What Teachers Want for Christmas

Click here to get the new ebook "Rosenwald 

School Reflections: Documentation &

 Preservation" by Claudia Stack  

Recently I resigned my special education teaching position due to health issues, but before I wrapped things up I got an email from my principal that got me thinking about the demands on my general education colleagues.  The email reminded us of various deadlines and program implementation requirements. At the Title One middle school where I was teaching there are six new program initiatives this year, as well as two new student data software systems (one for discipline and one for grades, attendance and assessment).  The programs relate to everything from helping students develop calm focus (Mindup) to encouraging teachers to be "artisans."  (Artisan Teacher program).  There are three separate, yet overlapping, initiatives related to behavior: Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), as well as an in-house behavior tracking system that provides data for the district's Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) program, and finally another program purchased by the district, the Alternative Behavior Educator (ABE) system, which combines discipline record keeping with educational online modules the students usually complete when they are assigned to in-school suspension.

Incidentally, the ABE program is sold by Pearson, the company from which North Carolina also purchased PowerSchool starting this school year (2014-2015). PowerSchool has functions that, when working properly, integrate record keeping (such as grades and attendance) with online tools that are supposed to make student assessment easier.  In the roll-out, however, I have seen this program bring seasoned educators to tears.  Hundreds of server malfunctions this year alone have meant students have not been able to log into tests that teachers took hours to create, or that students have been dropped from the system in the middle of taking tests.  While teachers are pushed to use the online assessment functions and "create digital learners," wise teachers now makes paper copies of their tests. More than once I have seen my colleagues have to switch to the paper and pencil version of a test and then later input the test answers themselves for 120 students.  (Now there are six hours or so of life they'll never get back!)  

On the curricular side, teachers must create lesson plans in line with the IMPACT model (I forget whether this one was a district or school initiative), differentiate lessons both up and down (to challenge higher level students as well as accommodate lower ones), remind students of the learning targets several times during the lesson, integrate technology, and work with Special Education teachers to follow Individual Education Plans (IEPs).  Teachers also shouldn't forget to check for lice, homelessness and signs of child neglect.

Through various pressures that come down the line from federal and state mandates, district policies, and school initiatives, teachers spend an enormous amount of time responding to dozens of demands besides teaching and lesson-planning.  Often school administrators have no choice but to push these demands down the line to teachers.  Which brings me to my topic:  What teachers really want for Christmas.  What teachers really want is to be able to focus most of their energy and time on teaching their students.

Premiere of "Carrie Mae: An American Life" Sunday, 11/16/14 at Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC

                      

I am pleased to say that my new documentary "Carrie Mae: An American Life" will premiere 3pm on Sunday, November 16th at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC.  Carrie Mae Sharpless Newkirk was born into a sharecropping family in 1923, attended and taught in Rosenwald schools, and went on to become one of the first African American teachers in southeastern NC to integrate a white faculty.  This film was made possible                                              through the generous support of the                                                  Middle Road Foundation.

Please see the Cameron Art Museum website for more details: 

Carrie Mae: An American Life premieres at Cameron Art Museum

Historic African American Schools: Why They Are Still Important

Click to help save the historic Lee Rosenwald School by donating support for a new roof!

Admittedly, it's irrational, how much time I have spent researching historic African American schools and documenting the stories of my elderly neighbors.  Many times, people ask me why it holds my interest.  The answer is multifaceted.  Sometimes the urgency of recording the stories is uppermost in my mind, especially when so many of my older friends are becoming ill and passing away.  Since I made "Under the Kudzu", my documentary about historic schools that Pender County's African American communities helped to create during segregation, six of the people I interviewed while researching that project have died.

At other times I think of my students, and how important it is for them and for my teaching colleagues to be aware of the rich educational history of our region.  I teach in a school where more than 90% of the students are African American, and whose families have deep roots in SENC.  My research helps me to teach with the confidence that education has always been important to their families.

At other times, I think of how profoundly my older friends have changed my life and viewpoint.  Once I was impatient, and thought mostly of what I had to say, but now I listen and strive to understand others.  Once I thought slavery and segregation were distant history, but now I know better, since so many people I know had the devastating effects of this history ripple through their lives.  Conversely, it gives me a window onto the determination and achievement of people in our region who had to sacrifice just to get an education, then turned around and became public servants.  

There hasn't been much broader awareness of the rich legacy of our historic African American schools until recently; I am happy to say that is changing.  Recently I was pleased to be able to help in a small way by contributing images of Pender County Training School for the wonderful installation at the Cameron Art Museum called "School Pride: The Eastern NC Story" (by Willie Cole, commissioned by the Countywide CDC of Navassa).  

Segregation was unjust, and the denial of equal resources to African American children was immoral, but learning about our students' family histories is not just a story of comparison and lack.  Our neighbors built vibrant school communities within severe budgetary and societal constraints.  Many of our most prominent local citizens graduated from these schools.  As educators and citizens, we need to pause and commemorate the rich educational heritage of our region.  We need to let our current students know that we understand that education already belongs to them, it is something that African American families have shaped and owned for generations.

Save the historic Lee Rosenwald School by donating support for a new roof!

Click here to get the new ebook "Rosenwald 

School Reflections: Documentation &

 Preservation" by Claudia Stack  

Alice Walker: Create Conversations between Students and Adults

Click to order a DVD copy of the film "Under the Kudzu" 

New!!! Click to get the new ebookRosenwald School Reflections: Documentation & Preservation by Claudia Stack  

I had the privilege, last week, to attend a session where Alice Walker took questions from the audience.  The issue of censorship arose, and she suggested that the impulse to censor arises from fear on the part of adults that just because students read something, they will imitate it.  However, she pointed out, literature about others' lives allows us to learn about other people's experiences, and it is unlikely we will imitate what we read.

Ms. Walker went on to say it might be helpful if students and adults could discuss the controversial literature in an honest way.  What do we fear about it?  Why?  What can we learn?

I have to concur that honest, meaningful discussion between students and adults is always desirable.  One thing I also wish is that kids had more opportunity and time to spend just listening to older folks.  This has been the impetus behind the oral history projects I have done with students.  Talking with senior citizens makes history alive and immediate.  It is one thing to learn about segregation or the Great Migration in a textbook, it is another to sit in a room and hear the experiences of those who lived it.  To be able to ask questions and realize that these events did NOT occur in ancient history.  

In historical terms, slavery and segregation are very recent. My current film project focuses on a woman who learned to value school from her grandmother, who was a born a slave and denied an education.  Should we suggest to her family that slavery occurred so long ago that its effects do not ripple to the present? 

Incredible things happen when we take time to listen to older people's stories, and especially when we include children. They learn to have more patience, and to be better listeners.  They can learn interviewing and research skills.  Most of all, they glimpse an important truth:  We are all part of one continuous whole.

The Faithful Teacher

Click to order a DVD copy of the film "Under the Kudzu" 

New!!! Click to get the new ebookRosenwald School Reflections: Documentation & Preservation by Claudia Stack  

Faith and devotional practice played important roles in Rosenwald schools.  Almost all of the dozens of Rosenwald school alumni I have interviewed have vivid memories of this, although the emphasis varies.  Some people spoke mostly about singing hymns, while others emphasized group prayer or reading scripture.  Andrew Corbett, a Canetuck alumnus who passed away last year, said he felt the teachers wanted them to learn "that you should love everybody."

Even more striking, Mr. Corbett remarked "Everyone should give reverence... to who you are and to your Creator."  It was this ethos, of self-knowledge coupled with a sense of higher origin (and purpose), that seems to embody the spiritual side of the Rosenwald school experience.

As a teacher today, it would not be considered appropriate for me to speak explicitly about God.  However, when I speak to my students I still try to convey my sense of their divine value.  In order to do this, it's important for me to prepare spiritually each day.  Here is part of my typical daily prayer:

Lord, we know with you all things are possible.  Bless and guide my thoughts, my words and my actions.  Help me to be a channel of your love and your peace.  Bless me and my colleagues, and help us to teach well.  Bless my students, and help them to focus and learn.  Help all of us to know Your love, that You are holding all of us in the palm of Your hand.  Amen.