My wife and I are expecting our first child in a few weeks. It is the most exciting time in our lives. We've read the books, did all of the research on baby stuff, and now we are anxiously awaiting this bundle of joy. As I am falling asleep at night, I think about how I can't wait to start teaching this kid everything (we don't know the gender of the baby). I want to read to it, teach it, show it how to do things, etc. As I contemplate the thought of wanting to give my baby the best possible education there can be, my thoughts turn to my students.
I need to approach each day at school as if my students are my own children. I would never settle for second best for my unborn child, and I can't ever settle for second best with my students. I'm sure there will be times that I am tired, but I will never stop trying with my baby. Being tired does not give me an excuse to keep pushing in school with my students.
My students are trusting me with their lives, as my baby will. They walk into my classroom each day thirsting for knowledge, whether they all know it or not. There is never time for me to not teach. There is never time for me to take it easy. I owe them... for providing me with the opportunity to teach them, to touch their lives. As a soon-to-be parent, I realize the gift we have in being able to educate more young people. I realize the beauty in being able to partner with parents in raising their children, and giving their children the best. I know I would want the same for my child.
Joseph Kastan
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Differentiated Instruction
Differentiated Instruction is a term thrown around every day in our school. Administrators tell teachers they must differentiate the instruction. Teachers say they are differentiating their instruction. Are we really succeeding at doing this? Is it actually possible to differentiate our instruction completely that it accommodates all of our students?
By the year 2050, whites will be a minority in the United States. Our schools are becoming more diverse and multi-cultural. Our classrooms are becoming more packed each day with students with different backgrounds and abilities. More kids are being diagnosed with learning disabilities than ever before. More regulations are granting students with exceptionalities access into the regular classrooms. This will all be taken care of by the teacher who differentiates his/her instruction?
Teaching is probably the most difficult profession out there nowadays. Teachers must prep each night, come in each day, and deal with dozens of "clients" each day, all from different backgrounds, all at the same time. The teacher is not only there to spit out information. They are there to teach. They are there to reach each and every single student: visual students, tactile students, auditory students. Teachers who stand at the front of the room and lecture will never reach everyone. Teachers need to use visual aids, class projects, lecture, and keep adding to the mix to reach all students in the class. With a bit of creativity and drive, teachers can achieve this successfully. It's just a matter of being up for today's challenge.
Joseph Kastan
By the year 2050, whites will be a minority in the United States. Our schools are becoming more diverse and multi-cultural. Our classrooms are becoming more packed each day with students with different backgrounds and abilities. More kids are being diagnosed with learning disabilities than ever before. More regulations are granting students with exceptionalities access into the regular classrooms. This will all be taken care of by the teacher who differentiates his/her instruction?
Teaching is probably the most difficult profession out there nowadays. Teachers must prep each night, come in each day, and deal with dozens of "clients" each day, all from different backgrounds, all at the same time. The teacher is not only there to spit out information. They are there to teach. They are there to reach each and every single student: visual students, tactile students, auditory students. Teachers who stand at the front of the room and lecture will never reach everyone. Teachers need to use visual aids, class projects, lecture, and keep adding to the mix to reach all students in the class. With a bit of creativity and drive, teachers can achieve this successfully. It's just a matter of being up for today's challenge.
Joseph Kastan
Silos
Our Head of School loves to assign reading materials to the administrative team. One book in particular was really great. The book is called "Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars" by Patrick Lencioni. This book is a very easy read and describes the biggest issue that is so commonplace in schools, organizations, and even corporations around the world: Silos!
We don't even realize it is happening. We form silos, little groups or cliques at work. We complain about other people at work, we form little armies around us to help us hate these other people at work. Mind you, those other people are in one of two places: Either they have no idea that they are upsetting you and will never be able to fix it, or they are talking about you just the same. Now, the problem is that we are not talking about any of this to each other, and we are not even trying to understand the other person's point of view. How many times does this situation happen to us at work? How many hours of potential productivity do we waste by being upset with someone, or talking about someone? But it's not even just an individual thing. It's whole departments that hate other departments. The buyers and sellers are fighting. The administration and faculty are bickering about each other. The wait staff is complaining about the kitchen staff. Instead, we can approach each other, or call a meeting, and try to understand what everyone's needs are. We can try to understand the other side, and perhaps we won't seem so perfect after all. We need to understand how silos can rip apart our organizations.
Joseph Kastan
We don't even realize it is happening. We form silos, little groups or cliques at work. We complain about other people at work, we form little armies around us to help us hate these other people at work. Mind you, those other people are in one of two places: Either they have no idea that they are upsetting you and will never be able to fix it, or they are talking about you just the same. Now, the problem is that we are not talking about any of this to each other, and we are not even trying to understand the other person's point of view. How many times does this situation happen to us at work? How many hours of potential productivity do we waste by being upset with someone, or talking about someone? But it's not even just an individual thing. It's whole departments that hate other departments. The buyers and sellers are fighting. The administration and faculty are bickering about each other. The wait staff is complaining about the kitchen staff. Instead, we can approach each other, or call a meeting, and try to understand what everyone's needs are. We can try to understand the other side, and perhaps we won't seem so perfect after all. We need to understand how silos can rip apart our organizations.
Joseph Kastan
Teach like your hair is on Fire!
The title to this blog sounds funny. The truth is, it's not my title. It's the title of a book I'm reading and highly recommend. Rafe Esquith authored this book about his experiences and successes in teaching. His success came through many years of trial and error, reflection, and hard work. It is evident through this book that teaching is his passion, something a lot of us have lost sight of along the hard road of educating children.
Rafe Esquith is a true inspiration to read about. His view of education is so pure. He is not one of those authors that raves about his successes and doesn't give practical advice on how to achieve it yourself. He actually tells the reader exactly what the reader can do with simple instructions and philosophies behind each of the things he does.
It is sad to see so many teachers dragging their feet to work, and running for the gates faster than most students at the end of the day. It's sad to see teachers that resist change, trying new things, and reflection. With a little bit of each of those things, many of us can achieve such successes with our students. It is sad to watch the mediocrity that has crept into so many of our classrooms.
It is time to get back to the days we started teaching. Those ideas days where we were all really looking forward to getting into that room and teaching those kids. It's time to get back to those days where nothing else mattered during class time, because we were so happy and involved with giving our students our best. It's time to, as Rafe Esquith puts it, teach like our hair is on fire!
Joseph Kastan
Rafe Esquith is a true inspiration to read about. His view of education is so pure. He is not one of those authors that raves about his successes and doesn't give practical advice on how to achieve it yourself. He actually tells the reader exactly what the reader can do with simple instructions and philosophies behind each of the things he does.
It is sad to see so many teachers dragging their feet to work, and running for the gates faster than most students at the end of the day. It's sad to see teachers that resist change, trying new things, and reflection. With a little bit of each of those things, many of us can achieve such successes with our students. It is sad to watch the mediocrity that has crept into so many of our classrooms.
It is time to get back to the days we started teaching. Those ideas days where we were all really looking forward to getting into that room and teaching those kids. It's time to get back to those days where nothing else mattered during class time, because we were so happy and involved with giving our students our best. It's time to, as Rafe Esquith puts it, teach like our hair is on fire!
Joseph Kastan
Kohlberg
I've been reflecting on different things in our school systems. It seems that somewhere along the lines, we forget the fundamental ideas we all learned from the works of Piaget and Kohlberg. I am speaking of Kohlberg's stages of moral development. We all want our students to graduate from stage 1 of their moral development. Just as a reminder, stage 1 is where we follow the rule only in fear of punishment.
We need to reflect on how we run our schools. Is our discipline system being followed because of fear of punishment? Do our students understand why those rules are in place? Do they honestly believe in a need for social laws and order? Do they understand that our policies are for general social order in the school? Even further, have we created policies that are really there to just promote social order, without any other agendas?
What about the things we ask students to do? The community service, the activities, etc. Do the students do all fulfill those things because the rule says they have to do a certain amount of hours, or do they do them because they feel they are the right thing to do? Are we setting them up for success with these programs, and ensuring that they move up the stages of moral development?
It's time for us to go back to our roots. It's time for us to take a real look at the things we do, the policies and programs we put in place.
We need to reflect on how we run our schools. Is our discipline system being followed because of fear of punishment? Do our students understand why those rules are in place? Do they honestly believe in a need for social laws and order? Do they understand that our policies are for general social order in the school? Even further, have we created policies that are really there to just promote social order, without any other agendas?
What about the things we ask students to do? The community service, the activities, etc. Do the students do all fulfill those things because the rule says they have to do a certain amount of hours, or do they do them because they feel they are the right thing to do? Are we setting them up for success with these programs, and ensuring that they move up the stages of moral development?
It's time for us to go back to our roots. It's time for us to take a real look at the things we do, the policies and programs we put in place.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Technology in our Classrooms
I just finished writing a literature review for my Trends and Issues class at Nova Southeastern University. It seems that there has been a 300% increase in technology spending for schools over the past three decades. That is a big growth spurt for any type of industry. Schools are reaching and trying to keep up with the technological growth. Schools don't want to be considered "behind the 8-ball" in terms of having technology in the classroom as other schools do.
However, through my research I have discovered several issues that we must consider. First of all, schools are making a lot of the technology decisions (although with good intentions at heart) from the top down. Technology is bought and handed down to the teachers with a mandate to use it in their classrooms. That makes teachers very resistant and anxious about technology. They are not familiar with this new thing in their classroom or how to use it. This leads to the next issue...
Teachers have less and less planning time. New technology keeps coming in, but teachers hardly have time to get mentoring on how to use the technology. Moreover, they do not have time to sit with other teachers who may be using the technology, and they definitely do not get enough time with the principal to understand how their administration would like to see the technology being used. Furthermore, a lot of teachers are not that technologically-savvy. This adds to the problem even more.
Next, what evaluation tools do we have in place to test if the technology is really working? Are we using the technology as a marketing tool to tell others that our school has these things? Or are we actually evaluating these technologies to make sure it is helping our students understand and retain information any more than they would have without it. I've found through my research that a lot of students really do not see the value in having more technology in the classroom and do not feel like they are learning any better than before.
We must understand how we make our technology purchases. We should include teachers on the purchasing decisions. If teachers know their issues in their classrooms, research and find technology that will help with those issues, and come forward and recommend that technology, than we have a winner. This means the teacher is motivated to learn about, and use, this particular technology. This should be the way we make our purchasing decisions.
Once bought, we must set up a real mentoring system for teachers to understand how to use the technology as efficiently and effectively as possible. Lastly, we need to evaluate whatever technology system we put into place.
Otherwise, technology will end up being a distraction as opposed to an asset in our classrooms.
Joseph Kastan
However, through my research I have discovered several issues that we must consider. First of all, schools are making a lot of the technology decisions (although with good intentions at heart) from the top down. Technology is bought and handed down to the teachers with a mandate to use it in their classrooms. That makes teachers very resistant and anxious about technology. They are not familiar with this new thing in their classroom or how to use it. This leads to the next issue...
Teachers have less and less planning time. New technology keeps coming in, but teachers hardly have time to get mentoring on how to use the technology. Moreover, they do not have time to sit with other teachers who may be using the technology, and they definitely do not get enough time with the principal to understand how their administration would like to see the technology being used. Furthermore, a lot of teachers are not that technologically-savvy. This adds to the problem even more.
Next, what evaluation tools do we have in place to test if the technology is really working? Are we using the technology as a marketing tool to tell others that our school has these things? Or are we actually evaluating these technologies to make sure it is helping our students understand and retain information any more than they would have without it. I've found through my research that a lot of students really do not see the value in having more technology in the classroom and do not feel like they are learning any better than before.
We must understand how we make our technology purchases. We should include teachers on the purchasing decisions. If teachers know their issues in their classrooms, research and find technology that will help with those issues, and come forward and recommend that technology, than we have a winner. This means the teacher is motivated to learn about, and use, this particular technology. This should be the way we make our purchasing decisions.
Once bought, we must set up a real mentoring system for teachers to understand how to use the technology as efficiently and effectively as possible. Lastly, we need to evaluate whatever technology system we put into place.
Otherwise, technology will end up being a distraction as opposed to an asset in our classrooms.
Joseph Kastan
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