Friday, December 21, 2012

Guns, Schools, and the NRA

What can I say that has not already been said about the shooting at the Connecticut elementary school? So many positive touching tributes had already been posted. Two of my favorites has been first a photo of the perpetually smiling Mr. Rogers with a beaming child and his reminder that in every tragedy we need to look for the helpers, because the helpers show our true selves. A second favorite has been a viral tweet from NBC broadcast journalist, Ann Curry, who suggested we ought to volunteer 26 acts of kindness as a memorial to those who were killed. Since Sunday, according to NBC, over 167,000 tributes have been posted to #26ACTS.

That, I thought, was enough. No more words were needed. Such a crime cannot be undone, and all we can do is pledge to try to make the world a better place. Let Newtown mourn in peace.

Then came Friday's bizarre NRA news conference. NRA spokesman, Wayne LaPierre, took the occasion of the one-week anniversary of the shooting, while teachers and students were still being buried in Newtown, CT, to say that the NRA opposes any gun laws: "the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." How does one do that? asks the inquiring mind. LaPierre said the answer to gun violence in schools is an armed security force that can protect students, made up of trained volunteers stationed at every school across the country.

No, this newscast couldn't be true. Even the NRA has more sense than making a statement like that at a time like this. I double-checked the initial reports, because I thought this had to be a parody penned by The Onion, the irreverent newspaper satire from Madison, WI. But no, to my disbelief, this was an actual event staged by an obviously deranged publicist. To not tear into this idiocy would be to disrespect the memory of the Newtown students and teachers.

Trained, armed volunteers in every school? Why trouble with Mr. Rogers, with acts of kindness, the NRA seems to say, when we have superior weaponry? Well, following NRA logic, why stop with a single armed officer in every school? Why not arm every individual classroom? Why not arm every temple, church and mosque? Why not arm every shopping center and movie theater, and fast food place and neighborhood spa. Perhaps even Santa and his elves should be packing. Prince of Peace: phaaaa!

Twitter contributor, Adrian Eversoll, posting to #NRA, pointed out that the NRA's theory of superior firepower did not protect the sites of three other mass shootings. He wrote, "Columbine had an armed guard. Virginia Tech had a police department. And Fort Hood had the military." How many more guns are needed to protect us? Earth to NRA: escalating the threat of violence in schools and in society is not the answer.


Wednesday, December 12, 2012

From Bangladesh to Super Storm Sandy

While listening to Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, and Adam Sandler's irreverent "Hallelujah", at the 12-12-12 Concert for Super Storm Sandy Relief tonight, my mind wanders back to August 1971 and the original relief concert, the Concert for Bangladesh. At the time, that small country endured millions dead from unimaginable famine and political terror. The 1971 concert brought together the best performers of the time including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Phil Spector, and Ringo Starr among many, many others.

The driving force behind the concert was another ex-Beatle, George Harrison, and Indian music legend, Ravi Shankar. It seems like a full turn of wheel of fate that at the same time I am listening to Bon Jovi at the Sandy Concert, I am also mourning the death this week of Mr. Shankar, an ambassador who was able to unite a fractious late 60s and early 70s with quivering sounds from an odd looking, long-necked traditional instrument.

Shankar explained why he reached out to Harrison with the idea for the Bangladesh concert. Admittedly, the proceeds from the concert and subsequent film would be only "a drop in the ocean (of relief need)," he said. In fact, the back of the Bangladesh album booklet (yes, we still have the vinyl three-record album, my wife's college barter for meal tickets) shows an imprint of the check from the concert to the UN Children's Fund for Bangladesh: $243,418.50.

"Maybe it (the proceeds) will take care of (eight million refugees) for only two or three days," Shankar wrote in the album booklet, "but that is not the point. The main issue -- beyond the sum of money we can raise -- is that we feel that all the young people who came to the concerts... were made aware of something very few of them felt or knew clearly."

The point of the concert for Bangladesh, and for Super Storm Sandy 41-years later, is not just the money. According to Shankar, the point of the music and performances, "is trying to ignite -- to pass on the responsibility as much as possible to everyone else." It is a celebration of responsibility and of hope joined together only as music can.

I'd write more, but Clapton, the 2012 version, has just joined the Sandy Concert, and the Stones are next. Rock on!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Tribe of Educators on Twitter

Scanning the latest education tweets today, I discovered "Homework may not equal learning: one to two hours a night may be excessive," "Intricate lessons may not connect to the larger lesson/competencies," "The Power of Collaborative Learning," and "Pinterest has hundreds of resources for educators." And, that is from just 50 minutes of posts.

Rather than lengthy conferences at exotic locales or subscribing to pages and pages of pedagogic papers, teachers turn to Twitter and other social media sites for a constant stream of inspiration and detailed, tested best practices. I can learn more in an hour of reading tweets from "Eye on Education", than from most in-service sessions. Some may argue that face-to-face personal contact is more effective than impersonal digital messages. Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the your comfort with this new training medium. Guru Educator Dave Guymon pointed out advantages in a Dec. 7 blog about education and Twitter:

"With proportionately decreasing budget and increasing demands on classrooms, teachers having access to a tribe of educators on Twitter provides me tools, strategies, and a support system that I can rely on to continually help me to become a better instructional leader and classroom manager... Interest-based groups of educators connect to discuss theoretical questions, classroom practices, and educational reform in a supportive, collaborative online environment."

I can foresee that instead of jetting colleagues off to the latest and greatest, that the best education ideas are brought to the instructor's classroom through webinars, discussion nodes, digital social resources, and Twitter news summaries. This brave new world is efficient, effective, and avoids long lines at the airport security stations. It introduces us to new ideas and keeps us in the classroom in front of our students, which is where we want to be.


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Only Enough for Three out of 25

During the last two weeks, I read applications for scholarships to NWTC in a methodical, well-rehearsed, and inspiring process. It was my first go as a reader. I think I would enjoy doing this again.

Each semester, dozens of groups of six readers are assigned 25 student applications from the almost 500 applications that the Foundation Office receives. Readers are asked to rank the applications in five descending categories: Outstanding, Above Average, Average, Below Average, and Why Did You Apply? Out of that group of 25, we are only allowed to award three Outstanding rankings. Those are the leading candidates to divide up $50,000 in scholarship money for the spring semester. The three of 25 become maybe 100 scholarship winners.

The NWTC Foundation recommends a weighted criteria: GPA (high school and college), Personal Essay, Financial Essay and Financial Need, and Letters of Recommendation. The GPA comparison was straightforward, assuming students had some college under their belt. The Financial Essay and Financial Need sections were less easy to consider since all my applicants could really use the extra money. Out of the 25 applications, 10 were an easy first cut for me. They received Average rankings.

The rest I ranked Above Average, and from that group, I planned to pick the Outstanding three. Since I have a writing background, I was especially interested in the personal essays. Unfortunately, some of the essays were more like personal paragraphs texted from a smartphone than well-constructed writing. Ignoring spelling, sentence fragments, misplaced commas and other rude violations of American Standard English, I concentrated on the stories the students had to tell. Those students who provided details and told a compelling story, rather than just fantasize about using their education to solve some fuzzy problem of the world, ranked higher on my list. I then looked to the letters of recommendation to support or add to the personal story of the students.

Out of the 15 applications that I seriously considered, I wanted to give half the Outstanding ranking. The seven were pared down to five, reapplying the GPA criteria, and then down to four. My last cut was very difficult. I hope I made the right choice.

In my opinion, my three Outstanding students demonstrated need, academic ability, and a drive to succeed in what they want to do. In a perfect world, there would be enough scholarship money for anyone who really wants to work for a college degree, but in our world, and on my list, there is only enough for 3 out of 25. That will have to be enough for now.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Randy Pausch and the Plan B

"Well, let's try Plan B."

My students hear this phrase from me a number of times each semester for a variety of reasons: a computer doesn't boot up, books that I thought were in the cabinet are missing at classtime, an assignment or exercise turns out to be a lemon, or other plans that were made in good faith go off the line. Life doesn't go the way we plan. What a surprise. Rather than fret about what should have been in a kinder perfect universe, I shrug and try something else.

Over the years, I have learned that there are many paths to an objective. Just because one path circles back upon itself, is blocked by bureaucracy, or fades into tall grass where I can't see ahead doesn't mean that the objective itself needs to be abandoned. There is rarely a wall in life that cannot be overcome or bypassed. The late great Randy Pausch, who delivered a famous "Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" before his death in 2008, said walls are put in our path to see how bad we want to reach our dreams. He didn't let cancer stop him. Why should our much smaller walls stop us?

I teach students that there are always, always alternative ways to reach their goals. There is rarely a benchmark, a problem, an exercise, an examination, a course, a program so impassable that it can't be scaled with work, persistence, and the help of others. When a student turns away discouraged, it is more from a lack of confidence than from the obstacle itself.

Don't believe me? Take an hour and a quarter to watch Pausch's Last Lecture at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo. I would be very surprised if, after hearing Pausch, you did not agree that there is always a Plan B.