. We trade advice on how to support some of the students struggling a bit in each other’s classes.

When the end of the school day comes, I head down the four flights of stairs to the basement where I meet our Youth Summit organization members. Our meetings last until 3:30 and we often will schedule collaborations with other student groups or trips in the late afternoon. We also travel and perform service-learning projects most Saturdays during the school year.

On any given day, I will spend two hours at home creating my own lesson plans or adjust existing materials to the specific needs of my students. I will also sit down to grade papers and return calls and messages. Many of my texts, emails, Facebook, Twitter and phone messages are from current students, usually regarding homework and several are from former students needing a letter of recommendation or support on some life emergency.

The other day, I finally called back my mother who’s been calling me for days. She says, “You sound tired, I’m going to let you go.” I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m., and glanced at my cell phone. It was 1:14 a.m. I fell asleep on the couch.

Last month, our hundreds of elected union representatives voted unanimously to reject a recommendation of an 18.2% pay raise in compensation for an extended school day. We want improvement in our schools, and we would like to be compensated fairly for our work. There are just far more effective ways to support our students’ learning.

Both the Chicago Teachers Union and the VIVA (Voices, Ideas, Vision, Action) teacher group I work with have created reports on how to better use time in our day to maximize student learning.  (You can click on the links on their names to see those plans.)

Personally, I simply wonder where the extra time would fit in. I don’t want less time with my students, I want more self-directed time where I can give my students what they need rather than give them more district proscribed testing and test preparation.

I am happy to work on solutions—one year I did a policy writing fellowship with the U.S. Department of Education while teaching five classes—but too often community, student, parent and teacher-generated solutions are ignored. I don’t think this is unique to Chicago.

My hope is that we can get beyond the common teacher bashing narrative to acknowledge that we share a great deal: we all want what’s best for the children of America; I and those in my profession just express that desire through our direct work while others express it through their desire for school improvement. If we can respectfully dialogue and build solutions, we can reach the best possible future not only for our students but also for our nation at large.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Xian Barrett.

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July 10, 2012 By 3 Comments

One Teacher’s Take on How to Stop the Violence

VIVA Teacher Leader Karon Stewart is a middle school math teacher in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago. Her students face significant challenges, not the least of which is surviving the violence in the neighborhoods. Stewart talks eloquently about the violence and how it affects her students and herself. It was the centerpiece of her speech when she was invited to introduce Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at a recent meeting of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

One of Stewart’s students was shot  while Duncan still served as head of the Chicago Public Schools. She reminded him of that incident and told the audience of Duncan’s personal response to her email asking for help in getting information about the condition of the student, who at the time he was presumed dead. After his speech, Duncan asked Stewart to share her ideas for combating the overwhelming and seemingly intractable challenge of ending violence against youth in America. This is what she told him:

Dear Secretary Duncan,

It was an honor to introduce you to the “Teacher Voice” conference participants.  At that time, you charged me with the task of suggesting ways to stop the violence in the Chicago. I really wish I had the answers. We feel each other’s pain. I am always devastated by the level of violence I see. Unfortunately, I cannot allow my emotions to sidetrack me from what I am paid to do: teach middle-school math. Even in saying that, I am in danger of becoming as anesthetized as my students, and I applaud you for always bringing this travesty to the forefront.

I will share my opinion.

Urgent /Long Term

Parents are the key factor and we have to find ways to support them in their efforts to raise their children.  I also believe that when students have chronic behavioral or discipline issues, their parents should be mandated to attend regular conferences that include a community service component. Finally, something has to be done to help children in homes with parents who are substance abusers. It appears that children who commit violent acts are more likely to be in this demographic.

Short Term

Expand the Chicago Park District programs, but you have to make it a safer place in some areas. Increase police presence in more positive ways. For example, have Police District teams challenge teams of teachers from the schools in their district to bi-annual basketball games. The “MVP’s” from these teams would then play student stars.

Expand the G.R.E.A.T program (Gang Resistance Education and Training). It was very effective at my school. The woman officers squashed a really violent series of altercations between about 16 7th and 8th grade girls.

Bring back Camp Hastings, the YMCA camp that gave students a chance to get out of the neighborhood for a week and participate in a plethora of outdoor activities.

Mentoring Programs

One of my students was selected in the Barbie I Can Be…Mentee Search and attended the White House Project awards ceremony in New York. She returned more purposeful. She became a classroom leader and inspired several other students to be successful.

I have also heard very good things about the Steve Harvey program. That program offers a Mentoring Weekend to break the misguided traits of manhood and introduce role models who provide positive examples of manhood.

Socio – Emotional Learning and Arts Programs

Parents, students, and teachers in challenging communities need to participate in programs that include an effective conflict resolution component.

Empower Communities

Campaign to end the “Snitches get Stitches” mentality so people will not be afraid to fight against abusive conditions. Utilize veterans in these programs. They are not afraid of the gangs and they push back!

Challenge potential gang members to make a positive impact on their communities. Penalties for petty crimes should include more extensive community service options, like cleaning vacant lots, assisting victims of violent crimes, etc. Many students, unfortunately, identify with a gang without actually participating in criminal activities. I understand this, but the gang mentality has to be replaced with something positive.

Update on my student who was shot:

My concern for this student began right after I added a picture of him and  two other boys to my Donors Choose web page. Another teacher said he was going to be a hoodlum. Unfortunately I understand why the teacher said that. But my student was facing major obstacles. His mother was sick (she has since died and while his family was at the memorial, his house was robbed) and he had an enormous amount of unsupervised time. This is the biggest problem with children in depressed areas. I began tutoring that student and another Bond alumni every Wednesday, after school for three years. I, along with several other teachers in the building began rewarding them with gift cards when they received good grades, and eventually, making the honor roll.  They were successful at a school that was voted one of the worst schools in the US.  I am very proud of him. He overcame tremendous obstacles and setbacks, but it took THE WHOLE VILLAGE.

Sincerely

Karon Stewart, National Board Certified Teacher

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May 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Listening to Teachers

I had a twinge of pride when I read about Secretary Duncan’s recent trip to New Haven, Connecticut to announce granting eight more states NCLB waivers.  It had nothing to do with New Haven (never been there) or even the NCLB waivers.  I was drawn by the conversation he had with teachers as part of his visit.

That’s because our abiding passion at VIVA Teachers is “elevating teacher voices.” Why? Because we believe–correction, we know–that public education would work better if classroom teachers were the drivers of both their work in the classroom and the systems that support that work. Those who work in the classroom have the frontline view. They know what’s needed to set up all of our public schools for success.

Our very first VIVA Teachers project, way back in 2010, resulted in a meeting with Duncan. Eight teachers who worked in classrooms from Seattle to New York met with him in his Washington DC headquarters personal conference room. The teachers spent 90 minutes with Duncan, the DOE teaching fellows and members of his staff.

Meeting with a Cabinet Secretary was awesome in and of itself. But equally thrilling has been seeing the teachers’ ideas turned into policy.

The national VIVA Teacher Leaders told the Secretary that teachers need better training (a sentiment that was repeated by the teachers with whom he met in New Haven). The department has since created the Presidential Teaching Fellows program, a $185 million program to give teaching students better training.

VIVA Teachers have had similar success in other venues, most notably Chicago. There, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Cluade Brizard accepted the recommendation of VIVA Teacher Leaders to eliminate two school holidays — Columbus Day and Pulaski Day (know your Revolutionary War history?) — because the teachers said they need more days in school with their students.

Thanks to all the (extremely) busy classroom teachers who’ve taken time to join in a VIVA Teachers Idea Exchange.  And congratulations. You’re changing the world!

 

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