Special Election – Senate District 34, January 12th – #OKElections16

~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

Polling Place

Bet you thought you had a few months before you had to start seriously thinking about state elections…

This year, however, there’s something pretty important coming up a bit sooner than primaries. In fact, there’s a significant election happening in about a week. 

January 12th, actually. That’s practically TODAY. 

See, this past August, the Senator for District 34 – the Owasso area – resigned. Seems he’s gotten himself into some trouble with the I.R.S., and maybe done a tiny bit of embezzling or whatever. Doesn’t matter.

What matters is that he’d only served one year of his four year term. I don’t mean to go all mathy on you, but that means there are three years left on this one – and the position must be filled before the Legislature gets back to official business in February.

Scramble file campaign run-off and holy cow it’s here – special elections for District 34 on January 12th. 

But, Blue – I don’t LIVE in District 34! I can’t vote there!

Inconvenient, sure – but that doesn’t mean #oklaed just sits back and hopes for happy things while we finish off the leftover pie and wonder if we should get another gym membership. You wanna make a statement before this session even starts? Maybe get a few incumbents’ attention before they go back to those voucher bills? Those state tests? That rewrite of the ‘Kill AP’ bill Fisher and Brecheen promised us?

McLainThe Republican candidate is David McClain, a Baptist minister and small business owner. I sent his campaign a short questionnaire (the same one I sent to his opponent), but as of this writing haven’t heard back. 

To be fair, it was a very short time frame and these have to be hectic times for both men. And, while you and I both know I’m totes adorbs and the voice of edu-reason during #OKElections16, not everyone might have the word on this just yet. In short, I don’t want to suggest he ‘blew me off’ so much as he probably saw little reason to mess with it. 

Based on his website and coverage in the Tulsa World, though, David McLain is a small-government, lower-all-the-taxes, free-market conservative. His campaign theme is “Hey! You kids get off my lawn!” 

OK, I’m kidding about that last part. But here’s just a small taste from the Tulsa World, November 4th, 2015:

McLain, 45, is a Baptist pastor and owns several businesses. He flavored his responses with references to free markets, regulation, taxes and his faith.

“I have a servant’s heart,” McLain said during his introductory remarks. “I am the constitutional conservative in this race.”

The three {Republican candidates} agreed on standard Republican doctrine but shaded some points differently.

On tax policy and the state’s deepening revenue decline, for instance, McLain favored eliminating the income tax altogether…

All three denounced same-sex marriage, but Feary said “there is nothing we can do about it at the state Capitol with the way things are now.”

Williams and McLain were more pointed in their responses.

“I don’t care what people do in private … as long as it’s not in my face,” said Williams. “Making (same-sex marriage) legal is putting it in my face. This all started in the ’60s, and then we legalized abortion. When that happened, the country took a nose dive.”

“I believe marriage should be between the Lord, one woman, one man and their pastor,” said McLain.

“There is going to come a time in our lives when we have to take a stand against homosexuality. … I believe the state should get out of the way and let the Lord ordain what he ordains, one man and one woman.”

That’s all good. Most of our students aren’t going to gay marry in high school. On the other hand, this is clearly a candidate set on representing a very specific sliver of the student population. I’ll avoid speculating as to his opinions on welfare moms or bilingual families. 

McLain Quote

His opponent is J.J. Dossett, a history teacher at Owasso High School who’s been in public education for seven years. He’s also been a member of the Oklahoma Air National Guard since 2002. He served one tour of duty in Iraq and another in Afghanistan.

From the Tulsa World, September 9, 2015: 

Dossett and his wife, Ashley, are the loving parents of two children and attend First Church in Owasso. In addition to working as an educator, the lifelong resident of Owasso has served as a football and basketball coach for his hometown public school for seven years. He graduated from Owasso High School in 2002 and from Oklahoma State University in 2006.

Citing a need for a voice for educators, veterans and the working class at the Oklahoma State Capitol, Dossett announced he will continue his work in the classroom while campaigning.

“Oklahoma is facing a crisis in education at this time with not enough teachers to fill spots in our classrooms,” said the candidate. “I will not abandon my students during the time it takes to campaign for this office, therefore I will continue to teach and be an active part in their lives. I will dedicate all the free time I have after work to visit with the voters across District 34 and share with them my vision to improve their lives.”

Dossett made it clear that he would represent the voice of his home area at the State Capitol and be a leader across party lines to find the right solutions for issues facing our state.

“The hardship placed on our students and educators is something I have witnessed firsthand and the blame goes back to career politicians looking out for their own interests,” said Dossett. “I will work to reduce needless testing on our students, provide local control for parents to have more of a say in how their school functions and I will champion the need for a better educational experience for these young Oklahomans who I have seen struggle with ridiculous, meaningless mandates place upon them by politicians.”

I particularly liked this bit:

Dossett indicated he will review every piece of legislation thoroughly and vote for what is best for Senate District 34 and the citizens of Oklahoma.

“We cannot continue to allow politicians to waste the taxpayer dollars at the Capitol and intrude in our personal lives,” said Dossett. “I will be a vocal champion for the working Oklahoman and support policies that provide better job opportunities, oppose any attack reducing a quality of life for our teachers, retirees, and working-class families and be a voice for those often forgotten and left behind by politicians. I will also fight against any intrusive policies from our government that seek to take away our freedoms guaranteed to us.”

So yeah – sounds like some underlying “Oklahoma values” in there. It’s not a huge shock that the military guy likes guns and personal liberty, is it? 

DossettIn hopes of getting a better idea what Mr. Dossett is about, I sent him the same questionnaire as Rev. McLain. He DID respond.

1. What – if anything – are you willing to do to reverse the massive cuts to public education in Oklahoma in recent years?

On a basic level, I am willing to run for the Senate, as a teacher, to serve public education in the OK Legislature. I have thrown myself into the ring on behalf of all public school teachers. 

Like most teachers, I’m tired of the same results after each election. As a Senator, I will personally review every existing tax incentive and will not support the ones that have no record of creating jobs or revenue. I will not support any more cuts to education funding and will fight to regain proper funding. And I will explore legislation to place mandatory expiration dates on all mandates so they must be reviewed before they can be renewed. 

I have graduated from, and now teach in, a town with a strong public school system. My father is a graduate of this school and was a principal here for 30 years. My mother taught Special Ed in our district for 30 years. I have seen how our schools have helped build strong families and businesses in our district. I want to take that message to the Capitol. 

2. Do you support Educational Savings Accounts (vouchers)?

I DO NOT support Educational Savings Accounts or vouchers.

3. What’s your take on state and/or federal testing of students? What do those scores reflect, and how should they be used? 

Currently, the one thing testing and test-scores accurately measure is student affluence. Summative assessment is important, but test scores should only be used to provide benchmark data and drive instruction. The minimal amount of testing should be used to achieve this. High-stakes testing needs to go away.

4. How can we recruit more teachers in Oklahoma? Does this need conflict with a desire for teacher quality / accountability? 

There are many layers to this answer. To sum it up as concisely as possible, we, as a State, must bring dignity back to the teaching profession. Oklahoma has to reverse the current culture of pushing the best and brightest career-minded educators away, and instead, attract the best and brightest to come invest here. 

The war on teachers, the embarrassing salaries, the lack of support for content-specific professional development, and the use of junk-science statistics to ramrod educational policies, have all taken their toll. Salaries are the natural starting point, but better salaries will have to be paired with a legitimate culture of support from our State government – no more double talk. 

Accountability methods must be centered on producing teacher growth and must be trustworthy. Using test scores or questionable evaluation models creates distrust and completely dismantles the collaborative atmosphere schools must have to achieve.

5. Now that ESSA is (apparently) giving more autonomy back to the states in terms of how they handle public education, what should Oklahoma’s priorities be? 

The ESSA is a massive document. Oklahoma should trust in its education community to dissect and analyze the ESSA, drive the discussion, and spearhead legislation and policy. If not, special interests, partisan politics, and lobbyists will have the power to drive the ESSA’s implementation. 

As a Senator, I will be in position make decisions of ESSA’s application based on firsthand experience in the field. Special interest groups will not sway me. 

6. In 25 words or less, what makes an effective educator?

One who is committed to the career, highly educated, passionate about student achievement, and has a strong, but nurturing disposition. 

7. In 25 words or less, why should #OklaEd support you and District 34 voters get out and vote for you on January 12th? 

I am the only candidate with legitimate experience in education. If #OklaEd expects different results, it is going to have to elect experienced, education-minded officials. 

I don’t know about you, but I got a bit of an edu-tingly feeling from that one. 

Dossett Campaigning

So – what can YOU do about it?

Well, if you happen to be a registered voter in the Owasso area, get your butts out and vote on January 12th. Duh.

But everyone reading this can forward it to their teacher friends – in or out of Owasso. Talk about this election, and it’s potential, and the initiative we could take NOW in shaping #OKElections16. 

I get that we’re overworked, and traditionally #OklaEd has been pretty good at rallies and signs, but horrible at sustained political action. If you’re more afraid someone’s going to take your guns than you are that our public school system is going to be intentionally undercut, demeaned, and dismantled, then the principalities and powers in OKC have won the propaganda war. If you’re more worried about your local schools turning your kids gay, Muslim, or both, than you are concerned that those same schools will run out of resources trying to prepare ALL of the next generation to do a better job than we are, then we’ve lost – no matter what your cool sign said. 

A campaign on this level gets a HUGE boost from you giving a few hours of your time to make phone calls or take a short drive to Owasso to knock on doors. They need your $25, $50, and $100 help – NOW. I know money is tight right after the holidays, but you wanna know ‘tight’ come NEXT December? Leave current leadership in place. 

“Sorry honey – the turnip doll is all we could afford this year because the state doesn’t want you to be a Socialist.” 

Go to the campaign site, follow @dossettfor34 on Twitter, and ask what you can do THIS WEEK to help. Or, don’t, and stay home mumbling to yourself: “Thank you sir – may I have another?”

RELATED PAGES: #OKElections16

Um… There Are These Kids We Call ‘Students’?

~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

Angry Teachers

It probably seems to non-educators that teachers are a whiney lot. Every time the state or some money-loaded national organization starts talking about assessment or accountability, we seem to lose our collective minds. And #EdReform advocates are all too happy to fixate on what we’re doing wrong NOW, what’s we’re overlooking, neglecting, or misimplementing THIS TIME. 

The Feds want to fix us, the State wants to punish and expose us, and even our districts sometimes seem determined to inflict upon us whatever’s trending in their administrative book study THIS semester. 

Because kids aren’t learning, apparently. We quibble over what to assess and how to assess it, but the outcome is predetermined – THEY’RE NOT LEARNING THE IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL STUFF or SKILLING THE STANDARDS by their DEVELOPMENTAL CHECKPOINTS. 

Funny thing, though – the conversation rarely seems to include actually doing anything for all those kids who apparently aren’t learning while they’re with us. 

They just never seems to come up. 

That’s weird, right?

We set even ‘higher standards’. We create even gooder testiness. We wrangle with curriculums and cores and skills and assessments as if the fate of mankind rests solely on this year’s legislation and this season’s platitudinal tripe. 

We grade the schools, VAM the teachers, threaten the administration, and mandate ALL THE SUCCESS! Surely if we just pass enough words in just the right combination, kids will learn! Bookoos and lots! 

But what if they don’t? Then what? What do we do for the actual kids?

The ones who aren’t learning?

If we reformorize harder and more, the conviction goes, students will become globally college and career ready. But if they don’t, then what?

EdReform Collage

I don’t mean all the stuff you’re going to do to the schools or the teachers. I’m in Oklahoma – we’re short something like a thousand warm bodies statewide, so threatening our jobs is problematic at best. You don’t like the way I choose to teach my kids? Go right ahead – take whoever’s next in that long line of folks desperately wanting to work HERE.

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

But that’s still about what you’ll do to me, or to my boss, or to the institution reckless enough to give me a teaching degree. What are you going to do for all those kids who are apparently doomed due to my lack of competence? Have you considered… helping them in some way?

Since they’re so important to you? Your NUMBER ONE PRIORITY, if I remember your speeches correctly?

Robot Teacher

Holding them back isn’t much of a strategy. Unless we believe that most teachers out there are quite capable of doing the ‘good lessons’, but choose to keep them in reserve until merit pay or tougher accountability pry it out of them, running the kids through again isn’t likely to change much. The only difference the second time is we’ve officially labeled them ‘stupid’ to better motivate them. 

Perhaps busting the unions – so that teachers finally have to put in a full six-hours worth of effort – free up students’ natural urge to master the prescribed curriculum. Or is that just more blaming?

I get that you want US to do it, but we’re doing it wrong, remember? So who’s stepping up now to do it right?

You know, for the kids?  

Maybe it’s the curriculum itself – with just the right careful tweaking, like a cartoon safe-cracker, things will slot and the learning will be fully unlocked! THAT will help the children, because just LOOK at these eleventeen pages of content expectations! 

But that’s still not helping the actual kids. Not even trying or claiming to, actually. 

Good Samaritan

They’re just props in your melodrama. You trot them out from time to time anecdotally, but when they’re considered at all, it’s usually as receptors – passive predicates of whatever fixin’ we’re promoting.

But active players in the equation? Diverse entities with varying degrees of agency and a multiplicity of interests, gifts, and needs? That’s absurd. Messy. Intimidating as hell. And thus, not welcome in the discussion.

Are they tired? Up half the night working, or watching siblings, or maybe just playing video games until the wee hours of the dawn? What part of the school’s A-F ranking do you tweak to ensure the child gets a good night’s sleep? 

Could they be worried because their family is a mess? Dad’s always gone and mom leans on them like they’re adults and should know what to do? Is that a ‘ticket out the door’ issue or a ‘call one parent every day with a positive report’ solution?

Maybe they’re not being brought up in a way that prepares them to succeed in school, so you offer them… ‘improved teacher training’ mandates? Maybe it’s poverty, or culture, or any of the other intimidating realities we want so badly to believe can be negated by a few good test scores. What part of that Gates Foundation money is going to address these? Or are you just going to keep blogging about how schools should be making more ‘real world connections’?

Corporate Tool

Maybe they don’t really care if they do well in school or not. Perhaps they’ve seen no evidence playing along with our system guarantees what they’d consider ‘success.’ Perhaps they’re unable to fear ‘failure’ in an age of teacher-blaming and extensive social safety nets. So, Mr. #EdReform – do we tackle that one by ‘flipping the lesson’ or by removing all of the desks? What cut score adjustment helps instill an essential level of ‘buy-in’ from pre-teens?

Maybe they’re just hungry, and not for what we’re serving. Maybe they’re distracted because their world is spinning out of control. Maybe they’re just bored, or confused, or angry, or sad. Maybe they don’t get it, and maybe they just don’t care. I assume that ‘intensive remediation’ you mandated will kick-start that ‘love of learning’ that’s lacking? Or would you pull their electives in order to solve their emotional issues before it hurts their GPA permanently?

Maybe they’re just dumb. How much merit pay fixes that, exactly?

Paperwork

It’s understandable we’d fixate on the lady with the big desk at the front of the room. She’s one of the few things in the equation we feel like we can control. So… she must be the problem. If not her individually, then as a representative of the system – the district, the training, the union to which she belongs. 

As teachers, we buy into this far too easily because it’s our ethical obligation to constantly ask, “What could I be doing differently? What haven’t I tried? Where might I have messed up?” We do this because we can’t fix everything, but we can try to change what WE do, and how we do it. 

But why is it the only people in the conversation focused on helping actual students are the teachers and administrators already condemned as stubborn remnants of a ‘failed system’? Does no one find it odd how little of the #EdReform conversation involves even trying to solve the problems holding back real students?

I don’t mean they’re not very good at it; I mean they don’t seem to even consider trying. Every solution is a variation of (a) helping a small percentage of chosen specials escape to ‘good’ schools, the rest be damned, or (b) prodding those of us already here to do it better, do it harder, do it different, do it right.

So here’s the chalk, here’s the textbook. Live it up, you pompous $#%&. Teach your heart out. Bind up their wounds and globally prepare them to your hearts content. 

OR, shut the $%#& up. 

Pompous

I’m not trying to take teachers out of the equation, and I’m certainly not trying to pile blame on a bunch of pre-teens for problems they didn’t create. I’m not against improving or learning or changing how we do things. 

But if we limit the conversation to clichés we can legislate, cost nothing politically or financially, require zero soul-searching on the part of the privileged classes, and make good sound bites for the uninformed multitudes, that’s not think-tanking – that’s bullsh*tting. 

I’m not terrified of change. I’m tired of your manufactured policy drama and snarky, belittling commentary. I’m tired of national and statewide policies whose only function is letting rich little boys play hero advocate. Meanwhile, my students – my real, live, varied, needy students – aren’t even factors in your calculations. 

You’re not actually helping. And, to be completely honest, you’re making my job even MORE difficult than it already is. You are not showing me the way; you are IN my way. 

Wanna really help my kids? Move.

 Admitting

RELATED POST: What’s Next, #EdReform?

RELATED POST: 5 Bad Assumptions Behind Education Reform

RELATED POST: I Agree With Jay – Whiny, Lazy Teachers

RELATED POST: The Elevator is Broken

Blue Serials Special Edition (12/30/15)

~ Blue Cereal

New Years 2016

2016 Is Upon Us

That means different things to different people, but I’m personally quite the fan of New Years – not so much for the ‘Eve’ part, with the late night desperation to stay awake despite those horrible people on TV and awful fake-live bands – but for the ‘New’ part, with the hope and change and trying not to suck quite so much.

Well, that and the sense you’ve survived yet another year of this weird life.

But whatever else 2016 will bring, it means yet another tough year for public education in Oklahoma. Many of our elected leaders openly despise us. A number openly revile book learnin’ in general, while others cater to an ignorant, fearful constituency. Some may be well-intentioned, but lack understanding or political power. I don’t know their hearts (I mean, not ALL of them), but I know the results. 

The results suck for #oklaed. 

And yet, other than a vigorous sign-carrying from time to time, far too many of us don’t get politically involved. We don’t pay attention to the details of the legislation that affects us or the representatives who – supposedly – represent us in OKC. I get it – it’s time-consuming, confusing, and depressing. We’re busy with our own kids, our own classrooms, our own problems, and that stuff seems so far away. It’s not like we can DO anything about it, right?

But there are something like 45,000 teachers in Oklahoma. Assuming many of us are married, or have adult children, maybe adult siblings in other professions in the state, or even, like, friends – that should mean an easy 100,000+ voters anytime something important is up for consideration. Know how many people voted in the last statewide election? Just a tad over 800,000. 

With a little agitating, we can have actual impact on this puppy. You know, for the children. (And for your personal stress levels as well, of course. But mostly for the children.)

With that in mind, I’m compiling this Blue Cereal Guide to Major #OklaEd Issues (seriously, I tried to come up with a catchier title), starting with this post. It will eventually have it’s own page on this site, and will be updated right up until November 8, 2016 with news and commentary related to #OklaEd. I’ll also begin posting Legislator Profiles beginning in January – focusing, of course, on their record in regards to public education. 

Should be good times. 

Feel free to contribute. If it looks important, and I don’t include it, maybe I just missed it.

#OKElections16 Essentials – If You Haven’t Been Paying Close Attention So Far, That’s OK. You Can Start Here.

You Should Read ALL Of Them, But Posts Marked By *** Are THE Most Essential IMHO.  

Oklahoma Education Funding:

ABCs of School Finance (Guest Post: Lori Smith)*** – Lori Smith, Oklahoma Policy Institute (1/12/15)

Thoughts on Obstruction & Serious Conversation – OKEducationTruths (11/19/15) – State Tax Policy, Education $$, Boren’s One-Penny Proposal

In Pursuit of Half-Baked Schemes*** – A View From The Edge (11/29/15) – State Tax Policy, Education $$, Boren’s One-Penny Proposal

Breaking the Silence – Idealistically Realistic (12/3/15) – State Tax Policy, Education $$, Includes the “Breaking the Silence” Video (to which I.R. is responding)

Fund Us. Support Us. Or STFU.*** – Fourth Generation Teacher (12/5/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy, How Irritating Politicians Are 

The Other Shortage – OKEducationTruths (12/6/15) – Teacher Shortage, Need for More & Better Candidates for State Office, Education $$$

Report Shows Oklahoma Still Leads In Education Cuts – Nate Robson, Oklahoma Watch (12/9/15)

Study: Oklahoma maintains streak of deepest state-aid cuts to schools since ’08 recession – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/10/15). You can subscribe, if you wish. It’s easy. 

New Report: Oklahoma’s education funding per student drops even more – Gene Perry, Oklahoma Policy Insititute (12/10/15)

Topic of education spending heating up ahead of budget talks, legislative session  – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/14/15). I subscribe. So should you.

Statement: Budget emergency won’t be solved by doubling down on cuts – Gene Perry, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/15/15)

The Next Cut Is The Deepest*** – OKEducationTruths (12/15/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

Are We OK With This? – A View From The Edge (12/16/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy 

Leadership Vacuum – OKEducationTruths (12/16/15) –  Education $$, State Tax Policy

Cut The Crap, Not The Budget*** – OKEducationTruths (12/17/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

Economist: More flexibility needed in teacher salaries for retention in state – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/17/15). How is ANYONE not subscribed to this paper?!

Are Politicians EVER Wrong? – A View From The Edge (12/18/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

$30: The Price of Budget Failure*** – This Teacher Sings (12/19/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

OK Capitol Christmas Carol – Fourth Generation Teacher (12/19/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

It’s Happening, Isn’t It?*** – A View From The Edge (12/21/15) – Is There Overt Intent to Kill Public Ed in OK? (Hint: YES)

Making sense of the mid-year “revenue failure” – David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/23/15)

State Revenue Failure: A Three Percent Opportunity*** – OKEducationTruths (12/23/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

State Revenue Failure Formally Declared; 3 Percent Cut Imposed – Randy Krehbiel, The Tulsa World (12/24/15) – If you don’t subscribe, you should start. Seriously. 

Local schools’ state aid payments will have to be adjusted twice because of state budget crisis – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/24/15) – Did I mention that any supporter of #OklaEd should subscribe? 

A “Blame Shame” – Marvel Agents of Ed (12/24/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

A Season of Ignorances – Marvel Agents of Ed (12/26/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

Looking for the “WMD” – Marvel Agents of Ed (12/29/15) – Education $$, State Tax Policy

Vouchers / ESA:

A Call To Arms*** – A View From The Edge (12/1/15) – ESAs/Vouchers

‘School choice’ is a popular phrase, but do Oklahomans want vouchers? – Steve Lewis, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/4/15)

School vouchers debated at Jenks legislative luncheon – Nour Habib, The Tulsa World (12/5/15). I love Habib & Eger. I seriously do. Yay them. 

I Can Run A Spreadsheet, Too*** – A View From The Edge (12/5/15) – ESAs/Vouchers, Education $$

A Blatant Double Standard – OKEducationTruths (12/12/15) – ESAs/Vouchers, Editorials, Rhetorical Shenanigans

We Deliver For You! – A View From The Edge (12/22/15) – Manipulating #EdReform to Benefit the Chosen Few

State Standards / Testing / A-F / TLE / Etc.:

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister: A-F school grade card release is matter of compliance – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (10/22/15). When you subscribe, make sure you tell them…

Tulsa Superintendent Deborah Gist calls A-F grades a bureaucratic exercise with ‘unfortunate consequences’ – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (10/22/15). …that you’re doing it for Eger’s & Habib’s education coverage.

Nearly 70 percent of Tulsa schools get failing grades as A-F criticism continues – Andrea Eger & Nour Habib, The Tulsa World (10/23/15)

Micromanage Processes, Not People*** – A View From The Edge (11/5/15) – Student Assessment, Testing, A-F, TLE, 

Dealing With Disruptive Idiots – A View From The Edge (12/8/15) – #EdReform, Testing, Education $$$

Policy Issues – Teaching From Here (12/13/15) – #Edreform, Testing

Same foundation that helped OK implement A-F school report cards now involved in system’s revision – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/17/15). Best subscription I ever, um… subscribed to. 

Ideas for revising A-F school grade cards, addressing teacher shortage discussed at state education board meeting – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/18/15). If you’re not a subscriber, there’s time to fix that.

The Soft Bigotry of Baloney*** – Curmudgucation (12/29/15) – #Edreform, Testing, etc. – Peter Greene isn’t #OklaEd, but you’d swear he’d been watching our state for years!

Four-Day School Week?

Four-day school weeks: districts weighing benefits, but Hofmeister says it’s bad for kids – Andrea Eger & Nour Habib, The Tulsa World (11/23/15). You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?

Teacher Shortage (Usually Wrapped Into Each of the Above As Well)

Emergency teaching certificates ‘will likely approach 1,000’ for year, Joy Hofmeister says – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (10/23/15)

Joy Hofmeister, Deborah Gist talk statewide teacher shortage at Tulsa luncheon  – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/4/15). Sub. Scribe. 

Oklahoma’s teacher shortage is not just about salaries (Guest Post: John Lepine)*** – John Lepine, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/14/15)

Study shows higher teacher pay would ease teacher shortage, boost student outcome*** – David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/16/15)

Teacher recruitment legislation not enough to fix Oklahoma’s teacher shortage (Guest Post: Jennifer Job)*** – Jennifer Job, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/17/15)

ESSA (Federal Education Legislation & It’s Impact on #OklaEd):

The New ESEA: Sturm or Drang? – Curmudgucation (12/2/15) – Skepticism for ESSA

The New ESEA & Content – Curmudgucation (12/3/15) – On the Other Hand, Some Positives of ESSA

The ESSA Won’t Solve Anything – Curmudgucation (12/4/15) – I’ll let you guess what this one is about.

ESSA: What Is A Teacher? – Curmudgucation (12/6/15) – ESSA & Teacher Qualifications

What the end of the No Child Left Behind Act could mean for Oklahoma – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (12/6/15)

Senate gives final approval to sweeping rewrite of education law; next step the White House – Associated Press/The Tulsa World (12/9/15)

ESSA: All New Baloney! – Curmudgucation (12/9/15) – Another one you can probably guess the gist of.

Music Stands Alone – For The Love (12/9/15) – An optimistic take on the positives of ESSA.

The First Bite of the Elephant – A View From The Edge (12/10/15) – ESSA, Testing, #EdReform

The Next Big Bite of ESSA: Annual Testing – A View From The Edge (12/11/15) – ESSA, Testing

ESSA: A New Hope? – OKEducationTruths (12/13/15) – ESSA, Education $$, State Standards

The Most Important Part of the Elephant – A View From The Edge (12/14/15) – ESSA, A-F, State Control

I Choose “None of the Above” – A View From The Edge (12/19/15) – ESSA, A-F, TLE, #EdReform

Blue Serials (12/27/15)

~ Blue Cereal

A Christmas Story

Tis the season to be jarring – fa la la la la…

What a week of joyous blessings in the forms of loved ones and weird dessert options, of hope in a glowing baby and the approach of another reboot. But there’s a hair in the pudding – a big wad of it, actually – as the state announces their tax cuts for the top tiniest sliver, smirking in smug hope that public education in Oklahoma may actually die a final violent death this time. If not, we can always cut revenue again next year – it’s a “tremendous opportunity,” it seems.

So’s cancer, if you frame it correctly. But we don’t work at making it happen.

But first, here are the GOOD things you might have missed in the holiday scramble this past week…

Finding Your Holiday Zen – In case you’re new, you need not be devoutly Zen (or even know entirely what that means) to read and benefit from Dan Tricarico’s wisdom at The Zen Teacher. He’s somehow legit enough to actually help you, but without being annoying the way legit people often are. Follow @thezenteacher on the Twitters, and use one of those gift cards you just received to buy his book. I don’t even like ‘teacher books’, and I LOVE this one. 

Amazing Student Candor Increases Learning – Starr Sackstein is more hopeful than I am, more willing to change than I am, and has more patience than I do – for this, I am truly thankful. In this post she reminds us of the power and importance of actual communication and reflection with students. The grades are not the goal. The grades are not the accomplishment. The grades are not the learning. Read her regularly at StarrSackstein.com, and as long as you’re spending those gift cards, she has several titles essential on any teacher shelf. Right now, though, follow @mrssackstein on the Twitters or you can’t possibly do better than a ‘D’.

Lesson Lab: Autopsy of a Photo Blog Project – This is something we should all probably do more of. Peter Anderson at Mr. Anderson Reads & Writes shares two essential teachy-things here: the details of a project he did with his 7th graders, and a thoughtful analysis of how it went – good, bad, uncertain, etc.  I know many of you don’t think most of what you do in class is particularly interesting or useful to share, but I can tell you from experience there are many, many teachers out there ready to benefit from your thoughts and explanations of stuff just like this. Plus – and I’m sorry to say it in front of everyone like this – it’s SO good for us to reflect and analyze post-learnifying. Analyze @MrAndersonELA on the Twitters – he’s into that kind of thing.

Unassigned Reading – Sherri Spelic, the much loved and increasingly renowned Edified Listener, shares some simple thoughts on the joys of reading with her child. I know, I know – but it’s thoughtful and insightful and kinda warm and fuzzy and it’s still sort of Christmas so shut up. You want to increase your joy? Follow @edifiedlistener on the Twitters – she’s the real deal. 

Rest for the Harvest: A Runner’s Letter to Winter Bodies – OK, yes… TECHNICALLY Christina Torres is writing about marathons and reflecting on the physical and mental preparation and her overall holistic experiences with running. She may or may not intend it as an analogy for anything else. But it is. Besides, there’s never a bad reason to read Torres or to follow @biblio_phile on the Twitters. She’s fairly amazing. 

Look for a Special Mid-Week, Nearly New Year’s Blue Serials In A Few Days.

I’ll be compiling the most essential #oklaed and beyond posts about the latest federal and state edu-slation. I’ll also be telling you more about the OK Legislator profiles you’ll see here starting in the new year – what they are, why we’re doing them, and what I hope you’ll do as a result. 

Hope is not a feeling. Hope is a choice. We don’t teach because we’ll win, we don’t love because we’ll benefit, and we don’t vote because we’ll get our way. We hope and we insist and we keep our eyes open no matter how much they burn because somebody has to. Because our kids deserve better.

If we’re going down, let’s go down shouting truth and hope and refusing to go gentle into the self-imposed night. In the meantime, I choose to believe. 

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Classroom Control, Part I (Historical Guest Blog)

~ Blue Cereal

Old Classroom 1

Today’s Historical Guest Blog comes to us from Corinne A. Seeds, A.M., Principal of the Training School, Assistant Supervisor of Training, University of California at Los Angeles, with the cooperation of Milo B. Hillegas, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. I am not aware that either has a blog of their own, and as the material used here was published in 1927-28 (in Volume I of the 12-Volume series, The Class Room Teacher), chances are good both have gone to that great Teachers’ Lounge in the sky to mimeograph with the angels, as it were.

Their advice is nonetheless timeless – or at least amusing – and is shared here in excited anticipation of the upcoming semester.

Classroom Control: Methods of Control

The problem of classroom control is most vital and of outstanding, far-reaching importance. The future welfare of our country depends largely upon the methods of control used upon its future citizens. By these very methods teachers can produce anything from slaves who obey their masters explicitly without thinking, to freemen who make their choices only after careful deliberation and discussion. Thus it is of the utmost importance that teachers should know what types of control are best for the future welfare of a democracy.

“…a conglomerate mass of individuals at all stages…”

Our democracy is composed of a conglomerate mass of individuals at all stages of ethical development, from those who obey the laws made by the group for the welfare of all only when they are forced to do so to those unselfish souls who realize that their highest development and happiness are reached only as they consider all and act according to the best interests of the whole group. Midway between these two extremes we find those who obey only because they have been trained to do so, some who conform because of fear of the disapproval of their fellow men, and still others who act in accord because they long for approbation.

Taking into consideration all of these classes of people with such different attitudes towards control, it would be folly to assume that one method of control, even the ideal, would prove sufficient to promote the best interests of the group. There should be as many types of control as there are attitudes toward it. While it is necessary at times to use the lower forms of control, yet it should be the hope of the democracy that in the dim distant future, through our methods of education, the ideal can be truly reached – “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” 

Old Classroom 2

“…the highest control is that which comes from within…”

The problem of control which the classroom teacher must meet is a miniature of the greater problem which confronts the democracy.  It is not easy for the teacher to know how to manage Mexican Pedro, whose father digs in the street, Isadore, the son of the Rabbi, Mary Evelyn, whose mother is president of the philosophical society, and forty others who differ more or less in native and acquired characteristics, so that they may live richly and cooperatively together in their school community and grow into better, happier boys and girls. Like the democracy she should be cognizant of the fact that the highest control is that which comes from within as a result of reason, and she should strive toward that as her ideal. But she should not be utterly crushed if at times she has to resort to coercion in order to promote the greatest good for the greatest number.

In order to meet the control problems found in the typical American classrooms, teachers use methods based upon the following general types or combinations of two or more types:

(1) No control, wherein the children all do as they please.

(2) Teacher control, wherein rules are made and enforced by the teacher.

(3) Group control, wherein rules are made and enforced by the group working together for a common purpose.

(4) Unselfish self-control, wherein each person considers the good of the whole.

Old Classroom 3

NO CONTROL – Example:

The teacher is attempting to carry on a class recitation with one group of children while the others are supposed to be studying. Two or three large boys are lying on the floor with their feet propped against the stove. They are reading fiction which does not contribute in any way to their assignment. They later show a lack of knowledge as to the lesson content. Several girls are holding an animated conversation about the ways of securing pictures of the favorite “movie” actresses. The children who are trying to study have to dodge continual volleys of chalk, paper-wads, and even an eraser now and then. A note of unsavory character is passed about among the older children who laugh heartily at its contents.

The room is in an uproar; the recitation is a complete failure; but the teacher smilingly assures the visitor that she believes in “freedom.” 

Discussion:

There can be no defense for such lack of control, even when masquerading under cover of the term “freedom.” The teacher might as well not be there at all. The result of no control is always chaos; children are denied the right to feel happiness in real achievement; habits and attitudes are formed during these years in the school room which may tend to make of them, in later life, unreasoning, selfish, and lawless citizens.

Perhaps it might be well to state that true freedom would not allow such an infringement upon the rights and liberties of others. True freedom is something which should be earned and bestowed only upon those who can use it wisely. All teachers should be very careful to distinguish between real freedom and merely allowing children to do as they please. Real freedom leads toward right and true happiness; while allowing children to do as they please leads toward wrong and toward future sorrow.

Old Classroom 4

ABSOLUTE TEACHER CONTROL – Example:

When the class assembles on the first day of school, the teacher firmly informs the children that they are there for business and she is there to see that they attend to this business of learning. In order to accomplish this, certain tasks must be finished each day before they leave school. Anything which interferes with the work of school, such as talking without permission, whispering, giggling, or writing notes to one another will be carefully noted and punished by the teacher.

Ever after the children study the lessons assigned by the teacher, answer her questions, and accept the punishment she doles out for misdemeanors and errors. They usually do no more than they are asked, and frequently they misbehave when the teacher is not looking.

The teacher’s life is one of constant watchfulness. Her profession is not teaching; it is policing. She must be continually alert to catch the law-breakers, fair enough to pronounce just punishment, and persevering enough to see that punishment once pronounced is executed.

Discussion:

Such a method is far preferable to the preceding no-control type and should be used, especially by the inexperienced teacher, until she can determine the type best suited to her class of children. If used by a teacher who is always just and fair, the class achievement is usually good and the children rather happy. If, perchance, the teacher is a benign tyrant, the children will often vote this type of control the best of all, because, like many adults, some children dislike sharing responsibility and making choices.

Under this system the children usually do the right thing, not because they know it is the right or why it is the right, but because they are trained to obey blindly. The great danger her lies in the fact that they may form habits of following blindly, and later may unthinkingly follow unworthy leaders.

No teacher should be content to use this type continually unless she is handling groups, who, because of limited capacities, will always be obliged to “follow a leader.” As soon as possible each group of children should be given a share of the responsibility for its own mental and moral achievement. The teacher should covet the position of guide and advisor rather than one of policeman.

Old Classroom 9

Next: Part Two – “The Ideal Solution,” in which it is revealed that…

“Daise was sobbing too much to talk, but the indignant lad and a dozen others could tell. John had given Daise a branch of Japanese cherry blossoms to bribe her not to report him. Before the investigation was over it developed that eight-year-old Daise had become richer by a box of raisins, two candied cherries, and a chocolate bar – all for not doing her duty.”

(Coming Soon… Maybe)