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Learning: Problems and Solutions
"Poems hide," according to Naomi Shihab Nye's poem Valentines for Earnest Mann. "They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up." If poems are indeed hiding, then Carla Kotas Lewis helps students find them. Lewis, an elementary school teacher in Fayston, Vermont, heads the Vermont Poetry Project. The program lets students in the 1st through 12th grades post their poetry on a Web site for other students, teachers, and poetry mentors across the state. The Web site, which participants access with a username and password, provides a secure location where students and teachers can read student-written poems and offer constructive criticism. Teachers help students select poems for the site and also monitor feedback. As a lifetime lover of poetry, Lewis was excited when David Gibson of the National Institute for Community Innovations asked her to work on the project. Based in Vermont, NICI sponsors the poetry site, as well as similar projects for the arts, humanities, and social sciences. NICI also connects teachers with Web-based resources and strategies for incorporating technology into their classes. Gibson asked Lewis to head the poetry project after meeting her at a statewide conference on e-learning applications. "The importance of online mentoring is that students get to hear what an expert thinks about their work, and they get ideas and opinions about ways to elaborate or change their artistic expression," Gibson says. The project, which launched in January, seeks to pinpoint the exact kind of feedback the student poets seek. Students who submit poems must explain the context behind their pieces. They also can ask for help with specific parts of their poems. "Sometimes kids will just ask what others think the title of the poem should be, but we're trying to get them to focus more on taking charge of their own feedback by telling us exactly what they need," Lewis says. As head of the Vermont Poetry Project, Lewis visits elementary and secondary schools around the state to teach students about poetry. She shows students how to write with precise language and free verse. She also helps them post their work to the poetry Web site and critique poems from other students. Lewis enjoys getting students to write poems and seeing how far their imaginations go when she pushes them in the right direction. She makes the students focus on descriptive words and imagery and encourages them to use their senses to visualize certain objects. Lewis calls these exercises "stretching the image" and hopes the descriptions students develop eventually transfer to their writing. Lewis also encourages her students to read good poetry. Reading good poetry does not mean dissecting every word or image, Lewis says. Instead she wants students to establish a personal connection with a poem. "I don't want them to be lost when they read a poem, and I don't expect every poem to speak to them," she says. In addition to her work on the Vermont Poetry Project, Lewis is also the state's Christa McAuliffe Fellow. As a fellow, she works with teachers and the Vermont Department of Education to revise the state's existing reading and literature standards. Lewis serves as a resource for schools developing standards-based units and other projects focused on Vermont's school reform agenda. Even though Lewis has 25 years of classroom experience, her fellowship has given her a broader perspective about teaching. "Teachers often get caught up in their day-to-day activities, and the fellowship gave me a unique chance to step back and see what I do and why," she says. Lewis will return to her multi-age third and fourth grade class at Fayston Elementary School this fall, where she will continue to manage the online mentoring program. She hopes the project will encourage students to keep writing poetry. "I love reading great poetry," Lewis says. "I hope the students will draw something from their peers' poems that motivates them to take their own poems out of hiding." --Urmila Subramanyam For more: E-mail Carla Lewis at cakole@aol.com or visit the National Institute for Community Innovations Web site at www.nici-mc2.org. [DILEMMA] On the last day of school, I send home a summer packet of various skills students can work on that includes handwriting, math, and language arts activities. If the children return the completed packet at the beginning of the next school year, they receive a small token, such as a pencil or scented stickers. Karen Phillips Many teachers have their students keep a journal for writing daily events. Why not extend that writing into the summer? Students can write accounts of vacations, family reunions, movies, and other summer activities. Not only is it a good way to maintain written communication skills, but it also may become a family project without the stress and time constraints of the school year. Jan Phillips The teacher with whom I work and I send home a summer work folder filled with activities and worksheets students use to "play school" during the summer. We have found that many students really enjoy and look forward to receiving their summer folders. We also encourage students to read by sending home books without expecting students to return them! Victoria Barry I meet with my students' parents each spring before we get out for summer vacation. During the annual review, I give the parents a list of things to do with their child over the summer, such as counting change, telling time, checking for certain things in the newspaper and on TV, talking about weather facts, and using the calendar. These are skills we practice daily during the school year. Another thing I do to promote summer learning is engage the students in a "clean up" at the end of the year. They go home with magazines, workbooks, leftover activity sheets, old calendars, and partially used school supplies.Susan Randall I send a couple of postcards and letters to students during the summer with suggestions for books to read, basic facts, games to play, and encouragement to prepare for the coming year. The children seem to enjoy getting mail. Some of them use the helpful hints, and those that don't can start the new year feeling like they know me. Betty Hawker I make a calendar for August that has activities my students can do every day of the month until school starts. At the end of the year I tell students to take a vacation from school in June and July. They can read books and practice their cursive writing and math if they choose, but they are to have fun during those months. Then starting August 1 they use the calendar to get ready for school again. I teach second grade, so the activity on August 1 is to say the alphabet. On August 2 they count to 100. Each day adds more and more ideas. By the time school starts the students have read several books, completed several worksheets, and can remember most of the things they learned from second grade. They are ready to start third grade and have had fun preparing for it. Ruth Schlosser I work with students who have special needs and they are, by law, given the opportunity to attend summer school. My students require constant repetition in all learning situations. So during these summer sessions, we review classroom rules for days until the students can repeat them or demonstrate that they understand them. We repeat many physical tasks, like touring the building and filling out bathroom passes. When it comes to academics, we review and reinforce the skills they already have learned, then we move forward if possible. Barbara Morris Got an Answer? E-mail your answer to dilemma2@list.nea.org. Or send by regular mail, or fax to 202/822-7206. Include your name, city, state, and job title. If published, you will receive an NEA Today mug! Idea Exchange Literature Letters Carol Aten Foam Manipulatives Marta Haakenson Secret Story Words When they've figured out what their words are, they return to their seats and write down how their words relate to the story. When everyone has finished, we review each student's word, starting with the first person who guessed his or her secret story word correctly. Janice Roehr Have a great idea? You can pass along your tip to NEA Today's 2.6 million readers in one of five ways:
'If I wrote the law...'
The reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act--The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001--will affect every educator in the nation. The past two issues of NEA Today have reported on what the law states and what members think of it. This month, members offer their views on what the law would look like if they had written it. No student should be in a high school with more than 1,000 kids. Motiva-tion is 80 percent of this job. A child needs to feel, "If I get hurt, it matters to people." Then that child will care about the work. And it's much easier to build human relationships in a smaller institution. Kristin Botello The best way to ensure that "no child is left behind" is to ensure that no child gets behind in the first place. That means the federal government must work with state governments, local school districts, and social service agencies to provide early childhood education, medical assistance, and other preventive programs to make students' playing fields as level as possible. We simply must stop the ridiculous debate about whether class size makes a difference. Of course smaller class sizes are more expensive, but the cost of students getting and then staying behind is infinitely higher. Patrick Campbell I would write a law that reflects the fact that all young people don't learn in the same ways. It isn't possible for every child to be reading by the end of third grade. Poverty, abuse, and mental and physical challenges all impact a youngster's readiness to learn. The amount of gray matter given by the Creator also plays a role. I would write a law that provides adequate funding for professional development. Money should not be taken away from a school trying to meet the needs of those students who struggle the most. Carolyn Grice 'We need to reach every child every day.' If we are to send a message of success and accomplishment, we need to be an educational society that is fair, competitive, and compassionate. For that, we need personal contact and time. Time is our most precious commodity. We need time to be fair! We need time to be compassionate! We need time to teach! I am not asking for longer school days or all-year school. I am asking for smaller classes. If we are to leave no child behind, we need to reach every child every day. Jennifer Black I teach ninth grade world history. To me, leaving no child behind means that every student who enters my classroom will be able to read and write at the ninth grade level. I have a dozen students who cannot read or write. They are doomed to fail most of their high school courses. Our system IEPs mandate that teachers read tests to students who cannot read or write. When are these kids going to be taught to read or write? If we don't do it, who will? Jerry Mower I am the new guardian of a 16-year-old girl. She has been left behind, but not by the schools. It is true her school performance is terrible, but that is because of the failures of her parents and of our society. Her father kicked her out of his house and dumped her on her mother's doorstep. The girl was chronically truant because her mother was incapable of ensuring she got to school. She has used marijuana and alcohol. She had sex with a boy she doesn't even know. It is late in the game to help this child. If we are to leave no child behind, we must intervene far sooner. If we are to leave no child behind, we must love them. How do we legislate that? High school math teacher I wouldn't leave behind gifted children. They deserve an education plan that will challenge them at their level just as much as any other child. Sue Burgard To leave no child behind, we must abolish high-stakes testing. The law fails to address economic disparity, which impacts student scores for all standardized tests. We have already left many students behind based on the results of state tests. Now, with federally mandated tests, we will leave even more students behind. Maggie Hagan 'To help struggling students, we need to help struggling families' Garry Norberg I would establish family literacy centers in every neighborhood so reading and math could be taught to every family member regardless of age. These centers would offer free materials for home use. Martha Mitchell I teach students with multiple handicaps. To base "No Child Left Behind" on test scores automatically leaves my students behind. Students with severe conditions can learn and progress, but they do so in their own way and at their own pace. Each of my students should be evaluated based on his or her past progress and no one else's. Jan Christian We should design a compulsory parenting curriculum for 1st through 12th grades that teaches people how to raise babies. These courses should include lessons on sexual abstinence. I teach seventh and eighth grad-ers and they already are sexually active. We have many girls who become pregnant. They have no idea that abstinence should be part of their lives because there are no adults in their lives to tell them so. We will never make a difference in our communities until we make a difference in our families. Teresa Bonasso I would implement daily milk breaks for all students. We grew up with this and it provided a nutritional snack that helped us be alert and ready for lessons. Gay Ekberg 'The whole village needs to be shaped up, not just the village school.' The public schools have kids only six to eight hours a day, 180 to 185 days a year. Parents need to be home with their children after school and in the evenings, providing the structure they need to succeed in school. If it is true it takes a village to raise a child, the whole village needs to be shaped up, not just the village school. Connie Krezelok For more: [DILEMMA] I think there are two ways to deal with a colleague who is not pulling his or her weight. One way would be to do the work yourself. The tasks get accomplished on your own terms, but with unfair fatigue and possible resentment. The second way would be to speak to the person in a subtle manner ("Hey, we need to get this done") or an overt manner ("I'm doing this, you do that") to delegate a fair share of the work. You can debrief at a later date to encourage continued cooperation. Perhaps the colleague will catch on to the grand scheme of sharing tasks. Ellen Levy Perhaps the offender doesn't even know he or she is offending. Talk to the person and say how you feel. You don't have to condemn the person. It's possible to just state how you feel about the behavior. You could say "I really feel like I'm doing double duty when I supervise your class as well as mine in the morning. Could you get to your room a little sooner?" From the reaction you get, you'll have a better idea how to proceed. You may even have to mention the problem to an administrator if it's really bad or dangerous. Flo Pelaschier Recommend a sick leave incentive to your school district that awards a certain amount of money for a certain number of days or months worked without using sick leave. For example, if you don't miss work from September to the winter break you get a $100 bonus. If you don't miss any days from January to May you get another $100. I am sure it will have a positive effect. Frank "Kiko" Chavez One good thing would be to try and get to know them better. Find out why they are not doing their jobs right. It won't be easy, but if you get close to them you may be able to help. Be understanding and supportive. You will have to make a special effort to set a good example yourself and be a good model in hopes that your colleagues will change their ways and be better workers. Terry Monoyios ncouragement is a small investment that reaps big dividends. As a support provider for beginning teachers, I believe that recognizing what a colleague does well is an important approach. I always let the colleague know that I have no other agenda than supporting him or her as a professional. Whatever we address is between us. I make it clear, as I work with various teachers, that it is my job to work with them and render whatever support is needed. An effective education system depends upon teamwork, and we all need to bear our fair share of the responsibilities. This kind of challenge should be seasoned with encouragement and respect when approaching a co-worker. Todd Taylor Got an Answer? |
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