But the ideas are interesting...
One Teacher’s Pitch to be Emperor of Education
Chemistry teacher Dr. Richard Chapleau outlines his formula for school reform, which includes tough measures for teachers and parents.
By Dr. Richard Chapleau
It's been an average day in a regular week in the middle of a typical year. I got off the phone about an hour ago with another parent in denial. At snack, the usual six or eight of us complained about today's crisis. After school, I read the latest administration e-mail on something I can't control that is still my fault.
It's hard not to become a curmudgeon in this environment of distrust and blame, and I often lose sight of the dreams I had of watching young minds see new worlds in my classroom. If they'd just let me be Emperor of Education, I could straighten out the whole mess.
Why can't I change things? Why does it seem like the book Up the Down Staircase was written yesterday? I've heard the same reasons every time I've sat down with a group of my colleagues. The teacher unions are too strong. The administration won't listen to new ideas. The parents think we're supposed to call them daily with updates on their little darlings.
LAUNCHING A NEW ERA
The reason I hear most often, though, whether from teacher, administrator, or someone I meet socially who learns I'm a teacher, is that the kids are too lazy, and just don't care. If I were emperor, I'd show them that all these ideas are wrong.
My first two imperial acts would be to fire one-third of American teachers and then to give every parent a one-question quiz.
I'd fire the teachers who have stopped trying in their rooms, who use their training and intellect to belittle the kids. There's no place in our schools for teachers who pass out endless worksheets or show non-stop videos. I'm a proud member of two unions, mind you: the California Teachers Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (from a former career). Unions were not created to protect the incompetent workers, but instead were created to protect workers from incompetent bosses. We built the strongest middle class in the world in the last century because of unions, but now are in danger of losing the middle class, also because of unions.
Next, every parent of a 2-year old would have a one-question quiz, and they'd all have to take it at the same instant. I know too much about cheating, of course. The question would be "One Fish, Two Fish"? Any parent who didn't write "Red Fish, Blue Fish" would be required to sign a Universal Release of Liability and Parental Promise Not to Whine Statement. Parents who can't spout Dr. Seuss or Mother Goose, but who can name ten movie stars, professional sports players, or rock idols, are ruining their child's future.
They can't give their children the first four years of life in an impoverished educational environment, then expect the schools to fix all of their mistakes. A parent is the first and most important teacher their children will ever know, but most parents never spend that magical time with their child on the sofa. The TV should be off, the book is open, and their child is captured for life by the rhythm of a nursery rhyme. Four years watching reruns or ball games hardwires the future student to expect entertainment, not education, from 12 years of school.
MORE IMPERIAL DECREES...
My last act as emperor is the only one I know really could be achieved in the "real world" I hear so much about. I would take teacher evaluation away from administrators. Who is in charge of the American Bar Association? Attorneys. Who runs the American Medical Association? Physicians. Who watches the teachers? People who haven't been in a classroom in many years. Administrators, criminally overworked administrators. They must watch hundreds of students, tens of secretaries and custodians, and also a few dozen teachers. Guess who takes up most of their time? The children who spent four years watching videos. Yet, these same harried administrators are also asked to give clinical input into the skills of classroom teachers.
Every teacher in the country could give you a list of who's pulling their weight and who should go to the emperor for a final paycheck. Teacher evaluations should be done by working teachers, in a manner similar to professors at most American universities. Professors take turns on some sort of faculty review committee, where they check each other for professionalism, for commitment to learning new ideas, and for doing their jobs well. I hear many people complain about our public schools, but I still notice that people flock from all over the world to attend our universities. Perhaps it's at least partly because no university dean or provost sits in a professor's classroom for one hour every two years and calls that evaluation.
Bodie is a ghost town in northern California. You must drive up into the Sierra Nevada, then turn off the major freeway and go down a dirt road for several miles. You come to an old collection of buildings in a town at an elevation of more than 8,000 feet. There's an abandoned schoolhouse there that bills itself as the highest in the country. You can tell that no one's taught there for the better part of 100 years.
Still, I'll bet I could walk in that room and teach a class tomorrow. Neat rows of chairs, a teacher's desk up front, a chalkboard, and some maps. The flag in a corner. If I were Emperor of Education, classrooms would change, just like the rest of the world has done while we were all so busy blaming each other for what went wrong in education.
The alarm went off, so I can wake up now, and go back to another average day in a regular week in a typical year. Sadly, dreams are for those of us who also can tell you who Sam I Am is, and I must face a group of teenagers who only know about Kobe.
Dr. Richard Chapleau is a chemistry teacher at Lancaster High School in Lancaster, California, and a lecturer in education at California State University, Bakersfield.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The Sun Also Rises in the East
Politics could be factor in school board appointment
The school board is scheduled to fill the vacancy during a special Aug. 11 meeting.
By JOAN HELLYER
The leader of the Bristol Township Democratic Party said she wants Fred Black, the manager of a local sign advertising company, to be appointed to the vacant seat on the district’s school board.
Black is among seven candidates the Bristol Township school board has to choose from to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Flanigan. The board interviewed the candidates last week and is expected to make the appointment during an Aug. 11 special meeting.
In addition to Black, the candidates include Edward Godin and Ronald Matlack, two former board members who are retirees, veteran science teacher Holly Delk-Priestley, public health administrator Marlin Williams, nutritional educational adviser Marjory Apollon-Shields and Carol Becker, a construction company employee.
Democratic Party chairwoman Janet Keyser, a former board member, has thrown her support behind Black. “You have my vote,” she said to him after his interview Tuesday night for the seat.
Keyser attended the Tuesday interview session that also included Matlack and Godin. She did not attend Monday’s interviews of Becker, Delk-Priestly and Apollon-Shields or Williams’ interview on Wednesday.
“I like [Black]. He’s a [volunteer] firefighter. He’s new. He’s somebody fresh. He has children in the district. We need new people. We can’t always have the same old people,” Keyser said later in the week when asked to explain why she supports Black.
Keyser said she has expressed her support to some board members but the full party, which dominates township politics, has not discussed the school board vacancy. The issue could come up during the party’s monthly meeting tonight, she said.
The party chairwoman said she has expressed her support for various candidates when other seats have been vacant in the past, but the board has not always followed her recommendation.
Keyser said going against her wishes does not impact individual board members’ future political aspirations.
“The board always has the final decision. They are always the one that votes, but we can make a recommendation,” Keyser said.
The school board is scheduled to fill the vacancy during a special Aug. 11 meeting.
By JOAN HELLYER
The leader of the Bristol Township Democratic Party said she wants Fred Black, the manager of a local sign advertising company, to be appointed to the vacant seat on the district’s school board.
Black is among seven candidates the Bristol Township school board has to choose from to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Flanigan. The board interviewed the candidates last week and is expected to make the appointment during an Aug. 11 special meeting.
In addition to Black, the candidates include Edward Godin and Ronald Matlack, two former board members who are retirees, veteran science teacher Holly Delk-Priestley, public health administrator Marlin Williams, nutritional educational adviser Marjory Apollon-Shields and Carol Becker, a construction company employee.
Democratic Party chairwoman Janet Keyser, a former board member, has thrown her support behind Black. “You have my vote,” she said to him after his interview Tuesday night for the seat.
Keyser attended the Tuesday interview session that also included Matlack and Godin. She did not attend Monday’s interviews of Becker, Delk-Priestly and Apollon-Shields or Williams’ interview on Wednesday.
“I like [Black]. He’s a [volunteer] firefighter. He’s new. He’s somebody fresh. He has children in the district. We need new people. We can’t always have the same old people,” Keyser said later in the week when asked to explain why she supports Black.
Keyser said she has expressed her support to some board members but the full party, which dominates township politics, has not discussed the school board vacancy. The issue could come up during the party’s monthly meeting tonight, she said.
The party chairwoman said she has expressed her support for various candidates when other seats have been vacant in the past, but the board has not always followed her recommendation.
Keyser said going against her wishes does not impact individual board members’ future political aspirations.
“The board always has the final decision. They are always the one that votes, but we can make a recommendation,” Keyser said.
Stop the Rumor Mill
Here's a letter to the editor from today's BCCT. In a small town like Morrisville, this is easier said than done. It seems like we each have direct lines of immediate access to someone else and before you know it, the entire town knows. Rumors, innuendo, and outright falsehoods are a standard tactic right here in little Morrisville. Until we start electing leaders who can lead without using these tactics, it's only going to be more of the same.
Rumor mill hurts hard-working volunteers
At the July 21st Morrisville Borough Council meeting, Barbara Runner appeared before council and read into the minutes a letter requesting council to remove me and Steve Amend from the Morrisville Planning Commission. I was not shocked by her request.
For the past several months another borough resident had been at the meetings stating that we were in conflict of interest since we both sit on the Economic Development Corp. and the Morrisville Planning Commission. Maybe council’s silence fueled this speculation.
However, I am extremely disturbed that people do not research the issues before making slanderous statements toward volunteers. Runner states, “Actually I can’t state that they are or are not doing a good job in their positions as I haven’t followed them.” If Runner had any questions, she should have attended a planning commission meeting or an EDC meeting.
The duties and responsibilities of the planning commission are in the Municipal Planning Code (MPC) available online or in Borough Hall. Runner felt that since, as members of the EDC, we actively solicit businesses and we would be inclined as planning commission members to vote in favor of the plans we initiated.
Once again, if she had done her homework she would have known that the planning commission is only a recommending panel to borough council and we cannot vote our personal preference on a particular project. We are bound to recommend approval if a project meets the zoning and land development ordinances. In the occurrence that we vote not to recommend a plan, we must state the ordinance(s) that it does not meet.
Unfortunately, people will not remember what the borough solicitor told Runner; they will only remember that Amend and I were accused of a conflict of interest.
If every resident would first find out the facts and stop the rumor mill, this town just might move forward.
Don M. Diretto Morrisville Planning Commission; Morrisville Economic Development Corp.
Rumor mill hurts hard-working volunteers
At the July 21st Morrisville Borough Council meeting, Barbara Runner appeared before council and read into the minutes a letter requesting council to remove me and Steve Amend from the Morrisville Planning Commission. I was not shocked by her request.
For the past several months another borough resident had been at the meetings stating that we were in conflict of interest since we both sit on the Economic Development Corp. and the Morrisville Planning Commission. Maybe council’s silence fueled this speculation.
However, I am extremely disturbed that people do not research the issues before making slanderous statements toward volunteers. Runner states, “Actually I can’t state that they are or are not doing a good job in their positions as I haven’t followed them.” If Runner had any questions, she should have attended a planning commission meeting or an EDC meeting.
The duties and responsibilities of the planning commission are in the Municipal Planning Code (MPC) available online or in Borough Hall. Runner felt that since, as members of the EDC, we actively solicit businesses and we would be inclined as planning commission members to vote in favor of the plans we initiated.
Once again, if she had done her homework she would have known that the planning commission is only a recommending panel to borough council and we cannot vote our personal preference on a particular project. We are bound to recommend approval if a project meets the zoning and land development ordinances. In the occurrence that we vote not to recommend a plan, we must state the ordinance(s) that it does not meet.
Unfortunately, people will not remember what the borough solicitor told Runner; they will only remember that Amend and I were accused of a conflict of interest.
If every resident would first find out the facts and stop the rumor mill, this town just might move forward.
Don M. Diretto Morrisville Planning Commission; Morrisville Economic Development Corp.
Math Heroes Throughout History
Make education relateable, interesting, and fun.
Math Heroes Throughout History
By Wendy Petti
Mathematics did not drop from the sky. We know that, of course…but do our students? How much richer an appreciation our students might have for mathematics as a living science if we share with them the budding of new ideas in math heroes past and present! It all begins with "I wonder…."
For instance, when our students use coordinate geometry, we can tell them that the idea of joining algebra and geometry in this way is said to have come to René Descartes one day in 1637 as he lay in bed wondering how to describe the path of a fly on the ceiling. His work on analytic geometry was one small part of a larger quest for truth launched with the famous words, "I think, therefore I am," meaning that he could be sure of only one thing -- his own existence -- as he began systematically questioning all existing knowledge.
If we ask our students to imagine a world without 0, such as the long-ago Western world that relied on Roman numerals or an abacus to do calculations, we can thank Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, who learned the calculating methods of the local merchants wherever he went in his extensive travels. In his first book, published in 1200 and revised in 1228, Fibonacci strongly advocated that the ancient Hindu-Arab system of numbers be adopted in the West. After being met with initial skepticism, eventually that book became the standard math text for more than 200 years.
That's nothing compared to Euclid's Elements, that, in pulling together the best work of the Greek mathematicians and presenting a model of logical reasoning, became the standard geometry text for more than 2,000 years!
Students also might enjoy hearing stories of such child prodigies as Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), who as a 3-year-old corrected a bookkeeping error of his father's, and as a youth astounded a teacher by almost instantly finding a creative solution to a long and tedious arithmetic task.
Students might benefit from hearing stories of creativity mixed with tenacity, such as the 350-year quest to solve Fermat's Last Theorem, achieved at last by Andrew J. Wiles in 1994, after eight years of intensive and creative work building on pivotal contributions by others.
Students also might be intrigued by quirky anecdotes, such as the MacTutor History of Mathematics account of Abraham DeMoivre, who "is famed for predicting the day of his own death. He found that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each night and summing the arithmetic progression, calculated that he would die on the day that he slept for 24 hours. He was right!"
Although math heroes are plentiful, there have not been many print or online accounts written for elementary grades, and collections of mathematical biographies are not exactly abundant in local bookstores and libraries.
As you and your students dip into some of the resources recommended here (with some caveats), you might consider how to take an active role in investigating math heroes:
* What is a math hero? Does it take a new mathematical discovery to be a math hero or can a math hero be someone who uses known math in creative ways?
* Adopt a math hero. Perhaps each student could learn about one math hero for sharing with the class or a larger audience. The activity could be a wonderful class or collaborative project to develop a new online collection of lively, kid-friendly math biographies.
* Promote math heroes. Ask your local library to order some of the books recommended below. Ask your local bookstore to stock some in the section of biographies for children. Ask your library or bookstore if they would sponsor a "math hero" day.
Perhaps if we join with our students to help share these inspirational stories, we can be math heroes of sorts, too!
Math Heroes Throughout History
By Wendy Petti
Mathematics did not drop from the sky. We know that, of course…but do our students? How much richer an appreciation our students might have for mathematics as a living science if we share with them the budding of new ideas in math heroes past and present! It all begins with "I wonder…."
For instance, when our students use coordinate geometry, we can tell them that the idea of joining algebra and geometry in this way is said to have come to René Descartes one day in 1637 as he lay in bed wondering how to describe the path of a fly on the ceiling. His work on analytic geometry was one small part of a larger quest for truth launched with the famous words, "I think, therefore I am," meaning that he could be sure of only one thing -- his own existence -- as he began systematically questioning all existing knowledge.
If we ask our students to imagine a world without 0, such as the long-ago Western world that relied on Roman numerals or an abacus to do calculations, we can thank Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, who learned the calculating methods of the local merchants wherever he went in his extensive travels. In his first book, published in 1200 and revised in 1228, Fibonacci strongly advocated that the ancient Hindu-Arab system of numbers be adopted in the West. After being met with initial skepticism, eventually that book became the standard math text for more than 200 years.
That's nothing compared to Euclid's Elements, that, in pulling together the best work of the Greek mathematicians and presenting a model of logical reasoning, became the standard geometry text for more than 2,000 years!
Students also might enjoy hearing stories of such child prodigies as Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), who as a 3-year-old corrected a bookkeeping error of his father's, and as a youth astounded a teacher by almost instantly finding a creative solution to a long and tedious arithmetic task.
Students might benefit from hearing stories of creativity mixed with tenacity, such as the 350-year quest to solve Fermat's Last Theorem, achieved at last by Andrew J. Wiles in 1994, after eight years of intensive and creative work building on pivotal contributions by others.
Students also might be intrigued by quirky anecdotes, such as the MacTutor History of Mathematics account of Abraham DeMoivre, who "is famed for predicting the day of his own death. He found that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each night and summing the arithmetic progression, calculated that he would die on the day that he slept for 24 hours. He was right!"
Although math heroes are plentiful, there have not been many print or online accounts written for elementary grades, and collections of mathematical biographies are not exactly abundant in local bookstores and libraries.
As you and your students dip into some of the resources recommended here (with some caveats), you might consider how to take an active role in investigating math heroes:
* What is a math hero? Does it take a new mathematical discovery to be a math hero or can a math hero be someone who uses known math in creative ways?
* Adopt a math hero. Perhaps each student could learn about one math hero for sharing with the class or a larger audience. The activity could be a wonderful class or collaborative project to develop a new online collection of lively, kid-friendly math biographies.
* Promote math heroes. Ask your local library to order some of the books recommended below. Ask your local bookstore to stock some in the section of biographies for children. Ask your library or bookstore if they would sponsor a "math hero" day.
Perhaps if we join with our students to help share these inspirational stories, we can be math heroes of sorts, too!
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