Reaching Out to Students Via Twitter

Lots of good stuff in the Washington Post this week.  This time, it's a profile of an assistant principal in Maryland that uses Twitter to reach out to his students.

What I took away from this article:

• I was amazed at the disparity of Twitter use of black students vs. white students.  According to the article, black students use Twitter at about twice the rate of whites.  I hadn't noticed that at my school-maybe it's because most of my students are black.
• I didn't realize that comments on Twitter were being used to provoke fights...although I should have .  I've heard more about Facebook comments getting kids fightin' mad at my school, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me that kids would move on to other technologies to do this.
• It's interesting that the principal can get kids to follow him.  I'm surprised when my students follow me, even though I tweet links of videos and photos of our students in action.  I've pondered creating another Twitter account, one that's more personal and not constrained by the "official-ness" of my current account.

It is encouraging that a principal can engage kids in a conversation using social media.  So many kids use Twitter and Facebook to cause trouble/goof off, so it's nice to see them use it as (some) adults use it.

Breaking News: We're All Racist!

Wow, two posts on suspensions in one week!

Front page news in today's Washington Post:  black and Hispanic students get suspended at much higher rates than white students.  Wait a minute, I thought only my town did that to minority students (and needs an investigation from the Office of Civil Rights to uncover our wrong-doing).

The Post's article lists the usual litany of excuses for the disparity in suspensions:

• poverty
• cultural insensitivity
• poor classroom management
• households with single parents

In short, basically blaming everything except student misbehavior.  I love how the article quotes administrators, parents and activists, but not a single teacher (or even student).  This seems to be the typical mentality regarding public education: everyone's an expert on it, except for those actually in the classroom.  

If a newspaper is going to publish an article on possible racism in school discipline policies, shouldn't they at least talk to the students to ask if they feel discriminated against?  Or talk to teachers who can shed light on why they write the suspension reports that they turn in to the administration.  No, let's continue to get the opinions and eventual policies from people that haven't been in a classroom since they were students 30+ years ago.

Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

Our local paper had an article today about the number of suspensions in our school system being down compared to last year.  Oh, really?

After a few year of being at this teaching gig, I've come to the realization that schools and school systems are evaluated on three numbers:

1. EOC scores
2. Graduation rate
3. Discipline incidences

If you're a principal or school administrator, you can manipulate two of those three numbers.  EOC scores are hard to change, unless you work in Atlanta.  But the graduation rate and discipline stats?  C'mon!  

There are too many kids every year who undeservedly walk across the stage in June with a diploma in hand.  There are administrators, counselors and teachers that do backflilps and contortions to get students across that stage every year.  I'd venture to say that oftentimes, the adults are more concerned than the students with getting the kids "graduated."

As for discipline stats, the same numbers-fudging occurs.  It's easy to say that our discipline numbers are going down...if no one is written up for things they should be written up for.  For the last two years, I've electronically documented the discipline referrals I've written, because I don't trust our administrators to follow through on the suspensions.  And I've been right--I've written up one girl for tardies/skipping at least four times this year, and she has yet to be punished for it.

The worst thing about all of this?  We're calling these kids "career-ready."  I'm sorry, it's either one or the other--either we coddle these kids and socially promote them all the way out of high school, or we start treating them like adults and make them responsible for their actions.  The best-case scenario in my mind?  Ten strikes and you're out.  If you are written up ten times in your school career, it's time for you to go to private school or get home-schooled.

It's Gotta Be The Shoes

What recession?  I hear about how bad the economy is, how school kids need to eat not one but three meals at school, everyone's out of work, blah, blah, blah.   But, apparently people can riot over the re-launch of Air Jordans that are nearly 15 years old and are selling for $180.

Can't wait to ask my students how many of them stood in line/rioted over these kicks.

Just Horrific

I wasn't really planning on writing a blog on this article, but I couldn't help myself.  Actually, the first time I saw it on Sports Illustrated's web site, I skipped over it.  However, upon further review, I have some questions:

• Why is a 28-year-old renting a hotel room on prom night for HS kids?
• Did the friend know her friend was only 12 years old?
• What is a 12-year-old doing sneaking out/drinking/sexing with high schoolers?
• If you're in jail, how can you say you're not a criminal?
• How can I read this entire article and not read one thing about parental involvement?

The last question: can I have my students read this?  The details are almost too shocking for a high school class; but at the same time, it's a powerful lesson for them to learn.

This Movie Really Sucks

I don't normally like watching movies/TV shows about my job, hence my apathy towards "Glee."  But I'm spending my first night of winter vacation watching this movie, and it really sucks.  No--really, really sucks.  You're supposed to laugh at comedies, right?

Winter Break To-Do List

From: gaston.k12.nc.us

OK, so we're at the winter break.  Not our normal two weeks, but I'll take 8 days whenever I can get it.

On one hand, I want to take a break, of course.  But, since the beginning of the school year, I've put off things I need to do for the spring, and it's probably time to get them done.  To commit myself to getting things done, I'll go ahead and list the things I need to do before the the spring semester:

*Create a first-day Prezi for Sports & Entertainment Marketing II
*Decide exactly how to teach Sports Marketing II on a block schedule
*Read up on technology facilitator stuff

I guess the list isn't as long as I think.  But, I'm pretty sure I'll be thinking about Sports Marketing II a lot over break.

You Got Me This Time, Google Earth

My daughter was sick on Thursday, and it was my turn to stay home with.  With hours of time on my hands, I decided to take Google Earth for a test spin.

Every year, I have my Sports Marketing students pick the college bowl games for extra credit.  In the past, I've given them a sheet of paper with the bowl games listed, and they have circled the answer.  With my sick day, I thought I'd try something cool...

My intent was to use Google Earth to plan a trip from the first bowl to the last one, 35 in all.  I've seen Google Earth used on TV to show various locales, and I thought it'd be relatively simple to show a trip from Point A to Point B to Point C.  Oops.

After 2+ hours, I had to give up.  I never could get Google Earth to do exactly what I wanted to do.  I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I probably should pay attention to those tweets I get with tips and tricks.  Maybe next time...

At any rate, it's a good lesson to pass on to my students about the frustrations of technology and how to work through them.

Boyz in Compton

CBS News and Sports Illustrated combined forces to highlight the plight of high school football players in Compton, CA, a city is notorious for its gang presence. At one time, there was an unwritten rule that gangs would leave high school athletes alone. The football and basketball players were on their way to something good, so the gangs wouldn't bother with them. 

Now, however, gangs do not appear to care whether a high-schooler is a baller or not--they're going to recruit them to the dark side. This story is sad on so many levels. I showed the above video to my class last week; I may have them read the article later. The article highlights how many precautions one star student-athlete has to take in order to not get caught up in the gang violence. Sad, sad, sad.

Really, Glee, You're Going There?

I was grading papers while my wife was watching "Glee" on the DVR on Sunday night.  I was only half paying attention to the show, but I stopped when I saw the scenes between the student and the teacher he had an affair with.

It's bad enough to depict that situation on TV, but it was even worse when two students discussed whether to tell administrators about this affair.  Um, let me think--yes!  Sadly, at the end of the show, there was some kind of justification to not tell administrators/law enforcement.  Something about letting the opposing glee clubs compete each other.

In the age of Sandusky and Fine is the message we want to send to high school students one of continuing cover-ups of illegal activity.

Note to Self: Use Video

Every year I've taught Sports & Entertainment Marketing, I've had my students vote for who they think will win  college football's most prestigious individual honor, the Heisman Trophy.  Until this year, I had always put together a PowerPoint that contained the stats of each player.  After we went through the nominees, students would turn in a ballot with their answer.  The students that were interested in college football were sorta excited, but no one else was.

This year, I decided to try the above SlideRocket.  Fortunately, my district has allowed the use of YouTube on a very restricted (and temporary) basis.  Since four of the five nominees' schools created a video of highlights for each player, it was easy to create a SlideRocket that was interesting to watch.

The neatest thing about using this SlideRocket was the students' reactions.  I had to calm down my normally staid first period because they were so excited about what they saw.  Now if I can just find the time to create these type of presentations more often...

Jumping Into Tumblr

From: techleash.com

Not quite sure how I did this, but I ended up on Tumblr last night.  I had heard of it before, but thought I didn't need the hassle of setting up yet another account.

Fortunately, my Sports & Entertainment Marketing II class produces a ton of photos and videos, so I'm hoping that I'll have enough content to at least make it interesting.  Maybe I'll even have students do some work on it. 

Any ideas are always welcome, of course.

Newt to Kids: Get a Job!

From: hillmanfoundation.org


Saw that GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich raised some eyebrows with his comments on the work habits of children living in poverty. Gingrich, never one to shy away from an opinion, said:

"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works," the former House speaker said at a campaign event at the Nationwide Insurance offices. "So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of 'I do this and you give me cash,' unless it's illegal."

Predictably, ole Newt ruffled some feathers.  But, does he have a point?  I think he does, and anyone that has taught in a high-poverty school must have some experience with what he's talking about.  Teachers have been getting a lot of flack about the performance of their students recently, yet we're not supposed to acknowledge the impact of poverty in the classroom.  Well, how does poverty affect student performance then?  I can't look at my students and tell which ones are poor by looking at them.

I hope that the issue doesn't disappear in the 24 hour news cycle.  It'd be nice to see more people discuss this.