It Should Keep Getting Better

Projects - Love them or hate them, but you will have them.  This is especially true in science.  There are some concepts that simply must be learned by doing, not to mention all the non-academic learning that comes from projects (which I should write a post on in the future because it is so important).  Because projects matter so much, it is important that we use reflective professional judgment to decide how students can best use their time rather than throwing every good idea we have at them, overwhelming them with work.

When deciding on whether to do a new project, tweak an old one, or keep it exactly as it was this year, there are some questions you need to ask yourself.
1.  What is the academic objective?
2.  What is the "other" objective?  (This could be social, behavioral, or even spiritual)
3.  What are they learning from this project that they cannot learn by doing it some other way?
4.  If retooling a previous project, what can I do to reduce confusion or increase efficiency?  What did someone do last year that I can incorporate this year?

After asking those questions, you may reach one of three conclusions about your project.

1. It should be dropped altogether as it has become a Grecian Urn.  If you don't have time or inclination to read the excellent Cult of Pedagogy post about Grecian Urn projects, here's the summary.  A Grecian Urn is any activity whose time and effort are disproportionate to the learning outcomes.  Something might be fun, but if it is taking days of class time, it should also be rather meaningful.  If it is not, drop it or give it to kids as an optional at home (extra credit if you believe in that sort of thing) activity.  If it is that fun, they'll want to.  If they don't, it probably wasn't as fun as you thought.

2.  The project should stay exactly as it is.  I'm going to suggest that this particular conclusion is rare.  It is difficult for me to believe your project is perfect exactly as is and that making changes could only do damage to the result.  Some projects are classic traditions that everyone should do (e.g physics egg drop project) because it unites us as learners across generations, but that doesn't mean those projects shouldn't change with technology or renewed priorities.  Before you settle into this conclusion, give it some serious thought.

3.  Tweak the project.  I submit to you that this is going to be the answer about 75% of the time.  If you are a creative and interesting teacher who cares enough about your skills to be reading education blogs, you probably had a good idea.  The process of reflection should allow you to identify what was really good about that idea and what needs to be changed.  This may happen only a couple of times, or it may happen every year of your time teaching a course. 

An example will likely help, so let me tell you about a project in my physics class that used to be called "The Electricity Project."  Warning: It plays out over multipl years, so it is long.

I have a healthy respect (that sometimes rises to the level of fear) for electricity.  It's one of the few things in my home I won't tackle on my own.  I don't know what caused this in me, but I don't want to pass it on to my students; so fifteen years ago, I started assigning a project in which they simply had to do some electrical circuit building (series, parallel, and combination circuits were my only requirements).  Many of them built a model of a house and lit each room.  Some built models of car lots or airports and lit each car or plane in series but the runway or lot lights in parallel.  These were all fine and accomplished the instructional objective "recognize the three types of circuits" and my personal behavioral objective "don't be afraid of 9V batteries."  This was fine for a time, and the kids enjoyed it.  They were also nice to have at student showcase nights.

Seven years ago, two students asked if they could do something that was electrical but didn't fit the project instructions.  If you teach high school, you know why I heard this with a skeptical ear at first.  Then, they proposed their idea.  They wanted to build an electric guitar from scratch.  "Umm, that's the coolest thing I've heard.  Yes, of course, you can do that."  I changed the rubric, not just for that year but for the future.  Instead of "build a model with circuits," the requirement became "build a functioning electrical device."  It still fulfilled the objectives the previous version had, but you wouldn't believe the difference in creative projects I got.  I had students who built games that would allow a bell to ring or light to come on when you got a correct answer.  I had some fun electrical versions of tic-tac-toe.  A student attempted to build a theremin.  I even got a Jacob's Ladder and a tiny rail gun that fired paper clips one year and a Tesla coil that had to be operated outside the next.  Because they were so interactive, we had a day of electrical fun, setting them out all over the room and inviting people to come and play with them. 

Four years ago, our school started really pressing in on the idea of Challenge Based Learning.  What would kids do if we took the constraints off and gave them a real-world kind of problem?  Knowing that the addition of another project would be burdensome to all involved, I brainstormed with our technology coach about how I might adjust an already existing project to become challenge based.  I decided on the electricity project.  Given how many people around the world have limited access to electricity, that seemed an ideal problem to solve with their knowledge of physics.  Also, at that time, our IT director was a former missionary to Haiti, where he had his own challenges with keeping electricity consistent in his home.  "Out with electrical device building . . . In with electrical problem solving," I thought.  I don't have time to tell you about the epic failure we had in the first year of this project, and I've already written about it, so read that here.

The next year, as I reflected on the project, I decided that clearer instruction was needed.  Perhaps I had taken the challenge based learning tenant that the teacher shouldn't have an end in mind a little too seriously.  I assigned groups and adjusted directions but had essentially the same project (check here for those adjustments).  Things were better but still not what I was hoping for (I've blogged about this a lot, apparently - see here for that year's result).  I wanted some real ideas, not just windmills.  The next year, we began our year with brainstorming groups in teacher meetings.  If you had an idea but needed input, you presented it to other teachers (mostly outside your own area).  Two teachers said, "It sounds like your idea is a little too hypothetical.  What if you gave them a real place?"  When we began brainstorming sessions last year, I was astounded by the difference that made.  Suddenly, I heard them taking weather into account because "you can't have solar panels in a place with sandstorms all year."  They were discussions about how difficult it would be to find diesel fuel in their particular part of the world or whether it was even windy there.  The fact that they were researching the resources of the area brought this project so much closer to what I envisioned.

Then, the biggest change happened quietly and almost accidentally.  The group that was assigned to Yemen came to me and said that the biggest problem with their lack of electricity was that they had so little clean water.  "Can we build a solar-powered water pump?"  As with the electric guitar, I didn't want to say no to a good idea just because it didn't fit what I had in mind.  Of course they could build a solar-powered water pump.  Aside from the atrocious spelling in their video, this was the best project of all the groups and the one people talked about the most.  They were compelling and knowledgeable and, most of all, invested in their solution.  This challenged me to change this project once again.

I consulted with our current tech coach about broadening the project.  Instead of focusing on electricity, I would assign the area.  Then, they had to decide what was the most critical challenge before them that could be addressed by physics/engineering.  Not knowing what they would decide, I wasn't sure building something was practical, so he suggested grant-style presentations with PSA videos.  Yes, this was coming together.  Of the 8 groups, six said lack of access to potable water was the biggest need in their area, one said flooding led to disease and water problems, and one said sanitation was an issue (because they had garbage and raw sewage in their streets).  In the six groups that addressed water access, there were six different solutions.  This showed me that they did, in fact, research what made the most sense for that country.  I was so proud of their results, and we got great feedback from those who attended the forum.  This was finally the challenge based learning project I wanted it to be.

You may have noticed that the objectives had changed.  No one built anything that had to do with circuits.  I accomplished that objective in one day of handing out 9V batteries, wire, and Christmas tree light bulbs with the instructions to "play and tell me what you learned" after a day of teaching about the different circuits.  That was a memorable day as one group pretty much tased themselves for twenty minutes by linking 32 batteries together and touching wires, showing that they weren't afraid of it.  This project is so much more meaningful that I can't imagine going back to building a simple model to show you can make circuits.  They can learn that another way.  This project now gives them things they couldn't have learned in another way.

If you teach for several years, your project should be getting better.  You may not have one that changes as much as this one did, but don't be afraid if you do.  Share the progression with the students.  They need to see that we continue learning.  They need to know that you have deep thought about the reasons for what you assign them.  They need to know that we haven't arrived at perfect ideas yet but that we are always reaching for them.  If you want them to keep getting better, you should be too.

Education - More Complicated Than We Have Patience For

Given that I had already written about the Oklahoma walkout, my general opposition to strikes/walkouts, and the fact that I haven't been a public school teacher since 15 years ago, I had not planned to comment on the rally taking place in North Carolina on May 16.  Some blog posts, facebook comments, and a conversation with a teacher who just left the NC public school system last year changed my mind.  Warning:  It's going to be quite long.  The title should tell you that.

Can't we all just disagree?  
Because we live in the age of social media, we speak only in superlatives (every meal is life, we respond to moderately amusing jokes with "I'm dead," a description of even the mildest scenario leaves us "shook).  Because of this, every conflict in society is painted as an epic battle between good and evil, on the level of The Oddessy or Harry Potter.  Online conversations about the relationship between educators and legislators have become like that.  The NC GOP is Sauron, and the poor teachers are Hobbits in the minds of many people.  (For those on the other side, reverse characters.)  I keep seeing teachers post that they've been suffering for "the last 8 years" as though education hasn't been a political football for many decades.  I see those against the rally describe teachers as lazy and overpaid "when you consider they have summers off."  The worst posts imply the other side is morally bankrupt.  Notice that we can just be in disagreement anymore; one of the sides has to be evil.  What kind of example does this discourse set for our students?

Teachers Are Not Monolithic
If you want to show solidarity, dress the same.  These t-shirts (which, in case you haven't been following, are exactly the same as the ones in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, and West Virginia - they just change the state shape) automatically present the impression of uniformity, not just in clothes but in opinion.  Obviously, anyone not supporting the rally, or even disagreeing with some nuance of the argument is against education and teachers and for ignorance. 

The problem with that impression is that teachers are intelligent, educated, thinking people.  When you put more than one thinking person in a room, you are likely to get disagreement about important things.  (This is a lesson I learned from a teacher in middle school, by the way).  There are teachers who don't believe they would do their jobs better if they were paid more money.  There are teachers who don't believe all their problems would be solved if there were democrats in office.  There are teachers who don't believe the lottery has benefitted their classrooms.  There are teachers who keep their mouths shut because their opinions are not in line with the t-shirts and bumper stickers, but there are some willing to speak.  Consider this courageous post from a Durham school teacher who has elected not to participate in the rally.  

Real Progress is Slow Progress

Real problems aren't created in a day, which means they also won't be solved in a day.  No matter how many teachers gather at the state house on Wednesday, they aren't going to return to their classroom on Thursday with their problems solved.  They'll have gotten media coverage, but that's not the end goal, is it?  What is the end goal?  In all the online conversation, I haven't been able to find it.

Real progress involves the painstaking work of sitting down with motivated experts, gathering and analyzing relevant data, compromising on difficult issues, and passing laws.  These activities can't be summed up with a hashtag.  They don't get you on the news.  They do take time.  They do require calm and deliberative action.  They do get results.  Isn't that the goal?

Money is Mismanaged at the State and County Level

Here's what gets lost in the funding conversation.  Education in NC is not underfunded, but individual schools are.  According to their website, the per-pupil expenditure in Wake County is $8570, on par with private school tuition (results must be caused by something other than money - more on that in a minute).  That means, if we are going to have a rally, we shouldn't really be having it at the legislative building.  We should be having it at the county office.  

Fifteen years ago, when I taught in Wake County, there was a different rally.  There was a mandatory celebration at the PNC (then RBC) Center, required for all employees of the WCPSS in spite of the fact that there weren't enough seats.  I don't know how much it costs to rent that arena, but I feel like it would buy a lot of paper and copier toner.  The speaker was Jim Hunt.  While I know he prides himself the education governor, he didn't speak for free.  Two days before school started, we would have all rather been in our classrooms, but we were required to fight traffic find seats (or not, I sat on the floor) at this very expensive event.  I am unable to find how many people work in the central office, but I know they are inefficient.  "Keep four copies of anything you send to the central office," I was advised, "because that's how many times they are going to lose it and tell you that you failed to send it."  That person was correct.  I finally had to show up in person and hand walk my test scores from secretary to assistant to higher level assistant until I was certain that I wouldn't lose my license for failing to send something I had thrice sent.  

By the time money gets to the school level, you are limited to a tiny number of copies per month, but it isn't because SCHOOLS in the plural are underfunded.  It's because the money didn't get to you.  That said I don't recall ever getting turned down for budget reasons when I needed to buy something.  I was talking to a friend last week who just left public education, and she said the same.  "There was never something I asked to buy for my classroom that I couldn't," she said.

Money Can't Solve All Problems

That conversation with my friend is what prompted me to write this.  When we started swapping stories, they didn't sound fifteen years apart.  She had a student chuck a backpack at her head; I had a student take his shirt off during class.  In both cases, the kids in the room were more supportive than our administrators or the students' parent.  She and I agreed that the biggest problems we had in public school weren't the kinds of problems that could be solved with more money.

The goal of public education should be education, but that has changed.  The general public now expects schools to do everything from sunup to sundown from ages three to twenty-one (you only think it's 18).  In addition to educational needs, schools are expected to meet students' nutritional, emotional, physical, and social needs.  Expectations of schools have become unmanageable (I wrote about it in this post).   Thirty years ago, if a kid came home complaining about a bully, his mom would have called the other boys' mom.  Now, she calls the school.  Dads used to teach kids about cars; now we expect auto shop to be a required course (and if a school doesn't offer it, the person complaining about it online doesn't volunteer his time to teach it).  Replace that with your pet skill (sewing buttons, chopping vegetables, balancing a checkbook, making change, character education, obesity prevention, athletic ability, penmanship, drug prevention, bullying prevention . . . do I need to list more?  because I can).  Meanwhile, no one wants to add minutes to the day or days to the year.  Money won't reduce these expectations; it may increase them. 

Once people decided they wanted schools to raise kids, they stopped supporting them.  Discipline a kid in school, and the parent you haven't seen all year will show up to complain about it.  Have all the rallies you want; money won't create discipline or solve parenting problems.  

Conclusion

Public schooling is the most complicated problem this country has.  You can make a case that it is immigration or foreign relations or health care, but education is the only thing we promise to every single citizen whose expectations are always changing.  Methods cannot be assessed in the short term, but the clientele has no patience for the analysis of the long term.  As teachers, we should model patience.  That's not going to happen with a hashtag and a rally, no matter how snazzy the t-shirt.

An Open Letter of Apology

This is to the young man my father and I encountered on our way out of the North Hills movie theater on Saturday.  I don't know your name.  You appeared to be about twenty years old and were wearing a blue ACLU t-shirt.

As my father and I walked down the sidewalk from the theater to our cars, I saw you and knew that your very presence would anger him.  You see, my dad is a dyed in the wool Trump supporter and one of the angry white men that got him elected.  I was prepared for him to talk trash about you after we walked away or rant about you at dinner.  I had my mouth open, ready to say, "No, thank you" to whatever you were about to ask.  I was not prepared, however, for him to address you directly, and I am sorry that he did.

You could not have been more polite.  As we approached, you leaned out slightly into the sidewalk, but you didn't block our path.  You smiled broadly at the two of us and even greeted us with "Hello. I am with the ACL . . ."  I'm sorry that you didn't even get to finish your sentence before my dad responded to you with his filthy suggestion of how you should treat yourself. 

While you and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum and would have disagreed on most issues, please know that if you and I had engaged in the discussion you were hoping to have, we would have had a respectful discussion in which I would have acknowledged the genuine nature of your beliefs, as evidenced by the fact that you gave up your Saturday to do volunteer work. 

What I am most sorry for is that I did not stop in my tracks and apologize to you then and there.  I laid into my dad as we continued walking.  He is not and will not be sorry for what he said, but I am, and I wish I had stopped to tell you so.  His justification was that you had "drunk the Kool-Aid."  How he thinks he knows that without having let you get out more than five words, I do not know.  He remains unaware that his Kool-Aid is just a different flavor. 

As I have processed all of this for the past twenty-four hours, I have had a number of thoughts.
1.  No human being should ever be spoken to as my dad spoke to you.  You are an image bearer of the Almighty God.  He treated you as though you were a wad of gum not worthy of wiping off his shoe.  I hope you know that are valued and pursued by the God who made you.
2.  I'm sorry that my party which once identified itself as the party of family values is now led by a man that made my dad think this was okay.  I remember when conservatives said, "Character matters."  Apparently, that was only true for some of them when the president was a Democrat. 
3.  As a high school teacher, I keep coming back to the idea that you could be one of my students.  You weren't at home playing video games, smoking pot, or complaining about your life on social media.  You were volunteering on a Saturday to do what you believed to be good in the world.  While we disagree on how that good should be accomplished, I respect that you were doing what you believed to be right.  I'm sure you have been treated rudely by others, and the fact that you were still standing there was a testament to your courage and convictions.  Agree or disagree, I couldn't ask for more from my students.
4.  You represented yourself, your organization, and your generation well.  Your polite approach and self-control in not responding to my dad in kind are a credit to you.  You behaved much more maturely than the 70-year-old man to whom you were speaking.  He should be setting an example for you, not the other way around.
5.  As I had the odd experience of reprimanding my own father on a public street, I told him that he didn't represent our side well.  You weren't going to go home that night and think, "Well, now I'm convinced conservatism is the way to go since my encounter with that man."  I hope that you have encountered conservatives that gave you a more complete picture of who we are than he did.  We aren't all like that; I promise.
6.  My dad claims Christianity, but I know Jesus would not have addressed you that way.  In fact, the only people Jesus was harsh with were the self-righteous.  He engaged everyone else with great mercy and kindness.  I don't know if you have encountered Jesus, but if not, I hope you will be open to His grace in spite of this incident.

Sir, despite our differences, I encourage you to keep going.

Keep being engaged in the world.  Keep pursuing good.  Keep giving your time.  Keep being polite.  Keep learning.  Keep growing.