Monday, November 21, 2011

The value of an education

I grew up in a small 800 sq foot house in north Edmonton. When I was in Grade 8, my jr. high school, Wellington appeared on the front page of the Edmonton Journal under the heading of the "toughest school in Edmonton". Wow, did we think we were cool!

My father had a grade 6 education and my mother a grade 11, but all three of us children completed at least one university degree. My sister has two and my brother has three. Why? Because we were told over and over again by my mother, "if you want to improve your life education is the answer."

I have a great deal of respect for education. It has given me experiences and opportunities, I never even imagined as a child.

I have a great deal of respect for Vernon Watchmaker from Kehewin First Nations. He has decided to embark on a journey of education to make changes to his life. He worked hard and achieved. He is an outstanding role model for his children. Watching their father commit to getting and education and achieving it, they too will come to respect education and the opportunities it offers.

So congratulations Mr. Watchmaker, I hope you continue on your journey.



Monday, November 14, 2011

Report card time

Recently a friend of mine who teaches jr. high was told at a staff meeting, each teacher is expected to write 3 full paragraphs (3/4 of a page) about each student. The comments should be "meaningful" and explain in detail where the child is in terms of grade level, how they are being taught and exactly what the teacher is going to do to help the child improve.

Most Jr. High schools have 40 minute classes, 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. The class size is somewhere between 20 and 30. So if we do the math, 8 classes of say 25 students per class is 200 report cards. 200 x 0.75 of a page = about 150 pages.

150 pages is a small novel and not easy writing either. The teacher must choose their words carefully, to communicate clearly and not offend or upset the parent. If there is a spelling error or a typo, it will be pointed out. Teachers are expected to complete report cards in a few days of time (while continuing to teach every day all day long). This is only one of four report cards done in the year. By the end of the year the teacher will have written 600 pages worth of report card comments.

I have to assume the parent with a student at this school will get several pages of comments. My only hope is they will have the time in their hectic schedules to sit down and read every word care and carefully reflect upon their child education.

As a parent I am happy with 65 per cent and "good effort" on my kids report card. If I am really concerned with my child's education, I can pick up the phone or go to the school and "talk" to my kids teacher.


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

True Education

Education for the sake of "true learning". If you have 20 minutes, its worth listening about the barefoot college in India. The school is about "learning" not making money. What can we learn from this?


Monday, November 7, 2011

Politics of change

I am willing to give the new Minister of Education Tomas Lukaszuk a chance mostly because I like Alison Redford. So far Redford seems supportive of Education but .... only time will tell for sure.

The PC's have announced the return of a large chunk of funding for Education. While thats nice, it never should have been cut in the first place so they are simply correcting something which was done wrong. No extra points there.

Lukaszuk has decided not to go forward with bill 18, the new Education act in the Fall Legislative Session. Again a good idea, there are some changes which are not well thought out. Two that come to mind are mandatory schooling to age 17 and funding education for high school completion to age 21.

"Over the next few months we will be engaging students, parents, teachers and members of the community in a discussion on how the Education Act can make a difference in Alberta classrooms,” said Lukaszuk.


Sounds very political doesn't it ... talk talk talk. Everyone had input with "Inspiring Education." What they need is someone with a little common sense to sit down and write something sensible.

In the mean time teachers, TA's, principals and the entire eduction system will somehow forge forward without the brilliant guidance from our elected leaders.

Monday, October 31, 2011

ADHD

Should we be so quick to treat ADHD with drugs. So many children are given drugs for ADHD, largely based on evaluations from schools but is that the best approach? Are we stifling their natural creativity?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110311153543.htm

I have worked with children with ADHD and know how challenging it can be but perhaps we need to question if the structured classroom is the correct environment for all children. Instead of drugging children to make a square peg fit in a round hole, perhaps we need to make two completely different holes.

The arts and creative programs are always the first to be cut in schools. Perhaps its time for public education to diversify and teach children in different ways.

Just a thought.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Cheater's prosper

I think it is time to consider giving up testing in schools. In this article the school board in Newfoundland and Labrador passed a ruling that students caught cheating on a test must not be given a zero and must be given a re-write.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/10/24/nl-cheating-students-school-board-1024.html

This is very very different then saying "work it out with your teacher." It means no matter what the kid does to cheat in class, no matter how blatant and in your face the cheat is, the teacher still has to offer a re-write, presumably giving up their lunch time or after school time to accommodate.

If I remember correctly, students caught cheating on diploma exams here in Alberta were also permitted to re-write the exam.

As a teacher it would be just easier and more sensible to say, "I would recommend that you don't use your text book or copy the answers from the person next to you but if you decide to do it anyway, ok, I will mark the test and record the grade." It's really just a review assignment but we will all call it a "test" just to appease those who know nothing about education.

In fact why don't we just teach cheating as an exam strategy. It makes sense, "Hey kids if you are not prepared, cheat because you will then get a second chance. It's a really poor test strategy to 'try your best'." Kids need to know this.

Is it any wonder that private schools are becoming more popular.


Thursday, October 20, 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

Regrets

I spoke recently with a retiring teacher. She was emptying her filing cabinet of teaching materials she collected over her over 20 years of teaching.

She said she was filled with sadness seeing all of the creative projects and activities she was never able to do with the children. Every minute of spare time was absorbed in meeting excessive paperwork demands and just trying to keep up with the excessively heavy workload.

Right now she said in a classroom of 30 grade 7 students, she has about 5 who can't read at a grade 1 level, about 10 that read at a grade 5 level, another 10 at grade level and the remaining 5 are above grade level. She is expected to teach the curriculum materials to each student individually at their level. That requires having at least 4 different versions of each assignment or test. Textbooks are written at only one level. That is one of 5 classes she has during the day. Excessive paperwork is the reality of "individualized instruction."

Classroom management is also a challenge as several kids in her class are labeled as ADHD and some as learning disabled and one requires all assignments to be printed on coloured paper. That last requirement means that she must re-load the paper tray of the photocopier to print just one test.

Assignments and test must also be marked regularly and with 5 classes of about 30 students, so her entire evening almost every evening is spent marking papers and writing assignments.

Unfortunately the creative projects like labs or outdoor explorations get set aside. The creative things that might engage students are not evaluated as plusses on teacher evaluations nor is the material tested on standardized exams.

What matters to the bureaucracy is the number or entries in the teachers mark book and that there are no zeros in the mark book. Ridiculously unrealistic expectations from bureaucrats who spend no time in classrooms is destroying education.





Monday, October 3, 2011

Can a new premier make a difference?


So far, so good. It looks like Redford is going to support education in the province.

"On Sunday morning Redford repeated her promise to reverse the Stelmach government's $107 million funding cut to education."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/10/03/edmonton-redford-education-premier.html

Rural communities have already sent their teachers away, will they be able to get them back again?

Monday, September 26, 2011

Education Act

The Alberta Governments proposed Education Act which will replace the outdated School Act.

Highlights of the new Education Act include increasing the age of compulsory attendance to 17 from 16 years to encourage more students to complete their high school education.

The reason for this is to reduce the shamefully high drop-out rate in Alberta. Making school mandatory for the few kids who see little to no value in education is a waste. There are some kids who know what they want at an early age. They want to go work at mom or dads business or they have some sort of work lined up. Forcing them day after day to sit in a classroom to simply fulfill a government requirement is not likely to help them complete their high school.

If the government wants to encourage kids to finish high school, pay for college or University. Free post secondary education would be a great incentive to stay in school.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

First Day of School

I know scheduling the school year is a tricky task because the government mandates certain holidays but not all. Students are required to complete a certain number of hours before writing diploma exams and so on.

However why is it, the bureaucracy as a whole can't decide the first day of school should be after the labour day long weekend. I don't want to argue or debate about who is at fault, the board or the provincial government. I don't see why everyone can't agree this is a sensible decision.

It is particularly true in St. Paul because of the LRA Rodeo. Very few children are going to be ready to return to school with rodeo activities happening. I think we should set a provincial rule, school should not begin until after the long weekend in September and work the rest of the schedule around that.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Should technology be banned?

Students will be returning to the classroom soon, leaving behind their facebooks and social networks to take up research and mathematics.

Personally, I don't believe social networks, cell phones and other modern communication devices should be banned from schools. I know I am in the minority as an educator. I agree they are distractions and may temporally attract student attention in the wrong direction but this is true of almost anything.

A pretty girl or a cute guy walking down the street will distract. A nice car will capture plenty of attention. In the 1960's Edmonton Public (and many other cities) built schools with no windows in an attempt to reduce these distractions. So children sat for hours in classrooms with no natural light, not able to see a tree or a snowflake. In the winter in Canada often it's dark when students go to school and dark when they get out. With out windows, children barely saw sunlight. The idea was soon discarded as silly and we went back to building schools with windows.

We are making a similar mistake today by assuming that if we ban communication devices and other technological distractions, students will pay attention to their lessons and learn better. So teachers, TA's and principals rome the halls looking for children texting their friend or calling their parents. Their phones are confiscated because this is a "no phone" zone. Although teachers are adults and should be completely capable of having a phone and using it properly, they too are banned from having phones. Both teachers and students continue to sneak phones into schools, hiding around corners to communicate with the outside world.

Perhaps it would be better to accept technology and teach kids how to use them properly and respectfully. If a student is abusing cell phone privileges, it will annoy the other students in the class as much as the instructor. Peer pressure is a powerful behavior moderator. If not, then the teacher should address the inappropriate behavior not the communication device.

Technology is a wonderful educator, I believe both teachers and the education system is doing a good job of using technology in education. However fear of distractions, holds back the entire system from making full use of technology.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A column worth reading

I believe we are more progressive than the U.S. in terms of our schools and digital content but this is still a good read.

"When we criticize students for making digital videos instead of reading “Gravity’s Rainbow,” we are blinding ourselves to the world as it is."

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade/?src=tp

Monday, July 18, 2011

Cheating

Most certainly any teacher or school administrator that cheats on a test should be fired. It's interesting in this case the teachers and administrators were not cheating to improve their own grades but changing student grades on standardized tests. It is not just one isolated case either, over a hundred educators are accused. This raises a number of questions.

Firstly standardized tests are supposed to provide an objective comparison for students applying to college or other post secondary institutions. How reliable are they?

Second if the teachers were willing to risk their jobs by doing something so unethical, why? Is it because they risked being evaluated on the results of the students? Were they going to loose their jobs because of low student achievement, so said why not try cheating?

Again this is an American study but I know that similar pressures do exist here in Alberta where teacher performance is evaluated on the grades students achieve.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/15/georgia.atlanta.schools.cheating/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Friday, July 15, 2011

Blame the teachers

Although this is an American article, I bet a good many teachers in Alberta can identify.

"They also want public schools run with the top-down, data-driven, accountability methods used in private businesses."

http://dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=504

Monday, July 4, 2011

Student Advisory Councils

Student input into Education can be valuable if done correctly and managed properly. If this council becomes nothing more then a publicity stunt, kids will see through it and it will be done in a few years.

However, if done properly, it could be very useful. The most effective learning occurs when students feel engaged with real, meaningful projects. Development of these kinds of projects requires input from students.

Only time will tell ...



Thursday, June 30, 2011

Money, politics and teaching

The first paragraph says it all ...

"Even with a $1.3-billion decrease in the 2010 deficit, the province says it won't restore $100 million to the education budget for teachers' salaries."


I wonder how many teachers and school staff voted PC in the last election.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Net Generation

Should school be a place where we mimic the multitasking environment or should it be a place where we slow things down, teach students to read and write complete words, sentences and paragraphs?

Friday, June 17, 2011

Education vs common sense

Being an educated, intelligent person does not mean that you have any common sense.



Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Government infrastructure dept. got it right

It is not very often I find myself on the side of the government but spending money now to build or renovate schools is right on.

The province has announced a spending blitz to build new schools across the province and renovate many older schools. It will cost huge amounts of money in the short term but money well spent.

Alberta is on the verge of an economic boom and when that is underway, the cost of construction goes up. Oil companies and other businesses will be expanding. The construction companies will be busy; supply and demand will push the cost of construction up.

It is prudent and fiscally responsible to build and renovate now.


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Who is to blame?

Despite the fact that Alberta is the richest province in Canada, one of the strongest economies in the world and is on the verge of an economic boom, the provincial government can't manage to meet the obligations of a contract that they negotiated.

To save money in an economic boom teachers should take a wage freeze?


If the province can't manage to meet it's contractual obligations, they should go back to letting boards negotiate teacher contracts. When the teacher contracts were negotiated by school boards they were only an issue at contract time. Once a contract was done, everyone expected to live up to the agreements until next contract time.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Cutting School Days

It was reported recently that the St. Paul Education Regional Division is cutting the school year by one day to save $50,000. It may seem like a good idea on the surface but it is setting a dangerous precedence.

What is the message that is being sent to children? School is important for your future, you must attend classes regularly, unless it will save us some money.

This is the richest province in Canada. We have a strong economy and by all indicators it will only be getting stronger. Do we really need to be saving money buy cutting class time for children?

Monday, April 25, 2011

Holidays

Edmonton public is considering re-arranging the school year to add another holiday in November.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Edmonton+Public+Schools+considers+fall+break/4668033/story.html

I think it is time to consider year round schooling. A student or teacher can expect to attend or work two out of the three terms. If a student wanted to attend all three terms, they could finish their grade 12 earlier.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Fine Arts Showcase

Recently SPERD held the Fine Arts Showcase at Racette featuring talent from across the division. Hundreds of parents and community members came to view pictures on display and hear kids perform. It was awesome. Most commercial artists would give their left arm to have an audience like that.

One of the best things that public education has to offer is variety and expertise. There is no way I could teach my daughter to play alto sax at home or giver her the opportunity to play in front of a crowd. Although my daughter didn't participate in this showcase, she will have similar chances in the future through public education.

While computers offer education anytime, anyplace, a computer program can't replace hands on teaching in areas such as fine arts.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

How much is too much

Yup the peanut allergy issue. If a child has a serious life threatening allergy or condition of any sort, how far can we expect the public school system to accommodate? My daughter could not have peanut butter sandwiches in elementary school, which was not a big problem. However, sometimes I would forget and put nuts in the banana bread or in a muffin. My daughter said that she hid under the slide on the playground once to eat the banana bread I put in her lunch forgetting about the nut issue. The thought of it made me laugh but I promised her I would try to remember to leave the nuts out of the banana bread, even though it disappointed other members of my family.

I have often wondered why only nuts seem to be banned. Are other allergies less serious? People can be allergic to so many things, like eggs, milk, gluten, and MSG. What if there were two different kids with different allergies? Would all parents in the classroom be expected to provide gluten free and nut free food for their children? That would really make planning lunches complicated.

What if you had three different kids and each was in a classroom with different forbidden substances? One child had a no nuts rule, another no MSG and the third, no milk products. Geezz the parent would have a real chore planning to accommodate all of those and make sure their own child had a healthy lunch.

The problem is people are not perfect and we sometimes forget to check the package of granola bars to see if there are nuts or other substances. If we make a mistake who is responsible? The parent who chose to send their child to public school? The school for not checking the lunches? The parent of the child who forgot or didn’t notice that there was nuts in the food?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/peanut-allergy-stirs-controversy-florida-school-20110322-143328-250.html

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

What do we "need to know"

Since the government is considering cutting back the curriculum to "need to know" rather then "nice to know" so they can then cut back classroom time and teacher wages. I have one comment ...

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN



Warning

The government has not completely abandoned the idea of negotiating a settlement with teachers, trying to cut classroom time in exchange for lower wages.

Government officials have been heard making comments like "Its not the quantity of time that matters its quality," and "We need to consider what is necessary to learn and what is nice to learn." The latter is referring to cutting back the curriculum content.

All this does is download the financial responsibility directly onto parents and will ultimately result in a two tier education system. You can bet if this goes through a number of "programs" will come forward to fill the void because parents can't leave their children at home alone. Children in the city will likely have access to things like "Telus World of Science" camps, or "University of Alberta" camps where as rural children will not. Parents who do not have much money will simply leave their kids at home unsupervised.

One of the nice things about public education is that it brings some equality to learning. Every child has the same "opportunity" to learn. Many do not take full advantage of the opportunity but at least they have a chance. I believe education is a basic human right, which should not be pared back to put a few more dollars in the pockets of the wealthy.

Increase the taxes and provide the education!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Time for teachers to speak up for themselves

I have been out of the classroom for a while so have to some extent lost contact with the day to day struggles of teachers. I come from one of those families where it seemed like everyone was a teacher and I grew up hearing debates at the dinner table about educational philosophy and teaching methods. You would be surprised about how the same issues come up over and over again. Many of the "new" ideas in education are not really all that new. I feel very comfortable discussing and/or debating any topic in education and I happen to be lucky enough to have a job where I can express my opinions publicly.

I find that while teachers have strong, passionate and intelligent ideas they lack the courage to speak out. The other day I was approached by a teacher who said that she was "disappointed" that I am no longer writing passionate columns about education. I asked her what she thought would make a good topic and she replied, the lack of morale for teachers in the division. Explaining that I was no longer in the staff rooms to hear the day to day concerns, I asked her why teacher morale is low.

She seemed to sense that I was wearing a reporter cap and refused to provide details. I think it is very important to do a column on teacher morale, but I can't if no-one will explain it to me. When I send my daughter off to school, it would be nice to know that the teacher who is helping her learn, is feeling good about their job. I want her to be surrounded by people who love learning not people who feel exhausted, beat up and just are hanging in until summer break.

I would very much like to help change a system that is draining the enthusiasm from dedicated teachers, driving many of them away from the system. In my job I have some freedom to speak up and voice an opinion and I am not afraid of feedback, in fact I welcome debate publicly or privately. However, if I am to take on an issue, I need to fully understand what I am talking about.

If teachers in the division lack the courage to say why morale is lacking, you can't expect me to guess what is bothering you. It is time for teachers to learn to speak up for themselves, at least a little bit because if you don't nothing will change.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Teachers pay

I have seen this before but it is now re-emerging on Facebook ....


Are you sick of highly paid teachers?

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....

That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's

something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher's salary

(nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days

= $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tripartite Negotiations dead

Well the government of Alberta is once again trying to wiggle out of the contact it signed with teachers. The three groups at the table in the tripartite negotiations are the ATA, the ASBA and the Government of Alberta. The idea is to talk teachers into giving up their 4.3 per cent increase in pay which is owed to them contractually. In exchange teachers will spend less time teaching in classrooms, about 9 days per year and will participate in 12 PD days per year.

OMG - the government is so very out of touch with teachers it is a complete joke. Firstly most teachers remember the last time they were asked to accept a rollback in wages and how they simply got screwed while other sectors of the economy forged ahead. Secondly most teachers like being in the classroom. They are already under serious time pressure to complete their curriculum in a year, so telling them they will have 9 less days is not a plus. If those 9 days were going to be guaranteed to be days to catch up on planning and marking then you might have something but to say they have to spend more time in silly PD sessions?????

Is it any wonder the negotiations are dead! Under the contract teachers get more money, more time in classroom with the kids (which they like) and fewer lectures on stupid out of touch teaching methods.

The government says the negotiations are not dead and they plan to return to the table ... LOL ... well they better come up with something new.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Separate schools

St. Paul Education is unique in that the school board represents both Catholic Schools and Protestant schools however this is a topic that is about to heat up in other areas of the province.


Is it time for separation of Church and public schools?


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

ADHD/sleep disorder connection

I have read more then once about a connection between tiredness and behavior problems in children. If a child is trying to stay awake, they might fidget, move around or talk out of turn. As a parent, I would certainly request a sleep study for my child before getting into medications that alter the brain chemistry.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Facebook issue

This is the first I have herd of kids actually being suspended because of comments on Facebook. It is interesting in that Facebook is not a school sanctioned activity nor does it really have anything to do with school. Kids are not permitted to be on Facebook during the day at school. This opens up a whole new issue because comments made online do not directly affect education or learning. We can not suspend students for cheating on exams (we just have to give them their second chance) or for vandalizing a teachers home but we can suspend them for making comments on Facebook when they are emotionally distraught over the death of their friend.

Are schools now police? Is suspension from school a punishment for bad behaviour in any setting? We can grey-area this topic forever ... for example if a student swears at another student on the street in the evening, can they be suspended? It is against school rules to swear at another student.



Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Canadian students suspended for clothing

This is ridiculous! Of all the reasons to suspend students, clothing is one of the worst. In this case the girls outfits are not all that offensive and they are celebrating their team.

As a parent, I know that you have to pick your fights and clothing and hair styles do not rank all that high on my list of concerns. Schools need to stay focused on academic and education issues. Leave the dress codes up to their parents.


But thats just my opinion!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Canadian college issue

I am a strong supporter of inclusion but I do have to question this one ...

"The university's dean of graduate studies waived a failed comprehensive exam for the doctoral candidate, who said after the fact that he had acute exam anxiety."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2011/01/02/man-lucacs-cp-profile-exam-anxiety.html#ixzz1A11BxWTt

Personally I can think of more then a few exams which gave me acute exam anxiety after the fact, most particularly Organic Chemistry! I still get nightmares over that exam.

It's the "after the fact" that really makes me question this one. He is getting a PhD so he must have faced more then a few exams already, perhaps he should have known about the anxiety in advance.

I wonder if high school students could make the same claim about diploma exams now that there is a precedence set at the University level?

I do admire this professor standing up for what he sees as incorrect.


Weapons in college

This is not a great topic to start off the New Year but when I read it I just had to give my head a shake.

"After hearing that legislators in Texas and perhaps other states will again try to change the law to force colleges to allow students to bring loaded concealed weapons into classrooms,..."


I predict that if this does happen that we will see an increase in home schooling.