The final assembly, graduation, and our "Farewell Party & Auction" are over. In four days I get on a Continental flight to Houston. In those 4 days I have to inventory the lab materials (which means taking 30 minutes to update last year's inventory) and get some signatures on the check-out sheet. You would think I would have a lot of time for blogging, but the purpose of this blog has run its course. I'm no longer a teacher and feel pretty good about my current decision to never take this job again. If you have enjoyed reading this and would like me to continue with "FirstYearRetireeBlog", leave me a comment to that effect.
On the day of the last assembly I received a present from a 6th grade student. It was a nice painting in a huge frame. I popped the painting out of the frame, packed it, and put the frame in the auction. Better than the picture was the student's note, though. I think I will have it framed: "Dr.C, Science has never been so fun and interesting and that was because of your teaching." It was from the student who puked when I sang "Chicken Lips" to the class. (See Nov. 23,2010 entry)
If you've followed the blog you might be aware of my enjoyment of the 6th and 8th grade classes and my difficulty developing a like for the 7th grade classes.While they were taking their final exam, I counted the problems and half problems in the class. The total was 8 out of 30. Individually most of the class is very pleasant to be around, but when they are together, there is a peer group mentality that causes them to avoid or be bashful about exerting effort or attempting to learn something. After the graduation I was very touched when a few wanted a hug or a picture taken with me or tears would begin to well up when our eyes met. As we left the graduation venue and I walked past a group of 7th graders, one said, "Please stay next year," and then they were all asking. I stopped and told them they would be with me in my thoughts. I considered for a nanosecond giving a lecture on how their peer dynamic made them the kind of class that would not make me want to stay and teach, but they aren't the reason I am leaving. Like so much that happens at this time of year their kindness added some sweetness to the sadness of leaving.
I'm now moving into my retirement acitivites: being a rugby journalist and planning to build a house.
Farewell.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Anyone for Capture the Flag?
Today (Wednesday) is the last full day for the K-5th graders. If you've been following this blog, you know I've been finished since last Thursday. I filled in a little time today playing Capture the Flag with my wife's 3rd grade class and playing keyboard for the choir while they rehearsed for Saturday's 8th grade graduation. The rest of the day has been fiddling with stuff on the computer. I did have a break for a little while when some girls came in to tell me there was a dead bird on campus. I went to confirm that it was indeed dead and to scare anyone who had touched it into washing their hands.
There are seven faculty workdays stretching until the end of next week to fill and there won't be a choir to practice with or anyone to play Capture the Flag with. Maybe I could organize a faculty Capture the Flag game?
I've already slipped into retirement mode, so I don't think I have been writing the "Big Idea" I've learned during 35 years in education the last few blogs. The idea related to this blog is plan to have something you want to do during the last few teacher workdays of the year. This school feels like the worst for stretching out this end of the year clean-up/sign-out process. Most places I've worked it has been only 2 or 3 days after kids are gone. Anyway ... I have my small solar house to plan, rugby articles on Deep South Union and upcoming world cup to write, and this blog.
There are seven faculty workdays stretching until the end of next week to fill and there won't be a choir to practice with or anyone to play Capture the Flag with. Maybe I could organize a faculty Capture the Flag game?
I've already slipped into retirement mode, so I don't think I have been writing the "Big Idea" I've learned during 35 years in education the last few blogs. The idea related to this blog is plan to have something you want to do during the last few teacher workdays of the year. This school feels like the worst for stretching out this end of the year clean-up/sign-out process. Most places I've worked it has been only 2 or 3 days after kids are gone. Anyway ... I have my small solar house to plan, rugby articles on Deep South Union and upcoming world cup to write, and this blog.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Eight Workdays & the Rest of My Life to Fill
After playing keyboard for the choir's practice this morning, I have spent the day cruising around the internet. All grades are in and my room is 95% packed-up. There are 8 teacher work days left. What to fill them up with?
Personal Goals for the Next 8 Days:
Draw floor plan and 4 sides of 480 square ft. solar house.
Research online journalism courses.
Write an article on rugby world cup and try to get accepted to rugby internet site.
I suppose that should fill the time.In a few minutes I need to explain the rules of Capture the Flag to my wife's 3rd grade class. We're playing tomorrow. That should take care of a few hours.
I am getting this strange feeling of disconnect with what I used to do for 35 years. Before when summer vacation was imminent, I would create a list of summer activities. Always there would be something that involved preparing for the next school year. Time to create activities for the summer vacation that will stretch through the rest of my life.
Personal Goals for the Next 8 Days:
Draw floor plan and 4 sides of 480 square ft. solar house.
Research online journalism courses.
Write an article on rugby world cup and try to get accepted to rugby internet site.
I suppose that should fill the time.In a few minutes I need to explain the rules of Capture the Flag to my wife's 3rd grade class. We're playing tomorrow. That should take care of a few hours.
I am getting this strange feeling of disconnect with what I used to do for 35 years. Before when summer vacation was imminent, I would create a list of summer activities. Always there would be something that involved preparing for the next school year. Time to create activities for the summer vacation that will stretch through the rest of my life.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Little Bee, Yes Man, & Potential to Change the World
I finished reading Little Bee by Chris Cleave this morning. Towards the end of the book a couple of the characters in the book are discussing when they lost the belief that they could change the world. The way I read it was that both characters felt the notion that they could change the world was a very naive assumption on their part. One of the characters then says something like, 'You changed my world'. That is one of the powers of a teacher. Everyday you step into the classroom you have the potential to change the world, at least the individual world of a student.
Friday a couple of 6th graders popped in to see what they got on their final exam. One wanted her picture taken with me. After the picture and just before she walked out the door, she turned and said, "Dr.C, you're the best teacher I have ever had." It blew me away. I mumbled thanks and something about her always being a wonderful student to teach as she turned and disappeared. I suppose there is some world changing potential in one 6th grader who liked science for at least one year when she was 12.
Friday night the 8th graders had a celebratory end-of-year sleep-over at the school. The homeroom teacher had asked other teachers to help, and I volunteered to conduct a game (Capture the Flag) for the kids. She was looking for teachers to sleep-over, but I am very particular about my sleep in my latter years. Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon I watched the Jim Carrey movie "Yes Man". If you haven't seen it I don't think I am spoiling it by saying it is about Carrey's character buying into a self-help philosophy that requires him to say "Yes" to every opportunity that presents itself. In some ways it was good I didn't watch it before the teacher asked me if I would sleep-over with the kids, but after the Capture the Flag game she was discussing another activity for the evening, the telling of scary stories around the campfire. She didn't come right out and ask if I would stay and tell stories, but she did start talking about how her son (who is a 7th grader) really enjoyed the scary stories I told when the 7th grade had their annual sleep-over. I started pondering if I should stay. I thought about needing to review my scary story file, having to wait around for another hour, swatting off mosquitoes that seemed to be enjoying the Deep Woods Off I had lathered on, and my growing weariness as the evening slid further past my usual bedtime. I packed up the "Capture the Flag" equipment and slipped away. Perhaps if I had seen "Yes Man" the day before I would have lept at the chance to tell some scary stories. My stories made enough of an impression on a 7th grader that he told his mom about my scary story telling talent; although, I doubt if there is anything there that will change the world.
Friday a couple of 6th graders popped in to see what they got on their final exam. One wanted her picture taken with me. After the picture and just before she walked out the door, she turned and said, "Dr.C, you're the best teacher I have ever had." It blew me away. I mumbled thanks and something about her always being a wonderful student to teach as she turned and disappeared. I suppose there is some world changing potential in one 6th grader who liked science for at least one year when she was 12.
Friday night the 8th graders had a celebratory end-of-year sleep-over at the school. The homeroom teacher had asked other teachers to help, and I volunteered to conduct a game (Capture the Flag) for the kids. She was looking for teachers to sleep-over, but I am very particular about my sleep in my latter years. Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon I watched the Jim Carrey movie "Yes Man". If you haven't seen it I don't think I am spoiling it by saying it is about Carrey's character buying into a self-help philosophy that requires him to say "Yes" to every opportunity that presents itself. In some ways it was good I didn't watch it before the teacher asked me if I would sleep-over with the kids, but after the Capture the Flag game she was discussing another activity for the evening, the telling of scary stories around the campfire. She didn't come right out and ask if I would stay and tell stories, but she did start talking about how her son (who is a 7th grader) really enjoyed the scary stories I told when the 7th grade had their annual sleep-over. I started pondering if I should stay. I thought about needing to review my scary story file, having to wait around for another hour, swatting off mosquitoes that seemed to be enjoying the Deep Woods Off I had lathered on, and my growing weariness as the evening slid further past my usual bedtime. I packed up the "Capture the Flag" equipment and slipped away. Perhaps if I had seen "Yes Man" the day before I would have lept at the chance to tell some scary stories. My stories made enough of an impression on a 7th grader that he told his mom about my scary story telling talent; although, I doubt if there is anything there that will change the world.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Administrators' Superficial Stuff
I was cleaning out a folder this morning and came across a form I filled in 3 years ago. The principal wanted us to list our "Personal Goals". No one has looked at it since I completed it in August, 2008. This task supported a theory I call 'Administrators' Superficial Stuff'. The acronym is related to how the staff sees the administrator when such an activity is introduced. I was guilty of introducing these kinds of activities when I was an administrator. The process for coming up with one of these tasks goes something like this: an administrator, during the summer or during a lull in the usual rush of jobs involved in managing a school, gets an idea. They feel it is a great idea, and most of the time the idea is for all the right reasons. A few minutes on a computer creating a form or adding the idea to an agenda, and the idea now represents time out of the lives of other people. The administrator has now created a monkey for everyone. (See Blog from May 10th on monkey management.)
What administrators often fail to comprehend (myself included) is how much time they will have to spend taking care of the monkey. Take the "Personl Goals" form for example. If this was to be a serious effort to support faculty in achieving personal goals, the adminstrator should have collected the forms, read them, and had a pre and post conference with everyone. The faculty was about 40 members at the time . For sake of ease let's say the process takes the principal a total of 30 minutes a faculty member. That's 20 hours! Also once you start mucking around in someone's personal goals, there's no telling what kinds of monkeys might hop out of their cages. That is just the administrator's time. The 40 faculty members would need to fill in the form and attend the pre and post conferences. Let's say each faculty member spends an average of an hour filling in forms, scheduling and attending conferences, and waiting for the administrator to see them. That's 40 hours. The school secretary would have to check-off who turned in the form, schedule the pre and post conferences, communicate with faculty and administrator. At an average of 10 minutes per faculty member that is 2.5 hours. For a total of 62.5 hours of school personnel time.
Is it worth 62.5 hours of school personnel time to properly support a process for 40 faculty members to reflect on personal goals for the coming school year and discuss these goals with their supervisor? I'm not sure. I think that if you start the process you need to commit to the follow through. In the principal's defense he did get shot a week before spring break and spent several weeks in a local hospital before being medevaced to Canada. After missing last year, he came back this year. He didn't have us fill in our personal goals.
For those interested my goals were: save money and improve my Spanish, sketching skills, and golf. I've acheived most of them. We live on a golf course. I play at least 3 times a week. The cost was $50 a month, so that didn't impact the first goal (save money) too much. My Spanish is better. I watch a Spanish telenovela every weeknight. The first two years I watched 2 a night. I suppose it was my advancing years that made it difficult to stay awake through the second one this year. A strategy I was going to use was to translate something (newspaper, book, comic,...) every day. That didn't happen. There is something I can shift into my retirement goals. Also, we will be leaving here before our current telenovela finishes, but it is now playing on the Spanish cable channel we get back in Florida. My sketching skills haven't improved very much. I've been working on drawing people. It is rare and usually pure luck if someone is able to recognize the subject of my drawing. I usually sketch people during faculty meetings. Faculty meetings ... those are often another example of "Administrators' Superficial Stuff". At least I found them useful for working on a personal goal.
What administrators often fail to comprehend (myself included) is how much time they will have to spend taking care of the monkey. Take the "Personl Goals" form for example. If this was to be a serious effort to support faculty in achieving personal goals, the adminstrator should have collected the forms, read them, and had a pre and post conference with everyone. The faculty was about 40 members at the time . For sake of ease let's say the process takes the principal a total of 30 minutes a faculty member. That's 20 hours! Also once you start mucking around in someone's personal goals, there's no telling what kinds of monkeys might hop out of their cages. That is just the administrator's time. The 40 faculty members would need to fill in the form and attend the pre and post conferences. Let's say each faculty member spends an average of an hour filling in forms, scheduling and attending conferences, and waiting for the administrator to see them. That's 40 hours. The school secretary would have to check-off who turned in the form, schedule the pre and post conferences, communicate with faculty and administrator. At an average of 10 minutes per faculty member that is 2.5 hours. For a total of 62.5 hours of school personnel time.
Is it worth 62.5 hours of school personnel time to properly support a process for 40 faculty members to reflect on personal goals for the coming school year and discuss these goals with their supervisor? I'm not sure. I think that if you start the process you need to commit to the follow through. In the principal's defense he did get shot a week before spring break and spent several weeks in a local hospital before being medevaced to Canada. After missing last year, he came back this year. He didn't have us fill in our personal goals.
For those interested my goals were: save money and improve my Spanish, sketching skills, and golf. I've acheived most of them. We live on a golf course. I play at least 3 times a week. The cost was $50 a month, so that didn't impact the first goal (save money) too much. My Spanish is better. I watch a Spanish telenovela every weeknight. The first two years I watched 2 a night. I suppose it was my advancing years that made it difficult to stay awake through the second one this year. A strategy I was going to use was to translate something (newspaper, book, comic,...) every day. That didn't happen. There is something I can shift into my retirement goals. Also, we will be leaving here before our current telenovela finishes, but it is now playing on the Spanish cable channel we get back in Florida. My sketching skills haven't improved very much. I've been working on drawing people. It is rare and usually pure luck if someone is able to recognize the subject of my drawing. I usually sketch people during faculty meetings. Faculty meetings ... those are often another example of "Administrators' Superficial Stuff". At least I found them useful for working on a personal goal.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Exams Done, Clean-Up Begun
I just entered the grades for the 6th grade final exams and no one failed. I put the scores on a curve without knowing which person went with which score. When the dust settled, the most at-risk kid pulled through with a 69.7 average. Below 70 is failing. I won't have anyone for remediation next week.
Thirty-five years now down to 2 weeks of sorting out my room and planning what I do with the rest of my life. We had a day without electricity on Wednesday, so I got a good start on cleaning the classroom. Bulletin boards stripped, file cabinet cleaned, excess paper piled in the recyling box, materials passed to next year's science teacher, textbooks inventoried and hauled to the storage room, and a start on organizing the lab closet. I suppose this blog should come to an end soon. I'm contemplating whether to start one entitled "First Year Retiree".
Thirty-five years now down to 2 weeks of sorting out my room and planning what I do with the rest of my life. We had a day without electricity on Wednesday, so I got a good start on cleaning the classroom. Bulletin boards stripped, file cabinet cleaned, excess paper piled in the recyling box, materials passed to next year's science teacher, textbooks inventoried and hauled to the storage room, and a start on organizing the lab closet. I suppose this blog should come to an end soon. I'm contemplating whether to start one entitled "First Year Retiree".
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Doing Unpleasant Things for the Last Time
I promise I am not going to finish this year with each blog being about what I just did for the last time, but for me this was a big one. I took the stools off the lab tables for the last time. At the end of each day the last class puts the stools up on the tables so maintenance can clean. In the morning I take them down. Today is the last day the kids come to the lab. When the 6th graders put them up this afternoon, I can just leave them up.
Today will be my last lunch duty. The last time I stand around trying not to catch students speaking Spanish. It is a school rule they are to speak only English on campus. The school is 99% Honduran native Spanish speakers, so speaking Spanish is the forbidden fruit. If we catch them, we are supposed to have a consequence. If they are repeat offenders (which they all are) we can send them to the office and they get an after school detention or possibly a suspension. My consequence has been that they get a 250 word essay on why they should practice English as much as possible. If they don't write the essay, their team loses points. The points have increased each time I have caught someone speaking Spanish. The system started in January when the principal became adamant about enforcing this rule. I am now up to 53 points off for the 7th grade and 24 for the 6th grade. After they write the essay, I edit it and they have to rewrite it correctly. If they don't do the rewrite, their team loses half the points. This consequence has been very successful in making sure those that either refuse to speak English or have problems communicating in English stay well away from me while I am on duty. I'm not sure if it has inspired anyone to speak more English even though most of the essays contain excellent reasons on how they should take every opportunity to practice their English.
The main reason I think such a rule exists is so they begin to think in English. The English they practice with their peers is not pronounced correctly and often the grammer is incorrect. Often I have caught students speaking Spanish, and they were not aware they were speaking Spanish because they just say what they think and they haven't developed the ability to think in English. Anyway, today is the last day I will have to enforce this rule.
I was going to have a big idea of something I've learned over the years with each blog. I think I missed one in the last blog. I heard this in a movie (Burn after Reading) I was watching recently. "Don't sweat the little stuff and it's all little stuff" - except it is not all little stuff. Once in awhile in an essay I get thanked for caring about if they speak English or not.
Today will be my last lunch duty. The last time I stand around trying not to catch students speaking Spanish. It is a school rule they are to speak only English on campus. The school is 99% Honduran native Spanish speakers, so speaking Spanish is the forbidden fruit. If we catch them, we are supposed to have a consequence. If they are repeat offenders (which they all are) we can send them to the office and they get an after school detention or possibly a suspension. My consequence has been that they get a 250 word essay on why they should practice English as much as possible. If they don't write the essay, their team loses points. The points have increased each time I have caught someone speaking Spanish. The system started in January when the principal became adamant about enforcing this rule. I am now up to 53 points off for the 7th grade and 24 for the 6th grade. After they write the essay, I edit it and they have to rewrite it correctly. If they don't do the rewrite, their team loses half the points. This consequence has been very successful in making sure those that either refuse to speak English or have problems communicating in English stay well away from me while I am on duty. I'm not sure if it has inspired anyone to speak more English even though most of the essays contain excellent reasons on how they should take every opportunity to practice their English.
The main reason I think such a rule exists is so they begin to think in English. The English they practice with their peers is not pronounced correctly and often the grammer is incorrect. Often I have caught students speaking Spanish, and they were not aware they were speaking Spanish because they just say what they think and they haven't developed the ability to think in English. Anyway, today is the last day I will have to enforce this rule.
I was going to have a big idea of something I've learned over the years with each blog. I think I missed one in the last blog. I heard this in a movie (Burn after Reading) I was watching recently. "Don't sweat the little stuff and it's all little stuff" - except it is not all little stuff. Once in awhile in an essay I get thanked for caring about if they speak English or not.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Is it too early to start thinking about life after teaching?
Monday is mostly over. I have a 6th grade class this afternoon. For tomorrow the kids could elect to either continue reviewing or have their team earned extra recess. Of course they chose recess. Today I am half-heartedly reviewing for exams that start Wednesday. The kids can smell summer vacation and they are half-heartedly particpating in review. If you have read any of my blogs about these end of term exams, you've read enough of my feeling about exams; although, I just had an 8th grader come in to see what she got on her exam. She looked at the first part which was identifying independent and dependent variables from an experimental question. She got most of them right. She told me that they finally made sense as she was reviewing for the exam. Questions float in my mind about was it studying for the exam or was it that she was finally developmentally ready, and if it was the former, how long will she remember.
Anyway it is pretty much all over now for 6th and 7th grade. The mud has been thrown on the walls. Wednesday and Thursday I will check what stuck. Then I'll spend a day cleaning up the lab and 2 weeks thinking about life after teaching.
Anyway it is pretty much all over now for 6th and 7th grade. The mud has been thrown on the walls. Wednesday and Thursday I will check what stuck. Then I'll spend a day cleaning up the lab and 2 weeks thinking about life after teaching.
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Future Gave Me a Hug
I'm half way through checking 8th grade final exams. They move on to the high school at the mothership campus in San Pedro next year. I've had this group 2 years, and they have been superb - possibly the best middle school class I have ever taught. They seemed to come to school every day with a spirit that screamed, 'We like being here; now let's have some fun learning something.' Anything I asked them to do, from debating environmental issues in front of their peers to exploring questions about Piaget and Erickson and their evolving cognitive and psycho-social development, they approached with an open curiosity and a faith that they would be better because they tried and considered the challenges I presented.
As they were taking the final exam I started writing on their homework board (mostly as a joke) "Science Summer Homework". In each space reserved for a specific subject, I wrote a different task.
1) Follow a constellation across the night sky. 2) Marvel at the colors of a sunset and sunrise. 3) Keep a pencil and paper by your bed. Write down a dream as soon as you wake up and try to figure out where it came from. 4).Read a science fiction story and dream about the future. 5) Do something once a week to make the planet better. 6) Grow something and do an experiment with it. Some students would look up and smile or giggle when I wrote one down. At the end of the exam a few wrote down their summer homework before they left my classroom forever.
Big idea about the joy of being a teacher - Sometimes you touch the future, and sometimes the potential future hugs your heart.
As they were taking the final exam I started writing on their homework board (mostly as a joke) "Science Summer Homework". In each space reserved for a specific subject, I wrote a different task.
1) Follow a constellation across the night sky. 2) Marvel at the colors of a sunset and sunrise. 3) Keep a pencil and paper by your bed. Write down a dream as soon as you wake up and try to figure out where it came from. 4).Read a science fiction story and dream about the future. 5) Do something once a week to make the planet better. 6) Grow something and do an experiment with it. Some students would look up and smile or giggle when I wrote one down. At the end of the exam a few wrote down their summer homework before they left my classroom forever.
Big idea about the joy of being a teacher - Sometimes you touch the future, and sometimes the potential future hugs your heart.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Serentiy of Watching the Monkey Get Put Back in Its Cage
The big news around our school this past week were stories about the seniors at the mothership campus in San Pedro going wild during a water balloon fight and breaking windows, tables, chairs and racking up around $10,000 in damage. According to rumors, there is school security camera footage of those involved. There are tales of balloons filled with beer and urine and of students tossing balloons at the school director as he tried to stop the vandalism.
Everyone had their views on what the school director should do. It was nice not being in the big chair when something like this happens. I was director of 2 schools and principal of one. I distinguish between the 2 positions in the following way - a principal reports to another person (school director) and a director reports to a Board. I had a couple of student expulsion issues evolve during my time as director, but never a whole class. I had a couple of management theories that I would use when I had the big seat. I'm not sure if they are real theories and can't remember where I picked them up. I don't think they would necessarily help the current school director with his problem, but as I am unloading the things I picked up during 35 years in the business, I'll share them here.
Theory #1: It is a Non-problem: Someone brings you what they suspect is or will soon be a problem. Your assessment is that it is not a problem unless you start addressing it as one. This happens a lot. The trick is how to ignore the assumed problem without upsetting or alienating those who think it is a problem. This leads to management theory #2.
Theory #2: Monkey Management : When someone brings you a problem, you think of the problem as a monkey they are bringing to you. Monkeys require a lot of care and can be very messy. You need to decide if this is rightfully your monkey that you need to take care of, is it a monkey you need to pet on the head and give back to the person who brought it to you, or is it a monkey that you need to assign to someone else to take care of. There are lots of other ways to think about the monkey, but hopefully you have the basic idea.
Back to the problem the current director is facing. It is a real problem. He can't just decide this was some playful mischief by 120 or so seniors and sweep the $10,000 into some part of the maintenance budget. It is his monkey. He needs to find a way to make it clearly visible that the senior class is responsible for cleaning up the monkey mess. It's tricky as most of them are finished with school and accepted to college, and the slap on the wrist that they can't graduate with their classmates is not going to upset them or convince those watching (which is the entire school community) that he properly handled the monkey. Too drastic a response which jeopardizes their future could land the school in legal problems and bring all sorts of new monkeys to town. I imagine there are Board members calling often with views on how to deal with the monkey. There is a certain serence pleasure in watching how this monkey is being handled from well outside the zoo.
Everyone had their views on what the school director should do. It was nice not being in the big chair when something like this happens. I was director of 2 schools and principal of one. I distinguish between the 2 positions in the following way - a principal reports to another person (school director) and a director reports to a Board. I had a couple of student expulsion issues evolve during my time as director, but never a whole class. I had a couple of management theories that I would use when I had the big seat. I'm not sure if they are real theories and can't remember where I picked them up. I don't think they would necessarily help the current school director with his problem, but as I am unloading the things I picked up during 35 years in the business, I'll share them here.
Theory #1: It is a Non-problem: Someone brings you what they suspect is or will soon be a problem. Your assessment is that it is not a problem unless you start addressing it as one. This happens a lot. The trick is how to ignore the assumed problem without upsetting or alienating those who think it is a problem. This leads to management theory #2.
Theory #2: Monkey Management : When someone brings you a problem, you think of the problem as a monkey they are bringing to you. Monkeys require a lot of care and can be very messy. You need to decide if this is rightfully your monkey that you need to take care of, is it a monkey you need to pet on the head and give back to the person who brought it to you, or is it a monkey that you need to assign to someone else to take care of. There are lots of other ways to think about the monkey, but hopefully you have the basic idea.
Back to the problem the current director is facing. It is a real problem. He can't just decide this was some playful mischief by 120 or so seniors and sweep the $10,000 into some part of the maintenance budget. It is his monkey. He needs to find a way to make it clearly visible that the senior class is responsible for cleaning up the monkey mess. It's tricky as most of them are finished with school and accepted to college, and the slap on the wrist that they can't graduate with their classmates is not going to upset them or convince those watching (which is the entire school community) that he properly handled the monkey. Too drastic a response which jeopardizes their future could land the school in legal problems and bring all sorts of new monkeys to town. I imagine there are Board members calling often with views on how to deal with the monkey. There is a certain serence pleasure in watching how this monkey is being handled from well outside the zoo.
Friday, May 6, 2011
My Last Lesson Plans
I just sernt off to admin my last set of lesson plans. I suppose the big idea for this blog should be something about good planning. Madeline Hunter's research on effective lessons certainly helped me think through what needs to be considered when planning. I remember observing a student teacher doing an art lesson once in London. She was doing very well, except she hadn't thought through a model of what she wanted the students to do. As she moved from instruction to guided practice, you could see the misconceptions that began to spring forth on almost every child's work. The teacher spent the entire period patiently (but a bit frantically) going to each child a drawing a little model in the corner of their work.
Planning Big Idea #1: A good model is worth more than a thousand words.
Plannig Big Idea #2: Don't let a lesson plan (no matter how long you spent on it) stand in the way of teaching a good lesson. There is nothing like the teachable moment (the random and precious anticipatory set provided by fate) to grab attnetion and motivate students to deep understanding.
Planning Big Idea #1: A good model is worth more than a thousand words.
Plannig Big Idea #2: Don't let a lesson plan (no matter how long you spent on it) stand in the way of teaching a good lesson. There is nothing like the teachable moment (the random and precious anticipatory set provided by fate) to grab attnetion and motivate students to deep understanding.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Paper In, Paper Out ... Breath In, Breath Out, Move On
This week started with some urgency. On Saturday I received an email from the asst. principal saying that we needed to give the semester exam study guides to the 8th graders on Sunday and that she needed copies of all semester exams by Friday (tomorrow). I sent her back and email pointing out that the 8th graders wouldn't be in school on Sunday and that the photocopying system at school has a 24 hour turn around time, so the earliest I could give the 8th graders a hard copy of their exam study guide would be Tuesday. I then posted the study guide electronically on the school internet communication system and put the final touches to my exams. Yesterday (Wednesday) my last semester exam was completed, checked, and sent to be copied. Today I'll do the stapling. When I was in graduate school studying administration there was a course on the high school principalship. We had a couple of classes on organization and stress management. If you have ever been a principal, you know how the paperwork can drown you. One of the tips the professor had was (as much as possible) touch a piece of paper only once. Arrange your time, so that when you start going through your inbox, each piece of paper will have an immediate conclusion. You won't need to pick it up (again) and read it (again) and think about it (again) and decide to put it back in the in-box (again). Good advice; and although certain pieces of paper just don't lend themselves to that sort of one time handling (grant applications, resumes for advertised jobs, Board agendas, ...), it was an idea that stuck with me. I used it to keep my head above the paper flood. I still use the concept of 'touch this paper once' to navigate through the stream of teacher paperwork from creating exams and getting them to admin to responding to parent communication.
Today is the Thursday Jazz Fest Day of the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz Fest. How I wish I was there!! In 2006 Jimmy Buffett played at the first post-Katrina jazz fest. It was a great occasion, but there were too major disappointments: 1) the Neville's didn't come and 2) Jimmy didn't sing "Breath In, Breath Out, Move On". This song is for me is the emotional equivalent of touch each paper once. Certainly it is much harder to do, but there are many emotional situations that require the same sort of mindset. A minor example of how it works is: take a soothing breath in (think about admin that has sent you an email on Saturday directing you to pass out a study guide on Sunday & how to handle), breath out, move on.
Today is the Thursday Jazz Fest Day of the second weekend of the New Orleans Jazz Fest. How I wish I was there!! In 2006 Jimmy Buffett played at the first post-Katrina jazz fest. It was a great occasion, but there were too major disappointments: 1) the Neville's didn't come and 2) Jimmy didn't sing "Breath In, Breath Out, Move On". This song is for me is the emotional equivalent of touch each paper once. Certainly it is much harder to do, but there are many emotional situations that require the same sort of mindset. A minor example of how it works is: take a soothing breath in (think about admin that has sent you an email on Saturday directing you to pass out a study guide on Sunday & how to handle), breath out, move on.
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