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The Truth about School Libraries
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Education Leaders Weigh In on Our Teacher Shortage
“What we have now is a number of significant barriers to entering a profession that is very challenging…How do we make this job as attractive as possible to high-ability people? That requires looking at financial barriers to entry. Can we reasonable expect someone to take out $50,000 in loans for a job that pays $40,000? Can we reasonably expect somebody to take on this job who has not been trained in mental health when we know that some significant percentage of their students are going to require mental health support and their school will likely not have a nurse, counselor, or a school psychologist?” — Christopher Morphew, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Education
“Here’s what we know: When we listen to, respect and support educators, students win. We must act now to implement long-term solutions to attract and retain diverse and qualified educators. The solutions are clear. We need to pay professional wages, create supportive and respectful workplaces, and trust educators to do their jobs. We need to inspire educators through mentoring and support so that they can inspire students.
The problems we face are not insurmountable. We know that supporting educators and providing our schools with the resources students need to succeed is the not-so-secret sauce.” — NEA President Becky Pringle
“Unless we’re serious about providing competitive salaries for our educators, better working conditions, so that they can continue to grow ... we’re going to constantly deal with shortage issues, especially in our areas that are harder to teach or where there are less candidates. But also, I think it’d be short-sighted for me to talk about this without acknowledging that we have a teacher respect issue in this country, too.” — U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona
“Making certification easier could help. It takes five years to earn a bachelor’s in education degree with certification at many colleges and universities. Education majors graduate with an extra year of debt that qualifies them for a profession in which they will be underpaid…Some requirements should be modified or eliminated. Student teaching could be replaced with a paid apprenticeship under the guidance of an experienced teacher.” — Tom Mockaitis, professor, DePaul University
“Increase teachers’ salaries so much that they would be willing to deal with all the problems of teaching. Pay them so much that school districts attract the best and most gifted teachers who could work elsewhere and get paid what they are worth. And don’t provide just workshops; instead, provide skilled teachers who will work for at least one hour a day with every new or beginning teacher, as well as with any teacher, regardless of experience, who needs help.” — Diana Wolff, professor emerita of education at Cal State Dominguez Hills l
Help Your Students Understand the Vietnam War
The U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration provides a collection of classroom resources addressing a variety of topics about the war American forces fought in Vietnam for more than a decade. Developed by historians and educators for middle and high school students, the materials include artifacts, videos, maps, posters, and a Teacher Toolkit, which offers websites, activities, books and other resources.
Learn more at vietnamwar50th. com/history_and_legacy/educator_ resources.l
What Being the ‘Dumbest Kid in the Class’ Taught Me
— Bruce Ingram
That day, the first of second semester of my sophomore year in high school, remains one of the most humiliating things that has ever happened to me. My geometry teacher called me to her desk and, in a voice I thought was loud enough for everyone in class to hear, told me that my 35 average for the first semester made it mathematically impossible for me to pass for the year. Consequently, she had already arranged with guidance for me to be removed from her class and exiled to study hall. I could retake geometry in summer school, she added.
That January 1968 day remains a major influence on how I teach.
In ninth grade, I’d earned a low D for Algebra I, causing a trip to summer school for remediation. It didn’t help, nor did the succession of math tutors my parents hired. Wretched and hating all things math, I settled miserably into my role as the dumbest kid in class, a position I continued to hold through 11th-grade Algebra II and senior year’s Math Survey. The guidance department had sagely deduced that Calculus and Trigonometry were well beyond my skills.
Today, every time I sense that one of my high school English students is struggling mightily in one of my classes or tells me that he or she is, I flash back to my geometry classroom and question whether I’m doing enough to reach those individuals who feel or fear they’re “the dumbest kid in class.”
One of the positives that many teachers possess is that they are very intelligent people who did extremely well in school. But knowledge so easily gained can also be a detriment if we fail to consider that some young people, through no fault of their own, are sometimes overwhelmed by concepts we had no difficulty mastering. And what’s even worse, harsh, unthinking words from teachers (like those from my geometry teacher) can continue to negatively impact students for years to come. Conversely, positive words, like my 10th-grade history teacher, Mrs. Ergle, telling me I was a good writer, can have long-term positive repercussions.
To this day, all things math terrify me. For example, several years ago during a workday at Lord Botetourt, teachers were divided into groups with each individual in every group given an envelope with math-based puzzles to solve – which would lead to the group as a whole solving a later puzzle. The facilitator then orally gave four steps on how to solve the individual and group puzzles.
All my life, I’ve also had difficulty following oral directions if they consist of more than three steps. Making me stress even more, the facilitator announced a time limit for the game. By the time I opened the envelope with what was to me impossible-to-solve math puzzles, my panic-stricken self had forgotten what the first step of the process was, and I had once again become the dumbest kid in class.
Then, kindly, two members of my group, administrator Debbie Harris and biology teacher Julie Foltz, demonstrated what good teaching really is. Sensing my confusion, one of them slowly repeated the directions while the other patiently helped me with the math problems. With their help, I could feel the anxiety slowly fading, and I completed the task.
At my school, we’re on a system where students do a year’s worth of work in a semester. First semester last year, I ran into a student who had made a C in my English 9 General class the year before. That year, I had always thought she had the potential to be a strong writer, but her lack of self-confidence and poor English grades over the years had caused her to hate the subject.
I tried to talk the girl into taking my English 10 Honors class second semester, and was finally able to do so. More than once second semester, she told me she felt like the dumbest kid in my class, but I kept encouraging her and helping her with her writing. Slowly but steadily her writing and confidence improved, and she ended up with an A- average for the year.
On the last day of school, I told her how proud I was of her and she gave me the biggest smile –moments we teachers live for.
Who knows? She might grow up to become a teacher. I know the dumbest kid in a high school geometry class did.l
Bruce Ingram, a member of the Botetourt Education Association and a veteran educator, teaches English and Creative Writing at Lord Botetourt High School. He’s our new “First Person” columnist and can be reached at bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.
A publication of the Virginia Education Association 116 South Third Street, Richmond VA 23219 veanea.org vea4Kids
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