Tag: guest blogger

Blue Cereal “Share The Love!” Month!

~ Blue Cereal

Candy Hearts & Saccharine Souls

Oh The People Cover

As you know from the rapid replacement of holiday displays which began at midnight on December 26th, Valentine’s Day is coming. February, it turns out, is the month of love.

Well, not REAL love… but exploitative, crass, commercialized love, packed with artificial ingredients – cultural pressure to overspend, unnecessary emotional theatrics, and the obligatory scarlet flora whose lifespan will fall WELL short of the concomitant credit card payments.

In other words, it’s the most American holiday this side of the 4th of July!

ClaudiaSLunchBoxBlue Cereal would like to SHARE the love this year throughout the month of February. Initially I thought I might stick with the tried-and-true…  Daily lingerie pics of myself in lacy garments of the sort which inevitably SCREAM, “I’m trying WAY too hard.” Whitney Houston (or whoever the kids are listening to these days) belting out that “Eye…hee-eye… will always love youuuuu…hee-oooouuuu!” Maybe even some of those little candy hearts with wacky messages like “Diabetes turns me on!” or “It’s OK – I’m #11FF!”

But it all seemed too obvious. Too crass. Too commercial and not at all useful. (Well, except for the lingerie shots. I may still do those. Viewership has been down and I could use the clicks.)

Instead, February will see the return of a few things I’ve enjoyed doing in the past.

Killer Blue Serials

BrettHLunchBoxOur first “Share The Love” feature will be a weekly installment of “Blue Serials” – summaries and commentary on the best recent edu-blogging, edu-news, and anything else which catches my attention. It’s my goal to use whatever platform I have to promote the lesser-thans, the little people, the wish-we-were-more-like-Blue-Cereal crowd. I can think of nothing more noble than wanting to be more like me, and I’d like to encourage these aspirations.

With that in mind, I’m asking you, my Eleven Faithful Followers, to recommend posts or articles related to education (or not) from the past month or two which deserve a wider audience or a second look. You need not limit yourself to blogs or publications of a particular size – my readership may not be as large as whoever you have in mind, but that doesn’t mean the same people read us both. Email me at [email protected] with links and a brief explanation of why you like whatever it is you’re recommending, and we’ll see how things unfold. When in doubt, send it on – we define “related to education” rather loosely around these parts!

CarriNLunchBoxIf I use your suggestion, I’ll send you a Limited Edition Rare Inspirational Full-Color Collectors-Only Blue Cereal #11FF Lunch Box – one of the longest-named gimmicks in all of edu-bloggery! These were a big deal a few years back, and I recently discovered an untapped stash of a few remaining items which remain homeless and alone. If I understand the laws of supply-and-demand correctly, that means that the more you talk them up and project a desperate desire to secure one, the more status we can BOTH pretend this lunch box conveys on any who wields it.

Sharing Is Caring

RobMLunchBoxThe second February “Share The Love” feature will be an open call for guest bloggers. Whatever you’re willing to share with fellow teachers or say about the world of education (or even the world in which education occurs), this is your chance. I’m not talking about you weirdos who want to promote your herbal supplements or low-cost imitation iPhones here. I’m looking for classroom experiences, lesson ideas, successes or failures, political issues, etc. – actual writing by real people about education, or kids, or life, or whatever’s on your mind.

SarahP LunchBoxRecommended length is 1,200 – 1,600 words, although I’m flexible if it’s any good. Email me your post and if I use it, you’ll receive one of the same #11FF Lunch Boxes I was carrying on about above. (I hope you were paying attention because I REALLY don’t want to have to repeat all that.)

Finally, anything else which might pop up here during February will either be about faux love (maybe a collection of my favorite “tainted love”-themed songs?) or about you and I actually sharing REAL BRILLIANCE and REAL LOVE with one another and the world at large. Either way, I hope you’ll play along. Otherwise, it’s going to be a long, lonely, depressing February!

 

Steady Blue Party-Planning Koalas (Guest Blogger: Megan Harju)

~ Blue Cereal

Introduction

Megan Harju

My name is Megan Harju. I am a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Nonprofit Studies. Usually at this point in my introduction, I get asked questions like, “Are you crazy? How do you plan on using both of those when you graduate?” My answer goes something like, “I hope to someday work for a nonprofit as an engineer that puts solar-powered microgrids in villages without electricity in developing nations.” 

It makes me sound WAY smarter than I am, I promise.

I’m in a challenging phase of life right now. I have this passion for alternative energy, but I also have a passion for public education. As a college student, living this passion right now means staying in touch with past teachers and letting them know how grateful I am for pushing me to be creative, think critically, and never limit myself on what I could achieve. I’m thankful for the scientific method and PEMDAS too, but the biggest impact of my time in public school was the confidence I gained to use those things in meaningful ways. 

Many of you, Oklahoma teachers, MY teachers, are that same inspiring voice now to the generation below me. I come humbly to this edu-blog to share some tools I’ve discovered in college that have shaped how I interact with people, see the world, and solve problems. In the right context, they can help students develop into proactive, passionate young adults capable of changing the world. 

Personality Tests in Context

In my past two years of college, I have taken more personal assessment-type tests than I can count. Personality tests, leadership styles, communication styles, strength and weakness finders, career interest surveys. I have taken them in everything from my Nonprofit Management & Leadership class to a weekly meeting with my Engineering Research Laboratory. The goal of these tests is two-fold: to learn about yourself, and to learn about the people around you. When moderated properly, these assessments can transform a room full of apathetic, socially awkward, and/or over-committed students into an interactive, stress-free haven of personal discovery.

Below are some of my favorite assessments with brief descriptions, stories of how they helped me, and ideas for how they could be implemented in the classroom.

UZoo – Leadership Style Assessment

The UZoo test is the first one I took in college, and I really enjoyed it. This assessment rates you on how much of four different animal personalities you possess using a point scale. The four animals are the Directing Lion, Interacting Porpoise, Steady Koala, and Cautious Eagle. Your dominant animal personality identifies how you, and people like you, typically behave in a group of people when given a task. 

For example, let’s consider the shy girl in class. She is smart but constantly second guesses herself on answers. She HATES group discussions in class, but will share a thought or two when her grade depends on it. On test days, she will come ask you to clarify a question whenever there’s even a hint of doubt as to what it means. She is a Steady Koala, through and through. 

Next, imagine the class clown. He loves cracking jokes and pushing your buttons. He’s one of your best participants in class discussions, but sometimes you wonder if his brain and mouth are even connected with some of the things he says. He sometimes gives incomplete answers on tests because he doesn’t read the questions fully. He’s an Interacting Porpoise.

Sometimes a person will get almost equal numbers for all four animals. I think of this as if there were a fifth choice, the Chameleon – a favorite of mine, since I am one. I survey my surroundings and adjust accordingly. 

If I’m working in a group of people who are only thinking about the big picture, my mind will notice no one is paying attention to detail, and that becomes my focus. If my group is overly concerned with details, my mind insists on thinking big picture. It’s a trade-off: chameleons are able to consider many ways of doing something, but they have a hard time picking one process and sticking with it.

This short Prezi includes most of the information needed to use the UZoo test in class.

I don’t have handout documents readily available, although if you are really inspired to use this or another test after reading this post, I could probably find some files for you to print. But this Prezi might actually be very useful as-is in a classroom setting, especially if paper is in short supply. Feel free to reach out and ask follow-up questions!

True Colors – Personality/Behavior Test

True Colors is similar to UZoo, but not identical. Instead of animals, there are four colors: Blue, Orange, Green, and Gold. Again, this assessment uses a point system to denote how much of each color/personality a person has in them. The main difference between UZoo and True Colors usually comes from how the facilitator frames the activity.

Example: This semester in my Nonprofit Management & Leadership class, my professor had us take this assessment at the beginning of the semester and collected our results. She used our results to divide the class into groups for an extensive project the last month of school. Each group was made so that they had a mix of Blue, Orange, Green, and Gold personalities. It promoted an awareness of how each member of the group handled things differently throughout the process. 

If someone gets equal scores for all four colors, it’s called a Rainbow. Rainbows can think and function like any of the 4 colors depending on the situation. If they’re in a group of mainly Blues and Oranges, who love people and interaction but aren’t as good about details or decisions, they’ll identify holes in the plan and work out details. If they’re with a bunch of Green and Gold engineers, Rainbows bring emotions and empathy into tasks to promote group unity and a sense of fun. 

There are more explanations and resources on the True Colors website, should you be so inclined.

Conflict Management Style – Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)

This test is used by many corporations to help their employees better understand and overcome conflict in the workplace. It’s more advanced and would probably only hold the attention of high school students. It is a great personal development tool, though, if you care about your students’ well-being outside of just the classroom and are looking for a way to impact their lives with more than just US History or pre-Calculus. I imagine it would work well in tandem with a group project assignment.

Application

The best way to maximize success with any of these activities is to encourage and facilitate discussion and understanding of each category through describing examples and situational role play. One highly effective activity I have seen is to have students plan a party. Don’t give ANY details.

Split the classroom up into groups by their most dominant animal. Give them 5-10 minutes to plan their party. If they ask questions, give open-ended answers. “How much money can we spend?” It’s up to you. “What’s it for?” It can be a Birthday, holiday party, or just for the heck of it. Anything. “How many people can we invite?” As many as you want. The goal is that each group of students will plan a party that is predictably in line with the character traits of their animal group.

Next, have each group share their event with the class. See what group volunteers to go first: it’s probably the Lions or the Porpoises. You will find that the Porpoise group has absolutely NO details worked out, everyone is invited, and they will have lots of inflatables/activities/crazy stuff to do and eat at the party. The Eagles will probably plan a smaller gathering, with exact numbers already planned out even to the number of pizzas they will order. The Lions probably have a lot of details worked out, and their event will probably be classy. They might have a guest list because it’s a high profile event. And the Koalas just want to be together and make sure everyone is happy and feels loved. 

It’s fun for students to see how their peers think when put with people who think like them. Speaking from the student’s perspective, I also really enjoy when the teacher/facilitator shares their animal/color. It gives students a way to see the teacher as a person who has certain ways of acting, just like they the students do. Maybe they’ll FINALLY understand why it drives you crazy when students move their desks out of line, because you’re an Eagle and you function best with orderly patterns.

The Benefits

Both teacher and students can benefit from any one of these activities. Teachers learn valuable information about their students that could help teachers effectively give instructions or advice to individual students when need be. Students learn about their peers, but more importantly, about themselves.

So often, we as humans are blind to our own actions. I like these tests because they show you your habits without condemning them. UZoo can make you realize, if you are a Porpoise, that you highly value what other people think of you. Or if you are a Lion, that sometimes you forget about other peoples’ feelings when trying to accomplish a goal. 

Thanks for reading! I hope these activities have given you some ideas and momentarily taken your mind off of the stress of being an Oklahoma educator. If you’re interested and want more information, comment here, email me, or hit up Google. I would love to hear from you!

Megan Harju / [email protected]

Talk About The Passion (Guest Blogger: Kristen Perkins)

~ Blue Cereal

I’ve issued an open call for guest bloggers for the month of October and through Election Day, but this post didn’t come from that call – it came from Facebook.

Some of you remember Facebook – it’s where people not on Twitter talk about things, but with more puppies and fake news sites mixed in. The funny thing is, there are some quality folks writing there who still don’t blog or even tweeterize. Go figure! 

I came across Kristen Perkins, who’d written an passionate explanation of why she taught, with vigor, even in Oklahoma. (For you out-of-staters reading, we don’t care much for no book learnin’ round here.) A friend insisted she send her FB post to me, which she did, and I asked her to revisit it and then let me share it here.

Which, as you’ve probably guessed, is what this is. 

I even made her write her own intro. I figured it would be better than whatever I could cobble together, and it is. I added the aesthetics after the fact because I just can’t resist that sort of thing. But the good parts are all her. 

If you have something on your mind or anything you’d be willing to share, you have a couple of weeks left to let me know. There are few if any limits on topic or length – I merely ask for basic decency and sincerity. It’s ideal if you disagree with me about something, but given how difficult that is to do once basking in Blue, it’s not a requirement. I’m looking for other voices – whatever the angle or passion in play.

Perkins Wordle

My name is Kristen Perkins. I teach 2nd grade in a Title I school in Moore, Oklahoma. This is my 15th year of teaching, and I have a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. My decision to pursue an advanced degree baffled most of my friends and family, because my post-degree income would increase by about $40 per month, or $20 per paycheck. They couldn’t understand that it was simply about better preparing myself to do what it is I am driven to do every day.  

Moore Schools

This has been on my mind, and on my heart, so I’m going to try to put it into words. Please don’t think this is about teacher raises or even classroom conditions. It is about having a passion.

For the past two weekends, I have either gone to school to work in my classroom or have run up to open the building to let other teachers in, so they can work. At one point, I counted nine of us there on a Saturday. Those who left before I did took work with them to continue to work on at home. On Monday, rather than appearing rested, we look at each other and ask, “Didn’t we just leave here?”

Those outside the profession often shake their heads at us and say, “It must be a calling.” We are often asked, “Why on earth do you devote so much time to something that barely pays your bills?” It’s about passion, and if you’ve never had passion for something… for anything… I’m not sure you’ll understand.

Perkins Couple

I have had many jobs prior to this. Before teaching, I even worked in a career where I made much more money than I ever will as a teacher. I was given profit sharing, monthly and holiday bonuses, and a clothing allowance. I was routinely taken to restaurants for staff lunches with colleagues in other offices, where we ate great food, chewed every bite, and never once worked on paperwork while enjoying our meal. I had all of the freedom to negotiate the salary that I wanted. Which I did. Successfully.

Still, when payday came, I opened my check and thought, “Well, two more weeks until I get another one of these. Back to the grind.” It was about a paycheck. I left that behind, not because I was “called” or because I have some noble desire to live barely above the poverty line. I left that career for this one, because every day spent in the other career with all of its trappings was another day spent pushing aside, dampening, desperately trying to quiet… a passion. 

Have you had nothing in your life that excited you to the point that you stopped counting the days or hours until payday, and instead looked forward to the next day, when you get to return to that place that fulfills you, inspires you, exhausts you, tests you, challenges you and completely defines you? That’s why I do it.

Perkins Moore StrongIt’s worth it to me to spend my Saturday cutting out laminated flashcards and creating custom activities if I believe in my heart that using them will help a little boy who is two years behind in reading learn a handful of new words. It’s worth it to me to grade papers until I doze off, or to spend my weekend at a conference, because those things are an important part of the big picture. It’s worth it to me to shut my classroom door after a Friday dismissal and cry because my heart was broken in five different directions that day. If I can’t love them like my own, their struggles remain obstacles rather than mere hurdles. It’s worth it to me, because one day, that little girl who isn’t sure when she’ll see her father again, or that little boy who doesn’t believe he is smart and thinks he’ll never learn to read… might have a passion. They might want to pursue it. It might burn inside them, and they may have to struggle to follow it. 

I want to be a part of putting all of the pieces in place so that they have the best chance possible to live their dreams, however exhausting, challenging, heartbreaking, and completely fulfilling they may be. It doesn’t mean I love my family any less, or even that I find this “job” more important than them. It means that I’m not completely who I want to be unless I’m pursuing this passion at the level that I feel is my best. Only when I’m THAT person, can I be a completely good mother, daughter, girlfriend, friend, sister or teacher. 

I’m fortunate that those closest to me are patient. My children have grown up watching me push myself, push my students, sacrifice my time, and throw my energy into children that don’t live under our roof. I hope they understand my motivations, and I hope that it pushes them to never settle for a “job” and a “paycheck.” I want them chasing their passion. THAT is what life is about.

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Collaboration: Popular Buzz Word, Under-Utilized (Guest Blogger: Lisa Hunt)

~ Blue Cereal

I’ve issued an open call for guest bloggers for the month of October. Partly this is just to break things up, and partly it’s because I’ll be doing my best to finish strong on #OKElections16. 

There are few if any limits on topic or length – I merely ask for basic decency and sincerity. It’s ideal if you disagree with me about something, but given how difficult that is to do once basking in Blue, it’s not a requirement. I’m looking for other voices – whatever the angle or passion in play.  

This post comes from Lisa Hunt, Library Media Specialist and NBCT for Moore Public Schools.  

Teacher Collaboration

Collaboration is a popular buzz word, and like most buzz words it has been losing its power. As humans we enjoy working together – as the old proverb (or Bible verse, depending on your preference) explains, “many hands make light work.” Collaboration, though, is not easily achieved. I’m an elementary school media specialist, and one of the things that drew me to my work is the opportunity for collaboration. I’ve engaged in strong collaborative efforts with teachers, students and parents throughout my career.

We have been hearing for the past generation from researchers like Keith Curry Lance that school library media specialists promote higher tests scores through collaboration, and as I said, I’ve been engaged in strong collaborative practices. Are our words ignorantly empty, though? Collaboration is just not that easily achieved.

“Collaboration is a ubiquitous term that has been defined in numerous ways across diverse fields.” This is a quote from linguist and professor Vera John-Steiner mentioned in her ALA position paper on collaboration. She suggests that we need training and a framework to achieve successful collaboration. Wait, ain’t nobody got time for that! More training?!? Who are we kidding? I see my role as that of in house trainer, and that is worth gold to administrators in this time of budget cuts to Professional Development.

I enjoy the opportunity of longevity in my job. This is miraculous or boring according to your side of the fence. I’ve been in my position for 20+ years in the same building. It is miraculous because school librarians are an endangered species in education. This is true in some parts of Oklahoma, and in large districts across our country. The fact that I work for a school district with a strong commitment to effective school library programs in a bonus for me and my school community. The fact that I’ve been in this space so long might be sad because it begs the question “Couldn’t I find something else, something better to grow into during my career?” Well, no. One of the biggest reasons I am still here is my love of the job and the challenge to collaborate!

Working in public education is a challenge in and of itself these days, but to be a collaborator means I must have a stable group of collaboratees. Is that a word? Well, it is today. I collaborate with teachers, students and parents. The latter two are always coming and going; and, that is as it should be. The teachers, though… well, that is part of the problem. We have an ever growing teacher shortage, and that means constant turn over. It means that each year I have many new people to work with in my school. I enjoy that because it keeps me fresh and helps me learn new skills. It makes collaboration tough, though. 

Collaboration more than anything is based upon trusting relationships, and that takes time. As a collaborator I am a partner. A big part of my job is building partnerships. Time for teaching is valuable, and my role is to engage with educators and teach with them. Is a lesson with me in the library worth sacrificing classroom time? You bet because I want to collaborate, embrace classroom objectives and reinforce what teachers are teaching. How can that be achieved if you are new? It takes time and I will work with you to build a relationship.

We keep hearing that schools should be run like businesses, and usually that means producing a product. The learning of children is not a product, so this doesn’t correlate directly when it comes to product; but, some practices are found in both schools and businesses.

Collaboration is one of those practices. Google has been promoting it for years, Go To Meeting is an entire industry based upon collaborative effort in the workplace, and advertising, science and medicine have embraced these practices for generations. Why are schools coming slowly to the game? It might be the punitive structures in place such as teacher evaluations, testing, and constant turnover! As national leaders have tried to improve educational practices they have inadvertently put barriers in place that impede growth in practice.

As the library media specialist I provide direct instruction, instructional support, collection and resource management as well as technology integration. My job description includes providing professional development, and I do that every year. I collaborate, identify needs and address those needs through instruction. I teach students, teachers and patrons in my role. My greatest success comes from strong relationships.

This year I have 8 new certified teachers in my building, and another 8 or 9 that I have taught with less than 3 years at my school. That is high turnover! Building a collaborative team takes a minimum of 3 years and can only grow given time and opportunity. Notice I haven’t even discussed teaching skill levels. What if the teachers are Rookies? What if the principal is new? What if the librarian is not only new to the building but in the first year of running a library media program?

I am a champion of collaborative teaching. I embrace it, throw my library doors open (or even join the teacher in classroom or computer lab) and engage is some of the most powerful teaching I have seen. It comes at a price though. Teachers need to be given time to learn collaborative instruction techniques (I train them as part of my job!), develop collaborative lessons, and then time to deliver these types of lessons. Ain’t nobody got time for that! 

This is my perspective as the library media specialist, but there are other collaborators within our schools. Title 1 teachers, special education teachers who push-in with co-teaching, counselors and speech pathologists, as well as Music, Art and PE teachers can all bring collaboration to learning. How can we promote more collaboration within our schools? 

Collaboration might be a powerful buzz word, but effective implementation is more powerful. That implementation requires a stable teaching force, a commitment to supporting effective teaching practices, and the opportunity to build the trusting relationships that collaboration requires of us.

A Calling Or A Paycheck… Why Not Both? (Guest Blogger: Travis Sloat)

~ Blue Cereal

I’ve issued an open call for guest bloggers for the month of October. Partly this is just to break things up, and partly it’s because I’ll be doing my best to finish strong on #OKElections16.

There are few if any limits on topic or length – I merely ask for basic decency and sincerity. It’s ideal if you disagree with me about something, but given how difficult that is to do once basking in Blue, it’s not a requirement. I’m looking for other voices – whatever the angle or passion in play. 

This post comes from Travis Sloat, an English teacher at Okay High School, where he graduated in 2001 and where he once hit a game winning shot for the high school basketball team. He is a freelance journalist and photographer, a father of three, a college basketball junkie, and a lover of fine Mexican food from Taco Bell. In his minimal free time he can be found patrolling the galaxy in Destiny on his Xbox, or tweeting The Rock to try to get famous.

Travis Sloat

I was standing in front of two assistant managers, both barely five years older than I, and the words rolled off my tongue like I’d been selling used cars for twenty years.

“It doesn’t matter if I make five-fifteen or five-sixty-five, I’m going to push carts to the best of my ability.” 

I wanted a merit raise, an extra fifty cents an hour, and my dad had told me to come in and ask for one, because that’s what people in the workplace did when they wanted more money. I had done exactly that, and then delivered the above answer when asked, “Will more money help you push carts better?” 

The senior assistant manager—who I’d literally known my entire life—stared at me, eyes widening in surprise. 

“Wow! Did you take a class on asking for a raise before you came in?” he asked. 

I laughed and said, “No. That’s just how I was raised.” 

I got the raise. 

***

If the truth were to be told on that spring day in 1999, I was, in fact, raised that way. However, the words I spoke were hollow; empty palaver meant to please the bosses’ ears and get me an extra fifty cents an hour for slugging scalding scraps of steel shaped into shopping carts through the summer sun. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing; but the shoe is definitely on the other foot now. 

Now I am a junior high English teacher, English I teacher, Yearbook Advisor, Webmaster, Bus Driver, and Proofreader of All the Things for Okay High School in the booming metropolis of Okay, Oklahoma. That’s right, Oklahoma – as in, “that state who’s 49th in the nation for lowest average teacher pay.” 

I should add, I love what I do. I love my kids, and I love this town. I say this often, and I say it proudly: I will die here or I will retire here. There are no in-betweens. 

I have taken this job knowing at no point in time will I ever sit in my principal’s office and say, “I’d like a raise please.” I am all too familiar with the economic climate of our state, and the horrendous mismanagement of funding at the state level. It’s not that I wouldn’t mind a raise, shoot, I could always spring for the bigger iPad, or buy my kids Lunchables so they don’t feel as though they are the most mistreated children in the world. 

However, to rephrase a timeless quote from great actor JaRule in the first Fast and Furious movie: “Everyone happens to know a few things, and one of the things that we knows is: teachers don’t get (big) raises.”

So why then, am I here? Why do I walk into this building every day and choose to stand in front of junior high kids who smell like hormones and weird dreams? Why do I choose to teach them how to speak properly, but remind them it’s perfectly okay to slip a “y’all” in sometimes? Why do I make your kid put their phone away and listen to Romeo and Juliet even though they already know the ending (“We know, Mr. Sloat. They all die at the end. Wait. She was fourteen?”)? 

The answer is simple and complicated at the same time, like Nicolas Cage’s success in film, and hopefully you have a similar one for why you are where you are: I had a calling. 

A few years ago, I was sitting pretty at Northeastern State University, with a fantastic (mediocre) GPA and an academic plan which led to a degree in Computer Science. I wanted to be a computer engineer, sitting at a desk and making $100k a year for typing lines of code onto a screen. I wanted to wear weird socks every day, and funny, clever ties with quasi-geeky meanings and joke with my coding buddies at the water cooler about the latest in Game of Thrones Reddit threads. It seemed easy enough, and it seemed like a salary that could afford my family and I all of life’s little delicacies, like large screen iPads and Lunchables and real Mountain Dew instead of “Mountain Lightning.” 

You might be asking why I gave up a potential luxurious life of name brand soda and premium cuts of deli ham with buttery crackers all packaged conveniently into one box for a life where two grown adults with college degrees and professional careers still qualify for free and reduced lunches, and I’ll tell you. 

One Sunday morning I was sitting in church and I heard a sermon preached on the detriments of chasing wealth. The pastor advised us that if we chose money over our passions, we’d ultimately regret our career and we’d never truly be happy. While listening to him break down the scripture backing up the points, I realized a few things. 

The most notable were that all of a sudden sitting a desk typing lines of code for forty hours a week seemed interminably boring, and that I could wear weird socks to school just as easily as to the office. So the next week I strolled into the office of a slightly annoyed registrar and changed my degree plan to Secondary English Education. To date, it’s been one of the best decisions of my life. 

In a few short weeks, Oklahoma will decide whether or not to give myself and my compatriots a $5,000 raise. If they are gracious, my paycheck will still rank in the bottom half of the national average for teacher pay, but it’ll be nice surprise, mostly because my wife is a teacher too, and we’ll be doubling up on it (hello Premium Lunchables!). I’m not one of those teachers who likes to gripe about how much we do and how little we get paid to do it. That said, we need this raise. 

If you’re on the fence, consider what you’re giving and what you’re getting in return. It means highly qualified teachers staying put for a few years. It means dedicated rookie teachers like me not having to worry about picking up side jobs or summer jobs. That in turn puts us in the classroom more, because as any educator can tell you, it’s not a “pack up and leave when the bell rings” job. 

If enough voters decide they simply can’t be asked to fork up an extra penny here and there, that raise won’t happen. The state will then hem and haw and try to pass some other legislation that glances our way and has the appearance of trying to solve the problem, but in reality is just subterfuge and planning to get reelected. It’ll be a mess. 

But you know what? I’m fine either way. I’ll show up on November 9 with a smile on my face, and I’ll teach your kids what a gerund is, how to properly use a semicolon, and I’ll even throw in an extra bit about the Oxford comma although that’s not in the state standards yet (I’m looking at you, Flores). Because it doesn’t matter if I’m making five-fifteen or five-sixty-five, I’m going to teach your kids to the best of my ability. 

I love what I do. I love these kids, and I love this school. I’ll die here or retire here. There is no in between.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Guest Blogger: Matt Cone)

~ Blue Cereal

Last week, Anthony Purcell of Random Teacher Thoughts issued an edu-blogger challenge which he kindly initiated by responding to his own questions. It concludes by asking the respondent to name five people he or she would love to see complete the challenge as well – making this a blogger pyramid scheme of sorts. 

One of the folks I named was Matt Cone, who is not actually a blogger, edu- or otherwise. He is, however, a helluva teacher and education consultant, and wildly entertaining for someone so much smarter than me. He doesn’t even Tweeter, so I had to tag him on Facebook just to get his attention. 

I’m glad I did, because this was the result.

What has been your ONE biggest struggle this school year?

I’m sure that there will be a lot of responses that deal with issues of students feeling too entitled, lacking “grit,” and being unable or unwilling to work for things these days.  These are all very valid observations/complaints.  

I, however, have struggled more with convincing them of the larger picture for which they should be working.  I teach U.S. history.  In years past, I have taught American government.  Both of these classes take on a new tone during election years.  It is already difficult for students to confront some of the big issues of U.S. history (slavery, the plight of Native American peoples, etc.) without students developing an overpowering sense of cynicism.  I still, in light of everything, believe in this country and what it’s supposed to stand for.

That has been hard to sell to students in the current political climate.  The pervasive anger, lack of civility, and name calling brought about by the current campaign makes it hard to sell students on the idea that our system, with all of its inherent flaws, is still the best option.  And lest we point our fingers in only one direction, this problem originates on both sides of the political aisle and is amplified by the dueling echo chambers of social media.  If you don’t agree with one side, you’re a tree-hugging, America hating, Socialist who is simply awaiting the imposition of Sharia law.  If you don’t agree with the other side, you’re a Bible-thumping, gun toting, misogynistic racist who simply hates everyone and everything.  

As a history teacher, I know that this is not new.  The campaigns of the late nineteenth century were as bare-knuckled as they come, and race-baiting fear has been used to win elections for far longer than anyone wants to admit.  However, it is getting harder and harder to point to true leaders who are looking for real solutions to America’s problems, and that is making it harder and harder to teach classes whose main goal is to build solid citizens.  

TWO accomplishments that I am proud of. 

I won’t point to two specific things here, but I will address two ways in which my life as a teacher has changed. 

First, I have been a better leader.  I was a department chair for twelve years. While I did enjoy being a part of setting the agenda for may department, hiring new people, and providing input on issues with our administration, dealing with budgets and supplies, going to more meetings than I care to count, and being a constant conduit between my colleagues and my administration finally wore me out.   One of the biggest things I had to do was be a filter. My administration did not necessarily need to hear every complaint or comment made by my fellow teachers; my fellow teachers, in my opinion, did not need to be privy to every minute detail and every edict handed down from admin.  The only to filter some of this out was to absorb it, and that can be mentally and emotionally taxing.  At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I resigned that post.  

As odd as it sounds, stepping out of “leadership” was the first step toward being a better leader.  Much of the time I spent in meetings is now spent working through the new AP US history curriculum and developing lessons on both content and skills.  I have used the redesign as an opportunity to have my team re-evaluate the way we do some things in our classes.  Energy that used to be spent managing the budget and monitoring supplies is now spent mentoring new teachers.  I am now a lot freer to say what I want, rather than what I’m supposed to, and I have built up enough credibility on my campus that I can still walk into my principal’s office and give my two cents.  It was my principal, in fact, that confirmed all of this for me.  I told her that I had to learn how to be a leader when not in “leadership.”  Her response: “those are the most important leaders to have.”

My second “accomplishment” is not an accomplishment in a traditional sense.  I guess it’s really more of an affirmation.  I attended the school’s musical this year (a fantastic performance of “Legally Blonde”).  During intermission, three former students approached me and told me that they knew I was there because they heard me laugh.  I have been told that my laugh is not particularly obnoxious or grating (though that may have been to save my feelings), so I took that as a great compliment.  In a dark room with more than five hundred people in it, my students could discern my laugh.  There’s only one way that’s possible: they had heard it enough to know that it was me.  The fact that laughter is big enough part of my class that this could happen is, to me, a great accomplishment.  

THREE things I wish to accomplish before the school year is out:

I had to re-work some of my class resources last year to accommodate the AP US history redesign.  I have had to re-re-work some of those resources this year to accommodate the new and improved redesign, as well as a new textbook.  I am looking forward to getting that done.

I have set a goal to integrate more web-based tools into my class.  Google Classroom has been a nice addition, as has the timeline generating tool, Preceden.  I would like to use more web-based tools as we get into review season in (yikes!) a few more weeks.  

On a related note, I would like to do more with podcasts.  “Freakonomics” and “My History Can Beat Up Your Politics” have great podcasts for social studies.  I would like to find more; more importantly, I would like to do more with them than just dump one more thing onto my students’ plates. 

FOUR reasons why I remain in education in spite of the tough culture.

1. It’s still fun.  I get to work with great kids and, as I said before, we get to laugh a lot.  

2. I teach at the school from which I graduated.  I have always viewed teaching as a way to give back to the community in which I grew up. Being a part of the community especially important to me as my hometown continues to evolve and as my kids grow up here.

3. I’m not sure what else I would do.  This is not a lamentation about not being qualified to do anything else, though having taught in one place for almost twenty years does make me a less attractive candidate in this job market.  I simply can’t think of a job that combines my love of learning, my love of kids, and my love for my community into one job that someone will actually pay me to do. 

4. I pulled some new teachers into my office last week and pulled an old yellow file folder out of a file cabinet.  I told them “This is my ‘warm fuzzy’ file.  It has letters and cards from former students in it.  You’re good teachers and you’re gonna get a lot of these.  Keep them.  You never know when you’ll need to pull one out and read it to remind yourself of why you’re here.  Also, just know that I keep this file in the bottom drawer here; so if I get hit by a low-flying blimp tomorrow and someone needs to plan my funeral, you’ll know where to go.”

We get a lot of grief from outside.  We’re punching bags for politicians, targets for lawyers, and scapegoats for parents. On the inside, however, where it counts, we do sometimes reach the students.  As corny as it sounds, it does make the rest of it worthwhile.  

FIVE that I hope will answer these.  (I guess I’ll link them to this once it’s out there)

Lee Ferguson – A personal and professional mentor and friend.  I hope to be like her when I grow up.

John Stewart – He is a great sounding board for ideas.  There have been many times that I have sent him an e-mail and said “does this sound too crazy?” John does what I do, but in a completely different set of circumstances.

Matt Tassinari – As with John, he is an APUSH teacher for whom I have a lot of respect and dear a friend who teaches the same class that I teach to a radically different demographic.  

Renee Birdsell – A good friend and colleague who is looking at all of this with much younger eyes than mine. 

Lance Morse – Lance is a new friend who teaches theatre. I would love to hear what it’s like in the trenches of fine arts education. 

RELATED POST: Blue Serials (2/7/16) {contains links to a dozen or so other responses to the challenge.}

The Remaking of Lawrence Public Schools (Guest Blogger – Amy Berard)

~ Blue Cereal

Amy BerardAmy Berard is a graduate of Lawrence Public Schools, and taught there during the first three years of receivership.She still lives in the community, but now teaches in the nearby district of Lynn.

Berard first made national #edreform waves when she did a guest post for Edushyster titled “I Am Not Tom Brady.”  She has since been featured in Education Week, the Washington Post, and on Diane Ravitch’s legendary edu-blog. 

Perhaps most importantly, she’s a proud #11FF and a Blue Cereal favorite. 

January gym members aren’t the only ones with their eyes on reform.

Since the Commonwealth of Massachusetts took over Lawrence Public Schools in 2012, the district has been under the watchful eye of not only Massachusetts, but also the nation. In 2014, both U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and AFT President, Randi Weingarten, paid a visit to Lawrence schools. In February of 2015, Time Union reported that Andrew Cuomo is using Lawrence as a model for education reform in New York.

This state receivership is certainly not short on attention or staff. This receivership is steered by a state-appointed receiver, a chief operating officer, a chief of staff, a deputy superintendent, an assistant superintendent, and a special assistant to the superintendent. During the first year of the recievership, more than $6 million was spent on salary increases at central office level. The chief of staff position was listed as having a salary of $115,000 in 2012, substantially more than that of the Lawrence mayor’s chief of staff, whose current salary is a mere $68,000. Despite the fact that these receivership positions are paid with public funds, it is unclear what many salaries of these positions are currently.

Lawrence, MA, is a city 30 miles northwest of Boston. It consists of 7 square miles with a population of approximately 77,000 people. Average household income is roughly $31,000 annually. 63% of students are economically disadvantaged. Over 30% of residents do not have a high school diploma. English is not the primary language of 70.4% of Lawrence students and 31% of students are English Language Learners.

The leadership of Lawrence’s schools and that of its city government share a history of instability, corruption, and public dissatisfaction. In 1998, District Superintendent James Scully was fired due to accusations of misuse of funds. In 2012, one of Scully’s successors – Wilfredo Laboy – was sentenced to jail for embezzlement. In the same year, the city’s mayor – William Lantigua – was under FBI investigation for misuse of public funds, a continuation of almost constant investigations into his behavior since his election in 2008.

There have been 2 recall petitions against the current mayor, Dan Rivera. In fact, every Lawrence mayor for approximately the last 15 years has been the subject of a recall petition.

Since the inception of the Lawrence receivership, one only has to visit the Massachusetts Department of Education website to see the effects the receivership has had on the staff and students.

The Valley Patriot reported, “Riley was hired by Education Commissioner {Mitchell Chester} with no experience in turning around a failing school system. He was given a three and a half year contract, at $198,000 per year with benefits and reimbursements to “turn around” the school district, yet there is no legal definition or policy outlining what specific goals must be met to for the schools to be considered “turned around.”

Prior to Lawrence, Riley had never served as a superintendent. His receivership has been marked by an increase in the hiring of inexperienced administrators and inexperienced teachers – many of whom had previous ties to Riley and came from areas outside of Lawrence and its surrounding Merrimack Valley area. These principals have been given wide autonomy to make decisions for their building and staff, which may be fine for an experienced school leader but potentially disastrous for the many with little or no prior experience in such positions.

The percentage of highly qualified teachers teaching core academic subjects in Lawrence went from 95.4% in 2012 to 87% in 2014. At the state level, that number went from 97.8% in 2012 to 95.4% in 2015. The loss has not been shared equally by all Lawrence schools. Guilmette Middle School, a Level 3 school among the lowest 20% of schools in the state, went from having 96.8% of core academic subjects taught by highly qualified teachers in 2012 to only 55.8% in 2014.

Given Receivership Riley’s past with Teach for America, it is perhaps not surprising that Lawrence teachers are becoming not only less qualified, but less experienced. Lawrence teachers under the age of 26 went from 6% in 2012 to 14% in 2015. The state average for teachers under the age of 26 went from 5% in 2012 to 6% in 2015. At Spark Academy, a Level 4 school among the lowest achieving and least improving schools in the state, 37% of teachers are under the age of 26.

The teacher retention rate in Lawrence Public Schools is indirectly proportionate to each year Receiver Riley is at the helm. For every year Riley has been in charge, the district retains less and less teachers. While the state average retention rate dipped slightly from 90.3% in 2012 to 89.9% in 2014, Lawrence’s teacher retention went from 81.6% in 2012 to 68% in 2014. International High School’s 2014 retention rate was 54%. The Business Management & Finance High School’s rate was 41.7%. The High School Learning Center managed 54.2% and Community Day Arlington a weak 59.1%.

Take a moment to imagine what it would be like for an academically struggling urban child to see an ever-growing sea of unfamiliar faces at their school year after year. Now imagine what it would be like for a child who speaks limited English or a student with a disability. What messages does this send to them?

Often urban students come to school for a sense of stability, structure, and community. With a declining teacher retention rate, Lawrence schools feel less and less like home for many students. A low teacher retention rate prevents teachers from becoming familiar to each other, the curriculum, the students, and the students’ families. Parents are not as likely to participate in school events when they have not developed a relationship with the school community.

The implication is that those most in contact with these students on a daily basis are only there temporarily.

Lawrence has very few teachers living in Lawrence teaching in Lawrence. Ironically, many qualified faculty members who actually live in the community have been let go with no more explanation than that they’re “not a good fit” – a phrase many will recognize as common reformer code for “asking too many questions” or “challenging too many decisions which impact their kids.”

Judging from the annually decreasing retention rate, few teachers seem to be “a good fit” for the new Leadership Cabinet of which Receivership Riley is quite proud. Members are chosen by administrators, leaving non-favored teachers without a means to voice concerns without professional retaliation.

This past summer, the Massachusetts Board of Education held a special meeting with Riley because they received a number of complaints from teachers about the teacher evaluation process being unfair. In some cases, evaluations did not occur at all. Since pay increases at a certain level are tied to performance evaluations, this is particularly problematic.

In 2012, Lawrence was labeled chronically underperforming. In 2015, while Lawrence has seen some growth, it is still labeled chronically underperforming. While some schools are held up as evidence the receivership is working, many others have shown little or no improvement. A few have become worse.

Although initially a three-year plan, the receivership has been extended another three years. Let’s hope those three years bring with them more stability for students and teachers – as well as a strong plan for transitioning back to local control.

You can follow Amy Berard on Twitter at @1amyberard. 

Lawrence School

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)

Baseball: A Ponderous and Elaborate Affair (Historical Guest Blog – Rev. J.T. Crane)

~ Blue Cereal

Baseball Game

Today’s commentary is from the Rev. J.T. Crane, a writer without his own blog, most likely due to the fact that he’s been dead for well over a century. Here he mocks, condemns, and predicts the demise of what we today would call ‘professional baseball’, although his criticisms would apply equally well to any of the decadent sports – football, basketball, curling, etc. (Not hockey, of course – as the true Sport of the Gods, it alone is pure of intention and deed.) 

I find this piece amusing in its own twisted little way, but in sharing it I have no intention of actually slandering baseball or any other sport. If you nevertheless feel slighted by the Reverend’s words, don’t take it personally – he was far harsher on the theater, novel-reading, and the ultimate time-waster and brain-killer, chess.

Chapter V: “BASE BALL” (From Popular Amusements by Rev. J.T. Crane, published 1869)

“And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Exodus xxxii, 6. 

“…in the ancient and honorable way, carelessly, hilariously…”

Base ball may be made a very pleasant amusement, wholly unobjectionable either in regard to health or morals. Many of our readers well remember how it used to be played by the village school-boys. Two of the best players volunteered, or were elected by acclamation, to organize the two “sides.” The leaders tossed up a bat, with a mark on one side of it, to determine the first choice. The winner looked around the circle of boys and made his selection; then the other leader named a boy for his side, and so it went on, by alternate selections, till all were enrolled. The bat was again tossed up, to determine who should be “in” first, and then the play began. 

Baseball Player How they knocked the ball, and ran and threw the ball at each other, and fell down in their eagerness to avoid being hit, and laughed and shouted, and grew hot, and red, and finally weary! No crowd of excited spectators were there to applaud special acts of skill, and thus spoil the sport; no “scorer” noted down in his book the number of “runs” or of “fly-catches;” no representative of the public press was there, to prepare an extended and eloquent report, confounding simple readers with his vocabulary of new terms; no body inquired which side was victorious, and all were happy.

And in these later days, if a score of young men or older men would provide a basket of refreshments, and go out into the fields by themselves and play two or three hours, in the ancient and honorable way, carelessly, hilariously, not even noticing who makes the most “runs,” they would all feel the better the next day; and the wit and humor elicited on the occasion would echo in twenty home circles for weeks to come. 

“…base ball has become a ponderous and elaborate affair…”

But since it attained the dignity of being our “national game,” base ball has become a ponderous and elaborate affair. Rules as rigid as those which govern the proceedings of the Congress of the United States are fixed, by general councils of men learned in the art, and goodly volumes are published discussing the size, shape, and weight of balls and bats, and determining the proper distances between the bases. Associations are formed, who assume a name, devise a uniform, and have initiation fees and monthly dues. 

Baseball CardThe formation of the club, the selection of the members, is a very serious business, involving, as it does, the fortunes of the fame of the association in its future contests for championships and newspaper honors. Young men are in demand who are willing to devote their whole time and mental energies to the acquisition of dexterity in throwing a ball or catching it. Professional players are found, who are recruited from that idle, shiftless, and yet ambitious class of mortals who are ready to work with the energy of giants one day in the week at any useless task, provided they have the privilege of lounging about the other six days, boasting of their feats and basking in the admiration of all the little boys in the neighborhood. 

These professionals train as carefully as prize-fighters, and are, in fact, the same style of men drawn mild. In some cases they hire themselves to the club for a single exhibition game; in others, they engage for the season. Their pay is ridiculously high, considering the service rendered. We hear of a club that secured one player for a thousand dollars for the season. Another player was induced to change his residence from one city to another, and was set up by his employers in a store, with a stock costing fifteen hundred dollars, by way of securing his valuable aid on great occasions. 

When the club is organized, there must be daily practice for the benefit of the novices. This is done often to the neglect of every thing else, to the sore annoyance of parents and employers, and when a good degree of skill is supposed to be gained another club, fifty or five hundred miles away, is invited to meet in friendly contest. The newspapers announce that the Exotics have challenged the Cupids, name the time and the place, and express an ardent hope that the weather will be propitious. 

“…a supper, of which wine-bibbing generally forms a prominent feature…”

Playing BaseballThe eventful day arrives; “play is called,” and the contest proceeds with all spirit and vigor. They pitch, they bat, they run, they pant, they grow red in the face, they perspire, they strain their muscles and rend their garments in superhuman effort… There is no brain power to spare on pleasantries, no surplus breath to waste in laughter. Awkward episodes occur. A head is broken by an erring bat, or a finger by a ball, or two players, running with upturned faces and outstretched hands to catch the same descending ball, rush together with a fearful thump, and fall backward in collapse. Perhaps proceedings are still further diversified by the occurrence of a little fight. 

The game in due time ends, and one party or the other is declared victors by so many “runs,” and the winners and the losers adjourn to a hotel and refresh themselves with a supper, of which wine-bibbing generally forms a prominent feature. Speeches, too, are made by the talking members of each club, expressive of the most intense admiration of each other’s prowess, and breathing unutterable friendship. 

Baseball Card

The reporter, who has been presented with a complimentary ticket for this very purpose, takes notes of what is said and done, and the next morning the newspaper lays before an admiring world the important intelligence that “the pitching of the Cupids was superb, the batting of the Exotics was magnificent, the fielding of Jones and Smith elicited universal applause, the supper was all that an epicure could desire, and the wit and eloquence of Mr. Brown’s speech were equaled only by the beauty and pathos of Mr. Jenkins’ reply.” 

While an agitated world is laboring with this startling announcement, the principal performers stay at home and rest, or limp wearily out to the apothecary’s to make investments in pain-killers and strengthening plasters. And this, forsooth, is the great National Game. It has scarce a single feature of real recreation… 

“…in due time the novelty of the whole thing will be gone…”

The game itself is not in fault. In its simple forms, pursued in moderation, with right associations, as a recreation, and not as an ambitious show, it can be heartily recommended to young men who need some active outdoor amusement. It may thus be made a very pleasant and not unprofitable thing. In its preposterous form, inflated into a “great national game,” it is very laborious, very expensive in time and money, and not altogether safe for soul or body. It is then not an amusement, but a pretentious and useless display, whose highest reward is the shallow applause of the idle and the vain.

It may be hazardous to one’s reputation for sagacity to predict the downfall of any fashionable thing on the ground that it lacks the basis of good sense; still, I will say that the modern bubble has been blown so big, that it seems to me that it must collapse before long… In due time the novelty of the whole thing will be gone, and then comes the end…

Baseball Polka

What Misfits Wish Their Teachers Knew (Guest Blogger – Courtney’s Voice)

~ Blue Cereal ~ 6 Comments

Courtney's VoiceCourtney’s Voice is the online manifestation of a young lady who has wrestled with more in 18 years than many of us do over a lifetime. Rather than hide it away and use the magic of the interwebs to paint a shinier picture of herself and her world, Courtney lays it all out in brutal honestly – right or wrong, hurting or healing, accepted or attacked.

Sometimes it’s rather poetic, and others… painfully blunt. Often it’s both.

While I don’t claim to fully embrace everything Courtney has to say about every issue, I’ve come to rely on her for an unfiltered perspective on things for which teacher school couldn’t possibly prepare us. I love her transparency and willingness to struggle publicly in order to make it a tiny bit easier for other teens or young adults to confront their demons or accept their differences.

And it does.

I asked Courtney if she’d be willing to contribute a guest blog on the subject of “What I wish my teachers knew about me,” primarily from the point of view of the misfit or misunderstood.  I’m in no way suggesting teachers consciously neglect ANY of our kids or have some secret malice towards those we don’t quite understand. Honestly, the fact that we connect with as many as we do is something of a miracle, given the generational differences and sheer numbers in front of us every day.

But none of us are omniscient, and none immune to the frustrations or failures associated with carrying responsibility for kids we don’t always ‘get’. This is not a lecture, but a reminder of what we so easily miss if not ever-watchful and ‘tuned in’ to our little darlings. It’s as a reminder of our calling.

Thanks, Courtney. I’m glad you’re here.

Hello. You don’t know me, you probably don’t even remember my name, but I’m your student.

I’m that eager beaver over achiever who sits in the front of the class and raises her hand for every question. What you don’t know is that the pressure my parents put on me, and that I put on myself, is starting to break me. When you “talk” to the troubled kids, I often wish it were me you were talking to so I could open up about how much weight is on my shoulders.

I’m that kid who sits in the back, slouching and you don’t think I’m paying attention. Truth is, I am trying really hard but my effort goes unnoticed. Teachers constantly tell me to try harder and it makes me want to give up because I feel like I am not good enough.

I’m the class clown, always loud and making inappropriate jokes. You try your best to hide how you really feel about me, but you don’t realize my jokes are me crying out for attention. Maybe I am unheard at home and enjoy that people listen in class. Or maybe I am hurting and use comedy as a way to cope. It is my way of yelling for help without having to say the words.

Sometimes I think that making others laugh will somehow mute my pain.

I’m that quiet kid who never speaks. You call on me, but barely hear my answers when I give them to you. Sometimes you look at me like you pity me. But I don’t want your pity; I have social anxiety and you put me in a tough place by forcing me to answer in front of the entire class.

I’m that girl that dresses like a guy and prefers a different name from the girly one I was born with. Or I’m that boy that likes other boys even though it means getting beaten up in the locker room because everyone thinks I’m checking them out. Or maybe I’m that girl who just isn’t sure if she likes girls or guys. And I am just starting to come to terms with who I am.

It’s been a long journey of self-discovery, and all the kids around me make me hate myself because they don’t understand. I cower when you call on me because I don’t need any more attention brought to me. They ask me why I’m the way I am, or lecture me about what is “right.” I’m tired of trying to explain that it’s just who I am. I can’t help it, or explain it so they’ll get it.

All I want is for someone to care, and for my feelings to matter, even if they don’t agree with them.

I’m that kid who can’t even fake a smile for the jokes you think are so funny. Every day I walk in looking like I haven’t slept in days, and often I haven’t. Depression has set in with me and I just can’t make the effort.

Every student, no matter how they behave, has a story. We all go through things we wish others would see.

That misfit student you can’t seem to put your finger on? The one that gets on your nerves for being silent, or for being too loud? They are screaming in one way or another for your attention. Sure, they may be cold with you at first when you try to talk to them or you try to get them to have a one-on-one conversation. But don’t walk away. Don’t give up on them.

Honestly, they need someone to try for them, to fight for them, to show them they matter. They want you to know that they are struggling, whether it’s stress over college and the future, or whether they’re worried they won’t have food on their plate tonight.

Some are being bullied so badly all they can think about is how much easier it would be if they were no longer here. Others may be worried about just passing so they can go to the next grade.

I have been all of the students I listed above. Each year I tried a new persona as a way to cry out for help when none of the other ways worked.

Luckily, my 6th grade year, I had a teacher who genuinely noticed how “off” I was. She saw that I was pressuring myself too much while also battling social anxiety. She’s the one who encouraged me to write as a way to cope with my feelings, and to be more vocal. It was obvious to her that I didn’t have a voice, and she thought that writing could be my voice.

She was an English teacher, and after a few assignments, she came to me after class one day. “Your writing is raw and emotional in a way I haven’t seen in a while.”

Simple words, but for me they held so much meaning. To me, it meant that the feelings I poured out into everything I wrote were being heard. After that day, I began to pour myself into my assignments even more. I started showing her poems I had written that were just for me. I opened up to her and talked to her about the serve depression I was facing, all because she took the time to acknowledge my feelings; to acknowledge me.

Years later, I connected with her on Facebook and explained to her just how much of an impact it had, her taking time out of her day to encourage me and comfort me. Little did she know that simply talking to me would lead to that voice being amplified by that writing she had pressed me to continue. There was no way she could have known that it was because of her that I would start writing and speaking up against the injustices I faced and I have watched others face.

Taking just one minute to talk to your students really can change their life.

Sometimes we just need a boost. Every now and then we need a shoulder to lean on and an ear to talk into. Just because we don’t come to you first doesn’t mean we don’t need you. Sometimes we just have our own ways of trying to get your attention. Sometimes we think we don’t want your attention, even when we do.

Don’t think that we don’t care about what you say, even if we do have an attitude. Sometimes we simply can’t admit to needing the help. But your words run deep and ignite things inside of us. Teachers are inspirations. Use that power for good.

I was a misfit. Fitting in just wasn’t something I could do. I was suffering from serve depression and anxiety. But my recovery started with one teacher who took the time to understand me and talk to me, even if she didn’t believe in everything I did or support all the causes I did. Her taking the time to say, in so many words, “Hey I care,” helped me to realize there are people out there who will listen and there is a reason to keep fighting. 

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