Blog # 16 - Raising Student Morale

As staff at a middle school, we have been talking about how low our staff morale is. Teachers are complaining about all the meetings, the new curriculum that is is not working the way they thought it would be, the new curriculum is great but it takes much more time to prep for a lesson everyday, and the lack of support by our administration. We don't listen to how the students are feeling.

As winter started to approach, I heard more 8th graders complaining about teachers, homework, tests/quizzes, and activities; my room is located at the mouth of one of the 8th grade pods and all of them pass by my room. I never started to think that when I am getting stressed and overloaded that the students might also be more stressed and overloaded. The more I thought of when the teachers started to voice their opinion's about things, so did the students.

It seems that the district is very concerned with poor teacher morale and how to improve it but do not seemed very concerned with poor student morale and ways to improve it. For us teachers, our administrators will buy us lunch during school PD's/conferences, promote teacher games (i.e. staff basket ball games played before the students), and give us different treats within the day. But what is done for the students to help improve their morale with their school.

My school has taken some baby steps to get their students to participate within their own pods, improve their morale, and improve their achievement of their students. This last month our students leadership has created a contests with each house to see who can decorate it the best for the holidays. The winner will get a pizza party. Everyday after school, you see students working together to create winter wonderlands. They are laughing and having a good time. The next day, you get to see them admire their work and grin when the teachers tell them how good it looks. In each DT (Discovery Time) classes within the pods students were able to voice their opinions on a field trip or activity that they are going to participate in next week. One pod had a pancake breakfast for their students one morning. It was amazing, that day all 150 students were there for breakfast. Since they started to do some of these little things, I do not hear as much grumbling between the students and the staff. It has made some of these cold days more bearable.

I am wondering what your schools do to help student improve their morale?

Blog #15

When I just went to my Blogs, my number 15 was not there. I have had some difficulty with my computer the last few weeks. So here is my 15.

My brother was the student in high school 20+ years ago who would have a learning difficultly in reading. He always struggled when it came to reading any material; he was a slow reader and would struggle with all the rules of the English lang. He did enroll at NDSU and completed 3.5 years of college but dropped out (he never declared a major). When he was there, his grades were A-C's. I asked him why he would drop out, he had decent grades. His response was, I struggled everyday at class and could not keep up; Michelle (his girlfriend at the time) would do the work in a few classes for him. My brother works in the construction field and is great at what he does. He is a hands on learner and when he learns something, he never forgets it. Eric never had a teacher in elementary, junior high, or high school take time to figure out the best way he learned; he struggled in school. Eric is taking a three week course at a community college for three different certification for construction (one week is wind, one week is solar, one week is something else) He is worried that even though he has these certificates, it will not be enough for him to get the better job without a college degree. I tired to re-assure him that it is not just a college degree that people do look for, but how you "sell" yourself in an interview, and your portfolio. He is stressed that he is doing this for nothing that employers will not consider him for a job because he does not have that paper that says he completed a degree.

My question for you as educators is how do we get those students ready for the "real" world who are college bound or even community college bound. We tell our students that they should go to college, that they need that degree to get a job, but what about those students like my brother? College is not for all. Some students need to go straight to work for different reason; some because they need to make money for their family and other like my brother, college was not for them. Should these people be punished of not being able to move up at their job, or apply for and hired for a job that they can do but don't have a degree in? Some of the my friends are extremely intelligent and do not have a degree while other who do have degree are not as smart as they think they are. Degree's (in my opinion) do not equal brains.

Student led conferences Blog #14

I know that most of us are past conferences, but we read about student led conferences that week. I have never done conferences this way and wanted to find a little more about it. I understand that it is more beneficial to the student, parent, and the teacher when the student takes a led in their conference. It does make the student more accountable for what they learned knowing that they will be presenting it and talking about it with their parents. At my school, we do not practice student led conferences, we do have our students involved with conferences; they will show parents were to go, answer questions, and be greeters when parents come into school. The students who do this volunteer to do it, they do not have to help out. It seems to me that the students who volunteer to help out on conference night are the students who volunteer for everything (i.e. different clubs/organizations) and have very good grades. Similarly, we always have parents come whose child are getting good grades, while those students who are struggling at school do not show up. It is frustrating when we want to talk with their parents about our concerns with their child's struggles and they do not show up or return our calls. How would we get them (meaning both the student and their parent) to be involved with student led conference.

A few years ago, my sister-in-law told me that he son led his conference. She was really impressed with how confident he was telling about how he was doing in all of his classes he had in middle school. The conference lasted a half and hour and he told her what he was doing wellin each class and what he needed to work on in each class. She also could not believe how honest he was when he told her that in his math class he tended to talk more because there was a girl that he liked. She walked away from that conference with more information about her son than she ever had and felt that he had been harder on himself than the teacher would have been. The next year, the school went back to the old/traditional way of conferences. When she asked why, she was told that the conferences the year before took to long and they could not see every parent that was there.

As I said before, I have never done student led conference and wanted to find out how mcuch more time it took to prepare for them. It was interesting that it really only takes a little mroe preparation time at the start of the year and it seems that it is recommended to do follow ups with the parents afterwards, but other than that, it seems about the same. At our school, we do not always have parents come to conferences, by doing student led, will this increase parents coming to conferences? While doing some research, I could find a lot of positives about doing conferences this way, but I could not find anything negative. Has anyone had a negative experience with student led conference?

School Improvment Blog # 13

Yesterday in our PLC's we took a school improvement survey. We were asked questions about communication, working with our peers, what things we would like to see, etc. In the end, it was a morale survey. Before taking the survey, I felt that I had a positive view on things, but when I was done, I was quite depressed about it. My school morale was not that good. When I looked at each questions, I was shocked at some of my answers that I put. Like all surveys, people were talking about it. I was surprised to hear people feeling the same way that I was; not enough time in the day to teach what we need to, burnt out on meetings that cut into our teaching, burnt out on committees, and an overwhelming feeling of being swamped. I am glad that I did take it, I made a list of things that I needed to do to make me feel better, how to reduce the stress, and how to be more effective within my own day. I know that it will take me a while to get through the list and there are some things on it that I know that I cannot change (i.e. staff meetings etc). I feel better having a list. During our PLC, we talked about what we thought would improve our morale. We all said less meetings, less committees, more time with our students, and more time to plan. Even with all of that, I don't think things would change. I feel that our administration (both building and district) does not seem to appreciate what we all do for our students. I don't want someone to come and tell me that I did a great job daily, just once in a while. I would like them to notice and recognize that I am doing a good job and not just notice if our students did not make AYP.

What do your schools do to boost the staff morale?

Cutting in Sports Blog #12

This blog is not directly related to education. My 5th grade son plays hockey on Moorhead. He is a second year squirt. Moorhead has both in-house squirts and travel squirts. Moorhead is a huge hockey town and many of our hockey players have had success in the NHL as well as college. This year it was decided (by who, I don't know) that like every year, our children will try out for their travel teams. BUT, this year, they will be cutting players from travel teams. All players can still do in-house squirts. As a parent and a teacher I have a problem with this. Children experience enough pressure to be their best, have the best things, and look the best at such a young age, do they really need be told in 5th grade that they not good enough to play hockey? There is enough competition and pressure on children in sports when they start middle school, do we need to put that on them in elementary school? I feel that for those students who do get cut, their self esteem will drop also and that could carry over into the classroom for some. I know that if I would have been cut from basketball in 5th grade, I would have been so embarrassed to face anyone a school. I'm not saying that for all those children who are cut from sports that it will effect them negatively, but it will for some. For some, it is there only time they feel a part of something or feel accepted. If children are worried about try out and if they made the team, how does that affect them socially, emotionally, and physically. I know what I was like in high school when we had tryouts our freshman year for basketball. I did not sleep, eat, or wanted to be in school until it was done. I was very nervous; I did make the team and all was fine after the fact.

For my son, I am not worried that he will not make the travel team. He is a player that skates to his line and bounces back between the first and second lines. He has made comments to me about how they are cutting this year and I can tell he is a little upset with the whole thing. He is worried that he may not make the team or one of his friends does not make the team. My son is very sensitive and I worry what this will do for his self esteem. I don't want him to feel that he is a failure if he is cut from the travel team. We have been working with him to believe that he is smart and a good athlete; at times, he will say that he is the dumbest one in his class even though he is very smart (I'm not saying that because he is my son, he has always been in the higher classes and his MAPs and Standards test fit that). I asked him why he feels that he is dumb (I tell both my children that they are smart and to believe in themselves like I do), he said that a boy in his class has been telling him every year that he is so dumb.

OK. here is my question. At work, I drafted a e-mail to one of the main coaches about how I feel about cutting. In a nut shell, I stated that I think that it is wrong to cut our children from sports at such a young age and if they are going to cut, what are they going to do for those players. Are they going to offer clinics that they could attend to help them improve or just let them feel as a failure. I don't want to be "that" parent and have them look at my son and treat him differently, but I don't want our children to feel that they are failures in hockey either.

School Levy #11

As I blogged about a few weeks ago, we voted yesterday for a school levy to provide $850 per child. The vote came in last night and the levy was defeated. As a parent of two elementary school age children, I am disappointed, but as a member of the community, I am not surprised. When you look at the break down of the wards, I unfortunately live in ward 1. Of the 1,556 voters 967 of them voted no that is 12% of the vote. I understand why our area voted no. It is mainly older residents who do not have children at home who are in school. Our superintendent today stated that they will have to look at what/where to cut. I know that they are talking about teachers and programs. How can they say that one program is a lesser program than another. Our district offers Spanish Immersion (K-5). It is one of the most expensive programs that they offer. Parents have a choice if they want to put their child into it (I did not put my children into it). This program has not taken a hit at all. They did not lose any teachers due to cuts while the rest of the district did. Their class sizes are significantly lower then the regular classrooms. With teachers and programs being cut, I feel that our Spanish Immersion should also. It is a privilege not a right. It is a right for an appropriate education; I guess a class size of 30 is appropriate in elementary and up to 45 in the high school. Is it fair that music, arts, and other electives take a hit while Spanish Immersion does not?

I do feel that if the district administrators would have been honest with how the money was used the last time the levy passed (where did the money go, how it was spent etc), and had a detailed plan on how the money would be used this time, I think that it could have passed. I do feel that if they would have let the students have a voice (many that I have talked to today are very upset that it did not pass) in the public it would help to pass the levy, it is the students that it really hurts.

So how does one or two people say that one program is more benefical than another. How has other districts made cuts without cutting everything to the bare bone?

NDSA - before, during, after #10

Our school just finished up 2 1/2 days of NDSA (North Dakota State Assessment). For my students they do not take the same North Dakota Assessment as the rest of the population. My students take the NDAA (North Dakota Alternative Assessment). The window for administering the NDSA is from Oct. 16th to Nov. 13th. The window for administering the NDAA is from Nov. 16th to Dec. 22nd for the NDAA 2 and Jan. 16th for NDAA 1. As a department, we group the students who are taking NDSA with accommodations in specific rooms with certain teachers and para to help administer the test. For the students who are taking the NDAA, they grouped into two different rooms with different activities.

OK. now I am going to vent. At our school, for the two and a half days we did not have any classes and I had my students and some other special ed. teachers students in my room doing different activities (watching movies, playing games, on the computer, reading, and some caught up on their work) with a paraprofessional. When we first started to get ready for the test, the plan was I was going to start doing my alternative assessments. Then we got our dates that our window was going to be open and of course they do not match. So my students just had two and a half days of not learning and when my window opens, I will have to pull my students one at a time to administer the test. Not only they miss a class that I am teaching, I am too. I either have to have them have a free day or my para's have to do my instruction (they do not get us a sub for us). I have half of my caseload doing the NDAA 1 and the rest doing the NDAA 2. With 6th-8th graders, I will be administering (NDAA 2) 5 math tests, 5 reading/language arts, and 3 science test, all individually. Each student has as long as they need to take the each test, on average it will take over an hour to compete each section. So over 5 hours for math, 5 hours for reading/language arts, and 3 hours for science. To me, that is a lot of instructional time wasted.

I do not understand why the North Dakota Department of Instruction did not have the NDSA and the NDAA at the same time. We want to give our students the best education and losing at least 4 1/2 days of instruction is wrong.

School Referendum

On November 3rd 2009, Moorhead residents are going to vote for a levy referendum that would provide $850 per pupil in additional funds for the next seven years. If the referendum is passed, the money would be used to improve and preserve class sizes, to maintain and implement programs in such areas as science, math and the arts, and to enhance and expand student use of technology.

In 2002 the school district asked the community to passed a levy referendum to approve a $64 million bond referendum to support improvements to school district facilities. The district was going from four elementary schools to three elementary schools (building one new elementary school and remodeling the junior high and the 5/6th grade school into an elementary schools), a new middle school, and to remodel the high school. With the remodeling of the high school, they would add a ninth grade center. It torn down one elementary school, sold two elementary schools to Concordia College and MSUM, sold the old high school, Townsite (the building that held the district offices), and remodel an elementary school into the Probstfield Center for Education (the district offices, early childhood, adult ed. etc). The district made "promises" of smaller class sizes, new technology, and other things. The level did pass. We were told that our property taxes would go up, on average, $15.00 per month (i.e. for a house that cost $100,000). In my neighborhood, our property taxes were only suppose to go up between $10.00 and $15.00 per month. Ours went up $15.00 per month, but our neighbor across the streets went up $25.00 per month. Our house have the same square feet and our lot is slightly bigger. This happened to many people in the city, they were told their property taxes would be one number but found out after the levy was passed that their property taxes were another number, most of the time it was higher. These people were not happy.

As a teacher and a parent, I voted yes in 2002. My son just three years old and my daughter was just born. I wanted them to be able to attend school with newer curriculum and smaller class sizes than what was offered at the time (the average class size was around 25 in elementary schools, 30 in both middle and high school core classes and more students in gym). We have a new middle school and a new elementary school with big windows to let in a lot of sun, space for the students to go, and new everything. The three schools remodeled are very nice on the outside and inside. Did they get as much new items as the other schools? No, they did not. I understand that when you build a new school they will get new things, but why should the remodeled school not receive the same items? Why is it fine that those schools should have to use the same things that they have had for the past years? They built the new elementary building and a couple years after being built, the school was full. They did not build it for room to expand, they had to convert open team ares into classrooms. The students in those classes only had three walls (one wall was opened). Why is that? Is is because they ran out of money? They have never said. All of the schools have a marble map in the floor when you enter the main doors. To me, that was a waste of money, who notices that. Instead, that money could have been used to buy new technology or curriculum, or pay for a teacher. Last year in my daughters kindergarten class, she was among 24 students. 24 students that one teacher was trying to teach to read, count, and to help them socially adjust to school. This year, my sons fifth grade class has 30 students and my daughters first grade class has 25. Is this how they make a promise of keeping class sizes low?

I have mixed feelings about voting yes again (even though I know that I will for my children's sake). They say that they want to improve and preserve class sizes, to maintain and implement programs in such areas as science, math and the arts, and to enhance and expand student use of technology, but will they? We all heard this before and I feel that this time they will not get the levy to pass because of so many residents that were not happy the last time. It is sad that our children will suffer for this, but I do feel that the district needs to step up and admit that the last time a levy was passed some mistakes with the money was committed.

Parent - Teacher Conferences how can they be more effecitve?

It is that time of year, parent-teacher conferences even though school only started a little over a month ago (my children have only been in school for 25 days and they also had conferences already). Our conferences are at night (from 4-8:15) on three different nights. As I worked in my room on the first night, I wondered how can we as teachers make conference more successful for teachers, parents, and the students. At my school (middle school), the teachers schedule their conferences with the parents. Each conference is 20 minutes; this is good and bad at the same time. Good because you can see more parents in a short amount of time; bad because each conference is rushed and not everything (good or bad) may be addressed. At times, I have felt as a clock watch, knowing that I had parents waiting for me and felt rushed and did not have the full attention of the teacher when I was at my own kids conference. Our students are invited and encouraged to come with their parents. Students will also help the teachers show parents where to go, had them their child's folder, and answer questions that parents might have.

I don't know about the rest of you, I feel that I am the only one doing all the talking at a conference and the parent just sits there. I always will ask if they have any questions or concerns, and 9 out of 10 times, they say 'no'. While I waited between conferences, I noticed this was how other conferences went; the teacher talks while the parent listens and leaves. I want my parents to be more active with our conference and ask me questions about the curriculum, how they child is doing, what they are expected to master. I started to look for tips to give my parents and found this article on five must ask questions parents should ask their children's teacher.

My district, like many others, pushed up fall conference closer to the start of the school year at the request of parents instead of them being closer to the end of the quarter or report card time. The parents requested it so they can be informed sooner how their child is doing, and if they are doing poorly have an opportunity to make a change before the report cards come out. I do agree that it is better to have conferences earlier in the fall instead of closer to the end of the quarter but 35 days into school is ridiculous. We are just starting to get to know our students. Does pushing up conferences earlier make them more successful? With some schools having Power School do we really need to have conferences so early?

Using Ebonics in school blog #7

In one of my other classes that I am taking online, we read about "who are today's students". The chapters discussed how people and students that are in schools and our community are different from each other; their culture, class, and race. The chapters discussed how different cultures speak with different dialects. It also discussed how people judge those speaking English with a different dialect than standard English (i.e. Ebonics) and how they are perceived. We discussed a case study of a teacher who constantly corrected the students Ebonic miscues. A student is reading a paragraph and the teacher correcting them. Here is a little bit of it;
S (student): Yesterday I washed my bruvver.
T (teacher): Wait minute, what's that word again? - points to brother
S: Bruvver
T: No. Look at these letters in the middle. - points to brother- Remember to read what you see. Do you remember how we say that sound? Put your tongue between your teeth and say /th/.....

This is just one little piece of it, the rest was the teacher correcting the student and making the student repeat the word, than the sentence. How did the meaning of the sentence change by saying bruvver instead of brother? What did this student learn? The student may have been experiencing many feeling such as anger at the teacher, embarrassment and humiliation. They may feel that they are dumb or stupid and that they can not learn. If a student has these feeling why would they want want to learn from that teacher or enjoy learning if they are constantly correct. Often people judge those who use Ebonics when speaking instead of standard English to speak as dumb, slow learners, poor, and not educated. But that is not true. Ebonics is a systematic and rule-governed like all natural speech varieties ( http://homepages.dordt.edu/bnbkl/Paper%202.pdf).

So what is Ebonics or Black English? Dictionary.com defines Ebonics as: a dialect of American English characterized by pronunciations, syntactic structures, and vocabulary associated with and used by some North American blacks and exhibiting a wide variety and range of forms varying in the extent to which they differ from standard English (http://homepages.dordt.edu/bnbkl/Paper%202.pdf). What are some stereotypes of those who use Ebonics? As I stated above, some would say that they are dumb/stupid, uneducated, poor, they don't care to learn, "ghetto" like, or they will be a drop out.

As educators, what are we to do? When a students reads the word brother as bruvver, do we correct them or not, if reading it as bruvver does not change the meaning of the sentence what does it hurt? The special educator in me says that we should correct them (with my students, they may have a speech deficit and need help correcting their speech patterns or they are just learning the letter sounds and patterns). The following is a great article how Ebonics should be allowed in our schools http://www.york.cuny.edu/yorkscholar/v1/pdfs/thomas_ebonics_sp04.pdf.

What do you think? Should we allow students to use Ebonics in school or should we continue to correct those who use Ebonics when they read.

History - Blog #6

I started my blog on another topic, but stopped writing it after I went to listen to a gentleman named David Faber talk about surviving nine different concentration during WWII. Mr. Faber came to our middle school to talk to the 7th and 8th graders. Before my 7th grade special needs students went to listen to him talk, we discussed what the Holocaust was. As I explained that it was about hating people (terms specials needs students understand) who are different than you, I came to realize that I truly did not know much about the Holocaust. I only know what little I was taught in school, what my parents told me, and what I have seen in movies like Schindler's List. How can I, as a teacher, teach my students a topic that I know little about.

Mr. Faber told stories of how he survived and everyone in his family, all 85 of them were killed. When his mother and sisters were killed in front of him, he made a promise to God, his mother, and his sisters that if he lived, he would share his story with the world. That is what he has done. Mr. Faber wrote a book called Because of Romek (http://www.becauseofromek.com/) that tells his story. He tells how he was one of the lucky ones who had different jobs at each concentration camp from working in mines to searching the bodies of the dead for any gold or valuables they may have. Mr. Faber talks about when the British soldiers came to the concentration camp to free it how two nurses from the Red Cross saved an unconscious skinny boy who had typhus and that he is forever grateful (all the profits from his book go to wondered soldiers foundation).

After listening to him, I wondered what our schools are teaching our children in their history classes about history. With all the standards that our teachers have to teach, do they teach a sugared down version? Before I left to listen to Mr. Faber speak, I asked my son what he knew about the Holocaust. He said the Holowhat? The gentleman who introduced Mr. Faber made a comment that that in 2050 it will be 105 years after the Holocaust and all of the survivors will have had passed away, what will our children know about it?

There are certain periods of time that have defined our country and world. The Holocaust is one of them. We can't let those important times be forgotten, because history has a way of repeating itself, look at the war we are currently in. There are people out in our world that believe that the Holocaust did not happen. Why is that, was it because they were never taught it in school? Will this happen in 75 to 100 years when the Iraq War is taught or not taught in our schools?

I do not teach history to my special needs students, so I do not know what the curriculum is. Could someone please let me know that major events (i.e. The Holocaust) is not being watered down and that our children are being taught the history. History is made our world as it is, without knowing our history, who knows how we would be.

This is an article written about Mr. Faber.
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2009/04/01/local_news/news01.txt

If you are ever in Washington D.C. you must go to the United States Holocuast Memorial. http://www.ushmm.org/

Natural Disasters blog #5

I am going to write about something very personal to me. Today at 2:30 central time, my aunt called me from California. She left me a very tearful message, "Sarah, I'm calling you to tell you that Aimee, Jason, and the kids are being evacuated from their home because of the wild fire that popped up near their house." When I talked to Aimee later in the afternoon, she told me that yes, they had packed up their cars and were told by a sheriffs officer that it was a mandatory evacuation and they should leave. They were still at home keeping it wet and when they see flames, they would be leaving to a friends house to stay until they can return safely. I asked her about their children. Ethan was already at the friends (she picked him up from school) and Faith was at home with her. Thinking about what I have in my house, I asked her what did she pack. All she said was pictures, our hard drive, cameras, important papers, and things that could not be replaced. I told her it would be very hard to determine what was important. All she said was that T.V's, beds, radios etc. could be bought again, but some things can't. This is a news clip of the fire. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Wildfire-Breaks-Out-Near-Moorpark-60310767.html

She stated that the kids schools were safe and they would be going to school like nothing has happened. But something has happened, they are temporarily homeless even though they have a place to sleep, it is not their home. I wonder what their schools are going to provide for those children who had to leave their homes. Are they going to provide the psychological and emotional support that they need or are they going to say oh well, you are in school, your fine, and we have to learn.

I started to think about what my district provided for our students before, during, and after the spring flood. We knew that we were going to have a flood and that it was going to be a big one, but as a school, we did not do much to help our stressful children. I saw a change in behaviors of my students that lived on the river, they were very fidgety, had a difficult time paying attention, and more worried about things. They would ask me questions that I had a difficult time answering (i.e. when the flood comes, what will happen). They would tell me how their parents emptied their basements to the top floors and how it is difficult to move around. For our disaster, schools was closed during the flooding. Our district opened up some of our schools for the National Guard to use. When school returned, I had a mixture of emotions from my students. Some where excited because they went to school in another town and others were scared to leave their parents since they had to leave both their home and their parents for safety. I don't know what our school did to provide psychological and emotional support for our students when school returned. Yes, they could go see the school counselor, but with how many the flood touched, one person could not do it all by themselves. As a teacher, I felt under trained to help my students. Our counselor did send out an article on signs/symptoms to watch for in children, but we had not real training.

My own children were touched by the flood also. Our own house was safe, but their grandparents and great-grandparents house had to be sand bagged. I moved into my grandparents house to watch the pumps 24/7 while my children were suffeled between their aunts and other grandparents house. When everything was done and back at home, my children seem fine until one night my daughter came and asked me if we will have to leave again and started to cry (this was for the second crest). All I could say was I hoped not and give her a big hug.

With all the types of natural disasters (flooding, fire, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes), you would think that the school system would be better prepared to help their students. We practice drills (tornado, fire, lockdowns) and are prepared for them, but not how it will hurt our students emotionally and psychologically. The following link will bring you to a resource for parents, teachers, and anyone working with children called What Happened to MY World? Helping Children Cope with Natural Disaster and Catastrophe. http://www.brighthorizons.com/talktochildren/docs/What_Happened_to_MY_world.pdf

I still feel that schools should train their teachers on what to do and how to act with their students after a disaster occurs whether the school is directly affected or not. Ethan and Faith's schools are not directly in the path of the fires, but they have at least two student that are affected by it. I hope that they will be given some support to help them through this time and not just give their teachers a pamphlet. All children deal with their own stress differently, it is our job as well as their parents and others to help them work through their stress of what is happeneing.

Alternative Assessment # 4

It is that time a year, even though we just started school, when schools start to talk about state assessments. In North Dakota, they offer alternative assessment for special education students. The state offers two types of alternative assessment: NDAA 1 (North Dakota Alternative Assessment) and NDAA 2. NDAA 1 is offered to students with severe cognitive disabilities. They are assessed against alternative assessment standards. NDAA 2 is offered to students with persistent learning difficulties. They are assessed at grade level with modified achievement standards. I like the idea of special education students who are under the label SLD, MH, SMH to be able to take the state assessment that is written at a more realistic ability level. The following link is a resource used by parents, teachers, and administrators to provide special education students with the best education opportunities http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/speced/resource/alternate/brochure.pdf. Every year at the annual review of a student, the team decides if that student should take the regular state assessment, NDAA 1, NDAA2, or a combination of state assessment and NDAA 2 or NDAA 2 and NDAA 1.

With any type of assessment, they get changed over time, some more than others. Last year the NDAA 2 assessment was changed for the second time in two years. After deciding that a few of my students (the team decided at their annual review) will take the NDAA 2 and giving them the NDAA 2 was the proper form of assessment the next year, the assessment was changed. When the NDAA 2 was given to the same students the following year (after it was changed), it was shown not to be the proper assessment for them. That they should have been given the NDAA 1. The NDAA 2 was more difficult and asked questions that asked numerous questions that required knowledge (either background or taught in school) that the student did not have, for example: one Language Arts short paragraph asked the students about crayfish. Most of my students do not know what a crayfish is, for that matter, my own children would not know what a crayfish is if we did not go to the lakes every weekend. It was hard when the students would tell me that they did not know what a crayfish was and would ask what it was and I could not tell them. It is very difficult to know what assessment the student should take knowing that it may be fine for them one year, but not the next year. As a member of an IEP team, I had a difficult time saying that the NDAA 2 was appropriate for a student two years ago, but it was too difficult for them last year and know that we will have to decide which assessment they will appropriate to take this year.

I would like to know why states feel the need to change an assessment that in my opinion was fine, like the old saying ‘why reinvent the wheel.’ A few of my co-workers joined an alternative assessment task force with state officials to work on writing the alternative assessment. When they returned, they felt that what they had to say was listened to by the state officials, but that was all. Some felt it was a waste of time and the only reason they were there so the state could say that they listened to the teachers.

Do other states offer alternative assessment for special education students instead of their standardized state assessments? How do they decide who take it and who does not? How often do they change the assessment?

Are we sending kids to school to young?

After reading the both artilces (Mommy I know you and Trouble with boys), it made me think, are we sending out kids to school to young? I found this short article and I enjoyed this article. Here is the link. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6053413.ece



I don't know how others feel, but I do think that we are starting our kids, especially boys, in school to young. My only cousin's little boy started his pre-kindergarten school when he was just 4. According to her, it was not like pre-school that my children attended. He son did not take naps, he had all academic subjects, and was there from 8:30 in the morning to 2:30 the afternoon everyday. She told me that they are doing this so he is ready for school, so he has a edge on the other students, and so he can get into the better private school. It made me feel that is was doing an in service to my children by putting them in just pre-school where they did take naps, did work on some reading, writing, math, and social skills, but where allowed to be kids.



That was four years ago. She has confided with me that her son has had some issues at school. That they are working on focusing more at the task at hand, less fidgeting, less talking, and less movement. Her son is having the same problems that my son had in first and second grade. At times he still has these issues, but not to the same extent as he did in his earlier years of school. Does this make him or my son ADHD? I don't think so, I feel that it has to do with how mature they are.



Where does it stop? Pre-kindergarten at the age of 4 now, but where will it be in 10 year or even 5 years? Pre-pre-kindergarten at the age of 2, to get them ready for pre-kindergarten? Are we as a culture needing to get that extra step ahead of others that we stop letting our kids be kids? It is like my mom's quote to me when I was young and wanted something that someone else had; "we are not trying to keep up with the Jones."