teacher comedian

I played golf today. That’s not news. Nor is it much to write about. Yet, something happened on the golf course that made me think about our society, where we are as a country, and our need to belong to our own tribe.

The moment on the golf course was pretty innocuous. I played as a single, which meant I was going to be paired up with three other people. I’ve been playing golf for 25 years, so this is not a big deal to spend the day with strangers. You often chat a bit during the four or five hours and everyone gets along well. Sometimes you meet people in your line of work or make some great connection. There are even occasions when you become friends and play together another time. Nonetheless, it’s pretty easy and casual.

Well, today, one of my playing partners started talking with me about the brand of clubs I was playing. I play Nike, which recently announced that they would no longer be making golf clubs. During our discussion, it became clear he didn’t think Nike was much of a golf brand and was denigrating the equipment in a subtle way. This should have been no big deal — but I found myself getting defensive! Of all the things going on in this world, how could something like this upset me?

Well, perhaps I’m shallow. Or perhaps it’s part of stronger inner need to belong to a group or a tribe. I want to identify with people who think like me and we are all winners! Of course, the truth in that is that we also oppose others who are not in our tribe. We find ourselves at times choosing sides, when that’s often not necessary.

As the talk about education reform and major changes in our professional field heat up, I am going to try to remind myself that we don’t need to be in warring factions. We can disagree, but still maintain civility so its not us versus them. That’s hard to do as a human, but I’m going to do my best.

I should try to wrap this blog up with a clever golf tie-in, but one escapes me at the moment. With my jumbled mind these days, that’s pretty much par for the course.

Amazing how fast the video of the BBC interview with interrupting kids went viral. The parodies soon followed … some kind of funny, but none actually topped the original.

The secondary discussion has been the assumption so many had that the woman who came in after the kids was the nanny. It says something about our biases. I was guilty of the same, mostly. When I first watched the video, the headline called Ms. Kim the nanny. So, I was mislead … however, I also didn’t question it. So, that does say I have some biases to work on in my own head. It also speaks to a bigger problem today: fake news.

One of the ways fake news articles have been so “successful” (depending on how that’s defined) is that they prey on her preconceived ideas and opinions. Something that confirms what we already believe is true (in our minds). If it contradicts our worldview, it’s probably a less reliable source (again, in our minds). For something like the above video, that’s not too big of deal. Yet, we’re in a weird time when and where we can isolate ourselves to just the viewpoints we want to hear. That’s dangerous for a democracy.

I’m hoping there’s a Ms. Kim out there who can come grab all of us and drag us to a better place.

One of my recent obsessions is WWII. I know, most people went through that phase a long time ago, but for some reason it took a while for me to get into it. I am a fan of history and am currently immersed in books, movies, stories, music, and shows created during or about the second world war. I even put up some art in my house recently.

Honestly, it’s getting to be a bit much, but my appetite has yet to be satiated. (I just found a complete set of Glen Miller vinyl records that I have been playing repeatedly while I grade and do homework … and write this blog).

I guess one of the aspects that I find so appealing is the cohesion of the country during the 1940s. I long for us to have a common cause and not a million individual agendas.

It would be swell if the world had great respect for the “yanks” who were in lockstep, tackling some great mission. Click on this link, take a listen, and imagine our country being ONE again.

Glen Miller Band: Over There

I try to push myself to improve my practice — specifically with technology.

I chose to check out Vialogues. I signed up the other day, but finally got a chance to mess around with the site. I can see the value, but I’m not sure how I’d use it regularly.

First, the positives:

• Ease of uploading videos
• Not needing license agreements to grab videos from YouTube
• Quickness of upload
• Simple design, not cluttered with content
• Running dialogue and discussion board is simple and intuitive
• Time stamp helps understand the sequence of comments
• Endless opportunities for content

Negatives or concerns:

• Everyone in group needs to be connected to Vialogues
• User numbers seem low for a group discussion
• Apprehension to join one more social media site

I guess most of my concerns are the same over and over. It’s a great site and I love what it could do, but how is it different than a video on Facebook or Twitter? If I was going to ask my friends to discuss, I’d post to one of those two places. If I wanted feedback from students, I’d need to go through the district’s sites like Google Classroom, Schoology, or Edmodo. Those are not better venues, but the audience I want to reach is already there. Again, I’m not opposed to Vialogues, just thinking of practicality.

“Do students actually use their phones in class?”

Of all the questions people ask me about teaching high school, this one is probably the most perplexing – even more than “What’s the teacher’s lounge really like?” or “What do you do with all of the extra money in your paycheck?”

The simple answer to the phone question is yes. Classrooms are not autonomous utopias (or dystopias) untethered to the outside world; they reflect society. So, just like the rest of us, students have their phones on them at all times. Most actually have them permanently connected to their hand like a tree that has grown around a rock over hundreds of years. Removing it would take a surgeon, a chainsaw, or an upgrade.

Usually it’s the prerogative (word I learned from Bobby Brown) of the teacher to set the phone rules in the classroom. So, those can vary widely. However, if you choose to be the kind of teacher who forbids all phone use, you will have to come up with consequences. (Good luck.) Then you will spend most of your class time policing your “no phone” rule. (Double good luck.) It would be easier to keep an 80s boy band together than to prevent 30 teenagers from using their phones for an hour. While you’re running around like Mr. Telephone Man, other students will be live recording your every little step. Come on kids, don’t be cruel.

I tried being strict with phone use at first, but I got tired of the slight-of-hand games. Phones slid up sleeves, tucked in to jackets, or held behind papers (where the shadow would give them away). The most common method is to prop up a book in a very unnatural manner. Sometimes it’s upside down, so it’s even easier to spot — as if the simple act of reading wasn’t suspicious enough!

Phone patrol can also lead to lots of uncomfortable conversations. “Why do you keep looking at your lap? Are you using your phone? Well, it’s glowing …” Back when phones had actual keys (e.g. Sidekicks), I would have students who could text during class without even looking. They would just stare straight ahead while their hands moved furiously inside their sweatshirt pocket. How do you call someone out for that?

Phones have lots of benefits (such as research or further understanding), so I obviously don’t hate them. However, I do lament the loss of some nostalgic school activities like MASH, those folding paper fortune tellers you put your fingers in, or just simply passing notes. You can’t confiscate a text and read it aloud to the class. I mean, that was going to be one of my great joys of teaching!

With auto-correct, spelling has also taken a serious hit these days. So many essays are turned in with “I” not capitalized. “Usually my phone just fixes that,” they say. When I have students write a paper with their actual hand and pen (cursive is a topic for another time), there are words I don’t even recognize. As I often say, I love my students, but many of them would lose a spelling bee to the Chick-fil-A cows.

After eight years of teaching, my current phone policy is pretty simple. First, I have students write their suggestions on sticky notes during the first week of school and put them on my wall. I compile them and we discuss the pros and cons of the ideas. This gives students a say in the process, some self-governance, and total buy-in … then I do what I was going to do anyway. I announce that we are going to have respect for each other, be responsible human beings, and use our phones sparingly and appropriately.

Then we all laugh.