A Classic Dilemma

The Scarlet Letter, Silas Marner, 1984, A Raisin in the Sun, To Kill a Mockingbird.  Any of these titles sound familiar?  They are classics.  What exactly is a classic?  According to this site, “a book that has stood or can stand the test of time and remains popular and pertinent.”  Another site says it means “a book you should've read, or one that you have read and didn't like.”  Curriculum guides across the country are filled with required classic reading.  But is this really the best way to engage young readers? 

The Great Gatsby and Ethan Frome are two of my favorite books.  For the most part, I enjoy reading the classics.  BUT, I am willing to accept the fact that I may not be in the majority.  Let’s face it; I’m an English teacher.  Of course I’d like read every classic before I die.  I am also a realist.  I’m pretty sure most people don’t have that goal.

My goal for my students is to create lifelong readers.  I believe the way to do this may be to go away from teaching the classics in favor of teaching something that is a little more relevant to their lives today.  According to an article discussing Catcher in the Rye, “Teachers say young readers just don’t like Holden as much as they used to. What once seemed like courageous truth-telling now strikes many of them as weird, whiny and immature.”  Is this the way to intice young readers to keep reading? 

According to this article, Great Expectations “is not a book that contemporary teenagers ... can relate to. So it loses its value.”  My point exactly.

Our school uses the Accelerated Reader program which allows students to earn points for reading and it gives them the freedom to read books of their choice.  Most of the kids’ choices don’t include the classics.

I think it’s time to bring more of these up-to-date relevant novels into the classroom.  Our school owns a class set of Stanley Gordon West’s Until They Bring the Streetcars Back and many students say it’s the best book they ever had to read.  In fact, many kids get hooked on West and read all of his novels.  Jodi Picoult is extremely popular with kids and I’ll admit I’m hooked on her work as well.  Nicholas Sparks has quite a following (girls and boys) in our school.  It’s time to add these authors to our curriculum.

The classics are great for a limited number of kids.  If we’re trying to reach a majority and create lifelong readers, it’s time for the classics to move over and make room for a new kind of novel. 

 

To Join Or Not To Join

Does being a member of the National Education Association make you a better teacher? 

I’ve been a member of the National Education Association since I began teaching.  I don’t remember what exactly made me join my first year.  Possibly, I thought that “everyone was doing it.”  Whatever the reason, I joined.  I taught in Alaska for one year and the only time I was reminded of my membership was when I saw the deduction on my pay stub.

When I moved to Wahpeton, I joined again.  For two years I was what I’d call a “dormant” member.  I never attended a meeting. 

In my third year at Wahpeton, one of the students in my senior English class threatened me early on in the year.  The student chose not to return to my classroom after the incident but he and his parents blamed every failure that student endured for the rest of the year on me.  Many times during the course of the year I thought about the benefits that the NEA would offer me if that family sued me (as they constantly threatened to do.)  It was relieving to me that if they did actually try to make me liable for this mess, I would have a top-notch lawyer provided to me by the NEA. 

I learned a couple of valuable lessons that year.  I learned that the administration of my school didn’t always have my best interests at heart.  I felt that they were more interested in avoiding conflict than protecting me from a dangerous situation.  I also experienced the peace of mind that my NEA membership provides.  This year I became a more active member.  I joined the negotiations committee and am beginning to “learn the ropes” of collective bargaining.  I plan to get even more involved next year by attending my first NDEA conference.

Of course, liability insurance isn’t the only reason to join your professional organization.  This website points out that they provide networking opportunites.  Another article points out that, “Just as it is essential for doctors to be part of a medical association, teachers should think it just as important to become a part of a teacher’s association.  One profession is just as important as another.”  This information reinforces information in chapter one of the text.  Teachers who are members of professional organizations reinforce the fact that teaching is a profession.

I guess that bottom line for me is this.  I am a member of my professional organization because it is my professional organization and I am a professional.  The legal backing, professional development, networking, and all the other benefits are just icing on the cake.

Cheaters

I honestly don’t remember a lot of cheating going on when I was in high school.  There were some “urban legends” about some unknown kid who took Mr. So-and-sos final test key off his desk or whatever.  For the most part, students in my school were pretty ethical. 

Since beginning my career on the opposite side of the teacher’s desk, I’ve caught students cheating relatively often.  I’ve ran into the cheat sheet, copied worksheets, or one student taking an AR test for another.  According to this article, even as far back as 1993 eighty nine percent of high school students thought that cheating as common and seventy eight percent had cheated. 

Apparently in this age of technology, cheating has gone high tech.  This article tells about a school in Ohio that canceled the graduation ceremony after uncovering a widespread cheating operation.  Teachers’ computers were accessed in order to print and distribute tests. 

Since the administration found it impossible to know who actually cheated, who knew it was happening but didn’t report it and who had no idea, they canceled graduation.  Here’s the kicker- they mailed the diplomas.  Parents, of course, are protesting and holding their own “unofficial” graduation.

I guess I don’t know what I would do as school administrator in this situation.  I think that the “punishment” here was ridiculous.  What about the student who really didn’t cheat or know anything about it?  Now he or she doesn’t get to graduate?  That doesn’t seem fair.  Or think of the students that cheated.  They still get a diploma?  Where’s the justice in that?  What about a kid who knew it was going on but feared the consequences if his peers knew he ratted them out?  There are a lot of different situations to be considered here.

When I was in 4^th grade, I had a teacher who often disciplined the entire class for the wrongdoing of one or two students.  How frustrating it was to be a student in her classroom!  This website calls the method of punishing the entire class a “Teacher Caused Discipline Problem.”  And yet this Ohio school has done just that. 

It may be tough to investigate such a cheating scheme, but I think this school owes it to the students to get to the bottom of it.  This may be one of the most important lessons the school could offer its students.  Instead, these students will get a diploma in the mailbox, whether they cheated or not.  

Merit Pay

Here's an article from today's Fargo Forum.

Merit Pay

This year is my first year working on the negotiations committee for the Wahpeton Education Association.  I didn’t know exactly what to expect at our first meeting but it wasn’t really very unusual.  Three members of the school board and an administrator sat on one side of the table, the business manager and keeper of the minutes sat at the head of the table and five members of the local teacher union (myself included) sat on the other side.  (I'd like to add that the chairs were oversized and very comfortable.  They even matched which is more than can be said for the seating in my classroom.)  It seemed a little ridiculous for the lowly teachers to come begging “professionals” from the community for a raise.  After all, how do they get raises?  A dentist, a banker, etc.?  Well, they work harder to earn more money. 

I’ve long been a supporter of researching merit pay.  I think it could bring more professionalism to the teaching profession.  We talk about extrinsic motivation, right?  Why don’t we test it on ourselves?  The board offered a flat dollar amount for the first year and a percentage raise the second.  In other words, beginning teachers would benefit more the first year, experienced teachers the second.  The stand of the National Education Association as well as our local is to reward teachers for their experience (not to use merit pay.)  I can see that point of view.  After all, these experienced teachers went through the first half of their teaching careers watching more experienced teachers get better raises.  I understand that.  But

 I couldn’t help scanning down the list of teachers and looking at what they stood to gain.  Some people on the list have been stagnate for years.  Am I really worth $10,000 less than someone like that?  Someone who never tries new things, doesn’t care about student learning, complains during every in-service because it’s information that teacher will never use, skips out early more days than not?  I think the answer is no.  If someone teaches more and better than someone else, then why can’t that teacher be paid more?

I know there would be potential problems.  Countless articles (like this one) say it would be an "expensive failure."  Who would be the judge of “merit”?  This article states that teacher evaluations are inflated.  If evaluations aren’t fair in themselves, then they aren’t fair tools to base merit pay.  Test scores won’t work either.  To be honest, I can’t think of a fair basis for the system, all I know is that the current system doesn’t seem too fair either.  

What other profession are employees allowed to avoid change, become idle, play solitaire for an hour straight, show videos more days than not, come late and leave early?  Every school has teachers like this.  I think it’s a real shame and maybe merit pay could do something to change it.  Perhaps we could learn something from the business world.  We may be hearing more about this in the future.  President Obama laid out a plan including merit pay this last spring.