Empowering Girls To Become Leaders

Empowering Girls To Become Leaders

By Jill Jenkins

Recently in an interview on PBS, Melinda Gates discussed her new book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.  I began to wonder how teachers and school disillusion girls about their potential and how schools might change to empower women to become leaders.  I was born in the mid ‘50’s when women were limited to being a mother, a secretary, a nurse or a teacher.  In my lower social economic neighborhood, few women became nurses or teachers.  My grandmother, who raised 6 children of her own, 2 of her sisters and 2 younger brothers, ran a chicken farm and thought her daughters were courageous for learning to drive.  My mother, a no nonsense, stay at home mother raised her five children and was surrogate mother to half the neighborhood, most of my cousins and a good many of her friends children.  I am not saying that what women did in the past wasn’t important, but that women should have more options.  We’ve come a long way, but we still make it difficult for most girls to reach their full potential.

            What social norms are holding girls back?  First, the biological reality those girls get pregnant.  Hampered by the responsibility of children prevents many girls from completing their education and pursuing careers that might help them meet their full potential. Second, the mythology that women’s sole purpose is to tantalize men’s fantasy and/or provide maternal support (clean, cook, nurture).  These views are often reflected in speech, both joking and abusive.  Third, girls suffer from the lack of opportunity and the low expectation that girls should pursue those opportunities.

The Biological Reality: Keep them barefoot and pregnant

Girls and boys are equally sexually promiscuous; however, the reality is girls who find themselves impregnated suffer a more lasting impact on their life. Regardless of whether the girl marries young, raises the child out of wedlock or has an abortion, there are lasting social and emotional consequences.  Often the girl marries early and becomes financially responsible for the child, thus ending any educational opportunities she have pursued.  The boy might decide to take responsibility or be legally forced to accept only financial responsibility and he may or may not have his future educational opportunities impacted. or as my grandmother used to warn,   Therefore, it is paramount that girls learn the risk of early sexual activity and the opportunities that might be jeopardized .  Early sex education classes can help girls understand the decisions they make in their youth can negatively impact them the rest of their lives.  They need to understand the methods to avoid catastrophe and they price they pay if they do not.  Keeping girls “barefoot and pregnant” is another method society limits the opportunities for girls.

The Myth That Women Should Tantalize Men or Care for Families

     For centuries men have characterized women in two categories: sexual objects or caregivers. These two roles have served to hold women down and empowered men to mistreat women both for following their roles and for rejecting their roles.  These views are alluded to in men’s jokes and their speech.  For example, one particularly heinous joke depicts women as lacking intelligence and justifies physical abuse:

·      “What do you call a woman with two black eyes? A slow learner.”

The disparaging, lewd comments made by then candidate Donald Trump reduces women to sexual objects:

·      “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Other common remarks like:

·      “Don’t worry your little head, your husband will take care of everything”

 degrades women’s ability to think and do for themselves. Worse yet are the examples of verbal violence and physical violence against girls by boys who try to control the thoughts and behavior of their counterparts.  I have watch boys unhook a girl’s bra in a classroom.  I have watched boys line up along the bottom of a staircase to catch a peak up a girl’s skirt.  I have seen boys use cell phone cameras to snap a shot up a girl’s dress. All of these behaviors objectify women.  Girls need to be reminded that they are so much more than a man’s plaything.  They need to develop a sense of self-respect and worth.  They need to be reminded that they are smart, capable people who need to take control of their own bodies, their own financial life and their own future.  Without the belief that they are capable, intellectual, human beings, unscrupulous individuals are more likely to victimize them.  Plus teachers need to be proactive to stop the sexual harassment (both verbal and physical) in their schools and classrooms.

The Importance of High Expectation and Opportunities

For girls to succeed, schools must have high expectations that these girls can succeed at difficult academic classes and activities.  They must provide a variety of different learning opportunities where the girls can experience successful experiences.  I once knew a math teacher who used to seat her classes in the order that they performed on her last test: highest scores in the front of the room and lowest scores in the back of the room.  Not surprisingly, students in the back of room rarely moved forward.  Besides having communicated her expectation to these students, students sitting in the back of the room are less likely to pay attention or get the teacher’s attention they need.  Not all students learn in the same way, so it is important to communicate that all students are expected to be successful. 

In Conclusion

            Limiting over half of our populations ability to achieve significantly limits our ability to solve the difficult problems our world faces.  We need everyone.  Providing successful, challenging learning experiences in a safe, accepting environment is a big start.  Helping girls understand how the decisions they make in their adolescence will affect them the rest of their life is key to their advancement.  

            

An Interactive Method of Teaching Literary Terms

An Interactive Method of Teaching Literary Terms

By Jill Jenkins

My husband and I recently discussed why English classes are so dreary to most students.  Much of the curriculum involves learning new vocabulary, but there are some interactive methods that I have found successful.  To teach literary terms I often create a short story and introduce each term as I tell them the story.  Then working in both small groups and as a class the students create definitions for each term in language that they understand.  Using picture books the small groups identify the terms and present them to the class. Finally, each pair of students creates a short story or a short video (I have used either in the past) and identify the literary devices in their creations.  I also have a presentation day when they celebrate their creations and learning with the rest of the class.

What you will need is enough children’s books for each group of four students in the classroom and enough laminated word strips for each group of student.  The word strips should include:

v Plot

v Setting

v Exposition

v Narrative Hook

v Rising Action

v Climax

v Resolution

v Falling Action

v Simile

v Personification

v Onomatopoeia

v Characters

v Dialogue

v Description

v Foreshadowing

v Tone

The teacher stands before the class with a pile of strips on a desk. On the board behind her is a drawing of a plot chart without labels and the words “Story Elements” and “Figurative Language.” She begins by explaining that the plot chart, the figurative language and story elements might be found in a short story, a novel, a television show or a movie.   As she tells the story she is going to be placing some words on the Plot Chart or under the lists Figurative Language.  When she is finished the students will be working in groups to define these terms and apply the literary device in picture books.   Finally each group will write a short story or create a short video.  In their video or story, they will identify the same terms.  Each student should write down the terms identified by the teacher in notes and try to define each term. 

Modeling

“On a dark, stormy night, a young couple huddle close together as their black, 1974 Dodge Dart bounced jarringly down the rocky, dirt road, “ the teacher reads.

She turns to the board and places the word “Foreshadowing”, “Setting” and “tone” under the word “story elements. "

She continues reading: “the young couple, Bob and Helen, are on their honeymoon and Helen’s wedding ring glints from her finger under the faint light.”

The teacher places the word “characters” under “Story Elements.”

“Suddenly a crash of lightening brightens the sky, and the couple see a dark mansion on a hill to the right.  The car begins to sputter and then it stops.  Bob tries the ignition again and again, but to no avail. He pulls his cell phone from his pocket, but there is no service.  The old car has driven its final mile.  Helen climbs from the car as the rain pour down.  “Maybe we could get some help at the chalet on the hill,” she suggests.  Like two frightened mice, the couple scurry up the hill to the shelter of the covered porch.”

The teacher places the words, “Simile” under “Figurative Language” and the word “exposition” on the Plot Chart.

“Before the couple stands a great oaken door with a large brass knocker.  Bob raises the knocker that groans as though no one has lifted it in centuries. The knocker crashes with an ear-deafening explosion.  Silence.  He lifts the knocker again and it squeals before slamming down.  The door squeaks open two inches and a timid nose appears.  Bob and Helen explain their predicament and plead for some help, but the anxious little man seemed unmoved. He explains that he has no phone or electricity.  According to the radio, the road is washed out, ahead.  His only suggestion is the couple could stay at the old mansion for the night.  In the morning, Officer Harold usually stops by and will help the couple on their way, but he agrees to this if the couple agree to stay in their locked room all night and never open the door despite what they hear. The couple agree.”

The teacher places the word< “Narrative Hook.” On the plot chart, and “Onomatopoeia” and “Personification” under “Figurative Language.”

“The couple follows the bent, older man into the luxurious, old manor.  The high ceilings are covered with cobwebs and the furniture with graying sheets.  As they ascend the winding staircase, each step creaks and groan as if it was likely to splinter into kindling.  Finally they reach the bedroom containing  a large, mahogany four-poster bed and dresser.  The walls are decorated with elaborate tapestries and the windows with fine silk sheers and heavy brocade draperies.  The old man silently disappears locking the door behind him and leaving the young couple alone.

In no time, the young couple snuggle close in the big bed, weary from the long day and the unexpected changes.  In the dark they hear the storm pounding on the windows and the branches scratching against the glass.   Just as the couple began to nod off, they hear a small squeak on the staircase.  Then another slightly louder thud.  Helen nudges Bob awake.  Thud, thud, thud, someone is walking slowly up the stairs.  The footsteps grow louder.  Bob reassures, ‘Relax. It is just the old man going to bed.”  Helen relaxes a little and closes her eyes.  Then she hears a rattling sound. Someone is turning the doorknob.  She pushs Bob again and pointed to the doorknob that is turning back and forth.  ‘It’s locked,” he reassures her, but neither of them go back to sleep. “

The teacher moves to the board and adheres “Rising Action” on the plot chart and “Suspense”  “Description” under “Story Elements.”

In about an hour, the couple begins to relax and doze when the screaming begins.  Howling like a wolf and earsplitting shrieks arise from the hall.  Someone is scratching at the door and whimpering to come in.  Bob rises from bed to investigate the noise, but Helen pleads with him to not open the door.  He hesitates. Suddenly an ax slits the door.  Bob jumps back as the ax hits again shattering the door.  The old man stands before them with the ax high over his head ready to strike and his eyes wide with madness. The crack of a rifle fills the room and the old man collapses in puddle of blood.

The teacher adds “Climax” on the “Plot Chart.”

“Officer Harold Madsen strolls into the room.  ‘Are you folks okay? That old man is Myron Martin who escaped from a mental hospital for the criminally insane and we thought he was held up here. When I saw your car on the road and heard the screams, I was afraid I was too late.”

The teacher places “Resolution” on the “Plot Chart.”

“’We are on our honeymoon when our car broke down,’ Bob explained.

‘You are welcome to stay with my wife and me for the night and we can tow your car in the morning.’ Officer Bob offered.”

“Dialogue” and “Plot” the teacher adds under “Elements of a Story.”

“’If it all the same to you,’ Bob started, ‘we would prefer a quiet hotel.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ laughed the officer.'”

“Falling Action” the teacher adds on the Plot Chart.

Checking For Understanding 

The students are given time to discuss the elements and define them before each group shares with the class.  The teacher helps the class determine a definition and example of each term.  

Guided Practice 

Each group is assigned a storybook. The group reads the book, identifies each of the terms that the teacher has modeled and then each group reads their assigned book to the class while members display the Word Slips and explain how it is used in their assigned storybook.

Independent Learning 

Then the groups are given a few days to create a short story or a little video with the literary terms provided by the teacher’s modeling exercise.  Each teacher must determine the number of literary terms his/her students are capable of learning in one activity.

Reinforcement

The variety of activities and the many opportunities to use the terms reinforces their meaning, so the students are more likely to remember them.  Later, the teacher can write the terms on the board, and allow the students an opportunity to play fly swatter tag, by reading the definition or an example of each literary term and allowing two students to race to the board and slap the correct term with a fly swatter.   The more activity the teacher adds to the learning the more likely the students are to retain it. The class should read some additional short stories and novels during the unit and not only apply the terms that have been introduced, but additional terms should be added to the students' vocabulary.

Some good choices include:

• "The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell (plot chart, setting, dramatic irony, theme)
•   "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst (controlling symbol, metaphor, simile, setting, theme, characterization and irony
• "The Necklace" by Guy Maupassant (characterization, theme and dramatic irony
• "The Split Cherry Tree" by Jesse Stuart (characterization, theme, irony, controlling symbol

Novels:

• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (everything on your plot chart, characterization and setting, irony
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (everything)

It's A Matter Of Respect

It’s A Matter Of Respect

By Jill Jenkins

Recently an elementary school teacher in Bountiful, Utah demanded that a student with an ash cross to commemorate Ash Wednesday, wipe the cross off.  According to  a recent an article in The Salt Lake Tribune since most of her students belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Ladder Day Saints, the teacher was unaware of the religious significant of the cross and thought it was only attempt to disrupt her classroom.  The school district placed the teacher on paid leave. Regardless of the teacher’s experience, America has diverse population representing many different religious and ethnic groups all with differing customs and rituals.  All teachers should be trained to be more sensitive and informed about customs and rituals that might differ from their own. 

Belittling and defiling a child’s culture or religious belief dehumanizes the child.  It nullifies his importance as a person and insults not only the child, but also his community and his belief system.  The district rightly took punitive action against the teacher, but needs to take a step further.  Training teachers to identify and react to behaviors, customs and religious beliefs outside their own might prevent a similar situation from occurring again.  Teachers who cannot treat students with differing cultures and belief systems with dignity should be eliminated from the profession. 

Every child has a basic right to feel important and safe in schools.  Every child has a basic right to feel respected.  Respecting a child’s belief system and culture is important for that child to flourish.  If an educator fails to do that, they should no longer be teaching in public school.  

Flying: Helping Students Soar

Flying

Helping Students Soar by Reducing Obstacles:

 Ignorance, Fear, Poverty, Instability and Inattentiveness

By Jill Jenkins

“The more grounded you are the higher you fly”

J. R. Rym

Even though I have been retired for almost five years, I keep contemplating teaching questions like why do some children soar while others flounder.  I recently finished reading Michelle Obama’s book Becoming.   As a child, Michelle was not wealthy or powerful. Her father worked for the water department in Chicago and suffered from MS. Her mother was stayed at home until Michelle was in high school. The family did not own a house, but lived in an upstairs apartment at her great aunt’s house in the south side of Chicago.  Still, Michelle was well grounded in a loving family who had high expectations for their children and provided a rich interactive environment. Her great aunt provided Michelle and her brother with piano lessons, her parents demanded she and her brother speak correctly, and her grandfather’s home was full of music and laughter.  Michelle’s parents sent her brother to a Catholic high school and Michelle to a magnet high school so they could both be challenged intellectually.  As a result, both Michelle and her brother qualified and attended Princeton University. Michelle became an attorney and later a hospital administrator and her brother did equally as well.  As one might expect, both Michelle and her brother flourished. However, not all children are as well grounded and flight for them is difficult. Regardless some like Elon Musk and John Rockefeller succeed despite childhood hardships.  According to Elon Musk in a recent interview on Today Show on NBC, he was bullied at school suffered and from an abusive father.  According to the documentary, The Men Who Built America, John D. Rockefeller, despite having an abusive, alcoholic father, John became unimaginably successful.  What is the recipe to helping a child become successful?

            Students who are grounded with strong financial backing and parents who provide emotional support, high academic expectations, a sense of self-discipline and provide many and varying experiences for their children don’t just fly, they soar.  Students who are grounded with parent who may not be able to afford every experience for their children, but provide emotional support, love, discipline, and high academic expectations still fly high. What about those who do not provide for their children financially, emotionally and have low or not academic or behavioral expectations? These students education will be bereft of many experiences that enhance their learning and they will likely be stagnant.  As educators we don’t worry about the children who are grounded by a strong family love, high expectations for behavior and academic success, and a variety of enhancement activities in a rich, supportive environment.  Whatever we do will only help enhance what the parents are doing, but what about those who do not have this kind of family?  First, some parents are ignorant that children need a rich environment and some lack the resources to provide it.  Second, some parents fear change and fear losing their children.  As a result, they fail to provide resources and activities that the child needs.  Third, some children live in such dysfunctional families that neither emotional support nor financial resources are available for the child’s development.  Fourth, some students lack the self-discipline to endeavor through the intricacies needed to a master difficult learning.  

Some parents are either ignorant of the need to provide a rich environment for their children or are too financially strapped to provide it.  Some parents feel that if they have survived with only a high school diploma or less then their son or daughter certainly doesn’t need one.  One parent told me that he didn’t care if his son failed my class because it was only English, nothing that he would ever use in the real world.  The parents are unaware that to achieve in today’s technological world, students need some post high school education. Many parents fear that their child would be burdened with too much debt.  This is a legitimate fear considering the number of “for profit” institutions that have buried students in debt without providing them with a marketable skill. Some parents may want to provide their children with a rich environment, but can barely keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. These parents are often working two jobs.  For girls the situation is dire.  I remember my own father telling me that I didn’t need a college education because I’d probably get pregnant and never finish college. My mother told me as young as seventh grade student that boys didn’t like girls that were too smart. “Boys never make passes at girls wearing glasses.” I wore glasses and wasn’t interested in that philosophy.  Unfortunately, in many communities, discouraging girls from pursuing an education is still common.  Overcoming this attitude means educating parents and changing the social norms of the community.   Although these students may have the emotional support to be grounded, their families do not or cannot provide the rich, interactive life that child needs to reach his/her full potential.

“Despite her fears she found, the secret to an outstanding

life is risking the fall, for the possibility of flight.”

    Kyra Jackson

Some parents are afraid of change.  It isn’t uncommon for a child who earns a degree and pursues a career to relocate to another state.  Many families are spread across the country because rural communities offer few opportunities. My own daughter moved to New York because careers in journalism in Utah are almost nonexistent.  As a result, some parents are reluctant to encourage their children to pursue interests that might require relocation. Fear of failure, fear of losing connection to loved one and fear of the unknown reduces a child’s flight.

Some students live in such dysfunctional families that the child is never grounded emotionally or financially.  The Showtime television show Shameless depicts such a family where an alcoholic/drug addicted single father raises a family leaving the real parenting to the oldest daughter.  As a teacher I often saw similar families.  One of my former students was a sixteen-year-old boy financially and emotionally supporting four younger siblings because his parents were incarcerated. These children are so overwhelmed that it is unlikely they will succeed.  When an adult assumed responsibility for these children, they were able to succeed and sometimes soar.  For example another of my students was left orphaned when both of her parents died from AIDS, but luckily her godmother materialized and moved her from Puerto Rico to California.  Another student who drug addicted mother disappeared and with the help of an aunt, the three children were reunited with their biological father who provided a home, emotional support and a rich environment for them.  Sometimes the school needs to identify these students and connect them with the resources for a positive adult to help them.

“I was once told that flying involves long house of boredom, interrupted              by moments of extreme fright.”

                                    Franklin W. Dixon

Grit is a necessary component of success. Unfortunately, immediate gratification is the common denominated for many of today’s youth. Television, video games and the Internet have significantly reduced students’ attention spans until many students jump to a new topic if they find learning tedious.  According to Thomas Edison, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” To help students succeed educators have to help students learn self-discipline and develop longer attention spans.  Teachers are not just there to entertain, but to help students develop life-long skills to become successful. 

            Instead of closing schools that do not achieve on tests, districts and schools need to analyze why the students are not achieving.  Class size should be reduced to allow teachers to provide emotional support for their students.  Schools should provide a variety of interactive learning experiences including field trips, arts education, music, art and theater lessons, journalism and filmmaking classes.   Students should participate in sports and socially interact in positive ways. They need to eliminate educators or are not supporting students’ emotional needs, maintaining high academic and behavioral standards and expectations for students.  Schools need to offer opportunities to expand their experience and counsel both students and parents about how to get the financial and experiences resources to enhance their education. Whatever the child needs to be successful: art, science or just the belief that they can succeed.  Despite the few shooting stars like Elon Musk and John D Rockefeller who succeeded despite hardships, educators should do all they can do; so all students can “be all they can be.”

Entitled

Entitled

By Jill Jenkins

Ancient Greek spectators gathered at the Colosseum to be entertained by the death of captured slaves in combat or eaten by lions; American pioneers murdered Native Americans stealing their land under the guise of Manifest Destiny; and Australian colonists hunted and murders native aboriginal people for sport.  All felt entitled.  Objectifying people for their own pleasure or profit results in horrific outcomes for the victims while those who feel superior justify their despicable behavior because they feel entitled. Entitlement is a problem that plagues the orderly process of every classroom while destroying victims’ self-esteem, increasing violence and incidents of suicide.

How Does It Begin?

Entitlement begins in early childhood long before these children enter school by parents who fail to establish boundaries.   A toddler will snatch a toy from another child; destroy electronic devices in the home; or a push a younger child who impedes his/her desires.  Entitled children become entitled adults who fail to rise through Maslow’s hierarchy to become self-actualized adults.  Parents often enable children to selfishly bully and abuse other children for their own gain. Unfortunately, this behavior not only negatively impacts the victims, but retards the social development of the child.  All children need to be taught three simple rules to function well in society: first, respect others property; second, respect others; and third, accept responsibility.

Respect Other’s Property

Children need to learn to respect other’s property.  Every classroom has been disturbed by the cries of a student whose books have been intentionally knocked to the floor or an item has been snatched from his hands.  Every classroom has been sent into turmoil when a child’s cellphone or his I-Pad has been stolen. Often such incidents erupt into a fist fight or a loud altercation ending the learning for a period of time. How many students have been intimidated by a student who feels entitled to extort money or forcefully removes money or valuables from a less powerful child?  Children need to be taught at home to keep their hands off anything that doesn’t belong to them.  Although they should be encouraged to share, they need to learn to accept boundaries from another child or an adult.  “No” means “no.”  Parents who enable children to disrespect the rights of property are not doing them a favor.  For example in the 1980’s, I had just purchased a new Fiero. Two girls in a performing group, I sponsored stole my keys and took my car for a joy ride.  When I contacted both parents, one of the mothers told me it was my fault for having a sporting looking car that teenagers might want.  Perhaps, it was my fault for not pressing charges, but I hope the young lady grew up to believe she was not entitled to take anything that she fancied.

Respect Other People

Throughout my years as a teacher, I have stopped many children from fighting only to hear, “It is okay. We’re friends.” I have heard students use racially derogatory words who responded when confronted, “It is okay. We’re friends.” It’s not “okay” to physically or verbally assault another person regardless of the shared relationship.  Similarly, a person is not entitled to physically and verbally batter his/her spouse.  When a child’s abuse of another is ignored, we are teaching him/her that it’s “okay” to abuse the most important people in his/her life resulting in domestic violence.  Often times, these incidents seem small and unimportant, but if the pattern continues, the incidents can grow even more destructive.  For instance, while teaching in a high school, I encountered a shy, unassuming girl, Doris, who worked as my student-aide.  Doris filed papers and organized my folders.  She was a gem; responsible and polite.  Atypical for Doris, she missed a few days of school, so concerned I consulted the counseling office.  The school’s social worker told me that Doris had been cornered by six young men as she walked home from school.  They taunted her about her physical appearance before pushing her to the ground.  One of the boys jumped upon her and tried to remove her clothing, touching her inappropriately.  When a passing motorist spooked them, the boys ran off leaving Doris bruised and humiliated.  Despite the fact that all of the boys involved were students enrolled at the high school, the school had decided not to pursue action against them, because it had happened off campus and they hadn’t actually raped the girl. The boys returned to school unimpeded. Doris, who was too humiliated and frightened, was told to stay home.  The school was punishing the victim and not the perpetrators.

Accept Responsibility

The final social skill students need to acquire to be successful is learning to take responsibility for their actions.  Although the incident took place off campus, the administrators should have held the boys responsible for their behavior.  They should have all been held accountable because they were not entitled to abuse others for their own entertainment.  I have known principals who use their authority to help students learn to be responsible. In one middle school where I taught for a few decades, a group of ninth grade boys were taunting a seventh grade intellectually challenged boy. One of the older boys tripped the younger boy who fell into a classroom while a group of older students watched laughing. The incident was recorded on the school’s security camera.  The principal not only held the boy accountable who tripped the younger student, but also the boys who stood by laughing and making no attempt to stop the bullying.  My student was one of those boys.  To my surprise, his father told me how glad he was that the principal had suspended his son, because he was glad his son was learning that his behavior was wrong and he needed to accept responsibility for not stopping the bullying.  Treating others as objects for your own amusement is just as bad as tripping the boy. 

As educators we teach more than our academic subject.  We teach students to be good citizens.  Good citizens respect property, respect people (even when they are different from us) and accept responsibility when they are wrong.  Entitled: students are entitled to a safe, pleasant learning environment where they feel no one will hurt them physically or emotionally or take their personal belongings.  They should feel safe that others won’t coerce them into cheating from them or extort money or answers from them.  Those who feel entitled to hurt others or take what doesn’t belong to them need to be held accountable or they will never become truly responsible citizens.

The Power of Teachers

The Power of Teachers

By Jill Jenkins

Recently on Facebook a number of teachers complained that if only the administrators did anything, their school would run more smoothly, but as a retired teachers I have experienced a variety of situations where teachers identified a problem in a school, brainstormed solutions, developed a workable plan and presented it to administrators.  The administrators, in turn, empowered the teachers to enact the idea and the school improved as a result.  Teachers have power if they choose to use it.   Here are six examples that I have personally experienced the power of teachers enacting their own solutions to problems.

1. Hall Patrol

At one inner-city high school where I taught, so many students were in the hall during class time not only cutting class, but smoking cigarettes, and other substances and making drug deals that one science teacher used a fire extinguisher to spray a group of smoking students sitting on the staircase next to his room. Needless to say, he got into a bit of hot water.  The incident led to a group of teachers developing the idea of “Hall Patrol.”  Each teacher gave up one consultation period per week to patrol the hall encouraging students to get to class and writing up any students in violation of the rules.  The administrators were expected to follow through on the referrals.  Teachers worked in pairs because one elderly teacher had been hospitalized after a student assaulted him, beating him with his own cane.  The results were startling.  Most of the students returned to class without incidents and faculty member who rarely interacted had an opportunity to get to know each other making the school have a more cohesive faculty.  Occasionally a student would test the system.  On one occasion, my partner, a tall, well-respected shop teacher and I encountered two brothers selling a bag of marijuana in the hall.  Their buyer sprinted away, but the two defiantly passed the bag over my head to the waiting brother before laughing that we didn’t know their names and since teachers were not allowed to touch students, there was nothing we could do.  We went to the assistant principal’s office identified the two with a yearbook and let the school police officer apprehend the two.  I guess the joke was on them.  Teachers are not powerless.

2. Art and Trash Pickup

At another inner-city high where I taught, the problem were two-fold, each day the school had to be repainted to destroy the gang related graffiti sprawled across the buildings and the administration was so busy with larger behavior problems that taking care of small infractions like disrespecting teachers or childish behavior were impossible to address.  The teachers felt that if they small infractions were addressed, the big problems would be reduced: nip it in the bud.  The solutions developed by the teachers and proposed to the administrators were two-fold.  First, promising art students were selected by the art teacher to design and paint murals on the school walls.  Since some of these artists were the same nocturnal graffiti artists, the staff felt they would want their creations protected and the graffiti would be reduced.  The second part included trash pickup.  Students who acted in some inappropriate manner were assigned one hour of after school clean up.  Wearing a bright orange vest, each student was given a large garbage sack and escorted around the campus to pick up paper for an hour.  When it was raining (which was rare because it was southern California) they cleaned desks or scraped gum.  The most important part of the punishment was the students talked to the teachers and they processed what they had done and why it was wrong.  Incidents of inappropriate behavior were reduced dramatically and the graffiti was almost eliminated.

3. Study Help

Teachers at two very different schools, designed similar solutions to the same problem: one inner-city high school and one affluent suburban junior high school.  The teachers in both schools recognized that many of the families had either single parent households where parents worked long hours to financially support their children or households were both parents worked.  Either way, parents had little time to help their children with homework or help a struggling student.  In both schools, teachers approached the administration to donate time before school or during their lunch hour to tutor students who were struggling without pay.  Naturally the administration acquiesced and some struggling students were given much needed help.

3. No Zeros Allowed

Two math teachers at my former school developed a program called “No Zeros Allowed” after attending a workshop. The problem was that assignments in a math class are designed to support sequential learning.  When students chose to not complete assignments, they impaired their own ability to learn concepts taught later.  Since work completed late was reduced in point value, students did not feel compelled to complete missing work.  The principal loved the idea, (Maybe because he was a former math teacher or because he felt students need to understand that learning to be responsible is also important.)  Teachers would refer students who had missing assignments to the math teacher in charge.  The math teachers would assign these students to “Lunch School."  The students would receive a call ten minutes before their lunch and were escorted to the cafeteria to receive a sack lunch and taken to the math teachers’ rooms.  There they would be given a packet of missing assignments from all of their classes and the guidance of a math teacher to complete the assigned work while eating lunch.  It was a little extra work for the teachers and the essays some of the students created were substandard, but students began to become more responsible about completing assigned work.  They only change I would make is to include teachers from a variety of disciplines to tutor the students. 

5. Teacher Advisory Revisited

The administration at the junior high school where I used to teach instituted Teacher Advisory, twenty minutes three times a week where students participated in activities from the affective domain. The activities were far too juvenile for the ninth grade students who often ridiculed them.  While I was evaluating another junior high for the state, I witnessed a program that I thought would benefit our students so I brought the idea to my principal.   At the other school, students were either compelled to go to a study hall to make up tests or assignments or if they were all caught up, they could attend an enrichment activity.  My principal loved it, so I encouraged him to talk to the other principal.  The next year, he implemented the program.  Just as the other principal told me in the beginning there were problems, but our principal had learned a lot from the other school’s mistakes.  First, teachers had to identify, students who had failed to complete assignments or tests, and request that they go to appropriate location.  These students received a ticket and were escorted to their assigned location before the other students were allowed to choose an activity.  Second, the teachers in each discipline and in each grade level had to decide before hand who would be teaching enrichment activities and who would be helping students who needed help with missing assignments or tests.  Third, a huge mistake the administration made was telling students who were caught up to go wherever they wanted.  Some of them wanted to go to the local service station and buy a treat.   To solve this, teachers handed out tickets and students selected the enrichment activity they would attend.  Unfortunately some activities were more appealing to students than others.  I taught an improvisational theater class that was overwhelmed with students and my neighbor taught a ukulele class that attracted about ten students.  Regardless, the program proved much more fruitful than the previous program.  Students were motivated to get their work in and those who didn’t were held accountable.  

6. Catch Someone Doing Something Right

My former husband went to an administrative workshop and heard an idea where businessmen recognized employees doing their job well: Catch Someone Doing Something Right.  That would work with students I thought so I brought the idea to my principal.  She loved it.  She printed out little cards and teachers were to present a card with a description written on it of the child’s behavior.  The principal herself and her secretary would congratulate the child and present him/her with a piece of candy.  The next principal took it a step further and put the child’s name into a drawing for a fabulous prize at the end of the week.  The program was successful for two reasons: first, it forces teachers to focus on the positive; second, it rewards the students who are doing the right thing, rather than give all of the attention to the students who are behaving badly. Attention is what students want.  As a result, the student who misbehaves learns he/she can get more attention by behaving appropriately.  

Conclusion

The next time you feel powerless as a teacher, just develop an idea to solve a problem and present the plan to the administration.  You might be surprised how receptive your over-worked administrator is.  Don’t expect more pay or recognition; just do it for the children.