Media and President Trump

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Student Motivation and Relationships

·       Student achievement is a constant topic of debate in the national spotlight.   Lawmakers, both locally and nationally, set academic standards that students should meet to ensure that America has a high-quality pool of students ready to fill high-tech, twenty-first-century jobs.  The future contributions of current students joining the workforce will potentially move America forward into the next millennium as the leading country regarding economic progress and innovation.   Study after study shows that, although it is known that America needs qualified workers to move the country from an industrial economy to an intellectual economy, the American educational system is not producing sufficient numbers of qualified students to fill the jobs that will be needed to keep The United States of America positioned as the number one superpower in the world.  In 2014, while 80 percent of high school seniors in the United States received a diploma, less than half of all those who graduated were able to read or complete math problems with proficiency, (Martin, 2014).  The graduation rate for students attending American colleges was 60 percent for first-time, full-time students who began seeking a bachelor's degree at a 4-year institution in fall 2008 and finished their degree by 2014.   The lack of student performance within America’s school system ultimately leaves students that fail to perform academically with fewer life-choices once they graduate or drop-out from high school.  Today, it's harder to earn a middle-class wage without a college degree. 

      Currently, the focus for improving America’s school’s is on teachers and leadership at the school level.  Lawmakers can improve America’s educational system by implementing initiatives that focus on building formal partnerships between students, student peers, school personnel, and parents while simultaneously focusing on teaching practices and leadership behaviors that impact student achievement.  Time and time again when I am in the teacher's lounge, the answer for improving student performance is mentioned daily without notice.  On a daily basis, teachers will make comments like Shawn works in your class, but not in mine.  After a few changes, the reason is discovered.  The student likes one teacher and not the other.   I have been told by students directly that students do not work for teachers that they don't like.  The statement is true and not true.  High achieving students will work for their teacher regardless of whether or not they like them.  However, I am not talking about high-achievers.  High-achievers are probably not accounted for in the troubling statistics mentioned earlier on this blog.  Students that fail to achieve academically fail for a reason.   The reasons vary, but it is certain that relationships can help all students achieve.  It is even possible and probable that high achievers achieve because of relationships that they have formed with family, friends, and professional in education.   
 An indicator for student achievement is the teacher assigned to the student being observed.   Teachers can have negative and positive effects on student achievement.  Ross (1994) contends that having effective teachers serves a significant factor for influencing outcomes such as student achievement. Similarly, Gordon (2001) investigates how a group of individual teachers with high belief in affecting student achievement can actually yield desired high student achievement levels in a school.  Regarding teacher attitudes and characteristics, teachers in effective schools have high expectations for students and have a dual personality which consists of being friendly and firm.  One week prior to writing this blog as a student in my class became angry with me.  The student refused to do any work at all and eventually put her head down.  Normally, the student is a motivated student and wants to do well in class.  On this particular day, she shut down because she was not given a piece of candy.  The reason behind not given her a piece of candy that she won in a drawing are unimportant, but for 45 minutes the student did not participate in class.  She was mad.  It was not until she calmed down that she began to participate again.  Can you imagine how the same student would perform in my class if she did not like me as a teacher?  She would bring in the emotional barrier with her each day.  Her grade would be impacted.  Imagine if I have twenty-five children with the same emotional barrier, focused daily on hating the teacher, rather than on the lesson.  A caveat is that if a child is angry, the brain is not focused on the lesson because it is too busy pumping adrenaline, breathing hard, circulating blood faster, and thinking about knocking the teacher's block off.  To avoid such moments, I make a concertize effort to make my classroom and welcoming, relaxed environment for students to learn.  Is it always calm-did I mention I teach high school students-no!  However, I don't as many behavior problems as other teachers.  

     
It is clear that aside from focusing on teaching, there are variables that can improve educational programs across America.  One such variable is teaching teachers how to build professional, meaningful relationships with their students.  Teachers can improve academic achievement with the understanding that their teaching is filtered through their relationships with their students, and their relationships with students help to determine what academic achievement, positive or negative, will result from their teaching.    There are very few, if any, professional development opportunities that address how school personnel should build relationships with students to maximize student achievement in the district I work.  However, there are a wealth of professional development opportunities that addresses how teachers should teach, manage classrooms, plan lessons, and increase content knowledge.  If you want to improve student achievement in the classroom, focus on building relationships with your students. 

References
Martin, D. (2014, May 14). Education Crisis Sweeping the United States. Retrieved from Liberty Voice: http://guardianlv.com/2014/05/education-crisis-sweeping-the-united-states/

  

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Stedman Graham

Dr. Graham was born in 1951, in the Whitesboro section of Middle Township, New Jersey. He is a businessman, public speaker, writer, and educator. Currently, he has an office in Chicago, Illinois. Stedman Graham has taught Identity Development around the world and has coached everyone from world leaders to small business owners to a better understanding of who they are, to build a well-developed personal identity and to become more focused as they work toward their goals (Wikipedia Graham, 2017). He is the lifetime partner of Oprah Winfrey.

On Friday, March 4th, Dr. Graham skyped with my Math 1 class to discuss with my students how to
establish goals during their teenage years. His message was for them to love themselves, focus on their uniqueness, and to learn as many positive things as possible. His message was very positive and impactful. One of my students cried when she reflected on her life as she listened to Dr. Graham’s inspiring message. Dr. Graham helped my students look into themselves and see what was there within waiting to be discovered. It was an incredible experience for both me and my students.

Dr. Graham changed at least three lives on March 4th in my class. I know this because the students shared their experiences with me. I am grateful that Dr. Graham accepted my invitation to address my class. He is a busy man, but he took the time to give back to 32 children that might not otherwise have met someone of his status, importance, and professionalism, to see what future possibilities await them. There weren’t any cameras around or reporters. Dr. Graham talked to my class because he values my students. He is a man of his of his word. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Graham at High Point University dinner. I sat beside him at the lunch table. He addressed the crowd attending the luncheon. After his message, I asked Dr. Graham if he would consider talking with my students. He said that he would, and he did. After less than thirty minutes talking with my students, Dr. Graham changed lives that needed and were ready to receive his message. This transformation in my students occurred after one moment of contact. I can only imagine how many lives Dr. Graham has touched during his career.

References:
Stedman Graham. (2017, March 2). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stedman_Graham

Four Technologies for the Classroom

In 2017, teachers, pending where they are teaching, face the challenge of educating students that spend a high number of hours each day engaged by media. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation study, which followed 2,000 young people between ages 8 to 18, kids spend almost as much time on a computer, watching television, using their cell phones, playing video games or listening to music as an adult spends during a full day at work (CBS News, 2010). The time that students spend using the computers poses a problem for teachers because teachers either have to meet the students that they are teaching where they are and use technology when teaching, or they must try to teach their students to engage in learning using methods that do not interest students. If teachers are not able to incorporate technology into their lessons, it is possible that the trend of students spending hours in front of a television, on their phones, or surfing the web using their computers will conflict with study time and eventually impact student learning.  Nearly half (47 percent) of the young people who were classified as heavy users in a Kaiser study - meaning they consume more than 16 hours of media in a typical day - say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly C grades or lower), compared to 23 percent of moderate users, who consume anywhere from three to 16 hours of content. Heavy users are also more likely to get into trouble, and are often sad, unhappy, or bored, according to the study (CBS News, 2010). Teachers need more training to teach students using media.  However, it is even questioned whether or not teachers should be trained to teach their students using a media format. The question of whether or not teachers should use technology can be answered by looking at the performance of the students in an individual assigned to a given teacher. If the students are doing well, then there is not a need to look at other methods of instruction.  However, if the academic performance of students assigned to a particular teacher is low, then incorporating technology into the classroom should be considered to meet the needs of today's learners.

Teachers interested in learning what technology is available to help engage students in their daily lessons should find a blog, or Twitter account to 'follow', or sign up for membership for a newsletter that features the types of technologies used in classrooms.   Word of mouth is a good source to find good technology sources.  Google searches are also beneficial.   Below are a few technology tools that can help teachers start incorporating technology into their lessons.   It is recommended that teachers always ask the questions 1) What do I need for the technology to do? 2) How will I know if the technology is doing what I need for it to do? and 3) If the technology is not helping my students why am I using it?     

Blendspace 

Blendspace is a tool that provides many possibilities such as curating resources and flipping classrooms. The program can be used to 1) flip your classroom 2) present student work and 3) teach a lesson.

Animoto
Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows. Animoto can be used in education for countless projects and presentations. Students can use the tool to present a concept. A teacher could use the video as an introduction to a lesson. A teacher could also use the tool to teach a concept or the tool itself to other educators, (Wikipedia, 2017)

Symbaloo
Access your bookmarks and online favorites with Symbaloo. Symbaloo can be used in the classroom to help teachers organize digital content for easier access. Sybaloo can also be used in other creative ways in education.

Realtimeboard
Realtimeboard is an online whiteboard. Realtimeboard allows for collaborative activities. Multiple users can write on the whiteboard simultaneously.

References
CBS News. (2010, January 20). Youths Spend 7+ Hours/Day Consuming Media. Retrieved from CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/youths-spend-7-plus-hours-day-consuming-media/
Wikipedia. (2017). Animoto. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animoto