Dr. Elizabeth Green

Instructional Designer, Writer, and Free Spirit

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A New Page in the Grade Book

January 9, 2015 by Elizabeth 2 Comments

New Year - New Page

New Year – New Page

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the first page in a new journal.  I keep a personal journal and start a new one at the New Year, when I want to move in a new direction for my life, or simply when I run out of pages.  I also keep several project journals for my business projects.  There is something magical and refreshing about having a blank page before me on which I can write anything I want.  I take time to choose a new pen and select the color for the look I want for the first clean, white, page.  I take a few moments and think about the possibilities for my phase of life or project.

As a teacher, I love a new page in the grade book or blank workbook on a spreadsheet.  The new semester is a fresh start for students.  It was a symbol of hope for everyone who wanted a fresh start.  The teacher’s grading practices can either encourage or discourage students eager to start a semester with a clean page in the gradebook.

When my math-phobic daughter took Algebra II, her teacher gave a pop quiz on the second day of class.  Andrea was distraught over a grade of 20 out of 100 points on the quiz.  I assured her that the teacher would not record the grade, as she hadn’t practiced math skills in some time.  The school was on an accelerated block schedule.  Since geometry followed Algebra I in the school’s math sequence, she hadn’t practiced algebra for 1 ½ years.  Her teacher was trying to figure out what the students knew.  Using teacher language, I assumed this was a formative assessment to inform instructional practices.

I was wrong.  The teacher recorded the grade as a major test grade.  So much for having a fresh page in the gradebook!  The unfortunate students, like my daughter, who did not immediately recall previous math skills had to struggle the entire grading period in an attempt to make up for the low grade.  One problem with the numerical grading scale is that a grade of zero or below 50 disproportionately lowers the overall average.  Mathematically, the numerical 0-100 scale is unfair.  A student that makes an F, B, B, A has an average of B-.  A student with similar numerical grades, such as 0, 80, 80, 95 has an average of 64, which is failing in many school districts.

When I asked Andrea’s teacher about her grade, she assured me Andrea would be okay.  If she didn’t ask to leave the class to go the restroom the entire grading period, she would drop the lowest grade in the gradebook.  I couldn’t believe my ears. What did going to the restroom have to do with how well students learned math?

As a school improvement and curriculum specialist, I’ve worked with many teachers, schools, ad districts clinging to the numerical system and defend it as if it is a hallowed practice.  The American school system adopted the numerical grading system as public school populations exploded during the baby boom, as a way to manage grades for large numbers of students.  It was what teachers knew to do at the time, but may have outlived its original purpose.  Some teachers are loyal to practices they experienced as students or practices they learned in their early years of teaching.  Often, they have not examined why they adopted a numerical system.  Some assign grades as a method of keeping students under control.  Grading practices should reflect content mastery rather than student compliance or controlling student behavior.

What are your experiences with fair or unfair grading practices?          

Reasons to be Thankful for the American Education System

November 27, 2014 by Elizabeth 3 Comments

I am thankful that all children have access to an education.  It wasn’t long ago in American history that only white male children of landowners had the right to an education.  I am thankful to live in a country in which all students regardless of gender, religion, race, or ethnicity has a right for an education.

I am thankful that all children regardless of ability, disability, or handicapping condition have the right to an education.  The American system includes everyone and provides special assistance to those with physical, intellectual, or emotional challenges.

I am thankful that children in public schools may practice any religion of their choice, their family’s choice, or even practice no religion at all.  The American system does not force any individual to adopt a state-selected religion.  I am grateful for the wisdom of the leaders to set up a system that prohibits indoctrinating children and allows families freedom to choose their own faith or spirituality.

I am thankful for the homeschooling moms and dads have the freedom to choose to serve as their child’s teachers.

I am thankful that schools provide food to those students who might not have anything to eat.  I am grateful for the individuals that prepare and serve the food with kindness.

I am thankful that many communities make education a priority by providing resources for buildings, utilities, transportation systems, and personnel.

I am thankful for the arts and music programs in schools that help students find beauty and meaning in school and in life.

I am thankful for modern technology that makes the world a bigger place for students.  Students no longer have to rely on teachers, textbooks, and the school library as the primary source of information.  By using modern technology, students have a world of information available.  Student empowerment changes everything!

I am thankful that conscientious teachers even take time during the holidays for planning and creating engaging learning techniques for their students.

I am thankful that even on holidays dedicated teachers think about their students.  They hope that they are well and worry about those who do not have enough to eat or a warm bed.  While many teachers are enjoying time with family and getting some much-needed rest, a piece of their heart is with their students.

Banishing the Boogieman

October 15, 2014 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Boogieman (640x452)

After reading my last blog, My Son Would Have Turned 30 Today, several blog readers sent private messages to me sharing their struggles with their children who have depression or other brain chemistry imbalances. I’m honored when someone trusts me enough to share personal struggles.  It’s tough for a parent to watch their child that they love more than life itself suffer, self-medicate, get in trouble with the law, or self-destruct in some other way.

After Jay’s suicide, I received an overwhelming amount of love and support from my family, my church family, friends, colleagues from the district I worked in, and from colleagues from the school where I taught the previous school year. I received some type of sympathy message via phone call, email, card, letter, or flowers every day for a full year after Jay died.  It is such a blessing to be a recipient of unconditional love.  It’s not the norm for the parent of a school shooter.  Most go into hiding due to the negative media attention and hostility from individuals.

Since Jay’s death was so public, our family’s private life became transparent. There were camera crews covering the events as they unfolded at the school.  They were at my son’s funeral filming our family and other mourners.  My life and my son’s death were food for ratings-hungry media outlets.  Our family was not perfect by any means.  This became clear to anyone who watched or read the news.

Others knowing my frailties and failures liberate me. It was exhausting to pretend I had a perfect life, perfect marriage, and perfect children.  Having the worst happen in public allowed me to see the worst in people and survive.  Consequently, I learned that I was stronger than public ridicule, betrayal, and my own guilt.  I also learned how to forgive in a way I never thought possible.

Once my private pain became public, friends, acquaintances, and sometimes complete strangers felt it was okay to share their very personal problems with me. My life’s events made me seem human and vulnerable.  Like them, I had and still have personal heartaches and struggles.  Some individuals shared that they were in unhappy marriages.  Others confided their worries about their children’s, addictions, legal issues, suicide attempts, depression, or episodes of domestic abuse.  It’s remarkable how those who seem to have charmed lives have more going on than one can see by looking from the outside.

I learned that no one has a perfect life. Marriage partners have conflicts and sometimes divorce.  Families sometimes have job or financial difficulties.  Most families have members with addictions, brain chemistry imbalances, eating disorders, health issues, or simply a child who is more difficult to rear than the others.  Those who go to the greatest lengths to hide life’s imperfections typically have the most to hide.  They are also the ones who hurt the most.

People keep secrets because of guilt and shame. Hiding the secret gives it power.  It is like the boogieman that hides in a child’s closet or under the bed.  He is unknown and unexamined.  He grows in the dark spaces of one’s mind and disappears in the light.  Likewise, guilt and shame gain power in secrecy and lose their power when one turns on the light by sharing the secret with the right person or people.

At one time, polite society members did not talk about certain illnesses, such as breast cancer openly. As a result, women needlessly died from inability to recognize the symptoms or from fear of seeking treatment due to embarrassment or shame.  Mental illness and/or addictions are still taboo subjects.  Those who are sick suffer more than necessary because they are afraid of the sigma of mental illness.  When the pain is too much to bear, some take their own lives.  It is time for discussions about mental health to become as ordinary as discussions about any other illness.  The stigma, shame, fear, and guilt diminish in the light of frank discussions.

What do you think? When is it okay to ask to help?  What should remain private?  

My Son Would Have Turned 30 Today

September 28, 2014 by Elizabeth 13 Comments

Had he lived my son, Jay, would have been 30 today.  Like most Mini thirtieth birthday cake decorated with a single candlemothers who survive a child, I find his birthday bittersweet.  On my firstborn’s birthday, I remember the glorious day he was born and all the events leading up to his birth.  I reminisce about the birthdays that followed, the toddler years when he tore into the piles of gifts.  In later years, birthdays included sleepovers and picnics with friends at the lake.  God blessed me with the honor of being his mom on this earth for 16 years.

The first years after his suicide, birthdays were extraordinarily painful, filled with guilt, remorse, sadness, questions of what if – all mixed with some righteous anger.  As time passed, the birthdays became bearable, mixed with good memories and sadness that he isn’t physically present on the earth to celebrate another trip around the sun.

Jay would have been 30 today.  On this monumental birthday, I celebrate his sweet memory, but I am also curious.  What would his life been like if he had survived depression?  What type of work would he do?  Would he have married?  Would he have children like many of his friends? Would his tall, thin frame have changed to be thick around the middle?  His first niece was born this year (my granddaughter).  I don’t have to guess how he would have felt about that.  He would have been thrilled.  With his delightful sense of humor, he would have found quirky ways to make her laugh.  In my mind, I can see his dimpled smile and the twinkle in his eyes.

Many of my friends and colleagues know that I lost a son to suicide.  However, most do not know that Jay was a school shooter.  Jay held his former English class hostage before taking his own life.  Most parents of school shooters go into hiding. With the support of family and friends and because I was the sole supporter of the family, I continued to work.  I don’t know of any school shooters who had a parents who work in education.  The school district I worked in at the time was supportive of my unique situation and I was able to maintain my job.  Since they knew me before the events, they realized that if such an event could happen to me, it could happen to anyone.  As I moved to other jobs, I didn’t share the information openly until today – Jay’s 30 birthday.

To say the least, Jay found school unbearable on so many levels. Because of Jay’s life and death, I have work very hard to make high schools better places for young people.  The work of school improvement is extraordinarily difficult with long hours.  Those of us in this profession often work late into the evenings and sometimes must work all night or through the weekend to meet deadlines.  The travel schedule and hotel life can be brutal.  Jay’s memory keeps me going.  I hope no other parents to have to celebrate their child’s birthday while wondering what if.

Assume = Ass-u-me

November 19, 2013 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

assume pixOscar Wilde said, “When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.  When others do not act as expected, the tendency is to make up a story or assume motives.

  • When a student does not complete a homework assignment, the teacher may assume the student is irresponsible, lazy, or was busy playing video games.
  • When a teacher misses a department or school meeting repeatedly, the teacher-leader may assume the teacher does not place a priority on the meeting or sees tardiness as an attempt to undermine authority.
  • When colleagues do not enforce school rules, such as enforcing dress code violations, a teacher may assume he or she is the only one conscientious and brave enough to take action.

When others violate our expectations, it is easy to make up stories explaining behavior.  When emotions, especially anger are involved, the portion of the brain that is logical ceases to function.  The lower part of our personality takes over and we may:

  • verbally attack the offender;
  • if possible, punish the other person;
  • throw a tantrum;
  • taunt, tease, insult, or use sarcasm; and/or
  • spread the story behind the offender’s back.

Stunned by the violent outburst, the original offender wonders what prompted such a strong reaction.  The cycle continues as he creates his own story about this.

I am reading Crucial Accountability by Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, and Switzler.  More on how to break this cycle,  based on Crucial Accountability in the next post.

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About Me

Hi! I'm Elizabeth. ...a researcher, educator, instructional designer, writer, mom, activist, and optimist, and this is my personal blog.  I mostly write about educational issues, but can get sidetracked into issues that I find interesting or timely.   Disclaimer This is my personal … Read More...

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Hi! I'm Elizabeth. ...a researcher, educator, instructional designer, writer, mom, activist, and optimist, and this is my personal blog.  I mostly write about educational issues, but can get … Read More...

From the Blog

  • Experiencing Shame and Compassion
  • Leaving Shame Behind
  • Avoiding Burnout – Getting Real About Your Schedule
  • Self-care for Teachers: A Lesson from my Peach Tree
  • Insist on Educational Excellence

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