This year, I'm split between two grade levels (6th and 7th), but still teaching Language Arts. I started the first weeks of school a little differently than I did last year--I spent more time teaching and practicing procedures, enforcing time constraints on activities and assignments, and building up the group culture of each class. The tradeoff was spending less time getting to know each kid individually, so now I'm playing catch-up.
One major change this year (aside from having larger classes, the kids losing an elective, shifting all teacher meetings to after school, and the introduction of the STAAR test) has been the introduction of the National Writing Project's writing workshop model for all English classes. Our district received a grant to pilot the workshop model at our middle school and one of our feeder elementary schools, and they're really pushing for 7th grade English teachers to make it the basis of our curriculum. In future posts, I'll talk more about how Writing Workshop is supposed to work, and how it actually looks in my classroom.
One big change that I've made this year is wearing a tool belt. I took the idea from David Ginsburg, an instructional coach who advocates strapping on supplies instead of searching for them. The seemingly minor adjustment has made a huge difference for me. I'm more organized now; my desk is less cluttered; I always have a pen and pieces of paper to write notes or passes on; I don't lose my dry-erase markers; and I look like a superhero. I knew the tool belt was a good idea when a student complained about a paper cut and I had a Band-Aid out before she had even finished her sentence.
Some education stories worth mentioning:
- More tests! The Obama administration just announced its plan to remove AYP requirements from and add "flexibility" to the NCLB law. Instead of seeing something like 80% of schools diagnosed as "failing" this year (what the original law would have mandated), lawmakers intend to let underperforming states and school districts obtain waivers so long as they do things like tying teacher evaluations more closely to "student growth measures" (standardized test score gains) and making it easier to fire teachers and principals. While the end of inane AYP requirements should be seen as a victory, I'm not convinced the "flexibility" plan is an improvement on the current law. As Monty Neill of FairTest puts it, the plan "offers little more than a leap from the frying pan to the fire--and even adds gasoline to the fire" by mandating more standardized tests and then tying teachers' job security to potentially flawed growth formulas. Things would be just as bad under the package of Republican-sponsored NCLB bills currently being debated in Congress, largely for the same reason-- more tests.
- The corporate takeover of education continues as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp prepares to take a bite out of the "Big Enchilada." After scooping up Joel Klein, the former NYC schools chancellor, and buying out 90 percent of Wireless Generation, an education technology company, Murdoch now will give the keynote address at the 2011 National Summit on Education Reform. The billionaire media mogul, who has zero experience teaching, leading a school, or working with children, will talk about the role technology could play in education reform. With all those new tests the administration's "flexibility" plan will mandate, education technology companies will be in a great position to turn a profit--so why not jump out in front and corner the market?
- My old Harvard chum, Mark Fusco, now has his own column in the Community section at GothamSchools. Mark teaches 11th grade in a New York City charter school. Mark had no qualms expressing his opinions about education when we were in class together, and if the comments section for his first column is any indication, those opinions invite a healthy debate. Props to him for putting his stuff out there for everyone to see.
