As many of you know, I put a heck of lot of effort into demonstrating that standards-based education does not need to devolve into drill-n-kill worksheet classroom assignments highlighted by a bubble test for summative student assessment.

I believe kids should – and want to – DO and PROVE they have multi-dimensional interests and capacities.

Have them demonstrate their knowledge of the ELA content standards by exhibiting their comprehension of the content standards (such as plot, tone, characterization, and so on. Really, SO MUCH is at our fingertips these days.)

To that end I put together a free digital book report contest and WOW! the entries are in from all over the country. (We even had some international contributions.)

It’s down to five finalists in each of the following categories with over $20,000 in prizes being handed out once the people have their say.

• Grades 5-8
• Grades 9-12

The polls are now open… please vote for your winner.

BTW, I can’t tell you how many teachers have written to me THRILLED that they participated. It really is the “Teach a person to fish” parable because so many of them said that now that they have tasted how Project-Based Learning could be meaningfully married to standards-based classroom assignments, the win/win/win scenario crafted between the kids, the curriculum and the teachers made the whole process of teaching and learning a challenging and exciting joy.

Teaching rocks! And when your kids are excited about the work – and the work is demanding and purposeful – it’s just incredible what can be done.

Like I said, check out the finalists and vote. Clearly, these students have all kinds of skills that we, in this loony NCLB world, are all-too-often are never asking them to tap.

Congrats again to the finalists! Clearly, a ton of hard, good work went into these projects.

We’ve all heard about the 5 W’s of writing. The Who, What, Where, When and Why. (Also, there’s the H: the How).

But when I apply the 5 W’s to school, it seems pretty clear to me that there is one W which ought to come before all others.

The Why. As in Why the heck am I being asked to learn this?

In so, so, so many classrooms across our country, the students simply do not have an understanding as to WHY they are being asked to learn the things that are perpetually rolling across their school desks. Algebra, photosynthesis, the people that signed the Declaration of Independence… we “assign” these things under the banner of “you need to know this” and yet, I am not really too sure we are explicating WHY they need to know this.

If you doubt me, do a survey. Ask your kids about the reason they are learning the things they are learning in another teacher’s class. Ask them about WHY they are dissecting a frog in biology? Ask them about WHY they are learning about the great stock market crash of 1929.

And then see the fuzziness. Witness the vague-ness. See the lack of precision in their comprehension of the WHY.

And then (if you have the guts) ask them WHY they think they are learning whatever it is you are teaching them this week in your own class. Try not to give away any clues or hints or answers. Instead, just ask, “Can somebody please tell me – really tell me – why we are learning the parts of speech? Or how to properly use a comma? Or why we are even bothering to read HUCK FINN or this Shakespearian Sonnet?”

So, so, often, I have found that most of my kids really do not clearly know unless I overtly make the point of clearly explaining the reasoning behind me teaching whatever it is I am teaching. (And the lower-performing the student, the less aware of the WHY of learning – that’s another correlation I’ve seen time and time again.)

If a kid doesn’t know WHY they are studying the things they are studying they are, well… adrift. People are driven to pursue things out of meaning. Meaningfulness motivates and inspires our actions. Therefore, if a student doesn’t even know why they are being asked to learn Please Find for X in 3rd period, how well can we expect them to perform at the job of finding for X?

I mean when I think back to my own days as a student in a math class, not once do I ever recall my math teacher explaining WHY it was important that I learned to do things like factor equations.

“Because it is.”
“Because I told you so.”
“Don’t be a smart alek.”

Here’a real story that happened to me when I was a kid in school:
“Uhm, why do I even need to learn this? I know I’m never gonna be a mathematician”
“Mr. Sitomer, would you like to go to the office? Stop clowning around and do your work?”
“But why I need this?”
“That’s it… you are outta here.”

And yep, I got bounced. (Disclaimer: I got sent to the office a lot when I was a kid in school. I think that’s why I’ve always had an affinity for at-risk kids. I sorta see a bit of myself in them.)

It wasn’t until after I had earned a Masters degree that I came across the reasoning for teaching algebra to kids who don’t have any aspirations to be mathematicians.

In short, it’s because Algebra develops the cognitive ability of a kid to think for X. And in life, there are a lot of variables, a lot of X’s, one will eventually have to deal with. It’s like a a boot camp for critical thinking and high level choice weighing. “If this is this and that is that, how do you get X out of a situation?”

If someone would have just taken 2 minutes to explain that to me, I might not have been sent to the office so often.

Alas, I am scared not even my teachers really knew, though. (At least not clearly.) And the thing is, I was a good math student. But I became easily bored when there was no meaning in the work for me. And yet, there was meaning in the school work. I just didn’t know it and no one took the time to explain it to me.

How many kids today are experiencing the same phenomenon?

The WHY… students today need to know.

Should teachers pay for their own lesson plans? Would teachers pay for their own lesson plans?

Even if they were only two bucks a pop?

Okay, on one hand, as teachers, we already pay for so many of our school supplies that adding another $2 to the fire here and there doesn’t seem to bother me much. (As long as the materials were of high quality.) On the other hand though, if the school site isn’t to be expected to pay for the educational resources I use in the classroom, what the heck are they paying for, the rent on the building?

Is my district just a landlord with a whole lotta goofy, bean-counting, bubble test rules? (Don’t answer that.)

Maybe I’m just employed under the barbershop model whereby I work at a station but I am required to bring my own scissors, hair gel and blow dryer in order to do my job and they’ll provide the toilet paper in the restroom, but it will be the cheap, rough kind. Free, but grainy, a devil’s compromise if ever there was one.

Sure would be nice if I knew the terms of our fiscal agreement on these matters though, wouldn’t it?

I mean really, what is my school supposed to pay for? And what should I be expected to pay for? And where is it written what is what so that there is some transparency to the process of all of this?

And how come after all these years as a teacher I still really do not know the answer to this stuff?

Is this like one of those “need to know” matters where I don’t have security clearance that’s high enough to be welcomed into the loop?

What should they buy, what should I buy and why-oh-why does the thought of all this always make me want to sigh, cry and kiss this job “goodbye”?

So the ning business is finally going to morph into a real business and stop allowing people to use their goodies without paying for them.

Wow, brings up a whole host of stuff when it comes to writing in the online world.

Is the sale of ad space really expected to power the entire forward progress of the whole world wide web? I don’t think so. Then again, if ning doesn’t give it away free first and foremost, do they grow into the company they now are? And if they now start to charge, how many nings fold up and think, “Well, it was good while it lasted”?

Is this what the next stage of the internet looks like? People give away items at no charge until they become apparently worth something, and then they start to charge for their services and people fold up their tents and drift off to the next latest and greatest thing. (You know, the one that people can use free of charge until enough people start using it to make these folks see “gold in dem dar hills” whereby the model changes to a fee based-structure… and everyone then flees again… and on and on and on?)

Jim Burke said… People need to wake up to the idea that they cannot expect companies to be non-profits. We have grown increasingly addicted to the idea that everything should be free, that we should have to pay for nothing. That is not sustainable.

Indeed. But as soon as Twitter starts charging me per tweet, I think I am gone.

And I think they know this… which is why they do not charge me for tweeting. Which is why so many millions of folks do tweet.

But charge even one dollar a month and, “Nah, I am not so sure it’s worth it” creeps into my consciousness. I mean there are so many other free things I can do on the web, with mobile technology and so on, that, on second thought, Nah, I just don’t think so.

The fact is, most human beings pretty much do not like paying for things that were once free. We feel ripped off. (Even if they are actually worth the money.)

If once upon a time you charged me, and you raised the price, then hey, I get that. But if was free and now you want money for it… that doesn’t really compute so well. I mean “I think I only wanted it because it was free anyway,” is what I tell myself. Then I move on.

And on the flip side, people tend to more highly value that which actually costs them more. Look at the diamond industry. DeBeers is absolutely brilliant in the way that they make us believe diamonds are precious stones worth X amount of dollars. And by controlling 85% of all the diamonds on the planet (they have vaults and vaults and vaults of them locked away so that they can manage world wide inventory and empower all these diamond dealers to say, “but they are rare and precious”) they create the illusion of high value – and the reality of high price – in the mind of buyers.

And we buy it.

Engagement rings, earrings, and so on. “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

Hook, line and sinker, we drank the Kool-Aid on that one.

But NY Times news? I think the cat is outta the bag on that one. Sure, some will buy it – older folks who grew up indoctrinated into the “fine journalism” being offered will stay the course. (They also have more disposable income.) But now, news and commentary are free… and if the NY Times wants to start charging for what they originally gave away online, heck, I’ll go to the Wash Post or L.A. Times or BBC and so on.

Heck, the Huffington Post will go out and scavenge the free news for me. And they are not alone.

And if they all decide to charge at the same time, they are gambling with their very existence… cause there is no guarantee to say enough people will pay to keep them afloat.

Are they willing to risk bankruptcy? Do they really want to know if they call our bluff and insist on charging us that we are actually going to pony up cash for their goods versus simply seeking another source for our news and bail out on them?

TIME magazine charges. Newsweek doesn’t. Is there enough of a difference that I buy TIME? Right now, not really.

The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety, Hollywood’s Trade Magazines, got it right. They charged for content right away (after giving away small teasers.) People were used to paying for print, they immediately got used to paying for online from the get-go and now, they more or less, seamlessly transitioned to the online journalism world.

Right now, newspapers don’t really have the guts to pull the “free” plug because they know if they do, we might not come back to them and prove them obsolete. (It’s any business’s darkest fear – to recognize that the world can get along just fine without them and have the world recognize that.

Of course, all of the newspapers are hoping Apple and the Kindle will help to save their butts… but ESPN.com does sports for me and the AP wire still provides news and Joe down the block blogs about the tree root situation plaguing the local sidewalks on my street and the idea of one-stop news shopping is something that is already dead to many of us anyway. (Like textbooks providing one-size-fits-all curriculum – that ship has SAILED!)

I get my news from 15 sources, not one and until all 15 charge, I can live with only 14.

So, I won’t get to read Friedman. But if enough people stop reading Friedman, he’s going to try and deliver content to his audience another way… or else he stops being Friedman and someone else’s voice will rise up to replace his. Books still make sense. (I want to read the writing of the folks I want to read: Stephanie Meyers, Stephen King, they could publish on toilet paper and people would read it by the roll.) Newspapers don’t. Magazines… they seem to be on an edge. Can’t call it one way or the other yet.

Ultimately, I am completely at a loss for how this will all work out but I do feel that it sure would be hard to get people to start paying for my blog now that I have been giving it away at no charge for a year and a half.

Most of them would probably say, “Hasta la Vista… it was good while it lasted but I am onto other things.”

Real businesses know customers value what they pay for much more than they value what is free.

Like the dot.com bubble, so is the Free bubble.

The book FREE proposed that free was the way of the business future – at least to get a foot in the door. Actually, I think the real way of the business future is to 1) provide something excellent and 2) charge for it right out of the gate.

People will always pay for quality and if you are giving it away at no charge, how much is it really worth anyway?

Nings seem to have blown it if they want to charge. Someone else is gonna fill their void if they do because most people will not pay for the same thing they used to get at no charge. They will pay for something new, better, enhanced and so on.

Nings aren’t proposing that. There is no Ning II that’s a platinum version they will be selling. Ning just wants money now… and I am not sure how many folks are gonna roll with that.

However, I would chip in a buck to keep this ning alive. And if we all did, maybe the ning folks would let us keep rolling, huh?

The Tax Man Cometh today… so I decided to do a free webinar providing some tool and insights on using Poetry in the classroom.

My theme: Is Poetry Dead?

My answer: Heck no!

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the past few years have seen an absolutely amazing renaissance in poetry… particularly when it come to teens and their interest in reading, writing and performing (via spoken word) poetry.

Truly, it energizes a classroom in such an electric manner that to try and even describe it is simply not possible. You just gotta live it to see it.

And the truth is, it’s SO EASY to replicate in your own classroom.

Later today, I am going to talk about this, provide some free tools and teaching tips and thoughts on how to tackle the teaching of poetry and so on because hey, Uncle Sam might be reaching into your pocket today but since it’s National Poetry Month I figured why not try to put something of solid value — and of no cost — in your teacher’s bag as well.

To check it out, simply go here.

In closing today, I’ll end with a little poetry about taxes… as authored by The Beatles.

If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat,
If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.

‘Cause I’m the taxman,
Yeah, I’m the taxman.

So since I am in the mood to offer up so many thoughts as of late about how to re-shape K-12 education (heck, who isn’t doing it these days) I thought I’d chime in on the silliness of the manner by which we choose to pink slip 194 teachers in a district with about 900 educators.

We did it by seniority. Merit played no role. (Don’t worry, this is not a post about the budget cuts… though they will certainly see some action, I am sure, going forward.)

I repeat, quality of service played absolutely no factor in the decision making process of who got to keep their job and who got to canned. It all came down to one simple question: when were you hired.

And these are the deepest staff cuts I’ve ever seen.

No one asked, how well did you work? No one asked, to what degree did you serve the needs of the students? No one took into consideration things like work ethic, degree of content knowledge, extra-curricular duties, ability to differentiate for various learning styles, and on and on and on.

Chronology slapped down worthiness.

Add it all up and it means that this past week I had a chat with an ELA teacher I greatly admire, one who is but a few years into her career – and is a real dynamo with a bright future – and told her I’d be happy to write her a smoking letter of rec if ever she wanted one.

Best I could really do.

I mean this is a teacher we should be fighting to hold on to. I know it. The principal knows it. Heck, even the folks in the district offices might know it.

But rules are rules and length of service in public education trumps quality of service.

It’s folly. Plain and simple. No one lets a better employee go so that they can keep an older employee.

BTW, this is not ageism at play. Some of the best educators I know have multiple decades under their belt. Matter of fact, the leading ELA teacher on our campus (in my opinion) is a lady right across the hall from me and she’s at year 32 in our district.

Do you know what I was doing 32 years ago? Lemme tell, ya, it wouldn’t make momma proud.

Just think about what would happen to an institution’s degree of impact if they sustained such a silly policy over the long haul. I tell ya what would happen, it would inevitably crumble over the course of time due to erosion as a result of such poor decision making. (Anyone ever hear of a small industry once based in Detroit?)

Essentially, okay, I get that we are going through a fiscal crisis that is pretty much unprecedented in our lifetimes. But at least make the most intelligent moves you can make. We are compounding the impact of the budget cuts by not better adapting our policies to meet the needs of the current times. Truly, these types of decisions are handcuffing us from being able to do the best job we can possibly do at one of the most important jobs that there is to do in our country.

Society is counting on us to do it well.

And these are the rules by which we determine who gets laid off?

If merit plays no role in determining who stays and who goes, at some point the institution of public education will crumble.

This week, a few stones in the edifice fell. And it’s a sad thing to watch.

I don’t want to shine a light on what is wrong with our school. It’s just too damn easy — and so many people, from the federal government and NCLB to the local politicians to the news media and so on — they all take their shots at us. It just ain’t that hard to find things wrong around here.

Especially if that’s all you are looking for.

And my principal — who is a really good guy who is trying real hard to change things for the better (and yes, they are changing for the better) — ends up being the fall guy all too often when people are looking to mete out blame for what happened to me.

To his credit, he came to me to see how I was doing later in the day, checked in with me, let me know that they are gonna be turning the screws on the ditchers with renewed energy and vigor right away and so on. Basically, as pissed as I am/was, he is infuriated.

Essentially, he’s a good egg who is aggravated and ashamed and wants to bring the pain to these “bad apples” that are really bringing down our school in a terrible way. (We all know it’s not “ALL” the kids. It’s not even most of the kids. In fact, it’s a small portion of the kids. But on a campus as big as ours is, a small percentage translates into a few hundred and a few hundred delinquent teens mixed into a few thousand, well… it’s all fun and games in a way to them.)

The more I think about it, the more I realize that in a way, being spit on by some rogue students in the middle of a class lesson is not even about me. I mean I can afford a new shirt. It’s about so much more — especially for so many other students and families and community members here. That’s what really gets to me.

And these thoughts all ultimately triggers the question, “Am I even making a freakin’ difference ’round here?”

It’s that thought which plagues me.

And if I give into that thought, if I succumb to the negative energy behind that sentiment, then I will be gone. The only reason I stay is because the work is meaningful and matters to me and I believe that I am being of true service to kids and other teachers. Sure, there’s the paycheck but I am lucky enough to have other ways of making a living in this world. (Heck, I have to augment the wage they pay me anyway to make ends meet – and my other day job, well… let’s just say that it pays better than minimum wage.)

But getting spit on, well… sometimes it takes Mother Mary to be a teacher in America today and I am no freakin’ Mother Mary.

As another teacher told me, “Hey, it could have happened to any of us.” She’s right… but I am not sure if that is a thought that provides any solace.

It’s amazing how confrontational this whole profession has become. It’s like being a teacher today will test your limits in all areas of your life and if the job can find your Achilles’ Heel, it’s gonna swing its sword.

And who does not have an Achilles’ heel? Heck, even Achilles had one.

I saw Jim Burke at CATE the other day and he mentioned how nicely blogging works within the scope of all the other writing he does.

And he particularly likes the groove he’s fallen into with it as of late.

Funny how I greatly enjoy blogging as well. Truth is, many people told me I should “blog” (whatever the heck that meant) as far back as 2007… but I wasn’t really into it. Wasn’t sure if I’d have anything to say or be able to stick with it or find any joy in it or what not.

Truth is, now that I have been at it for well over a year, I am a bit amazed at my ability to be prolific without really sacrificing any other meaningful part of my life.

Heck, I don’t know what I was doing before I was blogging – probably sleeping (LOL!) – but nowadays I find blogging to be a tool which keeps me sharp as a writer. After all, I must crank out almost 2,000 words a week just for blogs alone — and they can be about anything I want them to be about.

I’ve blogged about politicians, farts, assessment, writing, violence, books, dysfunction, friends, and on and on and on.

Heck, I’ve now even blogged about blogging.

If I do the math of it all, I see this: 2,000 words per week for at least 45 weeks this year is 90,000 words — that’s a 500 page novel I’ve written, easy! (A 500 page novel that I am, btw, not publishing. I mean who’s gonna want to read a book about farting politicians as they dysfunctionally craft policy for school assessment? I know, I know, I’d be surprised.)

The point is, more people should try it. Blogging keeps me sharp as a writer. Muscles that are used stay in better shape than muscles which are too well-rested.

I should know. I just finished yet another new children’s book which my agent read last night and loved… another notch coming in the belt, it looks like.

Blogging doesn’t come at the expense of other writing… blogging, ironically enough, seems to liberate writing.

Whoudda thunk-it?

What percentage of F’s in a class is it reasonable for a teacher to give? I mean what’s the dividing point between a teacher firmly drawing the line at demanding minimum competency and rigor, and a teacher who is simply not reaching their kids and flunking so many students that we clearly see that the educator is actually ineffective at their job?

If 80% of the kids in a class are failing a class, is the teacher not a part of the problem for the immense amount of failure in the room?

What about a teacher with a 12% failure rate?

A 45.6% failure rate?

Heck, NCLB takes graduation rate into account when it assigns us our AYP and API scores in California so if we do not graduate 100% of our kids, we, by nature, are penalizing ourselves.

Makes a nice case for grade inflation doesn’t it? Or going after teachers who flunk too many kids.

But some teachers are flunking too many kids. Or, I should say, “have too many kids flunking their class”.

So what’s the acceptable number? Is it zero? That seems unreasonable. Is it 79.9%? That seems excessive.

Is there anyone who can provide guidance on this type of thing?

A Bell Curve with 10% A’s, 15% B’s, 40% C’s, 15% D’s and 10% F’s is how they drew it up in the theory class I took once upon a time. But my own classes NEVER balance out like that. Not even close. (And seldom do any of the theory classes offer things that truly measure up where the rubber meets the road.)

So if we want to raise our AYP and API score, the method is simple — flunk less kids.

And don’t think that teachers aren’t having the screws turned to do so by admins who care more about “school ranking and scores” than student learning.

Because in the world of our current educational dysfunction right now, student learning and higher AYP and API scores are often at odds.

So, I ask again, how many F’s is a teacher allowed to reasonably give?