They Just Can't...

It’s actually happened.  I’m going to say it….

They can’t.  They just can’t.

The fact that I am writing those words breaks my heart into a million pieces.  As an educator it makes me feel like I have been defeated, and it makes me feel like a failure.  I NEVER thought I would ever say those words, and I am such a strong supporter of a teacher never saying those words.  If that’s how I’m feeling…I can’t even imagine what my students are feeling. 

We are about four weeks from all students in the state of Florida taking the new Florida Standards Assessment in Writing.  Teachers in every county are tirelessly creating lesson plans to try and prepare their students to take this test.  I know it’s taboo to “teach to the test,” and any good teacher knows that shouldn’t be our goal, but right now, it’s kind of hard not to teach to the test when it’s a test that our students have never taken before, and is significantly harder than anything they’ve ever done in the past. 

For this reason alone, I am calling out for help.  I am reaching out to all state education representatives, politicians, and leaders.  Please read this.  Please take a minute to truly consider the words of a teacher that is finally standing up for her students.  I’ve had enough.  I’m tired.  I can’t look at their frustrated and worried faces any longer.

Dear Florida Department of Education,

            This letter is coming from a place of desperation.  I am a sixth grade ELA teacher in one of your greatest counties, and I am calling out for change.  I’m not writing this for me.  I’m not writing this to complain, or to protest, or to challenge you.  I’m simply writing this to make you aware.  I want you to hear how the implementation of the new Florida Standards Assessment this school year is affecting the most important people of all…the kids.  It’s not about the teachers, or the administrators, or the superintendents, or the state leaders, or the parents.  It’s about the kids.

            Close your eyes for just a second and put yourself in their shoes.  You’ve spent your entire elementary school years worried about passing a test called the FCAT.  You knew that is counted towards passing certain grades, towards advanced placement, and remedial classes.  You also knew that it counted towards your teacher’s evaluations, and whether or not your school was labeled with an A or F.  The past few years, you’ve struggled to keep up as your teachers not only assessed you on the NGSSS, but also integrated the new Common Core Standards into your lessons.  This year, the game has completely changed.  Out with the FCAT, and in with the FSA.  All of a sudden, you have gone from writing completely from your own head about why Florida is a great place to visit, to writing an argumentative essay using three different complex sources that focuses on whether or not mistakes are the key to great discoveries.  You have no idea what the passing score is for this new test, there aren’t any anchor papers for you to use as examples, and you have no idea how the prompt will be formatted.  You sit in class every single day, and you try your hardest to focus on what the teacher is discussing, but it’s so hard for it not to be overwhelming.  You feel overwhelmed.  You feel mentally exhausted.  You shut down.  You find yourself not even wanting to pick up your pencil because you don’t understand.  You feel like your mind is going to implode from all of the information, and that you can’t possibly ever make sense of it all. 

            I want to make something very clear.  I do not oppose the Common Core, nor do I oppose the Florida Standard Assessment.  I believe wholeheartedly that the work we are doing with our students is the BEST work, and is the work we so desperately need to be doing in order for them to be college, career, and life ready.  It’s the work we should have been doing all along.  The problem lies in a very simple fact. 

            We are not ready yet.

            It is absolutely not feasible that teachers and students should be expected to make an important shift in learning this quickly.  We aren’t talking about a slight shift.  We are talking about a shift that is literally moving the earth beneath our schools.  It’s shaking the foundation of education, and it’s creating a divide so vast, that it’s letting the ones that matter the most, the kids, fall right through the crack.   These shifts in learning are necessary, and they are possible.  The problem lies in the fact that they can’t possibly be done in one year.  We can’t go from the FCAT to the FSA in one year.  School boards and district personnel will tell you that the kids are ready, and that we have been preparing for this for a long time.  I hate to be the one to say it, but I have to be completely honest.  That just simply is NOT true.  They aren’t the ones sitting in the classrooms with our children every day.  They aren’t the ones that have to see what this stress is doing to our students, and to us. 

            I have integrated the new Florida Standards into my classroom for the past few years, and I have found that I am still DUMBFOUNDED as to how unprepared I feel.  Please understand that the statistics are there.  It’s not a secret.  Teachers are leaving the profession every single day.  It’s not because of our paycheck amount, or tenure, or teacher evaluations.  It’s because we are losing the love and joy that we used to have for our craft.  We have found ourselves in a situation where our whole job revolves around data, test scores, evaluations, and paperwork.  To the state, it’s not about the impact we have on our students anymore, or how we have the ability to change their lives for the better. 

            The state of Florida has turned our profession into a contest about how we look on paper.  We’re just a number, we identify with a phrase.  It’s become all about being “highly effective,” and for that reason, we have completely lost the heart of what it means to be a teacher.  You are expecting us to give a test to our kids in less than a month, when you still haven’t given us a passing score, anchor papers, an idea of the prompt style, or what could be deemed “unscorable.” How can you push out a test that you, the State, doesn’t even have completed yet?  How am I supposed to prepare my students for a test that we are clueless about? This directly affects my students, and this is where I become a Mama Bear, and I get angry. 

            Don’t get me wrong, teachers need to be evaluated, and students need to be assessed on what they have learned.  It’s par for the course.  However, my classroom has become a hostile environment recently.  As I am struggling to get my students to understand argumentative writing, they come into class every day in a bad mood.  I’m in a bad mood.  They are burned out.  I can’t blame them.  It’s not because of how I am teaching the material, or because they lack motivation.  It’s because it’s too much at once, and it’s harder than anything they have ever done before.  They are lacking the necessary background knowledge needed to do this kind of work.  The majority of my students are reading below grade level.  I don’t have time to give the necessary remedial lessons because I have to cover a vast amount of complex information before the first week of March.  They are asking me questions that I can’t answer.  I can’t even tell my students what score they need to pass this writing test! I can’t show them example essays as a model, because there aren’t any for me to show. My kids are trying their hardest every single day, and that’s what kills me the most.  They couldn’t put forth more effort if they tried, and yet they are still left with a little piece of their confidence being taken away from them with every sigh, and every frown, and with every tear. 

            What I am asking for is very simple.  I am asking for time.  Please just give us time.  Give us a few years to adjust to this new style of teaching and learning.  Give us some breathing room, so we can integrate these new standards into our lessons in creative and engaging ways.  Let us bring some of the joy back into learning, and re-instill a love for reading and writing in our students.  Let us GROW into the Florida Standards, and GROW into a test like the FSA.  I’m not asking for you to get rid of the test, or to go back to the way things were.  Just give us a few years to make this transition easier for our kids, and to slowly build their confidence back up. 

            It’s ridiculously frustrating to know that most of the people who are making these important decisions regarding our state’s education are people who have never experienced a day of teaching.  It blows my mind that nobody ever bothers to speak to the people who directly affect the kids; the teachers.  I invite any state representative, politician, or leader to come into my classroom any day of the week leading up to the Writing FSA.  Come in and speak to my students, see the hard work they are putting in, and witness their frustration and worry first hand.  If you want to fix a problem, you have to go directly to the source.  These changes, and these shifts are directly affecting the children in our state.  I could care less about my evaluation, or how much I get paid.  What I care about are the 120 little faces that I encounter every single day.  Come and meet them.  Come and let THEM tell you what high stakes testing is doing to their confidence, their moral, and their love for learning. 

            I started out this blog post by saying the words that I never thought I would say… “They can’t.”  I want to follow them with this statement, and this statement is what I will leave you with.  Right now, 90 % of my students CAN’T pass this test.  It will not happen.  Their practice assessments, and writing in class have proven this to me.  But the thing is…some day…they CAN pass it.  They WILL pass it.  Despite what their scores have shown me, the determination, and the fight that I see deep down inside of them will get them there eventually.  I have no doubt in my mind that my students are intelligent, and that they can accomplish anything they put their minds to. 

            All I’m asking is for you to give them some room to stretch their legs, and I promise you that they will reach heights we never dreamed imaginable.

Sincerely,

A Tiny Tenacious Teacher

           

The HEART of the Matter...

I am writing this with a heavy heart today.  Which is ironic considering the very nature of this post.  Since the school year began, I have been feeling like something was out of place.  It’s like when a picture is hanging crooked on the wall, or when a picture frame has been moved on your mantle.  I knew something was off, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  This year, the air has just felt different, so to speak.  Something was unsettling in the bottom of my stomach, and I have finally realized what it is.  Only, this realization didn’t give me relief.  It’s given me an overwhelming feeling of sadness and unease for the future of our kids.  It’s actually quite simple…

We’ve lost the heart. And we need to do something to GET IT BACK.

The heart is defined as the center of a person’s thoughts and emotions.  It’s the central or innermost part of something.  It’s a hollow or muscular organ that pumps the blood through the circulatory system by rhythmic contraction and dilation.  

If the heart stops beating…you stop living. 

Think about that concept.  The heart is what keeps you going.  It’s the very center of an organism, and everything else revolves around it, and depends on its very function.  Now, apply this concept to a school.  We can implement all of the most innovative new strategies, programs, standards, and evaluation systems.  We can put behavior plans into place, and set up expectations for our students.  The fact is…none of those things will ever work, nor will they even matter if we don’t have a heart that beats strong, and loud, and that is the very center for which all of those other things will stem from. 

Our educational hearts have stopped beating…and as a result, our schools have stopped living.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately trying to figure out what really makes a school successful.  Is it the test scores?  The teacher evaluation ratings?  The amount of championships won, or the number of referrals?  I’ve thought back through my last nine years as an educator.  I was there when our school still had dust on the ground from construction, and fresh paint drying on the walls.  I was there to put the very first chairs and tables together.  I’ve been there every single step of the way, and it’s been a long journey of ups and downs. These days, there are very few of us left that have been there since day one.  It’s those teachers, the ones that have seen it all, that I have gone to the past few weeks to see if my whole “heart theory” was worth spending the time to write these words.  It’s through those meaningful discussions with my colleagues that I have come to the conclusion that the “heart theory” is absolutely worth it.  It just makes so much sense. 

It works like this…

When you work in a tough school, where the majority of your students live in poverty, and are lacking in most of life’s basic needs, you absolutely need to begin with LOVE.  Our students need to feel like they belong, and that our school is not only a safe place for them, but a place where they can grow, be nurtured, and feel like they are important.  Like they are part of something special and irreplaceable.  That should be our number one focus. Until we achieve that, nothing will change.

When I think about what contributes to a Title I school being successful, there are certain things you have to have in place that can help make your kids feel like they are on top of the world.  You need to have things like Multi-Cultural Fairs, and Literacy/Math Celebrations.  You need to celebrate Veteran’s Day by teaching your students about the men and women that have fought for our country, and you need events like Freedom Marches and Fall Carnivals to get your community and families involved.  You need to have Thanksgiving Food Drives where you collect hundreds of canned goods, and have your needy families come pick up a turkey and all the trimmings.  I was there to distribute those meals during our food drives, and I will never forget the look on their faces when they saw what we had provided for them.  During the holiday season, you can choose a student’s name off a tree in the mailroom, and then go shopping and purchase Christmas presents for that child using a list they made.  You could also have door-decorating contests for the Holidays, and Dress Up Weeks where the whole school would wear PJs for a day, or dress in attire from decades of the past.  You can have clap outs for the whole school when you win a championship for sports, and you can celebrate your successes on the morning news every day.  You should have a ceremony every quarter to celebrate the students that received Honor Roll, and invite their parents to attend. 

We need to show our students that we love them each and every day.  We need to show them that we are proud of them, and that we care about them, and that we want them to each leave a piece of themselves as a legacy for future generations on our campuses.  Academics and learning are the focus of education, but these acts of love are the HEART of education.  They are the driving force that makes the learning happen.

Guys, I can’t stress how important it is to show our pride for our children.  It not only does wonders for them, but also for staff morale.  When things are looking down, or when things are tough, we have to grasp onto those happy moments and never let go.   We recently took our students to the Florida Holocaust Museum after we’d been learning about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.  We tied behavior and grades to this trip, and we honestly took the most amazing group of kids to experience something they never have before.  Not only did they get the chance to extend their learning outside the classroom, but they also were able to hear a Holocaust Survivor Speak.  This is such a rare occurrence these days.  When the speaker asked if any students had questions, one of our kids quietly raised their hand….only they didn’t have a question.  They simply wanted to thank the speaker for letting them hear her story, and they wanted her to know that they appreciated her, and loved the experience.  Another student hugged the docent on the way out, and thanked her for devoting her time to teaching them about the Holocaust today.  

#ProudTeacherMoments

After we were finished with the tour, one of the docents pulled me aside to tell me that we had some of the most well-behaved, intelligent, and wonderful students they’ve ever had visit their museum.  I was told that not only were they impressed with their manners and behavior, but also, they were impressed with how much the students knew about the Holocaust.  This is a testament to not only our teams of teachers, but also to the whole staff here at my school.  We honestly make a difference in our kids’ lives, and we really do have SO MANY kiddos here that care, and that want to learn.  This was such a great life experience for our students, and it made me, and them, very thankful for what we have everyday.  Especially seeing firsthand what so many people had to endure during that horrible time in history.  

When it gets tough…sometimes all it takes is a little reminder of how fabulous our jobs truly are.  

Events like those above not only elevate students, but they elevate the teachers.  I honestly never noticed that I worked at a “difficult school” because I was always so focused on all of the awesome things that our kids did, and all of the accomplishments that we achieved. 

Throughout the past few years, we have been losing the heart little by little.  It’s been getting weaker and weaker.  Now more than ever, we are in serious danger of flat lining unless something is done to revive us.  We need to grab those paddles and shock the heart right back into the life of our schools. 

It’s not a lie that behavior issues might be worse than they’ve ever been, and that the motivation to learn anything has dimmed to almost nothing.  The problem is that we are looking at it in the wrong way.  We are trying to put Band-Aids on the problem rather than trying to look at WHY it’s broken.  We are so focused on the kids that are making the wrong choices, that we’re letting the other students slip right through our fingers.  Our kids are constantly reminded of what they are doing wrong, and they are constantly told what they AREN’T doing. At this time, most teachers are so overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated that many of them don’t want to do anything more than their contract requires them to do. It’s not just the students that have given up, the teachers have too.  This is a time when teachers, administrators, parents, district and school staff need to come together more than ever before to unite for the same cause.  We all have the same “WHY,” and we should all be on the same page.

Our kids come from homes where they may not be shown love, acceptance, or a sense of belonging.  We should pride ourselves on the fact that we can at least show them those things while they were at school.  I honestly feel that we would be SHOCKED to see how much the behavior and motivation would improve on our campuses if we simply brought the heart back.  We need to start showing that we will not stand for our schools to become institutions that we don’t even recognize anymore.  We need to stop trying to make our schools something that they may never be.  We need to stop trying to compare schools to other schools, and we need to stop trying to be perfect on paper. 

We have all of the pieces in place.  We have amazing teachers who are the best of the best, but for many, their lights have just started to dim.  We have wonderful office, custodial, and cafeteria staff who go above and beyond on a daily basis.  We have hard-working administrators and school district employees that put their sweat and tears into making education in America something to value.  We have an over-abundance of technology, programs, and curriculum resources that can help our students reach goals they have never imagined were even possible.  Above all else, we have smart, hard-working, beautiful children in our schools that deep down inside want to please us, and want to be successful. 

We just have to find our heart again. 

We need to bring life back to schools that are barely hanging on right now.  We can’t expect for things to change overnight, and we can’t expect to find the one solution that will fix it all.  What we can do is start working little by little to show our students that we want what’s best for them, that we stand behind them, and most importantly, that we LOVE them.  We need to stop getting caught up in the technicalities, and the data, and the state requirements.  Those things are what are driving teachers to leave the profession.  Those things are what are keeping that revolving door turning. 

We need to start the heart beating again.  We need to nourish it, cherish it, and let it thrive, and through finding our heart again, everything else will just start to fall back into place.

Take the Power Back...

I had an eye-opening experience at car loop duty yesterday, and it caused a fire to start to slowly smolder inside me.  It’s a fire that’s always been there, but that has started to ignite more than every this year.  As the day and evening wore down, I found myself fixated on this one stupid incident, and I just couldn’t hold back my words any longer.

As I am enjoying my morning coffee while aimlessly waving my arm like a traffic conductor to move the parents through the car line on this beautiful morning, my ears perked up at the sound of a very naughty word that begins with an “F.”  It was clear as day, and it came from directly behind me.  Imagine my surprise to see a group of four 8^th grade girls standing less than three feet from my spot, yet carrying on a conversation that I would be shocked to hear out of an adult’s mouth, yet a child’s.  I immediately walked over and asked the young ladies to please watch their language as we do not speak that way on our campus.  I went back to my car line monitoring, but kept my ears perked up.  Just a few short moments later, the same girl yelled out the same profane word once more.  This time, I walked over and told the girls they had to move to the courtyard where they were supposed to be anyways.  Miss Potty Mouth proceeded to look at me and say, “You can’t tell me where to move.  I don’t have to go anywhere if I don’t want to.  I speak that way at home, so there isn’t anything wrong with it.” Then she looked away.  After I explained exactly how I was going to prove that I had a right to ask her to move locations, I said, “Start walking.”  Her friend whispered to her, “Just move down a bit, she’s not going to do anything.”  Oh, these poor, naïve children.   I then began to follow directly behind them.  In fact, I followed them all the way to the courtyard, and I remained right by their side until the bell rang, and then I escorted them to class.   This companionship was met with some epic nasty looks, but the profanity stopped. 

This incident stayed with me all day.  What a wonderful start to a Monday, right?  The more I thought about it, the more irate I became.  It wasn’t the profanity that bothered me.  I teach middle school.  It comes with the territory.  It was the blatant, intentional, downright disrespect that I received from these girls that really put me up on this soapbox.  I was dumbfounded that they would speak to an adult the way they did, and that they absolutely seemed to think that rules did not apply to them, or need to be followed.  Now, I live in sixth grade world everyday, and I am just not used to kids speaking to me that way.  It doesn’t happen.  Even my worst students have some shred of respect for me.

GUYS, WE HAVE TO TAKE THE POWER BACK…What are we teaching our children?

When I say we, I am not only talking about teachers, I am talking about parents as well.  Let’s be real, guys.  It’s not a coincidence that these girls were disrespectful.  They speak to their parents that way, and they probably listen to their parents speak to others that way.  They learned it somewhere.  It’s acceptable somewhere. 

Now, as educators, we can’t control what goes on at home, but we CAN control what happens on our school campuses.  We need to demand that our students know the difference between what is allowed in their personal lives, and what is allowed here at school.  Trust me, my NUMBER ONE rule as a teacher is to get to know my students, and I will rarely resort to bringing in administration or writing referrals.  I always try to get to the root of their behavior, and figure out WHY they are acting out. 

The truth is…sometimes that doesn’t work.  What do you do with the student that REPEATEDLY will not follow directions or show you respect?  What do you do with the student that will literally verbalize to you that they “don’t care” about getting in trouble, or that “it doesn’t matter because nothing will happen anyways?”

I have had students ASK me for a detention because they think it’s fun.  There are students in our schools that can honestly say that they don’t WANT in school suspension, and they’d rather have out of school suspension so they can stay home.  They refuse to serve it….and we let them.

There is something very wrong with this picture.  What message are we sending our youth?

SOMETHING HAS GOT TO CHANGE.

It blows my mind to think that a child would have the guts to speak to teachers the way that I hear students speak to teachers every day.  They do it because they are allowed to.  As teachers, administrators, district and state leaders, we need to TAKE THE POWER BACK.  I know it’s not just my school.  I also know that our school and district administrator’s hands are often tied.  This is happening in districts and states all over the country.  We want our children to become successful, productive members of society.  We want them to grow and thrive, and move on from us to be able to provide for their own families someday.  But how can we do that when we are teaching them that the basic foundation of life, respect, is something that isn’t valued?

We are not giving them the tools they need to become college, career, and life ready by letting suspended athletes practice and play with their teams.  We are not giving them the tools they need by issuing inconsistent consequences among staff members.  We are not giving them the tools they need by giving them four chances to be tardy in each class before a consequence is issued.  We are not giving them the tools they need by giving them the impression that speaking to an adult in a disrespectful manner is acceptable. 

The truth is, by letting this kind of behavior be acceptable…we are setting them up for failure. 

I can tell you right now, that if you were to look at your boss and say, “I don’t have to do what you tell me to,” you can kiss your job goodbye.  If a college football player were to continually get arrested or get into fights, his butt would be sitting on the sidelines, if not suspended from the team. 

We need to take the power back in our schools.  We need to show our students that we care about them, and that we want to give them our respect.  But to do that, we need to demand respect back.  We need to remind them that they are here to learn, and that is the most important thing.  It’s their job.  One day, they will have the power.  One day, they will be the ones running our country, but until then, they are children.  They still need to be nurtured, guided, and pushed to make the right choices.  They aren’t ready to be in charge just yet.

Our students look to us for guidance.  They look to us for love, advice, knowledge…and discipline.  They want structure, and they want rules to follow.  It’s our job to help them struggle through their failures, and celebrate their accomplishments.

It’s so vital that we teach the standards, and teach our content, but perhaps it’s even more vital that we teach our students how to become someone that not only we can be proud of, but someone that THEY can be proud of.  In my opinion, math, reading, history, and science are not the most important things that we teach our children.  Values and character education need to come first.  If we can’t get them to respect others, and to have grit and pride and responsibility…we will never be able to get to the other stuff.  It just won’t happen. 

Somewhere along the line, someone slipped up in teaching respect to those young ladies from the car loop yesterday.  It could have been a teacher, or a parent, or an administrator, or maybe all three.  That’s not important.  What IS important is that it’s not too late for them. 

Our students DO NOT run our schools.  We do.  Until we get the ball back on our side of the court, we can’t expect to win the game.