Some random thoughts about undiscussed topics in Spring

MISSED THAT WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY.  p. 57. Thomas Jefferson wanted to “wait until reason matures” to teach morality.  Piaget says that Formal Operations doesn’t begin until age 11 or 12.  If you delay instruction in morals until then, I don’t think it’ll make much of a dent in the child’s ingrained behaviors.

THE BARD AS A SCHOOL BOY. Hearing about the grammar schools teaching Latin and Greek was interesting, because Shakespeare was educated through grammar school. I’d always thought it was only comparable to elementary school or 8^th grade at most.  Shakespeare makes plenty of references/allusions to the classics and mythology, so it makes sense that he would have learned Latin and Greek.

SO THERE.  The Anglos in Pennsylvania initiated their campaign to alienate the German kids from their language and heritage, but it didn’t work.  Even today, we still speak of the Pennsylvania-Dutch (Dutch, really referring to German “Deutsch”). The subgroup didn't fade away.

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME TEA?  The culture of Britain was extended into the New World.  I thought it had just happened that way.  I didn’t know it was a premeditated plan to try to push the English culture past the island and to make its mark on the world.  But on p. 25, we learn that building the British culture in North America was premeditated!  Since the Brits were better than the Irish, American Indians, India Indians, and people of any “colour,” it was their "duty," their "burden" to lead the others.  The sun never sets on the British Empire, it was said, but under the reign of the King’s Speech king, the empire loosened ties with all those colonies and became a commonwealth with a lot less British say-so.  Like that king didn’t have enough problems already with WWII.

THE DESTROYERS WON. So the plan was to de-culture the Native Americans.  Well, it may have taken longer than they wanted, but by comparison so few people alive today know the old Native American languages.  Even fewer can read or write them.  The customs and oral stories are largely lost.  The remnant, displaced onto hostile arid land, struggles with alcoholism and unemployment.  Cultures are shattered, not to mention, so many lives.

DOUBLE TIERS OF SCHOOLS.  In the early days there were reading and writing schools and the better grammar schools.  Later Jefferson still advocated for schools for regular folks and those for future leaders.  Despite schools as the great equalizer, maintaining the system of have’s and have not’s has still been predominant.

VOTE FOR THE SCHOOLS!  On p.79, Spring talks about Ohio schools being financed by rent from land.  Was that the beginning of our unconstitutional property tax method of funding? 
Even back then, they were trying to convince people to help pay for  schools, even if they had no kids.  The same arguments continue today whenever a school levy is on the ballot.  Yet in our district, the problem is not the elderly vote, our levies more often fail in the precincts that are wealthy, where people are probably over-extended on their mortgages and bills. 

QUOTE WITHIN A QUOTE.  On p. 84, Spring quotes Horace Mann’s notes.  Horace had actually quoted the line about “Train up a child…” from the Bible.  Proverbs 22:6.

STIFF UPPER LIP.  p. 106.  Provocative quote about the up-tight Anglo’s being afraid of the “sensuous and emotional rhythms” of Black and Native American music and of the ritual of the Catholic church.

OH, WE MEANT "DECEITFUL" IN THE NICEST WAY.  p. 112  The Catholic parents were pleased to hear that the Public School Society was trying to take the anti-Catholic spin out of the text books.  'Guess the Society was sleeping on the job when an approved book talked about the “deceitful Catholics.”  Yeah, no bias there.  Not at all.

Spring, Joel. The American School: A Global Context from the Puritans to the
     Obama Era. 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. Print. 

Mildly amusing story: We're the only white guys in here.

"J" is the husband of a family with whom my husband and I are friends.  We attend the same church.  I've had two of their three kids in class.  They're all smart and funny.  I was working with J. on the church website tonight, and I remembered a story he'd told me in the past.  I realized his anecdote kind of fits in with the racial and cultural clashes we've been reading about.

J. used to travel for work.  On this particular occasion, he was in the San Francisco area, traveling with another computer guy from Kansas.  There was a particular Chinese restaurant they often visited.  It wasn't Chinese American.  It was Chinese.  They couldn't read the menu so they pointed to what they saw on other plates to order.  They couldn't read prices, so they spread out their money and let the server pick out the bills that were needed.  

One evening when they were there, the co-worker turned to J. and said, "You and I are the only white guys in here."  J. knew what he meant and laughed.  Why was it funny?  J. is African-American, not even light-skinned.  The friend meant to say, "We're the only two who aren't Asian" or "We're the only two who are culturally American."  But J. understood that the co-worker meant that J. was the only one who was culturally and linguistically similar to him.  J. says the co-worker was not particularly enlightened about diversity and that  that evening may also have been the first time the co-worker realized that someone Black could be more like him than unlike him.

I wish for a time when people would be so quick to see our similarities, rather than to dwell on our differences.

Some Random Thoughts from Part 1 of the Canestrari/Marlowe Book

"Teacher Man"

I enjoyed the list of teacher roles on page 3, and I’ve even found myself in the unlikely position of singer and dancer.  Likewise the list of student roles on page 4 really rings true.  I’ve met those kids along the way.  J

There have been plenty of times I've sent up desperate prayers for something I said in class.  "Oh no!  Me and my big mouth again! Please don’t let me get in trouble."  But how can you talk all day, day after day and not sometimes slip up?  I've tried to discipline myself not to use sarcasm, but sometimes the kids do or say things that are just unbelievable, like not bringing a writing utensil to an exam or expecting you to provide all the school supplies for their project. 

Calling him Teacher Man?  I guess they were being disrespectful, so it had to stop.  However, I’ve had kids call me “Teach” or “DH” in a sense of comfort and familiarity.  Not only did I not see it as a problem, but I liked it. 

McCourt, Frank. "Teacher Man." Educational Foundations: An
     Anthology of Critical Readings. Ed. Bruce A. Marlowe and Alan S.
     Canestrari. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. 3-7. Print.

"The Green Monongahela"

These quotes really resonated with me. 

p. 10 "It bothered me more that the work I was doing seemed to have very little importance--even to the people who were paying for it"

p. 11 “I needed something to do that wasn't absurd more than I needed another party or a new abstract number in my bankbook.”

p. 12 Milagros' problem "had shown me how I could find my own significance in teaching just as those strong men in the riverboats and trains had found their own significance."

My college “Little Sis” bought me a coffee cup that satirized the usual put down of “Those who can’t do, teach.”  The cup said, “Those who can, teach.  All others go into some less significant line of work.”

Gatto, John Taylor. "The Green Monongahela." Educational Foundations: An
     Anthology of Critical Readings. Ed. Bruce A. Marlowe and Alan S.
     Canestrari. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. 8-14. Print.

"Death at an Early Age"

Stephen would be in his 50's now. Did he survive?  Did he overcome?  I hope so. 

The teachers in our art department would be surrounding Stephen with accolades for his originality and creativity.  Thank goodness times have changed a bit.

Why didn't the regular teacher defend Stephen to the art teacher?  Why didn’t he inform about the abuse?  Granted, there was no 1-800-Kids phone number back then, but still…

I found this essay very moving.  Poor Stephen felt so worthless that he crumpled and micro-folded his papers, like he didn’t exist.  His comment about how he couldn’t be a rat because he had no tail, reminded me of Kafka’s short story, “Metamorphosis,” in which the narrator is so alienated that he literally turns into a cockroach.

On p. 19 poor little Stephen would do anything just to get some attention and matter some way, some how.  It reminded me of a poem.  It’s old, though not “classic,” but its pain is obvious.

 “Matter” by Louis Untermeyer

When I was a live man

A long time ago,

For all I might say,

For all I might do,

I got no attention.

My life was so small,

The world didn't know

I was living at all.

Such stolid indifference

I could not allow.

I'd make myself matter,

Nevermind how.

But after a lifetime

Of hunger and prayer,

I broke my heart

Trying to make the world care.

And now as I lie here,

Feeding this tree,

I mean more to the world

Than it means to me.
(Once found in a book; memorized, unable to find again)

Kozol, Jonathan. "Death at an Early Age:  The Destruction of the Hearts and Minds

     of Negro Children in the Boston Public Schools." Educational Foundations: An
     Anthology of Critical Readings. Ed. Bruce A. Marlowe and Alan S. Canestrari.

      2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. 15-20. Print.

"Why Teach?"

p. 22 “I enjoy playing games and building things that have no particular purpose…”  I can’t even do that anymore.  Every moment is spent on work or something else purposeful.  I want to learn how to play again.

p. 22  “My self-justification is that the games I play and the things I explore all contribute to making a curriculum that will engage and interest my students.”   Wow, this was written in 1976.  I was going to say, how on earth does he get to make his own curriculum?  Everything’s all spelled out now.

p. 25 Second full paragraph:  a list of skills/things to know.  Having a broad repertoire of interests and skills enriches a person’s teaching. 

p. 26 Losing 15 pounds from running around with little kids.  Far different than the life of a high school English teacher.  Sit at the computer and put in grades.  Sit at the computer and email parents.  Sit at the computer and make materials for the lesson.  Sit and read for the lesson.  Sit and grade compositions.  Sometimes I read while exercising, but it’s not as efficient.  Sit doing college homework during the summer.  Unchain me from the computer!

p. 26 “Teachers who try to be kind often find themselves taken advantage of, while those who assume a strict stand are constantly tricked and mocked.  It takes time and experience to win the respect of young people and not be considered their enemy in the context of a traditional American school.”   The leniency/strictness thing is hard, perhaps the toughest place to find the right balance.  In the “olden days,” students responded in a Live and Let Live, Respond in Similar Fashion kind of way.  If I taught with humor and creativity, they almost always responded and rose to the occasion.  Not the case anymore.  Classroom management can be easy or really, really tough.  

Kohl, Herbert. "Why Teach?" Educational Foundations: An
     Anthology of Critical Readings. Ed. Bruce A. Marlowe and Alan S.
     Canestrari. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. 21-31. Print

Some Random Thoughts from the Bushnell Article

IMPROVISATION.  The Bushnell article talked about improvisation.  On Tatyana’s blog she talked about how a person must really be an expert musician to be able to effectively and confidently improvise.  I agree.  She also talked about improvising as a teacher.  I agree.  As a teacher, one of my favorite sensations occurs when a student asks a question that takes us off on a bit of tangent from the lesson.  I have to dig deep down into the ancient history of  my education and remember some obscure aspect of botany or genetics or history and answer the question, field the follow-up questions, and gently lead us back to the topic.  Because we were discussing questions of student interest, the students are engaged in that teachable moment.  There’s nothing like it.  As the students file out, I’m practically glowing with satisfaction.  Those moments are rare, but that’s partly why they’re so precious.

MEMORIZATION: BAD.  Absolutes and recitation.  Everything has its place, but never should be employed at the expense of teaching kids how to do critical thinking.  In our discussion, someone mentioned an education of mostly rote memorization being in conflict with creating responsible citizens in a democracy.  Too late, I remembered an example from Animal Farm.  The leaders teach the populace to recite, “Four legs good; two legs bad.”  (Trust animals/communists, not people/capitalists.) And the sheep are taught to chant this to drown out dissenting points of view.  When the political tide changes, the tractable sheep are re-programmed to chant, “Four legs good; two legs better.”

MEMORIZATION: GOOD. Recitation is useful for times tables and some other things.  An elementary teacher had the class memorize some inspirational poems, which I remembered long after high school.  A sixth grade teacher made us recite the definitions of the parts of speech and a list of prepositions each morning.  I resented it then, but knowing those things stone cold was a great help many times, like analyzing and proofreading my own writing. 

For my kids, I’ve set the definitions of the parts of speech to music.  Because it’s easy to remember music, the “musical definitions” give the students an opportunity to learn the definitions and have the same benefits, but without the pain and suffering of rote.  Think how easy it is to remember a song.  "1-800-Safe Auto…" What’s next?  You know!  You can hear it in your head!

 Here’s my adjective song to the tune of “There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o.  B-I-N-G-O.”  Remember that one from school or camp?

An adjective describes a noun, tells which one and which kind-o.

(B-I-N-G-O section) Shiny fast new Porsche 

Pat’s wild racing horse

These five purple squash

And rubb’ry yellow Jell-O.

Pronouns to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Pre-po-si-tion:   "on the sea,"     

"in our language," "through the tree."

Tell   po-si-tion:   next   to,   toward,       

Under,  over, at, aboard.       .                    

Tell   re-la-tion-ships:   about,          

from, until, except, without.     

Some of the other songs are shorter with only the definition and a couple examples, but because they’re shorter, they’re not quite as much fun.  The pleasure of a parody is in how well it mimics the original.

MORE ON THINKING SKILLS.  We also discussed high stakes testing rarely tapping critical thinking skills.  When I make a unit test, I purposely design it to include questions that require higher level thinking (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation from Bloom’s Taxonomy).  On the OGT, a bigger concern than real thought is learning to follow the proper pattern for answering short and extended response questions.  Another plus on the OGT is maintaining interest long enough just to finish it. 

BUMMER.  The article talked about a girl who built a model of a Greek building to honor her Greek heritage.  (Should we be thinking about 3-D representations for our autobiographies too?)  Unfortunately, the building is identified as the Pantheon.  The Pantheon is in Rome, but the Parthenon is at the top of the mountain in Greece. 


Bushnell, Mary, and Sue Ellen Henry. "The Role of Reflection in Epistemological
     Change: Autobiography in Teacher Education." Educational Studies 34.1
     (2003): 48-59. Print. 

Rant! How Do I Fix the Past?

I was glad when Dr. Shutkin talked today about historians judging the past through the lens of the present. That has crossed my mind from time to time while reading Spring's book. He seems critical that people ever taught religion in school. (I understand that fear nowadays:  if I had kids, I wouldn't want them being indoctrinated by someone during school hours.) But the pilgrims risked their lives crossing the ocean to make their own settlement in the New World. Why wouldn't they teach what they wanted to in their schools?



BUT I'm almost physically sickened by the injustice and inhumanity shown by the early Americans to the groups against whom they discriminated. Hating the Irish. Disparaging immigrants. Dehumanizing the free Blacks and slaves. Purposefully destroying the Native American cultures and the populations themselves.  My soul cries out to fix it and make it right. But there's nothing to be done. I can help people now, but I can't change the past.

How about, for starters, giving blankets infected with smallpox to the Native Americans and wiping out whole villages?  Then as we read the history of American education, the list of arrogant wrongdoings just gets longer and longer. The whole attitude of people traveling from somewhere else and thinking they have the right to take over is founded on the belief that they're superior and deserve to do whatever they want. Kicking the Native Americans off their sacred homelands. Killing with wild abandon. Deciding their cultures didn't matter. Sending them from rich forests to inhospitable, arid western territory. Using deceitful tactics to steal the land. Breaking their hearts. (Have you read Chief Joseph's brief speech that includes the famous line, "I will fight no more forever"? So grief-stricken!) And soon we'll read about the boarding schools where the Native American youth were virtually brainwashed against their culture. (Regarding Native American students, Spring quotes Commissioner of Education Harris that the boarding schools will make an “effort  ‘to obtain control of the Indian at an early age, and to seclude him as much as possible from the tribal influences.’”  p. 182.) Those tribal influences only happen to include his or her heritage and family!

Brainwashing kids. 'Reminds me of the Hitler Youth.

And the African Americans. I hadn't realized the reach of segregated schools, even up in the north. I thought, with so many abolitionists, the North had at least been a little more enlightened. But no. And then there's Boston, where the law said Blacks could be educated in the regular common schools, but they were treated so poorly by the Whites that the Black parents wanted a segregated school. How's that for irony? Most places segregated to discriminate. In one place that didn't legally discriminate, the parents chose segregation in self-defense. However, even with help from philanthropists, the schools were still substandard (p. 119). How many times did the Black schools receive worse teachers or out of date cast off books from the White schools? Just as the Southern landowners put their consciences on "hibernate" so they could be in denial about their own brutality to the kidnapped slaves--their fellow human beings-- likewise, the educators and government officials shut down their consciences and did whatever was expedient to keep slaves and ex-slaves in submission.

Maybe I'm looking through history's lens too. I never lived in fear of a war with Native Americans like the pioneers did. Maybe our contemporary expanded sense of tolerance is coloring my view.

Or maybe not. When I was in elementary school and still living in a fog because my dad had died, I remember hearing racist names directed at an older African American student at my school. I knew nothing of politics. I barely knew what was going on at all. But I saw the pained look on that girl's face. She must have only been 8 or 9. I didn't know her personally. We were passing on the stairs, but I saw her recoil from one ugly word. If it was obvious to a child, how could all these other public officials blind themselves to the pain and inhumanity they were inflicting? Because they convinced themselves that the people of other races weren't human? That's part of it. It makes me ashamed. But how do I fix a culture? How do I fix the past?  Practically speaking, I can’t return my piece of land to the Native Americans. What would they do with one plot in South Euclid?

All I can come up with is to help people now. I am. I do. I have. But I wish I could do more.

In his book Spring talks about three religious groups who worked with the Native Americans. He refers to the three dominations. (“All three religious dominations emphasized the importance of changing the traditional customs of Native Americans while teaching reading and writing.” p. 130.)  Didn't he mean “denominations”? Or maybe it was a Freudian Slip. I'm learning that, unfortunately, domination has hit epidemic proportions in the American education system.

Spring, Joel. The American School: A Global Context from the Puritans to the
     Obama Era. 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. Print.