Outstanding Interview

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Arne Duncan
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

I give Stewart an A+ for understanding how damaging NCLB & Race to the Top have been to education!

Smaller is better

This cartoonist is a MAJOR right-winger and I rarely agree with him because 9 times out of 10 he's also a blithering nincompoop (er, uh, I mean self-righteous ideologue) but THIS time, I think he's spot on. I never understood why a party that claimed to stand for decentralization of government (state's rights etc.) came up with the hair brained scheme for unfunded mandates and malignant bureaucracy that is "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB).

Encourage Reading

Ted's Column for the Mapleton PRESS- Thursday, November 8, 2007

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." ~Groucho Marx

Nothing is quite so discouraging for teachers than hearing students complain about how much they dislike reading. Some kids claim that reading is boring. If that’s the problem, they just need to look a little harder to find something to read that interests them.
It’s more likely that it’s work. Kids call things “work” not just when they’re dull, but also when they’re difficult. Farm families know that some of the best things in life are the result of hard work.

I try to help students see that it is an upwardly moving spiral; the more you read the better you get at it, the better you get at it the easier it is, the easier it is the less work it is, the less work it is the more fun it is, the more fun it is the more you’ll want to do it, the more you do it, the smarter you’ll get… and so on.

Somehow over the years some kids have gotten the idea that it’s somehow “uncool” to be smart. Popular culture dictates that people who like to read or who have broad vocabularies are somehow either nerdy or untrustworthy. What’s “cool” is to be crude, thick-headed and “red-neck.” I have no problem with being proud of one’s working-class roots. Love Country music, trucks in the mud, beer, hunting and NASCAR. I like most of that stuff myself, but being willing to get your hands dirty and going out of your way to not be a snob does not mean you have to be dumb as a stump.

Knowledge, learning, reading and curiosity should never be things that only belong to people who are rich enough or good enough or sissy enough. And schools and teachers will never be able to make you any smarter than reading on your own will.

Back in the 1500’s Martin Luther encouraged families to teach their children and communities to start schools for everyone’s children so that everyone could learn to read. His main reason was so that people could read their Bibles for themselves and have personal relationships with God, rather than waiting to hear a little bit about God on Sundays.

Thomas Jefferson and many of the founding fathers advocated free universal public education because they wanted everyone, including poor children to be able to read so that they could be better informed and able to participate in our democracy. Jefferson felt so strongly about it, he proposed an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing a right to education. His proposal got shot down, and he instead focused his energy on the University of Virginia.

During the turn of the last century Steel baron Andrew Carnegie poured his fortunes into 2,500 public and university libraries because he wanted to give other people the opportunity for learning and self-improvement that he had as a child in Scotland. That commitment to reading no doubt helped to spur many an entrepreneur and helped build the middle-class of the twentieth century.

Let’s face it, you’re sitting here with a newspaper in your hands, so obviously I am “preaching to the choir.” If you hated reading, you we wouldn’t be having this chat.
So what can we do to encourage other people to read- especially kids? There are all kinds of things. It starts with attitude.

Research suggests that the most critical aspect of reading is how a child feels about reading. Positive reinforcement is important. Kids need to know that adults they know care about reading.

How can you do that? Ask them what they’re reading, ask them to tell you about whatever they’re reading. Talk to them about whatever you’ve been reading and what you enjoyed about it.

Let them see you read. Give books and magazine subscriptions as gifts- you can write in side the front cover like you would in a card, this will make it an even more special gift. Why not give a subscription to the PRESS to your 18 to twenty-something relatives for Christmas whether they’re off in college or not?

Let them read what they want. If they’re not interested in Jayne Eyre, so what? Is it so bad if they’re reading Sports Illustrated, Cosmo Teen, Progressive Farmer, or Spiderman comic books? Hey they’re still reading. When you were young you drank McDonald’s orange drink and Tang, now as an adult you have no problem with grapefruit juice and double-decaf fat free soy milk mocha lattes. Maybe your kids will never read Leo Tolstoy, but eventually they’ll graduate to James Patterson and John Grisham. So long as they’re reading, that’s the important thing.
Have books in your house, have them in your child’s room. Read out loud, you’d be surprised that even older kids enjoy this. Don’t be embarrassed if you have a hard time reading out loud, that will only show them that they don’t have to be embarrassed.

If you do feel confident in your own reading, make it fun by spicing it up a bit with silly voices or dramatic expression. That will exercise their imaginations.
Take kids to a book store or library and let them pick out their own books. Make it a regular family outing.

Donate your old books to your local school or public library. Donate your time to that same school or library to help kids. You don’t have to read to a whole room full of kids or serve as some expert tutor- many schools have volunteer programs where all you have to do is listen to the students read, maybe gently coaching them along.

You can get lots of other ideas online at places like http://www.rif.org (RIF stands for Reading Is Fundamental).

Remind kids that reading gets easier and more fun, the more you do it. And the more you do it, the smarter you get and after all, knowledge is power. Above all, let them know that reading isn’t dumb, dorky, or lame. Reading opens opportunity.

Double-standards still standard 50 years after Little Rock

Thursday, September 27, 2007 the Mapleton PRESS

A year ago a black high school student in Jena, Louisiana, a town about the size of Mapleton, asked his principal if it would be alright for him to sit under a tree that white kids were claiming was only for them. The principal said it was okay, but the next day, there were nooses hanging in the tree. This was an unmistakable reference to the historical practice of lynching Black people in the South, and an unmistakable threat.

Haven't we make ANY progress? This may as well be 60 years ago. Well, not completely true, they wouldn't all be at the same school 60 years ago.

The principal wanted to expel the white kids who hung the nooses in the tree, but his superintendent decided that they'd only receive a short, in-school suspension.
At first I didn't know whether or not I'd have done more than suspend the white boys either. Of course, I'm not in the South, I'm safely sheltered here in mostly homogeneous rural Iowa. And I'm not Black.

I was thinking from the point of view of a high school teacher, someone who's been around 12-18 year olds all day long for the last 14 years. I always look for the best in kids and I'm slow to believe the worst. I also always assume that they are immature, impulsive, short-sighted, and insensitive to others and therefore not as responsible for all of their actions as adults. Of course, this side of 35, with 3 kids of my own, I'm starting to think the same way about anyone under say 32.

Droves of protesters traveled from all over the country to Jena last week to march past the high school because lawyers were calling for a sentence of up to 80 years for "attempted murder" for 6 Black kids who beat up a white kid, Justin Barker for taunting a black kid, Robert Bailey about getting hit in the head with a beer bottle in the weeks after the nooses appeared.

Barker was knocked out and got a black eye, but he was in good enough shape to go golfing the next day. Not exactly attempted murder. Personally, I'd say he was asking for it. The point is, white kids threatened murder the same way the Klu Klux Klan used to and almost nothing happened to them, it was blown off as a "prank." But when the black kids stood up for one of their own, the hammer of "justice" came down full force.

A couple of weeks ago we went to an outdoor church service at "Timber Ridge." After church was a brunch at the Timber Ridge Lodge, which used to be sort of a dance hall and saloon. It has an old west theme; they use antlers in all of their decorating, if you know what I mean.

Being an Arizona boy it was right up my alley- lots of cowboy junk and taxiderm/ trophy animals. I had fun identifying and explaining all of the deer, antelope, rattlesnakes, raccoons, bobcats, and even a wild turkey to my girls.

But thank God, they didn't seem to notice or ask me to explain the noose hanging from the wagon wheel chandelier. The thing made my blood run cold. I don't know if it was the racial implications or vigilante/anarchy aspect from our frontier history, that they're used so often in suicides, or just the brutality of the thing. But I definitely don't have the stomach for that sort of thing anymore.

Hanging a noose in that tree was far worse than most any vandalism to cars, lockers, desks, or walls that those kids could've done. It was infinitely more than just a "prank."

I'm proud that so many people traveled down there for the protest march today. I heard that Rev. Jackson challenged Sen. Obama to speak out on it. I don't know to be more frustrated with the media for not reporting their outrage- or more disappointed with ALL of the Democratic candidates for not speaking up because I haven't herd boo from ANY of them about it today.

poverty and learning

One nation; three cultures
Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper — Schleswig Leader, Thursday, January 25, 2007 – Page 3

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard former teachers or teachers nearing retirement lament about how “kids just aren’t like they were when I first started teaching.”

High school teachers especially get frustrated because they feel like its next to impossible to teach their subject matter because kids these days “just don’t listen anymore... don’t have any respect for adults anymore... you have to teach all of these other things... they don’t have as long of attention spans...” etc. etc.

I believe these well meaning educators aren’t merely “burnt-out.” I believe they’re correct in their observations, but this doesn’t have to be a reason to be discouraged or to give up, it’s just a fact that has to be accounted for and adapted to. I believe the problem is poverty.
As part of our professional development, my school district instituted a number of workshops based on the research of Dr. Ruby K. Payne called “A framework for understanding generational poverty.”

Many of us face situational poverty in our lifetimes, that’s where times are really tight or a illness or job loss has put the crunch on our family. “Generational poverty refers to when a family has remained under the poverty line for two generations or more. Generational poverty creates a completely different culture that what most of us are used to, a culture that impedes not only student learning in school, but survival and success in school and at work in general.
Many of us complain that poverty shouldn’t be an excuse. “We were poor but my parents still demanded that I respect my teachers and worked hard in school,” we’ll say, but perhaps we weren’t as poor as we thought.

There are eight resources that Dr. Payne considers vital to any learner’s success: Obviously one needs financial resources. Having emotional resources means being able to choose how you respond to difficult situations. Mental resources refers to intellectual skills needed for every day life. Spiritual resources are one’s beliefs in God’s purpose and guidance. Physical resources are your health and mobility.

The last three resources are often what makes or breaks someone’s ability to succeed at work and school: Having a support system of friends or family to fall back on when your other resources fall through. Role models who not only demonstrate healthy choices but also are accessible as mentors are becoming fewer and farther between these days.
Finally, Payne believes that each socio-economic class has it’s own set of unspoken (or hidden) rules. If you aren’t familiar with these rules, you’re bound to make cultural mistakes that could cost you.

For example; in poverty, you laugh when you’re reprimanded as a way to save face. It’s a reaction that you’ve been raised with and you’re used to, so you don’t even think about it. Needless to say, this is a middle-class taboo. If you laugh when the principal gives you a detention, you may just get a suspension. Laugh at your boss and you may go from having to stay late to being unemployed.

These are the core values for each group: Those in generational poverty are driven by survival, relationships and entertainment. Relationships are so important that people are practically considered possessions.

In the Middle Class we tend to value achievement. We talk about our work-ethic and we prove that we’ve achieved something by working with the material things we can buy. The truly wealth value their connections, their social, financial and political networks and their status within those networks.
Logically then, the wealthy concentrate on the past, their traditions and legacies. In the middle class we look toward the future, being the first kid to go off to college and doing better than the generation before you. Whereas without many of those previously mentioned 8 resources, those in poverty can see only the here and now.

That kind of thinking translates into speaking and thinking too. Middle class kids can see cause and effect, this leads to that, the plot thickens, reaches a peak and has a resolution.
Poor kids don’t have the same kind of linear, logical, sequential thinking skills. They exist in the moment. They’re stories may consist of unconnected anecdotes. Instead of being plot-driven, communication is character-driven or joke-driven.

One way to help students overcome this is to use analogies and graphic organizers. These give them something to hang new learning on- the infrastructure that they’ve missed.

Parents of all incomes need to make the time to read to their children, especially pre-schoolers. That lays the framework they’ll need for abstract thinking as the get older.

Anyone interested in learning more can read Dr. Payne’s articles at http://www.ahaprocess.com/files/PovSeriesPartsI-IV.pdf

____________________________________________________
Ted Mallory lives in Charter Oak and teaches at Boyer Valley Schools in Dunlap. ‘Ted’s Column’ has appeared weekly in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper since 2002. If you’d like to see any of Ted’s editorial cartoons bigger and brighter, you can visit http://tmal.multiply.com/photos/album/2

Generational Poverty

Here is a follow-up to the column above. It is a review I wrote for my Multiply site that I sent to the other teachers at my school and put on our school's website. It contains links to some of Dr. Payne's articles.

As teachers, we don't always get the best from all of our staff developments. Sometimes that's because of weak presenters, sometimes it's our own attitudes or preconceptions. More often than not it's simply because we just don't have the time, support, or resources to implement what we've learned in meaningful ways. My hope is that this article review will help supplement one of our professional development areas for you.

I was first captivated by the Aha Process company's work on generational poverty when my wife, an elementary guidance counselor in another district, told me about a workshop she had attended. Our administrators echoed her enthusiasm at Leadership team meetings, after they had attended similar seminars.

Because I taught at a parochial school in Los Angeles before coming to Iowa, many people ask me about the cultural differences. Actually, neither going from Church school to public school or from West coast to Midwest was as traumatic as going from a private school of mostly (not entirely) middle-class to a public school with part middle-class and a large proportion of severely poor students. It was a greater difference than going from a multi-cultural/multi-lingual school to a mostly homogeneous one. At L.A. Lutheran, even the poorest, and the most dysfunctional families (not synonymous) still had to scrape up their monthly tuition- that could, on occasion, have leverage when it came to behavior and learning.

Ruby K. Payne Ph.D. has written a series of four articles for teachers and educators to help them get a grasp of her framework for understanding generational poverty. I read them and listened to recorded readings of them and found them very helpful. In any school district with a reported free-and-reduced lunch rate in the forty percentile like ours, any strategies we can muster will be valuable.

The first article reviews the 8 assets needed to escape poverty and the "secret rules" of surviving in poverty, the middle-class, and wealth.

The second article focuses on the 5 registers of communications and how children of generational poverty need "mediation," or language plot-structures as an infrastructure for helping them move from concrete thinking to the abstract reasoning that is necessary for academic success.

The third article is a tremendous help in understanding what to expect from students of generational poverty and strategies for classroom management and discipline. This article includes the 3 voices; child, parent, and adult. I think that much of what she writes about fits well with the principles of "Love & Logic" espoused by other experts like Jim and Charles Fay.

Finally the fourth article suggests school-wide strategies including the use of lots of graphic organizers. I think this is where our emphasis on literacy and vocabulary can integrate well across the curriculum and in every discipline.

Download pod-casts of each of Payne's four articles for listening to on your computer or your MP3 player. Free from Payne's website.

First Article

Second Article

Third Article

Fourth Article

Download a PDF of all four articles to read for yourself free from Payne's website.

Visit Payne's website to explore other resources, including an opportunity to purchase her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

I haven't read it yet myself, but I'm thinking seriously about it. Trends may come and go, God willing NCLB will at least evolve, even if we can't get rid of it, but poverty will always be with us. All our students suffer, so long as there are two tiers of learners. I believe we have to do whatever we can to help kids be able to succeed in the middle class morass that is school and work. Dr. Payne's articles will at least be a powerful start.

_______________________________
http://ted.mallory.googlepages.com/home.html
http://tmal.multiply.com

"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor

Gay Marriage- among other topics

I recently had an interesting volley of emails with a friends. Thought I'd share them here:
Cool Stuff. Here is the first one from my friend who's a Lutheran Middle School teacher:

One of the best things to happen to me was that I've had to teach
Civics for a couple of years now. I rather enjoy it. We just finished a rather long simulation dealing with the Constitution. Check out the Interact Simulation Website to see what I'm talking about. Way cool. Anyway. They had a good time learning about parliamentary procedure if nothing else. I think for such a long time I focused on the History side of things that I never really dealt with the mechanics of government. Now I'm rather enjoying
myself in what I'm learning. I'm no expert by any means. I must say I learned a lot from you. Thanks for the insights that you provide.

We have a principal now whose a bit on the freaky conservative side. I admit that I'm not too crazy about gay marriage business and all but I'm also quite sure that there will be Democrats in Heaven. My principal, who's also the 5th grade social studies teacher, has made statements to the effect that being a Christian and a Democratic party member are next to impossible. NOT!! I have made it quite clear in my Civics class that that is not the
case. My mantra is "If you don't know how the Constitution works, you will be at the mercy of those that do." AND...I refuse to use my influential position as a teacher to make little Republican clones--or any party clones for that matter.

Well, I better go. Dinners ready. Thanks again for your insights.


And here is my first reply to him:

As good as all the history shows on History Channel and Discovery Channel are (that ne Dogfights on Friday nights is SO cool) I think that one of the best that I'd show to kids if I was still teaching HIstory is History Detectives on PBS.
They show the actual reseach process based on doccuments and evidence. Don't get me wrong, I agree that there are certain names, dates and battles that kids need- absolutely, but I've always felt that understanding, analysis and application are more useful and valuable than mere knowledge at least that's my perspective on Bloom's taxonomy.

I always tried to help kids see the dynamic tensions, the balances of divergent interests. That may be safe when you're talking about the Whiskey Rebellion or Federalism and Anti-Federalism but even when you get into Manifest Destiny or Reconstruction, if there are colleagues or parents who are wing-nuts, they can freak. Am I wrong that scrutiny and using critical thinking skills are good things? Non partisan things?

Unfortunately there are people who don't believe we should teach, they send their kids to a parochial school to be indoctrinated, not to learn how to think for themselves.

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
~George Orwell, 1984;


Whats funny is, you know how when you're a kid and somebody farts, you say "whoever smelt it, dealt it!"? What's funny is that the firt people to accuse others of revisionist history are the people who either have swallowed some propaganda or don't know enough about history (or government) so they're victoms of revisionist history themselves.

I still LOVE your mantra.

And another from my friend:

Hello again,

More food for thought.

Personally I cannot condone the homosexual lifestyle. It is immoral. Yet these are people who desperately need to hear the Gospel message. Hate the sin but love the sinner.

Just thought I'd say that so that up front. Now let's move into the political realm. I like your analogy of defining marriage to calling the sky blue. However, can one not also argue that a Christian in a democratic society has the glorious opportunity to help further the Gospel's spread by voting on issues such as this? Churches throughout the country (at least in some states where the marriage amendments were on the ballot) worked the issue of marriage into Bible studies and sermons out of growing concern that the institution was under "attack". True, I concede to the fact that parties would use this as a means to further their own agendas. Alas, this is politics. But couldn't it also be the Holy Spirit nudging people to witness through their votes, or across their dinner tables with their families as they discuss the issue? Granted, there are some real goofballs out there that have some serious hate issues, but what if out of perhaps hundreds of conversations about marriage amendments that a handful of marriages were strengthened and maybe some members of the gay community were given perhaps a moment of pause to consider the possibility of repentance and begin a journey that could ultimately bring them closer to our Lord? If that were the case for at least one person, then I guess I'd be happy to call this controversy over marriage a success. God has blessed us with the gift of democracy, wouldn't it be foolish and even sinful not use that gift to ultimately spread the Gospel?

Now, I will say that I would not likely favor ANY national amendment to define marriage because I feel that, based on the separation of powers under the federal system, it is the states that have the power to make laws concerning marriage, NOT the central government. Allowing the federal government to step in here would probably not be wise or a good use of our national government's time and treasure. However, if society elevates the gay lifestyle to the same status as say the African or Hispanic community, making this a civil rights issue, well, I guess then, as a civil rights issue, perhaps this is how the question will
have to be settled someday.

Forgive me if I don't sound clear, I'm trying to articulate my views as I write here. It's helping me to better understand my own position. You know, I recall teaching a unit in my U.S. history class about the labor unions. I recall how some early unions fought for political and economic reform by attempting to radically change the political landscape in order to accomplish their goals. Populism? Yet then you look at folks like Samuel Gompers and the collective bargaining process. They ended up playing the system better. Kind of like practicing your basketball layups rather than trying to drastically change the overall rules of basketball to fit your playing style. Okay, maybe I'm stretching this a little, but couldn't America's Christians take a cue from this? Try to be better Christians and share the gospel
BETTER instead of getting the government to do it. If the Grace of God were made more readily accessible through the witness of believers to nonbelievers, maybe we wouldn't have such a problem with issues like gay marriage. Maybe if the love of Christ was more readily evident through works of service and sincere praise, hearts would be turned Christ BEFORE people could be suckered into counterfeit feelings of love offered through such things as
homosexuality, pornography, and materialism. Let us be firm in our doctrine but also loving in how we treat others and strive for a better balance between Law and Gospel.

Well, I'm tapped out. Chew on this for a while and fire back when you have time.

Hope your family is well.



And another response from me:

Just so we're up front- I'm not gay, nor have I ever played a gay person on TV. (just trying to lighten the tone a little) Seriously, the older I get, the more I read and study Scripture, and the more I learn about the process that theologians, including early church fathers use to interpret scriptures, two hot-button issues become clearer to me: 1) that no matter how you try to dice it, God has prohibited homosexuality and 2) He probably did not intend for us to exclude people from roles of responsibility because of their gender as much as we have.

Hows that sound? Conservative on one issue and Liberal on another? Maybe.

I seem to want to talk about Luther's Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. My understanding of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution leads me to believe that even though my religion considers homosexuality a sin, it would still be unfair in the eyes of the civil law to deny a monogomous homosexual long-time companion from providing for their partner financially or legally in ways that a traditional married spouse could.

I know a Republican law maker who has killed anti-gay marriage legislation in committee because if it came up to a vote, he knew he'd have to vote for it. The solution some progressive Christian leaders like Tony Campolo have suggested is similar to what's been done in Europe; civil authorities issue civil union agreements, and churches conduct marriages, but neither institution may do the other. As it is the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize Lutheran marriages, so if one district/synod of the American Episcopal Church blesses gay unions, the LCMS certainly shouldn't be cumpulsed to recognize that union. If marriage is from God, either as a full blown sacrament as the Catholics believe or as a metaphor for Christ's relationship to His Church as we do- why should we cede the ordination of marriages to any temporal, civil authority anyway? Doesn't that profane the institution? Teddy Roosevelt, not a particularly devout Presbyterian, didn't want "In God We Trust" on our currency because he believed it was blasphemous!

I guess I'm more comfortable as a Democrat, even when there are Democrats who do, accept, or believe things that make my skin crawl, is because Democrats are pragmatic and practical, they believe in detente' and compromise because they know that we live in a broken world and we have to make the best of it. What I have observed over the last 36 years is that because the Republican party chooses positions that are inflexible, they promote hypocricy. Wittness Gambling Bill Bennett, thieving Ralph Reed, drug-poppin' Hatian hooker employing Rush Limbaugh, and most recently pediphile Mark Foley, and Meth using gay hating gay guy Rev. Ted Haggard.

Love the sinner, hate the sin. Yeah, maybe the Holy Spirit may convict someone in their heart because our pastors and politicians are all up in arms about a wedge issue like gay marriage. Or... people who are struggling feel persecuted, hated and alienated. They're like Luther who practices self-flagilation because they look up at the cruel, unempathetic Christ as a heartless, angry judge, instead of as the approachable, patient, compassionate, yet hold you responsible and don't indulge your selfish sinful nature Father that He really is? Are we driving people out of the Church and making it less likely that they will hear the Word and come to repentance? What's the most effective means to influence our society? By voting? By legislating? Maybe, there's certainly room for that and I'd even agree that it is our duty. But so is by being salt and light, by being Jesus' arms and legs, in our relationships. "A Christian Nation begins at home" is one of my mantras. Walk the walk yourself, rather than screaming and shouting at others when they don't.

Unfortunately it is a sticky, complicated mess. It involves theology, civil rights, and biology too. Is society "elevating" homosexuality to the level of race? Is it a choice? A decision? Some conservatives are libertarians and even if they hate gays, they don't believe the government shoud interfere. Is it a disorder? Like a desease? If so, maybe we should regulate it like smoking, alohol, and drugs. If it is, surely we can't be more judgemental of them than we are of aloholics, adicts, or other people with disablilities. Thank God that through the Grace of our Lord, Heaven will be filled with drunks, smokers, pot-heads, adulterers, people who kuss and have looked at porn or cheated on a math quiz.... Yeah, see, I guess it gets down to how if I've even looked at a woman with lust in my heart I just as well pluck my eye out, huh? Or... if it's not a choice or a disorder, is it a genetic trait- can they help it? Would a black man choose to be black in a racist society? And if they can't help it, they what do we do with that, especially in the light of what the Bible says? Some scientists believe that biology suggests that sexual preference is not something one can help. Can't change genes. Not fair? Blame Adam & Eve? Blame Satan? Blame God?

Detente' (thank you Mr. Nixon & Mr. Kissenger for that one) Coexist. How do you put the toothpaste badk in the tube? All things, including society suffers from atrophy. And finally, don't be a control freak like the parent or principal who wants to produce clones instead of wanting to disciple children and equip the saints. Like it or not, we live in a pluralistic society. Many of the new Democratic Congressmen and Senators are pro guns, pro God, anti-gay marriage and anti abortion, but they're also anti-supply-side-economics or anti war.
This is a fallen world, and human, temporal law is about making it as fair and survivable as possible, not about making it right or godly or perfect- only the blood of Christ can do that. Too many "Christian Conservatives" today are confused about Law and Gospel. They think it's our job to prepare America for Christ's second comming, that we're somehow supposed to make this world obedient for God. That's not our job. Our job is to spread the word that we don't HAVE to work, we just have to accept His gracious gift because the work is done.

I'm sure plenty of Christian NAZIs thought that Deitrich Bonhoffer should go to Hell for lying to and dissenting against the God-instituted government in Germany. Thank God they would have been wrong, just as people who don't think that Christians can be Democrats may be well-meaning, but wrong. Or as John McLaughlin might say, "WRONG!"

Whew. Sorry to be so dang long-winded. I think, therefore I can't shut up.

Thanks for the forum and the fellowship.

Rural Schools should be more prepared

Rural Schools should be more prepared
Page 3 Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper & Schleswig Leader- Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Congressman Foley instant-messenger sex with teenage pages and the apparent House cover-up eclipsed Bob Woodward’s new book, “State of Denial,” that scrutinized the Bush Administration’s handling of the war in Iraq. Before that, Woodward’s book overshadowed the National Intelligence Estimate that revealed many of the problems that those policies wrought.

No doubt by the time you’re reading this column, yet another story will be dominating the headlines. That’s the problem with writing for a weekly newspaper, the news cycle is 24/7 so there’s no way to know what will be relevant if you’re writing for October 12, but writing on October 5th.

But something tragic happened recently that we shouldn’t take for granted or become calloused to. Nor should we let it be lost in the media feeding-frenzy of political intrigue and personal indiscretion.

Kids were killed. Kids were killed all over the country. Not in big cities, but out here, “ out in the country.”

An October 4 story on National Public Radio (NPR) reported” Violent crime is far less common in rural areas than in cities. Rural people are four times less likely to be victims of violent crime. Yet all three school shootings in the past week occurred in rural places.”

There was a similar rash of shootings after the Columbine shootings in 1999. Virtually all of the shootings in the 90’s occurred in small cities and rural towns.

It doesn’t make sense that the safest places to live could be the most dangerous place to go to school. We feel somewhat insulated.

Schools in small towns make easier targets.

Urban schools have tighter security and more experience working with violent and troubled teens.

In rural areal guns are more easily accessible than in cities, although they’re less likely to be used in a crime. But rural kids are far more likely to be able to get a hold of a weapon easily.
In a smaller community, if a student lives on the social fringes, they have a harder time finding a place to fit in.

We’d like to think that it’s a good thing to live somewhere where everyone either knows you or knows someone who knows you, but that also means that if you’re teased or ridiculed, it’s harder to hide and it’s harder to reinvent yourself.

After the Columbine shootings, the vast majority of students identified with the victims, but a small percentage identified with the shooters because they not only got even with the bullies and the mean teachers, they also got famous.

In the years since Columbine many schools have worked hard to crack down on harassment and bullying. Districts have drafted policies and implemented programs to prevent sexual harassment, hazing and initiations of underclassmen, and discrimination based on race, religion and sexual preference.

It still may not be enough. School hallways, locker rooms, buses and classrooms are still places where it’s accepted behavior to “talk trash,” and “rip on each other.”
But it’s also not enough to work at being pro-active. Schools have to craft, review, train for and implement serious emergency management plans.

One teacher in a one-room school 80 miles from the nearest sheriff’s station suggested to an NPR reporter that they should equip schools with sirens, so that when a catastrophic event occurs, parents and neighbors will know about it for miles around.
Schools in Brown, Rock and Holt counties in North Central Nebraska were in low-down last week after a local newspaper received an anonymous call from someone who said there would be a shooting at one of the schools.

What exactly is “lock-down?” I’m a teacher and I don’t know. I’ve heard of large city schools where all of the classroom door can be closed and locked at once in case of an emergency. Sort of like battening down the hatches on a ship.

We’re told where to take kids in a tornado and for a fire drill. We know who our team leaders are for cleaning up blood, vomit, and bodily fluids. We’re trained in first aid. But what if someone was in the library with a shotgun?

Maybe my district has such a plan and I’m the one who’s negligent for not knowing it, but as a parent I’d want every teacher to know it backwards and forwards.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools suggests a framework of the four phases of crisis planning: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

They held training sessions this April in Colorado and this May in Pennsylvania, but they only had room for 125 school administrators and personnel.
I believe that our states should offer this kind of training for as many teachers, administrators, and school-board members as possible.

I may sound paranoid or alarmist to some, but I believe that every school board should develop an emergency and crisis management plan and make sure that teachers, staff members and students are a helluva lot more familiar with it than they are with the school mission statement or fight song. Lives may depend on it.

Meeting the needs of a community

Meeting the needs of a community
Page 3 Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper & Schleswig Leader- Thursday, August 31, 2006

We hear a lot of crusty veteran teachers complain that the profession just isn’t what it used to be. Often they point out that it’s the kids. Kids just don’t respect their teachers like they used to or learning just isn’t as important to these kids anymore.

To some degree that’s true. Society has certainly evolved over the years so that what we used to call its basic fabric seems to be worn thin. Divorce is twice as prevalent as it was fifty years ago. Television, games and the rest of the media have desensitized youth to sex and violence to the point where both are taken for granted. The world itself and its economy seem to have forever altered what used to be thought of as “the American Dream.”

High School teachers are especially frustrated when their students don’t seem to be prepared enough for them to learn the subjects in their class. High pressure from new un-funded laws make things more complicated, as do special needs students being added to the mix of already over sized and under equipped classrooms.

Elementary teachers are frustrated because they feel like they have to become all things to all their students. It’s not enough that they need to teach their subject matters, but they need to teach manners, civility, conflict-resolution, drug prevention, abstinence or sexual responsibility and a host of other responsibilities that fifty years ago were the responsibility of the nuclear family, extended family, or church and civic organizations to address.

But maybe instead of wishing for the good old days, we all need to recognize the society we live in today and start addressing the needs of our kids here and now.

For some of us, teachers and communities alike, this may require major adjustments to our thinking and how we do things.

I’d bet that more than half of all kids don’t have what used to be traditional “nuclear family” situations anymore. How then, could we begin to imagine, let alone expect that they’d have “family values?”

For many kids, their “values” are down right primal. An over-simplified explanation might look like this: If you’re “family” makes more than $250,000 per year, you probably value influence and status. Between say $40,000 and $250,000 and you’re probably valuing things, conveniences, clothes, gadgets, vehicles, etc. Your stuff. Under $40,000 and you’re going to value things like your next meal, your security, your safety, and people who accept you and are loyal to you.

Abraham Maslow was a psychologist that almost every teacher is taught about. He had a theory that every human being has some very basic needs. I think that it’s time that all of us, not just teachers, considered the needs of our children.

Maslow was the first of seven children born to his parents, who were uneducated immigrants. He ended up being the chairman of the psychology department at Brandeis University throughout the 1950’s and 60’s.

Abraham Maslow broke down people’s needs into two categories, “deficiency needs” and “growth needs.” If the deficiency needs aren’t being met, the person is in survival mode. Once the deficiency needs are met, then we can start to address the growth needs.

Here are Maslow’s first four, or “deficiency” needs:

1) Physical: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.

A kid can’t learn if they’re malnourished. Their brains and bodies literally aren’t able to, besides that it’s hard to concentrate.

2) Safety/security: being out of danger.

How can you learn and behave well, when you don’t have a place to sleep, or you’re constantly threatened? For many kids, school is the least volatile place they spend time at. Alcohol, inappropriate sexuality, illegal drugs including meth, and physical violence are all routine parts of many children’s lives.

3) Belonging and Love: being accepted or part of something.

4) “Esteem:” to achieve and become competent, gaining approval and recognition.

It does seem unreasonable to expect classroom teachers to have to fulfill all of these needs for all of their students before they ever begin to address “growth needs” like thinking and learning skills, and aesthetic judgements, let alone academic subject area content like math and reading.

But the needs remain. Schools and communities need to adjust and adapt in order to be able to address these needs. Whether because of ignorance, circumstance, poverty, or impatience, fewer and fewer parents seem to be managing to.

Boyer Valley School District has added a day care, and a family-community coordinator. Our library is shared with the city and soon we’ll have a community based fitness center on our campus. The Area Education Association helps provide psychological and social services.

Many school buildings host things like recovery group meetings or community college classes in the evenings. I wouldn’t doubt that the Denison Schools offer adult education classes or at least English as a second language classes on their campus.

We as communities, church congregations, and civic organizations need to open our eye, our hearts, and perhaps our schedules or at least pocket-books to the needs of the children who live around us.

School districts, boards, administrators, and teachers need to open our minds to new ways of approaching these needs. That may include collaborating with cities or businesses, or with other districts. It will certainly take patience and compassion.

All of us need to consider ways that we can help provide for these most basic needs of our neighbors. If we don’t we’ll all pay a heavy price.

___________________________________________________________
Ted Mallory is a resident of Charter Oak and a teacher and coach at Boyer Valley Schools in Dunlap. He has taught History, Art, Journalism, and Religion over the last 13 years at Trinity Lutheran Middle School in Reseda, CA, Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Sr High School in Sylmar, Ca and now at Boyer Valley MS/HS.

Back to school

Annual Back to School Column
Page 3 Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper & Schleswig Leader- Thursday, August 24, 2006

Happy New Year. By now students and teachers at Denison-Schleswig, Charter Oak-Ute, and Maple Valley are resuming classes. Boyer Valley has been back for a week already.

It might surprise kids and parents that teachers have been fretting and working for days or weeks before now in preparation. It’s true. A little like how musicians, actors and performers get nervous before they have to go on stage, teachers get anxious too and put a lot of work into being prepared.

In some ways this is a good thing. Some of the biggest stars feel that if they don’t get stage fright, they don’t do as well. Many teachers are the most enthusiastic the first quarter. Even the most grizzled veteran gets excited about learning again in the Fall and forgets about being burnt-out at least for the first few weeks.

I myself hardly slep the whole first week of school. Of course I had a nasty head cold too.

Rookie teachers of course, get buried very quickly, but sort of like anyone caught in a traumatic or crisis situation, they are so pumped full of adrenaline that they manage to keep on trying new things and trying to be every student’s “cool older brother or sister” kind of best friend.

Non-professional educators are always giving us teachers a hard time because we get the summer off. Funny how it never feels that way. Someone was asking my wife the other day why she was always gone so much. Well duh! She’s a teacher, it’s August. In her case, they have her teaching three new high school classes on top of being an elementary counselor. She’s not just decorating classrooms. She’s reading, researching, taking notes, devising lessons, creating handouts, writing quizzes and assignments and preparing presentations. What did you THINK she was doing?

Last summer I took two classes over four weekends. This summer I just took one and stayed through for a full week at the college. And I wasn’t even working on a Master’s Degree. All teachers have to constantly be taking classes toward license renewal, even if they’re not working on graduate work.

And of course most of us get summer jobs. That’s because while non-teachers get to read out salaries in the newspaper and think we’re paid too much, they forget that a third of that is taken out for taxes (just like everybody else) but then another third (or more) is taken out for the crummy insurance programs that our tiny districts can barely afford. I kid you not- something like $609.33 per month for hospital insurance. Per month! THAT is something I wish the Legislature would work on, let alone getting us a raise. And keep in mind, health insurance tends to go up around 24% every year. What would you do if they raised your mortgage rates by 24% every year?

Sorry. I shouldn’t complain. When I first went into teaching it was in a Lutheran school. We were considered “Commissioned Ministers of the Gospel.” Only pastors were “Ordained Ministers,” but the point is, it wasn’t just a job, it was a “calling.” I figured God wanted me to become a teacher so like a Franciscan monk, I was ready to take a vow of poverty.

Now as a public school teacher I still believe that it’s not merely an occupation, but a vocation. Some people go to college to get a job and make money, other people go to college to get a job where they can make a difference. Of course, even the most passionate idealists have to face reality of bills and kids and making ends meet.

So we teachers get summer jobs. I was really lucky and instead of scrubbing floors and toilets, flipping burgers or painting houses, I got to work at this newspaper. The three vocations that probably get paid the least, work the hardest and get the least respect in our society- journalists, farmers and teacher. Yes, we’re martyrs, give us your sympathy.

Pont is, we’ve been working all summer. And many of us have been working for the past month or two to get school ready for you kids. So please cut us some slack. We know you haven’t woke up before 11 all summer and you think that books and homework is a drag. But we’ve been working hard to share our knowledge and experience with you so that you can make this a better world.

On top of all that, may teachers, like me had been drinking 8-10 cups of regular coffee a day at their summer jobs and now we’re switching back to decaf. Don’t be surprised if we talk a little slow at first. At least through September.

Roadkill on the information superhighway

Last week I had said that I hoped to start running cartoons above this column. Meanwhile I attended a web programming class at Iowa Western Community College. Sure you can draw a cartoon anywhere, but try finding a scanner when you want one.

Absent of scanner, I followed Teddy Roosevelt’s advice and did what I could with what I had, right where I was. In this case I had a digital camera and a laptop with Adobe PhotoShop.

Brad Swenson, our publisher would like to take everyone’s pictures around the PRESS office and start running little staff biographies each week in these newspapers. He even suggested running mine with my column- please, God, don’t let him decide to use this one.

It really illustrates how I felt this week- trapped inside of cyberspace.
Sure I guess I kind of know my way around a computer- enough to get by. Any summer-fill-in newspaper graphic designer and most high school yearbook advisors have to.

But this latest class I took at IWCC really made me feel like a pedestrian on the “information super highway.” Other teachers at school are always coming to me for help with whatever computer problems they have, but I can’t help them.
I use three programs and email. Sure I do a little blogging. But that’s like asking somebody who drives their truck to work on weekdays and does a little off roading on weekends how to realign a differential. Wha? Huh? Exactly. A casual computer program user or a graphic designer do not an information technologies (I.T.) expert make.

Allow me to explain some of what I’ve learned. This class was 8 AM- 5:30 PM all week. We were not allowed to use any programs to create web pages, we had to write them completely in XHTML code.

XHTML stands for “Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language.” Wha? Huh? Exactly.

First of all, calling the World Wide Web the “information superhighway” is an incredibly appropriate analogy. Back in the 1950’s Eisenhower did not insist on an interstate highway system for leisure and tourism travel, not even for interstate commerce by semi-trucks. This was the cold war, after all.
Ike wanted interstates for rapidly moving our nuclear missiles, quick mobilization of troops, and efficient evacuation of major cities in the event of WWIII.

Just like that, the Internet was developed in the 1960’s for electronic communication between military installations like the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) and all those missile silos peppered across the Dakotas.
Like so many trucks on the interstate, it’s now big business and commerce, along with scores of joy riders that clogs the arteries of the Wild Wild Web.
XHTML is just the latest computer programming language to be used to... uh, well, to lay down the gravel and rebar and concrete and asphalt to make that super highway travelable.

So after this last week, I went from being average Joe motorist compared to the NASCAR drivers of professional tech administrators (aka: “geeks”) to being on a road construction crew compared to the surveyors and civil engineers that are the code writing millionaires at Google and Pixar ( aka: “filthy rich geeks.”)
What was I writing? Stuff like this:

function calcLine1()
{
var rate = document.invoce.r1.value;
}

Wha? Huh? Exactly. And that was barely one piece. If it looks Greek to you, me too. Learning a program language really is like learning another language just like Greek or Spanish or German...or Martian or Venusian, exactly, I agree. But difficult as it is, it’s not impossible. Kind of like I can survive in a Mexican restaurant with my limited “Spanglish,” after this week I should be able to recognize enough of what real coder writers do to be able to use it in my school’s web pages and hopefully fix some problems, but I’m no Google guy.

If you remember enough of your English Grammar, I can give you some comparisons. In HTML, an “element” is like an “object” in JavaScript. A JavaScript object is like a noun in English.

A “method” in JavaScript is like a verb in English. In other words, a door swings, a noun verbs, an object methods, a “function calcLine” calculates on a spreadsheet.

“Properties” in JavaScript are like adjectives, they describe the nouns. It’s not just a function, it’s a rate calculating function. in JavaScript, a “value” is like a preposition...Which rate? “r1” the first rate.

I know, it still barely makes sense to me. The point is, it has to go in a certain order, a “syntax.” There’s logic to it.

So why did our professor prohibit us from using user-friendly web page designing programs instead of writing this all out? Why do Algebra teachers force student to write out their work, rather than just writing down an answer? No cheating and so we learned how to do it right. It also made us realize that we’re sort of like the volunteer candy stripers compared to all the brain surgeons out there.

If you'd like to see the website project I wrote visit http://ted.mallory.googlepages.com/default.htm

Class of 2005

This Sunday, Charter Oak- Ute will commemorate the graduation of another class. Boyer Valley Seniors walked across the stage last week. I’m not quite sure when Denison-Schleswig or Maple Valley hold their graduations, but I’m sure it’s that time of year for them as well.

I’d like to dedicate this week to those members of the class of two-thousand and ought five.

I feel a special connection to your class. I’ve been a high school teacher now for 12 years, just shy of what sociologist call a “generation” (13 yrs) and most of you were born the year that I graduated from high school, 1988.

You were eighth graders when I moved here to Iowa, so I’ve really got to see you change if you’re in St. John Lutheran, Charter Oak’s youth group or a student where I teach in Dunlap.

I want to talk to you as if you were my own child or at least a niece or nephew. I want to give you some meaningful, practical advice that you can use.

First, if you’re sticking around here and going right into the job force: my advice is the same for freshmen coming into high school. Get involved, only obviously I don’t mean in school, I mean in your community. The only way to make a place better is for you to help. The best way to make sure that other people will be willing to lend you a hand when you need it is to lend a hand.

You’re really lucky to live somewhere where people know each other, look each other in the eye and actually talk to each other. Take advantage of it. No matter how well or how poorly you did in school, you will do well if you get involved and participate in your town, local clubs and civic organizations, and of course your church.

You won’t regret it, you’ll earn respect and help contribute to our quality of life.

Next, if you’re entering into the armed services, either active service or in the Guard or Reserve. I know way too many of you. First of all, thank you in advance. You may be in it for a job or for money for college, but you’re working, standing, sacrificing, risking and fighting for all of us.

The best advice I can give you is what my dad, a Marine sergeant told me. “They can tell you what to do, where and when to sleep, what to eat, how to speak and act, but no matter how much they try, they can’t tell you what to think unless you let them.”

People who’ve been through Basic tell you that the most important thing to do in basic is to be a team player- the whole goal of Basic training is to break you down as an individual so that they can rebuild you as part of a unit. Help your fellow soldiers and don’t be ashamed to ask them for help and you’ll not only survive but thrive.

You CAN support the troops and still not support the war, so don’t resent people who do, you’re fighting for their freedom to do so. Remember you are a citizen soldier. You serve at the pleasure of your Commander in Chief, but that doesn’t mean you have to vote to please him too.

And most importantly, "6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." ~Deuteronomy 31:6

Now, those of you headed for college. College can be a pretty scary place (at least for the first couple of weeks) and it will probably be more challenging than high school was. Don’t quit after the first semester. You can do it.

To survive at college, you will need to follow the same advice that I give to 7th and 8th graders the first day of school: show up to class, do your work, put your name on it, and turn it in. If you do that much, you can at least expect to pass. Your grades may not be stellar, but you’ll pass.

Next, keep perspective. For some kids, the first semester of college is as emotionally intense as all four years of college put together. Don’t let that panic you. It feels cool to know that all of a sudden you’re out on your own and legally a grown up, but keep in time that you’re still learning, growing and maturing and you don’t know everything yet. So let yourself make mistakes.

Some people seem to think that college is all about pizza, beer and sex. Keep fun in it’s place. Are you having a drink? Or does the drink have you? Are you having sex, or does it have you? It’s normal to try new things, it’s normal to want to fit in with everybody else, and it’s normal to want to have fun, but always remember that your decisions determine your destiny. Most of the people who drop out of college can’t blame grades or money- the grades and money get eaten up by poor choices.

Finally, to all of you. Enjoy the ride. Life is a journey, not a destination. Use things and love people, don’t use people and love things.

“Success is the peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” ~John Wooden, UCLA

A lot is said about kids today. Mostly critical and cynical (by me included) but I want to be the first to tell you that most of you make me feel very secure about the future.

Congratulations, and good luck.

Two Quizes

Charles Schultz philosophy...

Take this quiz:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.

~attributed to Charles Schultz, creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip

Protect our greatest resource

Once again, Governor Vilsack and a few state legislators in a special “governance committee” are threatening Iowa’s greatest assets, her rural schools. If they want to encourage us to cooperate and share resources, why don’t they just ask? Why do they have to threaten us with forced consolidation or elimination?

Iowa's 367 districts are already under extreme pressure to increase academic standards. I appreciate that Vilsack and “Tommy’s Dozen” want the state to take over more of the cost of public schools from local property taxpayers.

According to a Monday, March 21 story in the Des Moines Register*, Vilsack and the legislators concocted a school plan last week while talking about efficiency of state and local government. It’s all fine and good for county and local governments to share services, and I’m even in favor of neighboring schools cooperating and pooling resources, but why does the “governance committee” have any business meddling in the future of Iowa public schools?

Part of it has to do with the fact that schools have traditionally been supported by property taxes, but Vilsak and the governance committee want to cut those taxes for commercial and industrial property owners. I suppose that they don’t think that farmers and homeowners bear enough of the burden.

Tommy’s Dozen want to have a commission “study the issue,” and recommend a minimum size for school districts to the 2007 Legislature.

Could you imagine students living within two miles of Dunlap having to drive to Castana to their county high school? Could you imagine students living within two miles of Ute having to drive in to Denison? Kids in Dunlap would have to drive to Mondaiman.

Charter Oak-Ute wouldn’t have an opportunity to win another state basketball title, there won’t be a Charter Oak-Ute. I know one COU graduate who became a university dean, another is the student body president of one of the states universities. You can’t tell me that small schools don’t offer opportunities and challenge their students in ways that even large schools can’t.

According to the Register Vilsack thinks that high schools with under 200 students should reorganize. If they did, he thinks that the new super-districts could pay teachers more, buy more computers and offer more of advanced math and science classes.

Get real. By having fewer schools, they’d cut expenses. What they’d really do is; layoff teachers and increase student-teacher ratios, cannibalize the obsolete computers of the axed districts for the new bigger-districts, and complain that not enough students qualify to take more advanced math and science classes.

More than a third of Iowa's 365 high schools have less than 200 students. Iowa’s proud tradition of educational excellence was forged in the one-room school house. Small schools are our foundation.

We’ve gone through this before. It seems like every few years, somebody wants to snuff out small schools.

There’s nothing wrong with pooling resources, and establishing regional academies so that students can take advanced placement classes that otherwise wouldn’t be offered at their school. But why are schools even considered an easy way to cut costs. Shouldn’t our children be where we want to focus the lion’s share of our resources?

They want to threaten that if small schools don’t show enough progress at sharing resources, they’ll be forced into regional districts. Sharing teachers, superintendents, transportation, food service and maintenance operations aren’t bad ideas, but why do I suspect that there are those who are just looking for an excuse to cut out the small schools?

I’ve admired the valiant efforts that so many legislators (led by our own) are engaging in to encourage business development in Iowa with things like the Iowa values Fund. It’s time that we apply the same kind of creativity, enthusiasm and tenacity to protecting and promoting our state’s greatest resource- small schools.

*Panel urges schools to share
The legislative committee supports a minimum size for school districts. March 22, 2005

Is reading scary? Face your fears!

“The man who doesn’t read is no better off than the man who can’t read.” ~Mark Twain.

I was a Literature major for about a semester. I thought that Art and Lit. would be a great combo. Something happened that semester though. I don’t think I read one story or novel all the way through. Somehow, just by skimming I managed to pull a ‘B’ in my Literature classes.

I felt terrible. How could I have any integrity as a high school English teacher if I hated reading? How could my professor let me get by with a decent grade, when I hardly read anything completely. That’s when I switched to History as a second major.

I thought I was lazy. I was convinced that I had Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.). As it turns out, I’m just a guy. Research shows that males prefer non-fiction (like history). We like newspapers and magazines better than books, especially articles on things hobbies or sports. We like short chapters, humor, suspense, and sometimes gross.

How do I know this? Mostly because, me, an Art teacher was appointed to a Reading Achievement Leadership team at Boyer Valley. Our job is to initiate strategies for helping students learn to read, read better and enjoy reading more.

Once a month we attend a course offered by our Area Education Agency on things like literacy and using test data to determine better teaching strategies too. One of the things we’ve started is a D.E.A.R. time in the high school. Every day, every class has to Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) for at least fifteen minutes.

One student complained to me, “but I don’t like to read.”

“Why don’t you?” I asked as sincerely as I could.

“Because I’m not good at it,” was their reply.

Fair enough. No one enjoys doing something that’s difficult. Think of it like exercise, or a sport. At first you hate roller skating because you can’t seem to keep your balance and you fall down a lot. But eventually- the longer you do it and the more often you do it, the easier it gets. The more you do it, the easier it gets. The easier it gets, the more you want to do it, and so on, until two things happen; you get really good, so it’s really easy and you like it so much that you want to do it all the time!

What makes reading more powerful than roller-skating is that the more you read, the smarter you become. Some people have this messed-up idea that there are just some people who are smart, and other people who aint (aren’t). As if there are some people who can skate and some people who can’t. Okay, not everybody is going to be Dorothy Hamill, but unless you don’t have legs, you can wobble around a rink holding on to the rail until you get your “sea legs.”

One of the most wonderful things about America is our freedom to read and our freedom to learn. Libraries are free, Public Schools are free. Anyone can strap on a pair of skates and get wobbling.

I wanted so bad to be an avid reader like my folks. I tried getting into the John Grisham, Tom Clancy or Michael Creighton mysteries like my parents. I thought I’d like Tony Hillerman since his books take place in my native Arizona, but it just didn’t do it for me.

Finally this year I found an author I could get into. J.A. Jance. Her series of mysteries takes place in Southern Arizona and follow the adventures of a thirty-something insurance adjuster who’s husband is shot down by a drug cartel. Maybe as a way to deal with her loss, she runs for Sheriff and is elected. The only experience she had was that her father had been Sheriff, but he was killed in the line of duty when she was a teenager.

You may prefer magazines or newspapers to novels, you may want to just read comic books, but everyone can find something they like to read.

The latest adventure I’ve had with reading this year, is that one of the other members of our Reading Leadership team twisted my arm to attend a meeting of the West Central Iowa Reading Association. There were teachers, librarians, and school administrators there from Denison, West-side, IKM, Battle Creek, Mapleton and Dunlap.

The keynote speaker was Jacquie McTaggart the author of a book called ‘From the Teacher’s Desk.’ She spoke about her experiences from 43 years of teaching First Graders to read. It ended up being a lot of fun, even if I was the only high school Art teacher there. I even won a free membership as a door prize!

They’re next meeting will be at Cronk’s in Denison on October 21st. Anyone and everyone is invited, you don’t have to be a teacher, you just have to believe that reading is important.

A great way to encourage your kids to read, is to let them see you reading. Of course, you can also read with them. That’s not just something for little kids either, big kids get a kick out of reading something with their parents. If you’re not comfortable with your own reading out-loud, ask your kids to read to you. It will be a fun role-reversal over the days when you read them bed time stories when they were little.

Teen Read Week is coming up October 17-23, the theme this year is “It’s alive @ your library.” I guess that since it’s October they want to appeal to the kids who like scary, spooky, and gross stories. You can find out more about it at the American Library Associations website at www.ala.org/teenread

Checking out the competition

How hard could it be? Taking kids on a field trip to the World Herald in Omaha shouldn’t have been much trouble. I only had twelve kids, I’d taken at least that many junior high kids to the L.A. Times two or three times when I taught at L.A. Lutheran.

When I was a kid I enjoyed Teen Gazette meetings every fall at the Arizona Republic/Phoenix Gazette’s editorial offices. It was pretty well empty since we met on Saturdays, but it still had the look and feel of “Lou Grant” or “All The President’s Men.” They held a mock-press conference for us with then Congressman John McCain. Then in the spring they’d have us out to the “R&G Ranch” for our own miniature company picnic. One or two correspondents from each of the major high schools in the Phoenix area eating burnt hot dogs and talking about our plans for each of our schools’ yearbooks or newspapers.

I guess that’s when I caught the journalism bug. I fear that all the kids caught on our recent field trip were colds, maybe a flu or two.
Maybe the Republic and Gazette did take us on an actual tour, but I don’t remember it. The trip to the L.A. times was a blast. They took us inside the presses. Sure we didn’t get to climb all over it or anything, but we were actually inside the thing. It’s huge, it felt like being inside a ship, like the big cargo ships they use to haul iron on Lake Superior.

When they started it up, the ground shook like in an earthquake. Soy ink covered everything, you had to walk carefully to avoid slipping on it. Their editorial offices were bustling with activity on a weekday. Post it notes and clippings and posters hung all over cubicles and up the walls and electrical conduits. Paper was everywhere, it reminded you of foliage, it gave a unique meaning to the idea of an “urban jungle.”

Maybe I have ink in my veins the way circus people have sawdust in theirs, but I enjoyed it as much or more than any of my seventh and eighth grade Journalism students. The tour guide even had to scold me once for getting separated from the group because I was left behind when I was talking to one of the pressmen in the printing plant. Don’t worry, there were parent chaperones along too, I wasn’t completely irresponsible.

The World Herald trip just didn’t turn out quite as well.

Why is it that whenever you want to go on a big trip, you can never seem to leave on time. 10:30 and the substitute hadn’t shown up yet. Four kids were missing. How hard can it be to take 12 kids? One was in the bathroom, one had forgotten about the field trip, “Was that TODAY?” Another didn’t want to go along and almost threw a tantrum in order to be allowed to stay behind. If she’d been smart, she would’ve pretended to be sick and stay home that day altogether- that’s what the fourth missing kid had done. Finally all eleven students and two drivers piled into our vans and were on our way.

Since we had so few kids, the BV Transportation Director wanted us to take two vans instead of one bus. That meant I’d have to drive. I offered the bus driver a map, “I’ll just follow you,” he said. That wasn’t too much of a problem until I stepped on the gas as we passed the Dunlap golf course to head South on Highway 30.

“Say, Mr. Mallory,” one of my high school passengers informed me, “That part-time bus driver in the other van, is also a part time cop.”

Suddenly I reduce my speed from the 60 mph I prefer, down to the more prudent 55.

When we arrived in Omaha I noticed something. The only parking in front of the World Herald are meters. The last thing I had considered was bringing enough change for parking meters.

Now, in Los Angeles I took my classes down to historic Olivera Street to get some authentic Mexican food for lunch. That’s the site of the original pueblo and home of a charming open-air market. We had talked about taking this group to the Old Market, but it’s several blocks away and between our late start and our conservative speeds, I thought we were way behind. So we circled around a few blocks until someone shouted “There’s a Subway!”

Problem. No free parking. A parking lot, our clumsy, hulking vans barely duck under the 6 foot clearance, the only spots left inside are compact. Somehow we manage to squeeze in. “I hope you have some business in this building” barked the attendant. I talked him into letting us park just for the hour. In fact, he only charged us for one van in the end. I wish he’d made that offer in the beginning. I only had $6 in my wallet, I had a vegetarian sandwich with no chips or drink, just so I’d have the $3 I’d need to pay for parking.

As we pulled out, he told me that the Herald had it’s own parking garage. That was a relief. The L.A. Times validated our parking so that it was free. I hoped against hope that the Herald would be as generous. We circled the block twice. Finally I pulled into the Herald’s garage, only to be stopped by the guard arm. There was no guard house, no attendant, and no speaker. Just a sensor for reading employee’s parking passes. We were stuck and a car lined up behind our two vans. Finally I motioned that we should back up, on a one-way street, I felt like a bumpkin.

We circled two more times till I tried the parking garage across from the Herald. Same problem. This time there was a guard house, but no attendant. It looked like it was still under construction. This time there was a button to press for assistance on a speaker. I pressed it several times but got no answer. I could feel my blood pressure rising as kids began to chuckle either at our predicament or perhaps at my incompetence. I grabbed my cell phone and the flyers from the Herald’s P.R. department and dialed our tour guide.

“We’re having trouble finding a place to park,” I told her, as the driver in the car behind our two vans this time gestured and cussed at us.

“Where are you?” she asked, oh good, I thought, she’ll send someone who’ll let us in or something.

“Uh, at the parking garage across the street,” I told her.

“There’s plenty of metered parking.” She offered.

“We’re just supposed to park by a meter?”

“That’s what most people do.”

Perturbed, I motion to back up again and we both made u-turns and pulled aside parking meters. I frantically searched my pockets for what little change I did have. Fortunately two students also volunteered to feed the meters.

I have to say that the World Herald’s lobby is immaculate and very informative. It’s a first-rate museum display. But it’s really just their lobby. Our tour took us past the presses. They’re impressive too. Three towers, thee-stories each, with six presses making up each tower. The presses can run the 700,000 or more copies a day at anywhere from 35-60 miles per hour. But we walked past it on a balcony, we didn’t actually get very close to it.

Of course, I was probably just in a lousy mood from fighting downtown traffic and failing to find decent parking, but it seemed like a fairly short, dull tour. The tour guide was pretty new, just out of college. She didn’t offer much history, much detail, or any exciting anecdotes. I had made a point of asking that she include the editorial offices on the tour, not just the presses. They were immaculate too. Almost too tidy, too clean and organized to have any flavor. They were almost dead too since the afternoon edition had been completed, it would be hours before it saw any real action.

Of course, high school kids are worlds apart from junior high kids too.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

Dead silence.

“Okay, I guess we should just get back to school in time for seventh hour.”

“Howmuchdiditcost? Howlongdidittaketobuild?Hasanyoneevergottenhurtononeofthosedohickys?”

Then there was the ride home. Kids were already laughing nostalgically about my inept driving and parking. This time the bus driver took the lead and darned if he wasn’t going 75 on I-29 where the limit’s 65 so that he lost me. My passengers wanted to stop at Arby’s in Missouri Valley to get some kind of iced coffee drinks. I was disappointed to be out of money myself at that point, but I stopped.

And this was ALMOST the crowning moment. After collecting all of their money and placing their order at the speaker, instead of driving forward to the first window, I leaned out my window and offered the money to the speaker.

What really topped it off was when I finally got home that evening and realized that I’d been walking around all day with a hole in the crotch of my pants.

Maybe next year I’ll take them on a field trip to the Dunlap Reporter instead. That way we can just walk.

Leaving your kids behind

It certainly sounds idealistic. No one can argue that public schools should make every effort to help EVERY student, but did you know that only 6% of the costs to implement No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is supposed to come from the federal government?

Thanks to Bush’s tax cuts, deficits, and pre-emptive war in Iraq, they’re not even coming through with that 6%.

Two of the goals of NCLB is accountability and choice. In a perfect world, these goals also sound like idealistic, but run through a Washington-speak decoder they sound more like deregulation, privatization, and free-market competition. These goals may not even sound all that odious except that we’re not talking about sprockets or gizmos, cogs, or “information systems.” We’re not talking about investment portfolios. We’re talking about children.

Republican proponents of NCLB claim that schools need to be held more responsible for results the same way the business world operates. Carrots and sticks, fines and bonuses, performance reviews. There are several problems with that, besides that I went into teaching to help kids, rather than have to compete in the dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest world of business.

One problem is what performance are you reviewing? It seems like tests are supposed to measure student performance, but a student can be incredibly intelligent, creative and hard working and yet be a miserable test taker. It’s like when you have something wrong with your car, so you take it into a mechanic, but the car doesn’t malfunction for the mechanic, so they can’t find a problem. Other kids are unmotivated, stubborn, insubordinate, and totally disinterested in school, but for whatever reason, they perform outstanding on tests.

I realize and agree that the basics are vital, but you can’t reduce all learning to only math, science and reading. Some students may be brilliantly intelligent in some areas, but have very little aptitude for others. Some kids have do have Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"), or have Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart"), but others excel in Visual-Spatial intelligence, Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence, or Musical intelligence. NCLB tests don’t evaluate P.E., Art, Speech/Drama, or Music performance.

Most exciting of all, but most difficult to assess are those kids with Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart"), and Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart"). Maybe it’s because my wife is a guidance counselor, but these are areas which many children desperately need instruction.

And keep in mind, we’re not talking about sprockets or gizmos, cogs, or “information systems.” We’re not talking about investment portfolios. We’re talking about children. Children have bad days, they have quirks and idiosyncrasies. No test could ever be standardized enough to be truly accurate. There are just some things you can not measure fairly.

Kids also have needs. When those needs aren’t met, no matter how qualified or dedicated their teachers are, they won’t be able to learn well, let alone perform well on a standardized test.

Kids need physiological and nutritional needs. In other words, they need to eat decent. They need to feel safe and protected, accepted and loved. They need to feel value, feel needed, useful, and capable.

If and when most of those needs are met, they’ll need to feel like they can accomplish something and set reasonable goals and achieve them. They’ll need to be able to figure out who they are. There’s no way to standardize students. They aren’t computers or cars or cell phones. And if you can’t control all the variables, you can’t accurately access their learning.
Can any school manage to do all of that for every kid? How would you assess their performance if they could? What is the “bottom line” in education?

Certainly teachers, principals and superintendents should be held accountable, but so should the students themselves, and so should their parents for that matter. Does their time, love, and money get invested in their children? Are they helping and encouraging their child to learn?

NCLB provides hoops for schools to jump through, but doesn’t provide any of the resources to do so. NCLB places the emphasis of education on test-taking skills, not on thinking skills, learning skills, or subject content. NCLB stigmatizes schools who’s statistics don’t look good enough, which they may have little control over.

Schools and teachers can’t control the number of non-English speakers in their district. They can’t control the number of severely learning disabled or handicapped children in their district. They can’t control the poverty or drug use or broken homes in their district. They certainly can’t control the amount of time that parents spend with their children or how much children are read to. Yet if the test scores don’t show enough improvement in a district, teachers, administrators and schools may be seriously penalized.

Bush supporters would argue that parents should have the right to move their students to the best districts. That takes even more resources away from the schools who need to improve. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s social Darwinism, survival of the fittest. So what happens? Schools need to be able to compete to stay alive, scruples and ethics are sacrificed. Corners get cut, numbers are fudged, rules are bent. Sounds like business, not school.

Capitalism is the best system for business (when it works), but surely the lessons of Enron, Worldcom and InCone should show us that competition may not always produce what’s best for the general public. Competition breeds antagonism and greed at the expense of cooperation and community.

Education issues often get eclipsed by “louder” things vying for our attention like the war, gay marriage, and abortion. But if Bush gets re-elected, someone has got to convince him that No Child Left Behind needs to be abandoned or seriously rethought. If NCLB is allowed to continue, every child will be left behind. All of America’s public schools will be worse off then they were before Bush tried to fix them.