The Power of Revisions, Part II

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Rebecca Sipos

by Mark Schumacker, Beavercreek Schools teacher

As most teachers do, I always look at what I am doing and analyze the success of my work. I want to make sure I am doing the best I can and if I am not, I want to figure out what can I do to improve my product. The work ethic, drive, passion, effort, and academic achievement of my students are the means to my analysis. The revision policy, as well as our goal system, has allowed many of my students to achieve success more aligned with their actual ability (and beyond in some cases). This has been a true joy to personally witness.

An area I have struggled with since my first year teaching, is motivating the kids that seem to not care. Every year I have a group of kids who refuse to work for me, accept failure, and seem rather apathetic towards turning this vicious cycle around. And every year I bust my tail trying to motivate these kids. I contact their parents, I offer help, I give second and third chances, but by the second semester I am ready to give up. Have you been here before? Can you relate? We don’t want to give up, but we feel as if we have given so much and received little effort in return. It is frustrating. We begin to worry about the other 110 kids in the classroom who ARE willing to work. Have we now neglected them?

I have tried everything! Have you ever said that? Did yo Continue reading →

Assessing the Challenge Index

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Rebecca Sipos

Once again Jay Mathews, a reporter for the Washington Post, has released his Challenge Index, the ranking of high schools determined by calculating the number of college level tests taken in a given year divided by the number of graduating seniors.

I was happy to see that McLean High School (where I taught before retiring from teaching and coming to work for CEP) was ranked 13^th on the list of schools in the Washington, DC area. It was the highest ranked school in Fairfax County Public School District, a fact that I’m sure made the folks on the McLean faculty proud—especially since they were also ranked high in the national list of the top 200 high schools. I’m sure there is lots of celebrating going on in schools all over who consider themselves to be among the best high schools in America because they made the list.

But is that legitimate? I agree with Mathews on the need to offer challenging courses to anyone who wants to try. As a former Advanced Placement English teacher, I’ve seen kids who had never taken an advanced class before rise to the challenge in my class. Even if they didn’t pass the test, the introduction to the advanced curriculum and the struggle to learn pays dividends in college, which is what Mathews has found through his research. But being a good school requires so much more than that. Continue reading →

The Expenses of Prom

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Rebecca Sipos

Prom, a night intended to be full of fun and revelry, can often be an enormous burden on students from lower-income backgrounds. The need to get the perfect dress or tuxedo, find transportation, partake of a fancy meal, and then perhaps coordinate an after-party (in a safe, legal environment) can be a truly stressful experience for those students.

For this reason, it is always heart-warming to hear about schools or programs that have taken it on themselves to make prom night an option for all who want to attend by alleviating some of the financial considerations surrounding the event. Continue reading →

Optimizing the High School Experience

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Rebecca Sipos

Since my first blog post generated a response from a high school teacher wondering about what the Forum will offer for educators at the secondary level, I thought I’d feature one of our PreForum workshops today: Optimizing the High School Experience.

Just take a look at the takeaways:

Participants will learn how to help secondary students…
Develop skills in perspective taking and empathy that lead to respectful and compassionate behavior.
Appreciate diversity and work collaboratively with their peers.
Build safe and respectful environments in their classrooms and school.
Develop positive relationships with their teachers.
Address underlying thoughts and emotions that interfere with learning.
Become self-motivated and engaged learners.
Identify their strengths, set goals, and prepare for their future. Continue reading →