The earthquake that was followed by a Tsunami just a couple weeks ago of course has been devastating not only to those directly involved but to an entire country and a yes the entire global community.
As we become an even more tech world, we become more involved with global issues. The media helps us visualize and become a part of issues- making them more personal and long lasting. Just watching the videos that captured the destruction as it was happening puts us all there. There is no question- nature can gentle, energetic and is full of surprises.
Watching the aftermath and the people of Japan has been inspiring. Within in this aftermath the Japanese people are continually teaching us by example. Oh, how awe inspiring to hear the reports mention that there has been no looting- unheard of in many corners of the world. The stories of the values/characteristic of patience, kindness, sincerity, persistence, responsibility, caring, and generosity abound. The seemingly natural obvious concern of individuals and groups for their human community inspires and is part of the culture. It shows in the sharing of food and water when there is little, as well as the tireless work to help find missing people, and the quiet, private, and respectful burial of the many people who did not survive. It goes without saying those people left to tend to the nuclear cores are giving so much.
There are other global lessons that are being learned which are attached to this catastrophe. I so applaud the bosses that have been monitoring the air waves. Thank you for pointing out the tastelessness, uncaring, and seemingly crass comments showing the lack of concern by some individuals. I appreciate the reprimands for nothing more than getting attention and publicity or as some would say- cheap shots. Other people are finding and prosecuting selfish people who are creating scams around the collecting of monies for the victims who desperately need the supplies, medicines, and care. There is no room or tolerance for these kinds of behaviors. No wonder people often think of the U.S. (also spelled us as a 2nd grader will tell you) arrogant bullies when these behaviors are not put in check. Hopefully we can help shut down the bad scams and not allow thoughtless comments. Again we are all teachers no matter what we are doing. There comes responsibility with the freedoms we are given by our Constitution.
Each of us needs to take ownership and responsibility for our own actions and remember the world is watching. Our young learners need everyone’s help in sorting out the characteristics and values that are best for them. The Japanese and how they faced and continue to face the disruption and destruction of their world are great models for us to hold up as positive examples.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Classroom Size
I heard an interesting report the other day about personal work space. I chuckled as it said that the adult working in an office has lost some of his/her personal space in recent years. The average adult in the business world has been reduced to a personal work area of 70 square feet so roughly (7’ by 10’) which is 5 to 10 square feet less than a decade ago. The commentator added at the end of the piece that of course the average size of executive offices has not decreased at all.
Recently, during 3 different interviews, I heard three well known business men talking about large class sizes as a solution to the many problems in Education. I am convinced that these 3 men have never taught in a classroom and assume that children K-12 have that same 70 square feet. Not so and I fear that these gentlemen consider children as small adults.
The average classroom no matter how many students it holds is around 645-650 square feet, which means that if we gave children the 70 square feet that adult workers get, the average classroom would accommodate 9 students. In my state, licensing for preschools requires 35 square feet per child which then would mean 18 children in a room. Visually considering the size of young children, then 35 square feet per child is comfortable however children grow and class size for an elementary school usually is 20 + children. This is being generous, many public schools (and charter) have 20 to 25 and some even closer to 30 students per room. By the time students are in 5th grade many children (and yes they are still children) the number of students per class is increased “because the students are bigger”. These class sizes often run 30 to 32. Doing the math- 645 divided by 30 means 21 square feet per student. That doesn’t include the teacher or other adults that need to be in the room. Now add in the factor that these are children (not yet young adults) who need to move, must have some space to work and keep items to use. There is the question of common equipment as well.
Two of the men referred to above talk about class sizes of 60 students. I just about choked as I heard that statement. The reasoning given by one is it would be better for 60 students to have the benefit of an excellent teacher! Being at a conference this weekend I was in several presentation rooms setup for a reasonable amount of chairs and therefore people. There were more people cramming into those rooms for the purpose of learning. The presenters were full of expertise and had the credentials to prove it. Yet, being one of the attendees, I was uncomfortable in a confined tight space as the person next to me was shifting, 3 phones were on vibration around me after the first ring, a person dropped a book, and sitting along a wall with my “stuff” around me, not really able to see. Within minutes it became difficult to be able to concentrate on the excellent presentation, let alone take notes. Yet we now expect students to do that daily and we want to add even more students to a class! How can students reach their optimum if we can’t and don’t offer them a physical environment that encourages and allows students to be learners.
Visualize for a moment about the logistics of 60 students in a classroom. Each child needs a desk or is part of a table for working. Chairs should be available for each student as well. Somewhere in that room or just attached, there needs to be a place for coats, backpacks, boots, for each child and a restroom either in the room or close at hand. What about doors that are universal design for those in need of wheelchair access or children too small for the water fountain or even the toilet? Now consider the other necessary equipment that takes up space in a classroom. What good study habits can be developed when sitting with a coat on the floor or leaning against the wall or the low murmur of student learning that needs to be going on? Then the issues of safety and health: fire, weather, lockdowns and the passing of disease.
Students need to be facing an area to read a board with overheads, Smart boards or Prometheus boards, and all the other technology, as well as and hear the educator. Everyone in that room also needs to be able to move around. What about the need in science classes to have work areas?
Even more so, consider the process of learning particularly with the k-12 scenario. Children find it difficult to wait for help and wait for a turn. K-6 teachers need to listen to their children to know what learning is in place and what questions remain. Many students these days are in need of much individualized attention for many reasons. Remembering the varieties of learning styles, much foundation learning involves doing and moving.
Educators continually adjust and customizing lessons to the needs and personalities of the students in a particular classroom. All of that means getting to know each child well and how that child learns best. An educator is able to then be precise in building on the skills and knowledge of each child. Aside from developing and teaching lessons there is the need for continual informal evaluation to know if there is understand and learning. In elementary school this often needs to be done 1 to 1. When children are younger and learning they need assistance when revisiting and correcting work.
If this country is on the course of helping our students to reach toward potential then let’s give them the environments conducive to flourishing.
Recently, during 3 different interviews, I heard three well known business men talking about large class sizes as a solution to the many problems in Education. I am convinced that these 3 men have never taught in a classroom and assume that children K-12 have that same 70 square feet. Not so and I fear that these gentlemen consider children as small adults.
The average classroom no matter how many students it holds is around 645-650 square feet, which means that if we gave children the 70 square feet that adult workers get, the average classroom would accommodate 9 students. In my state, licensing for preschools requires 35 square feet per child which then would mean 18 children in a room. Visually considering the size of young children, then 35 square feet per child is comfortable however children grow and class size for an elementary school usually is 20 + children. This is being generous, many public schools (and charter) have 20 to 25 and some even closer to 30 students per room. By the time students are in 5th grade many children (and yes they are still children) the number of students per class is increased “because the students are bigger”. These class sizes often run 30 to 32. Doing the math- 645 divided by 30 means 21 square feet per student. That doesn’t include the teacher or other adults that need to be in the room. Now add in the factor that these are children (not yet young adults) who need to move, must have some space to work and keep items to use. There is the question of common equipment as well.
Two of the men referred to above talk about class sizes of 60 students. I just about choked as I heard that statement. The reasoning given by one is it would be better for 60 students to have the benefit of an excellent teacher! Being at a conference this weekend I was in several presentation rooms setup for a reasonable amount of chairs and therefore people. There were more people cramming into those rooms for the purpose of learning. The presenters were full of expertise and had the credentials to prove it. Yet, being one of the attendees, I was uncomfortable in a confined tight space as the person next to me was shifting, 3 phones were on vibration around me after the first ring, a person dropped a book, and sitting along a wall with my “stuff” around me, not really able to see. Within minutes it became difficult to be able to concentrate on the excellent presentation, let alone take notes. Yet we now expect students to do that daily and we want to add even more students to a class! How can students reach their optimum if we can’t and don’t offer them a physical environment that encourages and allows students to be learners.
Visualize for a moment about the logistics of 60 students in a classroom. Each child needs a desk or is part of a table for working. Chairs should be available for each student as well. Somewhere in that room or just attached, there needs to be a place for coats, backpacks, boots, for each child and a restroom either in the room or close at hand. What about doors that are universal design for those in need of wheelchair access or children too small for the water fountain or even the toilet? Now consider the other necessary equipment that takes up space in a classroom. What good study habits can be developed when sitting with a coat on the floor or leaning against the wall or the low murmur of student learning that needs to be going on? Then the issues of safety and health: fire, weather, lockdowns and the passing of disease.
Students need to be facing an area to read a board with overheads, Smart boards or Prometheus boards, and all the other technology, as well as and hear the educator. Everyone in that room also needs to be able to move around. What about the need in science classes to have work areas?
Even more so, consider the process of learning particularly with the k-12 scenario. Children find it difficult to wait for help and wait for a turn. K-6 teachers need to listen to their children to know what learning is in place and what questions remain. Many students these days are in need of much individualized attention for many reasons. Remembering the varieties of learning styles, much foundation learning involves doing and moving.
Educators continually adjust and customizing lessons to the needs and personalities of the students in a particular classroom. All of that means getting to know each child well and how that child learns best. An educator is able to then be precise in building on the skills and knowledge of each child. Aside from developing and teaching lessons there is the need for continual informal evaluation to know if there is understand and learning. In elementary school this often needs to be done 1 to 1. When children are younger and learning they need assistance when revisiting and correcting work.
If this country is on the course of helping our students to reach toward potential then let’s give them the environments conducive to flourishing.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Spreedsheets
It’s easy; it’s quick to read that bottom line. Spreadsheets definitely have their place in all work places but a spreadsheet is not the only piece of information anyone should look at in regards to whatever is being evaluating. For example it cannot show the quality of products (which are lifeless) nor where/when flaws occur, real or within the qualifier. Is the evaluation tool even being used for the purpose it was intended?
Spreadsheets are being used in states and hence in school districts to show test success and supposedly teacher success. The spreadsheet has its place but so much is not included.
Just like the products that come from our factories that are uniform, our children are all expected to learn certain materials at certain times. Very little on a spreadsheet indicates what has gone on before, there is no heart and soul or character. Our children become lines and columns on these spreadsheets. The success on a test or tests, (now known as assessments) seems to be considered by districts and politicians to be the whole story although colleges and universities continually publish that admission and predicted success is based on more than the test numbers.
There is benefit at delving into an assessment, seeing what questions a child answers correctly and what was missed. A spreadsheet does not show the whys of responses, nor do the answers- everyone needs to talk directly to the test takers for that. The bottom line may also show trends within a group of children but again one needs to look more deeply. That spreadsheet should be used not as the end, but the beginning of questions. What that spreadsheet does not show is strengths, weaknesses, development (social, emotional, cognitive, physical), special needs, vocabulary knowledge imbedded in text, English not being the primary language, class size, comprehension skills, whether the child is ill, or slept well, or is stressed, had breakfast, or has personal issues or even if he/she had a fight on the bus or in the car on the way in to school. A spreadsheet doesn’t show persistence, values, strengths, leadership, responsibility, non -academic talents, learning style, and only hints at academic talents, transfer and application of knowledge, or even test taking skills. Children with special needs have been mainstreamed into general education classrooms and children from around the world are immersed in the classroom as well. The makeup of a classroom is even less homogeneous than in the past. These practices of using that spreadsheet sound fabulous and are cheaper and make for a quick often judgmental look. The problem becomes that when looking at the testing on that spreadsheet everyone is expected to take the same test and reach the same specific scores while narrow in what is being evaluated. The test taker is a child (not an adult) who is learning, experiencing, and practicing to be successful in the world.
The classroom teacher is expected to help each child achieve to the fullest. And that is what teachers do. These children are not machines but humans with varying needs. In a family the needs/talents/ strengths are never the same: in a classroom no two children are the same. So let’s not leave children on the spreadsheets but use those spreadsheets as only one piece of the puzzle to help children develop character/personality/individuality/social skills. Consider qualitative solutions along with quantitative when looking at “the big picture” for planning our children’s futures. No child should be a number in a column or line when the child has a life to live.
Spreadsheets are being used in states and hence in school districts to show test success and supposedly teacher success. The spreadsheet has its place but so much is not included.
Just like the products that come from our factories that are uniform, our children are all expected to learn certain materials at certain times. Very little on a spreadsheet indicates what has gone on before, there is no heart and soul or character. Our children become lines and columns on these spreadsheets. The success on a test or tests, (now known as assessments) seems to be considered by districts and politicians to be the whole story although colleges and universities continually publish that admission and predicted success is based on more than the test numbers.
There is benefit at delving into an assessment, seeing what questions a child answers correctly and what was missed. A spreadsheet does not show the whys of responses, nor do the answers- everyone needs to talk directly to the test takers for that. The bottom line may also show trends within a group of children but again one needs to look more deeply. That spreadsheet should be used not as the end, but the beginning of questions. What that spreadsheet does not show is strengths, weaknesses, development (social, emotional, cognitive, physical), special needs, vocabulary knowledge imbedded in text, English not being the primary language, class size, comprehension skills, whether the child is ill, or slept well, or is stressed, had breakfast, or has personal issues or even if he/she had a fight on the bus or in the car on the way in to school. A spreadsheet doesn’t show persistence, values, strengths, leadership, responsibility, non -academic talents, learning style, and only hints at academic talents, transfer and application of knowledge, or even test taking skills. Children with special needs have been mainstreamed into general education classrooms and children from around the world are immersed in the classroom as well. The makeup of a classroom is even less homogeneous than in the past. These practices of using that spreadsheet sound fabulous and are cheaper and make for a quick often judgmental look. The problem becomes that when looking at the testing on that spreadsheet everyone is expected to take the same test and reach the same specific scores while narrow in what is being evaluated. The test taker is a child (not an adult) who is learning, experiencing, and practicing to be successful in the world.
The classroom teacher is expected to help each child achieve to the fullest. And that is what teachers do. These children are not machines but humans with varying needs. In a family the needs/talents/ strengths are never the same: in a classroom no two children are the same. So let’s not leave children on the spreadsheets but use those spreadsheets as only one piece of the puzzle to help children develop character/personality/individuality/social skills. Consider qualitative solutions along with quantitative when looking at “the big picture” for planning our children’s futures. No child should be a number in a column or line when the child has a life to live.
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