October is not only the month that many young people (and adults, too!) celebrate and enjoy Halloween; it is also National Bully Prevention Month. Why not integrate the two? Well, you can, more easily than you might think. Our partner the National School Climate Center's (NSCC) BullyBust campaign has joined forces with the Broadway musical WICKED to bring you a new campaign with loads of great resources using the witches of Oz to engage students. The program's spokesperson is the character at the heart of the musical, misunderstood green witch Elphaba, who will help students learn how to end to bullying for good. Sign up for the Partner School Program and receive classroom-based supports, including WICKED-themed activities, resources, and a national "Defying Gravity" essay contest.
Educators, get critical supports for your school, resources, and activities to engage students in reducing bullying and promoting upstander behavior, and join a dedicated community of schools nationwide. Learn more, and sign up for the Partner School Program.
Two recent blog posts from our partner the Developmental Studies Center (DSC) bring light to the important role educators play in not only addressing bullying, but also proactively preventing it by creating a positive school culture where students and educators can work through the root of the problem rather than just the symptoms. Ginger Cook's post poses the question, "How might we proactively keep classrooms and schools from hitting the 'tipping point,' and stop bullying before it even starts?" Ginger outlines five ways educators can get to the root of bullying and develop a positive school climate.
Research continuously shows us that bullying has its roots in adult behavior: Children and youth replicate the actions and words they see and hear in their environments. If not parents, then teachers; if not teachers, then television—somewhere, somehow, young people learn they can use intimidation to get other people to do things. Despite the temptation to say otherwise, not just "bad" adults perpetuate bullying. Almost every single one of us has relied on intimidation to get a student to do something, and that behavior is at the heart of bullying.
I believe movies should be rated based on how many dinner conversations you get out of them. A top-notch film will provoke at least five conversations, the dregs produce zero, etc. And it's not always the quality of the film itself (or song, or photograph, or piece of art) but the impact it has on your thinking that makes the difference for me. It's about the questions the art provokes and the quality of conversation that can be had over the answers.
Unfortunately, and frustratingly for this career public educator, the movie Waiting for "Superman"—and the Oprah Winfrey Show episode dedicated to it on September 20—thinks it has the answers: fire teachers and start new charter schools. I haven't actually seen the film yet, so it goes a bit against my nature to talk about it, but I certainly can talk about what was shared during the Oprah episode, which I watched in fits and starts of agreement with some of the issues raised and abject anger at the inflammatory, blame-based, flat out inaccurate answers proposed.
So let's review:
1. The current public education system in the United States is deeply flawed and fails far too many young people, including the 30 percent who drop out all together and the 40 percent who require remedial coursework in college. — TRUE
2. Teachers play a critical role in the achievement and success of each child. — TRUE
3. Decisions about education in schools, school districts, and states and at the federal level too often prioritize adult wants over student needs. — TRUE
Therefore, according to Oprah and her guests we should:
4. Fire all the ineffective teachers (paraphrasing here: If we got rid of all the ineffective teachers, the United States would be number one in the world again). — Not so fast
There is little agreement regarding how to measure what effective teaching is beyond every parent's personal definition of what works for his or her child. My son and daughter had the same 1st grade teacher. She was absolutely perfect for one and absolutely wrong for the other because the children are different, not because she changed or was somehow less effective than the previous year.
Proponents of using student achievement data as a significant portion of teacher evaluation (including Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools Michelle Rhee) often fail to acknowledge that achievement tests were not designed for this purpose (and, in some cases, were not even designed to accurately measure student performance!).
No single staff member of any school is solely responsible for the achievement of any single student (or even class). Student achievement is influenced by interactions with many different adults—from counselors to librarians to custodians to principals to parent volunteers—throughout the school day and year and each has a profound impact on that student's achievement and success.
5. Fund and open more charter schools [so that kids don't have to attend those horrible public schools]. — Not so fast
Clear, consistent research indicates that charter schools are no more effective at raising student achievement (see flawed measurement system caveat above) than public schools. Some are great; some are lousy, just like public schools.
Bill Gates, one of the guests on Oprah's show, implied that quality public schools are few and far between and often the only viable option for any parent seeking quality for their child is a charter. That could be shocking to those folks who send their children to school districts like Arlington, Va.; Madison, Wisc.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Richmond, Va.; or Durham, N.C., each named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 20 places to educate your child and each enrolling upward of 85 percent of students in public schools. And just this week, America's Promise Alliance, an ASCD Whole Child Partner, announced its 100 Best Communities for Young People, in part based on actions taken to prepare students to graduate from high school and succeed in college and a 21st century career.
This is the truth about education, not only in this country but also around the world: when the adults in a community (parents, policymakers, business owners, and school staff) work together and individually to ensure that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged, each child succeeds. It is both that simple and that complex. Evaluate any fabulous charter or public school (large, small, urban, rural, racially and ethnically diverse or not, socioeconomically diverse or not), and I promise that you will find indicators and strategies under each of those categories that range from school-based health clinics to extended hours for academic, social, emotional, physical, and artistic support and enrichment to skilled instruction across multiple adult roles of a comprehensive, rich curriculum. Conversely, examine any failing school, be it a charter, public, or private, and you will find gaps in one or more of those areas.
It's not size that matters. It's not public or charter. It's not rich or poor. It's the conscious, conscientious, and continuous attention of all the adults of the community to ensure that each child in each school is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged that will meet the immediate needs of our children and provide for the long-term success of our democracy, economy, and society.
Days after the show now, I'm still talking about this episode, and Oprah has announced that Friday's show will be a follow-up (maybe including teachers?). Perhaps, in the end, that's really what matters here and what garners this episode, and maybe the film itself, a five-dinner rating. It's the conversations, the community-wide attention to the questions, and a national effort to find the answers that will finally change education for each of our children. Whether you agree with the solutions offered by the film and by Oprah's guests or not, I do hope you will take the time to talk about it!
Join Mike Anderson, author of The Well-Balanced Teacher: How to Work Smarter and Stay Sane Inside the Classroom and Out, for a free webinar on on staying healthy and well-balanced as a teacher. A former elementary school teacher, Anderson now works to strengthen on-site professional development for schools that are working with the Responsive Classroom approach.
Tuesday, September 29, 2010, 3:00 p.m. ET Register now!
Good teaching requires immense amounts of positive energy. Most teachers begin the year energized and ready to tackle all of the challenges that come with a normal year. Then, as the year goes on, it's easy to feel all of that positive energy slipping away. This webinar will explore how teachers can
Stay energized and healthy over the course of a grueling year
Create healthy habits that enable us to eat well, find time to exercise, connect well with colleagues, and maintain a healthy work-life balance
Set priorities so that we know we're being effective and staying engaged in the profession
Connect with Anderson on his website and on Facebook. Take your learning further with his recent guest post on the Whole Child Blog and participation in a panel discussion on the August episode of the Whole Child Podcast.
Post submitted by Whole Child Blogger Alseta Gholston
The damaging effects of bullying have always been a problem wherever groups of people have coexisted. However, we tend to identify bullying more where it exists within children's interpersonal relationships largely because many more children than adults who are victims of bullies don't yet have the emotional tools to override the scars that constant abuse can inflict on a person's psyche. For this reason, it is becoming more of a serious issue to address as we start to have more conversation around school climate and safety issues.
For example, earlier this year the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a student in South Hadley, Mass., brought school bullying back to the forefront in the United States. Several teens in connection to the case have been charged with criminal harassment, stalking, and even statutory rape. Also, proposed antibullying laws targeting school officials who neglected to respond to the incidents are now making administrators take notice.
Roaring waves of hopeful obligation have rumbled into schools across the country, crashing learners into desk chairs for another year of education. Standing on the shores of learning adventures, many educators look out and see oceans of hope and possibilities, but seasoned sailors know the sea is a friend that can turn enemy. Among the waves are storms and shipwrecks, and the lull may be the calm before the storm. However, rather than ending the journey before it begins, classroom ships venture onto the high seas of learning, knowing that while there are perils ahead there are great rewards, too. Bullying is one of those perils. Student voice is a beacon in the water that can help educators see what is coming.
Join author and educator Judie Haynes for a free webinar on the myths of second language acquisition, where you will test your knowledge and learn how to effectively teach the English language learners (ELLs) in your school. Haynes taught elementary English as a Second Language (ESL) for 27 years and currently provides professional developemnt to school districts.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 3:00 p.m. ET Register now!
As the population of ELLs grows in the United States, teachers are challenged to provide instruction to students for whom English is not the first language. Many of the assumptions we make about second language acquisition are false and lead teachers to have unrealistic expectations of ELLs.
Connect with Judie Haynes on ASCD EDge and on her blog, everythingESL, where she writes about the challenges of teaching ELLs in the general education, ESL, and bilingual classrooms.
Large or small, ethnically diverse or homogenous, urban or rural, primary or secondary: bullying occurs in every school and among students of all backgrounds. Yet some schools have a much higher incidence of bullying, while others have minimal problems. If demographic factors don't predict the incidence of bullying, what does?
We are about to enter the season of the education documentary. Much has been written about the four films coming out for theatrical run and community screenings this fall–Waiting For Superman, The Lottery, The Cartel, and Race to Nowhere–with their takes of the current state of U.S. education. But less has been mentioned about what comes next and what form the conversation should take after the screenings.
One film, Race to Nowhere, is worth a mention here because the filmmakers have planned follow-up discussions and ongoing dialogue. Producer Vicki Abeles was interviewed last week on CNN about the film and in particular about what parents and schools can do. The first step is to start a dialogue with your kids and your school.
The film's producers have made it a point to continue the conversation; to start a dialogue among the audiences and communities where it is being screened; and to seek answers, discussion, and understanding from those at the local level. It has taken the premise that the film is the start of the conversation and not the end. The Race to Nowhere team has also made a point of designing direct actions and discussions that involve—guess who—the students themselves.
The film fits with ASCD's commitment to a whole child approach to education, and healthy school communities in particular, but it was the commitment to ongoing dialogue that prompted ASCD's executive director, Gene Carter, to write the foreword to a facilitation guide that will accompany the film. It was a recognition of the filmmakers' desire to move the conversation out of the movie theater and into the schools, classrooms, hallways, and homes of each community. Dr. Carter writes
Challenges, when discovered, need to be addressed. Problems, when they arise, need to be solved. This is never so true as when we are talking about our children—their health, their growth, their education and their development. It is not enough to alert people to issues and then walk away. It is not enough to uncover problems and then neglect to work through them. It is not enough to lay blame and then move on.
Learn more about how your school and community can schedule a screening of the movie, preorder the DVD and facilitation guide, and find resources at www.racetonowhere.com.
