C.A.R.(2)E.S. NEWSLETTER
(Creating A Respectful and Responsive Educational System)
Dr. Duane Hodgin, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Support Services
Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township
"National School District of Character"
October 7, 2008
(No. 2)
“Whenever you do anything, act as if the world were watching.” – Thomas Jefferson
The ISTEP Blues
The government says we must give these tests
To determine which schools are among the best.
It’s called “No Child Left Behind,” whatever it takes
Just fill in the bubbles. It’s called “high stakes.”
Politicians know what schools should be
High test scores; that’s easy to see.
Students are pressured to do well on the tests
So their school ranks above the rest.
Do tests really measure all that we know?
Whether we are high achieving, average or even below.
While benchmarks and standards should be assessed,
It doesn’t have to be done on a state or national standardized test.
What about the students who come home from school each day?
Yet, when they go home they have no safe place to play.
What about the student whose parent(s) do not nurture or care?
But they still must take the test. Is that really fair?
What about students who come hungry with little to eat?
But on testing days the ISTEP they meet.
And if students don’t connect with the “testing cult”
Then it surely must be the teacher’s fault.
What if teachers developed achievement standards from which they could choose?
Perhaps then we could eliminate the ISTEP Test Blues.
(If standardized tests were a measure of what I could do and be,
I know I would not have my Ph.D.)
-- Duane Hodgin
(Note: Words can be made into lyrics for rap, gospel, pop or country music—according to Entertainment Weekly!)
TEACHERS ARE HEROES – Part II
“Where are the heroes of today?” a radio talk show host thundered. Too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movie stars and rock musicians, athletes, and models aren’t heroes--they’re celebrities. Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn’t make the news. There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes, child abuse, and crime in today’s America. Teachers did not create these problems, but they deal with them every day.
You want heroes?
Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while trying to shield his students from two youths on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
You want heroes?
Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC teacher, was moved by the plight of one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant. So this woman told the family of a 14 year old boy that she would give him one of her kidneys...and she did.
You want heroes?
Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could bring the best out of every single child. Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig’s Disease which is always fatal, usually within five years. She asked to stay on the job…and did. When the disease was diagnosed, she wrote the staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach…that dying is part of living.
You want heroes?
Bob House, a teacher in Georgia, tried out for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. After he won the million dollars, a network film crew wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his life. They found both Bob and his wife still teaching. They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and that would not change.
You want heroes?
A Michigan principal attempted to rescue a badly abused little boy by giving him a stuffed Teddy Bear that said, “I love you.” He said he’d never been told that at home. This is a constant in today’s society—two million unwanted, unloved, unsupervised, abused children are in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.
Do you want a “Character Rocks Notepad” to use for notes to students, parents, family members, friends—or a “Character Rocks Things To Do List?” If so, email me directly your name, school and grade level. (Don’t hit “Reply.”) On October 9, 30 names will be drawn at random (15 each for the “CR Notepad” and 15 each for the “To Do List” pad) and the pads will be sent to the respective colleagues.
LISTENING: A VITAL DIMENSION OF RESPECT
Most of us would say we are “good listeners.” However, we must understand listening is both a physical and emotional response. The virtue of respect is demonstrated by being courteous and civil and treating others in a manner that acknowledges and honors their human dignity.
Respectful listening is more than hearing (a physical response). It requires us to actually consider what’s being said (an emotional response). We all want to know what we say and think matters, but, if we want others to listen to and care about what we have to say, we need to care about what they have to say.
If we “listen up,” it will make people feel better, and we may even learn something.
Are you really a “good listener” to your family members, students, parents, friends and colleagues? If you think not, try to “listen more.”
-- Michael Josephson
THE POISON OF CYNICISM
It is negative thinking that can be contagious. It creates doubt in self and others. It often becomes a habit. It reflects a lack of trust (not “blind trust”).
It is difficult to be around people (unless you are a “practicing cynic”) where human instincts of trust, caring and compassion are poisoned by cynicism.
Cynicism can be a greater character flaw.
-- Michael Josephson
THE FIRST TWENTY-THREE WINNERS OF THE “2009 EDITION” OF
THE CHARACER ROCKS SHIRT
Shelly Mitchell Deb Roque Belinda Turner
Amy Mitchel Annie Bowen Patricia Heezen
Devonna Miltenberger Gail Fewell Carrie Pannell
Letita Benson-Heeter Debbie Benjamin Chaq McCreary
Mary Starkey Jean Handley Jennifer Norman
Jordan Clark Kassandra Morales Diane Taylor
Christina Gray Linda Meyerhoff Dori Davis
Leah Beardsle Melanie Murphy
If you want to be part of the “next 24 winners,” email me with your name, school and size (Don’t hit “Reply!) by October 9th. Twenty-four names will be drawn at random and you will be notified. The “2009 Character Rocks T-Shirt” will be delivered in January.
THE CHOICES WE GET TO MAKE (Grades 6-12 – Good activity to use with students. Talk about
what choices mean. Have them make a list of “The Choices I Can Make.”)
In my high school classes, I often get this response, “Do we have to do this?...Do we have to know this?...Why do we have to do this?... My answer is always the same. “No, you get to. You don’t have to do anything in life, but you get to do a lot of things.” It’s really a much healthier way of looking at life. It reminds us that we have choices.
True, it wasn’t our choice to be born into the world. And it’s not our choice that someday we’ve going to die. However, the period in between, the one we call life, presents us with countless choices. They’re the choices that determine the quality of our lives.
We’re free to choose our character—the type of person we become.
We’re free to choose our values. We can base our standards on what others are doing, or we can base them on what we know is right and good.
We’re free to choose how to treat other people. We can put them down or we can lift them up.
We’re free to choose how to handle adversity. We can allow ourselves to be crushed, to give up, and to feel sorry for ourselves. Or we can choose to look for a source of strength within us.
We’re free to choose how much we’ll learn. We can look upon learning as an unpleasant duty or as a great opportunity.
We’re free to choose what we’ll accomplish in life. We can allow our circumstances or other people to determine what we make of ourselves, or we can choose our own direction and goals.
We’re free to choose our belief system. We can ignore our spiritual nature or we can accept it as a basic dimension of life.
We’re free to choose our purpose. We can wander aimlessly, or we can search for meaning in life and then live according to it.
We’re free to choose our attitude, regardless of circumstances. This is the most important choice we’ll ever make because it affects everything we do.
-- Hal Urban
FTTLA (Funny Things To Laugh About)
- How a Dad Calms a Crying Child – After tucking their 3 year old in bed for the night, his parents heard sobbing coming from his room Rushing back in, they found him crying hysterically. He managed to tell them that he had swallowed a penny and he was sure he was going to die. No amount of talking was helping. His father, in an attempt to calm him, palmed a quarter from his pocket and pretended to pull it from the child’s ear. He was delighted! In a flash, he snatched it from his father’s hand, swallowed, and then
cheerfully demanded…”do it again, Dad!”
- How a Dad Decides Who Gets the Toy – Mom had won a toy at a raffle. Dad called their three kids together to ask which one should have the present. “Who is the most obedient?” he asked. “Who never talks back to mother? Who does everything she says?” Three small voices answered in unison...”Okay, dad, you get the toy.”
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
-- Edmund Burke
NOTE: In the November “Character Rocks Newsletter,” 24 more colleagues will have the opportunity to submit their names for a “2009 Character Rocks T-Shirt.”