I don't think there is any job that needs daily worthiness to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit more than a teacher. A teacher needs inspiration in all his/her communications with students, both past as well as present. This is necessary in order to communicate accurately, without misunderstanding, and to do it in a manner that will be accepted and remembered in the best light.
It is monumentally difficult to always have just the right answer, keep all things in mind about the student and what is and will be going on. There are so many things to balance and keep in remembrance, that it is humanly impossible for a mere mortal to do well without help.
I have found that when I keep myself worthy of God's guidance, things come together better, students accept and understand better, and we enjoy each other better. Things that I never thought of or planned serendipitously mesh or blend together for a much better experience than I could ever have planned on my own. When I get myself in tune with Him and do all I can to further His will, I become a much better teacher. The resulting feelings bring peace and appreciation for that help!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Saying smaller school results are mixed is inaccurate.
Recent media articles have given a mixed message about the successes of smaller schools. The trouble is two fold. First, smaller schools were never a guarantee of success. It only made success more likely – probably more likely than any other factor changeable from outside the family. Some studies say that the only higher predictor of success than school size was socioeconomics, i.e. the family. With smaller schools, success becomes possible for people who will work to create the right setting for learning to happen. Big schools make that much more difficult.
Second, most attempts at creating smaller schools have not been truly smaller schools or they changed other things in the process. Most attempts at creating smaller schools have been what used to be called “schools within a school.” These is where students continue to come to the same big school but are grouped together by a common theme in smaller “communities” within the same school. Though it has been called creating smaller schools, it is not. It is just another way of organizing a large school.
Some have even reorganized a community of schools so that, for instance, all of the sixth grade students go to one building with other grades also similarly grouped. This is also NOT creating small schools, because the magic of smaller schools is in lowering the grade level size. Smaller grade levels make it possible for all students of varying interests, at the same age to know each other well, and makes real collaboration between teachers less difficult and cumbersome.
A school of 600 6th graders would be a huge school because the grade level size is so big. A school of the same number of students grades K-6 would be a moderately sized school, because there would be somewhat less than 100 students per grade. If a school was a K-12 school with that same number of students, it would truly be a small school, again, because of the number of students per grade level rather than per building.
Conclusions that smaller schools have mixed results are not accurate, because they aren’t judging real smaller schools. They are evaluating reorganized large schools. Schools within a school are what have mixed results – not smaller schools.
Real smaller schools work. Pretending to create them confuses people. The research is already there. When will we listen and act accordingly?!
Second, most attempts at creating smaller schools have not been truly smaller schools or they changed other things in the process. Most attempts at creating smaller schools have been what used to be called “schools within a school.” These is where students continue to come to the same big school but are grouped together by a common theme in smaller “communities” within the same school. Though it has been called creating smaller schools, it is not. It is just another way of organizing a large school.
Some have even reorganized a community of schools so that, for instance, all of the sixth grade students go to one building with other grades also similarly grouped. This is also NOT creating small schools, because the magic of smaller schools is in lowering the grade level size. Smaller grade levels make it possible for all students of varying interests, at the same age to know each other well, and makes real collaboration between teachers less difficult and cumbersome.
A school of 600 6th graders would be a huge school because the grade level size is so big. A school of the same number of students grades K-6 would be a moderately sized school, because there would be somewhat less than 100 students per grade. If a school was a K-12 school with that same number of students, it would truly be a small school, again, because of the number of students per grade level rather than per building.
Conclusions that smaller schools have mixed results are not accurate, because they aren’t judging real smaller schools. They are evaluating reorganized large schools. Schools within a school are what have mixed results – not smaller schools.
Real smaller schools work. Pretending to create them confuses people. The research is already there. When will we listen and act accordingly?!
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