Why we should keep student journalism

 

I have been teaching for eight years. For seven of those years, I have been the advisor to the school newspaper. I will continue that journey in August when school resumes and we resurrect the paper.

With all the talk of fake news and conspiracy theory, having a school newspaper is not an easy sell. Many people either believe the students will either fail at writing, given many of their reading and writing state scores, or they will produce something which will irritate and aggravate a parent, district, teacher or someone else in the area of their lives that they are worried about.

My students, over the course of 3 schools, have written about Christmas, Easter, the cost of water in Desoto County, animal rescue, video games, school policy, being gifted, new teachers, scholarships, sports and games. There have been pages dedicated to growing succulents and cooking. Sports stories and athletes. Nothing in the general sense of students which would upset anyone, unless someone just wanted to find something to get upset about. 

With the advent of online teaching, many schools have an online option for the paper. I like this, but I believe the students, most of whom have never experienced reading a printed paper, need to establish that first. Once they have that down, then begin deciding how to move it online as well. 

Because the majority of my career was spent working for a printed newspaper, I have extensive experience in that area and love the challenge of finding the students' strongpoints. I had one young lady who was such a talented writer, all I had to do was express a story idea and she would run with it. 

I have had others who could be shown how to design a news page and within an hour, could create a page, complete with art or photos and stories. I have some that can do it all equally well. Photographs are the only hard sell because these students are so used to having a cell phone that can take photos, they believe selfies are the way to go. This is challenging to be sure. 

Writing gets better with writing. Most students today have difficulties with writing and because journalistic writing is different from creative or technical writing, it just takes time. 

Marketing also can play in to this because as any teacher can tell you, fundraising is a part of most schools today. None of us ever has enough money to go around for doing the things we want to do. Most of these things are to develop our students to become the best they can be. With a printed newspaper, that becomes printing costs. These can be paid by advertising and most years, we have been able to sell enough to have our product printed. Students learn to have conversations with businesses and learn about what their activities cost. 

Most of my journalism students like the autonomy which comes once the first printed copy is placed in their hands. Once they see a byline, a photo credit with their name, or one of their friends telling them they read what they wrote, they are hooked. I have seen reading and writing scores jump, student grades improve, and even their attitudes become more positive. It doesn't happen with them all. It does with quite a few. 

So if anyone contacts you from your local school, asking for your support of their journalism students, please consider a small donation, even if you don't buy an ad. Let's keep these students interested in the world, their state and the school community. Oh, it will also make them more informed adults. 

And if you are so taken with this idea, I do have a Donor's Choose project for our first printing job. I can always use your help if you don't hear from your local school. You can access my project here.

Thanks for reading.

Putting history on the back burner

Education Week/drawing

 I have watched Firing Line on PBS for as long as I can remember. It gives me food for thought and allows me to see what other opinions are, even when they don't agree with mine.

I was watching Firing Line this morning and was very interested in some of the ideas of  Admiral William McCraven, who is a retired, 4 star Admiral. I have just completed 15 hours of professional development on American Foreign Policy and was curious about his thoughts. He discussed several issues, including the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the election of the new leader in Iran but then, when asked "what is the most serious national security threat that President Biden will face in the next few years?" The Admiral's response, "K-12 education." You can view the program here.

I have been saying this for the past several years. Unfortunately, the decline in the teaching of history and what that entails makes for very poorly educated adults. Open any social media outlet and read the kind of historical garbage the people post. Many of these sites are posting legend or supposition, with no facts to back it up. It is like a dream world. I want this to be true, so I will type it out, put a photo on it, and post it on some social media site with a name that looks legitimate. 

History education in many areas has become the red headed, unwanted stepchild of the educational field. So much emphasis has been put on technology, math, science and other subjects that history, and those who teach history are relegated to the basement. 

The students don't know who to believe. We have Representatives quoting Thomas Jefferson on the House floor in Congress when it was actually a John Adams quote. There is another story floating around Facebook which says Dwight Eisenhower's mother was Mulatto although in no historical documents is this proven. Could it be true? Sure, Is it? Who knows?

I have students who have no idea what the continents of the world are. They don't really know how we won our independence, what either world war was about or even Vietnam. I have them for 180 scheduled days and many miss 1/3 of those due to absenteeism. Many don't have internet at home, and may have the ability to text on their phone but nothing else. They watch highly fictionalized movies about some historical fact, with a multitude of fictional scenarios, just to make it more interesting and believe it all.

"Is the Constitution Newtonian or Darwinian?", I asked my students once. Is it static or does it change? I had an adult call and begin yelling at me because he didn't teach his daughter those things. He had no clue even what that meant. 

There is so much required of teachers today in the lower levels that never used to happen that by the time students reach upper levels of school, they have no interest. But let's add more Flag Day discussions, or classes on character. History can take a back seat. 

We have allowed politicians to continue to tear apart our education system to use it as a spring board to get parents riled up about what is being taught. How about you politicians let teachers teach facts and research and debate and discourse? How about you stop politicizing the education of students so they can grow and flourish and become adults. 

I will continue to teach history on facts, not opinion and will teach my students how to distinguish between them. I know my students leave with a better understanding of history which is what teaching is supposed to be about. 

What does ethics mean to you?

 Many people I know do not know the difference between ethics and morals. They believe the two are interchangeable but they aren't. The lines continue to blur, especially when related to many political topics, but if most people would take a philosophy class and study both, they might recognize the difference. 

According to dictionary.com, "While they're closely related concepts, morals refer mainly to guiding principles, and ethics refer to specific rules and actions, or behaviors. A moral precept is an idea or opinion that's driven by a desire to be good. An ethical code is a set of rules that defines allowable actions or correct behavior."

I think about things like this when trying to figure out the students I am teaching. Because I try to help them discover the difference, I have learned their brains are still developing and they sometimes see the world through a different lens than the one I am looking through. 

When I first began teaching, because of my journalism background, I was the advisor to not only the newspaper, but the yearbook as well.

Middle school is such a hard time for most students. They change on a daily basis and keeping up is not the easiest in the world to do. The differences in producing a yearbook or a newspaper can be great and it is helping the students realize the differences. My yearbook students all loved producing the yearbook and did a great job, but they did not like writing anything. They were much more about photos and layouts and cutline and what the book would look like. 

Superlatives have always been a large part of a school. Everyone wanted to be voted something. Most Photogenic, Cutest Couple, Funniest Couple and you get the idea. This particular year my students were very excited to work on superlatives. I was not. Superlatives are a popularity contest in my opinion. They don't mean anything and I was not looking forward to trying to count numbers but it had always been, so I organized the students to begin counting. Now for full disclosure, I did win a superlative in 7th grade: Most Likely to Succeed. I have no idea who voted for me; I was not popular in junior high school, and I was shocked when I was called up during the awards ceremony. 

My school did not handle it this way. Only 8th graders were to be picked and so it began. The votes came in like crazy and we had clear winners. That is, until I began looking closely at the sheets which the students voted on. I found a pile in the garbage can, all with the same names. 

The editor of the yearbook was a beautiful young woman and she was in charge of having the votes counted. When I questioned her about the ballots in the trash, she was very nonchalant in saying she felt the person on those ballots had won too much and she thought the person who had placed second should be first. This happened in several categories. Her thought was because these particular students had already placed at the top in several categories, she didn't think it would be fair for them to win any more. 

Even after explaining the ethics of what she had done; explaining that the students chose who they wanted to represent them, not her; she still wanted to argue. She wanted to argue to the point that she was willing to quit the yearbook because of it. It took not only me, the yearbook representative and almost the whole class, including the newspaper staff, to convince her she was wrong. 

To the dismay of every parent that might have had a child win a superlative, the following year I opted to discontinue superlatives. I caught a lot of flack for that. I had a lot of angry parents but it did not deter me and I was glad I made that decision.

I hope we all can understand the difference between ethics and morals and why we need our children to understand the same. Remember, actions speak louder than words. 

Fiction has nothing on real life

 During summer break, I read a large number of books. I travel to all the used bookstores and search the New York Times best seller lists for books on a variety of subjects. Some are true, historical and right up my alley of interest and some are historical fiction. Biographies are high on my list but don't have me read self help books. Ugh. 

I just began this book so I have no idea what happens but the title drew me in and I remembered a book I had just read about Jewish children being sent to England during WWII to keep; them safe. I thought at the time, what a horrible decision to have to make, especially knowing you might never see your children again.

This one is different. It is the story of 2 little girls whose father died in the war and mother met at new man. New man was abusive toward the 2 girls because they were not his. (Sound familiar) Girls' journey takes place right after World War II but it is one that is nothing new.

I was blessed with having two parents who made sure my life was relatively safe. I never had to worry about food, or shelter or love of family. Although my son did not have his father in his life, I tried to provide him with the same. 

The number of children in foster care or adoption situations in the United States today is huge. As of 2019, according to childwelfare.gov is 423.997. There were approximately 120,000 of these children who were available for adoption. Many of these are placed due to neglect, abuse or abandonment, much like the little girls in the book.

There have always been placement services for children in this country. Many times family placed children in orphanages because they could not care for them. If the situation changed, they would go and get their children back. Many of these places were not nice places, and there seems to never be enough homes for them. There have been abusive boyfriends and too many women who believe they need a man in the home to survive. How many times do we read in the news where another child has been killed by a boyfriend who was babysitting while mom worked? This list is extensive. 

I hear students discussing their home life sometimes and I wonder how these kids will ever survive in the world today. The emotional and mental abuse, the drug use, the nasty, mean boyfriends. The list is long. For many of these children, and they are still children, school is their safe place. They may struggle to keep up with schoolwork because they are responsible for their younger siblings and have become the adult when the adults in the home are never there. They may not have technology. Their parent may stay out all night so the child is never told to turn off the light and go to sleep like I was. 

In some cases, they may be treated like a friend to the parents. They may share beers or a joint. Social services isn't called because no one knows for sure. Then they must report to school in the am, try to study and absorb what the teachers are trying to do and it is not easy.

Many have a very distorted view of the world, and wonder why they just don't quit, get a job, and get out of where the situation for them is not the best. They have no positives in their lives and doubt they will have any the rest of their lives. Some have learning difficulties due to parental drug use or wear the same thing day after day because they only have one or two things to wear. 

I believe all my students can succeed. Even with the strikes that life has thrown their way. I think we must learn not to use our personal situation to judge whether our students are being the best they can be. In many cases, we have no idea what these students must face in a day in, a day out situation at home.

One of the things I do know is that fiction has nothing on real life. The problem is the blinders that so many wear when dealing with our students. The truth is the blinders don't negate the problems, just hide them for a while. 

The Old Lady in the Neighborhood

I remember, and yes, I can remember that far back, being a kid and talking about the old people who lived in neighborhoods who would come outside and yell at kids for tromping on their flowers, or teasing their dog or breaking a window with a ball. I swore I would never become one of those grouchy old women. Golf Carts and go carts changed my mind.

When I purchased my home in Sarasota, I knew the kind of neighborhood I wanted to live in. It was not a golf course community. I did not have much to choose from because I also did not want to live in a deed restricted one. 

My neighborhood is neither. I live on a dead end street, relatively quiet, and the neighbors on the street know one another. At one end there are some teens and closest to me there are some little ones. These don't worry me.

When I first moved in there was a father from a few streets down who insisted on running a go cart up and down the dead end roads in my neighborhood. It was annoying and upset the dogs and also illegal. I called the Sheriff's Department and as soon as they caught him, the go-carting stopped. I have lived in relative peace, except for fireworks which are also illegal, since then. 

The past several months my neighbors and I have been dealing with golf carts. We apparently have some new neighbors who believe it is okay to run up and down these dead end roads in golf carts. Sometimes drinking and full of kids; not paying attention to driveways or cars or the law.

In Florida, it is against the law to operate a golf course in a regular neighbor. The actual statute is as follows: 

316.212 Operation of golf carts on certain roadways.—The operation of a golf cart upon the public roads or streets of this state is prohibited except as provided herein:

(1) A golf cart may be operated only upon a county road that has been designated by a county, a municipal street that has been designated by a municipality, or a two-lane county road located within the jurisdiction of a municipality designated by that municipality, for use by golf carts. Prior to making such a designation, the responsible local governmental entity must first determine that golf carts may safely travel on or cross the public road or street, considering factors including the speed, volume, and character of motor vehicle traffic using the road or street. Upon a determination that golf carts may be safely operated on a designated road or street, the responsible governmental entity shall post appropriate signs to indicate that such operation is allowed.

My neighborhood is NOT one of those designated. So on social media I asked the Sheriff's Department if they were legal. The very nice sergeant who returned my call asked me questions which consisted of: was there a tag on the vehicle and who was driving and how many people were in the vehicle? It seems if it is titled, tagged etc. they are allowed because they must be insured and registered. The ones in my neighborhood are not. 

I asked him should I say something to the people and he said NO! Let the deputies handle it. Just call the non-emergency number and they will send someone out. I told him I hated to call and report something this minor and he explained that it was minor until a kid fell off the golf cart, or hit a child in their yard, or caused a wreck because they were behind a car in a driveway who was trying to back out. 

Ok, that made sense to me. 

Last weekend we noticed a new one. One red and one white. Teens driving the red one. Adults with kids hanging off driving the white one. I called. Last night it was the red one. I called and my neighbor called. 

The problem is the deputies must catch them on the road. I am not sure how many times I will have to call. But I will. Maybe they will move away. Maybe they will continue and get ticketed. 

I am now the official old, grumpy woman.

Baseball and memories

 

Spring 1937, DAN SANBORN/Lakeland Public Library

I began my love affair with baseball after my Grandfather took me to see a Spring Training game in Lakeland. The Detroit Tigers have been coming to Lakeland in the spring for 85 years. Yep, you read that correctly; 85 years. 

Lakeland continued to support the Detroit Tigers with a farm team, the Lakeland Tigers who are part of the Florida State League. When I was a teenager, it was a cheap and fun way to spend a summer evening, sitting at the ball park and cheering on the Tigers. 

My senior year in high school, 1974-75 found me doing a lot of things with a friend who also loved baseball. We both had cars and would meet at Joker Marchand Stadium on the north side of Lakeland, grab us a beer and some popcorn, and settle in for a great game. I know 17 was too young to buy a beer, but things were much less stringent then and no one really cared. 

This also resulted in the meeting of the players. You cannot have young men and young women in the same spot without having them interact. I learned to play Spades and all the ins and outs of baseball that first year, along with meeting some great guys. I have photos of them, but  except Ron LeFlore, who was only around for a short time before being sent to the AAA club in Evansville, had no idea even why it was cool to know a major league player.

But oh, those other guys. They stayed and played. I was lucky enough to meet Lance Parrish and Lou Whitaker. Dave Rozema and Alan Trammel. I drank beer with Mark Fidrych in a bar they all hung out in named Zimmerman's the night he was called up to Detroit. He was so excited. I also kissed Jim Leyland at the bar the night Lakeland won the Florida State Championship. From 1974 until 1977, I met so many ball players who were always up for a game of Spades or a cold beer. In this time before cell phones, when minor league players made very little, roomed with 4 or 5 other players and loved the road trips because they made extra meal money, they could always stop by my apartment after the game and use my phone to call home, or to grab a beer from the refrigerator. 

I did not date these guys. The first player who ever asked me out was named Bryce. He never progressed past the minors but at the end of the FSL season he talked about getting back home to his girlfriend and he thought it was great that I understood there was nothing serious between us. Oh, my heart was broken but I never said a word. I just learned that I would always treat them as friends, not boyfriends. Lesson learned.

Social media has allowed many of us to connect with others and when I saw a Facebook group for the Fans of the 1984 Detroit Tigers, I joined and posted my first photo. 

To remember all the fun we used to have, I have a very old scrapbook, with clippings and photos of the 1975and 1976 summers. The photos have yellowed in many cases and many of the players reached their pinnacle with the FSL and never progressed. Lance Parrish was not one of those. The first photo I posted was of him, sitting on his couch in his apartment in Lakeland, shirtless with long hair and bell bottoms, looking sideways at my friend, Pat, who was also sitting on the couch. I believe we were going to begin a game a Spades, which we played a lot of. 

Some of the people in the group began arguing that this photo couldn't possibly be Lance Parrish. It didn't look like him. He was not buffed out from the weight room. His hair was too long and on and on. I tried to explain that I took the photo and if you had known Lance 47 years ago, you would know exactly what he looked like. 

I didn't argue; I posted 2 more photos that I had of him and called it a day. I did hear from many who wanted to know if I had balls or bats or gloves or something signed and on and on. I am not sure if they were going to offer to buy these things from me or what, but truth be told, I have none of those things. I have an old, beat up scrapbook that is filled with a ton of memories from a teenaged, baseball fan. I wouldn't trade those memories for all the signed bats in the world. 

Teaching History in Florida

  

I am a teacher of young minds. Students look to teachers for guidance in the world they will be entering in to and I try very hard to make sure they can see all sides of discussion and make logical choices using the information they are given. All the information. 

In Florida today, history teachers are really treated like second class citizens. If you need to put something in school about character, have the history teachers do it. What about Flag Day and Veteran's Day. Yep, those are also included in history classes, even when you don't teach American History. Each year there is something else inserted in to history classes on top of everything else the state of Florida wants us to cover. 

Social Studies has 653 standards that our lessons are supposed to cover. 653 plus all those other things we are supposed to include. These standards are divided in to American History, Civics and Government, Economics, Financial Literacy, Geography, Humanities, Psychology, Sociology and World History. They run the gamut of things students should learn. One of my standards for World History: SS.912.W.4.15 Explain the origins, developments, and impact of the trans-Atlantic slave trade between West Africa and the Americas. There are 13 related courses and 3 related access points. 

DeSantis,has spent weeks ridiculing  teaching "critical race theory"  which examines the role race which race has played in shaping American history and modern society. Huh? Cancel history? Cancel what we all grew up watching happen or experiencing it? What, are we stupid? 

According to DeSantis, we are supposed to be teaching them the basics and let them decide for themselves? Are you kidding me? Students are much more attuned to what has happened in the United States than many adults are. They understand that if we do not address these issues which are confronting the country, they may lose what little bit of power they have. 

This comes after other boneheaded rules which are supposed to begin this next school year including teaching how the Electoral College cannot be eliminated and should not be eliminated. No discussion of how it has come to a vote several times and why. No discussion about what happened. Just don't teach that. 

Oh, and Civics needs an adjustment. Having the students take Civics in middle school and then an EOC, (end of course exam) which they must pass to go to high school. Now let's require seniors to take another American Government class, which they must pass to graduate. Does anyone think this repetition is going to help the students? I hate to break it to the politicians but this is going to cause they students to really hate school. 

How about you let teachers teach? How about you stop putting all these new, required  caveats in place which do not help students and simply create more busy work for teachers, who struggle now to find time for planning? 

The politicians think they know education and by trying to use their office as a bully pulpit to push forth an agenda which continues to dumb down our students, teachers have to work twice as hard to keep the students on track. I am disgusted with the state of Florida at this time, particularly the Governor and the Education Commissioner.