The Real Purpose of Education: A Paradigm Shift

If you feel like thinking critically, you can thread the three articles together into whatever fashionable mindset you like. They are all worth the read, and easily connected if you take the time to process and evaluate the words of each.

The first article offers a basic overview of where our nation stands as a result of standardized testing. The second opens our eyes to the bigger picture of critical thinking and its relationship to democracy, as seen in Thailand. Finally, the third article awakens readers to the real effects of our competitive society, reflected largely in our educational structure, on developing adults.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sagar-tikoo/it-lies-within-the-key-to_b_3725840.html - It Lies Within - The Key to Education Reform (Huff Post Teen Blog 7/30/15)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/07/30/thinking-critically-about-democracy-and-education-reform-in-thailand/ - Thinking Critically About Democracy and Education Reform in Thailand (Washington Post 7/30/15)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/education/edlife/stress-social-media-and-suicide-on-campus.html - Campus Suicide and the Pressure of Perfection (New York Times 7/27/15)

The first half of my summer was spent in professional development classes and working with kids at a STEM camp at my school. Although I had good intentions in signing up for all of it, by mid-July, I was still exhausted from the previous school year, having had little time to rejuvenate myself in preparation for the upcoming school year.

So, instead of spending the remaining weeks of my summer reading more strategy books and planning various activities for my new class, I decided to make different use of my time. I decided to focus my reading energy on real world issues and current events. My sister recommended a book called Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The book outlines gender inequality throughout the world in developing countries, and a large focus of this influential couple’s writing focuses on the need for education in the rural areas of developing countries. Kristof and WuDunn offer a plethora of examples outlining the various ways education could decrease, and in some cases, prevent much of the maltreatment of women around the world. In other words, in certain areas of the world, education could save lives.

Through reading the stories, statistics, and social philosophies noted in this book, along with current articles about educational reform in the United States, a huge disconnect began to form in my own mind. How can it be that the poor women in developing countries are being exploited and killed because they live in an area where education is largely nonexistent, or because they are being trafficked to countries where, because they are uneducated, they are enslaved as personal property and often meet their fate at the pleasure of another? Yet in our country, both male and female, regardless of social status, are required to go to school and we see an incredible increase in those people, the educated ones, taking their own lives because they can’t, shall I say, perfect perfection.

What is wrong with this picture? What are we doing to our kids? In developing countries, education’s purpose is empowerment. It is valued as a privilege that one can use to better himself and the world around him. Have we lost sight of that in our country? Do we really see education as a privilege? As something we can use to solve real world problems and help people around us? Sadly, I think the majority would have to honestly answer no. The regulations from the powers-that-be have beaten us down with the unrealistic expectation of nearly perfect test scores and we, as teachers, have resorted to teaching test-taking skills and breeding a generation of high strung, competitive individuals whose strong suits are answering fact-based questions to get a piece of paper that says, “You passed!” or “You got an A!”  Oh, we are missing the mark! With our current standards and attitude toward education, we are cultivating extrinsic motivation in our kids. They view school as something routine that is awarded with letters, numbers, and fancy stickers. They aren’t exposed to many situations that motivate them intrinsically, nor are they taught to appreciate the educational process as a means by which they can one day achieve positive world change. Yes, many kids see education as an opportunity. But an opportunity to do what? Grow up and get a job that makes lots of money? There we go with more numbers and extrinsic rewards. These kids are learning to define themselves by test scores and numeric results, and this is heart breaking to me.

Let me take a brief moment to pose a disclaimer: I know that we live in a capitalist world, and that competitive structure is, in large part, what makes us successful as a country. And believe me, I truly do love my country. I am thankful every day to be living in the free world; to be part of a government that is by the people and for the people. However, no matter how incredible our country may be in most ways, it isn't perfect and things can certainly be done to make it better. We need to harness the competitive nature of our citizens and channel that energy in a more selfless direction. It is my belief that this trend can start in the classroom.

We need to do whatever we can to teach our students to think critically and compassionately, with a worldview at our core. Kids need to know that their education has a purpose. I am very thankful to be teaching in county whose superintendent is embracing and endorsing the Project Based Learning approach. I am tremendously excited about being a part of a small step seeking to change attitudes about teaching and learning. It is my hope that this strategy will improve the identity of our future generation. Unfortunately, though, this change can only reach its full potential with buy in from from both our state and federal government - our whole country, really.  The ideology needs to change. As the Huffington Post article argues, this won’t change with more money being poured into our education system or new laws being passed. We need a paradigm shift; a fresh perspective on the purpose of education and the intended outcome of it.

When kids have opportunity to think critically, they begin to learn to think for themselves and they find out what they’re good at. When they figure out what their skills are, teachers should be in a position to encourage them to hone in on those skills and target real world problems that can be tackled using them. In my opinion, if a young adult finds out what her gift is (even if it is not taking a test), she finds purpose and can rest easy when she reaches the difficult realization that she won't be perfect at everything. As adults, we typically use one or two major skill sets to do our jobs, right? Why are we teaching our kids that they need to master and perfect everything they learn before they enter the working world?

An appropriate education reform cannot and will not be achieved merely by pouring a few extra pennies into the budget or by a passing a few newly modified laws (although those things would certainly help). I think we will begin to see real change, though, when the country as a whole takes on the idea that we need to educate our children with purpose. We don’t need an education system that produces numbers that impress the world - which ours clearly don’t. And we certainly don’t need a system that creates robots who perpetuate the problems we currently have by following orders and legacies left behind by former leaders. No, we need a system that encourages students to take ownership of their education, to be thankful for it, and to use it to solve problems, become active members of society, and to make the world a better place for all people.

Less is More in Classroom Decor

My perspective on classroom decor is gradually shifting to a “less is more” type of attitude. For the past 4 years, I have been sold out to a full spectrum of colors splashed all over my classroom walls. I’m beginning to learn, though, that no matter how “cute” the room is, clutter is distracting and organization is compromised when the focus is solely appearance and not functionality. That gradual realization in combination with my organizational tendencies, which my husband may good-heartedly refer to as compulsions, have made way for more simple and inviting classroom design ideas. As I approach the coming school year with this gradually developing attitude, there are 3 things I’m choosing to focus on in order to keep things simple and maximize student space and growth. These include purging excessive and unused materials, finding practical and efficient storage for everything I own, and intentionally designing classroom space to promote functionality and student learning.

Get Rid Of It!

Every teacher knows that at the end of the school, it’s time to face the music. How many things have we kept stored away in drawers and boxes this year and never touched? Will it be time to say goodbye or store them away again along with the new additions we accumulated this year? The phrase, “...buuuuttttt I might use it next year when…” is directed toward each forgotten item as we sift through our bins. It’s a real problem. As my less is more attitude begins to take hold, I lean more and more toward the idea of purging the nonessentials. If something is ineffective, unused, or even a little outdated, it’s gone End of story. I just simply don’t have the space for junk. Of course, I take many of these things to the “give away” table in the teacher’s lounge first, but let’s face it, some if it is just trash. At the end of this year, I decided that I was going to put in some extra time organizing my things so that when I return to my room in August, I can direct my efforts more efficiently toward decorating the classroom appropriately, making the room as functional as possible for the students. Ultimately, what I found in my cleaning was that I had a substantial amount of random items at the bottom of plastic tubs and stuffed in my wardrobe closet that I never even knew I had and could have used. Unfortunately, many of those things (extra staples, paper clips, stickers, file folders, page protectors) were the things I chose to spend my school allotment on just a few weeks before. Bummer, right? I also found other items that were left by the previous teacher - and maybe her teacher’s teacher from 1990, that would never be used again. Yikes.

“Everything Has A Place”

I finally decided enough was enough. Another one of my phrases, that endearingly drives my husband nuts at home, is “everything has a place.” This rings true in my classroom, too. There is rarely an item out of place unless there is a purpose behind it. It’s important for my students to know the expectations in my classroom and that includes where to put their things and where to get things they need. I also feel that I am a more effective teacher when I know where my things are. I can design lessons much more effectively when I know what materials I have to work with. To make this phrase a realization, I knew some time needed to be dedicated to cleaning things out, recording exactly what materials I have, and storing them in places that made sense. Here’s what I’ve done over time:

• Removed my teacher desk and replaced with a small self-assembled teacher desk from target
• Set aside ONE and ONLY ONE bookshelf for my teaching materials. (This keeps me from storing workbooks I’ll never use and strategy books that have long since been replaced by new research)
• Organized each shelf of my wardrobe (my big portable closet) by theme: office supplies, craft materials, extra student materials, etc.).
• Set aside one bin for overflow office supplies and labeled it as such.
• Doubled my crate seats (colored storage crates with ply-wood cushioned seats fitted on top for student seating), as themed storage bins (one for index cards & sticky notes, one for dry erase boards and markers, one for craft supplies, etc.).
• Transitioned my classroom library, organized by genre, into separate clear bins with lids. (This way, at the end of the year, I just add the lids, pack ‘em and stack ‘em).
• Organized each subject’s units in a plastic 3 drawer bin so that when it comes time to teach a particular unit, I pull out the drawer and have everything I need all in one place (*this idea compliments of my wonderful mentor, Laura).

Teacher Desk
(you can see how much less space it takes up back there in the left corner of the second picture)

Unit Drawers

A Few Book Bins

(I sincerely apologize for the blurry pictures - they were the only ones I had access to at this point, and since my classroom is locked up for the summer, I can’t go and retake them for better quality. Please forgive and anticipate better ones in the future!)

By doing each of these things, I eliminate extra things laying around and maximize space for student activity, application, and learning.

I’ve gotten my entire storage system down to the following:

• one large plastic bin for decorations
• one large plastic bin for extra office supplies
• 1 bin for social studies games
• 2 crates for social studies activities
• one large wardrobe
• one filing cabinet
• one rolling cabinet
• one small bookshelf for my teaching binders
• 4 crate seat storage bins
• 6 three-drawer plastic bins
• a few extra bins for things TBD

...and that’s it!

Blank Canvas - A Metaphor for Learning

In a day in age where ADHD is so prevalent, kids don’t need anymore distractions than they already have on a normal school day. I see so many classrooms (mine used to be one of them) whose walls are covered with posters, charts, colors, words, words, words, and more words. Kids and adults alike walk into these rooms and naturally think to themselves, “What should I look at first? What’s the most important? Oh, look at that! No, wait. Look at that!” Having said this, I know there is certainly research to support the use of anchor charts made during lessons and posted as a means of promoting recall, or as something that students can refer to down the road. But how many things do we hang up on our walls that we never draw our students’ attention to, never use, and only put up because we have them or because they make our room look decorated. Sometimes, I think we see this as setting the tone for “learning,” but in my opinion, for what it’s worth, it really sets a tone of confusion and overstimulation. It’s overwhelming and intimidating. I believe that a simpler room invites learners to relax and sets the tone for learning in a more authentic and inspirational way, implicitly and metaphorically suggesting to students that there are no limits. We’re starting fresh this year, unbound by the markings on the wall.

The philosophy behind this opinion may also shed a little more light on this somewhat controversial idea. I feel that blank bulletin boards and minimally decorated walls literally leave space for student ownership. The more that the students take ownership of the room, the more likely they are to buy into your style and use the space to their advantage. I’ve had years where I set up bulletin boards in advance with high hopes of developing grand routines, without first taking time to analyze the dynamics of the new group or taking time to hear their ideas. You can probably guess what I’ve discovered. Most of those “grand ideas” never really come to fruition; moreover, when they do, they rarely stick. In contrast, the few boards or charts I’ve set up after the year is under way, with practical motives, or in response to a good discussion or suggestion, are the ones that catch on. So, to achieve a more simplistic look and “feel” at the outset of the year, I plan to decorate my classroom to look a bit like a quaint and quiet living room. I will incorporate a simple color scheme, and only decorate my bulletin boards with fabric and border, leaving the majority of space vacant for practical application.

The following is an article that provides some insight into this particular part of my plan. I read this article earlier last year and honestly, it really offended me. I’m always skeptical about people, even psychologists, who do “research” but are unattached to a real classroom. Naturally, I approach articles like this with caution. But, after a year’s reflection, I think this research may actually have some merit. It’s certainly worth considering.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/heavily-decorated-classrooms-disrupt-attention-and-learning-in-young-children.html

As you prepare and plan for next year, and if you agree with anything I’ve said here, remember to purge, organize, and keep it simple!

By the way, I know that every teacher is different and that’s what makes a school successful, so if you don’t agree with any of this, you just keep on doing your thing. Whatever works for you and your kids is the right thing. I’m just a suggestion offerer :)

Why Do We Do This?

People who don’t teach don’t get it. Period. With that being said, we, as teachers, must also admit that we don’t get what it’s like to do other people’s jobs on a day-to-day basis either. I’m not here to preach the occupational supremacy of educators, shouting from the roof tops that we have the hardest job in the world and that other people’s jobs are pieces of cake with no stress attached. Not at all. But I am willing to exclaim that being a teacher is a gift. It is hard, and it is not for the faint of heart. We are underpaid and under appreciated. We work far beyond our contract hours and wear more hats than can be expressed on the “job description” line of any county school job posting. But if you have the gift, far better is it to put it to use as a service than to deny a God-given ability and chase after a lesser love. Whether you are a classroom teacher, a specialist, an educational psychologist, a principal, or any position between, you have an opportunity every day to be inspirational in your selflessness, and to labor knowing that it's hardly in vain.

Education is certainly not for people who want an “easy” program in college. I’m not sure about the rest of you fellow teachers out there, but my education program in college was anything but easy. I spent countless hours in the library, reading research, piecing together unit plans, and doing intern work for established teachers. I read all kinds of books, everything from Eric Carle to Piaget’s work. I built relationships with kids during my internships that I knew I’d probably never get to see again, and I poured my twenty year old heart into every project I completed to earn my license. No, teaching is not for people who want to spend their days coloring and making Popsicle stick crafts. It’s not for people who just want to spend their summers basking in the tropical sun. Teaching is for people who care about kids. People who care about the stability of our society in future generations, and people who passionately grab at any chance to make someone’s life a little brighter, if only for a year’s time.

Many of you know that I’m a young educator. I’ve just recently completed my 4th year teaching elementary school here in Virginia. Before moving to Northern Virginia, I taught in a Title I school in southwestern Virginia, with students in my class who received government housing, free and reduced lunches; students who dealt with severe emotional issues, and students who hardly had food enough at home to eat breakfast before coming to school. I also had students in that population for whom I had no working phone numbers to reach their parents. So, as you can imagine, those first few years were somewhat of a shock. But as with anything, I have learned and matured in the profession. I frequently look back on my first year and chuckle a little bit in regard to my “pedagogical prowess.” I went in thinking that I had the best ideas of anyone that had come before me or would come after me. I was going to set the world on fire with the teaching practices I learned and used as an intern and student teacher. Can I get an “Amen” to the fact that Day One of your actual teaching career is a bit like running full force into a glass door? I had so much zeal, everything was so clear, and then all of a sudden, I was laying flat on my back saying, "Umm... What just happened?!" In so many ways, it’s not what I expected back in my college classes or what I anticipated from under the wing of my cooperating teacher. For me, the scariest part was the sudden realization that I was the sole person responsible for imparting a year’s worth of state mandated knowledge, running parent-teacher conferences, collecting money, taking attendance, answering emails, analyzing data, creating tests… the list goes on and on. I don’t think I set the world on fire that year, but I may have metaphorically set my classroom on fire a few times…

Many of you also know that I now teach in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. Sure, it’s easier now for me to say all of this - my job is easy! Wrong. Every student comes to me ready to take SOLs in September. Wrong again. They’re all mature and need no further guidance than what they get at home and in their community groups. Still very wrong. Even kids who have everything they could ever want still deserve a high level of instruction, social and emotional guidance, compassion, empathy, and most of all, an educational advocate. No matter how a student functions or what his readiness level is, he needs a trained professional to get to know him, figure out his needs, and then devise a plan for how to best meet them. The beauty of teaching, though, I’ve found, is that we get to do all of that… and then we get to become his buddy. We ease into the role of someone our students trust to help them meet their goals and push them on toward a developing version of their best self.

So yes, I’m young and still relatively inexperienced, but I’ve seen two ends of the spectrum and my aforementioned beliefs have remained steadfast.

Each of the two schools I have worked in, the administrators I have worked for, and the teammates I have worked with, have been an undeniable blessing in my life, and that’s without mentioning my students. When you throw them into the mix, my cup overflows. Yes, sometimes with frustration, sometimes with stress, sometimes with creativity… But aside from all of the natural obstacles that stand in the way of a professional in the competitive free world, my cup overflows with love for people I work with and the kids in my care. Whether it’s in the form of excitement when a kid finally understands something, the swirling of butterflies when I assign a new project and the kids go crazy, or the rewarding satisfaction when a student comes to me with a self-produced painting of the Battle of the Ironclads… 4th grade Virginia History teachers, you know what I’m talking about ;)

Such a range of emotions we experience as educators. Any teacher who has worked with me can tell you that this post is me on a good day, and oh, are there rough days. But even on those days, the best things about my job are fighting to reach the surface. On the darkest, most frustrating day of our teaching career, we can look at those faces - the kids that need us - and remember why we answered the call. The signs are obvious. God calls us to serve, and as teachers, we have the opportunity day in and day out to seek the goodness in service even when it’s unclear. 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us that His power is made perfect in our weakness. Fellow educators, we must persevere. If we can do that and rely on God’s power to love our kids, we wage war on anything that stands in our way. Everyday is a battle. But you see, my friends, teachers are warriors.

Happy rest and rejuvenation this summer, friends!

Welcome to Upper Elementary!

Greetings, earthlings.

Rachel here. I am a 4th grade teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia. Blogging, for me, was inevitable since I have been a writer at heart for so many years. But I finally felt it impressed upon my heart to share my love for teaching in this form.

Being an elementary teacher, I certainly enjoy my fair share of “cute” things, but my creativity and gifting certainly doesn’t lie in arts and crafts, but rather in incorporating those elements, and others, into the instructional design. Both the developmental age of the students and the curriculum of the upper elementary grades lend themselves nicely to the way in which I like to teach.

My overall hope and goal is to post strategies and thoughts that inspire you and ideas that promote and strengthen higher level thinking skills in your students. The purpose behind my classroom setup and decor is to create an environment that fosters the maturation, independence, and problem solving skills of my students, providing space for all types of activities that will spur them onward.