The List: Straight From A Teenager's Mouth

The List: Straight From A Teenager's Mouth

When it comes to purchasing gifts for the young ones, everyone feels fairly confident that they can walk into a store and find something their kids will like and enjoy. Shiny, big, new pretty much takes care of it.

But when it comes to teens, well, we all know they're so particular and mysterious. That's where many of us get stuck.

This year I decided to put the question to all of my students, 110+ 9-12th graders and ask THEM what THEIR Top 10 wants were for this giving season to help out all of you last minute shoppers.

I have to be honest, the #1 response surprised even me but reminded me that despite everything we may go through with our kids, despite our problems, despite the fact that sometimes we think they're most definitely on the wrong track, despite the fact that they seem rather disinterested in world politics, they DO think about the world around them and they will be okay.

THE LIST straight from my students' mouths:

1. World Peace

2. iPhone

3. Money

4. Gas Card

5. iPod Touch

6. iTunes Gift Card

7. Canon Rebel XTi

8. Best Buy Gift Certificate

9. Dance Dance Revolution for Wii

10. Urban Outfitters Gift Certificate

Great shopping all of you and have a great holiday!

"The Connection"

Sometimes in life, we are able to "really connect" with other people.

We all know that feeling. It's special and wholesome and it fills us with such a gratifying feeling that it's hard to explain.

But when we as teachers are able to "really connect" with our students, well, I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that feeling is.

It's that connection that keeps me teaching and keeps me coming back for more, for there's no better reward (and feeling) than knowing that I really connected with a student today and that just possibly I might have made that student's day.

Ok, it might sound corny, but today I had that. Sure, I've had it before, but today it was all the more special because it involved a student that's been really quiet and reserved all year---a student that's accumulated a number of absences, has been distant and aloof and difficult to talk to. A student, I fear, that's been taught that closeness hurts and distance offers the security of anonymity.

I confess I almost gave up on this student. It's a full classroom and there are so many loud students. This student is easy to forget.

Nonetheless, my daily greetings had gone ignored. My attempts to make feeble conversation and find common ground had been left dangling uncomfortably in the air. My simple questions had gone unanswered. My jokes, well, maybe they weren't very funny. I really almost gave up.

But today, for some strange reason, maybe it was the chocolate fudge I offered, this student smiled, reached out and "connected". We all did as we bit down on the creamy morsels, languishing in the healing powers only homemade chocolate fudge can bestow.

We all stood huddled like a team united in family secrecy, ready to take on the world. Our connection solidified with each bite confirming our shared appreciation for the very basic things in life, like good food, good friends and good candy.

This student happily reached in for more, looked up into my eyes, smiled then thanked me for the treats.

I took the lead and the best is about to come.

Band Aids & Big Talk

One of the most interesting things I've learned about education, is that Education doesn't seem to learn very well, and education seems very reluctant to change, if at all.

Sure, politicians love to talk the talk, but we all know that's just politics. We've actually gotten accustomed to the big talk and the non-change. That too is politics.

As if the massive teacher shortages, record dropouts, crowded classrooms, standardized testing problems, crime in schools, language barriers, special education challenges, administrative roadblocks, legal set backs, weren't enough, NOW it appears that our college freshmen are so ill-prepared that they have to take remedial classes before they can even enroll in the standard college courses.

This is a serious problem but it appears we may have an answer: "a 104-page proposal, which is scheduled to come before the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board next month, outlining what students should learn before enrolling at one of the state's public universities.

Those who do not meet the standards will be directed to community colleges, where they can get extra help at a lower cost to themselves and the state."

I thought that's what grades, and class standing and SAT's and ACTs did, silly me.

The funny thing is, that there is a push now for students to earn college credits while still in high school. Has anyone looked at this?

So, we've got one group saying our students aren't learning enough and aren't prepared for college and another saying let's give them college credit for what they've learned in high school.

I say, "How about students earning high school credit for high school courses!" and letting college credit happen when it's supposed to---in college.

At this rate, we'll soon have kids earning college credit in middle school and still get into college without the education that they need.

Seriously, how bad does it have to get before we really take the bull by the horns, scrap the whole educational system and build it from the bottom up? Make it relevant and make it real so that it actually does what it's supposed to do----prepare our students for success in higher education and for success in life.

That's my recommendation. Start over. Look at the entire system and rework it from the beginning, starting with Pre K all the way up.

We don't need another study. We don't need another program. We need real change now, because from what I can see, our students are getting short-changed, big time.