Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

I posted this over at Tumblr, but I thought I would repost here because it is a fairly complex and interesting topic.

thedailywhat:

Mad As Hell of the Day: A portly 16-year-old kid named Casey Heynes allegedly got into a fight at school with a bully. The video of the altercation was posted to Facebook by someone claiming to be the parent of Casey’s friend.

He/she writes:

The larger kid on the right, is my son’s friend Casey – thankfully they don’t go to the same school. Poor Casey has been bullied his whole high school life, and this is what happens when he snaps!! But guess who was suspended in this scenario – Casey!!

Although there is no official confirmation for this account (there’s a bit more here), Facebook has already sided with Casey, establishing a support page in his name.

[towleroad.]

Here is the video at Facebook and the (somewhat edited) video on YouTube (both the Facebook and YouTube videos have been removed) and from towleroad:

I have to be careful what I say about this since I am a public school teacher. I will say that if I ever have kids of my own, I would tell them to stand up for themselves just like Casey did.

Students should be able to stand up for themselves and not take bullying of any kind. Sure, Casey should be held responsible for his actions (possibly including suspension although I am not sold on that), that is a part of life (or it should be anyway), and he should be willing to accept those consequences. But he still should have done it even with repercussions.

The other child should have been punished much more severely as he clearly instigated the fight (and had probably bullied Casey in the past).

Other teachers and parents might disagree with me. “Casey could have moved away and gone to tell an adult” they might say. Yes, I suppose he could have done that. But the reality is that that would not have stopped the bullying, at least long term. The reality is that Casey will not be bullied again (at least by that student) because of his actions.

I don’t condone violence. I do condone and absolutely support students standing up for themselves (or others) against any form of bullying and students should be held accountable for their actions.

I should also note that I find it fairly sad that there are so many students just watching things happen. I know that is usually how it goes, but it still make me sad. Don’t just by a bystander, stand up for what you know is right.

What are your thoughts on this?

Update: Fox has picked the story up: Teased Kid Snaps! Body Slams Bully

Please go read this article from Michelle Malkin: Letter of the day: The plight of the conservative public school teacher. There has been a lot of stuff going around about teachers’ unions. Being conservative and a public school teacher is a very challenging thing. My first year of teaching (2008-09) Bellevue School District went on strike. I disagreed with the reasons and posted this: Bellevue School District: On Strike – My New Job. Needless to say, people were not very happy with that and I probably burned a lot of bridges, even within my own building (I’m sure this post won’t exactly help either…). (However, I do have to say that MANY MANY teachers offered their support for my position and offered helpful suggestions, even if they did disagree with me.) It is difficult to speak out against the union. I paid over $1000 in dues to the BEA, WEA, and NEA and therefore supported positions and candidates that I did not endorse and probably voted against. Michelle quotes a letter from a teacher:

The hold that unions have over the public educational system is nothing short of toxic. Year after year, I have a lot of money taken out of my paychecks for union dues. What do I get for my money? I am bombarded with emails and flyers “urging” us to vote for candidates that coincidentally always have the letter (D) after them. I get to be lectured to by union reps about the evil Republican candidates are and why they know what is best for me.

Now I am being hit with email after email “urging” me to stand with the teachers of Wisconsin. One teacher who is very tight with our union replied to our district making fun of Republicans directly. You might ask why I don’t forward this to human resources, but the repercussions would be brutal.

This rang true for me. But I cannot do much about it.

The other thing is that I am very aware that my union has done very good things for me; they want me to get paid better, they want me to have better health benefits, they want class sizes to be smaller (which absolutley impacts student learning). These are great things. So I seem like an ungrateful jerk if I speak out against them. But I do often question their intent. I don’t like that there is always an “us-vs-them” attitude when it comes to the district administration.

I know you don’t have to be a conservative to disagree with unions, but that’s where I’m at. It is just frustrating. I hate that politics become involved in this. Teachers should be able to focus on instruction and impacting student learning; administration should be there to support teachers in that; we should be compensated decently for our time, effort, and success. Ugh, I like debate and argument; but not this.

Here is some discussion at this post’s Facebook Note.

We must give people messages they understand. We acquire knowledge when we understand what people tell us not how it is said. Watch this video clip (from the 80s??):

In the clip Krashen clearly demonstrates that in order for someone to understand what they hear – the comprehensible input – the message needs to be clear. And by clear I don’t mean enunciated well, I mean relatable and meaningful to the learner.

Language acquisition, really, knowledge acquisition in general, is difficult. Clearly the model has been that of Krashen’s first lesson in the clip. We (educators) spout knowledge. We assume that knowledge is just assimilated by the students doing the learning. But unless we shift to a lesson two mentality, the chances that all the students are acquiring the knowledge we intend is very small.

I remember seeing Powers of Ten in science class when I was a kid. I thought it was pretty awesome then and I still do now!

The film has been uploaded to Youtube for all to view now! The film was produced back in 1968 and what we know about the world of the very large and the very small has grown by leaps and bounds, but this film’s take on perspective was done so well that it still inspires a sense of wonder. The universe is a pretty huge and awesome place! Take a look:

Pretty great, eh?

I’m a space nerd. It might have something to do with astronomy being one of my majors back at UW, it may have to do with all the Star Trek and Star Wars I have watched, or it might just be part of the inherent wonder that is space. Regardless, I am a space nerd. Anything NASA I love. I love From the Earth to the Moon, When We Left the Earth, In the Shadow of the Moon, and any other video I can get my hands on. I can watch launch videos like this over and over. I remember when the Challenger exploded after liftoff and the Columbia breaking up as it reentered the atmosphere; devastating me. While I look forward to the future of manned spaceflight, it is somewhat sad to see the Shuttle Transportation System come to an end later this year.

As part of the decommissioning of the shuttles, NASA is allowing educators to have a piece of the program. Space Shuttle Tiles for Teachers:

NASA is now offering space shuttle tiles to educational institutions. Would you like to have a piece of history for your classroom or lecture space? Sign up now because a limited number of tiles are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

I went through the (fairly involved) procurement process and just received my very own (well I suppose technically my school’s) tile!!

Each Space Shuttle carried over 24,000 separate Thermal Protection System tiles, and each one was a different size and shape. This is an authentic tile and is presented to honor 30 years of Space Shuttle flights and the great achievements made by the men and women of NASA in science, aeronautics, and space exploration.

Here is a bunch of info about the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System tile. My piece does say “Training Only” on it which I suppose could mean it hasn’t actually been to space, but really, I don’t care. It has been on the shuttle, is part of the incredible program and a piece of history. For more info and links, check out the Space Shuttle Tiles for Teachers website.

This may not seem like a big deal; it is a fairly tiny (around 20cm square and 1cm thick) piece of lightweight (but amazing) ceramic. But I am very proud to have just a little bit of NASA and Space Shuttle history!

Images of my tile (click for larger version) (Oh, and I should note: the tile is wrapped in plastic, that is why there is a glare):

I don’t know how it happened, but I survived my first year of teaching! Tillicum has been a great place for me and I have really enjoyed teaching there. My colleagues are great and the students have been a blast. Somehow Bellevue worked things so they didn’t have to lay anyone off (RIF) so I have my job back next year; same place, same classes! How incredible! I posted a few pictures of the last few days at Flickr: Last Days of School 2008-09. My class pictures are also below!

Since I found out I had a job, I also hopped on board Boutry and Kim’s travel plans to go to Greece! Tomorrow morning I will be heading out for 20 days on an adventure to Greece and Germany! I will visit Kos, Crete, and Athens, then head over to Boutry’s place near Frankfurt and venture out from there. You can view my itinerary here at Google maps. I have never been to Greece and am really excited to go! I will try and send updates if I can. What a great way to end a fun, difficult, tiring, exciting, and a number of other adjectived year!

Read more…

Bellevue is still on strike. There has been progress, but the gaps have not narrowed enough. My previous post has generated a lot more attention than I had ever imagined or intended. While I still find open and honest discussion to be extremely important I am also willing to put some of that on hold for the benefit of relationships with my new colleagues. I want to be as humble as I can when it comes to this decision and appreciate all the discussion (both positive and negative) on that post. For now, I am going to password protect that post. That means that all the comments and discussion will still be available for discussion at a later date, but not now. If you are a BEA member and for some reason or another have a burning desire to read that post and add more comments, I can give you the password. For the rest, you will just have to wait.

I hope that both the BSD and the BEA will be able to come to an agreement soon that will please both sides and promote the best learning possible for our students. We all want to get back to work as soon as we can. I would also ask that the parents in Bellevue be patient with us. You know that your children receive a top notch education, we want to keep it that way; your support means a great deal to us.

Thanks!

Last year while I was working on my masters from SPU I was sent into the classroom right away. Right off the bat I started observing and getting to know the students. As the year progressed, I started taking over more and more classes and responsibilities. Tillicum Middle School in Bellevue became my home. The staff was great, my mentor teachers were amazing, and the kids helped me grow a lot; a perfect first experience. To compliment that experience, I was able to fill in as a leave replacement at Tyee Middle School for the last quarter of the year. It was nice to be on my own and get a little taste of the “real” teaching experience.

Over the summer I worked on the 8th grade physics curriculum as a “content specialist.” We incorporated materials and ideas from what we had done during the year along with suggestions and helps from the special ed and ESL departments. The idea is that collaboration and resources will make the curriculum, the curriculum web and the lessons it contains that much stronger. While there, I was approached by one of my mentor teachers from last year. She let me know that she might be moving to the high school level to teach biology which would mean there was an open position back at Tillicum.

So last week I found myself at the newbie training for Bellevue School District! I have my own room! It is mostly ready to go. The walls look fairly bare for the most part… but it is functional and I will be working on it! It was pretty much the ideal situation for me. I know the school, I know the staff, I know the curriculum; that should help make my first year of teaching much more smooth and successful (hopefully for my students as well).

Today’s my first day… well it would have been had the Bellevue Education Association (our union) not decided to go on strike.

The Strike

The bargaining team on both sides have done a good job of working hard to get the contract hammered out, but there are still three major areas where agreement could not be reached. The three areas still being argued are compensation, health benefits, and the use of the curriculum web. I am all for higher pay and I think there is ground being made on the issue of compensation. Bellevue is paid well compared to other districts in the area, but the cost of living is higher and (some would argue) the quality of the teacher is higher as well. I believe that the district does need to be held accountable for where money has gone and why they think they cannot afford to pay us more. But I also understand that if that money truly is not there, they would have to fire personnel, which would not be a good situation either. Here is the comparison in pay proposals (from the district website… so there are other factors that may not be represented). I don’t have too much to say about the benefits issue. Personally I would rather have the money on the check than in benefits because all mine is covered already. But I also have to understand that most people are not single without kids and so have to pay more and should therefore have those benefits. At the same time, we have a pretty amazing benefits plan as it is.

The Curriculum
I have had problems with the language the union and many teachers use in talking about the curriculum web. Here is the memorandum of understanding regarding curriculum from the district (UPDATE: here is the current version). When I read that, I do not understand what the union could have problems with. Teachers are worried about autonomy in what kind of lessons they can teach. Fine, I get that. If they need to change or modify the lessons they teach, they can do that. Why wouldn’t they share that with their curriculum staff and their colleagues?

Some teachers are still under the impression that we have to teach scripted lessons. That we could just print a lesson off the web and read it. That is not the intent of the web, nor has it ever been the intent. I do not understand why this is still being propagated. I have never interacted with any administrator or curriculum coach who thinks the lessons on the web have only one way to be taught or that they should never be modified to fit the needs of our students. This is what “professional judgment” means. For my final, “official” observation to be entered into Bellevue’s job pool (in lieu of an interview), I was observed by one of the area directors. In that observation I did a lesson that was NOT part of the curriculum web and the observation went wonderfully because the lesson was student centered and was aligned with district objectives. It made sense. “I heard a teacher got in trouble for not using something from the curriculum web…” That is NOT sufficient to suggest that teachers actually are being written up for the reasons you think. Hearsay needs to be ignored and not propagated. If people have a problem with Bellevue’s educational philosophy or pedagogy, they probably shouldn’t be part of this district. Why would you join a company if you completely disagreed with what they did? And why does the union think they can control and dictate what the district deems important?

I understand this is a very complex issue, I just wish both sides would grow up a bit, stop using politically charged language, stop propagating inaccurate information, provide factual information that is relevant, make appropriate compromises, and just keep working to settle this strike so we can start teaching our kids.

To the teachers: stop thinking the district is trying to control and micromanage your classroom. They aren’t trying to do that. They don’t want to do that. They want you to be a professional.

To the union: don’t push an agenda that the entire union might not be in support of. The memorandum of understanding concerning curriculum makes sense and should be supported.

To the school district: you need to show specific numbers if you truly think you cannot afford the pay increase being asked for. You haven’t been completely honest in the past on this issue and teachers got burned. If you have mismanaged funds, you need to figure out how to deal with that, but not at the expense of quality teachers.

There is much more that could be said, but I will leave it at that. I will eventually have my first day of teaching. I just hope it will be soon!

Resources:
Bellevue Education Association (the BEA, our union)
Bellevue School District

News Articles about the Strike:
Seattle P-I: Bellevue teachers set for strike
Seattle Times: School’s out in Bellevue as teachers hit picket lines
King 5 TV: Bellevue teachers walk picket line
KOMO News 4: Bellevue teachers on strike
KIRO TV 7: Bellevue Teachers Hit Picket Lines

UPDATE:
If you would like to email the BEA bargaining team about your thoughts on the matter, they can be emailed here: BEAbargain [at] gmail.com

UPDATE #2:
Check out this Seattle Times editorial: Bellevue teachers strike is wrong. While the editorial can be a bit harsh in places, they have a lot of good things to say that should be paid attention to.

Teachers are taking standardized curriculum as a personal affront when it is not. Districts have always been empowered to set curriculum.

Bellevue has spent the past five years creating the curriculum with a $2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — an organization known for vetting academic initiatives. Meanwhile, the district continues to be recognized nationally for its quality schools and its emphasis on getting all students into high-level classes.

Here is a critical point the teachers union appears to want to ignore: Bellevue’s common curriculum is an evolving effort, far from completion. It was expected that best practices and teaching strategies from teachers would build upon the work already started. The curriculum would change as students change, creating a living rather than static effort. Teachers should know this.

You should read it.