Em Holliday

I read this parody on the blog "Are we doing anything today?" although it does appear to be doing the rounds on the net. It is a highly amusing story and I'm sure most teachers will have felt like this dentist at one point.

"No Dentist Left Behind 
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth. 
When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great. 
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said. 
"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"  "It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average, below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice." 
"That's terrible," he said. 
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try  to improve children's dental health in this state?" 
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry." 
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me." 
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we can't control? For example, I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also, many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off, so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?" 
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job, and you needn't fear a little accountability." 
"I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work where I am needed most." 
"Don't' get touchy," I said. 
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating is an actual measure of my  ability and proficiency as a dentist.  They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?" 
"I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making and stonewalling won't improve dental health'... I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted. 
"What's the DOC?" he asked.  "It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved"   
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy it," he said hopefully. 
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you measure good dentistry?" 
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."  "That's too complicated, expensive and time-consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute measure." 
"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think This can't be happening," he said despairingly. 
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some." 
"How?" he asked. 
"If you receive a poor rating, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly. 
"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience?  BIG HELP!"   
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all." 
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score made on a test of children's progress with no regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools." 
I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. I'm going to write my representatives and senators," he said. "I'll use the school analogy. Surely they will see the point." 
He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed anger that I, a teacher, see in the mirror so often lately. 
If you don't understand why educators resent the recent federal NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT, this may help. If you do understand, you'll enjoy this analogy, which was forwarded by John S. Taylor, Superintendent of Schools for the Lancaster County, PA, School District . Be a friend to a teacher and pass this on. "

"Are we doing anything today?" also points to a rebuttal to this story. This rebuttal appears to be based on emotion and even less research than the story you just read. The main argument is "You're not a dentist [teacher!] so you wouldn't understand" implying that this is all that teachers ever say. If the people who found this rebuttal amusing or representative of reality actually asked teachers why they do what they do those people certainly wouldn't be met with such a heartless and unimaginative reply. A less than witty rebuttal with little substance. Better luck next time John Williams.

And if you like imaginative and funny replies go watch this video which I found through "Reflections on Teaching and Learning" which is another blog on my blogroll. This video - "Taylor Mali on what teacher earn" is also a very amusing defense of teachers.

I've had an interesting week this week. On Monday a lecturer made a very critical and unsubstantiated comment about me which I will admit got me down. Unfortunately my usual enthusiasm for my classes on Tuesday was lacking as noted by my peers.

And then today a lecturer said something as simple as "Your lovely" to me when we were discussing some work in a fun manner. Well that little comment from a lecturer turned my day around, I was happy and keen to get to work again. It's amazing how even for a grown woman a small comment from my teachers had such an effect.

This reminded me of a poignant story from one of my favorite authors - LouAnne Johnson - which has stayed with me ever since I read it. I'd like to share parts of it here as I think it has a great message in it.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CASUAL REMARK TO A CHILD

Sometimes I think we forget how impressionable children are (even older children). We forget... how lasting the effect of a comment from an adult they admire. On day before class started, a group of football players were boasting about their latest gridiron glories. I noticed another boy, Sean Campbell, blush and fidget as he watched...I was looking at Sean who was [watching the footballers and told him] "You're going to be one of those men who peak much later in life," I said softly.

"Yeah, I was thinking that," Sean said. His cheeks flushed bright red, but he sat up straighter and stopped staring wistfully at [the football players]. Pleased that I had boosted Sean's self-esteem, I took the scenic route as I strolled back to my desk.

In the far corner of the room, as I passed by the desk of an extremely shy girl named Marcy Bryant, I stopped and smiled at her. "You too," I said. "I think you're going to be a late bloomer, but you're going to be a big, beautiful flower."

Marcy folded into herself and hid her face as she did whenever anybody looked at her. Not wanting to embarrass her further, I quickly made some chitchat with other students and returned to the front of the room.

I forgot all about the incident until a few months later, at open house... Sean's mother walked into my room and introduced herself. As I reached out to shake hands with her, she took my right hand with both her hands. She squeezed my hand and held on.

"I wanted to thank you for what you said to Sean," She said. "He said you told him you knew he was going to peak late in life and he shouldn't worry about not being the best athlete or the most popular right now. You should have seen him smile when he told me. And he has been a different person ever since. You changed his life. I can't thank you enough."

[Just as Open House was finishing Marcy's mother] peeked around the door frame.

"Am I too late to say hello?" she asked...."I just wanted to thank you," she said. "Marcy told me you said she was a late bloomer but that she is going to be a beautiful flower someday. She cried when she told me. We both did. She used to be worried about what would happen to her when she grew up, but she doesn't worry any more. Now she's a happy child."

I didn't say anything because I knew I would cry if I opened my mouth...

[A]fter Marcy's mother left, I felt a little frightened. Two students believed that one ten-second forgotten conversation had changed their lives. If that was true, then what about all the other conversations I couldn't remember? Had I said anything that negatively affected children as strongly as those positive comments had? I tried to remember whether I had said anything harsh the last time I had run out of patience or had been frustrated by too much talking or pencil sharpening or giggling or note writing during class. I couldn't think of any negative comments I may have made, but then I had forgotten the late-bloomer comments too.

Before I turned off the lights and locked the door to my classroom that night, I wrote a note on an index card and taped it to the top of my desk as a reminder. My note read: Be careful. Everything you say, every single day, may be recorded in your students' hearts forever."

Johnson, L. (2005). Teaching Outside the Box - How to grab your students by their brains. Jossey-Bass. CA. pp 31-33. Book available from here.

 This story has been reproduced with permission. If you want to learn more about LouAnne Johnson visit her website.

Even those of us who are not teachers could learn a valuable lesson here.

I was watching the debate Putting Education to the Test on ABC TV last night on teacher pay, national curriculum and teacher quality. It was a very interesting debate although I must admit not a lot of new information was broached. Given that the debate was so short no headway seemed to be made and it tended to be a soapbox for the same issues being bandied about in the media. (It is being repeated on ABC2 on Wednesday night [28/2/07] if you missed it!)

I would like to throw my opinion into the ring here. I seriously doubt we would be having such a huge argument about teacher pays and resources if Australian society actually gave teachers the respect they deserve! If the lay Australian understood half of what teachers do they would be throwing money and resources at education.

How many times have we heard the saying "Those who can do, those who can't teach and those who can't teach lecture." It's such a hideous saying. Without teachers society wouldn't exist as it does today. Who would pass on all that knowledge? 'Someone would I'm sure' I can hear them say. Well that's the attitude they had in the dark ages and look how far they evolved...(not very if you didn't know).

I have to admit, I myself was not impressed with becoming a teacher. I considered that I had failed in my 'dream' career and this was all I was good for. That was until I realised how much work and dedication it takes to become a teacher. I couldn't be prouder of myself or my achievements now! But it shouldn't take a teaching degree to understand this. It should be part of our society's culture.

This quote nicely sums the way many people think about teaching (even if they don't realise it): "Society feels free to ridicule teachers because society equates the amount someone is paid to the amount of skills they have and the respect they earn. With low self-esteem, low pay and poor conditions, who would be a teacher?" 5/6 teacher, on strike 4/6/2000.

And if you don't believe this argument read Tamin Ansary's column. This is a wonderful (series of) column(s) which outlines a fascinating argument. That is that; doctors are some of the higher paid professional's because they make a huge difference to our lives, they often save them. If teachers were paid according to their importance/influence in everyones lives (and in society) teacher pay would be pretty much on par with doctors'.

If teachers really wanted to end the pay dispute as a community we must first end the negativity towards the profession. We must find a way to command the respect we deserve. And perhaps this movement is already happening. Teacher's have a voice - you are listening to mine now - through Blogs. The power is there but its potential hasn't been reached - if we were to stop using our blogs to whine and start using them to facilitate changes in society then maybe, one day, our work would be better respected by society.

Problem Based Learning ( PBL ) is also known as The Singapore Method or Singapore Maths. There is an excellent reason for this too, it is the maths program used in schools in Singapore! This program is known is Primary Mathematics series and was the dominant text used in Singaporean schools until 2001.

At The University of Canberra where I study, this style of teaching is being advocated. The basic premise of Singapore maths is that concepts are learnt through problem solving or PBL. Traditionally in Australia and America students are taught the concept, the algorithm and given drill practice. In PBL the students are presented with a problem which they then work through using prior knowledge and available resources. With careful guidance and appropriate questioning the teacher leads the students to discover the new concept through investigation. Sounds like more work for the teachers? sure is! The point is, though, that since the children discover the concept by exploring their own knowledge, they make meaningful connections about the concept and are more likely to remember said concept.

When I was on Prac. I ended up using PBL on a maths problem and it was wonderful. We went from filling out a seemingly simple worksheet to exploring number and multiplication concepts with manipulatives as a group. And the most amazing part was that the young boys in the class who, generally, avoided maths were engaged and excited by what we were discovering. I have every intention of repeating the activity when I teach.

There is a major drawback to using PBL in Australia. That is that there are no resources available! It is such a new concept that there are not texts on it and I haven't even been able to find example problems on the Internet. I can hear you say - why not just make some up? I would if I had the mathematical mastery necessary - but I don't. As a beginning teacher I would greatly love some guidance and examples to 'get me through'.

With this in mind I was trawling the Internet and came across Elementary Mathematics for Teachers which is exactly what I've been looking for. A comprehensive K-8 guide on elementary maths - and this book also comes with the accompanying class texts for grades 3-6. Fabulous! I immediately set out to buy it. After searching every online bookstore we discovered one of the reasons Australia is lacking in PBL resources...not a single company ships this text to Australia. Sorry one did - but it's sold out.

So here I am back at square 1. No supporting text and facing a year of 'home grown' and unfortunately less than perfect PBL problems. Oh well I guess it's back to the basal text and the old ways which is easiest, right? Well maybe not, I at least have a friend in England who will be able to post me the book if I get it shipped to them, but what about the rest of Australia's beginning teachers with no-where to turn? It's a poor outlook for Australian Maths education, in my opinion.

In my previous life in the film stratosphere I was (and still am) a huge old time movie buff. In one of my many visits to The National Film and Sound Archives I was introduced to "Yes What?" which is a radio series from the 1930's. The premise of the show is a school with four (male) students and a bumbling school master. Suffice to say, in all the years the series ran Dr Percival Pym (said school master) never succeeded in teaching a whole lesson to the boys.

One particular episode - House of Tudor Exam - has an amusing part where Greenbottle convinces Dr Pym that 7+8=19.

I've only posted the relevant half of the episode which is why it starts mid sentence.

If you have a sense of humour and like a good giggle at maths you'll probably enjoy this!

                                           House of Tudor Exam

P.S. Quality is poor because it is a recording from 80 years ago!

Radio Revisited - "Yes What?" Vol. 2. (1993). Sony music.