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

The future of Education in Durham: Charter Schools, Traditional, or Virtual Schools?

Durham Public Schools (DPS) faces a problem of white flight - the phenomenon of upper and middle class whites moving out of cities and into suburbs. In 2015, only 18 percent of Durham Public School students were White. In 2010, 20 percent of DPS’ students were white. According to the 2015 US Community Census, Durham[CC1] is 52 percent white, up from 40 percent in 2010 (Quick Census, 2015). At this time of decrease in White students enrolled in Durham Public Schools, there was an increase in enrollment in charter schools, with White students being the majority race. In 2015, there were 14 charter schools in Durham, NC. During this same period in 2015, white students made up 54 - 67 percent of the student population in four Durham charter schools. This competition of school choice is leading to school segregation. Segregation is divisive in social context. This is pointed out when Billings, Deming, and Rockff (2016), stated that explicit efforts may be necessary if policymakers wish to prevent a widening of racial and economic inequality in the wake of increases in school segregation. Out of 156,149 households in Durham, only 49,303 households have children (Home, 2010).

Why is White flight a problem for Durham Public Schools? The obvious symptom is that the school district is less diverse. A lesser symptom is the harm inflicted by school segregation. Durham’s mission is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential .... Racially and socioeconomically isolated schools are strongly related to an array of factors that limit educational opportunities and outcomes. These include less experienced and less qualified teachers, high levels of teacher turnover, less successful peer groups, and inadequate facilities and learning materials (Flaxman, 2013). As white and middleclass flight occurs what is being left behind in some DPS schools are students that are academically, socially, and economically challenged. Behavior research shows that children from impoverished homes develop psychiatric disturbances and maladaptive social functioning at a greater rate than their affluent counterparts do (McCoy, Firck, Loney, & Ellis, 1999). The proportion of DPS students that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch increased about 4 percentage points in 2015, to 68 percent which equates to 22,780 students (DPS, 2015). A weak performing school system loses its ability to be marketable in a global economic community. Strong school systems attract business that bring jobs and new residents to work in jobs created by new companies and a thriving economic community that can strengthen a school system ( Berger & Fisher, 2013). Segregated schools also bring social and civil unrest. The Delaware branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community Legal Aid Society, filed a complaint, citing data showing charter schools are almost entirely racially identifiable by school performance (Sirota, 2014).

To address resegregation of schools DPS is working to improve its brand in the academic community. It spends more local money per pupil, $4700, compared to Wake County’s $2400 and Mecklenburg County’s $2400 (N&O, 2015). An interview with Administrator One, an assistant principal for DPS, revealed that DPS has an aggressive mentoring program for new teachers. Durham has an aggressive recruiting program to identify, attract, and hire quality teachers. But to best explain DPS’ efforts to improve the Durham Public School system, Dr. L’Homme, Superintendent of DPS said in August of 2016, “This year, a leaner central office is reorganizing itself to prioritize spending on the classroom. We are training our schools to provide a more orderly and equitable school environment where every student will feel welcomed and respected, and where academic excellence will be an expectation for each child. We are providing enhanced literacy support to high-needs schools, and we are reevaluating our use of classroom assessments to ensure that they provide useful data to our teachers without detracting from classroom instruction.” Hopefully, DPS will be able to better compete with other learning models in the future.

References
Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. G. (2015). Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better. Cambridge, MA: Third Printing.
UCPS (2014-2017). Union County Public Schools: Strategic Plan. Retrieved from https://webcp.ucps.k12.nc.us/forms_manager/documents/99/ucps_strategic_plan.pdf
http://www.dpsnc.net/cms/lib011/NC01911152/Centricity/Domain/77/Magnet%20Schools%20Review%204.20.16.pdf
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-segregation-race-americas-demographic-future-update-recent-research
http://www.bullcityrising.com/2016/01/scrutinizing-our-schools-how-does-durhams-school-spending-compare-to-other-districts.html
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/resources/data/
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/dn-opinion/article95973132.html#storylink=cpy

Durham Public Schools adopts Educator's Handbook

     

 Educatorshandbook.com   |  Educator's Handbook Infographic

Durham Public School (DPS) system is listed among the top ten largest school systems in the state of North Carolina. Durham County Schools currently has more than 32,000 students enrolled in the system, with more than 2200 teachers employed by the district to teach full-time. The school system’s mission is “In collaboration with our community and parents, the mission of Durham Public Schools is to provide all students with an outstanding education that motivates them to reach their full potential and enables them to discover their interests and talents, pursue their goals and dreams, and succeed in college, in the workforce, and as engaged citizens.” The district offers traditional schools,

 magnet programs, year-round calendar schools and small specialty high schools. Durham Public Schools is also one of the top 30 districts in the nation for employing National Board Certified Teachers, and two of district’s high schools were listed in the US News & World Report's Best High Schools list for 2015 (DPS, n.d.). To uphold its mission Durham has implemented a new discipline program to better manage discipline and discipline related data. The name of the new technology is Educator’s Handbook.

Brief History of Discipline in DPS
In 2016, after analyzing racial disparities in suspension rates — and the poorer educational outcomes for suspended students, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education overhauled the student code of conduct for the first time in 10 years, (SORG, 2016). The mission was to decrease districtwide suspensions. Children and teens who are repeatedly suspended from school are less likely to graduate. And dropouts are eight times more likely to go to jail than their peers who complete school, according to criminal justice statistics. The issue of suspensions dramatically affected DPS African-American students, who were 3.5 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers in 2016. Even though then, about half of DPS 33,600 students were black, African Americans made up more than three-quarters of short-term suspensions. In contrast, 19 percent of DPS students in 2016 were white but they comprise only 4 percent of that type of suspension, (SORG, 2016). Durham Public School’s efforts to reduce suspensions overall and to bring the rate of suspensions of minority children closer to the rate of suspensions of white children became a districtwide initiative led by Durham Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Bert L’Homme. Although Educator's Handbook is a platform operated and managed by the State of North Carolina, DPS can use the program to track suspensions and monitor districtwide progress made towards lowering nonessential suspensions.

Educator's Handbook Summary
Educator's Handbook is the latest discipline program that Durham County Schools has selected to use to track discipline referrals districtwide. The program is a paperless method of tracking the number of discipline referrals written annual, and for what reasons they were written. The program tracks entry by teacher, administrator, and school. The level of the infractions; if it was a serious infraction or just a minor one, is distinguishable and the program provides detailed reports of what discipline measures were taking by teachers and administrators. Educator's handbook allows senior administrators to require designated actions before writing a specific referral, for example, a teacher may be required to make a parent contact before sending an office referral to administrators. Teaches that classify a referral as minor are opting to address discipline issue themselves, but log their actions to document the infraction. Teachers that designate a referral as an officer referral are requesting that an administrator addresses the infraction. As stated previously, Educator's Handbook offers reports that give administrators at all levels with access to Educator's Handbook data about what is happening within a school. Educator's Handbooks data can be uploaded to PowerSchools. In addition to the reports feature, Educator's Handbook also has an email component that allows teachers and administrators to email parents about school infractions that involve their children. The email feature also serves as the liaison between teacher and administrator, providing updates to teachers about administrator decisions regarding infractions. Formal letters can be printed from the program to mail to parents, to be used for formal notices, and to be used during formal reviews of a child’s discipline record.

Helpful Links for Educators Handbook

How To... Brief demonstration videos Access Your Account (1:30)    Compose an Incident (1:34) Assign a Consequence (1:55) Create and Use Rosters (1:22) Approve Roster Access (1:00)

Documentation Detailed user guide         Account Access          Account Setup        Incident Workflow        Calendar         Rosters        Reports        Students               Employees        Settings        Document Template Codes        System Requirements

Downloads Handouts and slide decks         Teacher Handouts         Teacher Training Presentation

If you like the infographic, you can learn more at ....Click Here.

References:

DPS. (n.d.). About Durham Public School: Minds on. Retrieved from Durham Public School System: http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/system.cfm?lea=3701260

Educators Handbook. (2016). Educatorshandbook.com. Retrieved from Educatorshandbook.com: http://educatorshandbook.com

School Match. (2017). Durham Public Schools. Retrieved from School Match: http://www.schoolmatch.com/search/system.cfm?lea=3701260

SORG, L. (2016, February 19). Durham revamps school discipline code. Retrieved from The News and Observer: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/article60844267.html

Education Secretary

Betsy DeVos's nomination for Education Secretary is another example of how President Trump's presidency so far has been anything but a democratic process. Facing criticism from my peers, I asked my friends to give President Trump a chance to lead our country. My public support for Trump was probably the remnants of a time when I wanted Trump to run for President. I held on to stubborn feelings when I thought Trump would be a great President as I solicited support for him. My friends laughed at my patriotism to believe in Trump because he was President. They reminded me of all the leaders before Trump that supported laws that were unjust and morally decayed. Fortunately, insightful leaders came behind the leaders of tyranny to govern our great country with U.S. citizens in mind and rejected unjust laws and made changes that moved America forward to become a country of civic living. I said, "Give Trump a chance."

Betsy DeVos' vision for public education is to create a separate but equal school system. She supports charter schools over traditional public schools systems. DeVos is a member of the Republican Party known for her advocacy of school choice, voucher programs, and ties to the Reformed Christian community.[1][4][5] She was Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, with reelection to the post in 2003. DeVos has been a defender of the Detroit charter school system[6][7] and she is a member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. She has served as chairwoman of the board of Alliance for School Choice and heads the All Children Matter PAC (Wikipeida, ). President Trump nominated her to govern over the country's educational system. Why was she chosen? If DeVos was nominated because of her beliefs and related background experience, the selection would not be a point of contention. Any qualified person should be considered for the position. The issue is that DeVos is one more nominee, one of the several previous nominees, that seems to be getting nominated because of their billionaire or millionaire CV and their personal vendetta to push a personal goal into law through their relationship with Trump. Devos stated, "My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party … I have decided, however, to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence," the piece reads. "Now, I simply concede the point. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues. We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government. Furthermore, we expect the Republican Party to use the money to promote these policies and, yes, to win elections." The practice of passing laws though a politician that you have financially backed has now become obsolete. The new practice is to "donate enough money to my presidential campaign and I will hire you so that you can change the laws your damn self". The pattern is obvious. Scott Pruitt is an adversary of EPA. Rex Tillerson has a conflict of interest with Putin. Betsy DeVos is an advocate for charter schools. Ben Carson is Housing Secretary? The practice of appointing people based on campaign contribution can put our great country at risk. >>>>>>

I support protecting our country from attack. I support making decisions that are in the best interest of the people of this great country. What I don't agree with, and what Trump's actions remind me of, is that of a country with a King, a communist structure, or governing structure based on a tranny. He fires or goes after people that offer a contrary position to his own. Presently, our country is a country that allows open discussion, a difference of opinion, and room for consensus. Each day I watch the democratic fabric of our nation being pulled into dislodged strands of string. Education is not excluded from the political carnage left by changing presidential-executive orders. I am still hopeful that these appointments will improve our great country. Only time will tell.