Struggling schools, sinking students and sorry situations. What’s the solution?

We are living in a world where mediocrity is a goal that is not reached by the masses.  If you are in my age group (went to school in the 70’s and 80s) and grew up in a big city like I did (NYC), you may remember a time when excellence was defined and attainable.  A high school diploma was something you got just because.  Most of us did not have to be forced to attend school because only the thugs, bums, junkies and drug dealers hung out in the streets during the day.  If you were not trying to be one of them, you went to school!

When you were in class, there was always a kid who pushed the teacher’s limits.  He or she was the class clown.  At most you had two of these individuals in your class.  Even though this kid may be funny at times, the class usually kept him/her in check.  If he/she was too disturbing the other students would tell the class clown to relax or be quiet so they could get their work done.   

Nowadays, students have scientific calculators, Internet access and after school programs and tutors in the school building.  Most students do not know that an English report may be called a term paper because it used to take a whole term to do.  Everything is easier but students are not doing better.  Now, the culture of the classroom is very different.  There are more “wanna be” clowns in over crowded classes now and most students do not challenge them to calm down or be quiet.  They simply enjoy the show.  Fights erupt in the hall and in the classrooms on a regular basis.  The fights are now captured on cell phones and broadcast on YouTube.  Teachers are forced to employ real disciplinary measures just to teach their classes.  If they are not successful, they leave the profession, or worse they stay and become extremely ineffective. 

For these and many other reasons, many schools are not reaching the average yearly progress (AYP) that has been established by the government.  In addition, many good teachers are leaving due to the fact that they cannot teach the years curriculum due to disciplinary issues.  What can we do?

I do not think that I have the answer to every problem in education, but I do know how we can start to take schools back to a time where education occurred more than violence, where technology can be used to make kids smarter instead of making them lazy.  Most teachers will tell you that classroom management and discipline is the key to raising AYP scores and improving teacher retention rates.  So where do we get these skills?

I am a High School Mathematics Teacher who presents Time to Teach Seminars.  These seminars expose teachers to a variety of strategies that can eliminate 80-90% of all low-level discipline issues. If low-level issues are addressed it makes it harder for higher level actions to occur.   This actually creates more time to teach (hence the name!).  If a teacher has less discipline issues, more learning can occur.  If more learning occurs, test scores improve!  In addition, less discipline problems equals less referrals which translates to less student in the principal’s office.  This means the principal can concentrate on other improvements in the school building.

Our seminars are based on methodologies of successful educators and many schools have seen a significant and consistent change in their school culture after having a seminar at their school.  In a typical training teachers will learn:

1) Self-Control strategies, which will help them to “Remain Calm and Respond Right” every time.

2) All of the Teach-To philosophy and strategies, which will help set them and their children up for peak performance.

3) The Unconditional Positive Regard philosophy and strategies which will help them establish connections with all children.

4) Classroom arrangement ideas that actually influence learning and behavior.

5) REFOCUS review philosophy and strategies which will guarantee that a teacher can “stay out of the tornado” and never again find themselves giving multiple warnings and repeated requests.

Need to see more?  Check out these videos :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC8ZI5oKGQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XlCzq9s5jY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYp60KFf36Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE_bVtTPgbQ

If you are an educator, administrator, parent or just a concerned person who wants to see your neighborhood schools succeed, feel free to send them my information.  You can receive more information on scheduling a training seminar at our site at www.JustLetMeTeach.com

Feel free to spread the word!  Lets fix our schools!  Our future depends on it!   If you want a training at a particular school, reply and leave me the contact information for that school!

/16 Comments/by
16 replies
  1. Vanessa Thomas
    Vanessa Thomas says:

    Devils Advocate: I went to school in the 90’s and early 2000’s and I must say the violence in school made me who I am today. I grew up in NYC and never got into any fights, nor did violence interfere with my education. Violence started to interfere on my first day of school in Philadelphia, when another girl was jealous of my New York fashions (that hadn’t gotten to Philadelphia yet) and she poured white out on my velour outfit. So I defended myself. But I am now a college graduate, with a good full time job, with my own apartment, and doing pretty good for myself.

    The point of my story is living up in Philadelphia where violence place a decent part of my education it shaped me to do and be better. I saw all the violence around me and knew I wanted to be someone and do something with my life. I didn’t want to be assoicated with the “thugs, bums, junkies and drug dealers hung out in the streets during the day” and in the schools these days. So I can honestly say I’m happy i saw the violence, because it showed me first hand what i DID NOT want to be around or involved in. So I know pose this question… Will efforts to decrease or remove violence out of school really push more students towards it?

    • Brian
      Brian says:

      Thanks for your viewpoint Vanessa (Devils Advocate). Violence anywhere influences everyone in some fashion. The truth of the matter is that most do not get influenced positively. You were special. You realized that the important part of school was the schooling. Sure, you learned things that could not be learned in the classroom. These lessons influenced your lifestyle and increased your street knowledge. Defending yourself is a right. a life a violence is a choice! I am sure that you would agree that today, violence is so rampant that it some students are more involved with it than they are with their classes. Efforts to decrease violence will rid us of the “crowd” mentality that most students have. They will be forced to do other things (like go to class) because there will be nothing to video tape and put on youtube! I think that if they are educated, violence will decrease. It may never end, but it will decrease.

  6. Dolores
    Dolores says:

    your post is really good and informative. i’m surprised that your post has not gotten any. good quality, genuine comments. you have done a great job by posting this article. thanks!!!http://www.mangueiraplastica.com

  11. Clotildes
    Clotildes says:

    i agree with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your incoming updates. just saying thanks will not just be enough, for the phenomenal clarity in your writing.http://www.nomedodominio.com

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

Comments are closed.