Real Education

I didn't know there was a fake education.

Haven't cracked open this book yet, but I'll do a post on it when I get around to reading it. Just wanted to post the cover now because I thought the title was interesting.

The PACT

Seeing double.
PACT stands for Performance Assessment for California Teachers, aka "How to Lose Your Mind In Four Months." Some other people refer to it as Teacher Performance Evaluation (TPEs).

There are several versions of this thing: one for every single subject credential, and two at the elementary level, for math and language arts (language arts requires an additional case study).

Here's what you're supposed to do:

1) Write a unit's worth of lesson plans. That's about 4-8 full, formal LPs. PLUS, a unit plan, which tells you what the lesson plans are about. As if the lesson plans themselves don't tell you what they are about. The plans can be based on district mandated curricula, outside resources, or you can make it up yourself.

2) Teach the unit. Technically, you're supposed to teach the entire unit. However, the PACT is supposed to be done during your student teaching, and you don't actually get to teach everything until closer to the end of the semester. Thus, in reality, you will probably only get to teach 1-2 of the lessons in the unit. I know of no one who has taught more than 2 lessons from their unit.

3) Record a video of yourself teaching. The clip has to be at least 15 minutes long. It can be edited, but it has to be from the same lesson, same day.

4) Write a super long paper discussing your unit, your lessons, your teaching, your students, your classroom environment, what happened before the lesson, what happened after the lesson, how and why you would change the way you taught the lesson and a bunch of other stuff. With references to research, and other resources. There are prompts to guide you through this part.

5) Take copies of three samples of student work - one low performer, one high, and one middle. Analyze, critique, and reflect upon student work as it pertains to the unit/lesson/your teaching/their performance. The samples don't have to be from the exact lesson you video taped yourself teaching, but it should be related in some way. Add this part to your paper from #4.

6) Submit the whole thing to the CCTC.

7) Wait two months.

8) Get your results back. If you passed, congrats! If you didn't, go back to #1 OR add more stuff to your old PACT. The CCTC will tell you what went wrong, but they won't tell you how to fix it.

There are six different sections to the PACT, including the video. Each will be given an individual score between 0-5. You need to get a score of 3 in at least four, and a 2 in the other two sections, to pass. That's a minimum average score of 2.66. Apparently, it's super tough to get an overall score of 4 - it rarely happens. Or so my PACT instructor said.

Yep. There is a course, with an instructor, to help you get through the PACT. If there isn't, and your teaching credential program requires you to do the PACT, then there really should be. This thing is a hay bale maze of craziness.

The craziest thing of all? NOT EVERYONE IS REQUIRED TO DO IT. Yep. It depends on your program, once again. Most likely, the programs that only require six weeks of student teaching don't make you do the PACT. Which makes no sense to me. Why have all these high standards for teachers and then NOT enforce them for everyone? Sure, you'll get some really well-trained teachers out there. But you're going to end up with some really poorly trained teachers too. Which is exactly what you would have without all these standards in place anyway.

Despite the headaches, I found the PACT pretty useful in developing my teaching skills. I still use some of those reflection criteria to evaluate my teaching now. There are lots of things learn from, just in the act of planning, teaching, reflecting, re-planning, and re-teaching. I'm lucky right now because I teach the same lesson multiple times each week with art and tutoring. For classroom teachers, this cycle usually happens over a period of two years.

The cough that won't go away

I've had this stupid cough for over a month now. I thought I was finally free of it, but it came back this morning all of a sudden.

The thing is, I didn't get this cough from a student. I got it from a parent. My fault entirely for going to her house. I didn't know she was that sick, or that contagious, or else I wouldn't have gone. I don't think she knew she was contagious either.

I hate coughs. My respiratory system has never been the same since teaching in China, where my school was surrounded by a coal refinery, a mutton processing plant, and a medical waste dump on three sides. The forth side was a prison, but that's not what made my lungs revolt.

I've been on an intense strategy fighting this thing. Liquids and scarves, medicine and surgical masks, sleep and protecting my voice whenever I can. It's worked. Last week was my first cough-free week since the middle of March.

And then it had to come back. I don't even know what I did for it to come back, unless I was around someone who was sick. Again. Dear people: when you are sick, don't ask your tutor to come to your house! I'm fine with rescheduling. I would rather miss one of your sessions than a full week's worth of all my student's sessions.

K'thanks.

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush

I'm not a pro-affirmative action reader when it comes to books about people other than WASPs, or stories about other than your typical upper-middle class society. Books are books and a good story is a good story whether the main character is a minority or not. Honestly, some of the stories written from a minority perspective are forced, and contrite, and stereotypical. Which defeats the whole point of stories with minority main characters to begin with. It's one of the reasons why I never liked Esperanza Rising. EVERY teacher chooses it as part of their reading list. It's overdone, and a little old fashioned. Granted, I've never read it myself. I should at least try it, I know. But the premise doesn't peak my interest.

Not so with Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush. It's awesome. It's suspenseful. It's dramatic. It's real. It's sad. It's bittersweet.

Sweet, or Tree, or Teresa (she has several names) is a fifteen year old girl. She has an older brother. He suffers from porphyria. I had to google that. Their father is out of the picture. Their mother is a live-in nurse who comes home about once a month for a weekend to check on the teens, and to stock up the fridge.

One day, Tree sees a ghost. And then her whole life changes. Hm, that sounds more sci-fi than it actually is. A ghost visits Tree and her brother during a time of transition. That sounds more accurate.

You can't tell it's about a Black family except for some of the dialogue and the fact that the cover art gives it away. I like that. The minority bit of the story shouldn't be a gimmick. It should be approached by assuming the reader is intelligent deduce it from context and language clues. Actually, in some cases, I think the cover art should be more vague about it too. It makes for a more authentic reading experience.

The book isn't not really for the young, young kids. There are several words in the book that prevents me from reading it with, say, third graders. Sixth graders can handle it though. The vocab is challenging, so I would teach that carefully before beginning it as a read aloud.

Media Mondays: Thank you, Mr. Einstein

Extraordinary.
Mr. Albert Einstein. It's difficult to find someone who doesn't admire him in some way. He was a smart AND wise man. I found these quotes by him here. They have all quickly become some of my favorite quotes ever.

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."

"It's not that I'm so smart; it's just that I stay with problems longer."

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge." (Yeah. Tell that to your local school board)

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." (Tell this to the school board too. I dare you.)

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

"Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience."

"You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else."

I'm reminded of all those articles calling teachers to teach differently to the type of student population inundated with technology, media, and whatnot. For me, it's difficult to teach differently without living differently as well. And Mr. Einstein's thoughts here sure are different from where education is, and is going.

Rolling stone

Third column from the left is home sweet home.
I used to have a blog titled, "Rolling the Stone." Despite the vague Biblical allusion, it was really more about the fact that I change my mind. A lot. In fact, I change my mind so often that it can be mistaken for not being able to make up my mind at all.

But I can make up my mind. Seriously. The moment I decide something I do it. It isn't as often a fault as it sounds. I'm not impetuous - I think things through. But I don't drag my feet about once the thinking is done either. Like the moment I decided to do a series study the California content standards, I wrote the first post on it. Or at least I wrote it the first chance I got. I don't think I was actually near a computer when I made the decision.

Three weeks ago, I made a decision to study the standards in a holistic way. I wrote one post on it. And then changed my mind. Not because it isn't worth it to study the standards in that way. It is highly useful. But I've just come to realize since then that knowing the standards is really less important than knowing my students and their needs.

So I'm spending more time studying the modern student. Which means less available time studying the standards. Which is tacked onto formal lesson plans like an after-thought anyway. And, like always I made that decision a few days ago, so I'm acting upon it now. Which means no more standards. Until I change my mind again.

On a related note, I was offered an NET job last week. I turned it down because they needed me to go across the Pacific immediately. The job is full-time, but short term, only through June. I wanted to take it, I really did. However, I couldn't bring myself to drop my current tutoring students - especially the NCLB kid, who already had two other tutors drop on her before I showed up. I told them no, and I asked they would keep me in mind for future positions.

Today, I was thinking of asking if that position was still open. My NCLB kid finishes tutoring May 2. My other tutees are traditional students. They can live without me. My other obligation can live without me too. I can get on a plane on the 2nd, arrive on the 3rd, and do nearly two full months as an NET with the possibility of renewal in the fall. That would be sweet.

Still some more thinking before I actually write the email. I like my yes to mean yes, and my no to mean no. The position may not even be open anymore, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Lessons from the freeway

Bogus indeed.
I drive a lot. It's a curse and a convenience, and I live in California where we like to fan out rather than build up. Which means I talk about driving a lot. Here and here for instance.

Today's driving stories come from the freeway. Those huge structures of concrete and steel, asphalt and unidentifiable plants in the medians. The arteries of modern civilization.

Lesson #1: If you want to go slow, do it in the slow lane. Unless you WANT to be an annoyance and a hinderance to those around and behind you.

Lesson #2: If you want to go fast, do it in the fast lane, or else. Unless you WANT to be a jerk face.

Lesson #3: Head for areas with less traffic.

Lesson #4: On the occasions where heading for areas with less traffic is not advisable, nor feasible, chill out! Turn the a/c on. Crank up the radio. Sit up straighter, lower your shoulders. Loosen that grip from the wheel. You'll get there when you get there.

Lesson #5: That said, it is horribly rude to cut in front of somebody who is going at a faster rate than you. When THERE IS NOTHING IN YOUR WAY IN YOUR OWN LANE. Really? Do you really want "pissing people off" as your one and only success in life?

Lesson #6: Beware of keeping pace with the driver next to you. There is most likely someone coming up behind you, looking for the perfect opportunity to blow past both of you. Take your chance of moving ahead while you can.

Lesson #7: On the same note, if someone is all up on your rear bumper, flashing headlights, roaring engine, and all, TAKE THE HINT.

Lesson #8: Buffer zones = the most effective protection against crashes.

Lesson #9: Finally, be a Good Samaritan.

The class "Forget-er"

Easy to make waves, just as easy to make them disappear.
Tabitha* was one of my very first tutoring students this year. I've been working with her for the past three months. She's the only student who has never canceled on me. She, and her mother and aunt, are awesome.

She started out with a D in math. She's now pulling a B.

She LOVES Twilight.

She swims.

She was painfully shy at first, but she's opened up once we've gotten to know each other better.

I give her timed multiplication and division tests whenever I can. As a fourth grader, she really should be pulling 20 problems per minute in both. She got really close at one point a month back, 19/min in multiplication. Then her teachers started giving her piles of homework and we couldn't get to the timed test.

This week, she's taking the CSTs, so she has no homework. Yesterday, I gave her the timed tests again and she fell to 14/min in multiplication. She wasn't proud of that. But she went up to 11/min in division, from only 9/min last month.

Which is weird, because division is usually more difficult for students than multiplication.

"Oh yeah," Tabitha said, when I told her about her anomaly, "Since we've been doing the harder stuff in math, I've been forgetting the easy stuff."

Thus, the class Forget-er. Tab does tend to forget - she even forgets what she was talking about mid-sentence sometimes. It's funny until it gets exasperating. Good thing she pulls it back together once she senses I'm losing patience with her. I wish all kids were that perceptive. Hell, I wish all ADULTS were that perceptive.

I do have a question to end on: For this type of forgetting, where does natural, childhood ditziness end and a real learning disability begin? I'm pretty sure Tab won't qualify for special ed, probably never will. But it's definitely something I plan on studying more in depth than that measly six units of Intro to Special Education.


*Not real name

Happy Earth Day!

Let's grow things!

Flash cards for flash aquisition

Simple grandeur.
Remember how I like to keep things simple? It extrapolates to some of the more old-fashioned learning techniques too.

I've been working intensely with my NCLB student on her vocab. Intense as in 20 words, on flash cards, per week. Not every word is brand new to her. I strategically chose enough old words that I knew she knew to make going through the flash cards less painfully slow. The quicker she does them, the more confidence she has in herself, the more she remembers the new words.

She has one of the smallest internal word banks I've ever seen from any 8th grader. Words are not her thing, apparently. But she's improved in the past three weeks or so, especially after I started drilling vocab words from the reading comprehension I give her.

I think it's really hard to learn vocab without some sort of context. More reading kids! Much more reading. Those measly half-dozen vocab words in each Open Court weekly lesson are not enough, as proven by my student - in fact, by many students. I don't really care what they read, be it magazines, blogs, news articles, or the advertisements on the sides of buses. Just read! A lot! You'll be surprised at how many new words a kid is exposed to just by reading environmental text.