Finlands #1, Finlands #1

All Hail Finland!

IF AMERICANS harbored any doubts about their eroded global edge, the recent release of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s fourth international comparison of educational performance should rattle the nation from its “We’re No. 1’’ complacency. The latest Program for International Student Assessment study revealed that, although the United States made some modest gains, it is lagging behind many other developed nations in the ability of its 15-year-olds. The country isn’t flunking: like France, England, and Sweden, learning here has stagnated at below-average levels. That “gentleman’s C’’ should be a call to change course. 

Take heart. Finland, one of the world’s top educational performers according to the last PISA study and a recent McKinsey report, was once in a similar slump and can offer lessons for the United States and others seeking a cure for poor public schools.

The article goes on to discuss what Finland did to turn around their educational program:

• No Standardized Testing (!!!!!!!!!)



AWWWWWESOME

• All parties involved in education are apart of the evaluation process (Teachers, Students, Parents, etc).
• Teachers are treated as autonomous professionals who are required to have advanced degrees.
• All Educational Leaders are... shockingly... FORMER TEACHERS! 

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Wow! This is a breath of fresh air. I whole heartedly agree with and support the entire premise of the article. More needs to be done by our government to make teaching a respectable profession again. It needs to require higher standards for people to become teachers (the average teacher in the USA was a "C" student in  high school) and expect a greater degree of intellectual prowess. In return, they need to give teachers back their classrooms. Teachers are no longer trusted to do what is the best academic interests of their students, and are viewed almost as villains by many in the greater community. Teachers are the most powerful commodity in the educational system. They need to step being treated as cogs in a machine. Period.

I would also like to address one other point the article made: School Leadership = Former Teachers. In America there is an interesting phenomena that has occurred. The macrolevel leadership of education is willingly placed into the hands of people who have no experience in education and no educational training. Answer these questions for me:

• What type of degree do you need to have to sit in a government position to oversee medical professionals? A medical degree.
• What type of degree do you need to have to sit in a government position to oversee financial professionals? A finance degree.

Yet, in America there is a feeling that because a person has spent 13 years as a student in public education, they are an expert in running public education!  The Republican who ran for the top educational office in North Carolina in 2008 had a finance degree. His experience that qualified him to do this job was that he raised two girls and sent them through public school. Seriously? If I commit a bunch of crimes and stand trail on numerous occasions, does that make me qualified to be a lawyer or sit on the board? No way. [/rant]

In closing, way to go Finland! May we take the bold steps necessary to turn from our faulty ways.

Belated Kudos, Obama: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act

On December 13, 2010, President Obama signed a bill that hopes to change the face, and the waist line, of public education. It is called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Championed by Michelle Obama, this act looks to increase funding for school lunch programs, require them to make healthier choices for meals served during lunch time, increase student activity levels, amongst other things. President Obama said,

"We can all agree that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, all children should have the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow and to pursue their dreams, because in the end, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our children.  Nothing.  And our hopes for their future should drive every single decision that we make."

Here is a short list of things this act will do:

Gives USDA the authority to set nutritional standards for all foods regularly sold in schools during the school day, including vending machines, the “a la carte” lunch lines, and school stores.

Provides additional funding to schools that meet updated nutritional standards for federally-subsidized lunches. This is an historic investment, the first real reimbursement rate increase in over 30 years.

Helps communities establish local farm to school networks, create school gardens, and ensures that more local foods are used in the school setting. [ed - Super important. Anyone seen the movie Food, INC?]

Builds on USDA work to improve nutritional quality of commodity foods that schools receive from USDA and use in their breakfast and lunch programs.

Expands access to drinking water in schools, particularly during meal times.

Sets basic standards for school wellness policies including goals for nutrition promotion and education and physical activity, while still permitting local flexibility to tailor the policies to their particular needs.

Promotes nutrition and wellness in child care settings through the federally-subsidized Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Expands support for breastfeeding through the WIC program

For your perusing pleasure there is a fact sheet along with a sample school menu.

Finally, from the First Lady herself,

These are the basic values that we all share, regardless of race, party, religion.  This is what we share.  These are the values that this bill embodies.  And that’s why we’ve seen such a groundswell of support for these efforts –- not just from members of Congress here in Washington, but from folks in every corner of the country.  It’s been beautiful to see.

From educators working to provide healthier school meals, because they know the connection between proper nutrition and academic performance.

From doctors and nurses who know that unhealthy kids grow into unhealthy adults –- at risk for obesity-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer.

From business and labor leaders who know that we spend nearly $150 billion a year to treat these diseases and who worry about the impact on our economy.

From advocates and faith leaders who know that school meals are vital for combating hunger, feeding more than 31 million children a day.

And from military leaders who tell us that when more than one in four young people are unqualified for military service because of their weight, they tell us that childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well.

Now, these folks come at this issue from all different angles.  But they’ve come together to support this bill because they know it’s the right thing to do for our kids.  And they know that in the long run, it won’t just save money, but it’s going to save lives.

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I think this is a great piece of bipartisan legislation. Is it a miracle law that will fix everything? No, but it does lay a platform upon which to make further changes for the good of everyone. Two things that I will be curious to see:

1. Vending Machines. The lunches at our school are not "bad" nutritionally. The problem the unhealthy option that is readily available. The days that there are no chips in the vending machines, some kids choose not to eat even though they can get as many veggies & fruit as their heart desires for free. You could put the healthiest meal plan together, complete with egg whites and wheat germ, but if there are chips & cookies available at the vending machine it it will all be in vain. 
2. Recess/Physical Activity. Our kids need to move more during the school day. I teach 6th grade, and the poor kids do not have recess. I have half contemplated having students spend half of the class period running around screaming their heads off to release some energy so that they can focus. Our younger kids need more avenues where they are up and moving.

Overall, well done Congress & Obama.

Stuff Teachers' Like: the Teacher Chair

A quick glimpse into a teacher’s classroom and you see it looming larger then life in the corner. It is the Teacher Chair (yes, I capitalized it on purpose). No, it is not any ordinary chair. Like a prince among paupers, it stands regal and distinct from the rest. It is a comfy chair, fully quipped with all the necessary features: tall backed, pleather cushions (though sometimes cloth), lumbar support, hydraulic lift, arm rests, and a reclining or rocking feature. Most importantly... it spins.

I have such a chair. It is a “must-have” in order to survive the 30+ year marathon to retirement. Why, you might ask? Is it because the chair serves as a power statement I make to my students, showing them who is boss as they sit in their puny plastic seats? Is it because the chair serves to increase my feeling of importance as I grade the work of children who still, after 7 years of school, do not know how to write a complete sentence? Is it because the chair supports my self-esteem when parents come in to tell me that my subject is nothing but a bunch of worthless knowledge? Well... yea, but there is a reason that trumps them all: it comforts my royal rump. With how much time I spend in my classroom, practically living there at time, I need to be comfortable, or else... well... or else! A sore hiney can make any teacher a little whiney.

Classroom Stories: 5 Fingers

In my social studies teaching I love to incorporate art and music into my teaching, as to enrich the experience and show students how those people viewed their world.

One year, when I was teaching on the Middle Ages, I showed a picture of Mother Mary holding baby Jesus. A student raised his hand from the back row. This child was as middle of the road as they come: no special academic needs, B or C student, well behaved in class... perfectly average. He was also Catholic, which meant that Mary is a very serious topic. I called on the kid, "Yes Sir, you have a question?"

The child, with a very stern expression on his face asked, "Why does Mary... have five fingers?"

I turn to the board, in slight disbelief (and some cognitive dissonance), and count the number of fingers on Mary's hand... all five.

I then pull out my own hand and start counting, "One... Two... Three..." And which point he pulls out his hand, and joins in "One, Two, Three, Four.... Fi- Oh! I Get it Now! I didn't realize there were five..."

Biz-Ed: Who Moved My Cheese?

**Biz-Ed is a reoccurring segment of this blog where business books are reviewed, making connections between the business theory and the education world**

Title: Who Moved My Cheese?
Author: Spencer Johnson

Summary
Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable about two people and two rats who live in a maze, in search of cheese. Once a large pile of cheese was found, the cheese becomes the center of their lives: effecting where they live, their identity, their purpose for living. Then one day the cheese is gone. The book chronicles the reaction of each character as they grapple with what to do once their cheese has disappeared. It centers around the questions: (1) What is your “cheese”? (2) What do you do when change messes with your cheese?

Education Connection
This book is a soul searcher. It leads the reader to ask key, important questions about purpose and dealing with change. The educational applications of this book are two fold.

The first application is for Teachers. Teacher Burnout is a major problem in education today. At the end of each year, thousands of teachers, myself included, feel fried to a crisp; worn out from the intellectual and emotional marathon of the school year. A large number of teachers choose not to return. This is a big problem. Who Moved My Cheese? can lead teachers to ask themselves some important questions to avoid this burnout:

What is your cheese? What is it that fuels your passion, gives you identity and makes you feel alive? Teachers are often attracted to this profession because of a desire to serve a grander purpose. Unfortunately, teachers easily loose sight of them the fray of the daily tasks of the job. Once you have re-identified your cheese, what do you need to do to protect your cheese? What do you need to do to make sure that you are staying connected with those things that keep you vitalize? If you find that at the moment you do not have a cheese or that your cheese has been moved, what do you need to do to go find new cheese? A life without purpose a life not worth living.
Find out what your cheese is. Protect your cheese.

What do you believe your students’ cheese to be? What do your Students’ believe their cheese to be? What is the difference between our expectations and their reality? So often we focus on what WE want our students’ cheese to be that we loose sight of what our students believe about themselves. How much more power and influence if we identify and connect with their cheese; using that as a launching point of our curriculum?

Final Thoughts
Who Moved My Cheese is an excellent book that is a quick read. It provides nuggets of wisdom to shape and guide a soul-search for purpose and what to do when life brings change.

Sir Ken Robinson - State of Education

No one has a better pulse on the state of education than Sir Ken Robinson. In this video clip, Sir Robinson summarizes how the education system has reached the state it is in, while giving strong ideas as to where we should go:

Doing Great... For a Pregnant Woman

When my wife was 39 weeks pregnant with our first child, I would get the inevitable question, “How is your wife doing?” To this I’d reply, “She is doing great… for a 39 week pregnant woman who has been contracting for 5 weeks.” People laugh, but seriously… she was doing great for the situation she is in. If you took a normal person and instantly added 20 inches to their waist, started itching like crazy, made their legs bloat, have an outburst of acne, zapped all their energy, inflicted sharp pains down who-knows-where, and had their stomach turn into a hard, painful knot every 3-5 minutes (not to mention feeling something constantly kicking and poking out of their belly) they would think something was terribly wrong and rush to the hospital having their worst day ever. But instead she was a happy, content mother-to-be, waiting for the moment our little girl would decide to arrive.
This is a lesson on perspective.

Perspective is a powerful thing, shaping our attitudes and actions without us realizing it. Any object is not inherently good or bad, it just is. It is our perspective on the object that makes it the “Totally Best Thing EVER!” that we cannot live without, or the thing that is the bane of our very existence. The object hasn’t changed, just our perspective of it. The same scenario plays out with people and actions all the time.

This is an important thing to keep in mind when dealing with education. A person’s learning is not so much based on the subject or the activity, but the perspective of the person who is in the position to learn. If they have a positive perspective on learning, the world is their oyster and they will gladly cling to any opportunity to grow their knowledge. If they have a negative perspective, they will shun those exact same opportunities, begging to be anywhere but there.

This is an important lesson: Before you teach the student, you must first shape their perspective.