Another cheating scandal, this one in Atlanta, Georgia, where 178 teachers and administrators have been accused of cheating to raise student scores on standardized tests. Despite numerous revelations of cheating in recent months (and accusations and suspicion in other high-profile districts), the public remains “shocked” and “appalled” each time a new scandal comes to light.
Let me say at the outset that I voted for Barak Obama. I anticipate he’ll get my vote again. Still, as a lifelong educator I find myself dismayed and confused about where he stands on educational issues. In his May 21 radio address, the president talked about the Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis where he delivered the commencement address last week. “We need to reward the reforms that are driven not by Washington, but by principals and teachers and parents. That’s how we’ll make progress in education — not from the top down, but from the bottom up,” [...]
Oh, and it’s the same old story Ever since the world began. Everybody’s got the runs for glory. Nobody stop and scrutinize the plan. “Learn How to Sail” Paul Simon “Our educational system is in shambles.” I’m not sure if that’s really true, but it has become almost a national mantra, embraced with equal vigor by those on the right and the left. You can be of any political persuasion and blithely suggest our schools are a train wreck and few would dare question the assertion.
The concept of Total Behavior teaches us that behavior has four components: acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology. One component doesn’t “cause” the others; they co-exist. Dr. William Glasser, the psychiatrist who developed Choice Theory, has stated on numerous occasions, “I don’t sweat (physiology) because I run (acting). I sweat when I run.” It’s not an “if…then” proposition.
It’s a word used often and typically embraced without question. I mean, how can you argue against “responsibility?” For some reason, I often get a bit uncomfortable when I encounter the word “responsibility.” For example, The Washington Post recently ran a piece by Daniel Willingham entitled “Teacher accountability schemes let teens off the hook.” The author suggests that we aren’t teaching students to be responsible. He may be right but the sentence that caught my attention was this: “But if you believe that students should become more responsible for their learning as they age, shouldn’t teachers become less responsible?” Now [...]
One of the major main points of emphasis for educators applying the principles of Choice Theory in the classroom is helping students learn how to self-evaluate consciously and effectively. If we want students to take greater responsibility for their learning, it’s essential that they routinely evaluate their own work rather than simply handing it to the teacher to be graded. Simply turning in work with little thought does nothing to build responsibility. Plus, it’s unnecessarily burdensome for the teacher. Teaching students to self-evaluate will save educators precious time while equipping their students with a valuable tool. The quality of our [...]
I have been working with a high school this year as they attempt to put the principles of Choice Theory into practice. They began exploring Choice Theory as a way to engage at-risk students who seemed to need alternative services to succeed in school. They have since discovered that these principles are equally helpful to every student, including the most successful.
As someone who provides staff development workshops to educators, I figured it was important to see Waiting for Superman, a film that harshly criticizes traditional public schools and champions charter schools. Although I was employed for 34 years in a traditional public school system, I often work in charter schools and very much appreciate the freedom they have to implement change.
I wrote a piece last week about Waiting for Superman, the movie that harshly criticizes traditional public schools and argues that charter schools provide the best chance to create a quality educational experience for students. I found the movie disturbing because it distorts information and relies on emotionalism to prove its point.
Choice Theory teaches us that we are motivated by our quality world pictures. Our quality world is dynamic, with pictures being continually re-arranged. Think of a file cabinet. Every file we have is important, but sometimes we put a certain file in front so it gets our attention. The same applies to our quality world pictures. They are all important because they help us satisfy our needs. At times, however, certain pictures are put at the front of our file, getting most of our attention.
