Edu Change & Student Advocacy

     Recently, a college professor of philosophy at the University of Houston-Clear Lake published a message to his incoming freshmen about what they could expect from him when they arrive in his class this fall ( see complete article here ).      He went on a virtual tirade of professional threats/promises centered around the fact that, according to him, he’s not their teacher, but their professor. Additionally, he painted a picture of K-12 education teaching and learning that is ignorant at best and arrogant at worst.      One of his central mantras said, “It is no part of my job to make you learn. At university, learning is your job - and yours alone. My job is to lead you to the fountain of knowledge.”      This is problematic on many fronts.      One, the tone is not one of inspiration or of leadership, but rather an arrogant one that is condescending, intimidating and even threatening.     ...

     Recently, a local story was picked up nationally about a high school that was not going to allow a Native American student to wear a feather in her graduation cap. For more info, see the link here ( http://goo.gl/vM3lZU ).      Their rationale was that the district has to “maintain the integrity of the graduating class.” First of all, what does that mean? Is that gobbly gook edu speak or what?      In the end, they may have decided to wisely reverse their decision. However, there will be plenty of these kinds of rules at thousands of graduations at American high schools in the coming weeks.      For better or worse, graduations serve as one of the foundational rites of passage in our culture. These graduation ceremonies mean a great deal to parents, grandparents, families, educators and communities. But they are also extremely important to the graduates themselves. They serve as their rite of passage to adulthood. ...

     A number of years ago, a veteran and almost retiring science teacher shared a rather profound thought with me that has continued to provide me great reflection.      He said, “Why don’t we make all schools like the two things that people care about and that actually work? Sports and the Arts.” For a moment, I thought he was being somewhat facetious. But he was really acknowledging the success of those and wanted the rest of school to pay attention.      We both exchanged thoughts on this for awhile and presumed that we were on to something. It's true. Sports, Band, Choir, Drama and so on have always engaged students and their communities. Why? Maybe it’s not that complicated.      First of all, they are PUBLIC. That’s right. All sporting contests and arts performances have public culminating activities on a regular basis. Both sports and the arts have fans and audiences.      In addition to b...

     We read and hear a lot about the importance of relationships in the field of education. It’s mentioned in numerous writings, trainings, meetings and programs. Most educators agree that it is important. I would argue that it, in the end, is the most important. Indeed, learning cannot be maximized or optimized without great relationships. Secondly, students will only have a potentially transformational experience if they connect with and truly enjoy working with their teachers. (Photos Courtesy of Minarets High School and Buchanan High School)      Here are some practical tips of how to approach enhancing one’s relationships with any and all students: 1) Accessibility - make yourself available. Personally, I was giving out my cell phone number since that technology emerged. I figured if my students wanted to contact me, they should be able to. They usually don’t need to. But when they did, it was almost always easy communication for me and imp...

     I recently had an epiphany. Ok, it’s a reminder, if you will, of what is truly missing in education. If we really want our schools, and ultimately the learning experiences for all students, to be transformational, we have some basic, yet very foundational things that have to be addressed.      And these foundational things have nothing to do with technology, standards, assessments, or other things that we are heavily engaged in and working on feverishly.      I was reminded of what needs to be done, for example, as I see many schools and classrooms integrating technology. I realize that unless we address pedagogy, but more importantly teacher mindset, technology won’t change or enhance much of anything. And again, I could say this for the rest of aforementioned items as well.      So, what are these basic, yet foundational items related to mindset that will help us truly transform our classrooms for all students? Here ...