Bambino    Smethurst

Deborah Bambino (science teacher/leader)
Central East Middle School, Philadelphia, PA

Background - Deborah Bambino

Deb - #01 -''We're constantly trying to refine our practice to increase student achievement.''

Deb - #02 - ''It's good to be back. Like my student, I choose the river with all its twists, turns and new adventures....''

Deb - #03 - ''I'm glad I have my CFG colleagues to turn to for this kind of honest discussion. We took a full year to build our trust in each other and I know I'll get some good questions and feedback from them.''

Deb - #04 -''We hope that they'll be ready to join us in some action research about technology. While we were away, we talked about how we all wanted computers and that we're all getting them, but we're not really clear on the payoff in terms of student achievement. ''

Deb - #05 - "If they can impress an IBM vice president and foreign dignitaries, if they can impress me and other teachers, why do they bomb on the tests? . . . It's painful to see bright kids shut out of special high school programs because of test scores that only give a very limited view of their abilities."

Deb - #06 - "I'm committed to the city's kids, having grown up here myself, but I'm more than a little anxious about our future. . .Charter schools are popping up all over and concerned parents are buying all their claims. . .If the charters get the kids whose parents act as advocates, who does that leave in the public schools? The kids with the greatest needs, the ones with no one to act as advocates will get left behind."

Deb - #07 - "I see special opportunities as a chance to excite students, both those who already engage and do their work and those who are reluctant to admit to any curiosity or desire to learn . . .(but) balancing special projects and their 'chaotic effects' with the importance of consistency and other people's planning needs has put a strain on some staff relations."

Deb - #08 - "It strikes me that it's ironic that my training is for a unit on catastrophic events. Some how I don't think the planners would consider missing a week of school catastrophic, but I certainly do! I think every teacher could use a clone, maybe then we could feel like we're getting our work done...."

Deb - #09 - "I don't mean to sound like a sales pitch, but I think these units are a cut above what I've been using in my classes so far. If the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' of the teachers are any indication, I think the kids are in for a real treat."

Deb - #10 - "Everything seemed harder this week, and I know it's because of anxiety about our principal's impending departure. It's like a whole other layer of stress has been added and it's just filtering down on our work."

Deb - #11 - "Is [science fair] a requirement that teaches problem-solving skills and authentic science or is it a show, a series of deadlines, a schedule that dictates instruction? I'm not shirking my responsibility here, I'm really wondering about it."

Deb - #12 - "In the past, I was shocked to learn that most schools work with only a select group for science fair. I was proud that we gave "all" our students the opportunity and support they needed to succeed. But I am having some serious doubts about the value of this whole process."

Deb - #13 - "The kind of skills transfer that reflects real learning just isn't happening. . . .They show little evidence of the teaching that I know is going on in other areas, which leads me to the "learning" question. If we're all teaching and they're not learning, defined as using the skills and information, are we teaching?"

Deb - #14 - "Discovering the ways to get our students to perform is at the heart of the dilemma I raised last week, and the "10 Critical Qualities of Student Work" raised by Schlechty has given me a new lens through which to consider this task. I'm planning to write a student evaluation form for the science fair process this weekend and these 'qualities' should prove useful in that effort."

Deb - #15 - "We made a commitment to focus on the logs and other aspects of technical writing this time around. We fell very short of our goal. Most projects still don't have log books and few show real evidence of the student's ongoing thinking and working on their problem."

Deb - #16 - "I had an assignment all ready for students who failed to meet the science fair requirements and the parents were very willing to sign off and support my efforts to get their children to take responsibility for the missing work."

Deb - #17 - "Another student said, 'You should start the year by modeling a complete science fair project which we could all judge with the rubric so that we'd have a clear picture of what you wanted.' Up to now, I've been focusing in on a piece at a time, like 'problem' one week and 'research' the next."

Deb - #18 - "I'd like to see us looking at student work with parents. I'm not talking about report cards or test scores, but really looking at assignments and peeling them back to find the reasons for doing them and for the work we're getting from students. . . These discussions hardly ever happen, at least not in urban, public schools."

Deb - #19 - "Here are these people who barely know you, who don't know your work, colleagues or kids, and yet they can cut to the chase and move your thinking to another level. They don't fix your work and they don't try to fix you, they just help you look at your own process and product."

Deb - #20 - "How do you test fairly, when large numbers of children come from homes where English is rarely spoken? How do you teach responsibly when there are layers of misuderstanding you can't even imagine?"

Deb - #21 - "Sustained, political pressure from public school parents and their allies is the only hope our kids have, but before we stand together, we have to listen and talk together. "

Deb - #22 - "The counselor asked kids to write something about the open-ended questions in order to receive 'credit' and because they wanted to please us so much, they did. At that point, I popped two Advil and asked them if they wanted to help me stuff envelopes."

Deb - #23 - Listening to my peers as they raised questions about whether the students had written down their thoughts and discussed them in their groups -- before I hit them with my questions -- was a little unsettling. . .Even allowing for my nervousness about being filmed, it was clear that I'd goofed.

Deb - #24 - "A colleague from our school was supposed to visit me for three days of sharing and observation of technology integration. This was my 11th or 12th round of visits, but it was my first unsuccessful pairing. . . ."

Deb - #25 - "When I tried to pose the question about whether the change in weather or our declining energy levels at this time of year had precipitated the shift in student behavior, it was not taken kindly by a few of my peers."

Deb - #26 - "Dr. Bouie drove home the point that we cannot combat the bias and racism in our school systems until we are ready to own those pieces of the problem that we have perpetuated, sometimes with the best of intentions."

Deb - #27 - "Maybe we need on-going team-building activities....Feeling out of touch seems to lead to misunderstandings. Add the fact that we rarely have time to laugh and celebrate with each other and it amounts to a potentially serious problem."

Deb - #28 - "I'm pleased that we're ending social promotion and I'm excited about the possibilities of exit projects, but I'm worried too. What about all those teachers who haven't ever taught thematically?"

Deb - #29 - "The Annenberg Institute held its 'Making Teaching Public' Colloquium in Phila. this past week. Over 600 educators and advocates came together to share student work, hold text-based discussions, hear visiting authors and renew our committment to our students and their achievement."

Deb - #30 - "I asked my students the question which had been bothering me, 'If you're working so hard and I'm using all these cool teaching tools, why aren't you all getting A's?' At first they just looked at me, but then they began to talk."

Deb - #31 - "Students identified all the different ways that people separate themselves -- by 'gear,' by whether you had a boyfriend/girlfriend, where you lived, how you talked, walked etc. They really opened up about their feelings. I didn't need to say much at all."

Deb - #32 - "Our passive listening to the kids' complaints had taught them well. Our inaction in the face of their repeated complaints said to them, 'If we think your issue is unimportant there's no use complaining.' We showed them their lack of power and continued to tell them to get involved, to buy-in, to own their educational experience."

Deb - #33 - "I'm trying to process all of this as a teacher, as a parent and as a citizen. Perhaps more importantly, I'm trying to wear those three hats at the same time. The teacher and citizen says, 'schools need to stay open and the business of education must go on as normal.' The parent, the one getting ready to leave for a college graduation this afternoon, feels pangs of doubt and fear."

Deb - #34 - "I'm anxious about having some sort of closure to the school year that represents something more than a posting of grades and an awareness of all the loose ends which didn't get pulled together yet. I feel a need to openly construct a bridge from this year to the next...."

Deb - #35 - "Building the cars was the single most powerful recruitment activity this year. Giving girls the opportunity to work with real tools in an all-female context was an eye opener. Not only did girls build their own cars, they helped each other at every turn."

Deb - #36 - "The inventions and presentations acted as a real window into the minds and abilities of a great number of our students. Kids who usually opt out decided to buy in and participate. Despite a limited time frame and little classroom support, almost everyone got involved."

Deb - #37 - "I went back to vist an eighth grade teacher once and she acted rather detached. I felt hurt-- as though I'd been foolish in thinking she had cared. But now I know she had just moved on and was unsure of herself with the 'new' me. That experience taught me to never pull back."

Deb - #38 - In her final entry for this school year, Deb Bambino compares her dreams and hopes to her accomplishments, and begins revving up for the year to come -- when she takes on a new teaching assignment under a new principal.

Summer Diaries
Deb - #39 - Summer School - "TAPS brings together all the pieces of school reform for me. It's the embodiment of a reflective teaching and learning community. It's a relaxed environment where the stakes are high, but the anxiety is low. Taking risks is the order of the day."

Deb - #40 - Summer Professional Development - "I'm thinking now that our lessons -- our individual pieces of work -- function in much the same way a piece of writing or artwork does. Each time you experience the performance...a kind of alchemy takes place and the results are never exactly the same."

Deb - #41 -Art Class Revelations - "My mistakes, my limited experience, gave me a window on how my students must feel when I matter of factly give directions and expect them to succeed."

Susan Smethurst (resource teacher)
"Inner City" Middle School (Toronto, Canada)

Background - Susan Smethurst

Susan - #01 - ''Imagine if we pooled our talents and built on each others' strengths!'

Susan - #02 - ''It still comes down to: we can only do the best we can with what we have, and when that is next to nothing -- well, we'll see!"

Susan - #03 - ''When one person queried how they could 'make' teachers do this and that, something crystallized for me: where is genuine reform going on that involves classroom teachers as partners in change?''

Susan - #04 -''I wish I knew how other teachers who have Danny cope with him -- but because I almost never get to SEE them, let alone talk to them, I have no idea! Here's another area where the lack of teaming, planning and meeting time is so counterproductive and wasteful. ''

Susan - #05 - "This year we're having a pizza dinner as a prelude to the Open House, hoping to entice more parents to attend, and I have been phoning to invite people personally. Staff are to explain some of the new curriculum expectations to the parents as well as our individual classroom procedures and routines, and it's important to get as many as possible to come. ''

Susan - #06 - ''The quality of the younger teachers entering the system is outstanding, but no cause for complacency: the majority of them are not likely to stay in teaching, statistics show. My young colleague is a case in point. Graduating from a first-class education program, with a number of successful practicums under her belt, she felt ready for anything...until she came to us.''

Susan - #07 - "Language-across-the-curriculum sounds like a superb idea -- until you're trying to implement it without the multilevel materials needed. Borrowing 'baby stuff' from the primary grades won't help; the kids are much too image-conscious to read and use material obviously meant for younger kids."

Susan - #08 - "[Our] kids lack the skills to do group work, activities, and the like very successfully: It seems that anything other than direct paper-and-pencil tasks are perceived by many teachers as invitations to 'fool around.' So new teachers quickly scale back any innovative projects they may have planned because 'the kids can't handle it.' This bothers me, though. They have to learn to handle it, and who else will teach them?"

Susan - #09 - "[T]he feeling is we can't allow so many schools to close, because they are an integral part of their neighborhoods and a reason why, even though we have low socioeconomic areas, we have no slums or ghettos, but vibrant multicultural communities instead. Without schools in the downtown core we could see the same urban decay that has blighted so many other North American cities."

Susan - #10 - "Reviewing the report card comments this week, I reflected that some of my students really are progressing well: developing good work habits, pride in their efforts, and new skills. Bearing in mind that these are all struggling readers and writers, small steps forward are cause for celebration!"

Susan - #11 - "We don't think the perpetrators were students from our school. While we have some loudmouths and some trouble makers, there are really only one or two kids in the whole school who are potentially malicious towards staff and other students."

Susan - #12 - "We are not going to provide a secondary education for below-average students. We've gotta be world-class! Competitive! Muscling our way into the global marketplace! No money and resources to 'waste' on those who will not advance our 'competitive edge.' "

Susan - #13 - "When Jaime was in sixth grade last year, I worked with a group from his class, and we identified him as needing more support. A super kid, very responsible and conscientious, he has some real learning problems, but his progress has been heartening. However, last spring's report card interview is one that will haunt me for a long time."

Susan - #14 - "Aha. The Viral Theory of Learning! If we expose the students to knowledge, the germ will gradually spread (without further effort, of course)... Seems like the same theory some of the students are working under! There is a conundrum here, though."

Susan - #15 - "I don't know what that science teacher may have meant when she said, 'We have to weed kids out,' but that sentiment does seem to express a real effect of 'high standards' without meaningful implementation and commitment to student achievement expressed in action, staff, and resources to get the job done."

Susan - #16 - "People are 'winging it' because they don't know what to do. Much confusion exists over what the new standards mean, how they are to be interpreted, and how we should evaluate student work in relation to them. . . .Maybe the answer (for now) is, 'Think small'."

Susan - #17 - "We tend to forget, because the students are scarcely ones to remind us, how much many have overcome to get where they are, and that these are survivors par excellence, with untapped possibilities that would make your head spin."

Susan - #18 - "Our parent members are all very supportive of the school, but have limited time to involve themselves in school management. I hope we can brainstorm ways to merge the campaign to save the school with an imaginative plan to improve the program and learning opportunities for all our students."

Susan - #19 - "The vice-principal said, apropos of student evaluation, that we must begin to get students more involved in evaluation of their own work, comparing it to the standards, and identifying steps to improve . . . and maybe we should introduce student-led conferences. Well! I nearly dropped all my order forms!! Was I really hearing this?? Hallelujah!"

Susan - #20 - "When does the right of the average student to attend school without abuse, harassment, physical violence or extortion take precedence over the right of an (admittedly troubled) youngster to an education at his neighborhood school?"

Susan - #21 - "Parents and others, including friends who marked the tests, told me of numerous very bright, competent young mathematicians who become frustrated and disgusted with being asked to 'explain' everything."

Susan - #22 - "We also need more incentives for students to work hard and succeed. Since this is a low-income neighborhood (no Title I funds in Toronto -- poor kids don't get lunch, or any special services) there are few field trips or enriching activities."

Susan - #23 - There does seem to be a mindset that putting students in categories solves some kind of problem -- even if you never DO anything about the needs you identified!

Susan - #24 - "The ads show two little girls skipping down a sunny sidewalk while a voice-over explains that with the new, standardized curriculum a child can move from one place to another and not be discomfited by changing schools, since it will be "the same." Isn't fantasy wonderful?"

Susan - #25 - "We can tell that our principals and vice principals have been told to keep the schools open at any price and NOT to call "downtown" for help. A bizarre incident one morning clearly illustrated this."

Susan - #26 - "Every time you pass that class, the teacher is regaling them with another funny story about infant hijinks. At first, they laughed and loved it. Now they see that other classes are doing other things, and learning stuff they will need to know -- and they aren't happy."

Susan - #27 - "An outpouring of expressed concerns from parents, teachers and other groups does seem to have had an impact on provisions for low-achieving students."

Susan - #28 - "Many of our parents, too, simply don't understand why we don't take a stick and whack the kid! 'He be bad -- you beat him!' some say, in all seriousness. These culture clashes are not easy to overcome."

Susan - #29 - "There was a small space for 'Suggestions to improve the school.' I wrote a page and a half (!), and stapled it together. On my way through the office I caught the principal's eye and waved my submission aloft. 'You'll be sorry you asked,' I teased, as she smiled ruefully."

Susan - #30 - "We sometimes think we are the only school wrestling with our particular problems, and that people in other places have everything working smoothly. A conference is a good reality check in that department...."

Susan - #31 - "How can teachers intervene in this negative spiral before a lonely, angry child becomes a socially isolated, hostile teenager who becomes an armed and dangerous individual with "payback" plans on his mind?"

Susan - #32 - "I found her words deeply disturbing, for lots of reasons -- but I kept coming back to the question: 'What must we do to make schools SAFE places for our kids?' Not only safe from armed attack, psychotic killers or bomb threats, but safe places to learn, to develop interests and relationships, to explore issues of personal values and identity in an atmosphere where it's 'OK' to be oneself?"

Susan - #33 - "If I had my 'magic wand' I would pick a more norm-based test for 'the system,' and use these more complex, standards-based tests locally, with feedback given to teachers and schools, as well as to students and parents, and professional development and district-level initiatives coming from the results and identified needs."

Susan - #34 - "Because I have been in other schools, I could see that what some of our teachers rated 'B' work was nothing like what was required for the same grade elsewhere. But it seems a picture is worth a thousand words! When you see it, the light dawns."

Susan - #35 - "Not all teachers need, or want, to stay in the same neighborhood school for 30 years -- but we ought to make staying for 5 or 10 a much more attractive proposition, one where the teacher 'wins' by growing personally and professionally, and where the school and community 'win' by benefiting from the special skills and strengths these teachers have to offer."

Susan - #36 - Susan Smethurst offers us her final words, as she reflects on her most recent year of teaching in her Toronto inner-city middle school. "The sun is out, the grass is green, and I don't give up easily. Whether or not 'the system' can be saved, I can still make a difference for *my* students in *my* class and to co-workers and community as well." Don't miss this excellent wrap-up entry!

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