TLN Teacher Voices

Get Out Your Sticky Notes

During some discussion about the lack of teacher "buy in" when school policies are put in place with little teacher input, one high school teacher in the Network wrote:

For the first time this year I had my students write what they considered THE No. ONE rule they would have for a class and post their "sticky" on the board. As they did so, they not only saw their classmates' comments, but those of other students from other classes.

I compiled their responses under three headings: Attitude, attentiveness, preparation (there were also rules for the teacher). Most of the "rules" from every class contained the word "respect" somewhere, plus various versions of the Golden Rule. The class rules we will abide by this year have come 100% from the kids! It is too early to see the effect this year, but so far, it has taken only a simple reminder in one class to remind them of what THEY have created.

I wonder how a school might function if the guidelines for school success were teacher-generated instead of administrator-generated?!

The Truth about PLCs

During a thorough and thoughtful discussion of the "professional learning community" movement sweeping through America's public schools, members of the Teacher Leaders Network distinguish between the latest "buzzword" of school administrators and the potential power of true teacher collaboration.

"PLC is not a structure that can be imposed upon a group," says Gail R. "Rather, a group forms around a common issue and over time, grows or develops into a PLC. PLC is not something you 'do,' it's something you 'are'."

Read more!

Mulling Over Single Gender Education

Linda, a teacher-coach in south Florida, shared this report recently during the Teacher Leaders Network daily discussion.

As part of the Summer Demonstration School Project, Miami-Dade had two single gender schools open this summer, spanning grades 6-10. The Young Women's Leadership Academy has opened as a full-time school this year, and the Young Men's will open next fall.

Those who worked in the project are still mulling over their reflections and trying to mine the nuggets of truth about single gender education they uncovered in their work. Because half their teaching day was spent in collaboration with their colleagues, they had time to think extensively about their situations, discussing related texts and adjusting their teaching practices to fit their emerging learning.

Many began the summer skeptical about there really being a difference in the brains of boys and girls, and thus their learning processes. But everyone came to see how different successful approaches were with the two sexes -- even in the final gallery display of the work from all of the schools.

The boys display was mostly mono-tonal and clean and clear, very to the point. The girls had butterflies and hearts and was like an explosion of media. In their community action projects, the boys had worked on practical issues like creating inexpensive hurricane kits, and exploring how speed bumps impacted a living community. The girls were counting M and M colors, and writing really creative letters to inform the executives of the discrepencies they were finding.

Both groups tackled community issues like bullying and violence, and how they might become leaders to improve their communities. But the girls chose debate forums, followed by groups creating action plans. The boys were more apt to create videos or visuals of their work. Both were deep and thoughtful, but the presentation styles were quite different.

It will be interesting to watch as both students and teachers explore the possibilities of this context.

ABC's Vision Not 20/20

On Friday, September 1, 2006, ABC's 20/20 aired a follow-up report on John Stossel's "Stupid in America," an inflammatory critique of America's public schools. Several TLN members who watched the show shared reflections in our daily discussion group. Here's what Georgia had to say:

It's interesting how we all hope for the best from the news media. Working on the best assumptions is how so many excellent teachers reach students others have said are unreachable. It's our optimistic approach to problem solving. For TV networks it's much different. They don't want to rally the masses with positive reporting. For them it's a ratings "war" and there can never be a winner or even positive press in such a competitive network environment.

For folks like John Stossel and ABC's 20/20, using the negative extremes to ignite the public is exactly what they want to create an interest and reignite public debate about the voucher issue. I wish I had counted the number of times he said the word "voucher" during the segment. The irony is that even with a voucher many of those families, especially around the southeast will end up back in their neighborhood public schools because of another amazing phenomenon.

That amazing phenomenon is reflected every year in the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of public views on education. Responders to the poll note that American schools might be in turmoil, but almost in the same breath they will then say, "I'm certainly glad my child (children) are attending "school xyz" instead of those "awful" schools I've heard about from the news. For them the rest of the US public schools might have gone to you-know-where in a handbasket, but our school is doing just fine. The Poll's commentary notes that we don't fear what we know, work with and are comfortable with.

We just went through mandatory redistricting in our school system. Parents brought lawsuits to stop the plan so their children would not have to leave the school where they felt comfortable. The plan was implemented even though the court case is still pending. New parents to the school where I teach all voiced the same concerns. They had "heard" that we are a low performing school because we did not make AYP this year or last. We missed out on one small subgroup both years and we are vigorously addressing that.

Now only after one week of school those same fearful parents are singing our praises and joining PTA. They've had a chance to talk with us, meet us and listen to their children tell happy tales of their first week of school. They don't see us as the monsters they were lead to believe.

John Stossel and all other news folks will continue to create and tell many horror stories about people who call themselves "teachers" who cheat or molest children or sit in rooms wasting taxpayer dollars, because it's what their bosses expect of them, but we will continue to refute them one child, one parent, one classroom, one school, one district at a time.