Groundhog Day - Insanity, Change and Education!

February 2nd is Groundhog Day. Tradition suggests on this day groundhogs emerge from their dens and, if they see their shadows, they are frightened back into hibernation and there will be six more weeks of winter. Canada's most famous groundhog is Wiarton Willie of Ontario. Turns out the original Willie died in his sleep during the winter of 89 (bet that made for a long winter!) and his replacement Wee Willie, passed away in the 90's. Canada now relies on Willie III for his prognosticating prowess. Its all just fantasy however. Groundhogs don't really care much for their shadows. Their emergence in February has far more to do with being hungry than with any desire to predict the weather.

Groundhog Day is also a 1993 movie starring Bill Murray. Murray plays a cynical weatherman assigned to cover the Groundhog Day story. By fantastic circumstance he ends up doomed to relive the day over and over again, until he accepts his fate and truly changes into a better man. Murray is also linked to a ground dwelling rodent in the film "Caddyshack". He plays a crazed greens keeper who repeatedly tries to rid his golf course of a pesky gopher. In both films, the Murray character experiences the futility of trying to achieve different results with essentially the same approach over and over again.

It was Albert Einstein who said, �The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.� He also said, �We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.�  His comments, made over half a century ago, resonate for education today. The world is changing and education systems are changing too. BC recently released its new Plan for Education. Honoring past accomplishments and citing the relative strength of BC's public school system, the plan points out that to stay strong education needs to adapt and explore new ways of preparing students for a future that is increasingly hard to  predict. The plan seeks public input and illustrates instances where innovative thinking is already being used. 

The plan has its critics. Change is scary, and it comes hard when people are not convinced that the methods of the past shouldn't just be maintained into the future. There is a reluctance from some to accept that the students of today are not just as well served by time tested methods of the past. The problem lies in the fact that today's learners are different. Armed with technology like ipads, cell phones and easy internet access, students are increasingly able to tune out and follow their own interests if school fails to engage them. The challenge is how to combine the strengths of the past with the opportunities and challenges of the future, and keep public education vital to everyone. 

Education cannot stay trapped in a Groundhog day loop with every year rolling out like the one before. Nor can it subscribe to the insanity of always doing things the same but expecting different results. Instead, it needs to innovate and reinvent itself, to find ways to change that honor and preserve the best of what has always worked well, but also engage students of the present and future. Responding to BC's Plan for Education is a good start in that direction.

Will there be any school?

From mid-December to mid-January, holidays and snow caused Tacoma students to have just 11 days of school out of 35 calendars days.  Now comes the news that the district is going to seek an additional waiver for the 3 snow days in mid-January.


I think this line--"Tacoma canceled three school days during the storm and backloaded the makeup days at the end of the school year, where they could be canceled if a waiver is granted"--means that Tacoma would simply not make up those 3 days and would retain their snow makeup days as a day off.  In other words, they would not use the available makeup days to make up days cancelled for snow.


That would mean that students would now have only 173 days, as the district has already gotten four days waived.  I'm sure there's some sort of reasoning that makes sense for the district or the leadership, but I don't know how it makes sense for students.  I do know it sends a strange message about the (un)importance of school.  


I've asked the district spokesman if they plan to post an explanation of this on the district web site.  No response yet.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/30/2004684/schools-may-avoid-makeup-days.html#storylink=cpy

Resolutions Revisited

Ok - January is all but gone. Are you still plugging away at those New Year's resolutions? Or, have those good intentions faltered and old habits crept back into place? Research indicates that by now, over 75% of New Year's resolutions have been abandoned. The reasons vary, but in many cases the goals were unrealistic or the strategies employed in support of the resolution were overly optimistic, perhaps even bordering on fantasy. Achieving a goal is rarely easy and for most doing is far harder than wishing. As the Scottish proverb suggests, "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride"

But what of the 20 - 30% of us who are still plugging away? What strategies are being deployed to help us towards our goals? Some may suggest that sticking with and attaining one's goals is down to good genes or even just single bloody mindedness. While positive attitude, will power and determination definitely play a role in reaching one's goals, there are also other tools that can also help sustain the effort to change .

Good planning is essential. Humans are crea�tures of habits. Many New Year�s res�o�lu�tions often require people to abandon habits devel�oped over the course of years. Keeping goals S.M.A.R.T. -Spe�cific, Mea�sur�able, Action-oriented, Results-focused, Time-bound can help. Many educators are familiar with the idea of SMART goal planning. Nice when something brought up annually for school improvement or achievement contract planning can be applied to our personal lives!

There is also the power of thoughtful reflection. Rather than feeling badly about not making any gains, people can consider what might be blocking their progress and then take action. If the goal is worthy and well planned out, perhaps there are other things getting in the way. Are there competing agendas that need to be assessed for priority and time management? Or, is it just a paralyzing fear of change that is stopping effective action. In his article Beyond New-Years-Resolutions & SMART Goals-Achieve-Success Derek Lauber points out that moving forward requires a person to take a deep breath, look at why they are stuck and then do something about it!  Ironically fear of failure can actually guarantee it! 

At his first inaugural address President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said "All we have to fear is fear itself" Less well known, but even more important were the words that followed "Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." Hopefully your resolutions are still on track, but if not, take heart. Good planning, careful analysis and the courage to act can still provide the impetus to reach those goals!

Sad, Sad State for Charter Schools

Back in June, I blogged about a Georgia Supreme Court ruling which declared that the statute authorizing Georgia Charter schools was unconstitutional.  I found the logic of the court's ruling very questionable and disturbing.

Interestingly enough, when I spoke to parents who had children in these charter schools which were affected by the ruling, they seemed quite unperturbed. Surely it would not affect them.  All would be well.

Well, here we are six months later.  How are things for these charter schools? Uh, not too good.  Not too good at all!  It truly saddens me.

Ivy Prepatory Academy is an all girls middle school in Gwinnett County that opened as a Charter School.  The plan was for the school to grow one grade a year to encompass high school as well.  As parents of a current 5th grade girl, living in Gwinnett County, our family has been keeping an eye on this school. We have seen some very good things coming out of this school.  After all, if homeschooling didn't work out well this year, she would need to go to school somewhere, right?

Not simply trusting parental word-of-mouth, we were interested in as much factual data that we could acquire.  It certainly helps when trying to see how a school is performing.  So, how does Ivy Prep measure up compared to the typical Gwinnett County Public School (GCPS)?  Take a look at some of the statistics.  I stole the nice table from Peach Pundit.

6th Grade	Reading	Social Studies	Science	English Language/Arts	Math
GCPS	92.7%	78.8%	81.5%	93.5%	82.3%
Ivy Prep	100%	78.0%	87.0%	100%	86.0%
7th Grade	Reading	Social Studies	Science	English Language/Arts	Math
GCPS	93.1%	84.4%	89.9%	94.6%	92.6%
Ivy Prep	100%	93.0%	89.0%	100%	97.0%

So what action has the Gwinnett County Board of Education decided to take regarding Ivy Prep? Why deny an extension of the school's charter, of course.

What in the world is my County doing?  You have a school that is working.  Working better, in fact, than most of your other schools.  Don't support it.  Don't try to learn what they are doing better than the rest of the schools.  Don't try to emulate it.  Actively work to shut it down!  

Friends have wondered why I didn't want to use the public schools.  Why don't I have faith in the public school system?  I don't trust them.  Our values regarding education are clearly not the same.  I don't believe that the Gwinnett County Board of Education places providing the best possible education for the children of Gwinnett County on its priority list in any sort of a leading position.  Perhaps providing an "adequate" education is on their list, but certainly not providing "the best possible" education.

Outside of health and safety, there is nothing more important to me than ensuring that my children receive the best possible education that we can provide.  What a sad state of affairs that exists in Gwinnett County (and throughout the rest of Georgia too)!  I predict that the homeschool movement will continue to grow, particularly in Gwinnett County, while the local governmental approach is so hostile to innovation and effectiveness. 

Developments in Electronic Residency Application Service for Foreign Medical Graduates.

The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) is a world leader in promoting quality health care � serving physicians, members of the medical education and regulatory communities, health care consumers, and those researching issues in medical education and health workforce planning. ECFMG�s Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), a support service developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (an ECFMG member), has recently undergone advancements to further assist medical school students and graduates in applying for residency positions in accredited U.S. graduate medical programs.

Among these developments, the number of international medical schools using ERAS has grown, with 95 schools now submitting documents electronically on behalf of their students and graduates. The ERAS new Letter Writer Portal has also been introduced to aid international medical graduates applying for U.S. post graduate training, by allowing letters of recommendation to be requested through and later uploaded directly to ERAS; this feature has seen success in accelerating this part of applying to U.S. programs.

Also accessible through ERAS, on Thursday, February 9th, the National Resident Matching Program will be hosting an informational web conference on the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). This is one of multiple new web conferences, meant for both international medical schools and their students, which will include complete information on the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) implemented for Match week 2012, as well as information and guidelines for letters of recommendation, and information on the AAMC�s new release date for the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE).

Interested participants can RSVP to erasadmin@ecfmg.org.

For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/xFcOeo

Patience - A Necessary Virtue

We live in a fast paced world where speed and instant change and action have become the norm. Whether its the number of airport queues I've passed through recently, or the presently glacial pace of progress in the current teachers labor dispute, its worth remembering that patience is a necessary virtue.

Patience can be defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate trouble or delay without getting angry or upset. The modern world is not a patient place. We are used to fast food, fast computers, instant results and service on the fly. Time is money, and no one has time to just stand around and wait. Watch the line ups at a bank, or the body language in a waiting room and the annoyance with any degree of delay can be seen first hand. But how do people cope when circumstances dictate that we "hurry up and wait"? Stories about road rage and violent frustration over delays in service are increasingly common .

And yet when students get impatient in the classroom teachers talk of a need for "self regulation".  In the classroom patience is not just a virtue, its a necessity for both students and educators. Real and effective learning takes time. Learning something new often involves a degree of adversity. The light bulb moment, when students get something that was previously unknown or unfathomable, is cited by many teachers as the best thing about teaching, but what about the struggles that led to that magic moment? Calmly dealing with the frustrations that bring us to a successful break through is equally if not more important.

Anyone can be quick to boil over with frustration when faced with adversity. "Someone should do something" we think. The blame game is an easy, but futile option. If only (insert scapegoat here) would act/be reasonable/give me what I want, all would be good. A better test might be to think about what can be done about the situation. And, if the answer is nothing, or not much - if the matter truly is beyond our control - how can we be constructively patient as we wait for circumstances to change or sort themselves out?

In his article " Dealing With Adversity" Chuck Gallozzi outlines several techniques for improving one's patience. Amongst them is the PPPP program. Briefly summarized, the P's recommend a person deal with frustration by not Panicking,  by making a Plan, to Progress by implementing the plan, and ultimately, to Prosper in maintaining one's calm in frustrating times. Perhaps easier said than done. Gallozzi outlines several other strategies in his article. Maybe the trick is to have the patience to find one that works best for you.

The Serenity Prayer asks that God grant people the serenity  to accept the things they cannot change; the courage to change the things they can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Perhaps it should also include having patience necessary to properly identify which is which. 

Reenlistment

For those of you with children in private schools, you know that this is the "crunch time" for your decision making process with regards to re-enrollment. Deadlines are looming, deposits need to be made ... do you keep your child in their present school or move them somewhere else?  As a veteran of five whole months of homeschooling (bah, ha ha), I am having the same thought process too.  After all, if homeschooling is not working and we are going to return to the world of brick and mortar schooling, we need to be making our decisions and FAST.

As much as I agonized over the decision to homeschool last year, this is almost a no-brainer!  The kids are learning-- A LOT!  They are getting along really well (phew!).  We are getting into a real groove.  We are starting to branch out a bit and meet other homeschoolers. We still see some of our old friends (albeit not enough and I need to make a concerted effort to get back in touch with several of them).  I am actually really liking the learning process as it pertains to all of us.  DFACS has not been called.  I am not drinking.  No one has been maimed in the educational process.  This is actually working!

Alas, (INSERT big sigh here) I do miss several things about traditional schooling.  I miss being able to make a hair cut appointment or doctors appointment with ease.  I miss being able to have lunch with a friend.  I miss the ease of Christmas shopping while the kids are in school.  I miss hanging out with friends while waiting to pick up the kids from school.  I miss volunteering with amazing women for one various school function or another.

But on the other hand, there are a number of things that I don't miss.  I don't miss the pressures of a 6:30 a.m. alarm clock.  I don't miss frantically enforcing bedtimes to the point of turning into a screaming banshee because I know that the alarm clock is going to be going off at 6:30 and I will have snarling, grumpy kids if they don't get to sleep immediately! (Just writing that run-on sentence is enough to make me lose my breath and feel stressed.) I don't miss making school lunches in the morning and screaming, "Hurry, Hurry!" every five minutes.  I don't miss rushing out the door so that we won't be late.  I don't miss the kids being sick all the time because someone else thought their child would be "fine" even though their child threw-up that morning or was running a fever.  I don't miss the tears and anguish caused by "So and So" who was being a bully or hurt a friend's feelings.  I do not miss fighting with my kids about doing their homework.  I do not miss deadlines imposed by teachers which could not be more inconvenient for our family's schedule.  I must also confess that every month I think about how delighted I am to not be sending tuition checks.

Our family lifestyle has changed dramatically in the past few months.  Overwhelmingly, the changes have been extremely positive.  Our decision to homeschool again was the briefest of conversations between my husband and I.  It didn't really merit a big discussion.  It just seemed to be the obvious conclusion to continue with homeschooling.  The factors which led us to our decision to homeschool had not changed and we are happy with the results.  Taking simple wisdom and applying it, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"