The Wild Green Yonder

In the last year I've raised the blade of my mowers a bit because I've discovered that it's healthier for the grass to be a bit longer. I've also become less of a grass nazi when I'm trimming around things with the whacker. Why? Because grass likes to be grass. Grass likes to grow and express itself. And the result is my lawn actually looks better. I'm even going to extend that and say that it is healthier.

So while these thoughts are churning through my mind while I'm on the riding mower out in my wild green yonder, I can't help thinking that it applies to kids as well. I wonder how we can let them do more of what comes naturally to them, and to turn it into some kind of advantage for eveyone involved. It doesn't mean that we have to nurture a Lord of the Flies culture; That would be stupid and dangerous for everyone involved. I'm just wondering, that's all.

In the meantime, I am trying to come to grips with all the disorders that are slapped on kids today. (I was listening to a radio ad describing the symptoms of a stroke and I thought, I have that everday! I'm having a stroke teaching school!) In fact, I listen to the "interventionists" describe the disorders that they saddle the kids with, and I show 80% of the symptoms that the kids have. They could care less about me, though. They think I'm joking.

And then I think about this: why is it called attention deficit disorder? Kids don't have attention deficit disorder. They have attention surplus disorder. Everything that comes across their field of vision needs attended to. I do this often, too. Wouldn't attention deficit disorder look more like a catatonic stupor? That's what they look like after they've been given the meds. This seems wardback to me. It's just something to think about.

Our schools spend a respectful amount of energy trying to get kids' behaviors and classroom characteristics to look and be the same, and at the same time we "celebrate diversity". I'm really slow with this. Maybe I am learning disabled too. I need to get back to the wild green yonder to think this one through.

People, not pupils

People, not pupils! This is what I like about the school I teach in...we treat them like people, not pupils. Even the middle school kids look more like people than...well, whatever.

Schools spend a tremendous amount of time separating the "smart" kids from the "dumb" kids. This group goes over here, that group goes over there. This group qulaifies for this, that group doesn't because of the "numbers". This leads me to statistics. For all the abstract qualities we find in statistics, doesn't it seem odd that we call it hard evidence? Yet, in the tentacles of public education (and in many privates programs) if scores say the kids' learning is "up", assumptions are made that the kids really are learning. But are they really?

Sometimes I think the word "learning" should be replaced with "performance capability", except now it sounds like I'm talking about a sports car. We need to re-think how we educate/train kids for the future. Kids need to be treated as complex, dynamic, potential-filled, creative-thinking leaders, not as somebody who's below the mean on some sterile assessment that no one will give a hoot and a holler about in two days. What do you think?

Sit down, shut up and listen!

Sit down, shut up and listen!

If you're ever interested in demoralizing teaching and learning and turning a school experience into a disaster for everyone invloved, this is the formula that I want you to apply because it works. Ask Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. They disappeared from school faster than free beer at a hockey game. (Actually, they ended up with a much more thorough education than their peers...and more wealthy.)

In a time when brain research shows that kids actually need more time to run, breathe hard, and express themselves physically (see Enriching the Brain by Eric Jensen), we actually have schools across America cutting recess time so teachers can raise standardized test scores! I know, because my own kids' school is one of them. This would actually be okay if standardized test scores were worth more than they really are...but they're not! I can't tell you how much this makes me scream. We have schools that care more about their clock/bell schedule than real learning! It's like having all the busses on time and ready to go, but nobody knows where or why they're moving. It's very "corporate" to me. (I don't know why I say "corporate". Maybe I mean to say it has a very cold feel to it, which is what I think of when I hear "corporate".)

Design a school with a kid in mind, find or design a structure that supports this and watch the kids learn. More on this later.

Please, don't let this happen!

Many years ago I remember this kid standing up in front of his classmates relaying some information to them regarding some rules for a contest on which they were embarking. He was informing them about the dimension allowance of one of the decorations. As soon as he confidently told the students of the permitted measurements, the kid next to him whispered in his ear that the measurements were actually changed to make them larger. The poor kid didn't know what to do and became flustered. What really did him in was that another kid on the other side of him confirmed this, along with his teacher/advisor. It was too much for the kid to announce the change, and he stuttered about and flaggled around, his ears got hot and his face turned red and finally he blurted out in the microphone, "Well, 36 inches is what's written down so it's 36 inches!"

Four legs good, two legs bad!

The kid was considered "gifted" by Johns Hopkins University. Yikes. As long as all he faced was the same pitch, he was "smart". But as soon as the curve ball came, as soon as anything out of the ordinary appeared, he freaked out like an autistic savante would walking into a library with one stinking book out of place. I'm surprised he didn't drop to the floor and convulse. I thought I would certainly have to storm the stage and make sure he didn't swallow his tongue.

I've got a couple of questions I use to shock these "gifted" kids out of this anesthetized state. Here's one you can try sometime but make sure a math teacher isn't within ear shot: Is it farther to Chicago, or by bus? This just drives them absolutely bananas. If it ain't gonna show up on the SAT, it is utterly alien to them.

Is it just me, or is the lack of flexibility in kids like this just plain disturbing? Can we foster something else, please?