mel jacobson on wed 26 apr 06
simple as can be.
i did this for twenty five years, after i
figured it out.
each kid has 3 square feet.
it belongs to them. at the end of each session
that three square feet shines.
30 kids times three square feet. clean art room.
if the space is not clean/ i called home...had the
kid come back to school at 5 p.m. and i watched
the clean up.
but, i had a 180 kids a day in a pottery situation.
every friday we did the total room clean up.
friday afternoon was like the last day of school.
the pottery shines. the stereo was turned to heavy metal.
it took about 12 minutes to get the job done.
the phone call was the key. if you teach, you have
standards, let the standards slip, chaos. and now days
kids will negotiate anything, anytime to get out of natural
responsibility. i did not fall for that crap. and without question,
a phone book of father's work numbers was the key to everything.
problem, call dad at work...not mother, too much on her plate as it is.
yes, `judge goldberg please, school emergency`...
`hello, judge goldberg, your son just called be a `dirty fuc#$`. hmm, hummm
yes, that is correct...can you come to school right now?`...hmm,hmn..
why yes, he is standing right here` a stark white ashen faced boy is
handed the
phone. problem over. everyone in education is looking for an authority
figure in the office to solve their problems...that authority does not exist.
clean up, maintenance, discipline, it is all up to the teacher. and you do it
right now, not later, as the room gets dirtier, the kid will have time to form
the lie and make you the person that did the wrong thing...and then
the parents will buy the kids story...and if you send trouble to the office,
you become the problem.
so there.
that is my total theory on education. never back down, be fair, give
love totally, but expect loyalty in return. never send your problems
to another person. never lie, tell the truth, always.
kids will then trust you, and learn. and always, let kids participate
in everything, room clean up, tools and equipment repair, kiln
repair...take the thing a part and show them how it works.
the first time the technical adviser of `skutt kilns`, peter piere
saw a skutt kiln firing was in my high school class room...have
a former student at georgie's. one worked at standard in chicago
for years. have about 25 former kids with mfa's. one is the department chair
at iowa state. so, they learned a bit about responsibility. and that
is taught, it does not come in milk.
mel
a great teacher is the perfect combination of `mr. rodgers and rambo`.
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3
Susan P on wed 26 apr 06
Wow! You line at the end says it in a nutshell!
Perfect!
On 4/26/06, mel jacobson wrote:
>
> simple as can be.
> i did this for twenty five years, after i
> figured it out.
>
> each kid has 3 square feet.
> it belongs to them. at the end of each session
> that three square feet shines.
>
> 30 kids times three square feet. clean art room.
> if the space is not clean/ i called home...had the
> kid come back to school at 5 p.m. and i watched
> the clean up.
>
> but, i had a 180 kids a day in a pottery situation.
> every friday we did the total room clean up.
> friday afternoon was like the last day of school.
> the pottery shines. the stereo was turned to heavy metal.
> it took about 12 minutes to get the job done.
>
> the phone call was the key. if you teach, you have
> standards, let the standards slip, chaos. and now days
> kids will negotiate anything, anytime to get out of natural
> responsibility. i did not fall for that crap. and without question,
> a phone book of father's work numbers was the key to everything.
> problem, call dad at work...not mother, too much on her plate as it is.
>
> yes, `judge goldberg please, school emergency`...
> `hello, judge goldberg, your son just called be a `dirty fuc#$`. hmm,
> hummm
> yes, that is correct...can you come to school right now?`...hmm,hmn..
> why yes, he is standing right here` a stark white ashen faced boy is
> handed the
> phone. problem over. everyone in education is looking for an authority
> figure in the office to solve their problems...that authority does not
> exist.
> clean up, maintenance, discipline, it is all up to the teacher. and you
> do it
> right now, not later, as the room gets dirtier, the kid will have time to
> form
> the lie and make you the person that did the wrong thing...and then
> the parents will buy the kids story...and if you send trouble to the
> office,
> you become the problem.
> so there.
>
> that is my total theory on education. never back down, be fair, give
> love totally, but expect loyalty in return. never send your problems
> to another person. never lie, tell the truth, always.
> kids will then trust you, and learn. and always, let kids participate
> in everything, room clean up, tools and equipment repair, kiln
> repair...take the thing a part and show them how it works.
>
> the first time the technical adviser of `skutt kilns`, peter piere
> saw a skutt kiln firing was in my high school class room...have
> a former student at georgie's. one worked at standard in chicago
> for years. have about 25 former kids with mfa's. one is the department
> chair
> at iowa state. so, they learned a bit about responsibility. and that
> is taught, it does not come in milk.
> mel
> a great teacher is the perfect combination of `mr. rodgers and rambo`.
>
>
>
>
> from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
> website: http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3
>
>
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>
F. Parker on thu 27 apr 06
Mel:
As the husband of a teacher I have to keep a roll of duct tape handy to
wrap it around my head to keep it from exploding when my wife shares some
of the bizarre happenings from her school. What you said about personal
responsibility is, in my opinion, at the very heart and soul of public
school failures today. It seems the lawyers and boisterous parents have
so intimidated teachers and administrators that nobody will do *anything*
about disrespect and arrogance from students for fear of "getting sued."
As I understand, the schools cannot even kick the little buttholes out any
more -- like they did when I was a kid -- because that would "deny someone
equal access...!"
I commend you for applying your creativity to find a genuinely effective
solution. Although they might not have liked it at the time, I doubt any
of your students having to explain to their parents why they had to return
to school at 5:00 PM to clean up -- or worse, why they saw fit to insult
their teacher -- suffered any long-term negative effects because of it.
Probably just the opposite. You're probably among the few teachers they
remember for whom they have real respect.
I wish every teacher in the country could hear that story...
Fred Parker
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