The most amazing thing happened this morning. The student no one else wanted and was on his way out of the building, most likely to jail, asked me why my TA was upset. I told him what had happened and he was immediately empathetic and walked over and gave her a hug showing great compassion. He asked her i she was alright and then, asked her if she wanted to do something she and I ask our kids when they are upset. "Do you want to take a walk..."
The mood lightened immediately and the results of the hard work paid off...he get's it! I love being a teacher, there is no better profession in the world...period.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Sunday, March 8, 2015
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/03/ann_arbor_schools_narrowing_ac.html?ath=f0cc6753cfa01bb98d8ee208c1071c32#cmpid=nsltr_strybutton
Data, data, data, and guess what, after 30 years of working at it, a little bit of progress, according to the data...interesting how the article author parses the data to make a political point. The gap is roughly the same between black and white as it is between SocioEconomic Status (SES), poor and not poor. I wish we would focus on the actual problem, which is not race. Interestingly enough, while the Asia population and black population in A2 are approximately the same, there is very little mention of the Asian educational standing.
I have argued over and over the "gap" that we really should be attacking is the one that exists in SES. Students that come from homes where education IS valued but not modeled will struggle in school. If you adjust for SES, the "racial" educational gap shrinks significantly.
Students who come from poorer families are exposed to less words, which are fundamental in both education and testing. They tend to have less food and often rely on the food they get at school for their meals and typically live in areas that are more "toxic" than those of wealthier students and are living in a much more stressful environment.
It is hard to be successful in school when your main concerns are what, if anything, will I eat today, tomorrow, or whenever. It is hard to be successful in education when you don't have an appropriate place, or a place at all to study. It is hard to be successful in education when you are told learning is important but no one in the home models the importance of education. This is not an issue of skin color but rather a condition of poverty. When survival is the first and most important factor in your life it is hard to find value in learning history, or math or english.
In order to really attack and narrow the educational gap we cannot just concentrate on the schools, we have to look to the homes, communities and neighborhood issues that facilitate underachievement of students in lower areas of SES.
Education is pivotal and foundational in our society, we simply must do better!
"Educate and inform the whole masses....They are the only sure reliance of the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson
Data, data, data, and guess what, after 30 years of working at it, a little bit of progress, according to the data...interesting how the article author parses the data to make a political point. The gap is roughly the same between black and white as it is between SocioEconomic Status (SES), poor and not poor. I wish we would focus on the actual problem, which is not race. Interestingly enough, while the Asia population and black population in A2 are approximately the same, there is very little mention of the Asian educational standing.
I have argued over and over the "gap" that we really should be attacking is the one that exists in SES. Students that come from homes where education IS valued but not modeled will struggle in school. If you adjust for SES, the "racial" educational gap shrinks significantly.
Students who come from poorer families are exposed to less words, which are fundamental in both education and testing. They tend to have less food and often rely on the food they get at school for their meals and typically live in areas that are more "toxic" than those of wealthier students and are living in a much more stressful environment.
It is hard to be successful in school when your main concerns are what, if anything, will I eat today, tomorrow, or whenever. It is hard to be successful in education when you don't have an appropriate place, or a place at all to study. It is hard to be successful in education when you are told learning is important but no one in the home models the importance of education. This is not an issue of skin color but rather a condition of poverty. When survival is the first and most important factor in your life it is hard to find value in learning history, or math or english.
In order to really attack and narrow the educational gap we cannot just concentrate on the schools, we have to look to the homes, communities and neighborhood issues that facilitate underachievement of students in lower areas of SES.
Education is pivotal and foundational in our society, we simply must do better!
"Educate and inform the whole masses....They are the only sure reliance of the preservation of our liberty." Thomas Jefferson
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