Whenever something serious is going to happen, someone beside the potential perpetrator knows about it. In 81% of school shootings, someone knew it was going to happen before it happened.
These “red flags” may come from comments on the internet, or the actions of an individual. If educators have a good rapport with student’s they will know immediately to take action. This is not an easy task. It is difficult to read minds but it is possible to read body language, listen carefully to spoken words and understand the actions of a child in trouble.
Utilizing the school psychologist, the social worker and a consulting psychiatrist from a local hospital, parents and educators can be taught how to look for “red Flags” when they show up. Often these “red flags” will be subtle and difficult to discern. Here are some recognizable warning signs:
1. The most notable warning signs are when students become isolated. It is the nature of children to belong to a group. If they avoid groups and even friends, they would be worth watching.
2. Additional signs might include fantasies of violence, or acting out violence. This will be difficult to determine as today’s video games utilize violence on a regular basis. When observing those acts it would be valuable to see if they were connected to a specific game. If that is problematic, simply ask the student what game they are emulating. If they don’t respond, pass that information on to the school psychologist or social worker. In this school the roles of the support team may change from those of past years
3. Violence toward animals, even pets, if noticed near school or at home is an indicator of more problems to come.
4. Changes in academic performance. The lack of focus on academics as well as projects may be an indicator of a potential crisis.
5. Getting in to fights or other forms of aggresion must be monitored and dealt with in a way that will bring forth deep seeded information.
Psychologist’s and social workers are qualified, as therapists, to take caseloads for counseling. It is essential for the school to team with a local hospital that will provide the services of a consulting psychiatrist to meet with an administrator and the therapists on a monthly basis. This will allow for a discussion of students in need as well as general issues facing the school.
It is essential to bring in professionals in the area of mental health to present to school staff as well as parents. There are always signs of potential violence and these might show up anywhere. Once they are recognized, action MUST follow. These warning signs won't always lead to violence, however, when they are recognized, more observation followed by therapy would be essential to curbing school violence. Therapists must be prepared to recognize severe problems and take action. There is a point where the school action isn't sufficient. Police, then must be immediately involved and the student kept out of the school.
These are jumping off points to slow or stop violence in schools. Others would include securing the building, developing sensible gun laws, require gun safety training to all gun owners as well as community support in watching out for the children. These are all discussed in detail in my newest book, soon to be available, entitled " REPLACING THE FAILED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION: Pandemic Solutions to a 200 year old Crisis".
Cap Lee was an adminstrator of an alternative school that servesd not only students with behavior problems, but those with psychiactric problems. In a public school setting he worked with 5 therapists and a consulting psychiatrist with a student population of 75.
Posted by Caplee at 8:37 PM 1 comment:
Do we "teach" CRT?
Do we teach Critical Race Theory?
Well, here I go, off the deep end without a life jacket. Do we teach CRT, do we teach the Bible, do we teach about pretending Colombus discovered America? These questions are endless. Do we continue to have school board members and textbooks telling our kids what to learn. As the old saying goes, What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
It is past time when we stop politicians from deciding what kids must learn. If the door is open to CRT, it is open to whatever that community wants to brainwash kids with their philosophy of life. That has been and will forever be a disastor. In my book I talk about kids making choices, not just puking out what they are told. Colombus didn't discover America yet many cities, counties, days of celebration etc are named after him. And all the Vikings get is a football team in Minnesota,
It is time to let children research, analyze, debate, and defend their thoughts, wherever they land. Use CRT and a wide variety of intellectual writings as references especially as we teach the history of the country. As real learning progresses, students will talk, aloud, about their thoughts and all musty be respected as the debate goes on.
With this process, they go beyond the headline and dig deal into the gits of our history. If their parents tell them not to read about CRT, fine, but they are not told they can't explore the atrocities of this country no matter where they fall. And they are not told they can't listen when some students talk about CRT. And if time goes by and a part of history is not touched, the teachher will guide them to the issue, not the headline.
When children discover learning, they are more apt to internalize it rather than memorize what they have been told.
REPLACING A BROKEN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
After the Pandemic, what now!
After the Pandemic: Fail without learning or retain into oblivion?
As students return to in school learning the reality is their skills and abilities may be all over the board. As educato, do we move students forward to stay with their class recognizing their skills may not be consistent with their placement? Or do we fail students into oblivion, retain them with younger students while making their graduation date even further away?
Parents must be aware of the trickery that may follow when administrators place students in a short summer school or allow promotion from the number of minutes receiving tutoring. Sitting time is not learning time.
Another reality smacks us in the face. Their is no solution under the current system of education. And if someone says there is, they are lying.
With systemic change comes the reality that letter grades are a lie often used to cover up for the lack of learning. They are designed to promote children without learning simply by giving them a feel good grade. Grade levels also come into play as rarely do grade levels encompes children with that grades level of skills. Remember, a "D" student along with an "A" student end up in the same class. Are they all on the same level?
The solution is complex and I tackle it with my new book soon to be released entitled "Replacing a Failed System of Education". www.wholechildreform.com to learn more.
Simply put, under the new plan, grade levels are no longer indicators of achievement. The truth be told they are not indicators of achievement and may have never been. And letter grades are replaced with proficiencies as demonstrations of learning. As these innovative ideas are implemented a wide range of "dominoes" will fall until the system of education becomes truly about learning, rather than about winning a race.
Posted by Caplee at 10:16 AM No comments:
Systemic racism pushes kids out of school. Who's responsible? Look in the mirror!
Systemic racism is embedded in schools so deeply that it is hardly noticeable to the trained eye of educators and parents alike. It is this current system of education that drives many students to drop out of school and often pushes them into the school to prison pipeline.
Following the systemic structure of yesterday, todays education system continues to rank and sort students. The losers are then chosen by an outdated system skewed to assure they are permanently left behind.
The reality is while some children have a clear path to learning, others have devastating roadblocks that slow the learning process. According to Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, “when something stressful or threatening happens, it’s not just our brain that is involved. We have to recruit everything from the immune system, to the fat system, to the heart. … And they are kind of altering multiple systems to deal with hard life.” And add to that those who have to learn English as a new language. Yet, those students are mandated to perform in the same way in the same time frames as defined by our current version of eighteenth-century education. A system that was never designed to serve all children.
It is extremely important, however, to understand that as students enter the classroom, educators have no idea whether a child is afflicted or not. We must realize that those in certain zip codes, or of a certain race or gender or any other group subject to stereotypical beliefs are not all the same. Low expectations are the curse that drives children out of school. To stigmatize children by demeaning a certain zip code is unconscionable. Within any zip code are those who have roadblocks but also those who have a clear pathway to learning. As educators we may no longer assume anything.
Too high expectations also force children into failure or even worse, passing without learning, leaving them to flounder once they enter today’s society. It is damaging to force children beyond their abilities. To assume every child will learn the same simply because we have high expectations is a fool’s mission.
It is time to break through the fog and see clearly the reality that all children are not the same. According to Dr. Howard Gardner, “the biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all students as if they were variants of the same individual and thus to feel justified in teaching them all the same”
The damage begins when a child fails a course or does not learn to the same standard at the same time as others. The system then fails them and retains them in the same grade knowing that every retention leads to a delayed graduation age? When students realize they will be in school at least until age twenty, dropping out is assured.
Understanding the damage continued failure causes students, many educators head down a more destructive path and pass students with a D- thus moving them ahead without learning, totally unprepared for their future. Those are the fundamental choices the system leaves with educators.
From the base of a broken system of failure comes a wide range of systemic issues that forces the racial divide to grow. The dominoes begin to fall as one concept is piled upon another to maintain a failed system of education.
The systemic destruction begins with the facade that grade levels are an indicator of academic achievement. As evidenced by a wide range of student skills in every grade level, they are not and have never been a true indicator of achievement. Yet the students are all taught as one.
The most devastating of failed concepts is the farce of letter grades. Parents are told their children are average, by giving them a C. However, they aren’t told what “average” means simply because a letter grade does not describe what children have learned. More important, grades are easily used to cover up what children have not learned so they can move to the school to prison pipeline without being noticed.
As students return from the long virus “vacation” it will become evident immediately that their skills are all over the board. During this long time off some students will keep up with distance learning, some will not have the equipment necessary to keep up and others will have a variety of obstacles in their way.
Now is the perfect opportunity for educators to prepare for the wide variety of skills students possess. This means design a system that truly respects the intelligence and abilities of all children.
When you, the reader, look in the mirror will you scream RACIST? Or will you commit to changing the system of education?
There are no neutrals here!
Go here for solutions www.wholechildreform.com
Labels: SYSTEMIC RACISM HIDDEN IN SCHOOL SYSTEMS
Creating small class size through innovation
As students return to school it is evident that their health and safety be maintained. Essential to this is small class sizes to allow sufficient space between students. Social distancing is literally imposible with 30 students and more in a room. However, there are creative ideas that could help achieve the goal of a safe environment.
First, of course, is to creatre small class size with an emergency increase in the school budget. This is ideal but unlikely.
Another thought is through a team teaching concept we used at Milwaukee Village School. We teamed two teachers, a special ed teacher and an educational assisstant with 60 students. All for educators were simply called teachers. The special education teacher would serve general education students as well as those with special education needs based on their individual needs. There are many students regardless of "labels" that have the same needs. This would also work with two teachers and two educational assistants.
The educational assistants in many states can do the same things certified teachers do under the direction of the teacher. Educational assisants could over see a project, a computer lab, a review group, a discussion session reading clubs as defined in my books at www.wholechildreform.com and many other activities. The ideas are endless.
Additional small spaces could be located throughout the building as well as in nearby facilities to assure for social distancing.
Another thought is to utilize community learning centers such as those run by the TMCA and other groups. While one group of students could attend school on M, W. F, T. TH, alternate days could be held in a separate facility where they could be involved especoally in activities such as art, music, debate, physical education, dance, dramatic arts and many more. Again the possibilities are endless.
A meeting with educators and community organizations would allow the development of many more ideas as well as a framework for implementation.
Adding a nurse to every school would not only support a healthy environment but also one additional teacher of health education. This is well needed at this unique point in time.
Posted by Caplee at 12:15 PM No comments: