Proverbs 2:1-11

When I was an art teacher finishing my Master's in Education Administration, a fellow art teacher made me a wall hanging with dried flowers and a scripture. She wanted me to remember ancient wisdom about wisdom and understanding. It has taken ten years, but I am starting to understand what this scripture means. Unfortunately, administration is such a political position that I have had to think about how this advice works in my position. Written by and for kings, Proverbs looks at wisdom and understanding from a viewpoint where the king ultimately answers only to God. As a superintendent, I have 7 board members who oversee my actions. Still, the writer views knowledge, wisdom, and understanding as attributes of God and as valuable as hidden treasure. Seeking and holding these attributes equates to victory and protection along the path of righteousness. Enjoy.

My son,
If you accept my words and store up
my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come
knowledge and understanding.

He holds victory in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is
right and just and fair-every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.

Proverbs 2:1-11

Thank you Ellen,
Dr. G

More Inspirational Education Quotes

I am a firm believer in Character Education in public education. Some people argue that education shouldn't be teaching values to children because that is the parent's job, but in so many households children are not exposed to simple virtues that society relies on to operate smoothly. I'm talking about respect, responsibility, caring, honesty, trustworthiness, compassion,and many more character traits that are unarguably the foundation of a civilized society. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all." --Sam Ewing

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction."--George Horace Lorimer

"A great teacher never strives to explain his vision. He simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself."--a fortune cookie I got in 2008

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -—Thomas Edison

"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."--Eddie Rickenbacker (1890-1973)

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." --Mark Twain (1835-1910)

"Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not." --Oprah Winfrey (1954-) in Good Housekeeping

"I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." --Ettiene De Grellet

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built." --Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), My Day

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." --Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." --Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

"Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open." --Elmer G. Letterman

"When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends." --Japanese Proverb

"Character is higher than intellect...A great soul will be strong to live, as well as to think." --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." --Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

"When in doubt, tell the truth." --Mark Twain (1835-1910)

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." --Aesop (620BC-560BC), The Lion and the Mouse

"It has never been my object to record my dreams, just to realize them." --Man Ray, O Magazine, September 2002

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead (1901-1978).

"Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid." --John Keats (1795-1821)

"You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one." --James A. Froude (1818-1894)

"Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways, it can change someone else's life forever." --Margaret Cho, weblog, 03-11-04

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." --James Joyce (1882-1941)

"When you have given nothing, ask for nothing." --Albanian Proverb

"Our lives improve only when we take chances--and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves." --Walter Anderson

"Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read." --Mark Twain

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day." --Sally Koch

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." --Helen Keller

"Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else's can shorten it." --Cullen Hightower

"Mistakes, obviously, show us what needs improving. Without mistakes, how would we know what we had to work on?" --Peter McWilliams, Life 101

"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever." --Chinese Proverb

"Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you." --Spanish Proverb

"Don't wait for people to be kind, show them how." --Author unknown

"If somone were to pay you ten cents for every kind word you ever spoke and collect five cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?" --Nonpareil

"Assert your right to make a few mistakes. If people can't accept your imperfections, that's their fault." --Dr. David M. Burns

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them--every day begins the task anew." --St. Francis de Sales

"What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your mouth." --Jewish Proverb

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." --Mark Twain

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." Benjamin Franklin

"Today, make an investment in someone else's happiness." --Author Unknown

Movies About Education Should Be Inspirational

Let's face it. There can never be a "definitive" list about what movies are the best ever because Hollywood keeps churning them out. And always will because as much as America trashes its education system--it's a love-hate relationship.

The reason these movies are on this list is because I watch them over and over and over. Something about each one tightens my chest at the end because the message is meaningful. I encourage you to watch each of them at least twice. And I will update this list as I stumble on new movies so you might want to check back every once in a while...and don't be mad if your favorite movie isn't on this list...I might just have not seen it yet!

1. Lean on Me--Morgan Freeman stars in this powerful movie about tough love and reform in an inner city, burned out school. A teacher who escaped his old neighborhood gives in to a guilt trip and returns with a baseball bat to clean things up. I cannot see this movie enough times. And the scene where the whole school sings "Lean on Me" tears me up every time.
2. School of Rock--Who'd a thunk Jack Black would take what he does best--rocknroll--and bring us a meaningful movie about teaching and learning. My kids and I have watched this movie I don't know how many times. I laugh at Jack, Sarah Silverman's witchy character, and Amanda Cosgrove throughout this whole movie...yet, when they get to the final scene, I am still overcome by the success that comes from hard work and determination. Dare I say Jack Black's finest work?
3. The Hobart Shakespeareans--This is a documentary, but don't let that deter you from watching it. This may be the single most powerful movie I have watched about teaching. I stumbled on it by accident, yet I have watched it numerous times, shown it to staff, and then rewatched it. Rafe Asquith is an outstanding teacher in one of the roughest LA schools. He teaches life lessons through travel, Shakespeare, music, and whatever else it takes to help kids learn. There is a scene where the kids in his elementary class, kids who witness shootings and stabbings and whose parents don't speak English, are reading Huck Finn out loud in class. These kids have so internalized the culture of the class and what Rafe is teaching that the entire class is crying while Huck has a revelation about social justice. I may have to move this one to the top of my list.
4. Akeelah and the Bee--Laurence Fishburne and Keke Palmer bring this story of a struggling student to life. Fishburne introduces Keke to the world of spelling bees. He demands nothing short of perfection since that is what it will take to win. The girl struggles until she takes ownership of her learning and her community pitches in to help.
5. Billy Madison--I know what you are thinking--Adam Sandler? But everybody needs a laugh now and then. Despite the silliness, Billy learns the ultimate lesson: teaching is the most important career there is. This movie is my guilty pleasure.
6. Music of the Heart--Meryl Streep has one of her finer performances in this movie. I was a fine arts teacher so I love education movies that incorporate music. The hard hitting music teacher who takes a job to survive, then keeps doing it because she loves it and it is the right thing to do plays a strong note in my heart.
7. Mr. Holland's Opus--Richard Dreyfuss is another reluctant music teacher who discovers the love of teaching and goes on to make a difference in thousands of students' lives. The best thing this movie teaches is that teachers will seldom get the thanks they deserve until they retire...and most won't get the sendoff that Holland does. But at least he shares with us.
8. Good Will Hunting--Robin Williams is a master of this type of movie, but Matt Damon adds a whole new layer to the story. An unlikely genius, a custodian solves a difficult problem posted outside a math class. He reluctantly agrees to attend MIT. Nominated for 9 Academy Awards and winning 2 Oscars, this movie is great.
9. Dead Poets Society--Robin Williams bring us another tearjerker about education, prestige, entitlement, passion, conformity, non-conformity and Walt Whitman. This dramatic, dark movie is inspirational non-the-less.
10. Finding Forrester--Sean Connery basically plays himself in this movie that is still a great inspirational movie to watch. And it has a few good life lessons about respect, honesty, sharing, and caring.
11. Stand and Deliver--This is a powerful movie about Calculus. It works. The acting is great and spot on with the true story from what I've gathered watching documentaries. This one will help you get through a challenging semester of teaching.
12. Race the Sun--Halle Barry and James Belushi do much better with this script than they have been given credit for. This deserves at least one viewing. Native American cultures face more challenges than you can imagine...I know because I've taught on a reservation. For these kids to embrace learning, face competition, stand out from their peers, and follow a black woman and a white man must have been an exceptional group. Not to mention that they built a championship solar race car.
13. Blackboard Jungle--This is an old black and white film that seems corny now. But the very end of the movie introduces an important concept that was rediscovered about effective instruction around the time this movie was made. While the concept is weakly presented, it is still as relevant today as it was then. This one might deserve another look if I can dig out my copy of it from storage.
14. Searching for Bobby Fisher--Laurence Fishburne is fantastic in this movie. If you don't like slow, but powerful movies, then this one isn't for you. But the premise behind why the father drives the son to play so much and so hard is a subtle jab at how middle class Americans raise their children Still, I love this movie.
15. Dangerous Minds--Michelle Pfiefer doesn't ruin this movie. Granted, I think they could have found somebody better to play the part. I have met the lady this movie was inspired by and Pfiefer captures a little bit of the hard-nosed, drill-sargent attitude. Yet, everything seems melodramatic and over the top. It still made my list though.
16. Take the Lead--Antonio Banderas--Inner city kids ballroom dancing. If that isn't enough of a hook. I don't know what is.
17. 187--Samuel L. Jackon stars in this very rough movie about what is really bad in education with a smal dose of someone good who gets devoured. I think there is a lot more to this movie that most people aren't smart enough to get. Do not watch this with kids if you think you can stomach it yourself.
18. Renaissance Man--Danny Devito--I originally was going to include this in my list, but then had doubts. I laughed, but I don't know if it deserves to be here. You decide.
19. The Paperclip Project--My wife watched this the other day. I haven't seen it, but she said she bawled all the way through. This is a documentary, but once I watch it, it will probably move up the list. Even though I haven't seen it, it bumps the Governator down.
20. Kindergarten Cop--Arnold--I'm a guy so I have to include a movie with the orginal Terminator in it. This is a cute movie that has made the bottom of the list. I will probably move it down to the bottom every time I add more movies. Take that as you will.

What is "Punctuated Renewal"?

Equilibrium has to be redefined for complex adaptive systems to mean a state of tension as opposed to a state of rest (Waldrop, 1992).

The science of complexity looks at systems as moving through phases of equilibrium and renewal as punctuated equilibrium, but as existing in the phase transition where renewal occurs is more desirable to a complex adaptive system to ensure maximal growth and survivability, successful schools seemingly experience punctuated renewal (Brady, 2003).

“Complex systems…continually regenerate themselves” (Bloch, 2008, p. 545). These systems seek renewal and in that quest gain energy. At equilibrium, a system’s processes cease to function so a complex system keeps moving, seeking far-from-equilibrium, and exchanging information at its boundaries with the environment so the system can grow, change, and seek out more desirable states (Davis & Sumara, 2001; Heylighen, 2002; Rowland, 2007b; Wheatley, 2006a). Disequilibrium keeps order from freezing a complex system and rendering it unable to continually adapt and change for better fit with the environment (De Wolf & Holvoet, 2005; Rowland, 2007a). Punctuated renewal is the disruption of the patterned behavior of the organization around an attractor (Heylighen, 2002). Renewal is “punctuated” in the sense that the organization transcends from one state to another in such short intervals that the process of improvement is continuous (Goldstein, 2005; Wheatley, 2006a).

Stuart Kauffman talks about attractors as “a state that we collectively maintain ourselves in, an ever changing state where [technologies and pedagogies]…come into existence and replace others” (Waldrop, 1992, p. 322). Principals act as catalysts in a sort of doorway between the multiple dimensions of learning to drive a sense of urgency necessary for ideas and information to pass between intra- and inter-system boundaries. “Once you get beyond a certain threshold of complexity you can expect a kind of phase transition [where systems] undergo an explosive increase in growth and innovation” (p. 126). So, complexity itself emerges as multiple complex systems absorb each other into a supercritical complex system spanning the boundaries of the local school community, state, national, and global systems. Education needs to become supercritical by exploiting the capacity of all its subsystems and partner systems. In supercritical systems, continually punctuated renewal would emerge as the system is allowed to self-organize by leadership. Principals act as a catalyst trying to drive a system to become supercritical by garnering support across boundaries for socially just programs and initiatives (Watkins & Tisdell, 2006).

Complex systems operate moving away from equilibrium which creates tension between boundaries and levels of complexity “enabling interaction as a mutual transformation of energy or information” (Semetsky, 2005, p. 26). Boundary conversations necessary to reform rely on renewal since “at equilibrium nothing happens…time and space do not matter” (Stacey, 1996, p. 61). Equilibrium has to be redefined for complex adaptive systems to mean a state of tension as opposed to a state of rest. As power fluctuations happen throughout adaptations and happenstance, ripples or avalanches cause changes in all other members of the environmental landscape until temporal equilibrium is reached and then another fluctuation occurs. This evolution of systems is infinite and essential to the continuance of life just as it is essential to the survival of a school community (Waldrop, 1992).

As I have discussed various components of schools as complex adaptive systems, I hope I have painted a convincing picture of high performing schools as continually renewing organizations with emergent leadership dependent on collective efficacy, orbiting worthwhile strange attractors, empowering agency in its participants, utilizing multidimensional learning, attentive to and valuing diverse sociocultural capital, fostering collaboration across system boundaries, committed to social justice, alert to shifts in the environmental landscape with the optimism to approach challenges head-on (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). Leadership in a renewing organization has the responsibility of keeping the system open and vibrant through participation. In Marzano et al’s (2005) meta-analysis of school leadership, Fullan is quoted,

The more accustomed one becomes to dealing with the unknown, the more one understands that creative breakthroughs are always preceded by periods of cloudy thinking, confusion, exploration, trial and stress; followed by periods of excitement, and growing confidence as one pursues purposeful change, or copes with unwanted change. (p. 74)

The science of complexity looks at systems as moving through phases of equilibrium and renewal as punctuated equilibrium. But existing in the phase transition where renewal occurs is more desirable to a complex adaptive system to ensure maximal growth and survivability so I think of successful schools as experiencing punctuated renewal. A system requires short periods of equilibrium to gather itself, to move explicit learning to tacit understanding, and to ratchet up complexity to a new level; however, sitting too long at equilibrium weakens and might even kill an organization just as prolonged equilibrium would kill a biological organism. Any given model, solution, or practice will not work in every circumstance, so organizations continually seek new peaks in the environmental landscape (Brady, 2003).

Creating a coherent plan for a school…is evolutionary and recursive, not linear…the plans themselves need to be written in pencil…Educators…need the flexibility to take advantage of unexpected opportunities…that advance the school community’s shared vision for the school…to ensure that all initiatives contribute to enhancing student learning. (Church, 2005, p. 99)

We should begin to adopt the language of emergence when discussing underserved populations and enacting true reform in education that will benefit the entire school community as opposed to reproducing dominant sociocultural capital that ensures the continuation of the present social hierarchy. However, planned enculturation guarantees the eventual death of the system when punctuated renewal is thwarted. “Becoming other” is the language of emergence (Lambert, 2003).

What are "Order Parameters"?

A concept introduced by German physicist Hermann Haken in 1981, order parameters govern the emergence of phenomenon at the global level from complex systems (Goldstein, 1999).

They are variables introduced as energy into the system causing bifurcations, or changes in the self-ordering process. As more are introduced, the number of possible configurations the system could move towards increases distancing the system further from equilibrium and opening the system up to positive feedback (Heylighen, 2002; Waldrop, 1992).

What is a "High-Performing, High-Poverty School (HP2S)"?

High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools (HP2S)

HP2S’ “foundational building block [is] an organized, comprehensive capacity to collect, analyze, and monitor data” (Barr & Parrett, 2007, p. 165). HP2S have demonstrated, both before and after the inception of NCLB, that marginalized students, often characterized as hard or impossible to teach, can achieve at high levels (Chenoweth, 2007).

HP2S do not focus on a narrow curriculum, but teach art, music, PE, science, history, have field trips, and conduct other myriad activities beyond teaching to the test. Principals have had to begin to look beyond SES for school-level characteristics that affect achievement (Chenoweth, 2007; Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006; Reeves, 2007). Increased achievement, decreased drop-out rates, and college attendance for marginalized populations seem to depend on a collaborative school-community environment, relationships between agents, high-expectations, attention to school structures and sociocultural capital, and efforts to build capacity within the school community including leadership capacity (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Fullan, 2006; Mulford & Moreno, 2006; Stinson, 2006).

Chenoweth (2007) identified HP2S with the following criteria: 1. A significant population of children living in poverty and/or a significant population of children of color; 2. Either very high rates of achievement or a very rapid improvement trajectory; 3. Relatively small gaps in student achievement in comparison with achievement gaps statewide; 4. At least two years’ worth of data; 5. In the case of high schools, high graduation rates and higher-than-state-average promoting power index; 6. Adequate Yearly Progress; 7. Open enrollment for neighborhood children—that is, no magnet schools, no exam schools, no charter schools.

Public vs. Home vs. Private School

Which One is Better?

As a public school administrator, you think I'd favor public education over home or private school options...and I do in general. However, both other forms have their advantages and in some situations, they are the appropriate choice for families. Keep in mind that most public schools could not even handle an influx of students if home and private school options magically disappeared, so public schools don't mind that these two options exist.

Public School Advantages:

1. Public schools spend way more money per student per year to help them learn. In Missouri, this is over $6,000 per child. Most private households could never afford to spend that much on their child's home school education annually.
2. Public school students have easier access to support services such as a nurse and counselor.
3. Public school students have access to extracurricular and athletic activities that take little to no effort on the part of the family.
4. Current research shows that student learning in public schools is equal to that in private schools.
5. Children are exposed to a diverse group of learners and learn to interact with them socially.
6. Research shows that low-achieving students benefit from interaction with higher-achieving students. These lower-achieving students are often low-income students.

Home School Advantages:

1. Parent have control of the curriculum their children are exposed to.
2. Children are shielded from bullying.
3. Social interaction is controlled by the parents.
4. Religious views can be designed into instruction.

Private School Advantages:

1. Parents can choose a school that fits their child's needs or the family's religious views.
2. The per pupil expenditure is as high as the school tuition allows depending on the goals and vision of the school.
3. The prestige of the private school can open up future opportunities for college or business connections for the child.
4. Children are exposed to a similar peer group.

There are obviously disadvantages to each option and as those tend to be the real reason parents choose one option over the other two, I do not feel a need to share my opinion on them.

 

Are Small Schools Better Than Large Schools?

In a nutshell, Yes.

Now, let's expand on that. I do not believe it is because teachers in small schools are better or anything like that. Larger schools have one advantage: money. I have worked in schools ranging from medium to small and I have friends that work in large metropolitan districts. When they have a stove go out in the cafeteria, they spend $5,000 of their $100,000,000+ budget to replace it. When I have a stove go out, I spend $5,000 of my $3,000,000 budget to replace it. So my overhead is much larger. In fact, we spend about $6,000 per kid per year versus their expenditure of over $9,000 per kid per year and more of ours goes to buildings, busses, and food. In big schools, more of the per child expenditure goes to salaries meaning big schools pay teachers more. Big schools can shop around for the best deal on service, repair, etc. I have one guy that can do that and I pay whatever he charges...period. So large schools have some distinct monetary advantages.

However, a small school is superior the most important area to providing a quality education to students: Relationships. In our small school, we know every kid because many of our employees are from our small town and accept a lower pay to stay at home. We know their parents and often their grandparents. If a teacher is having trouble, odds are they went to school with that kid's parents and they just call them up and say, "Hey, Johnny just did this" and it gets taken care of. The nexus of relationships in small communities and in small schools allows districts to be flexible and proactive in helping kids be successful. Even as superintendent, I know roughly how each of our 300 kids is doing with grades, attendance, state assessment, IEP progress, family issues, etc. When I was a principal in a middle school with 600 kids, I didn't even know all of the students. You can clearly see where a small school has advantages for kids!

Larger schools are aware of these advantages and many are following the "small schools movement." These large schools break up into small neighborhood schools where kids stay in the same building through 6th or 8th grade. With each building move, achievement scores drop, so staying in the same building impacts performance positively. Because services are concentrated, these small schools can provide low-income areas better connections to social and community services as well. In the end, small schools create a "family" atmosphere for children versus an "institutional" atmosphere that is unavoidable in large schools.

What is an "IEP"?

IEP--Individual Education Plan

An IEP is a plan written to help an individual student who learns differently than other students whether that be for a learning disability, a speech impediment, a vision problem, or some other health impairment.

One time, I had a parent enroll their kid in the 7th grade and we asked for her to fill out the request to transfer records from the other school to ours. I asked the parent if we needed to request paperwork for an IEP to be transfered. The parent said, "What's that?" I replied, "An individual plan for a student who is recieving special services." The parent hollered, "Nope! My kids aren't all retarded and stupid and needing one of those." I held back some choice words and said, "An IEP is for kids who learn differently than other kids. It has nothing to do with intelligence. In fact, kids who are not intelligent and are working at their level won't qualify for special services." The lady left, but I don't think she understood. I turned around and my secretary was so mad she was almost purple. The kids she really watched out for were the special education students and it took all of her professional control to not jump across the counter and jack-slap that parent.

So, we know an IEP is not something written for stupid children. The plan is used to address differences in learning needs that the regular classroom may or may not be able to provide. For example, a kid is failing reading. The teacher has tried several different ways to help this student, but nothing seems to work. The teacher or the parent might refer the student for evaluation. The evaluation will either reveal that the student is performing at their ability level or that they have an ability level higher than what they are demonstrating in their class work. If the gap between ability and the performance we actually see is big enough, then the school will develop an IEP to address the learning needs of the child.

The IEP is written by the IEP Team. The team consists of an administrator from the school, the special education teacher, the regular classroom teacher, the parent, and if age appropriate, the student. The majority of the team has to agree on provisions of the IEP for it to be accepted for the student.

The plan consists of: a review of the achievement data and observations of the child; goals with targets for improvement written specifically for that child; specific accommodations that the classroom teacher and special education teacher will use to help the child meet their goals.

The parent is an important aspect of this process, but just because the parent wants it doesn't mean the school is required to provide it. The team format allows the group of professional educators to get input from the family since they know the child best...but, again, the school employees are trained, professional educators with many combined years of experience. The parent may appeal the IEP and can get an advocate from an advocacy group to help them navigate these waters if necessary.

Usually, the school has sought legal guidance during the proceedings and has ensured they have done everything properly so as to not be sued. Special education litigation is one of the quickest ways a school can land in a lawsuit.

 

Schools Love a Dependable Volunteer

So you want to volunteer in school. Great! We need/love/want/begfor...oh yeah, and sometimes dread, volunteers.

So lets get the hard part out of the way. Don't become a volunteer if any of the below apply to you:

1. You want to spy on your kids teacher and see what REALLY goes on in there. This is not going to help the school trust you or help your child's education. It will be a distraction.

2. You want to spy on another kid. Are you scoping out the cheerleading competition? You don't like the kid's mom and you know the kid is just like her? That kid is picking on your kid and you want to let them know you are watching them? Let school officials handle these issues...that's why they get the big bucks!

3. You are a registered sex offender, convicted felon, etc . Maybe you've turned over a new leaf, but we don't take risks with our kids so don't bother.

Ok. So now we know you are an altruistic saint who wants to help your child's school be the best! Here is what you need to do and what you can expect:

1. Fill out a volunteer application at your child's building or central office . Ask the building secretary what you need to do.

2. Be willing to do WHATEVER the school needs done . You are not going to be teaching lessons or grading papers...that is the teacher's job and you legally cannot do those things.

3. Be prepared to sign a confidentiality agreement. You may overhear information, see documents, or witness behavior regarding other children that is protected by privacy laws.

4. Be prepared to go through volunteer training . Most schools have a formal program that everyone has to sit through, not just you. Pay attention and ask questions. Ask lots of questions. Not just now, but anytime you are unsure of something or think there might be a better way. Realize that because you think something could be done better doesn't mean school policy, employment law, and/or state and federal regulations will allow for a change.

5. Be prepared for a background check . The school is required to run these on anyone who has contact with students--especially if there is a chance that you might be alone with children without a school employee present.

6. Volunteer somewhere other than in your child's classroom . Some schools don't allow this, but you and your child will both get more done if you aren't in there.

7. Look for little ways you make the teachers' days easier and they will ask for you more and more often. For example, help preschool and kindergarten kids cut up pancakes at breakfast. Help move kids through the lunch line so teachers can go scarf their lunch. Learn to use the copier and go room to room asking if they have copies they need made. Sharpen pencils. Monitor the playground. During flu season help disinfect door handles, lockers, walls, etc. Shelve books or wipe off book covers in the library. Let a special needs kid read to you. Disinfect bus seats. Pick up trash around the school grounds. Disinfect the weight room equipment.

8.Thank the teachers and administration for the opportunity to serve kids and for the work that they do every day. You are going to hear more thanks in a day (and it still won't feel like much!) than an educator hears on a year.

9. Finally, you will help your school out in one way more than any other . When you leave the school, tell others how great the school was, how wonderful the teachers were, now nice the principal was, and how smart the kids were! You will be strengthening a key aspect of the school by doing this: the school IDENTITY. You will be promoted from being a volunteer to being an ambassador.

 

Don't Sweat the ACT and SAT

Test Anxiety

The worst thing you can do is panic during a college entrance exam like the ACT or SAT. A few strategies can help you bring your score up, Up, UP!

1. Practice, practice, practice. Find a practice site where you can brush up on concepts you may have learned a few years ago. Many schools offer links to these types of online programs. An example is Learning Express Library.

2. Take the test early. Take the test often. I've had students take the ACT in 8th grade just so they know what content they need to be learning in high school. Colleges only look at the highest score you get, so take it as many times as you can afford it. I would recommend taking it once each year in 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade, and then every time you can in 11th and 12th grade until you get the score you want.

3. Ask your counselor for help. Money is often an issue in low-income schools, but many of these testing companies offer a limited number of vouchers to schools to use for students who recieve Free and Reduced Lunch benefits. You might qualify.

4. Rest. You need to get to bed at a decent time the night before your test. I wouldn't go crazy and sleep for 12 hours because you will be out of your normal routine and groggy.

5. Eat. Something filling and sensible. Oatmeal. Granola. Fruit. Don't eat so much that you are uncomfortable or crash part way through the test.

6. Drink. Make sure you are hydrated so your brain is functioning at its best. Most tests don't let you take anything in, but if you can have a water under your desk, then take one. During breaks get something to drink. A can of soda with caffeine or a coffee can give you a boost.

7. Be Merry. You can do this. Be positive and determined. If you are anxious, you will have a hard time getting the score you want so try to relax.

8. Move around during breaks and even during the test. You have pumps in your elbows, knees, and other joints that help move blood through your system and back to your brain. The more oxygen you circulate to your brain, the clearer things will be. Don't make noise that disturbs other test-takers, but bend your knees and elbows every once in a while to help keep blood flowing. When you get a restroom or drink break, take advantage of the opportunity to walk around, stretch, and even do a couple of jumping jacks!

Bullying Isn't Healthy for Anyone

If you came to this page looking for someone to agree with you that the school is doing nothing, then you've come to the wrong place. Schools don't want to see kids get hurt and bullying hurts kids--both the victim and the bully. The problem is that schools often feel as helpless as parents. Kids have rights too and in a social context involving hundreds to thousands of individual children, school officials often have trouble sorting out reality from perceived reality from fiction. And they are dealing with several cases at a time--not just yours. This may not be important to you, but each parent's concern is equally important to the school.

This doesn't mean the school doesn't care about your child. But they can use your help to find out what is truly happening so they can clamp down on the situation and put a stop to the bullying, getting the other child the counseling they need, and keeping your child safe from retaliation as quickly as possible.

Here are some things you and your child need to sit down and do to help give appropriate information to the principal of the school:

1. Keep a log of when the bullying occurs--day, time, class period.

2. Write down exactly what occurred during each incident of bullying.

3. Document exactly where the bullying happens.

4. Take note of who else saw the bullying incident happen.

5. Take particular note of which faculty were around when the bullying happened because they often mispercieve what was happening at the time since kids do weird and crazy things for fun.

6. Have your child brainstorm what was going on that might have instigated the bullying (which may be nothing, but small details are often big push-buttons for the bully).

Your child will have to turn all of this documentation over to school officials, but the more detailed and verifiable the information is, the quicker the school can react and will believe your child is remembering things the way they really happened. The school cannot promise your child they will not reveal who they are. Specific accusations will give away who your child is to the bully since they often have favorite targets and plan specific ways to torment each victim.

There are things you can do to help your child minimize or prevent being in a situation where they can be bullied:

1. Make a list of places where bullying is worst. Better yet, draw a map of the school and mark where bullying happens. The principal will appreciate knowing the places that need monitored more closely by staff. Your child can learn to avoid these places during certain times or by taking a different route through the school with more people around.

2. Have your child identify places they can quickly get to from high bullying areas they can't avoid. If bullying occurs in the stairwell, but your child knows a teacher at the top and bottom of the steps, they can quickly step into that room where the bully can't pick on them without being discovered.

3. Have your child notify their teachers that they are having trouble with a specific bully and they would appreciate the teacher keeping an extra eye on them. This works since teachers care about kids' safety and a specific request sticks in their busy minds as they go about their day. The more specific your child can be, the better. "Mrs. Smith, Bobby the Bully picks on me between 2nd and 3rd hour just outside your door. He pushes me into the corner and stomps on my toes. Could you keep an eye out for him and make sure he leaves me alone?"

4. Have your child ask their friends specifically to stay close and loudly tell the bully to leave your child alone. Bullies often leave a group alone since they prey on victims they percieve to be weak or lonely. Plus, the noise may get an adult's attention. A bully's biggest weapon is denial and an adult witness destroys the bully's ability to use denial.

5. Your child needs to be ready to pay it forward and stand up for other victims of bullies. If your child wouldn't be ready to help someone else, why should anyone help them?

One final note. This is hard for parents to understand, but it is the law: if the principal knows where and when an incident occured and they use a security camera to view the incident, the principal CANNOT show you the video if anyone but your child is in it. Privacy laws protect the other students in the video or picture stills and the principal cannot show that evidence to anyone but other school officials or law enforcement.

As you work with school officials, do your best to stay calm, collected, and polite. Running a school is one of the toughest jobs there is and you will get much further being polite, firm, and persistent than running into the school screaming, demanding, and acting beligerent. Bullies have always existed and new ones will always be born, but we can get better and better at dealing with them if we work together.

The Lens of Complexity

Complexity science seeks to understand how nonlinear learning systems self-organize, sustain, and co-adapt to and within their environment (Bloch, 2005; Davis & Simmt, 2006; Levin, 2002). Complex adaptive systems have many parts cooperating and competing. All the systems and agents working together, coadapting and coevolving, actually account for what is happing on local and global scales (Stacey, 1996). Structure cannot be permanent because agents reorganize themselves in response to internal and external stimuli so that renewal is continual (Fels, 2004). Complex adaptive systems are defined by a critical point between high and low order parameters where strange attractors emerge that are paradoxically stable and unstable at the same time (Heylighen, 2002; Stacey, 1996). Complex adaptive systems contain both order and disorder resulting in energy crossing boundaries with the external environment where negotiation can cause a split, a bifurcation point, making renewal or emergence to a more complex level possible. In other words, complex systems hold the potential for transformation (Gilstrap, 2005). In complex adaptive systems such as education, the organism or entity continually evolves becoming increasingly more complex, or “ratcheting up” its complexity based on previous states in which it has existed to make successive generations a better fit with the environment. Complex adaptive systems involve so many interacting entities prediction is rendered impossible in the long-term (Goldstein, 2005; Waldrop, 1992).

Current researchers in the field of education continue to reiterate a basic premise similar to the science of complexity’s theorizing that complex adaptive systems involve so many interacting entities prediction is rendered impossible in the long-term. For example, Kuh and colleagues (2007) state, “No single view is comprehensive enough to account for the complicated set of factors that interact to influence students and institutional performance” (p. 13). Contrast this idea with traditional aspects of school culture that seem to run counter to notions of complexity: low connection density, no attractors such as a shared vision and mission, reductionist in nature, change is chaotic, and a belief that agents cannot improve teaching practice because good teachers are born not made (Dean, Galvin, & Parsley, 2005).

I propose that a new paradigm rooted in complexity has been emerging from recent literature and research although such a paradigm has yet to be recognized on a widespread scale due to the specialized language of complexity science. Stinson (2006) wonders how schools are supposed to facilitate development of HP2 characteristics. Kayti Haycock writes, “Real improvement never follows from just one new program…the educators in [high-performing, high-poverty (HP2)] schools think differently about almost everything” (Barr & Parrett, 2007, p. xx). The U. S. Department of Education (1998) recognizes, “There are many ways to improve low-performing schools but not simple solutions” (p. 49). Lareau (2000) admonishes, “Just as there is no one best way to teach, nor one best way to learn, there is no one best way for parents to be involved in schooling and to promote children’s success” (p. 192). Chu Clewell and Campbell (2007) have reminded us that effective schools research is not intended as sets of instructions to follow, but resources for improvement flexibly applied within context. Brady’s report for the Fordham Foundation (2003) declares, “The specific strategy [to intervene in a failing school] is not important. What’s important is having the right mix of people, energy, timing, and other elements—particularly school leadership—that together contribute to success” (p. 2 of Conclusions) in a specific situation and context.

The “right mix” needs to be dynamic, synergistic, increasingly powerful agents in the right combination. Change and connection are bridged when teachers work collectively and collaboratively forming relationships with and between students to meet common goals while having compassion for each other without sacrificing assessment and learning (Bloch, 2004; DuFour & Eaker, 1998). Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom (2004) feel education needs “to be developing leaders with large repertoires of practices and capacity to choose from that repertoire as needed, not leaders trained in the delivery of one ‘ideal’ set of practices” (p. 10). High-performing, high-poverty (HP2) components “occur in no common sequence, yet they consistently appear in successful schools…What works in your school or district will be as unique as the population you serve” (Barr & Parrett, 2007, p. 58). Complexity seems to be catching on. Education is beginning to see a new paradigm, an archetype for emergence and renewal instead of merely recipes that are not sustainable in the end.