Children and Sports

The other day I was talking to a student who was heard by a teacher swearing during a recess game.  I asked him why he was swearing, and he said, "Because I got out."  I pointed out that getting out was part of the game, and asked again why he was so angry.  As we talked, it became clear to me that he thought getting angry and swearing was an appropriate response to getting out and didn't understand why I thought there was a problem.

This incident made me think again about the modeling that our children are getting from the adult world.  Obviously, as one of our teachers pointed out to his class, most of the professional athletes are behaving appropriately, congratulating the winners at the end of a game, respecting the referees and the other players, and generally showing good sportsmanship.  Unfortunately, the media choose to highlight the bad examples, and the result is more and more children who think the only important thing is winning, who think it's appropriate to get angry when you don't win, and who don't respect the decisions of a game ref.  (A physical education teacher I talked to told me that more and more kids are arguing and questioning her decisions during games.)

Earlier this week, I used the following quote (from Project Wisdom) as our quote of the day and asked students to think about it:

You may have heard the story of Armando Galarraga (GAL-a-RAGA), the Detroit Tigers’ pitcher who threw a perfect baseball game but was denied that recognition because of an umpire’s bad call. Armando showed strong character and good sportsmanship by accepting the call with respect and dignity. The umpire later acknowledged his mistake and apologized to the pitcher. We can all learn a lesson from the good sportsmanship of both men.
 
Listen to this:
When circumstances are unfair, you can show good character by continuing to do the best you can do.*
 
We don’t have to be athletes, though, to show good sportsmanship. Whether we’re competing in the science fair or playing a board game with our brother, we can play fairly and show respect for our competitors. And if we lose, even unfairly, we can still win by showing strong character and knowing that we’ve done our best.

If you can, it might be a great idea to talk with your children about good sportsmanship, about enjoying a game but not making it into more than a game, about losing gracefully and appreciating your competitors.  Not only will this help our children grow into mature adults able to handle things well, but it will also improve our world.

Deep and Rich Learning

One of the things I always notice when observing excellent teaching (something I fortunately have lots of opportunities to do) is the skillful interweaving of multiple strands of learning.  This creates a rich and varied learning experience that engages students and allows for success and challenge at all levels.  Recent examples of this kind of learning experience in the context of a major project include the 4th grade Invention Convention and the 5th grade Colonial Day projects.

In 4th grade, a student working on a project for the Invention Convention first learned about simple machines and participated in locating the simple machines in the school and making a video describing their use.  The student then learned about innovation and participated in it by creating an invention which incorporated a simple machine and met an identified need.  Students also documented their inventions, and developed business cards, brochures, and other marketing materials.  This is a project with obvious real-world connections that incorporates science and technology concepts, literacy work, and business and economics, and is certainly one the students won't soon forget!

In 5th grade, the Colonial Day projects incorporate historical learning, reading, writing, and research skills, artwork, and critical thinking.  I was particularly impressed by the "flip books" describing particular historical characters because the thinking and analysis went way beyond the factual.  Each one was different and showed good critical thinking on the part of the student.  Art and music were also incorporated into the experience, and on the day itself students were immersed in Colonial times, engaging in hand sewing, tinsmithing, butter-making, and a variety of Colonial games.  Again, a rich learning experience, and one that students won't forget!

During the course of working on these projects, students also learn planning and time management skills, as well as the patience and persistence to pursue a long-term goal, all of which are important life skills.  Now, of course, although I intended to write a simple post describing my excitement about these projects, I just have to ask -- how can any standardized test measure these things or measure the skill of a teacher who makes a difference for a child by helping him/her to develop these life skills or discover a passion or a new motivation?  Children learn many different things from these projects -- for one, it may be finding a new confidence in her artistic skills; for another, it could be discovering his passion for history; for yet another child, it could be learning how to plan and complete a large project and feeling the pride of accomplishing that. 

The best and most accomplished teachers consistently weave multiple strands of learning into their teaching -- learning about content, learning skills, learning attitudes, learning confidence, persistence and competence.  This is learning that no child should miss.  I am delighted to see this happening throughout our school, and hope we can continue to provide and value these rich learning experiences for our students.

Critical Thinking & Analysis -- An Essential 21st Century Skill

One of the real joys of my job is the opportunity to observe exciting teaching and learning; this past Friday I was fortunate to observe two wonderful social studies lessons, both of which pushed 5th graders into greater critical thinking and analysis.  Unless you are lucky enough to be in today's classrooms, you probably are not aware of the extent to which teaching and learning has changed.  Students are no longer simply memorizing and regurgitating names, dates, and conclusions; rather, they are thinking hard about historical situations, analyzing the different interests of the parties involved, and working toward their own analysis and understanding using primary sources from the time.  This kind of analysis is frequently mentioned as a 21st century skill, and I completely agree that all of our students need to develop this ability and to become excellent critical thinkers.  Seeing what's happening in our classrooms is wonderful; students are indeed being taught these skills, and they are responding with engagement and learning.

Sometimes, though, I am puzzled by what appears to be a lack of critical thinking in some of the media reporting today about educational issues, and it seems to me that everyone could use the lessons I saw last Friday in the two 5th grade classrooms.  Recently, for example, newspapers reported the results from the international PISA testing, pointing out that the overall U.S. results were in the middle of the group, and using this to again say that our schools are failing.  Interestingly, though, this year's PISA results were reported somewhat differently, in that the U.S. data was provided disaggregated by schools at different poverty levels.  When you look at the disaggregated data and take the U.S. schools with a poverty level of 10% or less those schools outscored every other nation except Shanghai.  The newspaper articles I saw did not mention this, though -- they were fine with simply reporting what they saw as yet another failure of U.S. schools, and didn't think it important to point out that our schools in affluent areas outscore the world, while our schools in poverty-stricken areas come in last.  Drawing on what they learned last Friday about propaganda, and about presenting information to achieve a particular purpose, I think our 5th graders might now ask what the intent or purpose is of those who wish to paint all our schools as failing, and hopefully as adults they will continue to ask these kinds of questions, delving deeper, and demanding thoughtful answers to important questions. (You can find the disaggregated PISA data on-line, if you are interested, and/or read a related article by Gerald Tirozzi in the NASSP Newsleader -- http://www.principals.org/NewsLeader.)

NCLB Measures vs. Actual Student Achievement

I recently read a very interesting paper from the Center on Education Policy entitled "How Many Schools and Districts Have Not Made Adequate Yearly Progress?  Four-Year Trends" (available at http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/consolidated/index.html).  Aside from the obvious fact that over time more schools and districts are failing to make AYP (inherent in the definition of AYP, which requires equal increments of progress, in all subgroups, toward the goal of 100% proficiency by 2014), the paper contained some fascinating comparisons and illustrated huge discrepancies in NCLB performance among the different states.

But do the differences in NCLB performance really reflect actual comparative student achievement?  In 2009, in Massachusetts, 79% of school districts did not make AYP -- a huge percentage! -- and these districts are thus subject to federal sanctions, which could include replacing principals and teachers, paying for private tutoring for students, and/or transporting students to other schools and districts, all of which are costly.  In addition, the publicity about the NCLB "failure" of Massachusetts schools decreases parental and community trust and support for the schools.  By comparison, in the same year, 2009, in Alabama, only 2% of districts did not make AYP -- thus, only 2% of Alabama districts are subject to federal sanctions and 98% of Alabama districts are regarded as doing well.  Are Alabama schools really that much better than Massachusetts schools?  Well, on the last NAEP testing, Massachusetts schools were 1st in the nation on the 4th and 8th grade math tests, while Alabama schools were 50th. (The other NAEP test results show similar, although less dramatic, differences.)

This comparison raises many questions for me -- among others, why are we in Massachusetts setting ourselves up for failure, criticism, and compliance with expensive and detrimental sanctions when our schools are doing well on the NAEP national tests and are doing better than other states where the schools are not subject to the sanctions? The federal sanctions seem almost designed to be detrimental to good schools (and there are many good schools and districts in Massachusetts that did not make AYP).  There also is no evidence that any of these sanctions is effective in improving schools. So. . .  why are we in Massachusetts setting ourselves up for federal sanctions and loss of local control and support for our schools when other states are not?  Is there a political agenda being served here?  And, if so, whose agenda is it?  I think these are important questions to think about and to answer, before we end up doing serious damage to our public school system. . .