I received a book in the mail a few days ago called “Mission Possible: How the Secret of the Success Academies Can Work in Any School”. I had no idea what it was really about but once I started reading it, I was overcome with a million questions. The book, written by Eva Moskowitz and Arin Lavinia, chronicles their creation of a new type of public school in low-income areas of New York City. With a complete revision of how the majority of our public schools currently teach our children, the Success Academies are defying everything we have been told about educating our kids.
I’ve been one of those fortunate parents who have been able to volunteer my time in all three of my children’s public school classrooms over the years. I primarily worked in the kindergarten and 1st grade classes. As our children rise in grades, the parental involvement becomes less. Some teachers love having parents help out… others don’t. While I worked with the kids, I was also able to get a pretty good feel for the teachers and what they were experiencing. Are our teachers feeling stagnant in their job? I think many of them really are. In California where I live, there are very specific requirements, lesson plans, and discipline rules that often inhibit a teacher’s creativity and ability to control their classroom. Class sizes are high and children fall through the cracks. There seems to be a feeling of “let’s get them passed and graduated” rather than “let’s teach them to think for themselves so they’ll be able to go to college and make something of themselves.”
“Mission Possible” outlines some very specific ideas on educating our children. While we tend to spend a lot of time talking about holding our teachers accountable, what we are by-passing is the fact that we also need to hold our children accountable… and their parents… and their principals. It starts at the top, with a principal who is constantly educating himself as well as his teachers. The Success Academies that are sprouting up in New York City follow some incredibly simple and yet overlooked steps.
- The children are called scholars, not students.
- Teachers are well-trained and continue their training throughout the school year.
- The Grown-Ups are the main focus (teach the grown-ups and the knowledge will trickle down).
- Expectations are set HIGH.
- A child’s economic status has nothing to do with learning.
- More money does not equal a better education.
- Give children the answers and they won’t learn to think for themselves.
Some of the steps in the book are so simple you’ll wonder why your child’s public school isn’t doing them. I think as parents we all need to step it up a notch and start advocating for our kids and demand the education they need and deserve. It kills me to hear about these fabulous new schools, the constant education of teachers, the principals who spend the majority of their day helping and teaching and encouraging, rather than the ones I know who sit behind a desk and push paper all day. And we need school boards who are willing to try new things, listen to parent ideas and encourage our educators to be better than they are, to encourage our kids to strive to learn more, to get behind our principals and tell them what we currently are seeing in our schools isn’t good enough. We ALL can do better. We all MUST do better.
Instead of putting blame on our teachers, what if we encouraged them, trained them, enabled them to teach in a creative and fulfilling way for them. We tend to accept mediocrity as a society when we have the tools to go the extra mile. If you had a boss who sat behind a desk all day and never encourage you or helped you or provided extra training and feedback on how you were doing, would you slip into a state of mediocrity as well? Unfortunately, many of our teachers don’t feel appreciated. They don’t feel they are making a difference. We wouldn’t stand by and accept this from any other profession. Let’s not accept it from our schools either.
I know each and every one of my blog readers has a stake in the education of our children. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, have grandchildren in school, or plan to have kids someday, I know you will have an eye-opening experience reading this book. I know it changed the way I think and feel about my kids’ education.
Well, guess what? I am giving a copy of “Mission Possible: How the Secret of the Success Academies Can Work in Any School” away. This is easy, guys. Just leave me a comment telling me what you think of the state of education today. Do you think your local public schools are adequate? How do you feel about your teachers? Your principles? Let’s get this discussion moving in the right direction.
Winner will be chosen via random.org on Monday, August 6, 2012 at 12:00 noon California time. Please make sure I can reach you by email or twitter. You will have 24 hours to confirm contact and send me your mailing address or another winner will be chosen.
CONGRATULATIONS TRINA! YOU ARE THE WINNER OF THE MISSION POSSIBLE BOOK!
This giveaway is open to anyone in the U.S. or Canada. I will be shipping the book directly via media mail. Please note that media mail may take up to several weeks depending on your zip code. Book will ship from Santa Clarita, California.
I have been compensated for writing this post. All opinions that have been expressed are entirely my own. #readmissionpossible
Great topic!! My children go to school where I work so of course I think it is the best public school out there! However I do feel that teachers are under appreciated and moral is pretty low amongst many teachers right now. I agree with the above steps. However expectations ARE high. What if the kids don’t meet them? Sometimes our system makes them feel like failures. We want them to feel success always and celebrate their personal bests. I struggle with that in my own classroom and with achieving the expectations that are filtered down to me. I believe there is a way but right now it seems like we are being told hit these goals or else (however we don’t know what the or else is). Are Drs. reprimanded if they don’t heal every patient? Lawyers if they don’t win cases? Kudos to you for recognizing this “Instead of putting blame on our teachers, what if we encouraged them, trained them, enabled them to teach in a creative and fulfilling way for them.” Good post. 🙂
Thanks for your comments. I love getting the teacher’s opinions. I know each school is a little different, but I definitely feel like the teachers are under so much pressure to teach the kids just so they’ll pass the standardized tests. I think if we got rid of those tests, a lot of things would change. I just feel sad because so many wonderful students are choosing not to go into teaching because 1) there isn’t much support and 2) the districts have no money to hire them.
As a former inner city school teacher, currently working as a SAHM, I understand the idea of raising the bar for certain schools is a priority (AKA low performing) But in areas where competition is already fierce raising the bar is not the issue. Some kids are in fact over worked. There is no silver bullet for all public schools. But I would be very interested in reading this book and seeing exactly what they have to say. Thanks!
This is a great topic. I have always felt that the CA public (especially LA Unified) system fails kids. That’s why we made sure to live outside of LA Unified. But at the same time, I still battle with having to do what’s best for our kids which means I’ve been thinking private school. Not sure we can afford that though.
When I was in school, my parents were actively involved, especially after I complained to them about a class where we did crossword puzzles all day as our assignments. My dad went to every School Board meeting. Because of their involvement, I’ve always felt that I would definitely do that same. Maybe even get elected to the school board to make sure I’m helping as much as I can.
I feel the State has priorities a little off the path of the future. I volunteered a lot this past year in 2 different schools and 2 different locations and I have seen all that teachers do, the 4 teachers I worked with were amazing and do wonders with that they are provided with. They did not ask for anything, yet we always offered our support with supplies and time. The 2 separate principles we had were marvelous, the one we had in San Diego was outstanding she was very personable and had an open door policy even with the students. Very involved in all the class’ activities and she knew what was going on in each family. The principle we had in the latter part of the year was good too. I do strongly think and feel schools need much more support from the State and need to be made a priority. The teaching level in the U.S. has declined for a while now, today it is ranked # 33!! that is low and sad for a Country that is looked up to.