February 2017 - Education Transformations

Permalink
Gallery
Don’t Be Afraid of Betsy DeVos

Education, PCA, Teacher

Don’t Be Afraid of Betsy DeVos

From Our Executive Director, Jacqueline Hicks (February 2017 Newsletter):

Consider:

Much has been wrong about our education system, long before DeVos became our Secretary of Education.
Less than 10% of the money for public education comes from the federal government.
Best to focus on what WE ALL can do to make our local schools great.
Start by looking at what teachers, parents, and students know works and do that.
Think global and act local – start with your local school board and your school’s PTA.

My time as an education reformer began in 1997 with California’s Charter School Movement well underway. As a parent of a very unhappy 7^th grader, my husband and I had to face the fact that our local public school was not meeting our needs or those of our young son. My husband with his lifetime California teaching credential had a very good idea of what makes a classroom a quality learning environment. Fortunately, we found a new, innovative, charter middle school that fit us to a T. I became a very involved parent and I learned what best practices, small class size, project based learning, field work, portfolios, understanding learning style differences, and integrating subjects around a yearlong theme could do for my son’s happiness and success in school.

Taking what I was learning at the charter school and combining it with my knowledge of and experience with the Person-Centered Approach (gained largely at the Center for Studies of the Person founded by Dr. Carl R. Rogers and colleagues), I developed a leadership curriculum for middle and high school students. I then went on to start, with my friend and partner Linda Reed, Cortez Hill Academy charter middle and high school. Our foundation […]

By Carla Gerstein| February 16th, 2017|Education, PCA, Teacher|3 Comments

Permalink
Gallery
A Corporate Consultant’s Point of View on the Current State of Education

Education, SEL (Social Emotional Learning), Soft Skills, Teacher

A Corporate Consultant’s Point of View on the Current State of Education

Kit Fay, a Corporate Consultant and Educator, offered this perspective to Education Transformations. We thought it was relevant, and we got permission to share it. We’d love to hear your perspective – do you agree, disagree, or how did this strike you?

I develop courses for corporations, to fill the educational system gap, to help the companies select candidates (technical – technicians, machinists, etc.) for hiring and promotion. Guess in what area? Soft skills: Speaking up at meetings; Following instructions; Working with other people on a team; [and so on].

Over the past three years I’ve taught corporate sponsored training, Junior Achievement, and, as adjunct staff employee, technical courses, at a number of local elementary, high school, and post secondary schools. Teachers in secondary schools tell me they are burnt out, frustrated, etc. They are told they CAN’T fail anyone, not even the student who never does the work, etc. They tell me they spend so much time on admin, they are pressed to keep continuity of soft skill activities. Their hands are tied, they can’t bring in outside help. They love the guest taught classes, which focus a lot on soft skills with interactive exercises, etc. But they can’t just bring in the resources. Their academic schedule is preset and predetermined, with many days set aside for overhead tasks.

The teachers I’ve worked with don’t have any authority to approve an outside resource. Usually they can do so only after their higher funding authority (depending on district structure, school principal, or board) has approved/delegated the funding for the ‘project’. And the time allocated from aforementioned schedule set by higher authority. To my observation, priority of said higher authority is on meeting reporting deadlines. Doing more activities beyond […]

By Carla Gerstein| February 15th, 2017|Education, SEL (Social Emotional Learning), Soft Skills, Teacher|2 Comments

Permalink
Gallery
A Teacher’s Point of View on the Current State of Education

Education, Empathy, PCA, Teacher

A Teacher’s Point of View on the Current State of Education

Education Transformations received the following in an email from a teacher who found us online. We thought it was so interesting, we got permission to share it. We’d love to hear your perspective – do you agree, disagree, or how did this strike you?

I am Marco Franco, a fifty-nine year old high school teacher in Laredo, Texas, and I am planning to apply Carl Rogers’ Student Center Teaching, as well as his Humanistic Education theories, in my classroom throughout the Spring Semester, which begins [in January 2017].

For the past twelve years, I have been teaching English, ESL, Oral Interpretation, Practical Writing and mentoring college composition classes. Also, I made a brief stint facilitating leadership and team dynamics workshops at the local community college.

Nowadays the educational system is in crisis and rapidly deteriorating. When we learn about it in the newspaper or through the TV news, it just becomes another short-lived news clip to be buried again by tomorrow’s newest news. Witnessing the failure of the educational system day after day in the classroom, and going home knowing that we, teachers, cannot improve it becomes a daily frustration.

True teachers do teach despite all hindrances, while many others end up conforming to the state of affairs, resigning, or just teaching to the test. However, the elephant is in the room.

The gap between the academic curricula and the student population is widening every year. On one side we have the state education agencies enforcing End Of Course Tests (EOCs), assessing and ranking school districts according to their test performances, and complete school districts teaching to the test to get the coveted “Exemplary” status and more federal money.

On the other side, there is the student population emerging from dysfunctional […]

By Carla Gerstein| February 15th, 2017|Education, Empathy, PCA, Teacher|0 Comments

Permalink
Gallery
Bullying: Does Empathy Work?

Bullying, Congruence, Education, Empathy, PCA, SEL (Social Emotional Learning), Teacher

Bullying: Does Empathy Work?

From Our Executive Director, Jacqueline Hicks (January 2017 Newsletter):

I say: Yes, and truly effective programs are using more than just empathy. Bullying behavior is increasingly problematic in our society, especially in our schools. Bullying behavior has been a part of most children’s experience since humanity began. I have been pondering memories of my own childhood, which include the hurt feelings I blamed on the harsh words or actions of others. I believed things like calling me names, teasing me, and making fun of me, were intended to exclude me and make me feel bad, which they did! Interestingly, I can’t remember my own acts of bullying, although I am certain that they occurred.

The power of empathy, as I see it, is being able to create a safe space for another person to fully explore and understand their own feelings and experiences. By remaining committed to the other person understanding him/herself, I may, but not necessarily, deeply understand their experience as well. In that commitment there is connection. If I find myself going to my own experiences or reacting with advice, sympathy, judgments, etc., that connection is broken and empathy is interrupted. Connection leads to compassion, and a relationship or link is formed between the two. For me to provide that kind of empathy, I also need congruence and unconditional positive regard. Congruence – the ability to responsibly, authentically and precisely identify my beliefs, thoughts, feelings and opinions – allows me the confidence that I know who I am and that I can always return to myself. I can therefore set aside my own ideas while listening to another. Unconditional positive regard is the ability to suspend judgments and truly appreciate, even treasure, the differences presented […]

By Carla Gerstein| February 3rd, 2017|Bullying, Congruence, Education, Empathy, PCA, SEL (Social Emotional Learning), Teacher|0 Comments

Permalink
Gallery
Words Can Heal

Bullying, Education, Empathy, From the Staff, PCA, SEL (Social Emotional Learning)

Words Can Heal

From Our Executive Director, Jacqueline Hicks, Newsletter Nov. 2016:

When someone behaves violently or hatefully, it becomes challenging to find ways to rebuke the behavior without rejecting the person. Yet, this is the very challenge facing many students and teachers in their classrooms today, prompted in part by the divisive election we have just experienced. I am sure that I am not alone with my anxiety about the changes occurring with the selection of our new president. Using congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard (the elements of PCA) have helped me understand my anxiety. At the heart of it, I am unsure how to include myself in what seems an unpredictable, scary future. On one hand, I see all around me others who are feeling worried and fearful, angry, and violent. Sometimes, I feel that way too. On the other hand, I see people who are jubilant, hopeful, and anticipating improvements in their lives. I hope for that too. Half the population thinks, vehemently, the other half is wrong in their beliefs, and vice versa. Colleagues, and other wise souls, offer empathy as a way of healing this great divide.

I believe that empathy is necessary. When I listen to someone who opposes my viewpoint and I understand that person so well that they are satisfied with my understanding, a door to new possibilities opens between us. I really like it when someone who see things differently than I do feels safe to express their true feelings and beliefs with me. I appreciate the gift of knowing a part of them. I realize that in addition to empathy, taking care with my words, and being responsible when I voice my feelings and opinions, has a lot to […]

By Carla Gerstein| February 2nd, 2017|Bullying, Education, Empathy, From the Staff, PCA, SEL (Social Emotional Learning)|0 Comments

Permalink
Gallery
Creating Inclusive Learning Communities

Education, Empathy, From the Staff, PCA, SEL (Social Emotional Learning), Teacher

Creating Inclusive Learning Communities

From Our Executive Director, Jacqueline Hicks’ article in our October 2016 Newsletter:

Have you ever been that kid in school who had no one to sit with at lunch time?

I have! For a short period, which seemed like an eternity, during one semester in Junior High school I felt completely alone, without friends. I had no one to talk to, or to eat lunch with, or walk to class with. I remember how lonely I felt. I was so embarrassed and confused; I couldn’t talk to my parents or teachers about it. I was very unhappy and I hated going to school. My experience that semester stays with me and supports my belief that academic success is influenced by feeling included in the learning communities, the classrooms, and the school.

I always made sure in my charter school, Cortez Hill Academy, that each new student had someone to be with on their first day and beyond, until they made their own connections and felt included. Our school was small and our students felt responsible for including everyone. That didn’t mean that everyone always got along or that everyone liked everyone else, but it did mean that everyone was accepted and considered part of our “family.”

I don’t need research to convince me that belonging is important to learning and happiness in school, although there is plenty of research to support that people need to belong. Belonging is third on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and as such, important to our growth and the development of our potential. For most students, the need to belong gets taken care of in many ways. Students belong to cliques, they join clubs, participate on sports teams, join groups outside of school, and of […]

By Carla Gerstein| February 1st, 2017|Education, Empathy, From the Staff, PCA, SEL (Social Emotional Learning), Teacher|0 Comments

Don’t Be Afraid of Betsy DeVos

A Corporate Consultant’s Point of View on the Current State of Education

A Teacher’s Point of View on the Current State of Education

Bullying: Does Empathy Work?

Words Can Heal

Creating Inclusive Learning Communities

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives

Monthly Archives: February 2017

Categories

Recent Posts

Archives