New York Times Education Article...

This New York Times article seems pretty similar to a lot of the education articles being written right now - an underperforming public school is either improving or getting worse, why? In this case, the school in Newark (which has failed to meet the federal benchmarks set out in No Child Left Behind for the past 7 years) seems to be doing better. The author seems to think that the (vaguely referred to) improvements come from the developing of a community at the school. Consequently, the article doesn't spend much of its three pages discussing exactly what the teachers are doing that is different (which is what I want to know!) Instead, it says that students now want to go to school instead of having to be pushed out the door, and that parents want to know why this is, but then it never really answers that question.

Anyway, one of the first things that struck me about this article is that the third graders are getting letter grades! This is true in my school as well, and I find it a strange practice. Why are we giving 8 year-olds letter grades in subjects when so much of what they are learning has to do with behavior and developing study skills. Wouldn't it be more useful to evaluate their interpersonal skills, their diligence, their consistency, their engagement? And particularly at underperforming schools - how does this third grader, who is below grade level in math and scores an average of 51% on her tests, feel about receiving an F on her report card? And is that really going to motivate her to do better next time? I would argue that such grades only decrease a child's motivation and confidence, making it more difficult for them to succeed in the classroom.

Catching up..

It seems like I have a lot to catch up on - I haven't been as good about posting my thoughts as soon as they happen and now I have so many thoughts I don't know where to begin!

But last night I was able to see a public school in the country I am living in - I have met a teacher here and she has been very informative, telling me about education here and taking me to see schools. For starters, public school in this country is not free - it costs between 1200 and 1500 dollars a year, not including lunch and book costs. Also, 80% of high schools are single sex. I was very surprised to hear this, especially after reading the New York Times article about single-sex education in American public schools and the current debate over its merits. The teacher I spoke with told me she believes the division here comes from Confucianist traditions which argue for separation of the sexes. The American debate appears to be more along the lines of nature versus nurture, and seems to take two forms. There are those who fight for and against single sex education, but within the pro-single sex education side there is another debate about whether there are intrinsic differences between boys and girls that need to be addressed separately or whether there are socially produced differences that need to be addressed.

Perhaps in order to evaluate single-sex education we need to look outside our own system and at those systems that have employed single-sex educational methods for much longer. Certainly, in my experience, the emphasis placed on education where I am living this year is much stronger than it is in the US.

I actually think that it may not be single-sex education at all that is revitalizing education in these schools discussed in the article, but just the change, the chance for something new - American education desperately needs change, and perhaps single-sex education offers one vehicle for hope, which translates into higher motivation and drive, sort of a placebo effect. It seems to me that instead of worrying so much about making all schools the same (having everyone on the same page at the same time on the same day as NCLB seems to encourage), we should be concentrating on offering more different forms of education, to cater to the needs of a continually diversifying population. Children across the US are different whether they are boys of girls; let's give them (and their parents) more choices about how to meet their specific needs.

Stopping and Taking Stock

As I alluded to yesterday, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, including all sorts of drama and excitement. And I have barely had time to write, but yesterday after my post about Simon Says, something happened that made me take stock again, caused me to pause and re-evaluate and even smile a bit.

After my remarks about my lack of patience yesterday, my students did something that regardless of my lack of patience would have caused me to lose it (although given that we had only just introduced bathroom passes yesterday on another day I might have been annoyed but not mad). We had just finished playing Simon Says and doing math, and then there was a kerfuffle in the hall - I looked out and THREE of my students were on the floor, having tackled one girl for the aforementioned bathroom pass (the reason for the bathroom passes is another part of the ever-going saga, involving the conversation I had after school on Wednesday with the mother of SG - the girl who is constantly fighting with JY and, because she is half Canadian and half Korean, is a minority in a society that is very insular). I couldn't believe it. I was so angry at them for disregarding my rules AND for causing a spectacle in the hall, that I raised my semi-existent and very raspy voice and yelled (I even shut the door loudly!). And then I made them write essays about WHY IT IS SO DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW THE RULES. And their responses just made me melt. Here are a few of my favorites (no those are not typos - and I wish I could include the handwriting):

"Because we just want to play and we want to do what we want to do. first but sometimes just our class get good and fun things, but we agree and sometimes say bad words." ~ HL

"I can't follow rules -
1. Speaking korean
2. talking in Journal
3. running hallway
4. hitting
5. not listening
We can't follow rules because it's to hard. We just don't want to do. We forget ~ I don't know why I'm doing this thing that get's trouble. It's hard to make me do clear things. We don't think what happen and just doing." ~ ES

"It is hard to follow becaus we cant play in plaing time. we went to play whet we went" ~ YB

And the one that made me tear up:

"I try to follow rules the other's do to but we get to exited and we forget about the rules. I know that I should not break them but sometimes I Just forget. I feel so bad, I feel like I need to go to Jail when you get angry. We act like we don't like but deep inside we do. I don't like to break rules but sometimes it slips out of my mind. I am so sorry. SORRY (very sad face)." ~ AM

And the poor girl who was out of the room when the kerfuffle happened (with the other bathroom pass) and didn't know why we were writing essays:

"???.....I don't know what am wrong but sorry teacher because I make you sad. but I want to say this I didn't do in purpose." ~ JY

It's moments like these when I remember just how lucky I am to have this group of kids as my first class ever. And how amazingly resilient kids are. And how incredible it is that they came in smiling this morning, as usual.

What a week!

Oh my goodness! It's been a while since I posted, but life has certainly kept on going here - at something like warp speed! Since my last post, my mother has been to visit for a week, the International Festival finally took place, a new forth grade teacher has arrived, AND I have been sick for five days, which included two of larangitis. Today, I think I'm heading toward the end of whatever kind of bug this is (general flu symptoms with an awful hacking cough) but this week has been a trial! And the weather hasn't helped - apparently this is the season of "yellow dust" which means highly toxic air that we are supposed to avoid going out in (right) and casts daylight into an ominous semi-darkness, sort of what I imagine tornado season would be like.

So with all those factors, my patience has run thin this week and I have had to catch myself several times before taking it out on the kids! For example, just now as the kids were coming back from art class in rather high spirits, and I snapped at them a little too sharply when they weren't quite during journal time. And then when they were scared into submission I realized that was ridiculous and decided we needed a few minutes of Simon Says because really, what's the point of school if it doesn't involve having fun as a class sometimes?

Oh well. School's out - so must run for now.