You Don't Get It Both Ways

There have been so many things that I started to write about for my blog this week. I've started several in my head and decided to hold off for one reason or another. I believe that waiting to say things at the right time and place can dramatically change the impact of the message. Right now everyone is tired and ready to start summer break. Students are eager to be done and I know that the adults in our building are as well. For that reason, I decided that some of what I wanted to say would come across as "preachy" at a tough time to digest it. But I'm wrong on that.

This week, I started by visiting our Math 1 classes to reiterate the importance of their upcoming exam. For these students, it is the last regular EOC they will take in math and it carries 50% of the school's growth scores and 33% of our proficiency scores. At the end of the year, 9th graders traditionally revert back to some more middle school behaviors and need a little reminding about how important finishing strong is for their grade. After my talks, a few didn't take me seriously within the next day, and I had to make a strong example of their actions. There is no place for apathy or redirection of immature behaviors right now. We have important work to do.

And that's when it hit me that I was wrong. I had decided to hold back on a "preachy" message to the adults in the school, but I had no problem sending that message to the students. That doesn't work. I cannot expect students to be on time if their teacher is often late. I cannot expect a student to remain in their class if their teacher slips out early at the end of the day. I cannot expect students to complete all of their work on time if their teacher doesn't adhere to deadlines. Most importantly, I cannot expect students to take their final exams seriously if their teachers have checked out for the school year.

So here I am, being preachy. Not because I think that all of you need it, but because I think that all of US need it. I'm in that boat with you and your students. There is a lot of important work to be done next week and we ALL have to be mentally in place to do that work. Like most things in life, it's not how you start, but how you finish that matters most. Make an impression with your students that next week is some of the most important work that we do all year. The end is close, but we can't quit now.

Everything's Going to Be Alright

Almost exactly two years ago this week, I wrote a blog about the story of my grandfather and the unusual circumstances surrounding his graduation from high school. (You can find it here) As many of you know, we laid my grandfather to rest this week at 89 years old. I spent some time with him during spring break this year and when I arrived at his house, I found him in the back yard working on his lawnmower. He had taken the deck off to sharpen the blades and just physically couldn't put it back on by himself this time. You could tell that it bothered him and it was the only time I can recall hearing him curse. He hated having to ask for help because he was one of those people that didn't mind doing everything for himself. He was very prideful about that and while pridefulness isn't always a good thing, I think that this quality is becoming rarer. Just that same day I had taken my own lawnmower to a service place to have someone else do that job for me. We laughed together about that and he replied, "I guess it will be alright." That was always one of his favorite things to say. While I could create a long list of valuable things I learned from him, it wasn't until this week that I realized that the most valuable lesson was that saying. Things do not go the way that we want them to sometimes. Bad things happen. Bad days happen. But if you take a step back and look with a broader perspective, everything does tend to turn out alright. I surely wasn't ready for him to leave me last weekend, but just like everything else, it's going to be alright.

Very soon, our students will take exams and some of them will walk across a stage to earn a diploma. Some of these students will perform well and some will not live up to what we hoped. It's going to be alright. Some of our Seniors might not quite be ready academically by June 8th, but it will be alright, we will celebrate them when they are ready. Your test scores might be amazing this year, or they might leave you scratching your head. It'll be alright as long as we learn something from them and put that knowledge to use next time. A student's school years with us are a short part of their life and even a teacher's 30-year career is hopefully just a short part of theirs. Remember to take a broad look at your accomplishments and those of the student's that you teach. If we've all tried our best, neither of those will be perfect, but I can almost guarantee that everything's going to be alright.

65 Years Later

We are at the 65th anniversary of the historic Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. This shortly worded ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court has probably done more to change schools in America than any other case. 65 years later, I think it is still changing us. As a history major and former teacher of US History and African-American History, I loved to dig deep into this case. It's a good one to teach students about how the Supreme Court works and how social change comes from this branch of our government. As a school administrator, however, I've gained a newer understanding of how this court case changed schools and how we still haven't gotten over the impact of Brown vs. Board. Strangely enough, I think that we are still struggling with the implications of the court's decision and probably will for some time.

I've linked several sites below that chronicle the aftermath and experiences of the Brown decision. There's also a great podcast that talks about teacher impacts of the decision that I highly suggest. The overarching theme you get from the data and the experiences are that while we forced integration in schools, we probably didn't do it correctly and that has made a difference in what teachers look like, how students are disciplined and which students get AIG services. One of the arguments made to link these statistics with the Brown decision states that it is the language of the decision itself that has created the issue. While the justices may have had the best intentions, their decision was grounded in their belief that all black schools were inferior to white schools at the time and thus, separate but equal, was not equal. That language went on to impact which teachers would be hired when schools integrated. Overwhelmingly, few, or in most cases none, of the black teachers were hired because it was believed that they were providing an inferior education. This completely removed a generation of black teachers from the profession altogether. And we all know the impact that a teacher to student connection has on the outcome of the student.

When we fast forward 65 years, it is safe to say that we have made a lot of progress in seeking to educate all students. In schools like ours, two-thirds of our students belong to a racial minority group. Last year in Greene County, Hispanic students were the highest growth sub-group in every school and African-American students were the sub-group with the highest graduation rate. Personally, I have tried to have a staff that is as diverse as our student population and I think that helps students of every demographic because it is representative of the world around us. Private and charter schools currently catch criticisms of their re-segregation by race and I often wonder how those students learn and work after their schooling years in a world that doesn't reflect their school experience.

It's almost safe to say that the world of school then has little to do with what schools look like and the functions that we have today. Progress is never at the pace that we want it, but I applaud each of you that take the time to connect with students because you share a characteristic of some type, racial or otherwise. The lessons learned outside of the curriculum do more to prepare young adults to function in the world around them. Change does not come from courtrooms or from lesson plans. Social change comes from caring about one another and teaching one another how to be better. That's where the Brown decision got it wrong, but it's also where we have a chance to get it right. I think back to my elementary years and what I refer to as my "first black mama," a teacher assistant named Mrs. Suggs. Later that torch would be carried by Mrs. Lindsey, another teacher assistant. An African-American math and science teacher in 8th grade, Mrs. Chesson, will forever impress me with how smart she was and how I wanted to understand things the way that she did. When I struggled in high school math, she was who I came back to. Those educators taught me about race without ever teaching me about it intentionally. It was those interactions and the ones you share with kids today that help us fix things around us. In those ways, teachers are much more powerful than the justices of our Supreme Court, and I'm grateful.


Links to some great info on Brown vs Board:

Revisionist History Podcast
Data on School Progress Since Brown
Experiences of Students that Integrated our Schools

Rumor Has It

By Wednesday of this week, I didn't know what my message in the week's blog would be, but I did know that somehow, some way, it would center around rumors. To a degree, I'm used to rumors in a school this time of year. Teachers wonder if their administrators will be back next year or if they will be moved, promoted or choose to go to another school. Many of you know me well enough by now just to ask me. Likewise, administrators hear rumors about teachers leaving as well. Those are the normal May rumors. This year you can sprinkle in rumors about changes in teacher responsibilities for next year, class assignments, and budget impacts. Most of those rumors and what you hear are based on no fact at all, just conjecture or someone's opinion taken as fact and spread.

By early this week we added in a few "unnormal" rumors as well. I had a phone call inquiring about the school being for sale. This rumor was based on a prank by a student that posted an ad on Craigslist with a picture of the school for sale for $5000 and my personal number attached to it. (I'll give it to them, this was a good one.) Since then, the kids have been having fun with my phone throughout the week. Added to that there was the rumor that the whole school was infested with bed bugs (again not based in any fact) and it's been a fun week of rumors.

Some rumors are silly and harmless. Some are based in fear or insecurity. Some are hurtful to those that are implicated. No matter what the rumor is, rumors impact the reputation of people or organizations. The difference between a rumor and a fact is that there is evidence to support a fact. They also don't usually contain good news or a positive image. But maybe we can change that. In the spirit of this week's wild rumors, here are some that I'm starting. Feel free to spread these!

Rumor has it that Mr. Greene is pretty proud of Greene Central and thinks a lot of the students and teachers that come here.

I heard that Mr. Ginn got picked for Teacher of the Year because he does an excellent job balancing content and student relationships.

A student told me that their teachers and counselors are like family to them.

Mrs. Willis said that teachers at Greene Central do a great job with limited resources.

Mr. Jones thinks that teachers that take time to communicate with students and their families deserve a medal.

Who's To Blame

Most of us remember the hysteria about five years ago surrounding Toyota cars and a "glitch" that caused them to suddenly accelerate without warning. It was all over the nightly news reports, led to millions of recalled cars and a historic fine for the world's largest automaker. At the time, my wife owned a Camry, and I remember us discussing if we should trade it in or not.

Years later there has been a great deal of follow-up research on the event and the results would likely surprise you. There has never been ANY proof that there was EVER a software or mechanical defect in Toyota cars that led to sudden acceleration or accelerators sticking. There have even been contests that offered up to $1 million for anyone that could prove it. Most test believe that the casue of several incidents had nothing to do with the cars. In some incidents, all-weather mats were placed on top of the regular carpet mats. This led some to slide under the accelerator and possibly stick when pushed to the floor. In most cases, however, it is believed that people simply were pressing the accelerator when they thought that they were pressing the brake. It was also proven that even if the accelerator had been stuck wide open, simply pressing the brake would have stopped any Toyota vehicle.

So why is it that we never heard this? Why did countless news stories promote a a false story? Why did Toyota have to pay a fine? The answer lies in the fact that, as humans, we often find it much easier to blame something or someone rather than accept that our own actions cause our misfortune. In short, it is easier to blame. We are all guilty of it. As educators we've all acknowledged a change in the test or curriculum, a deficit in the students, a lack of parenting or a lack of supplies when things don't quite turn out like we had hoped. This time of year, I get to hear the blame from students on why they missed too many classes or why their grades are not passing.

Passing blame is often the opposite of growth. In fact, it is the resistance of growth. Despite what life throws at us, we often want to do what we have always done and we resist change. Metaphorically, we refuse to take our foot off the accelerator becasue we want to believe that it is the brake. So as we work with students and their last minute efforts to achieve and as we all look through Standard 5 of our Summative Evaluations, let's all try to look past the blame game. Reflection on what we each do and what we didn't do is the only thing that can lead to growth.