Propaganda in Disguise

There are some things that I figured I would see in my lifetime.  Technology is moving fast so any advancements that may come about are not out out of the scope of my imagination.  Socially, however, there is one thing that I never thought I would see.  The idea of "fake news" baffles me.  I grew up watching Ted Copple tell us the news from the day and we hung on every word.  You had a weird relationship with your news anchors that they didn't know about but they knew they had an impact on how people viewed the world and their country.  Giving the news to people was an art form and all those artists would be rolling over in their graves today at the idea of fake news.

Fake news is exactly what it sounds like but it has proven to be quite dangerous.  Yes you simply post a suggestive picture or a headline to fit your motive and off you go.  The truth level is negligible if it helps get your point across.  You can spot fake news if you are interested.  The link is useful but it is a rehash of all the things your old English teacher taught you about gathering sources for a research paper.  So how can this be dangerous you ask?  What if a fake news story almost prompted a nuclear war in the Middle East?  Sounds crazy but that is a real news story.  And of course, all that nuclear war talk was settled by government officials on Twitter.  Go figure.

I was a social studies teacher and if you remember back to your history classes you were taught about propaganda.  You probably have the Nazi posters burned into your brain as an example of government supported misinformation.  It was a tactic to convince the public to buy in to the goals of that government or an idea that would support their mission.  Often, propaganda was fought with truth.  This was how you combat misinformation.  After all, the truth shall set you free (and all those other cliche sayings about truth).

Today, fake news has taken propaganda to a new level and with new upgrades.  Fake news is generated by people with agendas.  Propaganda was always generated by official bodies of government.  People have social media now.  They don't have to dump their flyers out of planes to spread ideas anymore.  The political landscape and campaign tactics have also lent a hand in making fake news into today's propaganda.

Lets take some examples and yes, we have to pick on the Trump campaign to do it.  Eric Tucker Tweeted a picture of buses at an Austin, Texas.  You can read the Tweet below.  The post was retweeted 16,000 times and shared over 350,000 times on Facebook.  Within a day, it had been picked up by several conservative news sites and even Donald Trump himself Tweeted in support of the notion that the media had been incited professional protesters.  Everything about the post was proven to be untrue yet it took shape and became a story in a presidential campaign.  Not bad for a guy that had just 40 Twitter followers when this all started.

If some is good for the campaign, more can better right?  Donald Trump has even used his Twitter account for misinformation.  He used speaking engagements to inflame his supporters. He may have some context for the remarks but those do not make the headlines.  Remember the time he said that Barack Obama founded ISIS and Hillary Clinton was the co-founder?  He could have been trying to assert that Obama's foreign policy helped create the conditions that allowed ISIS to form, but he in no way attempted to paint the situation that way.  Instead, he recklessly made inflammatory statements that made the headlines. Those statements don't have to be true, they just have to plant a seed.  Sounds like propaganda to me.

I find it funny that Trump on one hand blasts the "mainstream media" for not giving him a chance and on the other hand he participates in the same troublesome behavior of ignoring truth and facts.  He can do this because it works.  The American public has gone soft to the notion of truth.  Social media has allowed us to see a headline, fake or not, decide that it supports out personal beliefs, and then share it and annoy people with it.  Soon, guys like Erik Tucker are "journalists" and that is not good.  Why hasn't Trump come out in support of the truth and condemned fake news?  Because it is free and effective propaganda is disguise.

There are some reasonable people are fed up with fake news and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook is taking up the issue. In the meantime we are just gonna have to learn how to sort the real from the fake news and hope nations do not begin a nuclear war over it.  I leave with you with this clip from Samantha Bee.  Yes, she is crazy liberal but this piece accurately sums up how I feel about this.  If you can handle a little mild adult language, I think you will like it too.

Chase Her Example

It seemed like only yesterday I wrote about Morgan Griffith when she was in junior high.  It seemed like only yesterday when the discussion started about her breaking the career scoring record at Frankfort Community High School.  It seemed like only yesterday I was visiting the hospital with the rest of the family to meet her when she was born.  Morgan is my niece and I have been lucky enough to have a front row seat to her basketball career.  Time sure does fly by and what a ride it has been for her.

This week, Morgan hit a free throw to put her atop the career scoring list in West Frankfort.  I remember at the end of her junior year the speculation of when she would break the record was running wild.  The confidence in her to accomplish this feat was not surprising.  She is a well rounded, talented and a consistently healthy player.  The crowd was great that night, the fans were loud and the showing of love and respect for her when that free throw went in was heartwarming and filled us with pride.  Everyone loves a record breaker and a winner and Morgan is definitely that.

We are drawn to these types of people.  Its fun to watch a player get closer and closer to a milestone and we cheer them on.  Lets make sure we know what we are cheering for.  If you really knew her, you would know that she has career goals that reach far beyond basketball.  If you really knew her, you would know that she is on track to have her Associates Degree from John A. Logan College when she graduates high school.  The basketball scholarship she will playing under from Missouri S & T will get her into graduate school.  She is tremendous young lady that understands where she is going and how to get there.

I found this quote from Mia Hamm and I thought of kids like Morgan.  Her assault on the record books didn't start with actually breaking a record or when she was a starter her freshman year.  It started the day she decided to pick up a basketball.  We often see the end of career accomplishments and think that kid was a tremendous player.  But what many miss is the journey it takes for someone to get here.  The work, the pressure, the politics and targets on your back would make most buckle.  She has endured and now not only receives the accolades but it has been a vehicle to get her to where she is going.

If I have a message for Morgan and any other kid that takes this journey is to never stop being that little girl that first picked up a basketball.  Morgan refuses to stop learning, is always curious about the game and her craft just like the wonderment you see in a child.  It has made her a great basketball player and a great person.  She is ambitious and is blind to limitations and I'm not talking about on the basketball floor.  Always be true to that little girl that first picked up a basketball.

I want to thank Morgan for being a great example for little girls that choose to pick up a basketball.  I hope hundred of girls chase her record and her example.  It will only serve our community well and give us the right narrative to tell to our student athletes.  All too often we have to endure stories of great players that have bad approaches to the game of life.  They become headlines for the wrong reasons but today she makes headlines for the right reasons and is a shining example for aspiring Lady Redbirds.  With any luck, my daughter will join the chase.

Losing Our Schoolhouses

It seems like only yesterday that I was blogging about the daunting possibilities of a Trump presidency.  Ten months have passed and now those speculations are becoming a reality.  Trump has done a lot of flip flopping since the election but we in the education field will get no such relief.  We are just gonna have to accept that what he has said about education is going to take place in some shape or form with his selection of Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos.

I think it is no secret that this nominee has no business in this position.  Several groups, teacher's unions included,  have come out against her selection.  Looking back at the last few days, I remembered being nauseous when I heard Michelle Rhee's name being passed around and now we have a mega donor with no education experience under her belt.  A typical play for a Republican president.

Not to be a Debbie Downer but here is the situation, Republicans have control of Congress and the Whitehouse with our new federal education law in flux and under design.  This is a recipe for a complete right turn in the area of education.  This considering that we didn't even get a sniff this campaign season as an issue.  Trump has called for $20 billion to go towards school choice programs, including private school choice.  I am a little concerned that we are on the road towards losing our schoolhouses.

Lets look at the troubles with the issue of school choice.  Many experts and educators shun the concepts and for good reason.  First, lets pretend that there is a fair metric for measuring schools.  Illinois is getting closer thanks to Vision 20/20 but lets focus on any generic district in any state.  Second, lets pretend that all schools are funded fairly and equitably.  What I am asking you to assume is that there is a level playing field for all schools to start from if we are going to a school choice scenario.  If we were all starting from the same line, we all have the opportunity win a race that seems unwinnable these days. Some schools are running 200 meters to compete in the 100.  We have yet to fix that but lets get back to school choice.

My kids attend public schools in a rural area in Southern Illinois.  If the government deemed our neighborhood school as failing, they would allow their federal dollars to go with my kids to a new new school.  The closest one being six miles away and that is only if they are not failing as well.  But lets pretend that we took that bet and moved our kids to the other school six miles away that was deemed as not failing but has the same characteristics as our old school, just a different mascot.  More and more students also move to the next town over.  Our old neighborhood school is depleted of its students and its staff.  No one wants to stay in a school building that is failing and losing kids so all that is left are sub par teachers and employees.  Who would we hire to lead these ghost town schools?  They would eventually just close leaving our little town with nothing.  Urban areas do no fair any better.  Failing schools typically reside in high poverty areas and families are not able or unwilling to send their students several neighborhoods over to attend a high performing school.

Why all the drooling over school choice?  They say that competition will either make failing schools better or close them down so kids can attend better schools.  This is not what happens.  Competition creates winners and losers.  We should know because as a country we are pretty darn good at it.  I understand in a business setting that you need to compete in your market to make money.  Winners and losers do emerge.  I get it.  What happens when we establish a school choice system that includes charters and additional private schools?  That's easy, a new market to make money in.  The winners become the for-profit schools that will explode onto the scene and the losers become low income and poverty stricken neighborhoods.  Again, typical Republican play at the national level.

Schools were never meant to be a market.  Our schoolhouses serve the people in our neighborhoods and help our kids to become productive community members.  This noble effort has never invited such competition because it does not belong there.  There has to be an effort to use our schools to help communities to encourage social mobility.  A country of for-profit schools will never be able to do what our schoolhouses can do given an even playing field.  Maybe Trump should start there when deciding a direction for our nation's education efforts instead of taking away our schoolhouses.

More links on school choice in rural areas:
http://dailysignal.com/2014/10/03/school-choice-feasible-rural-states/
http://www.youngedprofessionals.org/yep-dc-recess-blog/rural-charter-schools-are-a-bad-idea

Schools on Blast

I know it happens a lot, but this week I am noticing more schools on blast than I am accustomed to noticing.  Maybe its the super moon thing but I wonder if people are just losing their minds or schools just really are terrible.

I probably lost some of you with the term "on blast".  Have you ever scrolled through your Facebook feed and found that one person that is complaining about school rules or playing time?  Then there are the subsequent 47 supportive comments from their friends.  I'm sure most of those Likes and comments are from people that really have no connection to the school but they feel good participating anyway.  Typically the poster has not contacted the school, teacher or coach.  They trade support from their online community for actual effort for their child's situation.  That's what it means to be on blast, exposing a situation or information to everyone with the other party's knowledge or consent.

As a school administrator I have a strict rule about my Facebook page.  I do not friend kids, parents or even my own staff.  I simply believe that my personal life and my professional world should not mingle with each other.  It keeps me and others from troubled situations.  I use Twitter as a safe place to interact professionally with my parents, staff and kids.  This arrangement definitely shields me from posts like the one I mentioned above.  That doesn't keep me from hearing about them or seeing my non-school related friends engaging in the practice with their own schools.  Never the less, I get to see this stuff no matter how hard I try.

So here is my advice for those parents that feel putting their school on blast is a reasonable option: grow up, call your school and try to fix what's broken.  Your kids need to see you behave as a functional adult.

To the folks that read it and interact with it, you are part of the problem too.  Please consider the following next time you see one of these posts:

• The person making the post is obviously biased and has not told a complete story or does not know the complete story.
• School employees cannot fight back.  If we release student or staff information to the public, 99.9% of the time it is illegal.  We are basically defenseless.
• For every like or comment you make, you are fueling this unhealthy behavior.
• The parent in question is most likely filling a personal psychological need rather than seeking justice for their child or the situation.

I can't say all school types feel the way I do, but before you vent on Facebook, just call me.  If I cannot remedy your situation to a fair end or if I just fail you totally, I can live with getting knocked around on Facebook.  However, you have to give us a chance.  Often times the national news media casts a dark cloud on all public schools with stories of isolated incidents of poor decision making.  This sets a tone for how all schools are perceived and it is just not fair.  Give us a chance before you put us on blast.

I'm Done with the Negative Ads!

It's election time so that means everyone hates each other.  I'm not a Trump supporter but it amazes me how many of my Facebook friends are so I avoid those posts.  Once its all said and done the internet can be fun again.  Besides, we have the awesome television commercials to depress us every day during every show we watch.  It's like this every election cycle but we power through it and get to the point where the elected officials don't act like they care about us anymore.

I'm numb to this nonsense.  I actually have a good working knowledge of election politics so much of the behavior is expected.  This time around, however, I have a real problem with the local races for the Illinois General Assembly.  The fight is on to unseat incumbent democrats and a whole lot of money is being spent to feed us negative ads with far fetched story lines.  I am not concerned about the incumbents, I am concerned about the newcomers to the scene.  To be fair, the incumbents should be running on their records and accomplishments.  Voters respond to experience and research has shown that negative ads do not motivate people to vote.  Instead everyone went negative with their ads almost immediately.

Despite being a Democrat, I can say that nobody is playing nice or even smart.  The Southern said it appropriately that the negative ads are scare tactics and do personal damage to the candidates.  One negatively ran race in particular has rubbed me the wrong way.  When Terri Bryant originally ran for the State House she was interviewed for an endorsement by the Alliance.  This is a group made up of the education advocacy groups.  I was fortunate enough to get to help interview the candidates and recommend an endorsement.  She did a very nice job on the issues for a newcomer.  Her opponent was not kind to her in his interview and it was quite off putting.  She was given the endorsement and a campaign donation based on her likely support of education issues.

Fast forward two years later.  Rep. Bryant is running against a newcomer with no legislative record, just as she was.  Marsha Griffin is a school teacher new to politics and she has been painted as reckless and unfit to hold the seat.  The newest ad run by Bryant points out that she was teaching on a lapsed teaching license and that she is missing work to campaign.  Maybe Rep. Bryant could be working on the licensing issues teachers have had seems how she has taken money from an education group.  This is the weakest tactic I've seen by incumbents ever.  They should run on their records and challenge their opponents based on their lack of knowledge of the issues or experience handling them.  If you had met Rep. Bryant two years ago, you would have seen the same inexperience.  Another similarity between the candidates, they are both heavily supported by their parties to not lose the seat.  Running out of desperation leads to negative campaign tactics that do nothing to inform voters.  Or maybe Rep. Bryant's record is not worth campaigning on.  Bobcat hunting just doesn't take care of itself you know.

I do not know Marsha Griffin and obviously I will always rise to respond to attacks on a teacher.  Thanks to the campaigning that has taken place, I will not get to know her or her platform.  The strategy is now to fight fire with fire leaving only destruction.  The same goes for the other races in this election.  The newcomers have been painted as bad as those who have sent them campaign cash and we are supposed to equate them with their donors.  I say check to see who is donating to who.  You might be surprised.  Thankfully, I will not be voting in the 115th so I am no threat to that election.

Folks, do your homework on your candidates.  No one is playing fair so its up to us to sift through the BS.  I don't have clever advice or any direction with this but hey, it doesn't look like you have to these days.

O'Doyle Rules!

October is Bullying Prevention Month and Principal's Appreciation Month so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone.  One, I would like to clearly define bullying for parents and two, you have to indulge me as I ramble because I happen to be a principal.

I am in no way making light of bullying with this post.  I think students and parents need to be better educated on the true definition of bullying before we start throwing the word around.  Before you call the office and allege bullying against another, I would like you to consider what I call the O'Doyle Rules.

The researched and accepted definition for bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power. Most often, it is repeated over time.  The key element here is is the notion of a power imbalance.  I get tons of phone calls from parents asking me to look into bullying and it takes a lot of time to follow up.  Most of these scenarios end up being social conflicts in which the students involved do not have the skills to overcome.  Last week it was two former BFF's fighting over a boy.  The more they argued the worse it got and when it hit social media, the parents got involved.  Both side alleged bullying.  That is the problem.  They can't both be bullies and victims.

Bullies do not have extended, complex relationships with their victims.  Take the O'Doyles for example.  Billy Madison in the clip (and throughout the movie) was targeted by O'Doyle so dominance could be asserted.  They were not best buds goofing off and it got out of hand (I get that one a lot too), there is a clear showing of power.  This makes investigating a bullying situation easy.  If no relationship exists, I do not have to learn every back story and line up conflicting electronic messages that neither side wants the principal to see.  That, my friends, is an argument that needs mediation and the increased frequency of this shows that we just are not teaching our kids how to deal with people.

In the past six years I have been in my current school, we have had four true bullies by definition.  All ended up in alternative school because it is easy to determine that they sought to exploit people and to dominate them.  If I sent every student that a parent convicts as a bully to alternative school, the student body would be cut in half.  It is critical that we understand bullying and stop making victims out of our kids.

Parents and students take a few steps back before you call the principal and use the word bully.  Can you confidently say that this kid is an O'Doyle?  95% of the time the answer will be no.  Collect information from your kids and actually discuss the situation with them.  All too often I get emotional parents that are not thinking of their child's future emotional health.  I also often get parents that want to use me as their avenue for revenge.  This is totally not fair to me or the other family not to mention that it can be bullying behavior by the parents.

Use the O'Doyle Rules for deciding whether or not you have a bullying situation.  Is this a conflict that the kids just need guidance with? Is there a power imbalance?  You should be able to answer those questions before you call the principal.

5 Simple Truths

It didn't take long into this new school year before the same old parent shortcomings have shown up. We have great parents at my school but even well intentioned adults fall short sometimes and it's mostly because there are some simple truths that get over looked. Because I am a parent and a school administrator, there are some observations I've made over the last ten years that could be helpful to parents. No research to cite here. Just a practitioner’s advice and I hope it helps.

1. Trust your school staff - Teachers, aides, chaperones and administrators see your kids in a different light than you do. They get to see them in their unguarded moments and in a lot of cases, spend more time in a day with your kids than you do. If you want to know if your child is living the way you raised them to live, reach out to school staff and ask. We are partners, not adversaries.
2. Know what self esteem actually is - your child’s happiness does not equal good self esteem. I can't tell you how many times I hear a parent tell me that punishing their child will ruin their self esteem. These folks don't get it. Here’s the formula: Goal Setting + Guidance + Healthy Risk Taking = High Self Esteem. Setbacks and failures can be a good thing in small doses. Helping your kids through setbacks helps build self esteem and encourages resiliency.
3. We will not help you get vengeance against another - This is not the mission of any school. If your student has been wronged either in perception or reality, we should not be helping you get revenge. This week I had parents asking for help in contacting police and DCFS for a minor scrape involving a kickball game. Now, if we really have encountered a breach of the law you will get all the help you need. Like the times I have notified police about parents that drive their kids around to find a kid to fight after a school argument. (Sounds crazy but it does happen)
4. School Honors and Awards do not define your child - My own kids have been disappointed to not earn recognition and their dad is a Principal in the district. Under no circumstances do I expect special treatment for my kids but I do give one piece of advice when they feel passed over: work towards having the last laugh. As adults we have life experience that tells us that these awards and recognition do not guarantee a good quality of life. While some kids scratch and claw their way to award season, I'm pushing mine to live a life that will help them build towards a great adulthood. Be honest, we know that less than worthy kids earn some of these honors sometimes and it is hard to convince your child that's it's okay, but help them work towards the last laugh. The last laugh should be a healthy life and career that honors your family and community, not a momentary instance of glory.
5. Our kids are just like us - Yes they are. The reality is this, kids haven't changed but the world around them has. If we had all the tools they have to be mean the way they have, we would have made the same mistakes. Except in my case I would get my butt busted, not my phone taken away. It is their job to challenge authority and stretch rules. This helps them find their real boundaries. It is a learning process that is important in a school setting. If your child suffers a consequence at school, they are not being punished, they having a learning experience.  This is a jagged little pill to swallow because parents have to deal with the tears, remember I am a parent too so I've been there.

I really could do this all day. I see a myriad of diverse situations that challenge me each day. Remember, I look to no research for this advice so it's completely unscientific but comes from a good place. I actually care that my families have a good school experience too and I see them as partners, not roadblocks. Parents can make themselves roadblocks by not realizing these simple things. Have a great school year.

100th Blog Post

Well it took me about seven years but I made it to my 100th blog post.  I'm not sure how I have stuck with it so long but it has been more rewarding than I thought it might be when I started.  For the sake of looking back feel free to visit my most notable posts:

First Post (Poorly written with comments I wish I could take back)
Most Visited (17,000 + views)
Least Visited (1 view but a personal favorite)
Most Controversial (Lost some Facebook friends over this one)
My Favorite

If you took the time to look through any of these you can definitely see that this is an evolving endeavor for me.  Blogging is, for me, the exchanging of ideas.  The internet allows me to publish ideas and for others to engage them whether they agree or not.  I actually first was turned on to blogging in 1994.

That last sentence may sound a little weird.  The history of blogging can be traced back a ways but blogging as we know it took off in 2001 or so.  As I said, I am a believer in the exchange of ideas.  The first time I had that light bulb moment was in high school.  My friend's dad, Harry O, wrote a column in a small paper called the Weekly Review.  I couldn't wait to pick a new issue and read what he wrote.  We were not affiliated with the same political party and I often did not always completely  understand the issues he was writing about.  But, by reading his column I wanted to learn more about what was going on in our community.  He was a great writer and very engaging.  That's how blogging was done in those days, in print.  Not everyone had access to be a published columnist back then but now we do.

The internet and social media provides the ability to not just make us published authors, but also to read from a diverse group of authors.  I would not consider myself an author mostly because I am a terrible writer, but I can share ideas and engage other people.  My reach has not just been in my local community but across the nation.  Yes, little ole me has engaged people from a far off lands that I will never meet.  They were drawn to the ideas I've shared because we share a common profession and value set.  How awesome is that to know you can have that type of reach?

So what are you waiting on?  It is true that a lot of people will not read what you write.  It is true that people will not always agree with your perspective.  Don't let that hold you back from sharing ideas.  Someone can benefit from what you write and you may just feel liberated for writing it.  Take the leap and start a blog.  You just might make it to 100 and beyond.

Heartbreak is the Quality of a Great Teacher

At EdCamp West Frankfort this year I sat with many gifted and caring educators from all over the region.  In one particular session the conversation shifted to the notion that teacher training does not adequately prepare people to teach in today's climate.  After all, the game has definitely changed in the past few years with RTI, SB7, SB100 and now ESSA.  Yes the acronym machine is still running at full capacity.  My comment to this was that teacher ed programs especially don't prepare you for your first heartbreak.

My first heartbreak took place in my first year of teaching.  I was subbing for a teacher and as I began to carryout the plans for the class, I noticed a student with her head down appearing to be asleep.  We will call her TW.  Because I was a sub I had to be tough and not let the kids take me off the beaten path laid out by the teacher.  I asked her to keep her head up and participate.  She looked at me and then put her head back down.  I got out a referral form and wrote her up.  I laid it on the desk beside her head and she saw it.  She then told me, "Your name must be Mr. Ass because you're an asshole!"  I wrote her up again and sent her out of the room.  I think I may have only wrote four slips my hole first year and she was two of them.  I didn't see much more of TW that year but she found her way on to my World History roster the next year.

TW was a tough kid.  Always looked angry and didn't see the value in anything.  At least that's what I understood of her the six times I saw her the first semester.  I just happened to be on the truancy review team and she landed on the docket for a meeting.  I was prepared.  I was ready to explain how she wasn't attending and was not making up missed work.  I was ready to tell the social worker about her attitude and her lack of drive.  I was a well prepared professional ready to participate in the system of getting this kid to love my World History class and therefore love school all together. (insert sarcasm here)

Instead I got to hear her story.  She had a drug dealer for an older brother.  From what I heard he was a successful one.  She had an addict for a mother that rarely left the house.  No one had any insight on her father but she had three younger siblings.  TW walked them to school everyday and was their caregiver at all times.  She was only 15 and her childhood was being robbed from her.  I felt foolish for not taking the time to understand her but hey, I was just utilizing all the rules and tools we were taught in teacher school.  We were always told that teaching was an art and a science at SIUC, but what was never in any book was the power of the relationship.

My relationship changed with TW.  The way I spoke to her and how I articulated her value all changed.  She noticed the difference and attended more.  She was making up school work, passing my class and even smiled a few times.  When I had lunch room duty she would be my enforcer if a kid didn't listen to me.  She would always ask if I wanted to cut in the lunch line.  It is safe to say she didn't learn anything about world history and I'm okay with that.  She did learn that she had a positive connection with a dedicated adult.  It wasn't until this realization that I considered myself an actual teacher.

Here is the tough love part.  If you are a teacher and have yet to have your own heartbreak or feel incapable of one, go find a new job.  Kids don't need people who get a teaching degree so they will have a "job".  Kids need people who get teaching degrees because they realize the unlimited potential to change lives.  Those are the people who get their hearts broken often.  They care about the outcome, therefore it's personal.  Despite moving out of the classroom and into an office, I still get my heart broken and want to crusade for a student quite often.  But now it's different.  I get to support teachers that get passionate for a student that they can't reach.  I get to help them realize what I did so long ago.  Heartbreak is a quality of a great teacher and if you are doing you were meant to do, you won't just have one and you won't allow yourself to avoid them.

Leveraging Technology

I was provided the opportunity to attend the International Society for Technology in Education Conference (ISTE) this year in Denver.  This is a huge conference of over 14,000 educators coming together for the purpose of learning, sharing and leading with educational technology.  This is the second one I have been to and it was just as great as my first.

In education we tend to have a lingo all its own especially in the acronym department.  Over the past year one word that has been used and used again is “leverage”.  This term is used more commonly in ed tech circles and I have always wondered why.  I know what it literally means and that it is appropriate terminology for the discussion, but maybe there is something else going on there.  You might hear the following when it comes to devices or technology related projects, “how are you leveraging that?” or “We can leverage that by…”  In either way the word is used to show how you are taking the best advantage of the technology.

I myself am not one to hinge the success of a program on the devices.  When I go to tech conferences I go for ideas.  I then use those ideas within the boundaries of my students, staff and available resources.  When I wrote about my school’s BYOD initiative it was simply acknowledging that was the best way to help our kids be successful in the setting we have.  If I had my heart’s desire we would be 1:1 with Chromebooks and Google Classroom.  I realized working in rural districts that there is a reality that must be recognized.

In my last post I made the observation that it seems that parents will the buy an expensive bat for their kid before they even know how to use them.  I see this often in schools.  We are distracted by the shiny toys and lack leadership when it comes to implementing a true program that stimulates learning and opportunity.  Sure it looks good in the paper and social media but is there a learning outcome attached?  Can it serve as a springboard for additional learning?  How does your community benefit from this new thing?  Are there policies in place to ensure that a clear pathway is between your students and the learning outcome?  Are we leveraging the technology or the learner?

I wouldn’t ask these questions if I had not faltered myself.  Failing is learning and I should have a Ph.D. by now.  In my first run at BYOD we left some of those things out.  I think I was too excited about the larger philosophy of students living in a mobile world and we need to teach in their world.  This is not to say that philosophy is incorrect but I left out many practical items that would help student and teachers embrace it more.  We pulled back from allowing Smartphones in our first year because the student behavior factor was not taken seriously and we did not know how to respond except to dismantle the policy.  We retooled and now have a solid policy in place.  Our first full year back has been peaceful and with a few bumps we are settled in.

What we failed to realize is that in BYOD, the devices are not ours to leverage.  Our role is to show students how to leverage their devices to make them learning tools.  We are caught up in the “what ifs” and that truly slows the process towards student engagement and learning.  People at times are not willing to stumble towards this kind of leverage.  We see the cliff and the jagged edges then pull back.  Just like this illustration by @TheTechRabbi.  You can start with a plan or a device but the path towards success is rough.  We have to stay the course and have student learning as the goal.  Our comfort or fears should not be the top priority for a tech initiative.

We have to move past seeing the danger in a kid with a smartphone and show him how to use Google apps.  We have to look past our own lack of knowledge and be trained to engage the mobile/digital student.  It should be in our professional nature to reach our kids in any way we can, to the best of our ability, with their learning and development in mind.  So what are you trying to leverage in ed tech?  It might be a device, a curriculum or a philosophy but it always has to have sustained student learning and engagement in mind.

This game is not just about the bats

I have really enjoyed coaching softball. When I was teaching at Mt. Vernon township high school I stumbled upon being the assistant softball coach and fell in love with the game and the opportunity it creates to lead and grow young people.  The game is fun and I have to admit coaching girls is fun too. During that time I met some great people, learned a ton about the game and it helped shape my perspective on leadership in athletics. It would be a crime if I didn't mention Steve Morris and the impact he made on me in that respect but he also became a great friend.

My wife came across an old photo of her playing in high school. To be fair she was a stand out player that played at Rend Lake College in the early 90’s as well. I love to hear her tell my daughter softball stories because they not only come from an experienced player but they have the parent slant to them. We often laugh when it's pointed out that my wife played when the ball was still white.  Just a simple observed difference between the game then and the game now.

I recently started thinking about the differences when my kid’s $300 bat came in the mail. They didn't have composite bats back then. A kid that was driving the gaps and hitting homeruns did so on pure ability without the help of technology. There were no face masks or heart guards. Kids weren’t scrambling to make a travel team and furthermore, parents weren't scrambling to create travel teams. That's right get mad, I said parents. The days when coaches just went out to coach are gone. It is very typical to see a parent learn the game with their child and follow them through the age groups seeking glory. This has flooded the travel team market and has begun to water down what used to be a truly unique institution.

I know what you're thinking, isn't that what you are doing with your daughter?  The answer is no. I was coaching before I had any kids. I learned and loved this game personally before I coached my daughter’s team when she was four. Let me tell you, going from coaching high school kids to four year olds is quite an experience.

I've wandered off topic. I was thinking that if I have a preference of coaching softball in the early 90’s or today, which would I choose?  This is tough. Back in the day you needed real strategy and small ball skills. Not to mention needing hard nosed kids. The bunt was an active part of the game and not an emergency plan.  If you played softball you were part of a unique subculture that few people understood. Plus you got to wear stirrup socks.

Today’s game is uniquely different.  Playing softball especially travel ball is a standard activity if your child is reasonably athletic. I run across lots of kids that are athletic but learn the game as they go because the opportunity is there. Even if your child lacks the ability they can do weekly visits to their nearest hitting or pitching coach. They seem to be everywhere now and if you run across one that actually teaches bunting fundamentals as part of being a good hitter, stay with them. They truly get the game and want to make a good player out of your kid.  

Don’t get me wrong.  I may sound a little grumpy on the subject but I’m just a little old school.  I get tickled when a parent asks me what kind of bat they should buy their kid.  As if they were shopping for a car.  The truth is whether it’s a bat or a car, your child has to learn how to use them before you invest in them.  It seems so often that we buy the bat and then hope they learn to hit.  Like the bat will fix everything and even might replace time, effort and game experience.  Folks I am choosing early 90’s softball over today’s game.  Simply because they learned the game and played it to their fullest ability.  I’m no fool.  The extra pop off the bat sure does sit well with me as I coach my Ripper kids, but my ultimate goal is they learned something about the game and about other players.  If you help kids continually learn the game they will always want to grow with the game.  That should be the goal of any coach at any level.

Why Ed Camp?

It puzzles me why I still talk to people about why Ed Camps are great.  I had my first Ed Camp experience last year when we hosted Ed Camp West Frankfort in my building.  I was on the planning team and I was supposed to be on duty but I found myself participating.  It is truly a great format for professional learning and networking.  I was so motivated by it that I held an Ed Camp for my students called RedCamp and the response was better than I expected.  It is easy to see why the Ed Camp format is such a favorable way to learn.

Simply put, an Ed Camp is a conference without presenters.  The participants gather to generate the topics and those ideas are placed on the board to be scheduled into rooms.  Once the schedule is set, everyone goes to the room that is hosting their desired topic.  That's where the magic happens.  Everyone is there for the same reason and dialogue is created around that topic.  Their might be people there to share what they are doing or people that need to know how to do what's being done.  There is no presenter there to dictate the content to you.  While I myself have been a presenter and I won't knock that format, I know there are times when I don't cover something in a personalized way for my attendees.  In an Ed Camp, the topics are covered as deep as need be for each person ensuring that their expectations are met.

Let me try another way to explain this experience.  Think back to a time when you were taking a graduate class and your instructor related a concept to a real administrative experience and there was that one guy that started a side topic.  His comments sent the class into a frenzy of pure engagement and Socratic discussion.  The instructor is not stopping the new dialogue because it is a teachable moment and the class activity is no longer about the syllabus, its about growth.  So much so that when its over, the class needed a break to relax.  Now imagine a whole day of that.

If you have never attended an Ed Camp, you are missing out.  Sure, I do love to sit and listen sometimes but we can all agree that educators love to give and take from other educators.  The interaction with people from outside your building or even your area can be very rewarding.  If you would like more information on the Ed Camp movement just follow this link.

If you are looking for an Ed Camp experience, the West Frankfort school district is hosting our second Ed Camp on July 11th.  We are not only having an Ed Camp for teachers, we are expanding to administrators and hosting an Ed Camp Leader at the same time.  If you would like to join us please use the links below to register.  There will be prizes and food in addition to a enriching learning experience.

Ed Camp WF 

Ed Camp Leader 

Ed Camp WF Web Page

Chronicles of a Free Lunch Kid (Part 4)

More than 1 in 5 kids (22%) in the United States live below the federal poverty line.  In my school district it is 2 out of 3.  This means that I have the abiltiy to reach out to many students and their families in way that I was not.  This also means that my own children will interact with many classmates that struggle with poverty.  My influence is two-fold and there is special responsibility here.

My parenting perspective is sometimes conflicted.  Being raised poor does create some values that I don't think middle or upper class people understand.  My experience is statistically rare.  Children who are raised poor are most likely to remain poor.

I realize that most parents look at their kids and see that they are different than them and raised different than them.  That is amplified for me.  My daughter, who is now 12,  had more possessions at six than I had my whole childhood and into early adulthood.  Supporting the notions about possessions Dr. Payne writes about.  She takes pride in her things and is always wanting more things.  Of course I'm slow to play along because my instinct is to provide the extras less so she will value them more like I did.  At 12 I had a paper route to help pay the bills and the little money I kept, I saved up to buy "normal" stuff.  It was a great day when I could buy a nice pair of shoes.  It was a little token to identify with a status that I actually didn't belong to.  I was just trying to look "normal".  My kids have closets of nice shoes, most of which do not get worn.  Those are things to them that have no value because they are just shoes.  They might find a great pair that they really like, but they are for specific purpose such as for basketball or to go with a certain dress or outfit.  I bought shoes to create an identity that might throw people off the fact that we couldn't afford any good shoes. 

I tell my kids all the time that I didn't have nice things when I was a kid in hopes they might show some humility towards their nice things.  There is a small part of me that loves it though.  They have the life that I had no concept of as a free lunch kid.  I'm happy that they will not have to see the world as narrowly as I had to.  My seven year old son actually pays attention to political candidates and we talk about it.  I knew who President Reagan was because we used to call government cheese, Reagan cheese.  My daughter and I began talking about colleges when she was in 6th grade.  I lived within 20 miles of a college and a university and had no clue they were there when I was in sixth grade.  They have the exact opposite childhood that I had and I am I am happy about that.  My struggle is how do I parent in a way that they that they can be middle class kids that can embrace and understand all other kids regardless of their income level?

I think the simple answer to this is by my example.  I don't make jokes about or speak badly about folks that don't have much.  I make sure to speak only of  their character and their worth.  Early this last school year my daughter told me about a couple instances in class where students were held back from participating in things because of money.  I seized the moment and quickly told her that she should never fault another kid because of the position they are in.  "It's not their fault." I told her, "and don't treat them any different than the day before."  I encourage her to play with anyone who wants to play with her.  My hope is that in her unguarded moments she sees value in people despite their background.  She sees me interacting all types of kids in the halls after school.  I treat no student different than the other.  She will be attending my building next school year and with luck her observations of my example are enhanced.

I never called my grandmother my grandmother, she was my mom.  Remember teachers, relationships count.  That's why you have a lot of students that will tell you they have a million cousins and you know better.  When I was awarded Principal of the Year recently, I blogged about how my mom would be over the moon for me.  She was always excited about me going to college and even more excited when I began teaching.  She passed away before I became an administrator but I can imagine her delight if she was around to hear that news.  I'm sure she was experiencing what I am with my kids, extreme pride with a pinch of cautious optimism.  I grew beyond her raising of me and reached my full potential.  With the right effort, my kids will do the same.

There is so much to say on this topic for a guy like me.  Free lunch kids are not data to be addressed, they are people that need and want to feel valued.  That kid in your class does not realize the things he does that might drive you crazy are the undeveloped skills that might him successful.  That free lunch kid on your child's ball team would not feel quite so socially defeated if your son or daughter offered to play catch with them.  That kid you didn't pay attention to in high school because there was no social gain from being seen with them, might just end up being your kid's principal.  

I honestly have no idea if I have accomplished what I have set out to communicate.  I just know that I am the sum of the relationships I've made and the investments people have made in me.  When I experience any type of success, I feel indebted to so many people especially to my wife.  When we met I lived in a one room shack of an apartment working two jobs.  On the surface I had nothing to offer, but she knew better and I'm glad she did.

Thank you for sticking with this rambling but it was time to let it out.  If you know a free lunch kid, I hope you see them through a different set of lenses.  If you are a free lunch kid, I hope you feel encouraged.

Chronicles of a Free Lunch Kid (Part 3)

During high school I experienced a turnaround during my junior year.  I had a teacher that took genuine interest in her students.  She showed concern for us outside her class requirements and got excited for new opportunities for her students.  I had her for two classes a day and it was the best two classes of the day.  Now I will admit they were woodworking and art but they were a place for me to grow personally.  I had a chance to grow because I was taught to set goals, work to achieve them and then take pride in my work.  This was a great setting for a free lunch kid to not have to think about what I was experiencing but on what my possibilities were.  I began being confident and started to work to earn money but I also continued those qualities that allowed work to be an escape.  I began to feel like one of those kids that paid for their lunch.  I would like to thank Kathy Morgan for being a spark for me.

Dr. Ruby Payne is the education expert on teaching children of poverty.  When I was teaching at Mt. Vernon Township High School, her training was mandated to us as a school improvement activity.  Remember, free lunch kids can be a measure of how a school is performing.  The training was completed to satisfy a goal.  This training was much more to me.  I finally was able to connect my childhood to my new profession.  This was literally an eye opening experience that shaped the way I would approach teaching and schools because I finally understood myself.

In A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Dr. Payne teaches educators the nature of poverty and the hidden rules that middle class educators should know about their free lunch kids.  So much of this is true from my first hand experience.  I began to compare the hidden rules among classes and truly understood why Mrs. Morgan had such an impact on me.  Take a look at this chart from her book:

Teachers typically come from middle class backgrounds and this small sample of the hidden rules is a lot to consider in their everyday teaching practice.  Her book provides ways for teachers to create teaching methods activities that reach the free lunch kid.  Mrs. Morgan had no idea she was a pioneer 25 years ago but she did understand and practice the most impactful element of Dr. Payne's book, creating relationships. 

Dr. Payne teaches that relationships are made by making emotional deposits to students, emotional withdrawals are avoided and students are respected.  An example of a deposit would be "Respect for the demands and priorities of a relationship."  I interpret that as not blowing off what is important to a student's social situation or problem.  I listen first and help them apply middle class rules to their dilemma.  This works.  I gain student trust and even when we disagree, they continue to see me as an ally and not the principal.  Sure there is payoff in the form of better work situations for me, but the real payoff is that the relationship is made and maintained.  

Though I am not a paid spokesperson, I encourage any teacher, coach, mentor, social worker and others to familiarize yourself with Dr. Payne's work.  Even if you didn't grow up a free lunch kid it will have an impact on you.  Developing real relationships with free lunch kids makes the difference and could change a life.  It did for me.

I saw Mrs. Morgan in Walmart many years ago.  She was excited to hear that I was a teacher.  I love running into my old teachers, especially since I became a building principal.  I didn't have any bad teachers or any mean teachers but I do selfishly love for them to see what I have done.  Maybe its a small lesson for them that being a free lunch kid was only the surface and my real potential was waiting to be unlocked.

In part 4 I will examine how my adult life has changed my approach to parenting and just whether or not my poverty past rears its head.  How does my childhood compare to theirs?

Chronicles of a Free Lunch Kid (Part 2)

I took the long drive to the new and wonderful Marion High School to seek out my student records.  I was able to only obtain my high school record but that's okay.  There is enough to be said about that data and even more to be said about what is behind that data.  Lets take a look at the common academic setbacks for free lunch kids according to the research.

Lower School Attendance

I missed 49 days over the course of my four years in high school.  That's not great and it's not horrible.  Most notable about that is that I missed 28 days during my sophomore year.  Two thoughts on that.  At the start of the school year we suffered a house fire.  Sure there was insurance and the house was restored but families of generational poverty to do not have the support system or the minimal financial obligation for the initial disaster.  With a disabled grandmother as a care giver my brother and I had to move us to a rental and get settled.  We had to be the men of the house and school was not a priority, surviving was.

Another note on attendance.  At 28 days in 2016, I could have been referred for truancy services.  This might entail meetings and a possible visit with the State's Attorney.  This is another at-risk label thrown upon many free lunch kids.  There are many data points that can put a kid into a system of some kind.  

Grade Failure and Dropping Out of High School

I failed a semester of Geometry my junior year.  It was not required to take so I easily slid into an early bird class and stayed on track.  I did manage to earn seven D's during my freshman and sophomore year.  The transition from junior high to high school is tough for most kids and is a significant factor in high school dropout rates.  Most of these low grades came in Math and English which are core academic areas.  Research does support this as a characteristic of a free lunch kid.  In fact I scored a 18 in English and a 19 in Math on the ACT.  Those scores are not horrible but being in the middle of the road does not usually trigger the notion that I should be in some kind of support program.  There is a reason that I rebounded well in my junior and senior years and stayed on course to graduate.  I will save that for part 3.

Behavior Problems

I never had any behavior problems or exhibit risky behaviors.  I never got swats in school because I knew what would be waiting for me when I got home.  We didn't have much but I was brought up right.  Emotional problems are another story.  The stigma you carry when you walk up to the lunch lady and have to verbalize that you are a free lunch kid is devastating.  I remember in grade school they gave us a small sheet of lunch tickets each week and we had to tear them off when we got our tray.  Most kids were paying with money and I had a little white slip.  It was easy to tell early on that you were different.  

That stigma becomes greater in junior high and high school.  The haves and have not are more noticeable and defined.  For free lunch kids this sets off a huge lack of self worth and confidence issues.  It was tough for me to really find my place socially.  I had friends and the occasional girlfriend but surprise surprise, my first couple of girlfriends were from a different town that I had met at the skating rink.  They were not from my school and did not know my standing there.  It was easy not to connect with my peers early on because I felt disenfranchised.  

In a lot of ways my youth did fit what research tells us about free lunch kids.  The summer between my sophomore and junior year would be pivotal.  The real way to reach a free lunch kid was revealed to me and I still work to reach all my free lunch kids the same way.  Maybe its not a secret to some but I know what worked for me.  In Part 3 I will offer my turn around story.

Chronicles of a Free Lunch Kid (Part 1)

It's taken me a while to write on this topic despite my connection to it.  My hopes are that school leaders and teachers will change their perspective when it comes to the low income children they serve.  The ultimate hope is that a free lunch kid like me will hear the message.

If you are employed as a school teacher or administrator you know that low income students have been a part of school improvement conversations.  In the No Child Left Behind era it was a subgroup that you had to plan for and plan around for raising standardized test scores and for some, they are an excuse for poor standardized test scores.  Either way there is no doubt that poor kids are part of the conversation for schools.  In short, your free lunch kids can determine achievement for your school especially in areas where low income percentages are high.

Schools now have a national standard to reach in terms of standardized test achievement.  Schools work hard to bridge the gap between low income kids and middle class kids when it comes to learning.  Whole bodies of research have been developed on reaching the low achieving poor kids in schools.  After all, if we help them score better than the school building's scores go up and we save ourselves from sanctions.  The effort and training sounds like it is worth the payoff.  I'm 40 years old and I went to school in the late '80s and early '90s.  I was a free lunch kid.  I don't ever recall being reached out to and definitely didn't feel important to my school's performance but that was a different time.

I was raised by my grandmother since I was a year and half old.  Her last husband died when I was ten leaving us with just social security and disability income for five family members.  When I was ten the federal poverty line for a house of five was $13,259.  Her income was approximately $10,000.  To make up the difference we got other forms of government assistance including food stamps, a medical card and Reagan Cheese.  This is how free lunch kids are identified in school.  You live below the poverty line and/or receive government assistance.  Today that line is at $28,440.  If a kid lives in a house of five at that income level they can be one of the 31 million that are served by the national free lunch program.  This line of funding is the largest from the federal government to local school districts totaling $16 billion.

Now that we have those numbers straight, each of those kids is now part of a metric.  This percentage will determine the effort made by your school district to raise test scores.  This include training, changing teaching methods and establishing programs for the disadvantaged.  If they can improve you and other members of subgroups, like those receiving special education services, then they can enjoy prosperity in the world of school accountability.

To avoid sounding cynical and to be fair, giving this kind of attention to free lunch kids is not a bad thing.  Under NCLB, the number of children living below the poverty line was rising.  It makes good sense to address children in poverty at the same time you are emphasizing higher test scores.  My struggle with this attention is that we free lunch kids are being treated like policy and not like people.  My experience as a free lunch kid has compelled me to write about it.  In my next post I will dig into my school records to see if I fit the description of a kid that the poverty research tells us about.  Researchers tell us that poor kids suffer from lower cognitive and academic development, higher grade failure, lower attendance and are more likely to drop out.  it's time to see if the shoe fits.  Stay tuned for the next post.

A Fist Full of Certificates

One phenomenon I love during this time of year is how much parents post about their kid's school awards.  Really, I do actually like it.  Seeing a picture of a smiling kid with a fist full of certificates is not at all offensive to me.  Now on the other hand, showing your kid's participation ribbon from field day is a little offensive to me.  There is a distinct difference in good and bad praise for kids.  I am no child psychologist but I am a practicing educator that has seen it all.

Long term goal setting is a much needed skill.  The problem seems to be that too many parents are convinced that awards should be handed out for everything.  To that I say, "slow down."  What you praise with your child is the value set you are teaching them in a covert way.  You don't see it but the praise you give for that little prize they won from a drawing is not actually helpful.  There are all kinds of awards and prizes given out for just being there.  They are claimed to boost a child's self esteem.  The only true way to build self esteem in a child is to help them set a goal and then work through the ups and downs until they reach it.  Having high self esteem does not mean feeling good.

Tell me if this sounds like anyone you know.  A parent posts every small victory (that should just be a step towards a long term goal) but when their child hits an obstacle it suddenly becomes the school's fault.  I get to hear a lot of these comments from parents that are interested in making their kids happy and not trying to develop them:

• He better make the team.  He has put in his time. (quality vs quantity argument)
• That teacher just doesn't like him.
• He tried his best, why cant you just pass him? (trying is not setting a high standard)
• He says there's a boy in his class that does this all the time and never gets in trouble.
• I can't make him do it. (my favorite)

Instead, they should work with their kid to replicate those victories and learn from their loses.  Let's face it, blaming others for lessons your kid should be learning is how we create cry babies and brats.  You know it's true.

As a parent I try to communicate to my kids that set backs are lessons and the end result is the true award.  Trophy or not, your kids can still be winners at life.  Parents often cling to the short term accomplishments because they are unwilling to take the long journey with their kids.  Rather, they just want their kids to be happy.  Happiness comes from those little trophies but fulfillment comes from long term goal achievement.  My kids will be adults some day and for a long time.  I would rather prepare them for the roller coaster of adulthood than promise them that their feelings should never be hurt.

I was very proud of my kids this school year.  Despite hiccups along the way, they both were 5.0 students.  Not because I told them they had to be.  It's because they showed a genuine interest in making good grades.  They both almost had perfect attendance which was their own planned goal.  They showed responsibility to those goals and saw them through.  The award certificates are nice but what it does for them inside is much more valuable.  This my friends is what builds self esteem.  They set the goals, they attained them.

So post on parents.  Be proud of your kids when they win year long awards.  Its a great thing to celebrate with them.  But beware praise for things that are smaller parts of a large goal.  Take the journey with them and guide them through it.  Teach them that obstacles are lessons to help achieve goals and not conspiracies to hold them back.  Your kids will be better adjusted adults and please realize that they will be adults far longer than they will be children so what we do now is critical.

Personally, this is how I like the pictures of my kids.  No certificates, just smiles.  I won't lie, if either of them get into Harvard Law School I will post about it every day until Facebook and Twitter ban me from their sites.  Until then, smiles are good.

Old Dogs New Tricks and Blogging

I was so incredibly excited to read that Elverado won the state bass fishing tournament.  As I looked at the pictures on social media I saw what made me proud to be a part of that school district.  In the background you could see a smiling Dave DeWulf.  Dave is now retired from his teaching job at EHS.  He was our vocational teacher and the bass fishing program started when we were there.  I was happy to sign the paperwork and he made the magic happen.

Dave is the reason that small schools are a joy to work in.  He cared deeply for kids and through his classes, he served our school and community.  He always saw the value in kids even when they didn't see it themselves.  Elverado is full of wonderful people like Dave.  I was a young principal (hired at 30) and he could have easily made my life hell but we respected each other because we valued the same things.  Well most things.  I was techie teacher and now an administrator and when I was hired the rumor was that Dave had never opened his email.  Ever.  We also joked that his use of email should be a performance indicator for me as his Principal.  If I could get him to use his email, I would have proven myself as a Principal.

I always wondered how people, especially in education, disregard the internet as a professional tool.  The most powerful tool technology has yet to give us should be what is empowering teachers.  If you are reading this you get it, but how do we get more of our old dogs to learn these new tricks?  That's not to say that more experienced teachers are not using Twitter, Pintrest and the like because we have great Twitter participation in our district.  But social media has to be more than just posting about projects made in our classrooms.  It needs to be more than just updating the scores.  It needs to be storytelling.

As a former social studies teacher I understand the value of story telling.  When more experienced teachers talk, I listen.  I want to know their perspectives because they have been shaped by history and experiences.  I have learned the most from the old dogs around me (I say that with love).  I have written in this blog for the 91st time with this post but none of what I have experienced at 39 is as interesting as stories told by someone that has been in education for 30 years.  These folks have seen a lot and if we want to find ways to make K-12 education great again, we have to listen to the stories of people that have seen the good, the bad and the ugly.

I would like to challenge our old dogs to teach us NCLB era people through blogging and social media.  We need to listen to your perspectives and allow them to help maintain the integrity of our profession.  On a side note, Dave did start checking his email.  He actually found it quite useful as a tool and I used to love getting called down to his room to help him with it.  I am however, still trying to find him on social media.  Maybe someone over that way can get him there.

The Erosion of School Discipline in Illinois

Be honest, you have been a public place and seen a child misbehaving and thought "that kid needs his butt busted."  At least you have read or seen a news story of kids behaving badly and thought, "what is wrong with these kids today?"  I know you have told your kids stories or reminisced with friends about getting spankings or swatted at school.  All in an effort to tell your kids what it used to be like or to let them know how good they have it.  At any rate I think the discussion has been worn out about discipline and how it should be done.

In Illinois paddling (corporal punishment) was banned in 1993.  We were part of a wave of states doing so after advocacy groups pushed for legislation in several states.  Despite the research support against corporal punishment, 19 states still allow it.  Of those 19, 10 states are southern states and not shockingly enough one is Texas.  That tells me that this is a regional preference.  These parts of the country seem accept that this is part of their culture or they would change it.  To add more hurt to the advocacy groups, there is US Supreme Court precedence on the issue ruling that corporal punishment is not a matter of cruel or unusual punishment nor is it a denial of the student's due process rights.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue, swatting has survived in portions of the country just not in Illinois.

Illinois has recently passed another law restricting student discipline.  SB 100 was born out of an effort from Chicago parents and students called Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE).  The group cites data that shows that students of color are suspended at a disproportional rate compared to white students.  The result is a law that places restrictions on the suspensions of students and requires schools to take more steps to correct problematic behavior.  You know, what parents used to do.  I absolutely applaud the effort of people coming together for meaningful change.  It should happen more often.  On the other hand, based on my own administrative experiences, I have to ask is this a state problem or a Chicago problem?  Should this have been a victory for parents and students of Chicago Public Schools instead of statute for an entire state.  This civil rights issue may not be as prevalent in other parts of the state.

Paddling has found a way to live on in a few states based on local preference or culture.  SB100 , what I think should have been a local initiative, is yet another example of change happening to schools instead of schools being the catalyst for their own change.  Out of curiosity I checked the voting record of my local legislators on SB100.  My senator didn't vote on the measure and his two corresponding representatives both voted yes.  Right now administrators are losing their minds and seeing the worse in the law.  Fellow admins, the sky is not falling but the signs of erosion are there.  I wonder if our legislators could see this law as a burden to mandate heavy schools or if it was part of another political game that they could champion later.

The bottom line is that we as professionals in the education field have support when it comes to legislation that might happens to us.  Vision 20/20 is an excellent example of taking back our schools through legislation.  As I wrote before, this is how we take back the schoolhouse.  The Illinois principals Association is great about legislative information but do you scroll past it or take the time to engage with it.  The next time you see an Advocacy in Action email show up, take a look.  Had I done so maybe I could have engaged my two legislators that didn't vote the way I would like them to on SB100.  We are important instruments of our own change in Springfield and as such we can slow down or even stop the erosion of our school's futures.  I'm not saying we can bring back paddling but we can at least prevent what might not be good for kids or schools.