If I Could Start My Own School I would....

I think every educator has thought of starting their own school. What would your school look like?

Randy: I have always thought of starting my own school. I think the biggest area of need right now is in the middle schools so I would start a middle school. This is where we start to lose kids, meaning they start to move down a path of dropping out or just becoming disengaged. I would start an experiential middle school with a variety of different things available for students. Our area of New Hampshire is rural. I would like to have the ability to take kids and have them work on a farm for a block of time. While there the students could be taught the standards and curriculum through the real world of farming. They would study chemistry, biology, gardening, mathematics, etc.

     At my school I would have the ability to take field trips often - the ability to put students on a bus and drive down to Boston to visit museums at any time. Field trips are critical for pulling in material that you just can’t teach within the four walls of a classroom. Teaching only within the classroom walls is not the best way to get the active culture that I would want in my school. 

Randy Wormald is the 2005 Disney High School Teacher of the Year. The above is an excerpt from my book One-on-One With America's Most Inspiring Teachers.

What Are You Looking For in a Teaching Colleague?

 

RANDY WORMALD

Randy teaches Mathematics at Belmont High School in Belmont, New Hampshire. (Pictured below is an electric motorcycle Randy and his students built in his mathematics class)

• 2005 Disney High School Teacher of the Year
• 2005 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year
• 2010 Top 5 Finalist for the Great American Teacher Award

What are you looking for in a teaching colleague?

Randy:  It’s tough to answer. It’s like trying to define the term creativity. I don’t know what it is but I know it when I see it. They have to be flexible and know their content, but those are things you can check off a list. Then there’s a certain quality that you can’t put on a list. It comes back to that relationship piece. Are they capable of building and maintaining relationships with students? Do they have something to offer? Are they going to be a favorite teacher to some students? We all have our groups of students who are drawn to us. I think we are just looking for that extra something that is so hard to put into words.

You just can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know it’s there.

Randy:  It’s like defining love. It’s just one of those people that you know in your gut are going to be awesome. I think that’s what I’m always looking for in a teacher, a potential for awesomeness.

Rafe Esquith on Relevance in the Classroom

The following is an excerpt from One-on-One With America's Most Inspiring Teachers.

We need to focus more on the immeasurable things that help students become a better person. Some states have gateway tests that students are required to pass before moving to the next grade. That’s a lot of pressure.

RAFE: When we are giving kids a test we need to understand our students. I have 34 students in my class. I have a young boy in my class that is new to our country. I had some of the older kids, my former students, after school. I had a box of granola bars and a couple were grabbing granola bars because they were staying late with me. This young man was leaving about 4:30 and he asked if he could take the box home for dinner. I said Feliz, “What do you usually have for dinner?” He said, “I don’t. I don’t get dinner.” He comes home to an empty house while his family is trying to make a living. He gets a free lunch at school but he does not eat dinner. Surely the following day when he is taking a standardized test the odds of him doing better than a kid who has two parents at home who feed him dinner is different. We have to take those things into account.

     The real factor on all of these standardized tests, obviously the quality of the teacher is very important, but it is NOT more important than poverty, it’s not more important than hunger. We as a society are missing this point.

I totally agree.

RAFE: And by the way, yes I’ve already figured out a way to get this kid dinner every night. Again, when I became a teacher I didn’t think I would be working on making sure my kids were fed. I don’t think that should be my job. But it has become my job.

It goes back to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in that you have to have your basic needs taken care of before learning can take place.

I know from reading your books that you spend a lot of your personal time teaching, mentoring, tutoring, and traveling with your students. You are great at getting your students to recognize that the hard work now will improve the quality of their life later. How do you get your students to display this type of work ethic year after year?

RAFE: First of all let’s be clear. I don’t get all of them to display it. That’s something that I want young teachers reading this to understand. I don’t save everybody. I fail all the time. Let’s be clear about that. One of the jokes I tell young teachers is when they fail early on and then go home and put on the latest Hollywood movie about teachers and the teacher saves everybody and everybody passes the test. They feel terrible because that’s not them, so I always remind them, yes I’m pretty good at what I do, but I still fail all the time.

     Now with that being said I do get a lot of kids working very hard. I do it in a couple of ways. There is a line I use all the time in my class which I’m going to write about in a book one day. I hope teachers start to use this line. Here’s the way I frame a lesson. If you go up to most children in school and they are working on a math paper or writing an essay and you say to them, “Why are you doing this?” Most kids will say, “Because my teacher told me to” or “because I have to” sometimes they say, “I don’t know why I’m doing this.” If you ask one of my students, and I teach them to say this, “Why are you doing this?” They will answer, “If I learn this skill my life just got better.” EVERY lesson I explain how they will be using this skill in their life. EVERY LESSON, whether we are learning how to hit a baseball or learning our states, or learning subatomic particles in Chemistry, I want to show them how they will be using these things. There is relevance in my classroom! That is one of the reasons the kids work hard. They are not working for me. They are not working for grades. They are working because they know the skills they are learning will make their lives better and increase their opportunities. EVERY LESSON is framed like that.

     The second reason, and this is why I want to get young teachers to stay put and not stop teaching after 3 or 4 years, is my former students. The reason my kids work so hard is that I have so many former students come back and talk to them. These 9 and 10 year olds that I work with meet kids that are 15, 16, 18, 21, or 25 who are doing very well. They come back to the class constantly and say to them, “You are having the best year of your life. You don’t know it yet, you don’t even know what Rafe is teaching you but you are going to know in about five or six years. Listen to this guy.” That is a huge motivation in getting them to work hard. The little ones get to see the finished product. I really encourage teachers to stay put because they are going to have their disciples that come back and help them.

You’ve got my wheels spinning about how we can get some former students to come back to visit.

The Bad Teacher and American Idol

     What intangible characteristic is needed to teach? There are many characteristics needed to be a good teacher. However, if you lack one characterstic you are certainly going to be a BAD teacher. That characteristic is knowing how you are perceived by others. In my 11+ years as an instructional leader and administrator I have had the opportunity to see some amazing teachers. Teachers that quite frankly are better teachers than myself when I was still in the classroom. Unfortunately, I have seen terrible teachers. The kind where you want to write a personal apology letter to each student who endures their class each day.
     So what do I mean by a lack of knowing how you are perceived by others? All teachers have "great" lessons that bomb. You know, the lesson you planned so hard for and think as you teach the students that heavenly beams of light will fall from the sky and the students will hear angels sing as they grasp the concepts. Sometimes things don't go quite as planned in this noble profession. Sometimes the kids yawn, doodle, or simply sit quietly with a look of confusion. The average and good teacher realizes the lesson is bombing and changes course. The teacher who lacks an awareness of perception continues full speed ahead and doesn't have a clue how the students are perceiving their lesson. Now, there are some of you out there who may be asking, "How can they not know that the lesson is bombing?" I can't explain it, but it is similiar to watching those people on American Idol who believe with all of their being that they can sing. Watch this clip...

     To my administrative colleagues out there, this young man's reaction probably does not surprise you if you have done your job like Simon and told the honest truth. Just like this young man there are teachers out there who believe they can teach when in fact they can't! When this teacher is told by an administrator that they don't have what it takes they become upset, blame the principal, call their union representative, etc.. As educators we must work together to help teachers to improve or move them out of our buildings for the sake of the children. I believe if a teacher lacks the characteristic of knowing how they are perceived by their students, there is little that can be done in this situation but to politely show them the door.

Essentials for the New Teacher

GLENN LID

Glenn Lid teaches Chemistry at Proviso East High School located in suburban Chicago Illinois.

• 2004 Disney High School Teacher of the Year
• 1993 Finalist for the Presidential Award for Math and Science
• 2007 Illinois Chemistry Teacher of the Year (Davidson Award)
• 2007 Golden Apple Teacher of Distinction
• 2005 Elmhurst College Alumni Merit Award
• 2009 State Finalist: Presidential Award for Teaching Math and Science
• Two-time nominee: Assistant Coach of the Year in Wrestling by I.W.O.C.A

Q: What are some essentials for a new teacher?

Glenn:  New teachers need to learn from those teachers who are thought of as the most successful. They must take time in the summer and go to intensive workshops that may last all day and learn the instructional techniques that work best for them. The more of the successful teachers that they build a mentoring relationship with, the better their teaching techniques are going to be. That is by far the most important thing a new teacher should do right away.

     There should be more support for new teachers. One organization that provides a pathway of support in Illinois is Golden Apple. They are getting students in high school interested in becoming teachers. One hundred scholarships are provided to high school students who want to become teachers and meet the criteria. These students then get specialized training from outstanding educators known as Golden Apple Teachers. These instructors won The Golden Apple Teacher Award and are paid $3000 and given a computer for their classroom. In our area, they are also given a sabbatical to study anything they want for one semester at Northwestern University for free. So, not only are they providing support and training to new teachers, but veteran teachers are given the opportunity to learn and grow from one of the best universities in our country. For the second year now I and several other Golden Apple Teachers of Distinction and Honorees are planning a Teachers of Tomorrow Conference. We invite freshmen and sophomores in college interested in teaching, juniors and seniors in high school, their parents who are interested in teaching and first and second year teachers for workshops given by Golden Apple Teachers of Distinction and Honorees. Anyone from around the state is invited. We had 200+attend our very first conference.

     We have to support our new teachers. This is the number one thing we have to do in education. Lee Merrick told me years ago there should be teacher academies. We need to get back to that in education. Golden Apple is headed in that direction. It’s a matter of funding. That’s what will make teachers better.

Q: What would you look for in a teacher if you were hiring?

Glenn: I would look for a person who has good interpersonal skills and is able to relate. I would look for someone who is energetic and able to speak intelligently on the spur of the moment. They need to have a good sense of humor, seem relaxed, and exude a lot of confidence. The next thing I would look at is grades and recommendations. Grades can be a reflection of discipline and work ethic. Also, I would seek out their willingness to get involved in the school community. I want to know if they are willing to go to workshops over the summer. Are they willing to be a sponsor or coach? Those are a few of the things I would look for.

     However, my number one would still be interpersonal skills and how well they communicate. I would probably ask a candidate, “What would you do if a kid looks at you and says ‘fuck you’ in the classroom?” I would like to know how they would handle that situation. It’s going to happen sooner or later. How will you deal with that? Will you escalate it? Will you ignore it and come back to it later? If you put your head down and ignore it and there are no consequences, the year is over at that point in the classroom. Now other kids are going to try it. I would also like to know what was involved in their teacher training. We need more teachers trained via the Golden Apple method.

Q: What do you look forward to when you close your classroom door and face your students?

Glenn: To make them laugh, ask questions, come up with new ways of presenting the same concepts and at the end of the period have them say, “Boy, this class went fast today!” That’s my main goal. Bob Ballard, the great underwater explorer said, “Our society is star-based. But in the world of Science it is really we-based.” Isn’t that true of education? Teachers are like explorers searching for the unknown, searching for the treasures for which our students are to us. Bob Ballard discovered the Titanic. He was asked “What was your greatest discovery?” He replied, “My next one.” This is what makes teaching so exciting. We are explorers of human-kind; our next year’s class, our next athlete, our next student may be our greatest discovery of all.

Rafe Esquith: Teacher and Best-Selling Author Discusses the Future of Public Education

RAFE ESQUITH

Rafe Esquith teaches 5^th Grade at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles, California

 

• Awarded the President’s National Medal of Arts
• The American Teachers Award
• Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award
• Honorary Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II
• Parents Magazine’s As You Grow Award
• The Compassion in Action Award from the Dalai Lama
• 1992 Disney National Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award
• New York Times Best Selling Author of “Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire”

Often times I am frustrated by politicians who want to change public education in ways I just don’t understand. The reason I get frustrated is that it seems that teachers are never included in the conversation. Part of my premise for this book is that we need to be asking the best teachers where public education needs to go. What are your thoughts?

RAFE: In the latest film Waiting for Superman public education is destroyed. I’m a public school teacher. I know how bad things can be. I know about the horror stories in public schools. What frustrates me is there are great things going on in our public schools that you never hear about. There are fantastic teachers in public schools that you never hear about. I know because I teach with them. I get my name in the paper, but there are people I work with that are just as good as I am that you have never heard of.

     The reason some of our public schools are broken is because our society is broken. We have a drug problem in public schools because we have a drug problem in society. Violence is in our public schools because there is violence in society. Why should we think public schools should be any different? I think we have to start talking honestly about the real factors in education. A film like Waiting for Superman financed by billionaires basically showing a couple of test factories that they say are doing a great job when in fact they are not doing better. They are not doing any better than anyone else. I think if public education is going to get better, we need to be changing the conversation and changing what we believe as a society.   

     There is an old joke that it will be a great day when the army has to have a bake sale to build tanks because the schools have enough money. People who say money is not an issue, of course it’s an issue. My classroom has been leaking for 28 years. Every time it rains I have to bail the room. It damages equipment. Of course money would make my classroom better. Class size is an issue. I have 34 kids this year. I’m not saying it’s the only issue, but if I had 24 I could more effectively reach those kids. But we have had to lay-off a bunch of teachers because we don’t have the money. I think what I would like to tell the politicians are to “Put up or shut up.” They talk, they talk, and they talk, but as long as we are spending billions and billions and billions of dollars bombing other countries, I don’t think we are ever going to have a good public school system. Children are the most important issue. They are the future. But as a country we don’t really believe that it’s everything, NOT really. When we have a country that actually puts public education first, I think it will be fantastic. I know we have great teachers, and I know we have great kids, but the resources are really skimpy right now. What we value as a society is hurting public schools. When more people talk about American Idol more than they do about why Johnny can’t read, of course Johnny can’t read because that’s our value system.

    What I try to do in Room 56 is to create a different value system. What we value in my classroom is different from what our society values. That’s why it works so well. It’s the Huck Finn of going down the river and seeing the hypocrisy, the racism, and the violence and saying I’m leaving and I don’t want to be a part of that society. The higher hero for me since we are talking about literature is Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) who when he is asked by his children, “Are we going to win the case?” and he says “No.” But he still takes the case. He doesn’t run away. He goes into the courtroom and he fights the fight that he can, which is what I think public school teachers do. I hope that one day our society realizes our awful values. When we change those values, I think public school teachers will win more fights and not have to fight so often.

I think you and other great teachers need to be on CNN in order to have an honest conversation about public education.

RAFE: I would love that but here’s the problem, an honest conversation. I will tell people that public schools have to do a better job. I will tell people that there are people teaching who shouldn’t be teaching. There are some bad teachers in the public schools. That’s a fact. But that’s not the only problem. It’s not a bigger problem than poverty. It’s not a bigger problem than kids coming to school hungry. I’m a lunatic. You can’t expect really good teachers to give up their whole life and to become parent, doctor, and psychologist for every child. That’s unreasonable. That’s what’s being asked of us now. We are going to need the whole society to start pulling together to make teachers more effective. We are in this together. When I look into my classroom the cure for cancer is in front of me. One of those kids is going to find a cure that is going to save all our lives. We should be highly invested in public schools.

DARA FELDMAN

DARA FELDMAN

Dara is currently, the Director of Education for The Virtues Project.

• 2000 Computer World Smithsonian Award in Education and Academia
• 2005 Disney Elementary School Teacher of the Year
• Apple Distinguished Educator
• National Association of Self-Esteem Teacher of the Year
• Master Teacher for the National Teacher Training Institute
• Nationally Board Certified in Early Childhood Education

As an Instructional Coach you work with a lot of teachers. What is the #1 thing you work on with a struggling teacher?

Dara: After relationships, I would say Balanced Literacy. Because I believe that reading is critical. I work in the D.C. Public School System and I have noticed that one of the reasons kids act out is because they can’t read and they would rather get in trouble for acting out than face the humiliation of not being able to read.

 Part of my purpose for writing this book is the presence of so many disconnected ideas in education. Everyone is searching for their own way. Young teachers are often times trying to piece all the strategies together. It’s frustrating that we don’t have a single paradigm in education that we all agree upon.

Let’s talk about the future of public education. What do you think we need to be doing differently in public education?

Dara: We are spending so much time on assessment and loosing valuable instructional time because of the amount of time and focus we are putting on assessment. So actually our kids are learning less than if they would just let us teach them. I’m all for accountability, but things that can be measured are not necessarily meaningful, and the things that are meaningful cannot necessarily be measured. I left a school system that was so focused on academic rigor and assessment that the joy, meaning, purpose, and authentic learning were squashed. When I’m not allowed to take my Kindergarteners outside for 10 minutes because there is too much “learning” to do, I’m done. So I hope D.C is not going to move in that direction. I will stand-up for what I believe in.

You have to be true to your own self.

Dara: Well and true to the profession. Here is one more issue or problem in education. We have all this research but we don’t look at the full picture with the research. We take the pieces that we like and leave the rest. When we look at developmentally appropriate practices and play-based learning and what young children are supposed to do and how they learn we have all the evidence that we need. There is a way to balance play-based learning and balanced literacy in a really meaningful authentic way. Take for example the project approach. We know all about project-based learning. But for some reason when you put the lens of accountability on top of it, it automatically swallows up what is best in education and goes right down to those meaningless data point assessments.

The frustrating thing to me is that you can’t measure the things that you are talking about; the authenticity of relationships, capitalizing on teachable moments, and collaboration. Students have those “Ah-ha” moments that are richer than what can be tested or measured.

Dara: Absolutely, it’s not so much that you can’t measure them but it is much more difficult. It would be measured more through interviews and surveys which are more time consuming. When we look at the future of education, how can we balance the accountability piece, have high expectations for students and teachers, but keep those experiences rich in a meaningful way that allows for the whole continuum of learning which include their interests, strengths, and learning styles.

In your opinion what should a principal be looking for in a prospective teacher?

Dara: First, I would say a willingness to develop nurturing relationships; just genuine caring for kids and colleagues. Second, a commitment and desire for life-long learning is important. Just because a teacher has a teaching degree, doesn’t mean they are finished learning. On the contrary you are just beginning to learn about this profession. Next, the willingness to be a team player and share ideas is an attribute. You can work alone and be a rock star; but share the rock and the stardom. Don’t be a Lone Ranger in your classroom. That’s not good for the students, school, or you. Enthusiasm is an important attribute. Enthusiasm for kids, for the content, and for learning so that your students see learning is fun and engaging if they are willing to work. Reliability is also very important. Reliability must be there. Ultimately an attitude that is striving for excellence is what a principal should be looking for. I think that’s something that comes with time and support. If there is the willingness to be diligent and to refine your craft, and have that life-long learning then ultimately that will come.

Just that constant desire to get better…

Dara: Yes, just striving to get better everyday and the willingness to sacrifice some time. This is not a 9 to 3 job. I don’t care what anybody says.

I agree. It’s more like a way of life.

Dara: It’s life period. It really is. I guess going back to one of the first questions you asked me. When there is something going on with a child, don’t assume you know. Listen and find out. Reach out to their families. You may need to take them for a walk. You may need to go watch them play at their next basketball game so they know that they’re cared about. Do it. Equal is not equitable.