today's lesson: messages from Mr. President

"They don't do it for the fancy office or the big salary, they do it for you. They live for those moments when something clicks, when you amaze them with your intellect and they see the kind of person you can become." President Obama wooed teachers and students alike with his speech on higher education at a public school in Washington D.C. this Wednesday.

Apparently the repercussions from Obama's "political agenda" speech from a few years ago have calmed down significantly. Parents and teachers went into a fury over the White House's planned "educational activities and goals." However, the President recently delivered an eloquent and motivational speech urging students not only to attend some sort of higher education, but to actually finish. 

"Our country used to have the world's highest proportion of of young people with a college degree. We now rank 16th. That's not good enough. We need your generation to bring us back to the top," Obama said.

Perhaps the responsibility Obama placed on American students will encourage them to work a little harder to do a little better. Hearing such a strong (the strongest, perhaps) political figure speak directly to the youth of our country sends a powerful message to students making them feel like important individuals.

Both liberals and conservatives welcomed the non-political, genuine message from the President that was broadcasted to students around the country. With the current educational crises in the country, both parents and teachers can agree, it was a much-needed, refreshing push in the right direction.

"You've got to wonder. You've got to question. You've got to explore. And every once in while, you've got to color outside of the lines. That's what school is for: discovering new passions, acquiring the skills, making use of this incredible time that you have to prepare yourself and give yourself the skills that you're going to need to pursue the kind of careers that you want," Obama said.

Perhaps American students need some encouragement to "color outside the lines," rather than being pushed to adhere to strict guidelines in order to meet standardized testing goals. Giving students a little agency and a lot of encouragement could be just the ticket we need to get things back on track.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/28/politics/obama-back-to-school/
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/09/obama_to_nations_students_aim.html

todays lesson: keep reading books

Happy Banned Books Week everyone! 
"Banned Books Week" started in 1982 as an attempt to raise awareness about the growing problem of censorship in classrooms. Luckily, we have a little gem called the First Amendment here in the US that allows us to read whatever our souls desire. Not so luckily, many teachers have problems choosing literature that is suitable and acceptable for all students and parents in their class. Once, I spent nearly an entire semester researching this topic. I ended up with a long research paper that I am sure you are so terribly interested in. If you'd like, you can read it here. It outlines the whole banning process, selection, and commonly banned books in the U.S. Sadly, most of the banned books are those that used to be so treasured by the American people. A few of those include: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Flies, and Of Mice and Men. Sad to realize that many of the books that teach students how to think, how to react to ethical dilemmas, how to make decisions, and spark ideas constantly top all  banned book lists. Anyway, I just finished The Things They Carried, and now onward to an adventure with Huck Finn... Keep reading everyone!

todays lesson: structure sometimes equals nothing

Some teachers may or may not have a heart attack in response to Paula Stacey's article entitled 
"Lets Stop Teaching Writing" on the EdWeek website. But those are the same teachers that probably need to go take a look. Stacey, who has been in the teaching profession for thirty years, reflects back on her own experiences with the writing process as both a student and a teacher. She argues that this so called "writing process" that we force students to learn may not be as effective as we once thought. Makes sense when you think about it...after students learn the rigid structure of a five paragraph essay with a thesis statement, argument, introduction, and conclusion, they are still asking what to write. Teachers become frustrated with questions such as these, and often, they truly do not know the answer themselves.
Sad thing is, most most respond to this question by pointing to this "structure" poster on the wall, proposing a topic and demanding that they write about it {only within the guidelines set forth, of course. We wouldn't want them thinking outside the box or anything.} This is absurd. There is no standardized writing model, yet each school tries to enforce "it."
To me, Stacey's proposal makes perfect sense:

"My proposal is modest, cheap, and deceptively simple: Ask students questions, read their answers, and ask more questions. Questions and answers. Nothing fancy. Much like home cooking, however, this kind of questioning takes time, it requires practice and honing, and the kitchen is a mess afterwards. But it is worth the trouble and the mess, for in this back and forth, this conference between teacher and student, real thinking and the work of real writing occur"

Students want to learn about stuff that is real. Stuff that matters to them. It is a profound teacher who can get the five paragraph essay to matter to a seventh grader. Or a college student, really. However, almost any teacher can ask meaningful questions that push students to dig a little deeper, to think just a little harder. Once you get those juices flowing, there is no holding them back from writing about it.