Teacher of the Year Archives

A Teacher's Journal 48: Thank You for Listening!

I've been putting this journal off for hours this weekend because it's the last that I'll write as the Wake County Teacher of the Year.

Isn't that amazing?

It seems like only yesterday that I wrote my first entry, beginning a weekly routine that I have honestly enjoyed. On a personal level, writing here has been a source of great pleasure for me. I've used my time behind the keyboard to reflect on my beliefs and to refine and revise my own thinking. It has been a quiet, creative process, feeding me and helping me to grow as both a teacher and as a leader.

Professionally, this forum has allowed me to spark the minds and hearts of all of education's stakeholders. It became clear early on that I was touching nerves as parents, teachers, business leaders and community activists left messages of support and criticism time and again. I checked my feedback comments every day to see how others had reacted to my thinking. Creating work that resonated with others was my single motivation and my greatest reward.

Having my ideas picked up by local newspapers and discussed on radio stations left me jazzed time and again. As a passionate advocate for educators whose email auto-reply has often been "Hear our Voices, Honor What We Know," lending a teacher's understandings to conversations defining our profession has been an opportunity that has given me great satisfaction.

Now, it is an opportunity that is ending and I'm feeling a strange sense of sadness. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with two extra hours I'll have now that I don't have a weekly column to create. I'll miss modeling writing for my sixth grade students and the chance to share their successes with you. I'll miss celebrating teaching and documenting what it is that we do each day. I'll miss the chance to speak out about challenges facing our district and to shape our direction in some small way.

What I am sure of, however, is that like every ending, my last entry marks a new beginning!

In the upcoming months, we'll have the chance to hear from other Wake County teachers, looking into their classrooms and learning from their experiences. I look forward to watching "A Teacher's Journal" continue to grow over the next few years and hope it will be joined by "A Principal's Journal," and "A Parent's Journal." Adding additional viewpoints can provide new perspectives, helping each of us to make informed decisions that are in the best interests of our children and our schools.

For me, all that is left to say is, "Thank you for listening!"

Posted by William Ferriter at 11:21 AM on May 08, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 47: Every Child Deserves Our Best

When I was growing up, I loved my neighborhood school. Northwoods Elementary in Western New York was a place where I felt safe, where my classmates were the same year after year, and where parents were actively involved as tutors and PTA volunteers. It was a place that neighbors could rally around and come together for events, building a sense of unity that spread across subdivisions and throughout our community.

The teachers at Northwoods were nothing short of outstanding. I remember being involved in creative activities designed by Mr. Nowak and Mr. Tribula. Mr. Earl, who was my band teacher, challenged me time and again. Our school was consistently recognized for academic success because of the commitment of our teachers to continual growth, to one another, and to their students.

There was a feeling of belonging at Northwoods, and no one --teachers, parents, or students -- ever wanted to leave. I wouldn't have traded my time there for anything and I still drive by it when I'm home simply to remember. Every time I smile and get chills --sometimes I cry because my memories are so powerful.

What I couldn't have known as a child was that not all schools were like mine. I couldn't have known that there were schools on the other side of town where families struggled with poverty, and where those struggles bled into classrooms in the form of almost insurmountable personal and academic challenges for children.

As a child, I never knew that there were homeless children or families that couldn't provide basic supplies like books and calculators for their sons and daughters. No one came to my school cold or hungry. No one had moms and dads who couldn't help with homework at night because they were busy with their second (or third) jobs. I would never have guessed that there were children who had never been to a museum or who didn't visit the library every week.

And you know, I'm not sure anyone in my neighborhood knew how hard it was for teachers working in these other schools. Their days were demanding. Not only did they bear responsibility for teaching basic skills like reading and mathematics, they struggled to help students facing a myriad of disadvantages in buildings that were crumbling and in communities that didn't have the social power or financial resources to support them. There were fewer Mr. Nowaks, Mr. Tribulas or Mr. Earls in these schools -- and all but the most self-sacrificing left after a few years, looking for jobs in communities like mine.

What I know now is that these same challenges face teachers in many North Carolina schools today. Students of poverty need significant amounts of individual time and attention in order to master skills. To do this job well takes long hours and incredible personal sacrifice. As one of my colleagues working in a North Carolina high-needs school recently wrote, "We constantly all stay late and go home exhausted from strategizing and planning for our students. Even small changes can collapse our fragile house of cards some days."

As a result, high-poverty schools struggle to attract and retain accomplished educators. Despite what we know about the impact that quality teaching has on student achievement, students of poverty are still less likely to be taught by our best educators than students of wealth. Often, even when teachers feel strongly called to these schools, they cannot find the critical mass of like-minded professionals they need to build a community committed to excellence. Working in high-poverty schools often proves to be too demanding for all but the most committed members of the teaching profession.

How can we bring change to high needs schools? How can we ensure that an accomplished teacher works with every child in North Carolina?

The answer is both obvious and elusive -- By making schools of poverty places where accomplished teachers want to teach.

We need to begin by ensuring that our highest needs schools are led by our most accomplished administrators. When principals work to develop a positive relationship with their faculties, the entire school benefits from the sense of collegiality. As researcher Linda Darling-Hammond has written, effective school leadership has a "magnetic" effect, attracting accomplished teachers who are searching for environments that will allow them to reach their peak performance level. Data from the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey supports Darling-Hammond's assertions -- fully 30% of our state's teachers cite school leadership as a significant factor in their decision to stay or to leave their current buildings.

We can also provide accomplished teachers with the professional flexibility to do what it is that they do best: identify needs and then design instruction tailored for the students in their classrooms. Rigid attempts to control the work of teachers in high-needs schools chase away motivated educators who thrive on the mental creativity of the act of teaching. As another colleague recently wrote, "If I'm allowed to utilize my teaching expertise -- to draw from what it is that I know will engage and stimulate my students -- then students will achieve at levels that no one could dream of. It is only when I'm hampered that I can't do what it is that I do best."

We can provide additional time and training to teachers in our highest needs schools and communities. Meeting the academic and social demands of children living in poverty requires a set of skills that few educators -- regardless of level of experience -- are prepared for. Opportunities to engage in high quality, teacher-driven professional development during the course of the school day and year will help to ensure that teachers in high needs communities experience success with economically and culturally diverse student populations.

We can restructure high needs schools as learning communities where collaboration is valued and encouraged. Our most accomplished practitioners are dynamic and thoughtful, driven by a desire to examine and perfect their craft. Fear of stagnation is great, causing especially proficient teachers to seek out settings where professional growth is valued and where teachers have ample time to work together with a shared sense of purpose and commitment. Schools with poor working conditions rarely have a strong core of highly adept teachers and have little capacity to attract them.

Finally, we can reconsider the use of external accountability models that result in schools of poverty being labeled "failures" in the eyes of the community. We do little to emotionally reward teachers who work in high-needs buildings and our current bonus system is loaded in favor of teachers in less demanding schools. Such systems only serve to demoralize teachers and to discourage them from accepting difficult assignments.

Looking back, I'm challenged by my neighborhood school experience. Sometimes I wonder, "Was I successful only because my parents were able to move into the right home in the right neighborhood with the right school?"

Neighborhood schools worked for my family but who did they fail? Wouldn't every parent -- if they could -- have chosen to move into my neighborhood? I don't know the answers to these haunting questions, but I do know that we have a responsibility to all children.

Meeting that responsibility will require that students of poverty attend outstanding schools with accomplished teachers -- just like I did. Meeting that responsibility will require creative thinking and additional support for high priority buildings and communities. Finally, meeting that responsibility will also require that education's stakeholders -- parents, teachers, policymakers and community leaders alike -- commit our best energies to an effort that is too important to overlook.

Posted by William Ferriter at 01:17 PM on May 03, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 46: Political Arithmetic

My students are intrigued by Evo Morales, Bolivia's recently elected leader and self-proclaimed "nightmare for the US." We've tracked Evo's rise to power over the past several months, fascinated by his unpredictability and his disdain for wearing suits when meeting world leaders!

Also interesting to my students was the fact that Mr. Morales was the first indigenous candidate to ever be elected leader of a modern South American nation. We talked about the vast differences in the economic standing of the native people in Bolivia and the descendents of European settlers. We compared the lifestyles of native Bolivians to Native Americans, and imagined a day when a Sioux, Iroquois or Lumbee Indian would rise to the top of the political world in America.

While somewhat frightened by the links developing between Morales and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela (who has turned us off with his unrelenting criticism of the United States), the majority of my children thought that it was neat that a native Bolivian had become president. They truly believed that Evo would do great things for the indigenous tribes of his nation and that representation for the poor was not only fair but also essential.

That belief led to one of the most interesting lessons I've taught all year. During one of our classroom current events, I introduced students to an article titled "Bolivian President Halves his own Salary." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4652940.stm) As we read through the story, we learned that during his campaign, Morales had promised to cut his salary -- if elected -- in half to symbolically "share the burden of the poor." What's more, he had promised to use the savings to increase the number of doctors and teachers in his nation. True to his word, Evo had cut his salary by 57% -- to $1,800 a month.

My students were enamored with the decision, instantly convinced that Morales had a depth of character unmatched by the world leaders of other nations and were ready to start a letter writing campaign to President Bush, Governor Easley and Senator Dole calling for cuts in the salaries of America's elected officials in order to pay for more teachers and doctors here! "See, he really is a good guy Mr. Ferriter," they argued.

On the surface, my students were right. Morales had certainly made what appeared to be a courageous decision in the interest of helping the people of his nation. My children were making a critical mistake, though. They were accepting a statistic as convincing evidence without digging below the surface. and that was a mistake that I wasn't about to allow them to make! We've worked hard this year to look critically at news articles and to ask challenging questions before making decisions.

"Guys, before we can truly know if Morales is truly interested in 'sharing the burden of the poor,' what else would we need to know?" I asked. "I mean, Evo's claims sound really good, but should we just believe everything he's saying without question?"

Ideas started to fly immediately. "We'd need to know how much the poor really make in Bolivia," James* answered.

With a little online research and some simple math we learned that even after cutting his salary, Evo Morales would be making almost 23 times as much money per year as the average Bolivian -- who makes $960 dollars annually. "Wow Mr. Ferriter, he's making twice as much every month as most people make every year. That's not sharing the burden of the poor," one child noted.

"Yeah, but I'll bet that George Bush makes tons more than the average American does too. Can we look that up now, Mr. Ferriter?" asked Anthony*

What we found destroyed the warm feelings that my students had developed for Mr. Morales. You see, while President Bush's annual salary of $400,000 sounds relatively impressive compared to Evo's, it is still only 10 times as much as the $42,000 that the average American earns annually. Annah* summarized the thoughts of the group when she said, "He's ripping his people off but looking really good while doing it! That's not sharing the burden of the poor!"

This discovery was almost electric to my students! They were completely jazzed to learn that people could use statistics to paint tarnished pictures of reality. It was a lesson that I'm sure they will remember for years to come and it was a significant step towards becoming a critical consumer of information that I'm glad that I was able to facilitate.

What I worry about is that far too many Americans have yet to make this discovery. Our tendency is to read a statistic and to accept it without question. We have an almost dangerous level of blind faith that a numerical representation of reality holds an undeniable level of truth. As a result, our ability to make informed decisions is greatly compromised by the differences between what we believe to be true and what is reality.

I see evidence of this all-too human weakness in the misuse of education statistics nearly every week. Consider the recent conversation that one of my colleagues had with a neighbor who passionately argued that Wake County didn't need any additional funds to build schools because of the new education lottery in our state. "You got your lottery," she stated, "So you won't get another dime from me. I'll never vote in favor of a bond. Period!"

What she failed to understand was that the lottery in North Carolina is likely to generate a total of $400 million dollars statewide this year. Of that $400 million, Wake County is likely to get $9.2 million dollars. While $9 million dollars is not an insignificant amount of money, it is less than half of the costs of building one elementary school ($23 million) and in a county that adds over 6,000 students a year, it is woefully insufficient!

National education statistics are no less immune to misinterpretation. A good example is the growing wave of panic building (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/01/04/16engineer.h25.html?querystring=engineering%20graduates) behind the idea that the United States is losing its competitive edge in engineering to China and India. While numbers vary depending on how you define "graduates," fair comparisons have the US trailing China by over 200,000 engineers annually -- 137,400 to 351,500.

Looking only at these numbers would give anyone a reason to pause. But when you take total population into account -- China has over 1.3 billion citizens while the US has slightly fewer than 300 million -- is there any surprise that China leads in the number of engineering graduates? Using simple totals for comparison, it's likely that China leads in every category of graduates -- and probably in dropouts too!

I'm also constantly frustrated by the overuse of rankings as a common form of statistical comparison. They are quick and easy numbers that people immediately accept as true -- and they make for great headlines! Take SAT scores for example. Would a headline reading "North Carolina ranks 41st in the Nation on the SAT college entrance exam" get your attention?

Technically, that statistic is accurate (http://www.midwestsites.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/mws_am_ed_000924.hcsp). In 2005, our state's 1010 SAT score was only better than that of nine other states. Should we begin ratchet up the pressure on our high schools? Many would argue yes!

When you look closer though, you'll notice that out of the top twenty-five ranked states, only two tested more than 30% of their high school seniors. In Iowa (the top ranked state with a 1204 score), only 5% of seniors took the exam. How would that affect comparisons with North Carolina, where almost 75% of our high school seniors took the exam?

Gerald Bracey traces the origins of the term statistic in his new book Reading Educational Research (http://books.heinemann.com/products/E00858.aspx). What he found was fascinating to me: "In seventeenth-century England and France, some people took to collecting numbers that they thought reflected the health of the state....They came to be called statists and the numbers they collected were first called political arithmetic and then statistics."

Political arithmetic seems to be a painfully appropriate description of the way that statistics are being used in today's world! Regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, writers are resorting to the careless use of numbers to influence people's opinions. Partial truths that support a particular viewpoint have become the norm, muddying the quality of conversations that communities can have about essential issues.

We have an obligation to work through this bias to determine the truth before rushing to critical decisions -- especially when considering the performance and the needs of our schools!

Posted by William Ferriter at 08:35 AM on April 24, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 45: The Power of Professional Conversations

I am an outstanding teacher. Period. End of conversation. My college professors told me that I was, my students over the past 12 years have told me that I was, and my administrators have told me that I was. Who am I to argue?

And if you haven't already figured it out, I struggle with humility. I like being good at what I do and I feel that I've earned the right to be confident -- all right, confident times ten -- because of the time and energy that I have invested in my own professional growth. The countless hours of reading and reflecting have given me the unique ability to be right about 99 percent of the time when it comes to professional decisions.

But I was wrong the other day -- incredibly wrong. What's worse is that I was wrong about something that I was pretty sure that I was right about! Confused yet? Let me explain.

For the first time in my career, I am working in a school that is functioning as a professional learning community. We are committed to looking carefully at our instructional practices with the goal of pinpointing what works with our students. When we identify the best of what we are doing, we try to amplify that knowledge by sharing it.

A current focus for my professional learning team (which consists of 4 other sixth grade language arts and social studies teachers) has been on the best ways to engage children in challenging classroom conversations. We have decided that we want our students to be active creators, rather than passive recipients, of new understandings.

In the course of our planning meetings, my colleagues had proposed that we begin to use Paideia seminars with our students. I almost choked when I heard the idea proposed and switched almost immediately into attack mode!

You see, over the years I've grown to see Paideia as an educational buzzword. I'd heard about this wonderful "innovation" nearly ten years ago. After sitting through some terrifically ineffective staff development sessions and watching some even more ineffective seminars carried out by well-intentioned colleagues, I'd made up my mind that Paideia was something that my students could live without.

As we planned, I threw every objection that I could think of out immediately. "Students can't effectively moderate their own conversations," I argued. "The students in the outer circle are completely disengaged during seminars. What's more, the size of the inner circle allows students to sit and do nothing." My teammates, however, didn't budge.

"If the teacher has to sit on the sidelines during the conversation, who is going to challenge the students' thinking?" I continued. "What's more, who is going to challenge their incorrect statements? What are we supposed to do...allow kids to talk about incorrect information for 50 minutes? What damage will that do to their understanding of content? I just don't buy this Paideia stuff," I said at the end of a very difficult planning meeting.

That's when the women that I work with went into a full court Paideia press that would have made Mortimer Adler and Socrates himself proud! For a week, I found copies of articles about the value of seminars in my box. I got email from colleagues in other departments about how successful seminars could be. My principal dropped a copy of The Paideia Proposal in my box, and most incredibly, my assistant principal's mom (a staff developer in another county that uses Paideia regularly) contacted me to offer support.

When my team continued to stand against my position, the real truth came out: "Besides," I said, "I have a better way of doing classroom conversations." My stand against Paideia had little to do with any real understanding of the practice. My stand was based on my belief that the classroom conversations that I had been conducting for years were effective and on my unwillingness to change something that I was comfortable with.

I was stuck at an important crossroads. I really enjoy the collaborative work that we have been doing in our building this year. I believe in the power of sharing best practices and know that if we are to succeed as a learning team, each of us has to reexamine what it is that we have done for years -- including me. We have to trust one another and be willing to take risks.

And that is what I decided to do. I took an instructional risk. I read as much as I could about Paideia (although I still refuse to use the term...to me, Socratic Seminars are less "buzz-wordy"). I listened to how my colleagues implemented seminars and looked at the materials they used with their classes. I asked countless questions from teachers that had finished their seminars. "Did it work?" I wondered. "Were the kids in the outer circle bored? Were the kids in the inner circle able to carry the conversation? What about your low-performers?" I probably spent 20 hours thinking about that one lesson.

When the day of my first seminar came, I was still doubtful. I knew that I had prepared my students for the format of the lesson and had done as much as I could to prepare myself. I had all kinds of contingency plans in place. I knew what I would do if the kids weren't able to moderate their own conversation. I knew what I would do if the outer circle looked bored and I knew what I would do if kids started to argue or share information that was inaccurate.

But none of those things happened! My students greatly enjoyed our seminar and were able to do all of the things that I was convinced that they wouldn't be able to do. They engaged each other in meaningful ways, questioned their peers and worked together to examine content and create knowledge without me! In the past month, we've done two additional seminars with even more success, and I'm officially a self-professed Paideia convert!

I've taken some friendly abuse from my co-teachers lately. They love to remind me of my ardent anti-Paideia position any chance they get. And I'll admit, I've been humbled. I'm not used to being wrong, you know. But what I'm most amazed by is the realization that if I had not come to my current school, Paideia would never have become a part of my instructional practice.

In the traditional schools where I spent the first 11 years of my career, teachers were isolated. While they might occasionally share ideas and talk about what they are doing in their classrooms, there is no formalized expectation that teachers will work together to identify and amplify best practices. Each individual makes decisions, over time falling into predictable patterns using strategies that they are comfortable with.

Professional learning communities are different. Teachers agree to work together to examine and to reflect, collaborating in ways that are often foreign in our profession. The focus of teacher learning teams is on identifying what works for students. Shared knowledge is valued above all, and teachers have to be willing to open their practice to review and revision. This collaboration leads to growth and to change -- even in those of us who know that we're right -- and holds great power to reform what happens in our schools.

If PLC's have the power to improve the instructional practice of our most accomplished and experienced teachers, hasn't the time come for all schools to begin functioning as professional learning communities?

Posted by William Ferriter at 11:31 AM on April 17, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 44: One Teacher's Point of View on Year-Round Schooling

I got an interesting phone call this week. A reporter got me on the line and asked, "So I've been following your blog and haven't seen you write anything about year-round schools. How do you think most teachers will respond to the possibility of a large-scale conversion to year-round education in Wake County?"

Talk about a challenging question, huh?!

Even though I've worked on a traditional calendar for my entire career, I wasn't sure I even knew where to begin. After all, I'm only one teacher with one point of view that is heavily influenced by my life-circumstances. I'm not a parent yet, I'm deeply committed to teaching as a profession, and I've got 17 years until I can retire! Each of those factors shape the way that I look at all issues. I'm certainly not capable of speaking for teachers who find themselves at different points in their lives or careers, but personally, I see many advantages in the year-round schedule.

First and foremost, I believe that year-round calendars provide a built in opportunity to offer remediation experiences for students struggling to master basic skills or enrichment opportunities that extend learning for high-achievers. In many ways, I wonder if we've limited our capacity by holding to a 180-day school schedule designed for an earlier time. Whether offered by the school system or companies interested in capitalizing on a new market, intersession academic programs hold real promise. They may also create new opportunities for teachers to supplement their incomes, addressing a major concern that many young teachers have with a year-round schedule.

I also know that by the end of each school year, I'm mentally and physically spent from the grind! Believe it or not, teaching is demanding work. We are constantly "on," working with roomfuls of children who each bring their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Finding ways to individually tailor instruction to each child is our most important -- and difficult -- task. As one of my colleagues recently wrote, "We constantly stay late and leave exhausted from strategizing and planning for our students. Even small changes can collapse our fragile house of cards some days." As a result, I think the built in breaks provided by a year-round schedule would extend my career in the classroom.

When I look at three-week intersession periods from a teacher's perspective, I see other opportunities as well. What if interested teachers could choose to work 11-month contracts and spend time engaged in meaningful professional development over the course of these "breaks"? Could we build the intellectual capacity and human capital of our system in this way? I know that I'd jump at the chance to examine and perfect my craft throughout the course of a school year and add a month's pay to my salary at the same time!

Are there weaknesses in a year-round schedule for teachers who are used to a traditional calendar?

Sure.

We need to consider the needs of specialists and physical education teachers who often automatically become twelve-month employees when schools are converted. Teachers in these positions don't enjoy the same opportunities for time off as core area teachers and serve increased student populations as well. Burnout and increased turnover rates for these experts are a very real threat that cannot be underestimated.

We also need to ensure that there are ample opportunities for faculties to work together to build a shared sense of purpose and commitment. Without a unified vision and direction, schools will struggle to produce the kinds of gains that we have grown to expect in our community. Because there are few times that all staff members in a year-round school can work as one, extra attention will have to be paid by administrators to developing a strong core of faculty leaders that can bring continuity to the teachers of different tracks.

Other details are also essential to address. Teachers must be guaranteed the opportunity to work on the same track as their children or spouses. While this may pose initial challenges because of the number of teachers involved, to do otherwise would be a significant issue. Colleges must adapt too, developing continuing learning opportunities tailored to the changing schedules of educational professionals. A change that will affect thousands of school employees is bound to have other "ripple effects" that will require flexibility and creative thinking to resolve as they arise.

All in all, though, I'm convinced that Wake County's traditional-calendar teaching force will approach any changes in scheduling with a sense of optimism. Collectively, we will adjust and continue to provide the high-quality instruction that has drawn national attention to our system over the past decade.

Now how will parents or taxpayers respond to a large-scale conversion to a year-round schedule?

That's a blog for someone else to write!

Posted by William Ferriter at 05:10 PM on April 10, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 43: Marty Berry

I was a pretty typical 15-year-old boy, I think. On the outside, I was a hard-working, studious well-mannered kid. I did my homework, participated in class and followed the rules of my teachers and my principal. I was involved in several out of school activities, had supportive parents and a small group of friends that I valued greatly.

But below the surface, I was something else completely. I was an insecure kid looking for a place to belong in the social nightmare that was high school! I never felt quite comfortable in the halls and would have given anything to have a place to "hang out" in between classes, looking cool and feeling as if I were a part of something bigger than myself. Between classes, I would walk past groups of athletes, preps, hoods and cheerleaders, envying the "togetherness" that they seemed to share. I would have traded most anything for their popularity and friendships.

That's why I was totally jazzed when Marty Berry*, one of the biggest freakers in the school, warmed up to me in English class one day. "Hey Billy Bob," he said as he sat down on my desk, "What's shakin'?" Trying to play it cool, I shot the breeze with him for ten minutes before class started. By the time Mr. Marong showed up and told us to dig out our textbooks, he'd offered me a spot at his lunch table.

The next week was a blur. I found myself following Marty and his pals wherever I could, but I never quite felt comfortable. It would have been easy for anyone to figure out that I didn't belong in the freaker crowd -- they were fighters, drug users, and poor students while I was neatly dressed, wouldn't think of using drugs and had never been late for a class. To me though, even an awkward peer group was better than none. At least I finally had a place to "be" in the hallways between classes.

What I couldn't see was that Marty and the boys were only using me for entertainment. What could be more fun than having a geek hanging around! It's even more fun when the geek has no clue that you're laughing at him each time he walks away, right?

The fun for me ended quicker than I had planned. Marty came to English class one day with a can of "body odor" spray he'd picked up at a gag store hidden under his shirt. Twenty minutes into class, I was soaked with the foulest odor imaginable and the class was in stitches. I'd gone from being on the fringes of popularity to being a laughingstock in front of an entire room of my peers. It was nothing short of humiliating.

But my pain didn't end there. Word spread through the ninth grade as fast as the stink. Girls turned up their noses, pretending to be completely offended by my hygiene habits and guys celebrated what they thought was one of the best pranks of the year. The worst was walking past Marty and his gang in the hallway. They were merciless and I had never felt more alone.

It would be easy to argue that the pain of that event hasn't ever ended for me. After all, Marty is still on my mind nearly twenty years later. While physically I was never threatened by his actions, the sense of betrayal was equally damaging and has never been forgotten. His is a story that I share with my students every year. I want them to realize that the moments of meanness that happen between students in schools every day are hurtful and that they have a responsibility to stand up to the Martys of the world.

As parents and teachers, we share that responsibility. By working to raise awareness of bullying and to support safe schools, we can ensure that fewer children experience the meanness that in many ways shaped my high school experience.

*Name has been changed by the author.

Posted by William Ferriter at 08:56 AM on April 03, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 42: Paying Teachers Differently

One of the great debates that remain in public education revolves around teacher compensation. Ask anyone about teacher pay, and they'll have a passionate opinion ranging from "teachers are woefully underpaid," to "teachers aren't earning their keep!"

Florida jumped head first into the debate recently passing a controversial new teacher compensation program called E-Comp. Under E-Comp, all Florida school districts must "identify the top 10 percent of each variety of teacher and award them a 5 percent salary supplement." Student growth scores on Florida's end of grade tests will determine the top educators in tested subjects, and new standardized measures will be developed for subjects not yet tested. Designed to introduce "competitive pressures" to education, the plan is seen as a "landmark in the efforts to restructure American schools."

So how do I feel about Florida's plan?

I think we've been lulled again into believing that standardized testing is the quick-fix solution for all of education's ills.

Like anything that seems "too good to be true," assessing teacher performance solely through standardized testing results is on oversimplified approach to an incredibly complex task. A reliance on testing overlooks other forms of "achievement" that parents and communities expect from their children. How do we measure intangibles like increased motivation or creativity that teachers impart to students each day? What about artistic growth? Character development? Do these traits get pushed even further aside when standardized testing becomes an important part of teacher compensation decisions?

What's more, I worry about the damage that will be done to the culture and climate of schools where teachers are competing with one another for bonuses. Some of the most significant growth opportunities that I have had in my twelve-year career have come from the collaborative work that I do with the teachers on my hallway. We regularly introduce one another to new instructional practices and work in tandem to improve on what it is that we do with students. We share data, look at new strategies, and push one another daily. In fact, my peers shared two of my most effective instructional strategies --Socratic seminars and digital current event instruction -- with me in the past two years.

I question whether or not any of these positive behaviors would continue under Florida's plan. Instead, teachers would tend to keep successes with students to themselves in order to protect their place in "the top ten." Amplifying instructional accomplishments across entire grade levels or schools -- something that happens regularly in my building -- wouldn't make sense in a competitive workforce. While high-flyers would be rewarded, their impact on colleagues would be diminished significantly. Schools will become more isolated and teachers would see one another as adversaries rather than peers.

Finally, standardized test results simply are not "fool-proof." Ask anyone who has been wrapped up in the recent SAT struggles! No fewer than 5,000 student scores were incorrectly reported in the last administration of the exam with errors ranging from 10-450 points. If an exam that is often described as the "Cadillac of standardized testing," can be flawed, then we must be cautious when using test scores as the only source of data to make any high-stakes decision.

Don't get me wrong: The time has come for revising the way that we compensate teachers. The single salary schedule, where raises are predetermined and based solely on years of experience and college courses taken, isn't serving anyone -- taxpayers, teachers or students -- anymore.

And I believe that teachers must be willing to accept accountability for student achievement. For too long, we have resisted the idea that we bear responsibility for the academic success of our students. We are quick to point out that children come to us from different backgrounds and with different sets of skills, claiming that these variables trump any kind of impact that we may be able to have as teachers. "It's my job to present information," some teachers say. "It's not my job to guarantee that students learn."

Such arguments against using student achievement as a component of teacher evaluation and compensation cheapen our profession. They are admissions that we aren't sure of our abilities to shape students in positive ways regardless of personal circumstances and they overlook one of the single greatest variables influencing student success-- the quality of a child's classroom teacher.

I just want to see new plans for paying teachers developed that reward collaboration and promote positive practices in schools. By doing so, we're more likely to benefit all students -- rather than just those served by the top ten percent of our profession.

Posted by William Ferriter at 01:15 PM on March 27, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 41: Teacher Working Conditions Survey

Fill in the blank:

One of the single most important factors to a child's success in schools is _______________.

Did you answer "the quality of his/her classroom teacher?"

If so, does it shock you that North Carolina has to replace nearly 12,000 teachers every single year due to turnover?

The magnitude of this number is amplified by the fact that North Carolina's teacher preparation programs supply only about 60% of our teachers. We are in the unenviable position of having to hire almost 40% of our teachers from out of state. What's more, turnover rates for teachers in the first five years of their careers hover slightly above 50%. Needless to say, staffing our classrooms with highly accomplished educators is becoming an issue that we can no longer ignore.

So why do teachers leave the profession?

Many would argue that low salaries drive teachers from our classrooms, and in many ways I would agree. Teachers do professional work and deserve professional compensation. Increasing salaries would likely attract more candidates to education and keep motivated young educators in our classrooms. Despite great success in my career, I still struggle to make ends meet and that is incredibly frustrating.

But national level research on teacher attrition has discovered that poor salaries are only one source of dissatisfaction listed by teachers who leave the profession. Factors such as poor administrative support, lack of faculty influence, constant classroom intrusions, and inadequate facilities and resources are often cited by educators as equally frustrating. Improving these working conditions could help to staunch the flow of teachers out of our classrooms.

These findings were supported eloquently by one of my colleagues in the Teacher Leaders Network who said:

"While I'd love to be paid more, no amount of money could make me teach if these conditions (effective school leaders, professional flexibility and a culture of collaboration) are not present in the schools where I work."

Thankfully, our state's leaders have created a tool to address these conditions! Since 2001, teachers and principals have had the opportunity to complete a biannual "Teacher Working Conditions" survey designed to identify the workplace factors that most affect a teacher's decision to stay or to leave. 68 questions cover teacher perceptions in five general domains critical to workplace satisfaction: time available to complete essential tasks, teacher empowerment, school leadership, professional development, and school facilities and resources. Scores are collected on a five point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Then, responses are averaged by question and domain for analysis and reporting.

The findings from the survey have been incredibly convincing. Perhaps most importantly, direct correlations have been found between teacher working conditions and student achievement. Specific examples include:

1. For every 1 point increase in the average for the questions covering professional development, middle schools were 12.4 times more likely to move up one growth category (not meeting expected growth to meeting expected growth, or meeting expected growth to exceeding expected growth) in the North Carolina ABC accountability program.

2. For every 1 point increase in the average for questions covering school leadership, high schools were 48 times as likely to be in one of the top designation categories (Schools of Distinction, Schools of Excellence) under the North Carolina ABC accountability program.

3. For every 1 point increase in the average for questions covering facilities and resources, all schools were 2.8 times as likely to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind accountability program.

To me, these findings make perfect sense because schools with the best working conditions are less likely to lose the "resource" that has the greatest impact on student achievement: accomplished educators.

Perhaps the most powerful aspect of North Carolina's Teacher Working Conditions survey is that data is collected at the school, district and state level. This level of customization allows individual communities to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each and every school serving their students. Business alliances, PTAs, school improvement teams and district level leadership can then work with the resources available in their communities to set priorities for improvement that are targeted and specific.

What's more, an online toolkit, funded by the Bellsouth Foundation, has been created to provide access to recommendations and resources that all of education's stakeholders can use to improve working conditions in each of the five domains. Using school level reports in conjunction with this toolkit, real change can happen with creative thinking and a willingness to work.

The next 2006 Teacher Working Conditions Survey will be completed between March 27th and May 1st. Teachers and school level administrators will receive access codes from their building's NCAE representative or Teacher of the Year. Additional information about the survey -- including school, district and state level reports from the 2004 survey -- is also available online.

What can you do to help?

If you are a teacher...

If you are a teacher, it is incredibly important that you complete the survey! In 2004, almost 34,000 teachers took advantage of this opportunity to speak out about the kinds of working conditions that currently exist in our schools. Without our voices, real change is impossible. It is also incredibly important for teachers to visit the Working Conditions Toolkit to learn about steps that you can take to improve working conditions on your own.

Critical details for teachers:

• The survey takes approximately 17 minutes to fill out.

• Your answers will remain completely confidential. The access code that you will receive is only designed to ensure that each person takes the survey one time. You can literally trade codes with another teacher before completing the survey if it makes you feel more confident!

• If you need more information about the survey, you can email the Governor's office directly at governor.education.policy@ncmail.net.

If you are a principal...

If you are a principal, it is incredibly important that you encourage your teachers to complete the Teacher Working Conditions survey. Schools with less than a 40% response rate will not receive a customized school level report. Consider taking time during a faculty meeting to complete the survey together. Also, visit the teacher working conditions website daily to monitor the percentage of your teachers that have completed the survey.

Critical details for principals:

• Teacher working conditions are the responsibility of all of a school's stakeholders! Engage parents, teachers and community leaders in the effort to improve the working conditions in your building. Strategies for each group are available online.

• Your school level report will be available online by the end of May. Consider making teacher working conditions a part of your next school improvement plan.

If you are a community member...

If you are a community member, it is incredibly important that you make yourself aware of the many roles that parents and businesses can play in improving teacher working conditions in your communities. Across America, PTAs and business alliances are working creatively to address the challenge of teacher turnover. Educate yourself about the survey and offer your time and energy to ensure that your local school can offer students capable and confident teachers!

Critical details for community members:

• A school will not receive a customized working conditions report unless at least 40% of its faculty members respond to the survey. Be sure to encourage the educators that you know to complete the survey. Let them know how important teacher working conditions are to you and your organization.

• Be an active participant in efforts to improve teacher working conditions in your town. Creative alliances in other communities have resulted in volunteer substitute programs providing release time for teachers, "Teacher in Residence" programs offering opportunities for educators to engage in real-world professional development, and professional mentoring programs supporting new principals. Find ways to support your schools -- students will be the ultimate beneficiaries!

Posted by William Ferriter at 11:42 AM on March 20, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 40: What I Learned from Anthony

I lost my patience with a former student named Anthony* more than once. He was an intelligent kid who frustrated me by failing to do most of his homework and many of his major projects day after day. I spent a lot of time scolding him for being careless and had thought of him as lazy more than once.

So I wasn't surprised when he came to class one Monday without the writing assignment that we'd been working on for weeks. I sent him to the room across the hall to complete the work, fussing again. On the way out the door, he mumbled something under his breath. I stopped him in the hallway, intent on "having a warm conversation" with this irresponsible young man.

What I found in hallway surprised me. Through tears, Anthony told me that he struggled to get his homework done because he cared for his little brother each day after school while his mother was at work. He also helped with cleaning and other chores. With all of these other responsibilities, he just couldn't get his homework assignments finished. As he put it, "There's just too much to do."

I was ashamed that it took me so long to learn about Anthony's home life. I never took the time to ask why he wasn't doing his work, and took his failure to produce personally. His missing work often made me mad. I simply couldn't understand why a child wouldn't do ANY homework or projects despite my constant prodding. I even questioned his mother's interest and intent. After all, how could a parent fail to take action when her child had so much missing work?

Teachers have long taken this willful stance towards children like Anthony. We expect students and their parents to get things done regardless of life's challenges. We selfishly believe that there is nothing more important than our assignments. We preach perfection, saying things like, "There are no excuses for forgetting your homework," and, "Missing work is unacceptable in the real world!"

What we often forget is that the real world can be a challenging place for parents and students. Families are stretched. Parents work long hours to provide basic needs and children are often left to raise themselves. The "real world" is far from perfect, and succeeding in it is not easy for many.

Teachers must begin to truly listen to children, rather than making unfair assumptions. We must help children to find ways to succeed regardless of life circumstances. We must rethink the way that we grade our students, separating work behaviors from academics. We must recognize that every child (including those who seem the most uninterested) has a desire to do well and that no child wants to fail.

I learned a valuable lesson from Anthony. I learned to replace my willfulness with a willing, open approach to my classroom and my students -- to do otherwise would be to fail the students who need me the most.

*Student's name has been changed by the author.

Posted by William Ferriter at 09:57 AM on March 13, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 39: Limiting Our Understandings

During the course of the sixth grade year, students learn to look at written works with a critical eye. We identify an author's position on topics and recognize elements of bias in pieces. We also practice making inferences -- drawing reasonable conclusions based on evidence in texts and our own background knowledge.

All of these skills are essential for developing readers, especially in a world where bias is everywhere! Commercials, advertisements, political speeches, and even news articles all seem to be heavily slanted at times. Without an awareness of how bias is used to influence an audience, children would be woefully unprepared to effectively participate in society.

To teach these objectives, I have begun sharing political cartoons with my students on topics related to the current events that we study each day. We've looked at cartoons related to the recent outbreaks of the avian flu in Europe, the struggles that the world community is currently having with Iran, and the continuing conflict between Hugo Chavez and the United States.

Besides providing unique opportunities for my students to identify attempts to influence others through the use of bias, political cartoons have proven to be incredibly motivating to my students. This excitement was probably best captured by one of my students who recently wrote, "Current events is, to me, addictive…I read the back of the News and Observer every day now (or at least the days the newspaper dude comes.) I have been going home and wasting ALL my computer time on political cartoons and trying to make inferences."

What my students seem to enjoy the most is seeing the different perspectives held by artists around the world on the same issue! I intentionally show students cartoons that express viewpoints on opposite sides of the same issue. "I like how every day we look at political cartoons," said one student, "because it shows how other countries feel about events that are happening in the world."

On Friday, we looked at a cartoon that my students found particularly engaging. In it, George Bush was portrayed as a mechanic trying to fix a car that was painted in a stars and stripes pattern. Unfortunately, the tool that the president had chosen to fix the car was a hammer and his efforts were doing more damage than good. A door labeled "deficits" had fallen off, the engine labeled "Iraq" hung by a thin cord and a tire labeled "floods" was cast aside.

Immediately my students broke into smaller groups to infer the artist's bias and to identify the ways that he was conveying his message to the viewers. Animated conversations happened in nearly every corner of my room and hands shot up quickly. The resulting conversation was nothing short of remarkable for a group of twelve year olds. It began when I asked, "Jim*, what did your group come up with?"

"Well, we think the artist is being critical of the way that America is trying to solve problems."

"How do you know? What in the illustration tells you that?" I pressed.

"George Bush is using the wrong 'tool' to fix the car in the picture," Jim replied. "We think that means that the artist believes he's using the wrong 'tool' to fix problems in Iraq too -- like he could have used compromise instead of war."

"And the engine is hanging by just a thin cord," added Paul. "Do you think that means that the artist thinks the situation in Iraq is about to totally fall apart?"

"Yeah!" said Rich, "and the sun is setting in the background. That probably means that something is coming to an end too. Maybe Bush's popularity?"

Then I pushed my students further. "Hey guys, what if this artist wanted to praise America's efforts in the world -- what would he have drawn then?"

Answers came immediately from every direction, "Oh, I know! He would have drawn a super nice looking car with a picture of the whole earth on it."

"And George Bush would look strong and brave and proud, too!"

"Or George Bush could have been drawn protecting the earth with a big USA shield and all of the problems could have been like missiles blasting into the shield."

For a teacher, moments like these are electric. Watching my students unpack a difficult topic with ease is exciting. More importantly, I was convinced that my students could identify bias, recognize how authors use analogies to share a viewpoint, and understand that pieces -- both written and drawn -- are often designed to persuade and influence, rather than objectively share facts.

What frustrates me, however, is that these same students have yet to "demonstrate mastery" on these objectives on the multiple-choice assessments that we regularly use to gauge progress over the course of the school year. In fact, looking only at the results of these practice assessments you could reasonably conclude that my instruction of these objectives has been faulty as our classroom average on such questions hovers at just above 50%!

How does this happen?

How can children who engage in deep and meaningful classroom conversations about bias and the use of analogies to express a viewpoint struggle to answer similar questions on multiple choice reading quizzes?

There are probably a variety of reasons including:

1. The level of background knowledge that students have about a particular topic: My students are deeply aware of current events because it is a significant part of my classroom instruction. This level of awareness helps them to "tease out" the underlying messages that authors are trying to share. Students rarely possess this same level of background knowledge about reading selections presented in standardized assessments designed beyond individual classrooms.

2. The level of motivation that students have for a particular activity: I never have to worry about the level of motivation that my students have when working with political cartoons. In fact, in a recent classroom survey 100% of my students agreed with the statement, "I enjoy looking at political cartoons about current events." Students rarely possess this same level of motivation about reading selections presented in standardized assessments designed beyond individual classrooms.

3. The "shades of gray" answers presented by standardized reading assessments: Have you ever taken a multiple-choice exam and struggled to choose "the best answer" from the options given? Inevitably, there will be two possible answers that seem to make sense, right? Determining which of these two selections is the correct answer is incredibly challenging for twelve-year olds!

I sometimes worry that we limit our understanding of what knowledge and skills a child has mastered when we place a disproportionate emphasis on standardized assessments as a measure of achievement.

And I often wish that others could see what I do nearly every day -- because there is little doubt that my students are learning regardless of what "the tests" say!

* Editor's note: Students' names have been changed.

Posted by William Ferriter at 10:31 AM on March 07, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 38: Are We Failing Our Boys?

I received an email earlier this week from a parent drawing my attention to an article that ran in the News and Observer about an experiment in a local district to separate boys and girls in core area classes. The thinking behind the plan was that boys and girls might actually perform better in single gender classrooms.

As I read the article, I was deeply engaged. Over the years, I've read extensively about the brain-based differences between boys and girls and been intrigued by the possibility of serving students separately. I decided that I would do some research and write my journal entry on the topic this week.

Later in the article, however, my mind changed after reading a quote that bothered me as an educator who also happens to be a man! In response to the separate gender classroom experiment, Anna Worthen, the president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Organization for Women, said, "I really feel this is dangerous. What if you're a little girl that doesn't learn the 'girl way'?"

That's a fair question, isn't it? Clearly you can't say that instructional approaches that work for the majority will work for all girls, can you? If you pigeonhole all girls into classrooms delivering instruction in the same ways, you will be failing someone, right?

And we've worked hard for decades to draw attention to the needs of the girls in our classrooms with promising results. More girls take advanced placement courses than ever before. More girls take challenging science and math courses than ever before. More girls are attending prestigious universities than ever before. No one wants to see that progress wasted.

But what about our boys?

Are our efforts in education meeting their needs as well?

I would argue that they aren't. In fact, the majority of classrooms in our country are structured to reward students who learn "the little girl way." Skills and behaviors like compassion and empathy are celebrated. Verbal ability and collaboration are valued. Many of these skills and behaviors develop quickly and naturally for girls. Others are socially reinforced as positives for young ladies from an early age.

Many boys, on the other hand, are naturally competitive from an early age. My parents used this trait against me at dinnertime. "I'll bet you can't clean your whole plate in ten minutes," they'd say, "And don't forget the green beans!" I'd happily race the clock, unknowingly being tricked into eating a food that I despised! My brain simply couldn't resist a good challenge.

Boys are also more tactile and active than girls from an early age. Movement is essential. Watch your sons -- they can't sit still, can they? They stand at the dinner table or while watching television, right? They bounce on their beds, they wrestle, they run and they roll in the grass, don't they? Have you ever seen two boys sprinting to the front door of the church (or their sister's dance recital or cotillion class) after having been dragged out of bed by their moms and dads?

In schools, their bodies are constantly moving too. Boys in my classroom play drums with their pencils, whistle, lean back in their chairs, take trips to the bathroom, stand up, and sit down in a yearlong game of musical bodies. Paper wads, dinner rolls and Gatorade bottles become basketballs and the trashcan becomes the hoop. Impromptu games of pig happen all the time!

Because verbal ability doesn't develop as quickly in boys, this competitiveness and activity is often expressed through aggressive actions shunned in classrooms. My boys race to see who will be first in the lunch line. They shout out answers. They push when someone takes something that belongs to them. They grab anything set in front of them -- whether it is snacks or dictionaries -- and they are completely unable to describe their feelings when made angry or sad.

What's more, society sends messages to boys that compassion, empathy and collaboration are not traits to be valued in men. Men are supposed to be decisive. They are supposed to be risk takers -- "Make it happen" guys. Think about how many times you've heard the following statements made to -- or about -- the boys and men in your life:

"I never saw my father cry."
"Bullying is just a part of life. Deal with it."
"That's just boys being boys."
"Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing."
"Winners never quit and quitters never win."
"Come on Johnny, tough it out now. You'll be fine."
"No excuses, son. Just get it done."

Or my personal favorite:

"My son is just a little sensitive. He'll get over it."

In reality, all boys are "a little sensitive." They're just taught to mask their sensitivity from an early age. To live up to society's expectations -- and the expectations of their peers -- boys have to work in ways that are not recognized or valued in most classrooms.

And as a result, boys are struggling in nearly every statistical category. Fewer boys make the honor roll than girls. More boys fail core academic classes than girls. Fewer boys are admitted to four-year universities than girls. More boys get in fights than girls. More boys are suspended from school than girls. Boys drop out of school at a higher rate than girls. Boys commit suicide at a higher rate than girls and commit most acts of school-based violence as well.

Let's continue to advocate for instructional practices that meet the needs of our girls, but let's not close our eyes to the very real challenges of raising our boys.

To do so would be just as dangerous.

Posted by William Ferriter at 10:21 AM on February 27, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 37: A Great Day for Wake

Almost three months ago to the day, I sat here almost in shock over the announcement that Bill McNeal had decided to retire. As I wrote, a sense of sadness surrounded me because I knew that we were losing a man greatly respected and admired by the teachers of our school system. It was a sad day for the Wake County Public School System.

And almost immediately, conversation started in our workrooms and our meeting places over who would be chosen as his replacement. From the beginning, there was a nervous tension among teachers, knowing that the tone of a system and the very nature of our work is set by the man or woman who holds that "top spot." Many of us remember working for other superintendents and feeling "overlooked" or "underappreciated." We've all heard horror stories from colleagues across the nation about superintendents who have failed miserably, damaging systems beyond repair.

Perhaps most frightening for us, this transition was coming at a critical time in the development of our schools. We've experienced great success during the tenure of Superintendent McNeal, seeing our system recognized on the national level and seeing our students succeed at almost unheard of rates. Few urban districts even dream of having over 90 percent of their students perform at or above grade level. In fewer still would reaching 90 percent be falling short of stated goals, yet that is the reality here in Wake County. Ambition and determination have characterized our work for the past six years.

But in some ways, we're struggling. While all recognize the positive impact that the success of our schools has had on our regional economy, success is proving to be a double-edged sword as we strain to keep up with the rapid growth bringing thousands of new students to our classrooms each year. Simply building enough new schools to house every child -- and then designing plans to populate those schools -- is a constant battle. Tension in the community over solutions is worrisome.

On top of that, the actions of a few deceitful employees have tarnished our district's reputation in the eyes of some within our community. Despite repeated audits over several years that laud the fiscal responsibility of our system, letters to the editor and vocal public critics still question the ability of our district to properly manage the billion-dollar budget that we are entrusted with. Moving out from under this cloud of suspicion has proven to be a significant challenge.

Recognizing these realities, teachers were nervous from the beginning. We understood that there was a very real chance that the tone and direction of our system could change dramatically depending on the criteria set by the school board when interviewing applicants. "Do you think they'll pick someone from outside education?" many wondered. "Do you think they'll try to find someone to change who we are and what we've done?"

And from the beginning, long time teachers were talking about Del Burns as a favored choice. It was amazing to me how many times his name came up in conversations with the people that I spoke with. "Is Dr. Burns being considered?" they'd ask. "Do you know if Dr. Burns has a chance?" It was clear that many fingers were crossed for him.

You see, much like Bill McNeal, Dr. Burns inspires teachers. His commitment to education and to our county over the course of his career as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and deputy superintendent speaks volumes to those of us who are in classrooms every day. He understands our work because he as walked in our shoes. Following him is natural for us because he leads with an understanding of what it means to do our work.

Needless to say, the announcement of his selection has been celebrated within our ranks! We honestly believe in what our county has achieved, and see in Dr. Burns the opportunity to continue to move forward with confidence. Our children will experience success because our new superintendent has the support of the 7,000 teachers who are asked to make a difference each day. The power of that support to bring positive change cannot be underestimated.

From our eyes, February 16 was truly a great day for Wake!

Posted by William Ferriter at 10:10 AM on February 20, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 36: The Next Great Crisis

I'm tired.

Does that surprise you? Do you find it hard to believe that a guy who works "only 180 days a year" can be wiped out after only 100? Is it hard to believe that teaching is a profession that can be described as exhausting?

It shouldn't.

On top of the daily challenge of planning, instructing, assessing, remediating, and enriching to meet the individual needs of the 50-plus children that roll through my classroom each day, I wrestle with the constant mental pressure applied by a country caught in the grips of a "crisis mentality."

Each new week seems to bring headlines highlighting a major flaw that needs to be addressed by teachers immediately. In the past month alone, I've read articles about how schools are overlooking boys, flunking in math and science instruction, neglecting to teach healthy living habits to an increasingly obese America, and failing to close the achievement gap between rich and poor students.

My favorite recent crisis: a passionate plea from an Atlanta author for schools to begin emphasizing the basics of bathroom hygiene with our students. To do so, he argued, would be a simple and logical task for teachers who already have access to and influence over America's youth.

The constant state of panic over education has just plain worn me out!

And that surprises me because I work in an incredibly accomplished school in one of the top urban districts in America. Wake County's SAT scores are well above the state and national average, the number of students in advanced placement classes has risen consistently year after year, and over 90 percent of our students demonstrate mastery on their end of grade exams.

Clearly, good things are happening in our system. Because of our proven success, teachers in our system should be able to move forward in confidence.

Yet warning bells are constantly sounding across our country. Activists demand a "renewed focus" on the part of educators and administrators. Elected officials campaign on promises to "reform education" and "restore America's competitive edge again." And parents fret over the fear that their child is being academically neglected.

And where does the responsibility for addressing each of these issues inevitably seem to end up falling? In the true spirit of the trickle-down theory, right on the shoulders of classroom teachers!

Now don't get me wrong. I can see the value in each of the areas of focus listed above. Who would argue against closing the achievement gap or teaching healthy living habits? Even I would love to see conscientious students with an awareness of the importance of restroom hygiene!

What I am saying is that bearing up under the weight of each new national crisis is becoming more and more difficult for me each year. As a close friend once said, we're being asked to work towards goals that are "simultaneously important and impossible to reach."

Subtly, the message is being sent that if teachers would work harder, America's "educational crisis" could be solved. If only all teachers were "highly qualified," we'd lead the world again. If only all teachers held "advanced degrees in the subjects they were teaching," we wouldn't fall behind China, Japan and India in engineers and scientists. If only we could recruit "our best and our brightest" to our nation's classrooms, no child would be left behind.

I think successfully educating all children in America requires something more than sounding warning bells and asking teachers to "pull up their boot straps" time and again. I wonder if we will ever be willing to significantly rethink how "school" is done in our country?

What if we extended the school day or year to take into account the ever expanding curriculum that we expect students to master? What if we experimented with electronic learning to extend opportunities or to provide remediation? What if we emphasized critical thinking rather than standardized testing in our assessment programs? What if we lowered class sizes and increased access to technology for all students?

What if we provided more time for teachers to collaborate with one another or to master new instructional strategies and skills? What if we raised teaching salaries to compete with the private sector jobs that lure accomplished educators away from our classrooms? What if we created a menu of compensation packages that appealed to teachers at different points in their careers or stratified the profession, providing opportunities to advance?

What if we renewed America's war on poverty and guaranteed economic opportunity for all of our citizens?

As a teacher and a citizen, I believe in our public schools and their mission.

I just can't handle the next great crisis alone!

Posted by William Ferriter at 02:42 PM on February 13, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 35: Cutting Back on the "Extras"!

Now that all my W2 and 1099 forms have finally arrived, I sat down yesterday to complete the yearly chore that we all know and love: doing taxes! What better way to spend a dreary Saturday afternoon than figuring out exactly how much I still have yet to pay to my favorite Uncle Sam, right?

Without a doubt, the most interesting part of tax time for me is totaling up the amount of money that I spend on my profession over the course of a year. As the pile of purchases grows, I save every receipt so that I can get some portion of those expenses back come April.

And every year, I'm blown away by how much I really spend. This year's grand total: $3,058.

So where did all of that money go?

1. To my classroom: I think many people would be surprised at how much money teachers spend on general materials for their classrooms. While schools and systems do a great job providing basic materials to teachers and students, there is generally little money available to reimburse teachers for the "extras" that they purchase -- and those extras can add up quickly!

   Magazine subscriptions and books for classroom library shelves are common expenses for me, as are office supplies that help me to stay organized. This year, I've bought low tech items like a heavy duty three hole punch, bins to store student writing folders, fine liners for a classroom project, and dry erase markers in various colors. Mechanical pencils and Post-it notes are always on my shopping list, as are magnets, markers and grading pens.

   I've also purchased high-tech items like a wireless remote allowing me to move around the room while delivering PowerPoint presentations, speakers for my classroom laptop, and a jump drive to move files between my school and home computer. All totaled, I spent over $700 on these kinds of classroom supplies this year.

2. Directly to my students and my athletes: Like most teachers, I have always had a soft spot for the students of my classes and the athletes on my teams -- and I have always worked to recognize their achievements in special ways. As a result, I spend a significant amount of money on awards and celebrations. Certificate holders, picture developing, photo frames, special gifts are yearly expenses for me. Combine those purchases with the pizzas, cakes, chips and Cokes that I inevitably buy and the costs of recognizing my students exceeds $250.

3. To my own professional growth: Without exception, I spend more on my own professional growth each year than any other category of school related spending. The largest single expense that I had this year was the $1,150 that it cost me to apply to renew my certificate from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. While this is a one-time fee that I have to pay every 10 years, it certainly isn't something I looked forward to! Add on another $225 of non-reimbursed expenses to attend the Board's annual conference in July, and certification alone cost me almost $1,400 this year.

   I also spend almost $500 annually on memberships to professional organizations that help me to stay current. As a member of groups like the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Council of Teachers of English and the North Carolina Association of Educators, my thinking is constantly challenged and my teaching improves.

   Finally, I've spent close to $200 on professional books that have improved my understanding of teaching and learning. I've purchased titles on topics ranging from integrating reading into the content areas, differentiating instruction for learners of all ability levels, and developing classroom assessments that accurately measure student ability. Ideas from each title have changed who I am as an educator and impacted my students in positive ways.

Is my spending unique?

To some degree. Because I haven't had children of my own yet, I have more disposable income to invest in my profession and my classroom. What's more, I truly want to be the best at what I do and like highly accomplished professionals in any field, I am willing to make the investments necessary to get there.

Is my spending necessary?

Not to provide a basic education to my students or to keep my skills at a minimal level. But going beyond the "bare necessities" does require some measure of additional investment on my part. I'm not sure what my room would look like without the books or supplies that I provide on a regular basis or how effective my teaching would be without the professional development that I pay for on my own.

I just have to start cutting back on those "extras!"

Posted by William Ferriter at 01:43 PM on February 06, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 34: A Memoir You Can Trust

It sure has been an interesting week in the writing world, hasn't it? I mean, every time that I turn around, a hot new memoirist is being torn apart for "inaccuracies" in his/her work. Discoveries about convicts who never spent time in prison and Native Americans who weren't Native American have literally destroyed confidence in an entire genre over the past month. Oprah's offended, Larry King is embarrassed, and millions of readers feel duped.

Who would have thought that writing a story about one's life -- and getting it right -- could be so difficult!

I'll have to admit that I'm not a big fan of memoirs. I tend to spend my time too wrapped up in biographies or historical accounts of military battles to pick up confessionals about the lives of others. While I've read a few memoirs, it is generally a genre that I avoid.

What's more, I never read memoirs written by teachers -- never! I just can't stand them. You see, books about teachers never seem to be accurate portrayals of our work. While they are often inspirational, sharing stories about the deep influence that educators have on students and communities, they also tend to overlook the incredible complexities of our profession.

Now don't get me wrong -- teaching is inspirational. That is why so many of us wake up each morning excited to get to school and see our students. We make lifelong connections that are significant and meaningful, changing lives and shaping futures.

Teaching is also energizing. There is nothing like the feeling that I get when I know that my instruction is reaching my students. Watching children construct knowledge and make sense of the world because of my actions is simply remarkable. Creating those moments leaves me mentally charged and professionally challenged.

And teaching is humbling. Sometimes when my students are silently reading, I'll look out over my classroom and "get wet in the eyes," (I won't admit to crying in front anyone) both in awe of and thankful for the incredible responsibility that I've been entrusted with.

But teaching is also frustrating. We struggle each day doing the best that we can to meet goals that are simultaneously important and impossible to reach. Despite investing our whole selves into finding ways for every child -- regardless of personal circumstance -- to succeed, there are often students that are left behind. Those failures weigh heavily on our hearts and minds.

Believe it or not, teaching can be demeaning. I can't tell you the number of times that I've been spoken down to by well intentioned others who don't consider me to be their intellectual or social equal because of my chosen career. "Hey, Bill," they'll say, "Why don't you go back to school to be a principal? You seem like a smart guy. You're not lazy, are you?" Or one of my all time favorite comments: "Why would you choose to waste your life away as a teacher when you could be so much more?"

And teaching is lonely. While others believe they know what our profession is like based on their experiences as students, few truly understand the daily challenges -- both personal and professional -- that teachers wrestle with throughout their careers. It would be easy to argue that no profession in America requires the mental stamina and commitment of education, yet no one knows that except for those of us who walk through the doors of classrooms each morning.

Needless to say, I was a skeptic when I picked up Frank McCourt's new work Teacher Man last month. Convinced that I would find yet another one-dimensional "feel-good" story that painted a warm, but inaccurate view of my work, I read only because I had been asked to introduce McCourt to an audience at a local book signing. "How am I going to say something positive about a work that I'm going to despise?" I thought.

It wasn't long, however, until I realized that McCourt's work was different. His ability to touch on every emotion -- both positive and negative -- that I have felt during the course of my teaching career was remarkably validating. I finally felt as if someone was writing about what it is that I do each day.

Like a well-worn friend, my copy bears evidence of the connections that I felt while reading. Dog-eared pages and annotations are everywhere, as are intensely personal reflections scrawled in margins. I nodded when he spoke of giving up his love of Shakespeare and Chaucer because he was too busy with the work of the up and coming authors -- and students -- like Susan and Jonathan. I laughed out loud as he tried to figure out the right course of action after a bologna sandwich flew across the front of his classroom – an event they don't prepare you for in "teacher school." And I felt the chill of emotion when he left the classroom for the last time, knowing that someday that moment would come for me as well.

Now, can I vouch for Teacher Man as an accurate reflection of McCourt's life?

No. I don't know the man at all.

But there is no doubt that Teacher Man is an accurate reflection of what it means to teach. The events included will resonate with educators and give outsiders an intimate look into the hearts and minds of those who choose to spend their lives in our classrooms.

Posted by William Ferriter at 09:38 AM on January 30, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 33: Stay Current with Your Kids

I had an almost "out of body" experience earlier this school year when a news crew came to my classroom to see how I integrate technology into instruction. The activity observed was a reading skills lesson using an international current event found online that we do first thing every class period.

As the lesson was wrapping up, the reporter casually asked if she could interview a few of my students for a separate "What's your Beef?" segment that her station airs during the course of each week. The concept is that viewers share concerns with local, state, national or world events in a brief statement.

Now, I'll admit openly that I was anxious. "Will my students sound intelligent?" I worried. After all, their ability is a direct reflection on my work. If they couldn't express themselves in an articulate way, I would have been somewhat embarrassed. "Do I really want them to do this?" I wondered.

It was too late to change my mind, however, because several children volunteered immediately and the camera was rolling. With no real preparation time, several of my twelve year olds stepped up and expressed "beefs" that blew me away:

"My beef is that the government of Venezuela is criticizing the United States unfairly."

"My beef is that the majority of citizens in South America live in extreme poverty."

"My beef is that Muslim citizens in Paris are being discriminated against because of their race and religion."

"You've got to be kidding?" I thought, "My students have been paying attention?!"

I think it was that moment that convinced me of the importance and value in daily current events as a part of classroom instruction. You see, Mike Hutchinson, a colleague and a friend, had been pressuring me to incorporate current events in my classroom for years. "It's one of my favorite activities," he's always said.

It took some time for me to warm up to the idea, though. "Kids aren't interested in world events," I argued. "Besides, I have too many other things to do!"

The thing is, kids are interested -- incredibly interested! Every day, my students dart to the world map hanging in the back of my room to see what our current event is going to be. Interesting titles start them talking long before the morning bell rings. "Vampire bats attack," "Camel farm planned for Norway," and "Brazilian town passes ban on dying," sparked interesting conversations. We've even got our favorite world leaders -- Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezula -- because of their unpredictability…and interesting choice of clothing!

Better yet, every time that I teach a current event, I'm directly teaching one of our social studies objectives! My students have begun to understand how various countries choose their governments and how natural resources have made the world increasingly interdependent. They've learned how wars have caused people to migrate and how newcomers shape cultures. Most importantly, they've learned that in many ways people living thousands of miles away really aren't that different from the people who live just down the street.

So how can parents learn from my discovery?

Make current events a regular part of your family's life. Pick up a newspaper on the way home from work each day and choose an article to share with your child. Find a website that provides current event coverage and let your child select the headline that is most interesting to them -- we get our articles from the BBC and CBBC Newsround (which provides a children's version of world events). Visit the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's website and review the social studies goals that have been set for your child's grade level to help shape the conversations that you have.

I think you'll find -- like I did -- that staying current with your kids will become one of the best parts of your daily routine!

Posted by William Ferriter at 10:57 AM on January 23, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 32: John Stossel's "Stupid in America"

When I got home from school on Friday night, my wife told me that 20/20 was going to do a special on the failures of the public school system in America. "Do you want to watch it?" she asked.

"Nope," I replied, "I'm sure I've heard it all before."

Isn't that true for all of us? Think about it: When was the last time that you heard a positive story from a major newspaper or television program about public schools in America? It seems like every week, a new report comes out pointing out the "glaring weaknesses" in our educational system -- and they are all incredibly discouraging to me as an educator. It's difficult to overcome the prevailing sense of gloom that blankets my chosen career.

But I have to admit that curiosity got the best of me this morning. I popped a few blood pressure pills (negative education stories tend to get my heart racing) and tracked the story down online to see exactly what the mainstream media is saying about teaching. After all, you can't engage in an effective dialogue about something as important as education without studying all sides of the issue, right?

I was immediately jarred by title of the piece -- "Stupid in America: How We are Cheating our Kids." While derogatory headlines seem to be increasingly common in news coverage about education (shock value does sell, after all), this title seemed like an emotionally loaded phrase, elevating the level of criticism to an entirely new level.

And this piece lived up to its headline! In one segment, host John Stossel administered a test to two classes of high school students -- one in Belgium and one in the United States. As expected on a program titled "Stupid in America," the Belgian students easily outperformed the American students.

To everyone interviewed by Stossel, this was proof positive that American schools are failing students. "I'm shocked, because it just shows how advanced they are compared to us," said one American high school student. A Belgian student was more abrupt: "If the kids in America couldn't do this, then they must be really stupid." And a choir of parents chimed in with "It's a joke…It's insane…they're not learning anything."

The piece was oddly fascinating to me. You see, I'm a pretty open minded guy who is incredibly interested in finding ways to improve our schools, so I scoured Stossel's piece looking for conclusions that we could draw from his experiment. "What," I wondered, "did he learn about education in Belgium that we could borrow? How can we best improve our schools?"

His conclusion: America's public school system is a failure because it is a monopoly. Lack of school choice breeds mediocrity, and that mediocrity is what is failing our students. In Belgium, he explained, parents act more like "clients," carefully selecting schools for their children. Principals work diligently to impress parents and to improve their program -- otherwise their schools close.

Stossel's solution was simple: Break the government monopoly on schools by allowing families to choose the schools that they send their students to. The resulting competition will lead to an improvement in performance for every child.

Now, I've been around long enough to be leery of anyone who proposes one "quick fix" solution to any problem as complex as educating the 54 million children from diverse backgrounds and personal circumstances who attend public schools in our country each day. While it is comforting to believe that there is a "silver bullet" just waiting to be discovered, most countries that successfully educate their children take a series of interrelated actions addressing variety of factors influencing student achievement.

So besides school choice, what else does Belgium do to make its schools successful?

Stossel didn't say, so I went looking. What I found in several papers on schooling in Belgium released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Ministry of the Flemish Community's Education Department was rather interesting. Perhaps these four school-related factors also influence student success rates in Belgium -- and hold promise for America:

1. Students entering high school can choose from four different secondary school curriculums: School choice in Belgium means far more than simply guaranteeing that children can attend any public school within a reasonable distance of their home. Families can also choose from four different secondary school curriculums when their children turn 13, helping to shape their future career paths.

   The course of study that seemed most similar to a traditional US high school curriculum is known as a General Secondary Education. This curriculum prepares students for a university education by examining subjects at a theoretical level. Unlike American high schools, less than half (39%)of Belgian students enroll in these programs -- which may explain why the students in Stossel's experiment were so successful.

   The other 60% of Belgian secondary school students -- who may or may not be motivated by pursuing a university degree -- attend schools that offer technical, vocational and artistic courses of study. Students can study a variety of subjects from electronics and mechanics to accounting, construction, agronomics, food sciences and tourism.

   When students complete technical, vocational or artistic programs, they receive a diploma that certifies them for employment in their field of study. Some enter the workforce immediately, while others choose to move on to higher levels of theoretical study in their chosen field. By providing these options for high school students, Belgians are allowing children to pursue education and training that appeals to their interests and abilities.

   Perhaps developing a variety of high school curriculums would allow us to better serve groups of students that are struggling with the traditional high school programs offered in America.

2. Students who have "learning difficulties due to their social background and situation" receive support from Pupil Guidance Centers: There is little doubt that a family's economic background can influence student success. Quite simply, children of poverty face a set of educational barriers that children of wealth do not.

   To address these inequities, Belgium has created Pupil Guidance Centers that are free of charge and available to any student upon request by parents. These centers teach students important study skills and focus on the social and emotional development of children. They also assist families with preventative health care issues that may otherwise be neglected, positively impacting student attendance and achievement.

   Perhaps developing a similar system of guidance centers would help American schools to better meet the needs of children who struggle because of family circumstance and poverty.

3. Student/teacher ratios in secondary schools are small: Most teachers will tell you that smaller class sizes are critical to meeting the needs of all students. In Belgian secondary schools, the average is one teacher for every 9.8 students. This ratio is even lower than the student/teacher ratio in Belgian primary schools (1:20) -- and, interestingly enough, wasn't mentioned in the 20/20 segment Friday night.

   The Belgians have decided to invest significant resources into ensuring that secondary students attempting to master difficult concepts have the attention and support that they deserve. Perhaps we should rethink student/teacher ratios in American high schools as well.

4. Teacher/student contact hours are low: One way to measure demands on teachers is to analyze the number of hours spent in front of students. In the United States, the average primary school teacher spends 958 hours teaching during the course of a year. In Belgium, primary school teachers spend 832 hours a year with students. Secondary school teachers, responsible for 680 hours of instruction each year, have an even lighter workload.

   Reducing contact hours serves two purposes. First, it makes the teaching profession more appealing to college graduates. Second, it provides teachers with time built into their workday to accomplish school related tasks and to pursue professional growth, improving their effectiveness. Perhaps reducing the number of hours that American teachers spend with students would help our schools attract and retain more accomplished candidates to our classrooms.

In the end, I'm glad I watched Stossel's piece. It motivated me to spend some time looking carefully at a country that is succeeding with students. What worries me, however, is that wasn't the original intent of his work. Instead, his goal was to appeal to viewers with a shocking title and a message of fear and failure that has become all too common in reporting on education in America.

I wonder what impact this kind of emotionally charged reporting has on our efforts to improve schooling in America? Are accomplished college graduates chased away from education as a career because of the constant criticism? Do existing teachers leave classrooms out of frustration with negativity?

Have parents and communities lost faith in the purpose and plan of public education?

Are people saturated in stories like "Stupid in America" starting to believe that our schools are simply beyond repair?

How can we change their minds?

Posted by William Ferriter at 05:03 PM on January 17, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 31: Ode to the Band Director

Yesterday was an interesting day for me. At 5:30 in the morning, I found myself driving a school bus full of excited Salem Middle School band students to their all district auditions outside of High Point. During the course of the day, I made several "discoveries" that reinforced beliefs that I had long held about a subject that I technically know very little about. Those discoveries include:

1. That no amount of money could be sufficient compensation for the work that Band Directors do each day! As I sat talking with Bobby Hinson, the band director at our school, I realized how incredibly complicated his teaching position is. During any given class period, he can have upwards of 40 students in his room -- all playing different instruments with different levels of proficiency!

   As a language arts teacher, if you were to place over 40 students in my room who were speaking several different languages and expect me to provide competent instruction to each of them, I'd quit. Who am I kidding -- I sometimes struggle to meet the needs of the 25 students who come to my room looking to master their own native tongue!

   What's more, having once been a sixth grade clarinet player myself, I can attest to the challenge of spending any length of time in a confined space with a novice musician. Patiently teaching a twelve-year-old how to use complicated combinations of finger placements over dozens of buttons and holes to convert spit and wind into beautiful sound ought to guarantee anyone a free ticket to paradise.

   Doing it day after day for an entire career with hundreds of children playing dozens of instruments ought to guarantee a room with a view!

2. That Band Directors develop incredible connections with their students: For years, I have had my students write letters of thanks to their favorite teachers during the holidays. We fill the letters with words of kindness, something teachers thrive on. And for some strange reason, regardless of school the band teacher has always gotten the largest stack of letters. Students pour out praise, expressing appreciation for everything from help mastering new skills to acts of compassion and humor that seem to be a regular part of band classes across our county.

   Yesterday's experience provided visual evidence of these connections. Band directors had the rapt attention of their students whenever they spoke and seemed genuinely excited to spend their Saturday with their students. Children told me stories about why their band directors were so incredible and parents expressed positive feelings about their children's teachers time and again. In fact, one parent abruptly cut me off in mid-sentence when he saw his daughter's band teacher arriving. "I've just got to go and say hello," he explained, "I'm sure you'll understand."

3. That Art, Music and Band programs play a vital role in the education of our children: In today's educational climate, it is easy to overlook the impact that elective programs have on the lives of students. With the federal No Child Left Behind legislation requiring that all students meet expected levels of academic progress in mathematics and reading each year, it is tempting for schools, districts, and states to focus only on those subjects.

   In fact, communities across the nation facing tight budgets and strict monitoring of performance in core academic classes have been eliminating or scaling back arts programs for years even when the Department of Education has made strong statements in support of arts education as essential for our students.

   What I saw yesterday would suggest that we as a country should be providing more opportunities for all students to share in artistic and interpretive experiences rather than eliminating them from our curriculums. Literally hundreds of students jazzed by their study of music were engaged in the process of creation. Entire gyms were filled with groups of young musicians riffing short tunes and playing original compositions with one another. That kind of inventive thinking and motivation can -- and does -- translate into success in every classroom.

Let's make a commitment to protect -- and to celebrate -- arts education at all costs here in Wake County!

Posted by William Ferriter at 12:16 PM on January 09, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 30: We Hereby Resolve...

So, you want to know how teachers celebrate New Year's Day?

Well, thanks to my ever-so-dependable internal alarm clock that wakes me up -- regardless of what the calendar says -- at 5 AM to prepare for the wave of 12-year olds that rolls into my classroom at 7 every morning, I'm sitting here half-awake at the local McDonalds eating a "Big Breakfast" and considering my personal resolutions for 2006. I like the tradition of setting personal resolutions on New Year's Day because I see it as a way to center my efforts for the upcoming year.

And my list is getting longer by the minute. Like many, I'm resolving to lose a little weight. Teaching doesn't leave a lot of free time and I struggled to get to the gym on a regular basis in 2005. I'm also resolving to find more time for myself. I get so wrapped up in the day-to-day demands of a busy schedule that I often forget that life is more than what gets done within the walls of my classroom. While I'm proud of what I've accomplished as a teacher, I want to be proud of what I accomplish as a person too. The most unique resolution on my list is to drink less Diet Coke. My 13-can a day habit is starting to become a drain on my wallet -- and I can't imagine it's doing much for my stomach lining either!

I often wonder if New Year's Day resolution setting would work for our community? Could we collectively benefit from choosing a few specific goals to examine with open minds, honest effort and genuine resolve?

We'd definitely need experts from many areas -- and many differing viewpoints -- involved in the resolution-setting process. After all, the scope of tasks that a community wrestles with is immense. We'd need resolutions for managing growth and building new infrastructure. We'd need resolutions for improving mental health, police and fire services. We'd need resolutions for protecting our environment, balancing our budget and growing our economy.

We'd need resolutions for public education as well. Few would argue that a strong system of free education is essential for protecting our place in the world and providing all Americans with a quality of life unparalleled around the globe. There is also little doubt that education is even more essential in 2006 than ever before. While we may remain the world's lone military power, we are no longer the world's lone intellectual power. As the globe becomes increasingly interconnected economically, countries once overlooked are becoming competitors.

So what New Year's resolutions could we set for our public schools? Here are a few that I would recommend:

As a community interested in the well being of our citizens, we hereby resolve to:

1. Ensure that all children have access to highly accomplished teachers: Perhaps one of the greatest disappointments in public education is the unequal distribution of our best educators. The schools that serve our highest-need populations struggle to recruit and retain experienced, talented teachers because challenges in these schools are immense and often overwhelming. We must redesign education to make positions in all schools -- especially those serving high-needs populations -- more attractive. Models for increasing compensation, improving working conditions, and implementing high-quality professional development exist hold potential for bringing highly qualified teachers to all classrooms.

2. Look at education through a new lens: It's amazing how much our world has changed in the past several decades. There are less manufacturing jobs and a greater reliance on technology for everything from communication to production. Corporations are global and expect employees to be efficient and innovative.

   Despite these changes, schools look much like they did when I was a student. Students still attend classes for 6 hours a day, 180 days a year. Teachers still spend the majority of their day in front of classes with limited time built in for planning, reflection or professional development. Standardized tests still dominate student assessment and evaluation.

   To keep up with our "new and improved" world, we must rethink how we educate our children, questioning the traditional structures that -- while serving us well -- may need revising. Innovation relies on creative thinking and a willingness to change.

3. See opponents as equals -- not adversaries: I'm often blown away by the animosity that enters educational debate within our community. Even in the feedback that I've received in response to my writings, an unhealthy hate can pervade. Some of my favorites: "This guy should be fired immediately," "This article shows the author's complete detachment from reality," "The dribble that you spew is misguided and inappropriate," "You are a disgrace to the teaching profession," "This is proof of why the whole Wake County Public School System should be blown up." There is no doubt that conversations about education evoke passion from nearly everyone.

   The problem is that people allow that passion to interfere with open dialogue. We must commit ourselves to a spirit of cooperation in order to move forward, and that requires a respect for the thoughts of others that is often missing. As Roland Barth, noted educational expert, once wrote, "The relationship among the adults in the schoolhouse [parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders] has more impact on the quality and the character of the schoolhouse -- and on the accomplishments of youngsters -- than any other factor."

In the end, everyone with an interest in America has an interest in seeing our public school system succeed, and everyone -- regardless of viewpoint -- wants "what's best for children." With focus, we can start walking in that direction over the next 365 days, making 2006 a truly "Happy New Year!"

Posted by William Ferriter at 10:33 PM on January 01, 2006 | Leave Feedback

A Teacher's Journal 29: Striking Pedagogical Pay Dirt

I'm reading Frank McCourt's new book Teacher Man right now and find myself nodding in agreement every time that he talks about his thirty-year career in New York City's classrooms. While the student populations in the inner city vocational high schools where McCourt taught English are far different from my own, he accurately describes many of the daily challenges and rewards of teaching.

In one anecdote, McCourt described a lesson that he taught on sentence structure. His students, a group less than interested in traditional diagramming or worksheets, were struggling to stay interested in this essential concept. Realizing that his lesson was failing, he changed direction and used the mechanical construction of a ballpoint pen as a metaphor for the essential elements of a properly constructed sentence. The shell of the pen became the subject of the sentence and the spring became the predicate. Like a sentence missing a subject or a predicate, a pen is useless when it is missing one of its mechanical parts. His students caught on quickly and mastered content that they could not originally understand.

During another lesson, McCourt noticed that his high school writers excelled in one particular genre: forged absent notes. While they often ignored more meaningful pieces, their efforts to craft false excuses after skipping school were nothing less than masterful. Imaginative scenarios, advanced vocabulary and mature sentence structures appeared in the writings of students generally uninterested in language arts. McCourt capitalized on this discovery by having his classes write excuse notes for major figures in literature and history known for their mistakes. His students, challenged by the assignment, carefully analyzed the intentions and decision