Education Blog

40% of American Teachers are Disheartened

nathane — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:01:49 -0500

By now many of you may have scene the report that came out this week from Public Agenda and Ed Week titled Teaching for a Living: How Teachers See the Profession Today.

It’s an absolutely gripping report and one that every teacher, principal, and policy maker should read. If we were smart, it would serve as the cornerstone to any policy debate we have about school reform. Sadly, that seems like wishful thinking.

In the report emerges a portrait of three clusters of educators: disheartened, contented, and idealists. The graphic below shows the primary traits of each group:

Looking through some of the general conclusions about these three groups, it’s striking how much the overall EXPERIENCE of being an educator is at the center of the report. Administrative leadership and student behavior, the two elements that truly form the heart of any single day outpace other qualities of job satisfaction.

Those of you who know my work, also know that what really jumps off the page for me is the teachers who report concerns about workplace conditions. Are we listening? Are policy makers listening?

Improving the context of teaching will improve the outcomes of teaching. It’s that simple. Improving the experience of being an educator is the simplest, cheapest, and perhaps most effective means of improving education. Are we listening?!

In this report, these are three groups of people in a pie chart. In the classrooms, these are real humans experiencing teaching in wildly different ways. The real litmus test of all of this is the students. I have sons. I want them to have teachers who fall far outside the parameters of “disheartened.” But that’s not up to my sons. That’s up to the principal, colleagues, and systems in which the teachers work.

I encourage you to read the report and speak up! The critical importance of this report (and hosts of others that report similar findings) is too stunning.

A Conversation about All Things Teaching

nathane — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:58:14 -0500

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of participating in a great event called "Policy and a Pint." Sponsored by Minnesota Public Radio and the Citizen's League, these events are open to the public, informal, and provide opportunities for lively conversations about current topics.

Amber Damm (Minnesota's Teacher of the Year) and I engaged in an interesting conversation as we fielded questions ranging from teacher salaries to Teach for America.

It was a great evening and I encourage you to find a bite of time to listen to this and feel free to chime in via the comments if you have further questions or feedback.

5:30 a.m. Running Group: A Metaphor

nathane — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:48:48 -0500

Okay. Maybe I’ve been wrong.

My friend Adam and I have run together off and on for a few months each Monday morning. I’ve skipped out on most. Our wives run together every other day at 5:30 a.m. and have done so for years. They never miss a run. Adam runs with a group of guys on the other days. And each week for the past year, he’s invited me to go and each time I say no.

Until this morning.

Generally, I fall on some common themes for why I won’t go running with Adam’s group:

1. I like to run alone.
2. 5:30 is too early for anyone to do anything.
3. I don’t like talking when I run.
4. I run better and enjoy it more when I have solitude.

But here’s the reality:

1. “I like to run alone” had turned into “I like to push snooze and skip runs.”
2. Anytime is too early to work out and I just came off the most out of shape summer I can remember.
3. Being with others is about the only thing that will actually get me to change course.
4. Solitude had turned into laziness.

Blech. It’s true. I just had lost my gumption sometime this summer. I knew it. I didn’t like it. And it bugged me. Adam and I went our Monday morning run this week, and jokingly, he said, “I’ll pick you up at 5:15 on Wednesday.” And I said, “Okay.”

So we got to Lake Harriet outside of downtown Minneapolis and met up with his normal group. But because most of them had just run the Twin Cities Marathon, it was actually just Adam, myself, and our friend Paul. I had some relief. At least I didn’t have to pair running with meeting new people. New, in shape, fast people.

The three of us embarked for two laps of the lake, double the distance I’ve been running and at a markedly faster pace. By the halfway point of lap one, my knees were barking and my head started to plan the exit strategy. I figured I’d sit in the car while they finished the second lap. Or maybe I’d just walk for a bit. My brain was deeply analytical about how it was going to save me from more exertion.

But when I suggested that I was going to duck out, Adam and Paul simply offered to slow it down a notch so that we could stay together and I could finish the run.

Suddenly, my knees didn’t ache quite as badly and my brain quieted. Once I was on the second lap, it wasn’t as if I were going to turn around or give up. The exertion was no longer that daunting. As long as I kept up with Adam and Paul who were aware of my limitations and adjusting accordingly, I was going to be okay.

And therein lies the metaphor.

I’m in the business of working with schools and educators around themes of collegiality. And I’m also trying to remind people not only of their need for community but also their personal limitations and boundaries.

The fact is, I wouldn’t have gotten up this morning to run by myself. I would have slept in. And once on the run, I would have chosen a pace and distance far below what I’m actually capable of. Were it not for my friends, I wouldn’t have even taken the first step. More importantly, winter is fast approaching. If I can’t get out of bed when it’s 80 and sunny, I REALLY won’t get out of bed when it’s 10 and snowing. It’s in times that are more trying that I’ll need to rely heavily on community. Don’t we all?

So whatever “I like to run alone” myths you might be espousing in your own life and career – those mantras we repeat but maybe don’t act upon – I encourage you to be more reasonable and accountable to yourself. You’re going to be able to go further and act more consistently when you take on goals in a community.

As for me, I’m going to go stretch. And start getting my head ready for Wednesday’s run.

Drawing a line.

nathane — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:46:38 -0500

This upcoming Thursday, I’m giving a keynote address and the Minnesota teachers’ union annual conference. The title of my talk is So! How are the adults?

It’s an honor to be asked to speak and I’m looking forward to it. But when they hand you a mic and give you an audience, you’re given also the challenge of saying something worthy of the invite itself. For the most part, my public speaking events are marked by polite suggestions. For some reason, I feel like be a little rowdy. Or boisterous. Sometimes you want to rattle cages.

Here are the themes I think I’ll explore:
1. Opportunities we lose or use everyday to take care of ourselves as individuals or each other as colleagues.
2. Absolutes we should carry in our behavior toward others. There is a right and a wrong to how we work with others.
3. Grounding the experience of working in schools in the reasons we chose this profession in the first place.

I’m feeling the most recalcitrant about item #2. I was in Omaha, NE last week working with administrators and teachers for a couple of days in a series of workshops. We got sort of riled up, in the good way. At one point in our discussion, something became very clear: there’s no excuse and no wiggle room about adults actually making each other’s jobs harder. Period. End of story.

That session propelled me to want to grab my address on Thursday by the ears and really give it a shake.

I have 3 days to prepare my thoughts. I’d love to hear from any of you who might have something to say about the strands I’m considering.

Minneapolis Event: CONSIDERING BEING A TEACHER?

nathane — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:05:33 -0500

I’d like to alert anyone in the Twin Cities area who is a teacher, knows a teacher, is considering becoming a teacher, or is curious about teaching to a cool event.

I’ve been invited, along with Minnesota Teacher of the Year Amber Damm,to participate in The Current’s Policy and a Pint series at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown next Thursday, Oct. 8.

Here’s how it’s described on the site:

What makes for a good teacher? What changes do we need to see in teaching to ensure the best futures for our children? How much input should parents have for their children’s education? How much responsibility should they take?

This is for teachers, parents and anyone from undergrads to career changers who is thinking “maybe I’d like to teach.”

Join host Steve Seel for a discussion with our special guests,
Amber Damm, Minnesota’s teacher of the year, and
Nathan Eklund, former teacher and author of “How was your day at school?” (He now works at the Search Institute.)

I’d love to see you there and please pass this onto anyone you think might be interested!

Working Hard at Enjoying Ourselves

nathane — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:50:20 -0500

I remember often talking with my students about those times of life when you’re able to say, “Whoa. I’m having a time of my life at this moment.” Face it: most days are relatively routine and mundane. More broadly, whole stretches of time can be rather unremarkable.

But these are not those times.

Something collective is happening. I see it in people’s tweets. I can see it on the faces of coworkers. I hear it in conversations. And I feel it myself. The phrase “in these rough economic times” has become some sort of ubiquitous mantra that permeates just about everything that we experience and sense in our lives. Not to be macabre, but it feels as though the world is playing itself out on a darkly hued backdrop that somehow affects nearly every facet of our lives – personally and collectively.

Of greatest concern to me is that even joy seems to be playing out on a landscape marked by general tension.

On my podium for years hung a cheesy, tattered poster. Some sort of shot of daisies in a big field. There was a Carl Sandburg quote on it though that has stuck with me and I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. It went something like this: “All times are good times if we but know what to do with them.”

So that’s the real question isn’t it? What do we do with times like these? These ARE tough times. We are trying to make do with what we’ve got some of the time. The issues we face as individuals, organizations, a nation, and the world are heavy ones. But guess what? These are the times we’ve been given. They’ll change of course. All things are temporary. But are we willing to wait for something to change before we accept these as good times?

I read a tweet a few minutes ago from a friend who works in some offices in the same building as Search. She wrote:
Know what today is? Today is “Let’s Have a Good Day, Dammit!” Day! I want smiles on those faces, people. SMILES. #optimismbyforce

Optimism my force. I love it. Sometimes it’s that force of will, the collective spirit of community and friends, that allows us to kick times like these in the teeth and decide that these are good times.

As for me, I’m going to run across the street and pick up some suckers and candy and bring them over to my friend’s office to help promulgate her forced optimism. Sometimes some Skittles might be the only the thing we need to tip a day toward optimism.

In Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem, On the Pulse of Morning, she writes: “The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.” I love that image of the horizon leaning forward, compelling us to move ahead.

She ends the poem this way:
“Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.”

Good morning. These are good times.

Reading for (Dis)Pleasure?

nathane — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:22:48 -0500

I was listening to this fantastic interview of Nancie Atwell and Mark Bauerline on Minnesota Public Radio's "Midmorning" show last week.

From the MPR website:
Nancie Atwell: Teacher, seventh and eighth grade English at the Center for Teaching and Learning, a nonprofit demonstration school. She's the author of "The Reading Zone: How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers."

Mark Bauerlein: Professor of English at Emory University and author of "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future."

In this great conversation, they discuss whether or not giving kids complete autonomy in choosing books in order to build their skills and appreciation of reading outweighs the potential harm done by forcing kids to read literature from the cannon.

It's a tough question for me personally because I taught high school English and made a living of getting kids to read books even when they didn't want to because the books were "good for them."

It's also tough for me because my 4th grade son is a fantastic reader, a kid who really churns through books. However, half of the books he reads seem like tripe. But. I'm glad he's reading.

So it's a tough debate. Is all reading good reading? Are classics important to the healthy development of a young person?

It's a well nuanced argument. Here at Search, we cite reading for pleasure as one of our Developmental Assets. It's number 25.

We don't necessarily suggest what they should be reading, we simply say that reading is important. But is reading important literature important?

I know I want kids to read. I want them to read a lot. I want them to read daily. So I suppose I personally think reading is good for reading's sake.

But I also know that I've seen kids get turned onto amazing questions and critical thinking via books that they maybe wouldn't have chosen themselves.

I wonder what my fellow teachers and parents think. Where do you stand on the debate?

Homework: Watch T.V.

nathane — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:36:03 -0500

Hello everyone.

One thing you don’t see enough of in mass media is a realistic depiction of American school life. Movies, t.v. shows, and most print media is usually either amazingly negative or overwhelmingly melodramatic.

So when you find a program that seems to be neither, it’s worthy of note.

PBS is airing a documentary called The Principal Story starting Tuesday, September 15. It looks utterly compelling.

As you visit the site, notice too that even prior to its airing, there’s already a robust debate in the comments section.

Here’s PBS’s description of the show:

The Principal Story tells two stories, painting a dramatic portrait of the challenges facing America’s public schools — and of the great difference a dedicated principal can make. Tresa Dunbar is a second-year principal at Chicago’s Nash Elementary, where 98% of students come from low-income families; in Springfield, Illinois, Kerry Purcell has led Harvard Park Elementary, with similar demographics, for six years. Tod Lending (Omar & Pete, POV 2005) and David Mrazek followed both women over the course of a school year, discovering each one’s unique styles yet similar passions. The Principal Story takes the viewer along for an emotional ride that reveals what effective educational leadership looks like in the 21st century.

I look forward to watching it and perhaps we can weigh here when it’s done.

Let the kids PLAY!

nathane — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:17:07 -0500

Well there you have it. Week one of school is over for my two sons. In case some of you were wondering about how my kindergartner’s first week went, he has flown threw delightfully. By morning two he pretty much rushed out the door without remembering to say good bye. I guess that’s a good thing? Today he’s having hot lunch: shrimp poppers. Each little milestone has some significance, today’s being his first exposure to shrimp.

Each day ends of course with mom and dad asking, “How was your day at school?” Our 4th grader is able to give a pretty good account of the minutiae that makes up a day at school. The kindergartner? Not so much. We’re not really sure how’s it going. He hasn’t really told us.

But we do hear about recess.

The boys have a bit of overlap at recess, which means that our younger son immediately ditches his classmates and runs over to join in with his brother and his friends. There’s not much we can do about that.

So far, football seems to be the sport du jour. The bulk of the narrative detail we’re getting is about the choosing of teams and a new addition this year: managing the play book. What?!

But this all goes to show the importance play takes in the lives on young people. Think about it. How much do YOU remember about your own time at recess as a young person? How much did you like gym? Let’s face it. Kids have a birthright to playing.

I read this great article today in the NY Times titled Let the Kids Play (Some More). In it, the writer Stuart Brown, founder and president of the National Institute for Play, author of “Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul,” writes that play is not just frivolity. Instead, it’s an essential part of being human and allows us to connect to our selves and joy and the core of what makes us human.

As we head into the long holiday weekend, I hope you and your children play a lot, play often, and play with abandon! In fact, I hope that everyday. Even when we go back to school.

First Day of School: The Saga Begins

nathane — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:17:58 -0500

I’d post about educational policy or workplace climate or some other topic. If I could form a full sentence. But I can’t. My younger son is halfway through his first day of kindergarten, and I can’t stop thinking about him.

He got on the bus today with his 4th grade brother, eyes full of nerves, excitement, confusion, and maybe a tinge of sadness. All of this was apropos, considering my wife and I had a similar melange of emotions running through us – especially the sadness part.

I remember when our first son went onto the school bus for his first day of kindergarten. Someone had told us that the years leading up to school sort of crawled by and that once school years started time would fleet by alarmingly quickly. Considering he’s now starting 4th grade, that has certainly held true.

We were also told that he would somehow be different at the end of his first day of school than he was at the beginning. And that too has held true. In the hours apart, he’s influenced by people we don’t know, learning things we haven’t taught him, and meeting friends we haven’t met. Each person and experience slowing shaping and re-shaping him in ways entirely out of our control.

I think that’s part of the sadness.

Peter’s only 5. And with school starting, that ends a period of sort of being the center of his sphere of influence. He’s now in the hands of a much larger world. And our job is to trust those hands and hope that they love and care for him as much as we do.

Despite his backpack reaching from the back of his head to his ankles, he already looked older and bigger simply walking down our familiar street to the bus stop. And somehow, when we see him tonight at the end of the day, he will have already changed and grown up even more.

While I already miss the smaller, younger version of Pete, I can’t wait to meet the emerging Pete. While I want him to stay a little boy forever, I can’t wait to see who he becomes now that he’s in school.

But mostly, I can’t wait to see you at the end of today.