Jindal's plan: Controversial, unjust and insulting

Special Edition: Your LFT Connection Jindal's education agenda: Poorly worded, controversial, unjust and insulting Dear Colleague, Just before Christmas, Governor Jindal invited the Federation, legislative leaders and other stakeholders to have a conversation about education. During this meeting, the governor listened politely to all comments and repeated his promise to continue meeting and keep listening as he prepared his "bold plan" for education. On January 17, the governor unveiled his plan in a speech to the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Unfortunately, the governor chose his words very poorly as he framed his controversial agenda. On one hand, Gov. Jindal acknowledged teachers as the backbone of education and urged that teachers be celebrated and appreciated. However, just moments later he inaccurately and unfairly asserted to these influential business leaders that teachers "are given lifetime job protection…and short of selling drugs in the workplace or beating up" their students, teachers couldn't be fired. Not only is this statement untrue, its evocation of those specific behaviors in reference to educators is unjust and insulting. It would indeed be unfortunate if the tone set in his speech is an indicator of the attitude he and his allies will assume in the upcoming legislative session. We had hoped that the governor would identify areas where consensus among stakeholders could emerge in the best interests of children and all citizens. There are more than 30 policy initiatives outlined in the governor's press material, a barrage of ideas that will have to be carefully sorted when lawmakers come into session on March 12. To read more, please click here. Is a Value Added teacher evaluation good for Louisiana? Politicians believe the Value Added Model is right for Louisiana teachers. LFT isn't so sure. Beginning in 2012-13, Louisiana teachers will be evaluated using a new instrument that incorporates what is known as a Value Added Model. The VAM makes judgments about a teacher's performance based on student growth as measured by standardized tests. From the beginning, LFT opposed passage of the bill that created the Value Added Model for teacher evaluation. But the bill had strong support from leaders as diverse as President Obama, Governor Jindal, Senators Landrieu and Vitter, the State Superintendent of Education, the BESE Board and the House and Senate Education Committees. Aware of the strength of VAM's support, LFT worked with lawmakers to improve the bill as much as possible, even as we continued to oppose its passage. Some leaders in Baton Rouge want you to believe their new evaluation scheme is fail-safe. To find out why we disagree, and to learn much more about the Value Added model, please visit this Web page. EdLog: News commentary and analysis Follow LFT on Facebook Ask a friend to join the LFT Action Center LFT on the Web

Louisiana Tech University's Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness

I knew the Center for the Blind up there in Ruston was an involved group concerning the education by and for the blind. I was not aware that they were cooperating with Louisiana Tech in this type of venture.



Hopefully there will be more young'uns up there in north Louisiana going into this field because we truly need them. There are not many of us here and most of us in my department can smell retirement in our very near future.






Here's contact information:






Professional Development and Research


Institute on Blindness


210 Woodard Hall


Ruston, LA 71272


318-257-4554


instituteonblindness@latech.edu

Spirit of the Learner

I'm not about breaking the spirit of a child. I'd rather guide that spirit into a positive direction.

My first year of teaching taught me that. I was a high school art teacher out of my element in a country school. I had a kid who constantly talked while I was teaching and sometimes what he was saying was in opposition to what I was saying. He was quite intelligent but he knew he was wrong. I soon figured out he was about how he looked in front of his classmates. Some of the students thought he was weird so in his insecurity he was reaching out to be a part of them by being in conflict with me and whoever was teaching in his other classes.

At conference time, before his mom arrived, one of the assistant principals made is a point to tell me how weird this kid was and that his sister wanted the same attention so she was weird, too.

When the mom came, she told me that she knew her son was defiant and that he needed firmness, however, she also explained that he was classic learning disabled due to dyslexia. He'd spent his early years in school being convinced he was stupid and even after diagnosis, some of his teachers thought it was all a joke and just a way to get by without doing some of his school work. Mom explained that if he had these few accommodations made for his learning style he could do the work. The assistant principal rolled her eyes, but it all made sense to me.

This kid could sculpt like he was born with handfuls of clay. When we went over art history on Fridays he would hold and model a piece of clay rather than take notes. When it was time for a test on what he'd learned, he'd take a few minutes of his lunch period to come in and take the test orally and ace it! He started feeling comfortable about sharing with me. He kept a notebook of ideas and even wrote some poetry. His handwriting was atrocious, however, each paragraph represented a half an hour of laboring to put his words on paper. That was back in the late 1970's before we had PCs.Sometimes I just think of how awesome he'd have been with a computer back then!

Still, he was not a perfect angel in class but that class became more of a little family of advanced students and he was part of the family rather than just that weird loud-mouth kid. He was able to help his classmates with molding methods when we came to that part of the sculpture lessons and he had great ideas for the art club. He was very knowledgeable and helpful but still himself.

I am thankful for that experience because with all I'd read about dyslexia, I had a student in my first year who gave me experience in working with a child with the learning difference. Throughout my teaching career, learning differences have been my interest and a gift for understanding.

On more than one occasion I have been in a teacher's class where the differences are considered defiance and something to be fought and won over. For instance, I shared a room with another teacher. My kids were visually impaired with multiple disabilities due to premature birth and hers were "vanilla blind."

One of her babies was a very gifted three-year-old. At nap time, this child could not stay on the mat and he never took a nap during the first few months after his arrival to the class. He was moved to the other side of the toy shelves so that his wiggling would not disturbed the other children at nap time. Of course that meant that he spent nap time exploring the toys.  He wiggled all over the place! That was just one trait of a hyperactivity disorder.

I saw this, well meaning teacher try to tame this child by explaining to him that he must just be still when it was time to be still because she said he must. She gave him a task of stringing beads with a timer. In order to increase his attention span he was forced under threat of punishment with sitting and stringing an assigned number of beads in fifteen minutes. I had to ask if this method was working to any degree. As it turned out she was keeping data and he had actually strung five more beads the day before which was proof that he could do it if her chose. That day he was being punished for not increasing the number of beads he was assigned. I think I'd sarcastically made the statement that he was obviously enjoying the punishment.

The teacher's thoughts were that in order to learn, he was going to have to learn to sit still and string beads for hours on end.  She said his mother should really consider putting him on some type of drugs that would calm him down and keep him out of trouble when he left her class and went to regular kindergarten, first grade and so on and that those teachers were not going to be able to suffer his wiggling even though he was blind.

I was getting frustrated for the child for getting in trouble at nap time so I talked to him about it and told him he had to stay in one area and stay quiet as possible even though he didn't feel like going to sleep. It dawned on me that if I have something to look at with my eyes at nap time I'm going to look. He was searching the toy shelves with his little fingers which were his eyes. Who could blame him? The teacher had taken his nap mat saying that i he couldn't be still then he didn't deserve a mat so actually he was laying on the floor next to the toy shelf and expected to go fast asleep. I took a bed spread that I kept on my side of the room for when my kids got too cold under the air conditioner that blew directly on to our side of the room. I wrapped that little wiggle worm like a he was a caterpillar in a cocoon, except his little face stuck out. In five minutes he was snoring like a grandfather.

The summer between his kindergarten and first grade year, he was assigned to my class. He was to complete some chapters in the Sally Mangold reader for blind children. Inside the cover of this book was the name of a former student who was now an adult possibly with children of his own. The teacher who had him for braille in kindergarten wanted him to sit and read and braille for hours on end and since he couldn't do it, he was with me for summer school. Well, Sally Mangold is a fine method for teaching braille, however, some of the references are antiquated like "a plug for a tub" and a "door-to-door salesman." Expect to see more old school references when a former student who is now grown was assigned the same edition.

At any rate, just as with sighted children, a NOT lazy teacher is going to have different resources for her/his kids based on how the child learns. Dr. Wormsley even says that it's not a text to be used in isolation just as sighted children have supplemental reading materials so should the blind, unless your child has a "Lazy A" teacher. I had a wonderful short course/workshop under Dr. Wormsley when she was invited here. What she was saying made so much sense although I know "Lazy A" who needed to be there would have blown it off because that's the nature of being lazy. Anything different means work.


My thing with this child was that asking him to focus and pay attention the way the teaher wanted was like having a child with one leg and punishing him for not behaving like he has two. It was crazy making, and I could see him giving up. So I took the same signs and contractions he needed to learn that were in those same chapters he was to complete and made shorter, humorous and more up-to-date stories based on his interests. I didn't have him sit behind the braille writer all day. Depending on the story and the new words we did activities with them. For example, sine it was summer we had each child nring fruit and we made fruit smoothies to go with the story. We kept swimming clothes and I had a couple of wading pools so we he and the other children did their best, every week on the last day, right before getting on the bus we had a splash time. That was incentive for him to get as much done as he could. I never had him just sit for 30 minutes but I had enough activities for him to have him work for 15 minutes at a time.

Although he did not complete the summer he learned more signs than he was supposed to know to enter first grade and we did it using Sally Mangold as a guide and NOT as a bible. That kid actually hated Pam and Sam, two recurring characters in the Sally Mangold series. I was getting a bit weary of them too for watching him suffer through another of their adventures.Trying to force him to learn the way that teacher wanted--according to her "style" was not working. Taking his style of learning and working with it did work.
When you have children in a special setting, there is no excuse for not tea hing the way they learn. The classes are smaller for that reason. Any other way is just being a "Lazy A" teacher. I was told "Oh nobody has time for that!" No she just doesn't want to take the time. It's not about finishing a book, it's about learning the concept through any means necessary and not forcing the child to make your lazy life easier.

That summer, when we had visitor on campus, the lead teacher would bring them to my room where there was a kindergarten braille reader doing awesome things. He was writing paragraphs on second grade level! Of course his regular school year teacher was upset with me and rather than come to me she reported to the head of the special education summer program that I had not taught straight from the book she liked. It didn't matter. The child had a summer of successful learning and I sent her a prayer. Didn't stop her from being upset with me but there is no concern in my eye!

Personally, I find it thrilling to figure out the little puzzles my kids are and how they learn. Some people like to figure out cross word puzzles. I like to figure out specifics of learning differences. That is SO exciting to me! What's even better is when I step into the classroom of a teacher and we work together to figure out what works for a child! YAY! Yeah, that works for me. I love stepping into the rooms of excited teachers!

Lazy "A" Teacher

Most classes I visit confirm that one cannot be lazy and be a teacher. It cannot be done! Teachers have so much they need to do and the children will not allow it!

However once in a while I see someone who ticks me off royally. I come into their classroom and they are sitting behind their desks in the same place I left them last week. Some older teachers still think that they sit behind the desks while the kids work--usually doing seat work after a boring lecture. That time has past. I'm not talking about the paperwork/computer work that has to be done from behind the desk. I'm talking about those who park their tuchas behind the desk at 8:00AM and don't move from the spot except for lunch, fire drills and break time. If they need something from across the room, they usually bark at a student or wave a finger at a paraprofessional. They are few and far between but they exist these lazy "A's."

I had a kid in a classroom where the teacher sat with her favorite para on one side while the other paras did most of the work. Did I say "most of"? I should have omitted that phrase. I gave her the benefit of a doubt at one time, thinking she may have been overwhelmed by a new situation. I gave her several ideas and showed her how to include the student with visual impairments. My that would be like too much work! I noticed that after I brought some materials in to the room they were used to rearrange her room so she could see who was coming into her class but those arriving would not see her immediately. She could jump up or turn to her computer keyboard and look quite busy to those unfamiliar with the situation. To keep the kids quiet in the mornings until they left for their inclusion classes she had prepared a binder of worksheets for each student. Did I ever explain how much I loathe an improperly used worksheet? That's a later discussion.

Even though the child was on my related service caseload I pulled the kid out to work with him so that he could learn something and not lose what he'd been taught the years before under a couple of excellent teachers. There were no lessons going on in there that I could observe and help her with modifying for a student with visual impairments, so for the sake of the child, I had to pull him out.

There is another teacher who has considered herself as mastering not looking as lazy as she is because she doesn't sit behind a desk. She does, however have several rolling chairs placed about the class and she will roll herself between the children's desks. She does not allow the children to get up or do much that is different. They must conform to the way she teaches or fail. The three or four students read on different levels from the same reading series with no modifications or outside sources. HELLO! YOU HAVE A COMPUTER TO LOOK UP THIS STUFF! YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO LEAVE THE ROOM TO FIND SUPPORTIVE LESSON MATTER!! LAZY "A."


I need to write one of my lists. I think it should be called "You Know You're Lazy 'A' Teacher If..." Yeah. I'll do that.

Cheap Finds to Use with Children with V.I.

LASER TOP: This toy was at Walgreen's drug store in the sale bin It requires batteries. I thought of it as visual stimulation for low vision multi-disabled kids as it can be spun for them on their wheel chair trays. It lights up, spins and makes a sound. It has a hazardous choke warning so for children who can grab and handle it themselves I'd be certain they have an MA of 5 years and over, as it says on the package, so they will not be tempted to put any parts of it in their little mouths.



VIBRATING BALL: I've had this one for a few years, also with multi disabled children in mind. I had a child with cortical visual impairment and deafness. Pull the string and this one vibrates. Use much supervision as the string may detach. For the kids I used it with, I would pull the string for them. Some were able to let me know they wanted the action repeated by either grabbing my hand or in the case of a nonverbal child with modified signs, she would sign "again." It doesn't make a sound, though. This one is hand sized. There is a larger version of this one that runs by batteries and makes a sound as it vibrates.



TEACHING COINS: I saw these in another teacher's class and thought, Wow! I have needed something like that for my low vision kids when I was teaching money!

She was going to let me borrow hers to make copies. But in my travels I saw these at Dollar Tree in the school supplies section. I have found coin worksheets on line AND placed real coins under the CCTV for students with low vision. When you don't have access to a CCTV or can't carry several in your back pocket, these are a cool alternative. They are printed on front and back. The adult size scissors didn't show up too clearly, but I placed them in the picture to give a size reference.

I've had these laminated and I will have them brailled for low vision students who read braille

More Educational Finds

I found these little workbooks in a Walgreen's drugstore. I have since seen them in other places. I know they've been around for a while because I used to stop and pick up a few and enlarge the pages for whatever a student of mine was working on in their classrooms or to help a teacher get a concept across to a child. Mind you, I only like worksheets for practice or enhancement. I truly despise the use of them for busy work.

These, however, are different because for about $6 a CD-ROM is included. I have opened these and found them to be cool for elementary kids with low vision. Some of the characters in the books are seen again in the computer program. The use of a computer is often motivation for our kids.

There is one activity in which children are asked to find hidden object which may be confusing for a child with low vision. With some of the menu items a child with low vision may need assistance. The Dot-to-Dot one has little movies in the menu. They're really cute. My daughter says she remembers seeing some of them on old (1980's) children's TV shows. Some of the little movies had no dialogue for the totally blind child to follow.

I did not try them with any speech/screen reader programs as I was most certain most of the stuff was not accessible for the totally blind child.

Don't expect a lot of fancy bells and whistles. For only $6 it's not a bad deal.

EYE Facts Sheet for ROP

Some doctors may have this sheet in their offices but here is where they order them.
Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is an eye disease that occurs in a small percentage of premature babies. My preschool class was of all preemies ages three to six with ROP and other complications due to premature birth. A parent may also be able to order this fact sheet and hand them out to teachers and specialists at the child's school. They are published by

American Academy of Ophthalmology
P.O. Box 7424, San Francisco, CA 94120-7424 http://www.aao.org/

I may see if I can order them to use in my situation. Hmmm.

FVA

The other day I went to a school to observe a little girl and give her a function vision screening as part of her educational evaluation. The child was in a pre-K class. I will call her "BabyGirl" here. (So cute!)

This happens to be the same school where Mr. Hebrews 13:1-3 is enrolled. [By the way, that little rascal has not returned to school YET!]

The kids were coming from breakfast and I introduced my self to the teacher. She seemed delighted to see me. During the time I was there I discovered that she was a truly dedicated teacher, thus to have someone come to help one of her babies---well, certainly she would be happy to meet them! I can appreciate that as I have been the same way when I had a classroom of children--or students under any situation.

She pointed out the child to me at the rear of the line--a cute baby with two little Afro-puffs on top of her head. You could tell that mom took time to make sure she was dressed neatly and that the hair was just so. The whole class was cute--full of little people about waist high! The child was very quiet and although she looked at me and gave me a half smile, she did not speak, She focused on her spot at the end of the line.

I knew that part of the morning routine was a line to the potty after breakfast so I told the teacher that I would just follow the class rather than interrupt the routine. I unpacked my vision testing equipment and my camera while the kids went to the restrooms just outside the classroom.

When some of the children began to return to the class, they found their names on a table and began to "sign in" meaning that they took another sheet of paper and attempted to copy or scribble their names on another sheet of paper before going to their seats.

BabyGirl was one of the last of the little girls to return. She happily came outside with me to have her picture taken. I heard her gasp as she covered her face from the direct morning sunlight.

"Oh my!" I said. "It is very bright out here. Let's have you face this way so that the sun is not in your face so."

Even sideways, from facing the sun she continued to squint a bit.I made a mental note as I showed her several photos on the camera's view finder to see if she could point out her own picture on the two-inch by two-inch screen. She looked at the screen but didn't point to anything.

When we went back inside, I realized why she was not interested in the camera any more. The children were gathering on the carpet at the front of the class for circle time. Each child sat on his/her name on a piece of tape on the carpet. BabyGirl was letting me know that she had to follow the routine to feel comfortable--so I let her go. I'd observe her in her routine and jump in there with questions or get something out of her while she did her usual thing.

The teacher sat at the front of the circle next to the calendar which was at eye level for little waist high beings. "What did you do at home yesterday?" she asked each child.

"I played my games and I ate my supper. Then I went to bed," said one child.

The little woman next to BabyGirl who is obviously a 44-year-old impostor, ran off a list of things she did at home the day before after she got off from work. I believe she cooked dinner for her family and righted a derailed train after leaping a skyscraper with a single bound. Her teacher grinned at her: "You're full of baloney, aren't you?"

They both chuckled and the forty-four year old laughed, "Yes ma'am, but I did eat hotdogs last night."

Then it was BabyGirl's turn. She didn't say anything. "Did you play?" the teacher asked. BabyGirl nodded.

Modeling the Amslang for "I played" the teacher slowly said, "Then say 'I played'."
That signaled the whole class to sign and say "I played!"

By this time I was on the floor behind BabyGirl. She barely shook her hands to sign "play" when Forty-four said to me, "She didn't learn to talk yet."

I smiled as I thought of one of my husband's favorite lines from the movie "Inside Man." Thank you bank robber! I'm learning so much today!"

The teacher called the children's attention to the calendar. It was another lovely little girl's turn to use the pointer for the days of the week. She chose the star pointer, which the teacher said seemed to be everyones' favorite. I was partial to the ones with the Mickey Mouse-looking white gloved fingers on the end. Those were cool. I think I will find one for myself.

The children had a rhyme and rhythm for saying the days of the week. BabyGirl moved her hands to the rhythm like the other children and smiled---but she didn't say anything. Nor were her hand movements for any Amslang for the days of the week.

I noticed, too, that as the teacher pointed to anything on the calendar, BabyGirl was not focusing on anything in that direction. Of course she knew that the teacher was in front of the class, but by the unfocused look, she was not aware of anything that was being pointed out up there. She simply was not seeing it. She was following the routine and following along with the other children as often children with low vision will do.

Then it was center time and Babygirl was to take a card with her picture on it and take it to the center where she wanted to play. Since she was a bit more comfortable with me, I followed her to the block center.

There I saw some manipulatives that looked like miniature poker chips. They were either yellow, green, red or blue. There were also some giant pegs and Legos in those colors. If she was going to confuse colors I had to give her a choice between the green blue and red objects. I pretended I wanted to play with some of the objects and asked her to help me with the red chips, then the green pegs and the blue pegs. She never confused the yellow objects as obviously they are lighter, but the others seemed always confused. As I explained to her teacher, it is difficult to tell if some of that would be cognitive or true color blindness. But when the teacher told me later that she follows directions very well it made me think. When I returned to my office, I saw my notes on her and in the email from my supervisor BabyGirl has been diagnosed as having optic nerve atrophy. Some sensitivity to light and color blindness is common with optic nerve atrophy.

The teacher asked if there was something she could be doing. I mentioned the calendar and that I was unsure bout colorblindness. I told her about allowing her to step up to certain charts rather than pint them out across the room because she was not seeing clearly beyond a few feet in front of her. Arms' length was no problem, though.

The teacher started to feel bad. "I haven't been thinking about her vision! Just handling the other things like the speech...and that she needs time to keep up--she sometimes moves very slow. I didn't even think that that poor baby..."

"No, no, no," I comforted her. "It is easy to see total blindness. Children with low vision will fool you. Not because they are trying to deceive you at this age, but they just do what the other children do and that gets them by."

I suggested I take her out for a few minutes. Iusually see if a child can take me to three places on a school campus. She gave BabyGirl the lunch envelope and told her she was picked to take it to the cafeteria. We would walk behind her and she could lead us there.
The little hands took the big envelope. Then a finger of one hand went into her mouth as if she were saying,"Hmmmm.I'm not sure bout this."
When we got outside, BabyGirl stopped and waited for guidance. She didn't seem sure of which way she should turn when she was asked. She just stood and looked back and forth between the two of us.

Finally her teacher took a few steps ahead and said," OK, where do we go from here to get to the cafeteria?"

BabyGirl stepped next to her teacher but that was a far as she was going. her teacher prompted her to walk ahead. She did so very reluctantly, looking behind her for her teacher. She did not know her way to the cafeteria without prompting. On the way back I asked her if she'd feel more comfortable holding hands with one of us adults. of course she reached for her teacher's hand.

For about a month, BabyGirl had been walking in the middle or at the end of the line using the other children to get around the school. the teacher felt so bad. "That is why there is so much confusion at the end of the day when our line meets with other lines in the building. All of the children wear the same color uniform shirts and she gets totally confused in the halls with large groups of children!"

I assured the teacher that I would have a good report written and that she would be fine. When I got back to my office, I wrote a report of my observation with my recommendations and emailed it to the appropriate pupil appraisal personnel.

What Teacher's Make

This video has been going around. It's posted on TeacherTube.


Also, this email:

Good Morning! I just thought I'd share this with you all! Have a wonderful day!!!!!***

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...) "Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental. You want to know what I make?"

(She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)

I make kids wonder.
I make them question.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.
I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.
I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.
I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we live in the United States of America.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life. (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) "Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant.... You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?"

His jaw dropped, he went silent.

THIS IS WORTH SENDING TO EVERY TEACHER, EVERY CEO, EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW. Even all your personal teachers like mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and your spiritual leaders/teachers - Pastor's/Priests/Clergy.