Stupid in America

Editor's note:  Some teachers may recall John Stossel's Stupid in America broadcast bashing NYC schools and unions back in 2006.  This time around he has a different story to tell which you can watch this weekend.   

Guest post from John Stossel

Exciting things are suddenly happening in education.  Inner-city kids do well on benchmark tests and are excited about learning. I tell fourth graders that school is boring, they yell at me, “No, it’s not!”  One boy said: “Reading is rockin’ awesome!”

I’ll report on innovations at the Success Charter Network and Harlem Village Academy in New York, and at the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, California.  “Let’s destroy the system… create a system that serves kids,” says charter school director Deborah Kenny.   

Hurricane Katrina made that experiment possible by destroying much of New Orleans.  Now 70% of New Orleans students attend charters, and they learn more.

Aside from such bright spots, most of education in America is still a mess.  The cost has skyrocketed, but performance is flat.

Why?  One big reason is that the government monopoly—the “BLOB”— makes it nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher. Former Washington DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee talks about her attempt to change that, including firing her own daughters’ principal, and the backlash that led to her losing her job.  

I’ll confront union leaders, like DC union boss Nathan Saunders, who opposes judging teachers by student test results.   “I know my kids are learning when I look in their eyes,” says Saunders. New Jersey union leader Joseph Del Grosso opposes charter schools:  “Over my dead body, they’re gonna come here.” 

  

Virtual education innovator Sal Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, is on the right track.   He’s a great teacher who now reaches millions of kids via the internet.   Some fifth graders who watch his videos do high school level math.   Before radio and TV, every big town had a best teacher and a best singer.  Mass media changed that, so now Lady Gaga sings to the whole world.   But education has stayed local and stagnant-- until now, when the web allows the world’s best teachers to reach into every classroom. 

Why don’t we have more innovation? Why don’t we have a vibrant market in education? Are we still Stupid in America? 

To find out, watch Stupid in America this weekend on Fox News. Tune in on Saturday at 10PM EDT / PDT, repeats on Sunday. 

Leaders Share How Tech Has Helped Students Learn

Part of my work is helping educators partner with students to innovate learning using technology. You can see some of the cool things learners are doing at http://innovatemyclass.org/featured.  I recently had the chance to hear from school leaders about their feelings in regards to how they felt about their teachers and students who were using technology in the classroom.  They explained that not only are students more motivated, engaged and excited about learning in general and writing in particular, but instruction is also changing and becoming deeper. They explained the focus on innovative and authentic publishing has resulted in the culture of the classroom becoming more collaborative.

One leader said it this way:

Using the netbooks, iTouches, Smart Pens, digital cameras, etc., never cease to amaze students and create excitement in the classrooms.  It would be very hard to go "back" to only the paper and pen activities.  Students and teachers see literacy in a different way.

What Parents Really Want to Tell Teachers: What You Do Hurts Our Children

Guest Post by Laurie A. Couture.  This article was originally posted here and shared with permission at The Innovative Educator blog.               
 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs (Image by Factoryjoe)

Many parents are shaking their heads at the audacity and insolence of the CNN article, What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents by Disney-and-Oprah-endorsed teacher, Ron Clark. His article is dangerous because it represents how the majority of traditional school teachers view children, parents and teachers’ roles as authorities over children’s lives. In my post, What Teachers Really Need to Hear From Parents, I challenge Ron Clark to consider the dehumanization of children and the undermining of the parent-child bond in the institution he represents.


Most parents in industrialized societies are conditioned by their own schooling to be obedient and unquestioning of their children’s schools and the so-called authorities therein. A frightening majority of parents are unaware that most everything that traditional school teachers do is developmentally inappropriate and even harmful for youth of all ages. However, a growing movement of parents are parenting through awareness, consciousness and connection to their children’s needs. Many of these parents are opting out of public and traditional schools are are seeking refuge for their children in child-centered and democratic schools or through homeschooling and unschooling. 


As a mother of an unschooling teen son, and based on the years of complaints I have heard from parents and their children about traditional schools, I have compiled a list of  concerns and presented them to teachers in the context of their own education:

Make and Publish Books for Free Using A Cell Phone and Flickr

If your students have access to a cell phone (or any digital device i.e. iPad, laptop) that can take and send/email pictures, they can make and publish their own books quickly and easily using Flickr.  This is a great way to bring student books to life by publishing them digitally in a format that can be easily shared with the world or printed as a book for the classroom or school library.  

With Flickr you get an email that you (or anyone you share the email with) can use to send all your pictures to and Flickr makes it very easy to sort and group pictures using tags or drag and drop features. You can get a link or code to embed any picture or group/sets of pictures into any online space. When emailing your subject line becomes the picture caption and the message/body becomes the description. To follow are the steps to making a book using Flickr, a sample book, and ideas for the classroom.


Steps to making a book with Flickr

Top Ten Ed Tech Issues This School Year

I was recently asked what I saw as the top ed tech issues this year.  Here are the first things that came to mind. 

1) Passion (Not Just Data) Driven Learning
2) Bring your own tech
3) Reducing use of filters and empowering students to do this work by engaging responsibly online
4) Reducing fear of teacher /student relationships i.e. Social media doesn't cause inappropriate behavior, it catches it.
5) Authentic ePortfolios for teachers and students
6) Developing a responsible and impressive digital footprint
7) Supporting students in developing a responsible and impressive digital footprint
8) Developing your personal learning network
9) Empowering students to develop their personal learning network
10) Authentic publishing for teachers and students

These also happen to be some of my most favorite things to write about here on The Innovative Educator blog. I look forward to sharing and growing ideas with all of you :) I also wonder what's missing?  Are there other things you'd like to see addressed?

Parents Take Issue with Advice of 'Super Teacher' Ron Clark

 Guest post by Home Educator, Christiel Gota

Dear friends who are teachers:

This article by Ron Clark drives me to tears. I know teachers have a tough job and many are doing their very best within this system. However, I have to speak on behalf of parents when it comes to this article.

Sorry, Mr. Clark and all your minions, but I will NEVER stand against my child in support of you or the system. I will never apologize for jumping to my child's defense - and I will ALWAYS jump to my child's defense. Sorry, but I can't trust you - especially when you say my child has a behavior problem. They are no problem at home. If behavior problems only occur at school, it is YOU that is doing something wrong, not me!