Education

Big Apple Bound

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

I’m going to New York City.  Here I come New York City.  I. Am. Going. To. New.  York. CITY!!

Sorry, I’m just a little excited.  Not just about going to New York CITY, but I had my first conference proposal accepted.  It is my first acceptance, not my first proposal.  I had on proposal denied for another conference, which is fine this one is more up my alley.  I’ll be presenting at the Conference on English Education’s biennial conference.  When I got the email this morning and the subject line read: CEE Summer Conference Proposal Acceptance–I nearly peed my pants.  I couldn’t believe it.  I still can’t believe it.

I have been working on this PhD for a long time and am not finally starting to come into my own research and into my own as a professional intellectual.  It’s so surreal.  I get to share my ideas and research.  I am amazed and surprise and humbled.  I really am a professional.  I never felt like that as a high school teacher or even community college instructor. It’s true that our society doesn’t place much value on the in the trenches teachers.  University teaching is very different, as we are seen as professionals because of those three little letters PhD.  I don’t have mine yet, but I am really close to finishing.  It’s a bit bizarre to feel this level of professionalism now as a student when I didn’t feel it as a teacher.

Well, I am going to New York City.  I’ve never been.  I’m also staying in the Dorm at Fordham University (which I have also never done–I went to college later in life).  I can’t wait to explore the city and share in professional academic intellectual conversations on how to prepare teachers in this day and age.

Please feel free to leave me advice on NYC.  I’ll happily take it.

Like A Train Wreck

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

I went on TV yesterday.  Well, actually I taped a segment that will air on TV this weekend about charter schools and why we still have them.  I’m nervous.  I was nervous going in but the interviewer really made me comfortable–I’m not sure this is a good thing, because I think I talked more openly than I might have otherwise–but I don’t know, because I barely remember any of it to be honest.  There are a lot of lights in a TV studio and monitors and cameras and prompters.  It’s all quite overwhelming if you’ve never done it before.  I am already thinking of things I would have like to have said and maybe things I would have liked to have not said, but I was honest and tactful.  So I guess that’s a plus.  It’s a thin line that I have to walk as I work at a university with a communications department that works hard to make sure that our reputation is good and that we stay out of the news.

First thing this morning I had to email the communications people to give them a run down and I think I gave them the most accurate rundown that I could–given that I don’t remember everything we talked about or exactly what I said.  But what is even more scary is that my segment was about 8 minutes.  I know that doesn’t seem long–but given that most TV segments aren’t that long–it’s long and it was all me.  I mean the interviewer asked questions and but it was me doing most of the talking.  It was very conversational and I think I talked slowly and clearly–I did stumble over a work and I hope it doesn’t make me look like an idiot.

I don’t want to watch it.  I don’t.  One, being on camera under all those lights will make you never want to eat food again.  Also, I am terrified that I am going to look like an idiot.  I know that i am knowledgeable in my field and in many ways am somewhat of an expert in the field of education as I am getting ready to finish my PhD.  But there is still part of me that is that poor kid who failed math and didn’t feel smart enough to go to college right out of high school.  Those insecurities, that are quieter these days, still creep up at moments and I wonder when the world will find out that I am not PhD material.  I know it’s ridiculous but it happens and it freaks me out a bit.

For those of you not in STL who want to see the segment–I MIGHT link to in on Monday–depending on how it goes/looks.  Holy Shit.  People will be able to watch my segment online–when ever they want for years and years to come.  Yeah, it might be a total train wreck.

I’ll Admit It Totally Matters To Me

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that my kids are smart.  I’ll admit it.  But then again it probably isn’t surprising to anyone that an educator and soon to be PhD wants her children to be intelligent and excel in school.  Obviously that is something that matters to me a great deal.  I’ll admit it again and again.  I think being smart is important.  It is something I value tremendously.  I also believe that all of us have the potential to be smart and brilliant.  Just so often many don’t get the opportunity to explore and fully develop that potential.  How I wish every child had access to early educational experiences that are rich and driven by their own interest.

Anyway, why am I even writing about this you ask?  Well, we had Noah’s parent teacher conference yesterday and I am happy (and feeling a little shallow) to say that my son is doing amazingly well.  He did spectacular on the assessment the school uses to determine many cognitive skills (as an educator, I think the assessment they use is great).  He was able to do everything well and even beyond the expectations for his age.  I hate to brag.  I really do, but as a mother/parent, it validates so much of what we have done and how we are raising our kids.  While Noah’s potential is owed to his amazing birth parents, we, as the ones raising, him have done a great job of bringing that potential to life.  We have fostered it and tended to it as it grows inside him.

He is also an amazing socializer.  He mediates conflicts between his friends and is well-liked (this is kinda important to me to).  I want him to be a good and kind person.  But, I also want him to be smart.  Maybe that is my own feelings of inadequacy that makes this important to me.  I never considered myself smart growing up.  It wasn’t until my 20’s that I started to understand and tap my potential.  I am the first in my family to go and graduate from college.  It was a big deal and it took me a long time to realize that what I achieved was up to me and that it was going to be hard work.  I always thought it was easy for everyone else while I was struggling.  I struggled for a long time and felt inadequate for a long time because of my struggles (or lack of understanding the hard work required) in school.

I know that it isn’t being “smart” that will make school easy for my kids or enjoyable.  But it is important because of what it shows.  It shows me that Noah knows how to use language to articulate what he knows and that he can problem solve–these are two of the most important skills one can have and it makes me proud and happy that he is developing those skills and using them.

I know that  he would do well in any school environment.  He is adaptable and able to make friends relatively easy.  But I believe whole-heartedly that his school and the environment they have created there for the students has allowed him to reach his potential and surpass where he needs to be.  I have spent enough time with teachers and in schools to know that students are often not expected or encouraged to exceed expectations.  If we take the stance that “they only need to know x for next year” and then stop when they know “x” what good are we doing them.  For example, Noah only needs to be able to recognize the numbers and understand the number concept of 15 to be ready for kindergarten–he is up to 30.  In some schools (many) they would stop working on his numbers.  Not where he is–they allow and encourage the students to explore and never hold them back.

They have a part-time math teacher come in to teach geometry to the 3 students in 8th grade who are ready for that concept.  School should be about reaching potential and shattering expectations.  That is what higher ed has done for me.  I’m glad that is what the school we have chosen does.  I am glad there is no limit on what my kid will be able to achieve and if there is a limit–I will know it is self-imposed.  That I can work with.

The “T” Word

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

I see an alphabet theme starting to emerge.  Steph so graciously asked for my thoughts on tenure and unions.  I’ll be writing about tenure today–after this short PSA.  There is a new report just released by the Council for Great City Schools examining the achievement of black males in America’s public educational system and calls the findings a “National Catastrophe.”  This is not new.  The gap between black males and everyone else has been staggering for sometime.  We keep looking for a quick fix as if there is one factor at work in the achievement gap.  I haven’t read the report yet (too much other stuff to read just now) but I’ll certainly write about it once I do.  (I realize more and more this is becoming an education blog–can’t help myself as an educator and a parent).

Ah Tenure.  It is what teachers and professors strive for.  Who wouldn’t want job security for “life” (in most instances)?  I know most people would totally want that.  There is such a divide in teaching.  I’m going to leave universities alone for the moment as they are a different being than public schools–there is some security for those on the tenure track as opposed to non-tenured public school teachers.  There is also a lot of propaganda surrounding tenure as well and I hope to clear some of those up–at least for my state of Missouri.  I just want to say upfront that I am not a fan of tenure.  As a teacher, I would happily trade tenure for performance base pay.  Tenure is antiquated and to be honest it really isn’t that easy to fire someone–even someone who isn’t doing their job.  Laws are in place to protect teachers, even those who don’t have tenure are guaranteed due-process.

Tenure is archaic.  Tenure was developed to protect academic faculty from wealthy donors to elite universities in the early 1900’s.  It allowed faculty to pursue research agenda’s that might conflict with the university without penalty or job loss.  This idea of tenure is good as without it, I wonder how many discoveries might have been lost or how many ideas would have gone unexplored without tenure.  But tenure for high school teachers?  What academic freedom is being protected there?  I can’t explain why a public school teacher needs tenure. They are bound to due process.  Can school boards decide to fire a teacher?  Yes.  Do they need to prove cause?  Yes.

I can’t speak to the history of tenure in public-schools and I won’t pretend to.  But I can talk about how I think tenure cripples education.  I believe that tenure takes away incentive for teachers to continue learning and growing.  Teachers need to keep learning and perfecting their teaching style.  Tenure lulls teachers into a sense of comfort that somehow allows them to stop working and learning.  This is certainly not the case in all instances.  There are wonderful teachers with tenure and tenure itself isn’t the enemy, but I often have to ask the question “if we are doing our job and doing it well, then what difference does tenure make?”  What other profession has “tenure?”  I don’t want a doctor who has tenure and hasn’t had to learn anything new in 10 years.

I want teachers who are striving and learning and reading and researching.  I want teachers who want to learn and teach the best that they can in classrooms.  And in my eyes, tenure (in public schools–and to some degree in universities) breeds comfort and the status quo.  That, in my eyes, hasn’t worked thus far.