Lesson Study is One Key to Reform

Instead of reinventing the wheel every September, those of us involved in actually educating children should give some of our attention to the concept of Lesson Study.

What is lesson study?

Lesson study* is a professional development process that Japanese teachers engage in to systematically examine their practice, with the goal of becoming more effective. This examination centers on teachers working collaboratively on a small number of "study lessons". Working on these study lessons involves planning, teaching, observing, and critiquing the lessons. To provide focus and direction to this work, the teachers select an overarching goal and related research question that they want to explore. This research question then serves to guide their work on all the study lessons.

While working on a study lesson, teachers jointly draw up a detailed plan for the lesson, which one of the teachers uses to teach the lesson in a real classroom (as other group members observe the lesson). The group then comes together to discuss their observations of the lesson. Often, the group revises the lesson, and another teacher implements it in a second classroom, while group members again look on. The group will come together again to discuss the observed instruction. Finally, the teachers produce a report of what their study lessons have taught them, particularly with respect to their research question.

*"Derived from the Japanese word jugyokenkyuu, the term 'lesson study' was coined by Makoto Yoshida... it can also be translated in reverse as 'research lesson' [coined by Catherine Lewis], which indicates the level of scrutiny applied to individual lessons." --RBS Currents, Spring/ Summer 2002

How to Solve The Pledge Problem

Whenever educators or fans of education want to get their undies in a bunch about something that has absolutely nothing to do with educating children, they start arguing about the Pledge of Allegiance.

They will, at different times claim that it is too militaristic, too religious, too mindless or too nonsensical. They will claim that it unhinges godless students and causes Muslims to break out in a cold sweat. They will claim that it violates the separation of church and state without really knowing what that means or even that they are wrong.

Well, the think tank at Gnuteacher.com loves juicy and meaningless issues like this.So we set to work solving the problem so that everyone can shut up and go back to pretending that they're actually doing something constructive.

First, the students could give two s**ts about the Pledge. It takes up very little of their time and they don't say it anyway. If they did say it aloud, they would stick out like a sore thumb and have to sit alone at lunch. So let's not argue that the Pledge has ANY effect on the typical student, much less an adverse one. No, the Pledge only seems to annoy atheistic dads with too much time on their hands and some courtroom experience.

As to the separation of church and state, I hope we won't have to go into that one because the Pledge of Allegiance is not a "law respecting an establishment of religion" which is the only thing the Constitution prevents. And even if the Federal government wanted to establish a religion, which one would they be establishing by mentioning "God"?. I know some Zoroastrians who would be pretty psyched!

A curious sidelight to this whole thing is that the Pledge of Allegiance is probably the only thing that all of our public schools do across the country. They don't learn the same Math or Science or Art but they all say the same words every day. Isn't the Pledge a tradition worth keeping especially if it's the only one which unifies us?

Finally, some solutions to turn the flames down on this hot-button issue. What if the Pledge of Allegiance was said only on Mondays as opposed to everyday? What if it was recited only before all-school assemblies? What if it were spoken only on the first day of school? It would automatically become rarer and more meaningful. It also wouldn't hurt to explore the words of the Pledge in class and debate its inherent modes. Does it encourage Patriotism? Is that a bad thing? Does it infringe on your rights? Are you forced to say it? What's the big deal anyway?

Fat City

Are teachers underpaid? I bet your first reaction to that question is "Why yes, they are most assuredly underpaid and they work so hard and they get no respect etc." Well, I've done some figuring in my own school district and using a simple formula I've discovered that teachers are paid way too freakin' much. Take Portland, Maine for example. The average teacher is paid $50,281 per year. They are also contracted to work 180 days a year. Do the Math... $50,281 / 180 = $279.34 PER DAY! And this is for working slightly less than half a year! If teachers weren't so lazy, they could work the whole year and make $100,562. But don't take our word for it. Read this article.

Free Education Reform!

Reforming our schools is easy. Here's how you do it....

1. STOP PUNISHING STUDENTS

The fact is that no records are kept pertaining to the unconstitutional practices of detention, confiscation of personal property or the suppression of free speech in our schools. Children are held against their will every day based only on the whims of impatient and intolerant teachers and administrators who don't like "oppositional" students. It's time to undo the punitive nature of schooling and honor the student again. This would be the first step towards providing a meaningful education instead of fostering a prison mentality.

2. PROVIDE BETTER TEACHERS


Require new teachers to score extremely high on the Praxis tests before hiring. Don't settle for teachers who just manage to "pass" on their 4th try. Private school teachers are NOT "certified" but they DO have a degree in an actual subject and score high on verbal aptitude tests.

3. FIRE INCOMPETENT TEACHERS


The Superintendent knows who they are, the teacher's union knows who they are and the students know who they are. Let's show them the door before they damage anyone else. By definition, bad teachers are probably too stupid to sue anyway so what are they afraid of? Don't tell us how difficult it is to fire bad teachers, it's not.

4. MAKE THE SCHOOL DAY LONGER

It is absurd that we let our children roam free from 2:00-6:00 without supervision. If we truly cared about their safety, we would let them stay as long as they wanted and provide them with a productive after-school program staffed by caring volunteers and "Good" teachers who are already being paid an average of $255 a day to work with students.

5. INSTITUTE THE CONCEPT OF LESSON STUDY

Instead of reinventing the wheel every September, teachers involved in lesson study would build on previous knowledge and publish their best practices for ALL teachers to learn from.

6. ELIMINATE COPIER MACHINES

Education is NOT about filling in the blanks on a worksheet day after boring day. Cut the cord on the copy machine and force teachers to engage their students in a meaningful way. $500,000 a year could be saved in toner, paper and maintenance. In addition, there is no reason that attendance, grades, schedules etc., can't be done online for all concerned to see. Transparency breeds honesty and accountability. Our schools should be models of paperless efficiency.

7. A CODE OF CONDUCT FOR TEACHERS

Institute a professional dress code for teachers. Do not let them cut ahead of students in the lunch line. Do not allow them to verbally abuse students. Require them to learn the Socratic Method and ride the bus with the students. If teachers were held to a written code of conduct the student's respect would follow.

8. MUSIC OVER THE INTERCOM IN THE A.M.

Happier kids showing improved behavior would be the result. Businesses have understood the power of music for years. It's easy enough to do and it works, so why not?

9. IN-HOUSE STAFF TRAINING

Why pay a "facilitator" a bucket of money to train staff about something they should already know? Each school's staff should assess their individual needs and train themselves for the unique situations at their own schools, not at the Mariott with lunch provided.

10. MORE FIELD TRIPS

Get students out of that surreal enviroment called "school"and into the immediate community more often. Show them the applications of their lessons. Expose them to things they have never seen or heard and you will be rewarded with motivated, concerned and interested students. Isn't that what you want?

Fixing our schools is really that simple. All it takes is someone with the guts to try.

Where are all the "good" german rocket scientists when you need 'em?

A long time ago, the federal government decided that our schools were not doing a very good job of turning out German rocket scientists. They knew this for a fact because the commies had managed to accelerate a 183lb. lump of metal named Sputnik up to 17,900mph with THEIR German rocket scientists. The U.S. meanwhile, had spent over 4 billion dollars and had been unable to even make a rice krispie move much faster than 9.8m/sec². The feds knew they needed some more smart people and they needed them pronto! Thus was born the National Defense Education Act of 1958, which allowed our Prez to throw money at schools like french fries towards pelicans. Now, instead of training young minds in all aspects of adulthood and citizenship, the job of the schools would be to create scientists, mathmeticians, engineers and other assorted dweebs. Because, as we all know, Science and Math are "important" subjects that are actually useful in life as opposed to those "unimportant" subjects such as Art, Music and Philosophy which can only be used by sensitive undergrads to get the bra off an impressionable freshman Psychology major. This new paradigm of education did little to create German rocket scientists but much to create a lot of free time for beatniks and their hippie children which led to protesting the Vietnam war, joining the Weather Underground and kidnapping Patty Hearst

The public schools were happy for the new source of revenue because now they could buy new ashtrays for the teacher’s lounge and get those really nice rulers with the metal in the edge that didn’t break the first time you smacked a kid’s ear with it. And they knew they were going to be doing a lot of smackin' if they were going to produce enough quality German rocket scientists to get an American to the Moon by 1969 by gum! Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell them that it was unconstitutional for the federal government to get involved in education or maybe somebody did tell them but that person didn’t have tenure so it probably wasn’t true. Either way, the money started rolling in and it hasn’t stopped since even though, to the best of our knowledge, very few German rocket scientists were created. Then again, maybe they were but no one would have sex with them so they died off eventually. What did everyone outside of education learn from the Defense Education Act of 1958? Lots of money thrown at a problem does not necessarily produce results.

Time marched on but our schools still rode in the horseless carriage. Hippies got into teaching because it was "groovy, man" and you got the summers off. Students were told to question everybody else’s authority and "call me Dave". These yarnheads forced the old and sick onto the ice flows of early retirement. Latin teachers were the first to go followed by administrators who knew someone who knew someone who had actually known John Dewey. Next came Mrs. Zamanigian who failed you if you only got one wrong on your multiplication tables. Gradually, spelling bees and dodgeball were outlawed as "negatively reinforcing self-esteem activities" and replaced with more "at task" activities such as "share bear" and sitting on a hard chair for six hours at a time listening to Ms. Freerainbowhug wax poetic about something called the underground railroad which, you are shocked to find out, has no Molepeople and even fewer car chases. We should have all marched into their classrooms right then and put an end to that nonsense but we didn’t and their demon seed would come back to haunt us in the 1990’s. What did everyone outside of education learn from this new pedagogy? Demanding and knowledgeable teachers are often the best teachers.

Next came the Age of Theories. Whole language vs. phonics, Classical Education vs. Frisbee Golf and who can ever forget the monumental brouhaha which was Didactically Oriented Systems of Axioms for Elementary Geometry vs. Look, A Square! As teachers began losing the respect of their students because, let’s face it, they were not the brightest people in the village anymore; they felt the need to create the illusion that learning was somehow akin to alchemy and only THEY knew how to work the lodestone. Thus, schools of education bloomed. Now, one no longer needed to acquire mastery of a subject in order to become a teacher. You could walk right down to your local state college and major in education even if you were as dumb as a sack of hammers. You would be taught the latest theories of cognitive development, learn how to create lesson plans and sit at the feet of master teachers who, while not ever having actually taught in a real school, had many friends who were teachers. You would graduate with a degree, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, to anyone who cared to notice that you had paid your tuition. Now it was time to get into teaching, snag tenure, coast for 10-15 years, become a principal and retire from a job well done. What did everyone outside of education learn from this? Schools of education can’t make silk purses out of sow’s ears. What makes a good teacher? Knowledge of the subject at hand and high scores on verbal aptitude tests. Simple as that.

The field was now plowed and the seeds of our present situation could be planted. Television failed from its early promise and became a mugwump wastelandwhich would undermine parental authority and lobotomize our children. In the good ol’ days we had secrets which we kept from the young until they had earned that particular right of passage. Now with television, everything was out there: from sex to murder and cannibalism.Unfortunately, seeing something is not quite the same thing as understanding something, and our kids grew up thinking that they knew everything but they lacked the maturity and wisdom which would only come with age, booze and a divorce. Parents also should share some of the blame for the sorry state of our society by remaining children themselves. They refused to grow up and accept the responsibilities of adulthood and parenthood whilst livin’ in the ‘hood. Even the "good" parents were culpable by refusing to set limits, instill civility and manners and wanting to be a best bud to their child instead of a parent. Finally, the schools themselves and especially the teachers are the biggest reason for most of the problems we face as a society today. Quite simply, they have not done the job we paid them for. Somewhere along the line, they forgot that their purpose was to create a life-long learner not produce fodder for the cannons of industry. The schools have followed the whims and orders of Business and assumed that the goal of education was to provide the local widget factory with enough entry level widget technicians. Business, much like the Army doesn’t want free-thinkers and poets, they want that report on their desk by 4:00pm or else.

Schools stopped asking "why" a long time ago and they’ve spent the last twenty years chasing their tails and digging themselves in deeper. It’s time for a revolution in education. You know it and I know it. What are you gonna do about it?