I passed the NCE!!!!!

For those of you that remember, I wrote about the National Certification Exam.  This is an exam that is put on by the National Board for Certified Counselors which is under the umbrella of American Association of Counselors.  It is a 200 item exam that counselors seeking licensure must pass. 

Well…after much studying, and waiting (6 weeks!) I received my results and I passed with flying colors!

 For those of you that will be taking it in the future, I recommend using the study book called Counselors Encyclopedia by Rosenthal.  It help a lot and made me feel prepared. 

If there are any almost counselors out there that have questions, please feel free to post a comment.

 -Anna Oparah

Who said we don’t need another hero?

This story in the Washington Post left me full of emotion. I guess I’m just a sucker for stories of real, living heroic teachers, and Mr. Christopher Wiler of Chester A. Arthur School in Philadelphia is surely one of these.

You can’t fake a picture like this:

Mr. Wiler first taught his group of 26 students when they were in third grade, and by a series of coincidental (God-incidental?) circumstances, he has continued to be their teacher every year until now, when they are going into ninth grade. He is now helping them select high schools.

I understand this is a highly unusual situation and very few teachers ever have the opportunity to “hold onto” a group of kids through their childhood and into adolescence. I was privileged as a teacher at Five Acres School in Altadena, California, to keep some students in my class for two years and to maintain relationships with them for much longer. The relationships that developed in my case were profoundly deep; I can only imagine what Mr. Wiler has experienced.

Kids know in their hearts that they need teachers who are, to borrow from Mr. Wiler’s own mantra, “Firm and fair”: firm, in never wavering and always maintain high standards; and fair, in ensuring their standards can be met.

I’m glad for the opportunity to lavish praise on a teacher like Mr. Wiler – not to place him on some sort of pedestal, but as a reminder that this kind of teacher is not extinct from the profession. He holds a candle for all to see, and hopefully his story will light the candles of others as well.

I’m a firm believer that if a teacher has hope for his or her students, they’ll develop hope for themselves as well. In my view, hope can carry a person far beyond anything a teacher might be able to imagine. Therefore, it’s ultra-important that teachers refrain from teaching to self-conceived limits for their students, always focusing – however hard it may be to do so – on the unimagined horizon that lies beyond anyone’s wildest dreams for them.

A former missionary’s thoughts on teaching

I want to take some time to respond to Peter’s post on teaching below.

I am in full agreement with Peter when he suggests that teachers should strive for nothing short of excellence in their work and life with students. Most of us (in this community, anyway) who sign up for the job wouldn’t argue with that for a second. But as a former missionary, I have some thoughts about applying that title to someone in the profession of teaching.

My concern about the idea of “teacher as missionary” is this: teachers actually are not missionaries. In good mission situations, missionaries are given regular furloughs during which they are provided with pastoral counseling and other safeguards to protect them from burnout. (Most teachers I know have to work during the summer – either summer school, or a second job – to make ends meet.) Pastors and elders call regularly (and sometimes visit) to tend to the spiritual, emotional and mental health of missionaries while they are on site. There are whole organizations and graduate degree programs devoted to “missionary care.” Mission teams take retreats with their colleagues that focus on group goals and vision (which they set themselves for their own local context), and also put conscious energy into the health of their personal relationships with each other. Often, missionaries serve alongside their families and are able to develop a certain closeness in family life in spite of the many ways in which they give time and energy to others.

Missionaries often live on a tight budget and may not have adequate retirement benefits, but there is a direct relationship of mutual support and accountability between missionaries and their contributors. This is both positive and challenging, and in some ways, similar to teaching. Accountability is necessary.

Bad mission situations are a different story – characterized by inadequate resources, untenable goals set by mission boards an ocean away (which leads to a wide disconnect between the work the missionaries do and the actual needs of the community), undue burden on a few individuals to meet those goals, cursory personal support, and poor leadership. It’s a recipe for misery.

Which one of these descriptions more closely matches the situation in US schools? (That’s not a rhetorical question, although I’m admittedly suggesting my own answer.)

Excellent schools and districts can lead the way in this area – and there are many. But some of our lowest-achieving schools, I would suspect, are probably those with the least number of supports in place for teachers.

If we choose to view (and compensate) teachers as missionaries, we ought to consider the full picture of what that means – higher risk of compassion fatigue, strain on teachers’ family lives, and, often, inadequate financial preparation for the future.

As a society, we have a moral obligation to our ‘ordained’ (to take the metaphor further) to protect them from those strains so that they can do their job well.

I’ll be thinking about what that might look like in action.

- Rachel Bowers

Teaching: A quixotic endeavor

In a New York Times article by Mr. Tom Moore, a 10th grade History teacher in the Bronx, entitled “Classroom Distinctions” discussed what he feels is a “dangerous” discrepancy between the stereotypic Hollywood portrayal of teachers and the reality of what teachers actually face in their classrooms. (The link above requires a subscription to the Times Select service, but it’s also available here.)

Moore wrote:

Films like “Freedom Writers” portray teachers more as missionaries than professionals, eager to give up their lives and comfort for the benefit of others, without need of compensation. [Main character, teacher] Ms. Gruwell sacrifices money, time and even her marriage for her job.

I wonder what the harm would be if teachers were as missionary as they are professional. Unlike a traditional business, the product of a school is an actual human being whose future depends to a large extent on the internal workings of the school building, and one of the primary variables in every school is the behavior of its teachers. There is an indubitable correlation – however small or large – between the quality of a teacher’s performance and his or her students’ future achievement. If it were otherwise, we wouldn’t need to hire people who are trained as teachers because those trained as hockey players, window-washers, dental hygenists, and hotdog vendors would do just fine. Don’t get me wrong: As a teacher, I want to be fairly compensated for my time and effort and the money I spend – that is a point on which Mr. Moore and I likely will agree.

It is a challenging truth that what teachers do in the classroom has enormous and lasting consequences for their students. To do an excellent job as a teacher requires time, money, energy, and a terrific amount of diligence and willpower. We must never so much as imply that a child’s future is worth less than any of these things. Therefore, we must expect nothing less than stellar conduct by our teachers in their classrooms. As difficult as it is – even for me, as a teacher by trade and by heart – the era of teacher as “Captain of the ship” has ended.

Let me apologize to Mr. Moore for taking some of his words out of context. His argument is more complex than it may seem. He goes on:

Every year young people enter the teaching profession hoping to emulate the teachers they’ve seen in films. (Maybe in the back of my mind I felt that I could be an inspiring teacher like Howard Hesseman or Gabe Kaplan.) But when you’re confronted with the reality of teaching not just one class of misunderstood teenagers (the common television and movie conceit) but four or five every day, and dealing with parents, administrators, mentors, grades, attendance records, standardized tests and individual education plans for children with learning disabilities, not to mention multiple daily lesson plans – all without being able to count on the support of your superiors – it becomes harder to measure up to the heroic movie teachers you thought you might be.

Me, I went into teaching not to emulate the teachers in Lean on Me or Dead Poet’s Society, but because Mr. David Ely of Champlain Valley Union High School and Dr. Sam Intrator (now an acclaimed Professor of Education at Smith College) inspired in me an unshakeable love of learning – and hence, a deep understanding of the noble and powerful art of teaching. How many other current teachers have understood that movies are fiction, and instead have tried to follow the examples of the real-life teachers who once inspired them?

Personally – and call me quixotic – but I think heroism is something we should all strive for – not for its resultant fame or glory (for we know teachers don’t get much), but for the sake of the cause.

One reader of Mr. Moore’s article made an excellent point about the true discrepancy between Hollywood heroes and the real-life classroom ones. Ms. Judith E. Stine wrote:

School “heroes” are hard-working, reliable, smart and decent people who do not bail out of their classrooms after a few years of dramatically successful teaching. School heroes are teachers who stabilize classrooms and communities by instructing one generation of students and then sticking around to teach the next generation. Sadly, however, these are rarely the heroes of most movies or most newspaper articles.

Moore’s article ends with a final gripe:

Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part of doesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectations for all students. But that’s not something one maverick teacher, no matter how idealistic, perky or self-sacrificing, can accomplish.

I agree with Mr. Moore that teachers should not be held responsible for what they cannot change. On the other hand, I think teachers must hold themselves responsible for what they can change, and they must never underestimate how massive this responsibility really is.

Speaking of Don Quixote, I think these lyrics to “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha say it best:

And I know if I’ll only be true, to this glorious quest,
That my heart will lie will lie peaceful and calm,
When I’m laid to my rest,
And the world will be better for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach the unreachable star!

80/20 in the Board Room

I wrote a paper for a class once that talked about CEO duality – cases where the CEO of a company also serves as the Chairman of its board.  The study peaked my interest in boards and how they operate. 

A few days ago, I ran across a blurb in Healthcare Leadership Trend Watch (subscription only) that talked about a trend in board meetings called the “80/20 rule” — and it’s not the “20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work” rule.  Essentially, this rule guides the time allocated in board meetings to include 20 percent on hearing reports and 80 percent on discussion.  The article specifically cited that this is being instituted at Trinity Health in Novi, MI.

Eighty percent.  That’s a lot of time for discussion.  But is that the norm?  I mean, if you really start and stop the clock at times when a report is not being presented at any given board meeting, will you reach 80 percent? And, are reports given the full attention they need to be presented thoroughly?  I have no experience as a member of a formal board, so I am not sure what the norms are nor if this is an effective formulary.

But here’s my observations: The rule would seem to certainly force (or at least encourage) engagement among board members as well as focused listening to reports. Additionally, the sheer thought to the practice — by creating a rule and, I assume, keeping time — seems a smart strategy.  And I assume rules can work well as guidelines, too, so that if additional discussion or extensive reports are presented, they each receive needed attention.

What do you think?

~Kristen Hayner

Peabody’s Green Commons

Environmental education is only one step toward greening our schools and universities; the buildings themselves are various shades of green (or not), depending on the age and efficiency of generators, source and type of building materials, and heating and cooling systems.

While I don’t know enough about the carbon footprint of most Vanderbilt structures to comment, I’m proud of the fact that university planners enlisted a local firm committed to principles of environmentally friendly (green) design to envision one of the university’s most ambitious construction projects of late: Peabody’s Commons. The Commons, a residential hall and community living center located on Peabody’s campus, is scheduled for completion in August 2008.

Street Dixon Rich Architecture created a design for the 280,000 square foot structure that employs a variety of recycled and renewable resources as building material, eliminates toxic off-gassing from carpet and paint, and aims for maximum efficiency in lighting and ventilation.

I love hearing things like this – and for fear of becoming too preachy, I’ll only spend a second on the soapbox: I hope this type of green thinking becomes a contagious, community-building trend for Vanderbilt that leads to creative and thoughtful use of the many resources we have at our disposal.

Read local reporting on environmental design and construction at Peabody here.

- Rachel Bowers

For Once, Then, Something -

At one point in Mr. Robert Hill’s Poetry class at Middlebury, we studied Frost’s poem For Once, Then, Something. Hill engaged our class in a lively debate about the title and last phrase of the poem. What did it mean? How does it relate to the totality of the poem? And most important: How should it be read?

As wise college students, we had so many ideas about how to read that line:
“For once, then, SOMEthing.”
“For once, then…something.”
“For ONCE, THEN, SOMETHING!’

After an hour or so of discussion, Mr. Hill informed us that he had in fact heard Frost himself read the poem at the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference one summer. The class was hushed as he described leaning in to hear how Frost would finish the poem, aware that he was about to learn the answer from the master himself.

According to Hill, Frost read the poem beautifully, adding brilliantly musical inflection to every line – that is, until the end of the poem. When he came to the final line, he deepened his voice, paused and said robotically, “For. Once. Then. Something.” He never looked up, giving no tell whatsoever.

I do not know whether Robert Frost the man actually was how Hill characterized him, or if Hill just liked to characterize him that way. What I do know is that I’ve never thought of Frost the same way since. I wish ol’ R.F. were here to defend himself…

The point of my including college anecdotes such as these in the context of a weblog post by a Special Education major is simply to demonstrate how important it is for us to recall our own learning experiences as we endeavor into teaching students ourselves. I fear that too often academics become so schooled in their own fields that they forget where all of their students have come from, and – worse yet – where they may be going. In my view, our own collective love of learning is essential if we’re to teach students who may come into our classrooms with little or none for themselves.

- Peter Beddow

Previous: Robert, we hardly knew ye (link fixed)

Governors, Mayors, and Execs decide getting children outside is a priority

In a front-page article “Getting lost in the great indoors” published June 19, The Washington Post describes the launch of The National Forum on Children and Nature, a coalition headed by The Conservation Fund and its partners, including Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and other civic leaders from around the country.

These key leaders call attention to the wide disconnect that exists between scores of American children and the natural world – a gap that affects their mental and physical health and family relationships, and is bound to impact our environment. Read about the initiative to turn the trend around here.

Cheers to the editors at the Post who chose to put this article above the fold. I love reading good news.

- Rachel Bowers

Previous: Greening our children

To some of the greatest leaders and teachers…

Happy Father’s Day!  I know for me, my father is one of the top three most positive and striking leaders/teachers in my life — not only in how he has parented me but also in how he conducts the other areas of his life.   Hope it’s a great one, dad!  Glad I’m spending it with you.

~Kristen Hayner

NCLB: When in doubt, bake cookies

President Bush met with supporters of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in the White House’s Roosevelt Room in April. In the meeting, he answered to some sharp criticisms of the legislation. Namely, it seems some legislators believe that NCLB is intended as a system of punishment. A current student of assessment and accountability practices, I agree with the President’s response:

“It is important for all of us to make it clear that accountability is not a way to punish anybody,” Bush told supporters of the law in a meeting at the White House. “It’s an essential component to making sure that…our education system, frankly is not discriminatory.”

Essentially, NCLB requires states to report annual yearly progress data on every student in reading, math, and science at three time points: third grade, eighth grade, and at some point in high school.

To those who are against renewing the law, a serious question lingers: In the past, we pumped federal money into the public education system with nominal accountability. If NCLB were to fall by the wayside, how would we ensure the system is working? Namely, are we to take it on blind faith that our students are learning?

Below: One of Margaret Spellings’ homemade NCLB cookies. The Education Secretary gave them out during her recent meeting with the chairs and ranking minority House and Senate Education committee members regarding NCLB reauthorization.

- Peter Beddow

Hat tip/Cookie pic: EduWonk