A Soldier's Request Yields 9,000 Golf Balls

My most recent article for the Town Square - Newport News section of the DAILY PRESS (10/20/2011). Somewhat amusing,  but a good example of how a mother's love and some old fashioned elbow grease can do wonders. I'm still not sure if the 9,000 golf balls have arrived in Kuwait, but feel free to continue reading and learn how they got sent in the first place.

The initial request from the young soldier stationed in Ali-Al-Saleem, Kuwait was simple enough.

Army Specialist/then PFC Louis Adams was lamenting over the inability to keep his golf game in tune, mainly because of the lack of equipment, particularly in the golf ball department. Being August, the young man was eager to get out and hit some balls. On a whim, he e-mailed his mother Sandra Wilkins, who works in the material management department at the Newport News Shipyard. Louis knew of her connections with his sister’s cheerleading board and decided to approach from that angle.

“Hey Mom, can you ask your friends if they or their husbands play golf? If so, could they spare some golf balls for me and my buddies?”

It seemed like an odd request, but Wilkins diligently went to work.  Looking to be “a good Mom,” she started asking her friends from the cheerleading board.

One of these friends was Sherri Bush. Wilkins had previously worked with Bush’s husband Darryl at the shipyard but was unaware of his special connections. One of these connections was Joey Maben, golf coach at the Apprentice School. Maben set into motion a chain of events which turned Louis Adams’ request into a full blown mission, one which succeeded in procuring over 9,000 golf balls for the soldiers in Kuwait.

Maben’s search developed into a two-pronged plan of action. First, he approached his athletic director, Keisha Paxton. Paxton was in tune with Maben’s initiative to “give something back” to the troops overseas. Together, they met with Everett Jordan, director of the Apprentice School. Jordan was eager to jump on board, and immediately approved a plan to send a shipment of Titleist golf balls. However, one does not simply call the company and order a dozen boxes of balls. According to Maben, “the thing I remember is that the required order was a strange number.” Strange indeed. The order to be placed had to be for 504 dozen balls. In layman’s terms, that totals 6,048.

But Jordan was interested in knowing what more could be done for the soldiers. In the end, he directed an effort to prepare another care package, complete with plenty of knick-knacks, including Apprentice School memorabilia and apparel.

With the wheels turning on the one end, Wilkins looked toward her contacts in Newport News. Sheri Crocker was one of those friends and she was also willing to lend a hand. Crocker went to her boss and presented a simple question. “With regard to the city owned golf course, what does the city do with their used golf balls?” As it turned out, they toss the balls out, and were about to renew the process of replacing all of their range balls.” With good timing on their side, the city was happy to donate 1,500 balls to the cause.

Over at the shipyard, Maben wasn’t finished working through his contact list. Thinking of his team’s practice facility, the coach made a call to William Carson, owner of the Peninsula Golf Center. Carson added to the cache by donating 1,800 more gently used balls. The total was now over 9,000.

This presented one previous overlooked problem. Says Maben, “I thought, how are we going to get these balls to Kuwait?” Thinking of his own close military connection, Maben placed a call to his daughter Amanda, who works with the 82^nd Airborne Division, based in Ft. Bragg, NC. Although members of her outfit were about to be deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, the younger Maben had time to get the word out. This led to a connection with Chief Warrant Officer Jason Milligan, who was stationed on the Army ship Gross. Milligan agreed to take the balls overseas, as long as they could be delivered before his deployment on September 10. Mission half accomplished.

Now the problem became more immediate. How does one get 9,000 golf balls to a ship? Says Wilkins, “my feeling was that if the Army was willing to take this shipment all the way to Kuwait, I was going to find a way to get these balls to them.” Like the others, she turned to the military and found another helping hand, this time in the form of John Belkers, head of Community Services for Langley Air Force Base and Ft. Eustis. Belkers “responded very quickly” and offered to get the golf balls on the ship, provided that they could be delivered to Ft. Eustis. Now thinking outside of the box, Wilkins agreed.

With the help of a friend, the determined woman removed the seats of her minivan and made the ball pickup rounds, until her vehicle was loaded to the top with little white balls. Happy with her accomplishment, Wilkins successfully made the trip to Ft. Eustis and completed her drop.

All checkpoints were reached and at this moment, the golf balls are floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on the Charles P. Gross.

School Discipline - A Look Back

I must be in a reflective mood. Last weekend, I visited my old high school, Bishop Ireton, in Alexandria, VA. This time, it was for Homecoming, but also to present my cross-country and track teammate, Sam Imhof, for induction into the Ireton Athletic Hall of Fame. The weekend was great fun, celebrating the 30-year celebration with Sam's Class of 1981 (our 30th reunion is next year).

This weekend, I'll be at one of my other alma maters, Wagner College. I haven't been to Wagner in a shade over 20 years, and it will be totally different this time since I'm going for our first meeting as elected members of the National Alumni Board of Directors. Seeing as we also had a reunion of the Class of 1978 for St. Mary's Elementary School at Kathy Sutton's house back in May, it looks like the trifecta has been completed for 2011.

Anyhow, I found an earlier writing about my thoughts on classroom discipline with youngsters and figured that today would be a good time to re-display these thoughts from a few years ago. Guess the walk down Memory Lane is going to last a few more days.

XXX

My childhood experiences with discipline, at home and at school, have had a great impact on the philosophies of classroom discipline and management of children which I believe in and use today.

My early educational experience was in a very liberal situation. I began school at the age of four at the now defunct Chichester School in Alexandria, VA. I don’t have lucid memories of my two years there, except that it was a much different setting that what I found later in parochial school. The teachers at Chichester probably followed the discipline models of that time period, but I remember it was a very nurturing atmosphere and very laid back. I don’t recall ever being disciplined at Chichester. In fact, I only spent a week or so as a first grader, and got bumped up to second grade. Fortunately, my parents re-enrolled me into second grade at my next school, St. Mary’s Elementary, also in Alexandria.

Discipline was taken more seriously at St. Mary’s and to a small degree I bucked its presence. At school, I wasn’t really a problem child, but grew up in an environment of problem children. The kids from my neighborhood were different from the children I went to school with. Suffice it to say, I usually knew the curse words before my classmates, hung around with people who had started smoking before my classmates, and knew people that went to detention center or jail, unlike the St. Mary’s students. I do remember not enjoying the few times I was disciplined at St. Mary’s. However, instead of making me stop, my first thought was always that I would never be this mean and cruel to somebody else. That remembrance has had a large impact on my discipline philosophy. For the record, a lot of these mean and cruel thoughts were mirrored by my classmates at our May 2011 reunion.

After seven years with the sadist nuns, I graduated from St. Mary’s with most of my pride in check. My next stop was Bishop Ireton High School, and the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. The Oblates are a religious order dedicated to teaching. Their teaching methods were very avant-garde and laid back. The year before I arrived, they were still working on a class schedule which they called (E.A.), or Education by Appointment. The classrooms were mostly study coves and students made appointments to meet with their teachers a few days a week. Most assignments were self-taught and the teachers acted more as facilitators at the one-on-one meetings. To some extent, students roamed the halls and worked on assignments at their own pace. There was little formal discipline in this environment, and it lingered throughout my high school years. We did have a formal disciplinarian for a principal, and for our dean of students. Unlike St. Mary’s, my memories of being disciplined at Ireton are not bad ones at all. When I think of going to detention, I recall being able to get out early by answering one of our dean’s trivia questions, such as “Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb?”

These experiences have influenced my feelings about discipline and managing children. I know that my dealings with children involve a good deal of two-way communication and letting them have some input into what we do in class. If I raise my voice or discipline a child, it usually draws attention because it is unlike my normal demeanor. Of course, in that case, I do it for effect because it does get attention. When my students see me angry, they know that I am really upset because it happens so rarely. They also know that they can talk with me about school related problems, or anything else. Fortunately, I had parents and many teachers who listened to me. I try to remember that when dealing with children at school.

Meeting the "Steeler Lady"

Two weeks ago, I had the unique pleasure of meeting one of the more interesting people I have encountered in some time. Barbara Caffacus is known around these parts as the "Steeler Lady" and the moniker is fitting. As noted in the accompanying aticle, she met me at her front door attired in Steelers garb - shirt, watch, necklace, etc...Guess the next question becomes - "What is a diehard Redskins fan doing at the home of a MORE diehard Steelers fan?Fortunately, I drew the assignment for the Daily Press, more specifically the local section, which is called HR Town Square. It comes out every Thursday and there is one for Newport News (ours) and another for Hampton. It wraps around and becomes the front page of the paper.To my surprise, Barbara's story was deemed worthy of the front page of the Town Square section, so for Newport News, it was front page news last week. I couldn't find the article on the website and her pictures were sent directly to the paper, so I am missing some visuals. But, I will work on locating something. In the meantime, here is the version I sent in (a bit different then the final edited copy). Thank you Barbara for a most interesting afternoon and certainly for the cookies you made. They have been awesome!!

There is little doubt that the moniker given to the woman who greets a reporter at her front door is fitting.

Clad in a Steelers t-shirt, necklace and watch (“what did you expect me to wear?”), Barbara Caffacus is the formal name of the woman also known to neighbors and business owners in her Hidenwood neighborhood as “The Steeler Lady.” Approaching her 74^th birthday next month, Caffacus is a ball of energy, much more active and spirited than people half her age. Originally from the Pittsburgh area, she, husband Robert and three children relocated to Newport News in 1968. But from looking through the pictures in the “Champions Book,” which sits on the coffee table of the home’s “Steelers Room,” it is obvious that her love for sports started while living in the Keystone state.

 “I had a ticket to the Mazeroski game,” says Caffacus in a moment of reflection. In that seventh and deciding game of the 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates hit a game-winning home run which clinched the championship for Pittsburgh. “But I had to work and couldn’t go.” Flipping through the pages of the book, there is also a picture of Jack Nicklaus.

“I saw Nicklaus beat Arnold Palmer at the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont,” referring to the fabled golf match which was held in Pennsylvania. Also included are tennis pictures, including several from the ten-hour marathon at last year’s Wimbledon between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut.

Why tennis?

“There are a bunch of us who play. Some of us are in our 70’s, 80’s, a couple are in their 90’s. But we play some serious tennis.”

The group has expanded its interests beyond the field of sport.

“We’re a singing ministry. We go to various hospitals and charity events to sing. Please don’t forget to mention this, it is important.”

Helping others has been a staple in Caffacus’ life. She retired from the Newport News school system after 28 years as a teaching assistant at Palmer (“my daughter teaches there now!”) and Yates elementary schools, then went to work as a substitute teacher at Hidenwood.

Friends are especially important to Caffacus. Her Steelers room is adorned with many knick-knacks, several dating back decades. There is the large stain mug from the 1974-75 season, noting the team’s first Super  Bowl win with all the games and scores, the books by owner Dan Rooney, Tony Dungy (a Steeler alum) and Terry Bradshaw, and Super Bowl picture collages. A more recent addition to her collection is a football signed by Newport News native and Steeler coach Mike Tomlin. However, this football was signed by Tomlin at a tailgate party following the Steelers Super Bowl 27-23 win over Arizona in 2009. Many of her collectibles, including the youth football picture which included Tomlin as a 7^th grade player, were donated by friends and family. “They know how much I love the Steelers and gave me these items to put in here. It really is a group effort.” Says Caffacus, this is a “love room.”

One of those friends is Pat Hawkins. High school classmates from Western Pennsylvania and friends for over 60 years, both Caffacus and Hawkins now live in Virginia, with Hawkins settling in Lynchburg. Among the shared stories is one of how the two have to travel to each other’s house whenever the Steelers make it to the Super Bowl (three times in last six years). “Of course, people usually want to come here because of the room.”

Caffacus has no one favorite Steeler. “There are four and you see that I have pictures of all of them on the wall.” Surely enough, one wall of the “Steelers Room” includes smaller Fathead-model photos of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Heath Miller, Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward. One special picture in the “Champions Book” includes Ward sporting a Polamalu-like mop of curly black hair, reminiscent of the shampoo commercial featuring baseball player Joe Mauer mimicking the All-Pro strong safety, known as much for his dark mane of locks as his stalwart playing ability.

In spite of the Steelers 2-2 start this season, the Steeler Lady remains optimistic. “Last year, we didn’t have Roethlisberger for four weeks and look what happened. We made it to the Super Bowl.”

Successful Methods and Pedagogical Techniques Used by ESL Teachers in the Classroom; A Pilot Study

Kicking around an idea for this semester's pilot study leading into my dissertation topic. Still looking at cultural competency, but looking more through the lens of the successful ESL teacher. Here's what I have so far. Let me know what you think.. work in progress..always is :)

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study is to identify successful strategies and pedagogical techniques used by ESL teachers in their classrooms. In greater detail, this study is designed to investigate specific methods which ESL instructors incorporate as part of their lesson planning to engage their students. The research gathering strategies used for this study will consist of interviews with teachers and students, observations, and a short narrative from each teacher describing their favorite strategy. This study will be based on the constructivist design while applying the framework of critical reflexivity, which requires teachers to examine how their past experiences have shaped their ideas on their roles and responsibilities as teachers. This framework has been shaped by several prominent educational researchers.

Research Problem

            Classrooms across the United States are becoming more diverse. While a number of cities, such as Miami, Los Angeles, El Paso, and Phoenix have enjoyed a long transition into diversity, some areas of the country are not. One such area is the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. While other northern regions in the state enjoy diverse learning communities, the percentages of Hispanic and Asian students in Hampton Roads schools are still low. For example, the most recent demographic of the Newport News school system shows only 9.9% Hispanic students, and 2.9% Asian (2010). By comparison, in the city of Alexandria, these percentages are 30.7 and 5.0, respectively (2010).

 However, the percentages of minority students in the Hampton Roads region are rising and will continue to do so. To continue preparing for this change in demographics, school systems in southeastern Virginia will need to hire more ESL teachers in the near future. Currently, there are very few ESL teachers in the area. An inquiry to one school system with four high schools, seven middle schools and 24 elementary schools elicited a response that there were 3-4 ESL teachers currently employed in the entire system – one for each level.

At this time, it is not believed that any research has been conducted on the expected growth of Hispanic and Asian students to this region. There is also little evidence of any planning for this shift in demographics at the regional level. The intention is to examine the situation in one school system. By examining a locality with only several teachers, I intend to capture the essence of what is working. These results will be compared to results in a larger study, which will be conducted in a larger school system, probably in Northern Virginia. By identifying the successful methods and techniques which are brought into the classroom by ESL teachers in more diverse regions, the objective as a researcher is to make comparisons to the methods and techniques used by teachers in the Hampton Roads and determine which methods and background techniques are working successfully. This information can be presented to school administrators who will be in the position to seek and retain successful ESL teachers in the next several years.

ispanic, Asian Hiper

Purpose Statement

            Ladson-Billings (1995) notes the importance of cultural competency in the classroom by stating that “not only must teachers encourage academic success and cultural competence, they must help students to recognize, understand, and critique current social inequities.” (p. 476)

                        Studies have shown that because of the conflict with language understanding, literacy can be gained with ESL students by making the topic in literacy relevant to the student’s life and interests (Smallwood, 1998; Singleton, 2000). Keeping the participatory approach conceived in the Frierian model of ESL curriculum in mind, other educators have developed multi-step plans to help ESL language learners develop better command of the English language (Rominski & Vazquez, 1997; Frederick & Huss-Lederman, 1998). Some of these techniques have been emulated at the school system level (NYCBE, 1997).

            Some of these programs and techniques concentrate on the reading aspect of learning English, while others make the transition to putting the newly learned material into writing form. As noted by Bello (1997), “by integrating writing with content at every level of instruction, teachers help learners find their own voices in their new language and develop the ability to communicate effectively in different contexts and with different audiences.” (ERIC DIGEST, p.5). While translating to a new language, it is imperative to note that teachers are responsible to be aware of their students’ perceptions of what helps them progress and somehow to incorporate these perceptions into their teaching (Diab, p. 40).

            While ESL teaching is unique, many of the methods and techniques used by these teachers could fall under the larger framework of cultural competency. According to Ladson-Billings (2008), “culturally relevant teaching must meet three criteria: an ability to develop students academically, willingness to nurture and support cultural competence, and the development of a sociopolitical or critical consciousness.” (p. 483)

            My previous research has focused on topics relating to cultural competency issues for teachers, and the culturally competent characteristics exhibited by high school coaches. My intention with this study is to identify positive methods used by ESL teachers to communicate with their students.

Research Question

            My main research question for this study will be:

·         What are the personal and pedagogical characteristics specifically focused toward teaching ESL students? (compared to a traditional classroom teacher)

Interview Questions

      Questions to be used for each teacher (8-10) will include the following:

• ·         Tell me why you became an ESL teacher. (Warm-Up – should provide some personal background)
• ·         Describe a typical day in your school (Warm-Up – might help to shed light on how school system/Title III funding affects one’s job)
• ·         Describe the classroom methods or strategies that you use to teach ESL students?
• ·         What role does resources play in helping you develop lesson plans to teach ESL students?
• ·         How do you use the resources available to you to teach ESL students in your classroom?
• ·         Do you think your school system properly provide you with the necessary resources to work in an ESL classroom? (is improvisation important?)
• ·         Do you think there are differences between the classroom needs of ESL students and students for whom English is a first language?
• ·         Do you think that your cultural and social background plays a role in the classroom? Why or why not?
• ·         What is your favorite lesson to teach to ESL students? (can ask…might be more for background)
• ·         What is the greatest challenge you face as an ESL teacher?
• ·         What are some of the ways you work to overcome this challenge?
• ·         What are some of the ways that you utilize the course curriculum? Is there room for creativity and thinking “outside of the box?” Give me some examples.
• ·         How would your students describe you as a teacher?

The data gathered from the answers to these questions is intended to lead to potentially relevant follow-up questions and provide the subjects an opportunity to reflect before making further comments, either in oral or written form. Because this is a pilot study, I will probably not have follow-up questions.

The other part of my fact-finding strategy is to conduct a 30-45 minute observation of each teacher in class. The purpose is to see him/her put the methods described into practice.

References

Bello, T. (1997). Improving ESL Learners’ Writing Skills, ERIC Digest. Washington, DC:

 National Clearinghouse for ESL Literary Education.

Demographic data (2011), Hampton City Schools. Retrieved from http://sbo.hampton.k12.va.us.

Demographic statistics (2010-2011), Alexandria City Public Schools, Retrieved from

            http://acps.k12.va.us.

Diab, R. (2005). Teachers’ and students’ beliefs about responding to ESL writing: A case study.

            TESL Canada Journal, 23, 1, pp. 28-43.

Frederick, C. & Huss-Lederman, S. (1998). The Participatory Approach to Workplace and

 Vocational ESL. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Hoang-Thu, T. (2010). Teaching Culture in the EFL/ESL Classroom. Presented at The Los

            Angeles Regional California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages,

            Fullerton, CA.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that’s just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant

            pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34, 3, pp. 159-165.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2008). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American

 Educational Research Association, 32, 3, pp. 465-491.

New York City Board of Education. (1997). STARS for ESL. Strategies, Techniques and

            Resources: Meeting Higher Standards in Grades 6-8.

Rominski, C. & Vazquez, M. (1997). Improving Reading and Writing Skills of Mainstreamed

 ESL Students. M.A. Research Project, Saint Xavier University and IRI/Skylight.

Singleton, K. (2000). Teaching Literacy Students in Your ESL Class. Presented at the Virginia

            Adult Institute for Lifelong Learning – English as a Second Language (VAILL-ESL)

            Conference.

Smallwood, B.A. (1998). Staff Training for Alexandria Head Start in ESL Methodology.

            Alexandria Early Childhood Commission.

Should Teachers Be Paid More? Sure, But Here’s an Idea!!

Just for the sake of leading in, it is negligent to talk about education these days without mentioning the changes being made in the controversial program known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Enacted in 2001 by then-President George W. Bush, the bill was best known for giving teachers and administrators headaches from coast-to-coast.

While the reasoning behind the bill made sense, it was never a realistic proposal. Over the 13-year course of the plan, schools were required to incrementally improve their standardized test scores every year. What many people do not realize is the pattern of the improvement. Most of the gains were slated for the years 2011-2014. On a graph, the improvement curve looked like the first half of the Griffin roller coaster at Busch Gardens. For those who do not live in the Williamsburg, Virginia area, let’s just say the curve was about to become very steep. And the numbers were not good. In my region of Virginia, only six of 37 schools in Newport News met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals, while only five of 31 accomplished the feat in neighboring Hampton. Even more suburban systems such as York and Williamsburg-James City had percentages in the 30-40% range.

Arne Duncan, the current Secretary of Education, has been given a lot of money and freedom to run his department. He will probably go down as the most powerful DoE leader ever. His initial plan called “Race to the Top” pitted states against each other for Federal funds. This plan was met with mixed results, usually criticized by the states losing out on money.

His plan to rework the entire NCLB plan to include room for more classroom creativity and less “teaching to the test” should be met as a positive sign in American schools. The jury will remain out while this is reworked, but the stage is now set for a true meaningful change to be made in our educational system. Many hope that Duncan and his associates take advantage of this opportunity.

With this in mind, I’d like to make a modest proposal with regard to the teacher salary plan.

Are teachers underpaid? It depends on where you live and who you ask. In Virginia, the starting salary ranges from about $33,000 in the most rural divisions to the following in its larger divisions. These numbers are based on a 10-month scale having a bachelor’s and master’s degree.


(Data found on the websites of the various school systems through the Virginia Department of Education website at http://doe.virginia.gov)

            Starting Teacher Salary With a Bachelor’s/Master’s

Alexandria   $ 43,632/ 50,047

Arlington        43,910/ 48,412

Fairfax Co.     44,440/ 49,928

Harrisonburg  39,214/ 41,764

Norfolk          38,012/ 41,053

Richmond      39,712/  41,697

Roanoke        36,604/ 37,967

VA Beach      38,597/ 41,097

The bottom of the scale begins to widen after the first 5-10 years, but here’s what the same teacher can expect to be making after 20 years, and the final number is the highest possible salary on the teacher scale for a standard contract:

Alexandria     75,299/ 92,313                     99,063 with a Masters plus 30 credits                              

Arlington       65,256/ 87,450                    101,298 with a Doctorate

Fairfax Co.    74,395/ 79,884                     93,015 with a Doctorate

Harrisonburg 47,377/ 49,927                     67,229 with a Doctorate

Norfolk          59,854/ 64,642                    70,460 with a Doctorate

Richmond      49,818/ 52,307                     71,664 with a Masters plus 30 credits

Roanoke         52,197/ 53,562                   60,851 with a Doctorate

VA Beach      54,098/ 56,598                    70,014 with a Doctorate

There is an obvious disparity among the regions within the state, but outside of Northern Virginia, a teaching position pays equivalent to a GS-7/8/9 government job. Here’s what the GS scale in the Washington DC Metro area looks like

7	42209	43616	45024	46431	47838	49246	50653	52061	53468	54875
8	46745	48303	49861	51418	52976	54534	56092	57649	59207	60765
9	51630	53350	55070	56791	58511	60232	61952	63673	65393	67114
10	56857	58752	60648	62544	64439	66335	68230	70126	72022	73917
11	62467	64548	66630	68712	70794	72876	74958	77040	79122	81204
12	74872	77368	79864	82359	84855	87350	89846	92341	94837	97333

The arguments here become obvious. To the full-time government employee, it’s “well, they have summers off!” For the teachers, the cry is “we have to do all this extra unpaid work and we never have enough time!”

Both arguments are valid and true. The typical teacher contract consists of a 195-200 day work schedule, with additional requirements to complete 180 hours of professional development during the term of each license (5 years). Taking two graduate courses can satisfy this requirement, but at least half of this can be accomplished through regular faculty meetings and division-wide development training.

Considering that eliminating summer school is not an option (by the way, teachers can make between $1500 and $5000 extra depending on the pay plan - usually $22-30/hr. – and length of term – four to eight weeks), what can be done?

Notwithstanding any upcoming merit pay plans, my solution is to add 20 mandatory days to the teacher contract. The first 10 days would be added to the end of June and involve a student remediation session. This could be used as a way for some students to avoid summer school, if used properly. If a student meets certain academic benchmarks, they can stay home. This time can also be used for debriefing and reflection among the teachers and staff. Under the current contract structure, teachers pack up on the last day and leave without having an opportunity to look back at the past year and determine where ideas went right or wrong. With remediation, it could be possible to reduce the amount of time and resources needed for a summer session.

The other two weeks would be added before the current check-in date in mid to late August. These two weeks would be devoted to professional development and school meetings. The current argument from teachers is that they come to school for 5-8 days of preparation and spend most of the time in meetings (school-wide, division-wide, grade level, content level, team level, etc…). There is not enough time to plan one’s lessons, decorate the classroom, get to know the new teachers and make general preparations for the first day of school. My proposal suggests getting the professional development out of the way first, and then allowing for the 5-8 days to be used strictly for class preparation, which is the most important element of education. It will lead to a much smoother transition into the school year and alleviate some of the time teachers have to spend working at home, or the late afternoons/evenings in the school building.

For working these extra days, teachers would be paid based on their current contract, but generally this would result in a 10% raise.

Of course, there are a number of elements to be added into the mix, with the first being funding. However, my belief is that this covers a lot of angles including higher teacher pay, meeting greater community expectations, more classroom time, more potential face time with troubled students and a greater sense of teamwork within a school building.

I’d love to open this forum and hear from those in favor and those opposed. If I may make a request, please, use the comment link to respond as opposed to my Facebook page, if possible J

How ESL Teachers Relate Their Ethnic and Social Backgrounds to Practice: An Article Review

In her article, published in the March 2011 journal of Race, Ethnicity and Education, Dr. Lasisi Ajayi, a professor at San Diego State University, uses the ethnic background of her state, California, to present a strong argument for the importance of ESL teachers relating their ethnic and social backgrounds to instructional practices.

California, as a whole, is one of the most diverse states in America. But, instead of concentrating on her San Diego base, Ajayi traveled two hours north to Los Angeles, where she found 57 English as Second Language (ESL) teachers from inner-city junior high schools who were willing to answer her questionnaire, sit down for an interview and share their own perspectives in writing with regard to how their personal histories were reflected in their teaching pedagogical practices.

Ajayi presents useful data to note the increase of ethnic minority students, as well as teachers, in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and then uses her data findings to pose two questions:

      ·         How do ESL teachers backgrounds influence their conceptions of their roles, instructional decision-making, and efforts to negotiate the increasingly complex institutional and policy climates in which they work?

·         How do teacher educators and researchers engage in the development of teacher education programs and curricula that incorporate exploration of teachers’ personal backgrounds and attitudes?

 Ajayi came into the study with the hypotheses that ESL teachers make connections between their ethnic/social backgrounds and instructional practices (p. 255). On a larger scale, having the ability to draw on these backgrounds and experiences can benefit teachers now and in the future if the pedagogical choices made by the teacher can be identified and used in future teacher education programs.

The author’s states her purpose as determining the ways that ESL teachers interpret their ethnic and social backgrounds to mediate their pedagogical roles. She guides her study using two more questions:

·         How do the teachers’ ethnic and social backgrounds relate to their instructional decision-making in teaching ESL?

·         How do their views mediate their understanding of their roles as teachers and their interpretations of the institutional and policy climate of their schools?

After the introduction, Ajayi moves on to presenting her theoretical framework on teachers’ backgrounds and practices using the poststructuralist theory, while looking at the rejection of human beings having a coherent identity, a person’s link to society, the relationship among thinking, teaching and knowledge, and the classroom as a social and political site.

Her literature review concludes with the suggestion that ESL teachers’ backgrounds are a crucial source of knowledge and experience from which they construct their practice (p. 257) and that there is more to learn from investigating how ESL teachers reconcile their personal backgrounds and perspectives with teaching ESL (p. 257).

Ajayi proceeds to the demographic data of the student population of LAUSD. Having no personal relationship with the students, this data is useful in presenting the broad picture of the student makeup. According to the school system website, in 2008, there were over 746,000 students in the district, of which 72% were Hispanic, 12% African-American, 9% White and 6% Asian. On the other hand, the teachers’ demographics showed that 47.8% of teachers were White, 27.9% Hispanic, 12.8% African-American and 8.4% Asian. (p. 257). Other notable data includes 25% of K-12 public school students being ESL and representing more than 100 languages.

 Methodology

 Ajayi’s first step was to develop a questionnaire to collect biographical data. There were four parts to the survey. Part I included 11 questions focusing on the teachers’ racial, linguistic, gender, experience, age and educational backgrounds. The second section was used to determine the relevancy of the ESL curriculum and program in the teachers’ schools and how well they were addressing the students’ needs. Additional questions looked at California policy of the ESL program and use of personal experiences to deliver instruction.

The researcher bolstered her findings in other ways. Each teacher was required to write a statement commenting on their views on California’s language-learning policy, school policy, ESL programs and curriculum as well as standardized tests. This was based on the Ajayi’s belief that teachers’ views were a social construction, a belief previously introduced by Wenger (2005, 153)

Each teacher was also interviewed for a 20-30 minute period to explain their views about teaching ESL and the effectiveness of using English-only within the program, which was one of the four programs used in California (others being Basic Bilingual, Dual-Language and Structured English.) other questions looked at the effectiveness of their teacher education program and how they used their own background in their classrooms.

Her schools were randomly selected from two of the seven mini-districts in Los Angeles because over 20% of the students in the schools were classified as ESL learners. The teachers were recommended by the schools’ ESL or bilingual coordinator. There was an 81.42% response rate to the initial survey and the teachers represented approximately 37% of the ESL junior high teachers.

The quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS PC+ statistical software with the probability level of p<.05 set for all tests of statistical significance.

To analyze the qualitative data, the author applied the framework of critical reflexivity, which is the practice of having teachers examine their presuppositions about their roles and responsibilities based on their personal views of teaching (p. 262).

In short, the findings of the researcher were varied. She found that Hispanic teachers were most likely to employ their personal views and experiences in their roles as teachers. African-American teachers understood the importance of using their personal histories and generally felt that their social structure had an influence on their view of the ESL program. White teachers also noted the importance of using personal backgrounds, but felt more inclined to have to make a conscious effort to build relationships with students.

Conceptually, this can be a useful study. Although it centers on teachers in one city, the findings deal with relationships between teachers and ESL students and address the ethnic differences by presenting the findings of Hispanic, African-American and White teachers. These findings may transfer to other geographic locations in the United States. However, it may have been more useful to find teachers in other diverse cities. New York, Phoenix, El Paso, Washington D.C. and Miami come to mind. Certainly, time and money would be necessary to advance the study.

I am impressed with the methodology used by Ajayi. She covered many bases as part of her mixed-methods study. Getting an 81% response rate showed dedication and care to the selection process used for her initial survey. She also employed other methods for data gathering, such as written perspectives and interviews. It may have added richness to the study to have subjects bring in historical artifacts for their interview, but Ajayi’s findings are relevant and thorough as is.

This study serves as a good starting point for what I am aiming to accomplish with my pilot study on ESL teachers. First, Ajayi gives the methodology which presents many ideas on how to tackle this topic for my pilot study. In fact, the author notes her own pilot study in her validation of instrument section, recalling her interviews with eight ESL teachers in four junior high schools in Los Angeles. This could serve as a model for my pilot study, although I anticipate more difficulty finding ESL teachers in this region, so my pilot study might have to work with four teachers in two schools.

A second helpful feature comes in the author’s section on further research. She feels the needs of this to be in the specific approaches that teachers use to teach ESL – a collection of data about classroom practices, as well as student responses to these approaches. From these findings, Ajayi theorizes that qualitative differences in instructional effectiveness and ESL student learning can be realized.

Finally, although this study cannot be used for the pilot study, it does provide references for almost 50 other sources which can enhance my further research on this topic.

 

References

Ajayi, L. (2011). How ESL teachers relate their ethnic and social backgrounds in practice, Race,

            Ethnicity and Education, 14, 2, 253-275.

 

Los Angeles Unified School District (2008). Los Angeles Unified School District Student

            Demographics. www.lausd.k12.ca.us.html.

 

Wenger, E. (2005). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge

            University Press: Cambridge.