Too Much Caffine...

Keynote Speaker
This conference was headlined Linda Perlstein, author of Not Much Just Chillin’: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers. Perlstein was a journalist with the Washington Post for ten years before leaving to write NMJC. The book follows the lives of five middle schoolers and focuses on five different aspects of middle school life - Lily and friendship, Eric and schoolwork, Jimmy and puberty, Elizabeth and her parents, and Jackie and her ‘crushes’.

Perlstein had a lot of interesting things to say about the development of students during this time period, which is the greatest period of development other than infancy. For instance, because their muscles are growing faster than their bones it physically hurts for students to sit still in their desks for the entire class period. Also, the frontal lobe of the brain is still developing which means that middle schooler’s ability to reason, organize, and make judgements is also still developing.

The most interesting piece of advice for dealing with middle schoolers that I thought Perlstein had was that students need to be learning to take responsibility for themselves during this time and that parents who constantly try to make life easier for their children are not teaching them to be able to do things for themselves. She gave the example of a parent who on most levels seemed like a teacher’s dream: supportive, interested, and actively involved in their child’s education. On multiple occasions Perlstein observed a parent asking the teacher, “What are you doing to help my child learn this? What else are you doing? What you’re doing isn’t working for her...” Sounds nice...however, Perlstein also witnessed the teacher in question try multiple techniques and spend a great deal of time with the student, while the student either didn’t pay attention, didn’t try to learn, and simply blew-off the teacher’s extra work. When the teacher tried to explain this to the parent, the parent was unwilling to see that the problem was with the student not taking responsibility for any part of their learning. The teacher said this happens often in middle to upper-middle class schools and that when parents teach their children that nothing is their fault, or their responsibility, or force them to work for anything in their academic lives, it produces a heightened sense of entitlement in every aspect of the student’s lives.

I’d never thought of a problem with parents a that end of the spectrum. So often teachers are taught to expect uninvolved parents. I never realized the other end could provide challenges too.

Breakout Session
One of the breakout sessions I went to focused on differentiation strategies in the classroom. The presenter, Jacque Melin, defined differentiation as the recognition of and commitment to plan for student differences. She stressed that the commitment to planning for differentiation is more important the being able to recognize differences in students.

Melin identified the three pieces of differentiation as; on-going assessment, flexible grouping according to readiness, interest, and learning profile, and choices of content, process, and product.

Assessment is important to know where each of is with each new subject being studied. Students that have a great deal of previous knowledge about a subject should be held to a higher standard than students who have no knowledge of the subject. That way, each child is learning something new.

Flexible grouping, Melin stressed, is not tracking in any way, shape, or form. Groups are made up of all different levels of skill, interest and learning styles. That way students can both learn from each other and teach each other while working together.

Giving students choice is necessary for amount of student interest, and the more a student is interested in a project, the harder they will work. Students can be differentiated by choice of subject studied, the way a subject is studied, or the finished product a student will turn in.

A handout was given during this session with internet resources on differentiation such as:
www.piecesoflearning.com
www.ascd.org
http://www.lakelandschools.org/EDTECH/Differentiation/hom...
http://www.wilmette39.org/cd39/definition.html



Breakout Session
Another breakout session I attended focused on encouraging writing in all subjects. The presenters suggested that writers, “learn to write by writing and then reading what they have written”. They shared strategies on incorporating writing into the classroom as well as outlined the importance of process writing and writing workshop.

One suggestion that the presenters gave was to have students keep a reflection journal. This would be a place for students to practice writing and get out ideas in a non-threatening way and could be used for each subject. They could be prompted with things such as, “What did you learn? What did you find interesting? What are you still confused about?” Students could partner up to share their reflections with each other.

Another suggestion was to use current events, which speaker Linda Perlstein observed students are extremely interested in, to teach students to summarize, give an opinion, and examine why. Writing a letter to the newspaper, or to a city official or politician were other suggestions for writing within the social studies subject.

In science students could write lab reports and directions for procedures. In math students can write explanations of how they reached an answer, write investigations of how math relates to their lives (music, money, sports stats etc.) or write word problems for each other.

The presenters suggestion the website www.readwritethink.org to find lesson plans that work to incorporate writing in all subjects.

"A school has the responsibility to help students learn and to make information available to them. Schools should educate and expose children to different topics in order to prepare them for life and to help them make informed decisions. Here lies the primary purpose of education, but censorship acts as more of an obstacle than an aid in achieving this goal".

This quote was taken from an article I found entitled "Opposing Censorship in the High School Curriculum". That quote gets to the heart of what I believe about censorship. The job of a school is to prepare students for life in the adult world. By ignoring or eliminating classroom discussion on 'sensitive' subjects such as sex, drugs, racism, and violence we are in no way protecting our students, we are harming them. I garauntee that even if your child doesn't read a book in my highschool class with the words shit, nigger, or joint in them they have used the word, or heard it in a movie or song, or seen it depicted on tv. Would you rather have your child experience those issues through the one-way medium of music, tv, or movies? Or experience them in an educational setting, with an adult present who can answer questions, explain dangers and consequences, and lead disucssions about the hurtful nature of those 'sensitive' issues?

"Any drug use content will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. In effect, the PG-13 cautions parents with more stringency than usual to give special attention to this film before they allow their 12-year-olds and younger to attend. If nudity is sexually oriented, the film will generally not be found in the PG-13 category. If violence is too rough or persistent, the film goes into the R (restricted) rating. A film’s single use of one of the harsher sexually derived words, though only as an expletive, shall initially require the Rating Board to issue that film at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive must lead the Rating Board to issue a film an R rating, as must even one of these words used in a sexual context. These films can be rated less severely, however, if by a special vote, the Rating Board feels that a lesser rating would more responsibly reflect the opinion of American parents."

That is the Motion Picture Association of America's view on what constitutes a PG13 movie. Basically, the way I read that is that one "fuck", some drug use, and a light beating are all ok in a PG13 movie. That's what your kids have seen by the time they are 13...And people want to ban Harry Potter from schools? The idea that our kids are so innocent and naive to not have already encountered these issues in their lives is absolutely ridiculous.

Reading about these subjects in the classroom will give students the facts. To ban books that deal with these issues is to do our students a great disservice. Like it or not, whether they learn about it in the classroom or on the street, no person will get through their lives without the knowledge of sex, drugs, violence, racism, or hatred.

A couple of the others (Libby and Kristen I believe) in my book group have already posted on how the title Go Ask Alice was taken from song lyrics by Jefferson Airplane.

The lyrics support claims that Lewis Carroll was using drugs while writing Alice In Wonderland and that the story is full of drug refrences. However, there are as many websites and opinions that disagree with Jefferson Airplane's interpretation of the story as there sites that glorify the hookah smoking caterpillar.

Here is a link to one site that believes Carroll was a 'square':
Q: Was Carroll on drugs when he wrote the Alice books, or are the books about drugs?

In the same vein (vein - Ha - drugs, needles, veins) of druggie song lyrics, this song by band Jimmy Eat World reminded me a great deal of some of what Alice (in the book, not In Wonderland) went through in her drug use. Especially the dichotomy of drugs being an escape and making life's struggles easier (if only temporarily), while at the same time being dangerous and deadly. The song also talks about trying to stay clean while people around you are getting high.


Jimmy Eat World - Drugs Or Me Lyrics

Stay with me
You're the one that I need
You make the hardest things
Seem easy

Keep my heart
Somewhere drugs don't go
Were the sun shines lay
Always keep me close

If only you could see
The stranger next to me
You promised you promised that you're done
But i cant tell you from the drugs

Don't let go
Dig a great big hole
Down an endless hole
We'll both go

You're so blind
You cant see me this time
Hope comes from inside
And I feel so low tonight

If only you could see
The stranger next to me
You promised you promised that you're done
But I can't tell you from the drugs

I wish you could see
This face in front of me
You'r sorry swear it you're done
But I can't tell you from the drugs

(Ohhhh)
(Ohhhh)

(take me) I need your help
(so far away) To pull me up take the pain
(take me) Out from me
(so far away) Out from me

(Take me) If only you could see (I need your help)
(So far away) The stranger next to me (To pull me up take the
pain)
(Take me) You promised you promised that you're done (Out from
me)
(So far away) But I can't tell you from the drugs (Out from me)

(Take me) I wish that you could see (I need your help)
(So far away) This face in front of me (To pull me up take the
pain)
(Take me) You're sorry you swear it you're done (Out from me)
(So far away) But I can't tell you from the drugs (Out from me)

Keep my heart
somewhere drugs don't go
Where the sun shines low
always keep me close