We had a long Saturday meeting a few months back as a department where we broke down what each level should be teaching.  However, grammar was never broken down because we don’t know exactly what the students know.

Actually, I am pretty sure what the students know: very little.  My students didn’t know capitalization rules, when to use commas (and no, it does not come before or after ‘because’), they had no idea how to use editing marks and how to proofread papers… This tedious list could go on, endlessly.  I felt like I was attempting to wage a battle against the text generation with good ol’ grammar schoolin’.

Yeah, it was not a pretty sight nor a great time to be had.  The students knew what Mondays were for: grammar lessons and practice.  Why Mondays?  Simply put, they despised writing more so than grammar itself.  They would rather correct mistakes and learn grammar rules versus attempting to write out their thoughts to a particular subject.

Really?  When I was in school, I detested the grammar rules and lessons and would have rather preferred the writing!  Then again, I am the book worm, the lifelong student.  These kids just wanted to get the heck out of dodge and be done with school.  Most of my sophomores where just filling my desks to ensure they were avoiding the truancy officer during the school day.  I did get a few of them to do work, but most wanted to utilize my class time to socialize with the others who were equally zoned in on socialization and avoiding truancy court.

But that is a whole other rant.

Grammar: what should the upperclassmen know by the time they reach me?  I am pretty sure they should at least know what the eight parts of speech are, how they are used, and how to look for them in a sentence.  I’d like to say they should know simple sentence diagramming, but I may be pushing it.  I hear sentence diagramming is not really happening in the classrooms in my district.  As a matter of fact, it seems it is more literature-based than anything else.

Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy teaching literature!  But there has to be a healthy balance with grammar and writing in the mix.  It is like a three course meal: salad/appetizer, main course, and dessert.  The bulk is the main course, with the appetizer being the warm ups and review, and the dessert being the closers and food for thought.

I am by far the most perfect teacher, and still new to the whole realm, but this is how I attempt to run my class each and every day.  I cannot see myself teaching from bell to bell without breaking it up.  Give them a routine, but do not bore them with it. 

I remember being in high school and constantly being drilled with grammar.  Mr. Blackmer, my freshman honors English teacher, used to have us diagram out sentences down to the different types of verbs, phrases, clauses, etc.  It was tedious and treacherous, but I still remember the basics.  I don’t really remember how one sentence took up a whole page, but I do remember that at one point I knew how to do it.

My tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Brewer, was more about writing and literature.  I enjoyed that class because I enjoyed reading and writing.  However, when I go to Creative Writing and English III my junior year (I took English classes as electives… Yes, I know … NERD!), I had forgotten some of the rules of formal writing.

So, going back over these experiences, it made me realize that it is a necessity to constantly touch back on the basics of grammar.  Not the basics that form the foundation, but more so the rules that root to the basics.  As long as you continually touch the middle ground, I firmly believe the students will always remember the basics and learn to move up another level.

I am sure I am reaching, but that is one of my expectations this upcoming school year.

So, while I sit in hot, muggy Appleton, Minn., I am looking over general grammar rules.  I picked up a book about the ins and outs of grammar.  I didn’t bring a junior textbook with me that I got as a review copy.  I am trying to figure out how to break up my grammar lessons throughout the year: what should just be reviewed, what should be taught, and how to be consistent with the rules other than looking for it in their writing and their warm-ups.

At least, for the sake of my sanity, the writing portion of English III will be decided as a group when we get back to school.  Since we are the class that will help prepare the students for writing proficiencies, we will be drilling the students on their writing.  This, in turn, has prompted me on what I should teach for grammar.

I guess the whole point to sum up this post is that it all comes down to assessment.  I will have to give some kind of pretest when we return to school, which will include editing and writing.  From there, I will be able to determine what I truly need to cover, and what will be reviewed from time to time.

Top this off with having two honor sections of Modern Literature, and I will be in writing heaven.  Let’s hope I won’t lose my own interest in my own writing…

Go figure, right?  It seems like the old saying “Why reinvent the wheel?” 

I have sat down and written out in plain English what my portfolio domains should be.  Once I get a hold of my Danielson book, I will be able to better understand where my artifacts should be sorted.  With my school going through the process of not only becoming an empowerment school, but also through the transformation model to help boost student achievement, it will be crucial to have artifacts on hand.  It will also help when I get observed by my new supervisor.  My supervisor was moved around due to the transformation model.

This is what I have come with on the break down of the CCSD Teaching Domains:

1. Planning and Preparation

• have lesson plans printed off and current at all times
• be able to show my content knowledge within my planning
• be able to show that I take into consideration my students’ interests and demographics

2.  Assessment of Student Achievement

• students’ achievements and demographics are analyzed (past proficiency scores for reading and writing)
• assessments used as a monitoring tool within instruction, as well as instructional planning

3.  Learning Environment

• students being focused and on-task
• my classroom management and discipline plan are posted, enforced, and maintained
• respect and courtesy between the students and myself
• the set up of the classroom supports learning and teaching

4.  Instruction

• Components of an Effective Lesson Plan are used, as well as basic principles of learning
• varied strategies, approaches to teaching, and resources are aligned with the objectives, and engaged learning is present
• lesson plan has a defined structure and pacing
• flexibility with instruction and instructional groups
• accommodations and modifications are aligned with the objectives to meet the needs of all students
• positive feedback

5.  Professional Responsibilities

• participate in the school improvement process, as well as implement the school improvement plan goals
• work on my own identified goals and directions for improvement
• ongoing professional development to improve my content knowledge and pedagogy
• communication with parents and students about behaviors and achievements
• collaboration among colleagues, administration, and on district level
• multicultural resources, materials and activities that supports awareness and appreciation for diversity
• following and adhering to policies and procedures of the school district

Not only do I feel I need to do this, but I do have to keep a folder on each student with everything ranging from progress and achievements to problems and solutions.

I have my work cut out for me next year, but if this is what it takes to improve student achievement within my classroom, so be it!

For me, it will be mostly about revamping my own curriculum for the two new courses that have been assigned to me for the upcoming school year.  I am pretty excited because (1) I will be working with a team to help improve writing proficiency scores and (2) I will be teaching more literature.  I have been given English III and Modern Literature Honors.

I love writing and reading, and I will definitely be getting more of each element this year out of both courses.  The problem I face is trying to factor in my style of teaching with the school district’s curriculum.  I have never taught these courses before, so for me it will be they will be crash courses.  I was actually asked to participate in English III to help boost writing proficiency scores by my department chair, which made me feel great.  Even more so, another colleague had suggested to my department chair that perhaps I would do well with Modern Literature since Modern and American Literature seems to be what I work most with.  To know that people have faith in the way I teach in my classroom is awesome!

I will also be looking into how I can improve my portfolio.  As you all know, I keep my portfolio online.  In this way, I can collect feedback and comments so I can understand more or gain more knowledge from the more seasoned and veteran teachers.  It will also keep me on target with my actual portfolio I will have to keep in class for random checks by the state this upcoming year.

My school will be going through the transformation model, which was deemed the most appropriate by our school district because of our AYP status.  If we passed AYP this school year, then we will be N5H (5 years not making AYP, holding because we made it this year).  If not, then we will receive N6 (6 years of not making AYP).  Honestly, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has potential, but it truly need to be reformed in a dramatic way with the upcoming education reform.

We will also be transferring over to an empowerment school, which allows us more wiggle room with what we do within the school.  We could get bonuses based on merit and progress within the classrooms.  It will allow us different resources and access to other grants.

All and all, next year looks pretty promising to change our school’s culture.  I really miss the old school culture the old buildings had.  Since the school was rebuilt and moved into the new building, it seems some of that old school charm has been forgotten.  I am hoping that the staff will be more collaborative with our new schedule as well.

The new schedule will allow us a common planning period where we can meet with other teachers that teach the same course.  This is on top of our prep period.  We have to report to work by 6:55am to be prepared to open the doors for the students at 7:00am.  We still leave school at 2:06pm.  The only difference is that we do not have to stay until 236pm.  We can leave as soon as the campus clears.

I am also still out in the portables, which is a good thing.  I didn’t want to move my things before going on vacation, but I did pack everything up for the off-chance that I might have to change rooms when I pick up my keys in August. 

I still want to enjoy the summer, but I am already getting excited for the new school year!

Being back at my alma mater has had a definite impact on my life.  I have adopted about 180 other students as my own children now, becoming a maternal post in many of those who really do not have a mother to turn to.  I am the touching stone between academics and reality for them.  I am their mother AND their teacher.  It is okay, I have always wanted more children!

The only drawback that seems to come back to haunt me is that I was not part of the whole beginning of the year process.  I came into my classroom at the end of first quarter.  I find myself making compromises I know I would not make with my students.  The one thing I know I will compromise and change for next school year is taking late work.  There has to be some kind of consequence to late work.  There has to be a consequence for plagiarism.  The real world gives us consequences.

The one model of grading I know I will NEVER adopt within my own classroom is 50% for not turning in work.  That is like me saying “Hey, Mr. Principal.  I didn’t come in all last week, but I expect to be paid half of my salary for not being here to do my job.  Thank you, and have a nice day!”

Yes, that would not fly with our supervisors.  As a matter of fact, if I were to pull a stunt like that, I would be written up, suspended, and possibly terminated after a hearing in front of the school board for not adhering to my position as a teacher! 

What I find most disturbing is that I have returned to my alma mater to find that the same vicious cycle I have graduated from exists.  Only now it is more defined with the gap of not only between the regular students and those who are enrolled in the AP’/Honors classes, but now we have the two magnet programs that have been thriving within this neighborhood school. 

Our graduation rate has consistently been low, but only among the neighborhood students.  Those in the magnet and AP/Honors programs thrive and move on successfully.  The neighborhood students deal with most the one thing the others do not: survival day to day.  Do not get me wrong, there are some students in survival mode that are in those successful programs, but compared to the rest of the student population not within those successful programs, the numbers are small.

I feel most at home at this school than any other school because I truly get these kids.  It is not like I never got the other students I have had under my wings.  I did.  But these students need me as their teacher, mother, counselor, guide, and everything else they are lacking in their lives.  This is so different from anything I have encountered before.

I feel most at home at my alma mater because I am a product of that neighborhood.  I grew up in survival mode, but learned to incorporate book smarts.  The one thing many of my students lack is the book smarts portion of the brain.  I try to lead them to it, but they back away quickly because they feel that they are “too cool” for all that, and do not want to appear as a “nerd” or “geek” to their friends. 

The question I always pose is the same one that was posed to me at their age: Your friends going to be there for you when you need to pay the rent?  To make your car payment?

Um, no.  Like every other experience a person has, I have learned from my own.  My friends skirted so quick when I asked for financial help.  It is easier to take than to give.  It is even a heck of a lot easier to take from someone who is whole-heartedly a giver most of the time.

Yes, I am a whole-hearted giver to the core.  I never expect anything in return.  However, I believe in karma.  My hope is that if I help people, someone will be willing to help me when I need help.  It is that golden rule we all often neglect to actually live by: do onto others as you wish done onto you.

I have a purpose at this school.  I am there to advocate for those kids!  They feel no one is there for them, I beg to differ.  One person can make a difference, even if it is a hefty job.

The remainder of this school year, I plan to fulfill that position as much as I possibly can for my students.

I am home.

The main problems are that my students simply do not care about their grades (mostly my sophomores), and they feel it is okay to constantly goof off (mostly my seniors in the afternoon).

In the goofing off case, I take total fault.  I don’t want to crack down like the mean wench I was when I first arrived.  However, I see it is necessary if they do not shape up after my talk with them tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I plan to sit down and have a serious talk with my seniors.  Unfortunately, my sophomores will have to wait until Wednesday to get their talk, but theirs are mostly about grades versus behavior problems.  My seniors are going to learn that it is time to get down to business, despite them being literally itchy with senioritis.

I know what it is like to get antsy and check out mentally when it gets closer to graduation.  Not only did I do that when I was in high school, but I caught myself doing it several times last year when I was getting closer to my graduation for NSC.  But they need to understand that it not only hurts me as their teacher, but themselves as well.

I need them to understand that while it becomes a daunting task to get them under control as if I am in a preschool classroom (yes, you read correctly!), between the whining and moaning about taking notes or doing work (GASP! Work?), it takes a toll on me to the point where I do not want to do fun activities with them in the classroom.  I love this part of the year because we do more group activities to curb the antsy itches of wanting a long break from working. 

Yes, despite what students think, even teachers get antsy when we do not get a longer break than our traditional two-day weekends.  While many teachers may live and breathe teaching (I am guilty of such lifestyle), we do get just as antsy as the students when it comes closer to the end of the school year. 

Especially with my seniors, I need them to understand that with the fun stuff has to come serious approaches.  For instance, while we are gearing up for Gary Soto to come to our school and hold book and life discussions, we are not only reading the novel Accidental Love to prepare for his visit.  We will be talking about social justices, or injustices in the case of Soto’s work, stereotypes, and hopefully working on One Pagers for each chapter in each class to prepare for his visit.  Ultimately, the ideal approach is to have the One Pagers done by the time he visits so he can see their work when I post it up on the whiteboards when he walks in.  We will only have two and a half weeks to prepare for his visit when we get back from spring break.  I am hoping this will be plenty enough time to go through the book and get the One Pagers done!

I have been reflecting more on my lesson plans, but only short written notes on each day.  I really need to find a way to jump into learning logs for next year.  I want to do it from beginning to end!  I have so many ideas for next year and have all summer to get my curriculum together.  Next year is going to be AWESOME!

But first, I want to end this year with a bang.  I have a couple of surprises up my sleeve!

The main focus was the 1:1 technological learning approach in the classroom.  Every student ideally has their own laptop, tablet PC preferably, and be able to connect to a WIFI connection to collaborate and work as a whole class.  The next approach is to allow the students to direct their learning and the teacher is just only there to advise and guide when necessary.  They ultimately work on long-term projects that become their assessments of standards and content.

The event was a hit, in my opinion, even if I am not a science or math teacher.  I believe out of the four sessions I sat in, three of them provided valuable information and ideas to try to bring the technology into my classroom and integrate it into my lesson plans. 

Guide 2 Digital Learning put on the conference, along with HP, Intel, Microsoft, Adobe, Atomic Learning, DyKnow, KNS, and Vernier.  I have to tell you, I was quite impressed at what they presented because every single session was totally hands on!

The first session I sat in on was about expanding my professional development.  Atomic Learning presented some valuable information on how I can beef up my tech-knowledge through their video tutorials and activities.  So, hands on and the most important factor – on my own time!  While I gawked at the price of a subscription, I am thinking it would be a wise investment for the next school year.  Literally, almost any application or software one is wanting to learn more about or learn how to use it to its fullest potential, this site offers it!  There is even a whole database filled with project-based learning activities and lesson plans.  There are also different workshops geared toward specific areas of 21st century technology that can be integrated into the classroom.  One can even pick through using state standards or ISTE NETS-S. 

The second session I sat in on was an actual math lesson using DyKnow software.  It was pretty cool because we literally were able to use the tablets as if we were real students in the classroom going through the math lesson.  DyKnow allows the teacher to be able to bring the class into whole class lessons and do little things here and there to gauge understanding, engage the students into the lesson, and allow students to work together without having to move around so much.  The software allows the teacher to see which computer is who on their tablet’s screen.  When you look up on the screen at the front of the room, the students cannot tell who is who.  The anonymity of the process allows those who make mistakes to not be singled out.  You can take polls of how the students feel they are understanding, again anonymously, so the teacher can focus in on those who do not understand by utilizing the whole class approach.  The lesson allowed us to see how the computers can be locked only to certain applications while we are working on the lesson to ensure students do not veer off onto other applications, programs, or the Internet.  The software also allows the teacher to assign partners, groups, randomly pick students to finish the “problem on the board”, and so much more.  I could see so many uses of the application in an ELA classroom!

Lunch was awesome as well!  Check out the menu!

Yeah, breakfast was the same deal.  I thought it would be continental, but they went all out.  Microsoft provided both meals, so I am quite appreciative of the fact they went all out.  Considering I had to drive about an hour to get there and was not going to haul a lunch bag around, it was a real treat to be pampered like this! Oh, and break snacks? Trail mix bar – make your own trail mix!

After lunch, it was onto the last two sessions of the day.  The third session was a science demo with live probes that measured our grip strength in our hands and pinching with our thumb and digits.  The software that Vernier demonstrated was their Logger Pro.  I wish there was a way to integrate their software packages and technology into my classroom, but it is more science-based.  While I am not a science major, it was great to have a hands on demo with their products and see it in action as a class.  It really stirred some ideas on how I can incorporate simple real world situations into the writing component by possibly working with the science department to prep the students with the facts and then have them write their observations and possibly use those observations in creative writing pieces.

Adobe was the last session of the day, and I loved this one as well.  To be able to combine creative writing with computer graphics and tools is something I want to do, but I am very limited to actually execute in my classroom because I do not have student computers on hand, and the computer lab is a dime in a dozen to get to when other teachers vie for their time share in the lab.  Laugh all you want, but I sometimes feel it is a time share we have to work with in order to get in there.  It is kind of like planning your vacation around the open dates of a suite at a time share property.  Only the prime real estate piece is the computer lab.  The lesson was an interdisciplinary approach to an alliteration lesson plan.  The ELA teacher would teach the students about alliteration and have them write an alliteration poem.  The computer literacy teacher would then allow the students to superimpose and morph pictures together to create a mythical or fictional animal that the alliteration was based upon.  The students are then allowed to put the whole project together as a digital piece of art for their electronic portfolios.  We also saw how the movie maker was used in the classroom to allow the students to document a moment in their family’s life. 

Overall, it was great to go out and do this on my own and not be forced to a set list of sessions that does not pertain to me.  While math and science does not apply to me, the technology that was presented and demonstrated does apply to my interest in technology integration within the classroom.  I found it enlightening and enjoyed being around other teachers that actually want the technology in their room, have an interest to expand the technology as far as they can within the means they have access to, and to learn how to engage and motivate their students to work with the technology. 

All in all, it was a refreshing approach to professional development!

While I was creating my revised list of goals I want to accomplish this year, I realized that most of it being put off had to do with my energy being drained from teaching throughout the day.  Do not get me wrong!  I love teaching!  I just put a lot of energy into it to ensure I can encourage and motivate all of my students consistently.  It all begins to build a toll on my energy and motivation for myself.

So, today, I woke up and made the drastic decision to combat this problem and make it an obsolete presence in my life.  I have made the commitment to my writing, reflecting, and developing my craft.  While most of my goals are small and revolve around my own personal life, I feel that they will help me professionally as well.  I have really been dealing with this negative fog that has continued to build my procrastination and I am not going to allow it to continue.

I love being a motivating and encouraging teacher, but I need to find the happy medium where I am not allowing it to drain all of me.  With this being my first official year of teaching, I know that it will take time and practice to create that happy medium.  I am okay with that.  I know that in time, it will all come together.

However, it will not come together for me if I do not make some adjustments in my personal life.

So, if you are interested in what I am doing to make changes in my personal life, here are some resolutions I have made:

1. Blog once a day.
2. Write at least 500 words a day on either short stories, novel, or poetry.
3. Clean the kitchen daily. (loading/unloading the dishwasher, keeping the counters clutter-free, sweep the floors.)
4. Clean bathrooms on the weekends.
5. Work and write before play when I get home from work.
6. Grade everyday to avoid bringing any work home on weekends.
7. Search for at least five teaching resources a day via Twitter, Facebook, and Google.
8. Figure out how to create iPhone/iTouch apps and begin creating more teacher-based apps.
9. Read at least one hour a day.

It will not be easy, but I am not looking for the easy way to combat my procrastination.  Just the opposite!  I want to be able to combat this intelligently and in a way that will enforce positive life-long habits!

So, be prepared to see me blogging and writing again because I have missed it all dearly and I intend to build this part of my website as my professional portfolio!

Of course, to go along with the assignment, I wrote my own version of the poem to share with the students.  This is the one thing I always make sure to do: write with my students.  I may not always be able to sit down and do it when they do their own writing, but I make sure that if I am expecting a narrative piece from them, I do one of my own.  If I have them write poetry, I write poetry.  You get the idea.

I had originally posted this assignment on my teaching blog as a first few week’s activity to get to know your students.  You can find the original post by clicking here.  It will contain the format and my daughter’s interpretation of the poem.

In order to teach stanzas, I am using another colleague’s version of the poem that breaks it up quite nicely.  Here is the format:

I am (two special characteristics you have)
I wonder (something you are actually curious about)
I hear (an imaginary sound)
I see (an imaginary sight)
I want (an actual desire you have)
I am (repeat the first line of the poem)

I pretend (something you pretend to do)
I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)
I touch (an imaginary touch of an object)
I worry (something that really bothers you)
I cry (something that makes you very sad)
I am (repeat the first line of the poem)

I understand (something you know is true)
I say (something you believe in)
I dream (something you actually dream about)
I try (something you really make an effort about)
I hope (something you actually hope for)
I am (repeat the first line of the poem)

If you would like the half sheet directions to print and make copies for your students to have on hand on what each line should be, you can click here and download it.  It is a PDF file, so you must have Adobe Acrobat to open it.  You can always copy and paste the text into MS Word and tweak the instructions as well.

Here is my version of the poem:

I am quirky and compassionate.
I wonder if there will ever be world peace.
I hear the call to write often.
I see the moans and groans about the writing before it happens.
I want to instill humor, yet seriousness in learning.
I am quirky and compassionate.

I pretend that I am the one who can juggle everything.
I feel like the short clown that is always left behind.
I touch the sky to feel the endless possibilities.
I worry that future generations will give up on education completely.
I cry when I feel I have not reached those that I know who need me most.
I am quirky and compassionate.

I understand that life is harsh and demanding.
I say throw your shoulders back and keep moving forward.
I dream to see all who I have taught succeed in life in some way.
I try my best to help those who want to be helped.
I hope that that is enough to make the world a better place.
I am quirky and compassionate.

Originally wrote January 17, 2010  © Karlana Kulseth

File Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1660522/i-am-poem%20instructions.pdf

Despite only being there for the second quarter, I have found that my students are just not into learning.  Their grades throughout the quarter reflect this.  However, I know they were at least paying attention half the time because of what came back on their exams.

Now, granted, 50-60% is not the greatest grades to receive on an exam.  However, I would have expected them to totally bomb it, plain and simple.  Some did.  Some only received between 10-30% on the exam.  But many of the students who do absolutely nothing in my class received grades far better than I predicted.

So, I am going to approach this in a positive way come Tuesday.  I have to approach this in a positive way, otherwise this next semester is going to be one bleak outcome of a first contracted year of teaching for me.  I am going to give them a good ripping/pep talk (notice I say ripping, yet I am being positive!) about how while many of them decided it was more important to skirt the truancy officers by being present and accounted for in my class and to not do any work in my class, deep down they were paying attention because of the scores that came back.

Yes, I am aware that 50% or less is an F.  However, if they did ZERO work during the quarter, that means they were at least either absently attentive during the time I taught, or they were secretly attempting to grasp some kind of education.

I think of it like this, which will be part of my approach to the new semester:
If you have to be in school in order to avoid more fines from the county for being truant, or for some even warrants for their arrest to place their little bottoms into juvenile detention, why not at least get some kind of education?

They are all well aware that I am aware of the gang activity that surrounds this school.  It is also apparent that if they are not gangbanging and living the “la familia” life through the gang, they are trying to survive out their on their own or attempt to be parents to younger siblings because their own parents have to work 2+ jobs.  Or even one better: they are parents themselves.  It is a hard life.  I know it because I grew up in that neighborhood.

However, the difference between me and them is that I decided not to allow that neighborhood to decay me into a person that cannot take care of their own.  I got out!  I did it the hard way.  I tried to avoid college, thinking I didn’t need it. 

That didn’t work.

I went back to school.  It took me nine hard, long, excruciating years to graduate with a degree to teach.  I did it while raising two children.  I worked days, and went to school at night.  I doubled up on classes online when I needed to.  I did it to survive in this harsh world we call life.

Why can they not understand that an education will get them farther than they think?  Especially in these bleak economic times?

Oh, because their parents are barely surviving.  Barely surviving seems more promising than a high school diploma and some college education.

Sometimes, I wonder how much video games, computers, and iPods are warping our current young generations’ brain cells.  Because from how I look at it, the way they want to live out life looks pretty pathetic.

Yes, I tell my students this.  The difference between my telling my students this and most teachers is that I say it with love and passion.  I don’t want to see any of my students fail.  Even if I can pull up a student to a D, that D will ensure they get the credit they need to graduate.

The community that surrounds this school has a poor life cycle.  As I commented in my professional development yesterday, it is disturbing to me that this cycle still continues well after I graduated from that school back in 1996. 

Seriously!  Teachers will come down on students in the most negative way, treat them like idiots simply because they appear that they will never make it in life.  Not many teachers will step up to the plate to give these students something concrete to hold onto for a more positive approach in live.  Not many teachers have the “time” to help the students become successful members of society.

And as you read this, you are probably asking yourself, “And you wanted to be a teacher why?”

Because I am that one teacher that can make a tiny, minute difference.  I can crack it all open one piece at a time.  Crack that brick wall that blocks a decent future for my students by allowing the light to shine through the cracks.

It is only my first year, I get it.  But come on!  If every teacher in that school took this positive approach to make these students to see they can be successful, outside the magnet and Honors/AP programs (meaning regular, developmental, and special education/ELL students), these students CAN succeed.

I saw the faces in our meeting yesterday when I made my comment about the vicious life cycle of that school and the surrounding neighborhood.  No one wants the extra work.

I see it like this: that extra work we would call “mentoring” (novel idea, isn’t it?) would make life so much easier by the time first quarter comes around.  By the end of the first semester, students will be more cooperative.

How do I know this?

I worked in a school that mentored students.  We had to not only take on an advisory period where we had the students for 25 minutes every single morning, we also had to at least mentor one student.  I mentored four last year.  I watched those students go from poor averaging students in the classroom to decent C-average students by the end of the school year. 

It works!  Why?   Because most of them do not have a consistent adult presence they can refer to as a strong person to go to.  You would think that would be the parents’ job to these kids, but in most cases many of them are not or cannot be that person for them

Sad, isn’t it?

Well, here’s to hoping that the second semester will be more successful for me than the first semester!

Fifth grader’s assignment to report on winter tradition in another country angers his mom

Tiffany Brown

Holly Sweetin is questioning why “American Christmas” was excluded from a wintertime tradition assignment in her fifth grade son’s class at Wright Elementary School.

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Sun Coverage

When a fifth grade teacher instructed her students to write about any winter holiday tradition other than ones commonly practiced in the United States, she didn’t anticipate how the assignment might be perceived at home.

But the contention and confusion that has ensued demonstrates the murky waters local educators must often wade through when it comes to the holiday season.

Parent Holly Sweetin says that her fifth grade son came home last week from William Wright Elementary School in Mountain’s Edge, and told her he was supposed to write an essay about winter holiday traditions anywhere in the world — except “American Christmas.”

“I have great difficulty with the fact that American soldiers will be spending their time in a desert protecting our country and my fifth grader is forbidden from using the words American, Christmas, or Christ,” Sweetin wrote Paul Garbiso, academic manager of the Clark County School District service area that includes Wright.

Robert Hinchliffe, assistant principal at Wright, says the original assignment was innocuous, and Sweetin is the only parent who has complained. Students were asked, he said, to write about a winter holiday tradition outside the United States. “American Christmas” was never specifically banned, he says.

Hinchliffe said that oral instructions are common with homework and that from the teacher’s viewpoint it wasn’t a sensitive topic. Although it’s clear the assignment was poorly framed, “it’s not clear whether it got framed poorly by the teacher or the student telling his mother what the assignment was,” Hinchliffe said. “I feel like the teacher explained it very well.”

But Sweetin claims that during a follow-up meeting with the teacher and Hinchliffe she was specifically told that “American Christmas” was excluded from the list of acceptable topics. She says she asked whether a report on a Muslim holiday tradition would be acceptable and was told that it would be, along with Christmas traditions from other countries, such as Sweden or Germany.

Sweetin says she understands the value of exposing students to various cultures and was pleased to see her son’s class study Najavos and Hopis this year.

“What I have a problem with is multiculturalism with the exclusion of my particular country,” Sweetin said.

Given that there are many English language learners in her son’s classes, Sweetin said “I think that some children might benefit from learning what an American Christmas is about, possibly putting the word Christ in it.”

Sweetin said that following her formal meeting with school staff, Hinchliffe tried to win her over by demonstrating his conservative street cred, Sweetin says.

“He said, ‘I’m right with you, I’m an (Fox News commentator Bill) O’Reilly fan,’ ” Sweetin said. “Then he told me their hands were tied because of the district regulations.”

Hinchliffe says he made reference to O’Reilly as a way of making casual conversation. He said he told Sweetin that district regulation makes it clear schools are to avoid any activity that might be interpreted as promoting a particular faith.

In fact, the School District regulation states religious holidays “may be observed only to the extent that such observances interpret the customs and traditions of a culture and may not provide opportunities for religious indoctrination.”

Given the diversity among the district’s students, when it comes to talking about holidays and religious occasions “teachers have to strike a balance,” says Clark County School Board Vice President Carolyn Edwards, whose campuses include Wright. “We have to be respectful of everyone’s differences.”

There’s an easy way for schools to avoid similar standoffs, said Allen Lichtenstein, attorney for the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union: Give students the assignment of writing on any wintertime tradition that is not one they celebrate at home.

“I would think that an assignment that says, ‘any tradition but this particular one’ would certainly raise some problems,” Lichtenstein said. “There are ways to do this without being discriminatory.”

Similar situations have occurred over the years when parents have raised concerns about religious activity in the classroom but it’s not a common complaint, Lichtenstein said. Typically the parents and school staff are able to work out their differences.

As far as the ACLU’s concerned, “the basic rule of thumb is that schools can deal with religious issues if they’re dealing with them for educational purposes and not devotional purposes,” Lichtenstein said. “If you’re talking about using Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in a winter concert, I would say that’s a great piece of music.”

My letter to the reporter:

Dear Emily,

Being a fellow teacher in Clark County School District, I find it out that no one has questioned why there was no set of instructions sent home with such an assignment where a fifth grader had to research different winter holidays outside America’s Christmas.  I teach high school English, and any time I give out an essay assignment that requires thought and research, I give my students what we call a rubric: a set of instructions that we expect to have fulfilled in order for students to receive the maximum amount of points for the assignment.  In more common terms, it is essentially the students’ check list for the assignment.  If this were a writing assignment, where were the written instructions that prompted the student to provide a brainstorm of some kind, to show authenticity of their ideas?  Where are the guidelines for how to outline their essay to get their ideas in order?  Where are the guidelines of what was specifically expected, which would include such exclusion of American traditions?

I ask these questions because this is a fifth grade student we are placing in the light.  This teacher should be preparing their students to be able to complete the full writing process that is not only expected of our benchmarks and standards set by our state’s curriculum, but also what is expected for our state’s proficiency writing exams taken officially in eighth and tenth grade, and unofficially in every other grade level in middle and high school to gain practice.  Getting practice in to use the full writing process helps our district’s students become more prepared to pass the ever so failed writing proficiency exam that is required for high school graduation.  My own high school students dreaded the writing proficiency exam over the math, science and reading exams the most.

It is my professional opinion that this teacher set up the students for failure to complete the full task of writing a decent essay.  This type of essay should not only be assigned as homework, but also worked on in class to share and brainstorm ideas among peers.  It should be checked for understanding, then spelling and grammar errors by the teacher and students within the classroom.  Regardless if I am a high school English teacher, I do have a daughter who is in the fourth grade.  Since the second grade, she has always been required to complete the whole writing process: brainstorm map, outline her paper, write a rough draft, edit for spelling and grammar errors, then rewrite her essay into a final draft in pen.

Despite one parent actually complaining about the assignment, it should be known that not many parents actually take part in their children’s homework.  Again, this is not only from a teacher’s perspective, but a parent’s perspective.  My husband and I are often told we are one of the very few parents who take a proactive role in their child’s education.   In all honesty, what is an “American Christmas” anyway?  Do we pick up the Bible for such “religious” celebration from Hallmark or Walmart?  Think of the Christmas tree alone.  That tree has no religious bearing to the actual spiritual representation of what Christmas is supposed to be in the church.  The Christmas tree is actually a tradition from Germany.  The star that is often placed on top is actually a tie into Jewish resemblance.  Add stockings to the event, and that idea is actually stemmed from Holland’s tradition of leaving their wooden shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill with goodies and treats. 

I will admit to one thing that rings true in your article: teachers are often dodging such racy issues and subjects in the classroom.  Teaching high school students bears an even stronger role in attempting to be unbiased towards such subjects such as religion, sexual orientation, politics, and many other issues that can have one wrong thing said and be blown totally out of proportion.  We are not trained to actually know how to steer these conversations toward neutral territory.  Instead, we are told to just ignore and avoid these sort of subjects at all costs.  But as students get older, they tend to realize that teachers are just another source to get their questions answered when others do not give them answers they seek to hear.

So, while I am in agreement that the parent had a right to ask why not include American traditions within the writing assignment, I do have to place a different blame upon the teacher.  Any given person often feels they have spoken what they truly meant, only to be misunderstood in the end.  Every single person has made this mistake time and time again.  The teacher should have known to avoid such misunderstanding and confusion.  They should have been more clear by setting out on paper through a set of instructions of what was expected and what should have been excluded when it came to the winter holidays that could be researched and expressed in the students’ writing.

Karlana Kulseth

CCSD HS English Teacher

Thoughts, disagreements, comments?  Leave them!

Article credit goes to Emily Richardson.  Email noted above in article.  Article can be found at the following URL:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/08/america-cant-be-ignored/