Green Schools

You can’t grow up with my dad, you can’t even know my dad, and not select green anything to blog about... he was into conserving and reusing WAY before it was “cool.” Part of learning to drive for the four of us was learning how to drive efficiently. If you slosh the imaginary water in the imaginary glass on the dashboard, you have accelerated or braked too quickly and used too much fuel! Thermostats have always been set more for efficiency than for comfort; my mother insists that part is more stubbornness than conserving. :) I have gotten many a letter from him that was written in the margins of the agenda from some meeting he was in; printing the agenda was a waste of paper and now the paper was being used. When economic woes caused schools to look for ways of conserving, I was ready!

My school is new, but not new enough to be designated a green school. The article’s author said those new green schools aren’t so green after all, so we can just stick with our own efforts. In February of this year, all the faculty and staff in my system received e-mail from the superintendent outlining ways to conserve energy. Suggestions included turning off lights, adjusting thermostats, etc. (Already doing that... remember my dad?)

One of the clubs at my school sponsors a paper recycling program. Each teacher who wants them has small bins in their rooms for paper and there are large bins in all the teacher work areas. This time of year, as teachers and students clean out lockers and file cabinets, the bins fill up quickly! I asked one of the club’s sponsors about plastic bottle recycling and he said he would love to do that too, but they had sanitary issues with students handling all those bottles used by all those different students. He’s got a point! (I always refill water bottles, but this year I had a student who did. Way to go D!)

We’re working on recycling and that’s great. Now let’s work on just simply not using so much. WAY too much paper is used in schools! For example, some teachers ran off exam schedules for students. Instead, we could project it for students to read as they enter class, post it in the classroom, e-mail it to parents, and post it on our websites. (Yep, I did ‘em all. I’m true to my raising!) Now if we’ll just cut back on handouts to teachers...

Speaking of Immigration and Diversity...

A friend and I just watched The Visitor. Has anyone else seen it? Besides being a GREAT movie, it's a real eye-opener about immigration.

Cultural Diversity

As I think about my life, both in and out of the classroom, I realize I have limited experience with diversity. I started to school in a small, Tennessee town just as the public schools in my district were being integrated, but I didn’t realize what was happening. My parents never made an issue of a person’s race, so I just never thought anything about it. While I do realize that this has probably made me less sensitive to racial issues, I am also thankful that I did not witness some of the sheer ugliness that others have endured.

I would describe my students over the past few years as being mildly diverse, but not wildly diverse. Whatever the extent of their diversity, they all deserve to have their differences celebrated. I am torn between the two views of handling diversity in the schools. While I recognize the need for people of different cultures to keep their language and customs alive, perpetuating their differences could hamper their individual success outside of their own culture.

The curriculum and policies of schools are more Anglo-friendly than ethno-friendly, in that our system of accepted behaviors is not so different from that of the early Protestant-based common schools. We speak of tolerance and multicultural differences but don’t educate about them or celebrate them. Schools need to find that middle ground where students can be not just tolerated, but accepted for their cultural differences while learning the skills that can make them successful in a workplace that may or may not be as accepting.

Multiculturalism?

I read and reread the three articles about multiculturalism. Usually any study like this has warm and fuzzy thoughts and makes me feel like we in education are working together toward the great melting pot. Not these! In his blog, Tobia talked about reading some of these materials like he would watch a train wreck. I read these columns until I felt like I needed a bath! Tobia did present some good information and one of his points was especially eye-opening. Those of us who don’t agree with the extreme groups he talks about don’t have a guidebook or club meetings. In fact, we are so careful to protect the First Amendment rights of others that unfortunately we do nothing.

The article about what seems to be failed efforts at multiculturalism in the Netherlands would discourage me about other efforts to achieve a multicultural utopia, but their goal wasn’t the melting pot that my goal is. He describes 180 nations living in 180 different insulated pockets and children being required to learn the language of their parents’ ethnic background. (What if the parents are of different ethic backgrounds? Two languages? What if there are step-parents? Four languages?) Silly me! My goal was that we all just try to live together and get along.

The third article, the one about history books, was in its own way more troublesome to me than the others. As the author described the numerous failed attempts at a politically correct U.S. History book, I realized I apparently have no clue what a history book is supposed to teach. Some of the larger school systems in the U.S. have been jumping through proverbial hoops trying to be all things to all men when selecting a textbook for their U.S. History classes. The problem is that each ethnic group wants a book that makes them the heroes and other groups the goats. Is it so hard to present just the facts? Aren’t students supposed to research, discuss, and decide for themselves who wears the white hat, who wears the black hat, and who wears the gray one? The author of this article said that a multicultural history means America has no identity. Why does it mean that? Can’t we have a patchwork identity?

To Tennessee Gateway and EOC teachers:

We made it through another year! Once again I am very proud of my students and I hope all of you are thinking the same thing. Now we gear up for next year!!

Religion and Schools

These two readings presented what I see as two starkly different sides of the religion in schools debate. One told the story of children who believed they were violating their religious principles when they obeyed their school’s rules. When Billy Gobitas refused to salute the American flag and recite the pledge of allegiance, I wonder if he, or more especially his parents, knew what a chain of events he was setting in place. As members of the Jehovah’s Witness church, this ten-year-old boy and his twelve-year-old sister believed that when they saluted the flag or said the pledge, they were violating God’s law against bowing down to a graven image. I can just imagine how the community rose up in anger and accused this family and other members of their church of being unpatriotic and even treasonous! The reading shows that the Supreme Court justices agreed until they, through newspapers, considered what these people actually believed.

The other article told about a legal ruling on a moment of silence during the school day and about teaching evolution and creationism in Texas’ public schools. An outspoken atheist and his daughter, who attended a public high school in Illinois, filed suit over that state’s law requiring students to observe a moment of silence at the beginning of their school day. A federal judge ruled that indeed this law violated the principle of separation of church and state. In Texas, the State Board of Education is hearing the debate over teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution versus creationism. Texas’ current law requires exploring the strengths and weaknesses of all scientific theories, but scientists argued that since there are no weaknesses in Darwin’s theory, this law gives teachers the opportunity to teach creationism.

God and church and religion have always been a part of my life and, as I have gotten older, I can add spirituality to that list. I recognize and deeply respect each person’s religious and spiritual views whether they agree with my own or not. I don’t begin to agree that saluting or pledging to the flag can be equated with the worship of idols, but I firmly defend any person who does. As a teacher, I have had students in my classroom who preferred not to stand and recite the pledge at the beginning of the day. I respected their decision and politely defended their actions to other students who questioned the behavior.

The other article didn’t inspire such noble thoughts in me. Really? A moment of silence at the beginning of the school day is just a step away from teaching baby Jesus stories? I can understand and respect a person’s objection to prayer in a public school, but objecting to a moment of silence makes me think someone is just looking for a fight. The evolution versus creationism discussion is not so easy for me. So many people involved in the debate believe in all good conscience that their side is right and the other side is wrong. Parents, especially those who believe strongly in creationism, are concerned that their children will go against what they were taught because of a teacher they like and respect. I’m glad we math teachers don’t have to walk the tightrope that science teachers do! I don’t guess you guys can just skip that chapter, huh? :)

Makers and Innovators

Since this is a blog, I get to just spout my opinion. Right? I’m a little concerned about the mental balance of one of the authors I read. Maybe he’s like some of the rest of us, we’ve been teaching a long time and are accustomed to being rulers of all we survey. We forget to be tactful and try to actually engage others in our conversations. I kept realizing I was missing what he was saying because I was caught up in how he said it!

I enjoyed comparing the makers and the innovators of education. The makers are all business tycoons who, like today’s businessmen, determined what schools should produce. Today we periodically overhaul education based on what the business world needs its labor pool to know. And doesn’t that make sense? While I would LOVE to wield the scepter and create a math curriculum based on what I like to teach, I’m afraid my students would be poorly prepared for the real world.

The innovators are educators who have done their bit to change education and make it, at least to some, more productive or welcoming or socially accepting or... To the naked eye, the innovators are more altruistic than the makers. Unless they compiled their ideas into an inservice presentation and took their dog and pony show on the road, these educational innovators did not directly benefit from the changes they tried to bring about.

All of the innovators I read about had fascinating stories to tell. Having to pick one, I chose Booker T. Washington. (Being honest, BTW won because his was one of the orange-backed biographies I fondly remember reading in Mrs. Armour’s third grade classroom.) Washington’s recognition of the value of a vocational education is as important today as it was 150 years ago. Even more important is his promotion of hard work, persistence, and self-discipline for anyone who wants to advance himself. These are characteristics for which any teacher will give three cheers!

Just getting started...

I am SO new to blogging! I always think I have too much to do to include other people in my running in circles. :) I have been teaching math for 17 years, 6 years teaching 8th grade and 11 years teaching high school. I'm still doing it because I love what I do and certainly hope I'm making a difference with at least some of my students. I have a B.S. in Computer Science and Math and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. I am 12 hours into my Ed.S. in Curriculum and Instruction and probably wouldn't have this blog if it weren't a requirement!! :)