Tough love and logical consequences

This came across my Facebook feed a week ago and I shared it on Twitter. On first blush, I was wholly sympathetic to this boys' school's policy that stressed personal responsibility, logical consequences, and real-world problem-solving.

Then I read this interesting response to the sign:

Hmmmmm. So on whom is tough love, tough? Ian seems to think that it's as tough on the teachers as it is on the kids.

Is there any way to make a school culture work for both the students and the teaching staff when it comes to personal responsibility? How rigid should such a policy actually be? Is the school being cruel to be kind - or just being cruel?

Theoretically at least, asking students to be responsible for their lunches, books, homework, etc. is in their best interest. To avoid the logical consequence of hunger when forgetting one's lunch may cause the child to be less forgetful the next day. This assumes that the adolescent brain is capable of making the connection between yesterday's hunger and today's lunch bag - which is a big assumption.

Yet, if we follow the logic of the Mr. Hecht in his Tweet, the boy's teachers will also suffer from a hungry kid in class.  According to the American Diabetes Association, the symptoms of hypoglycemia include:

• Shakiness
• Nervousness or anxiety
• Sweating, chills and clamminess
• Irritability or impatience
• Confusion, including delirium
• Rapid/fast heartbeat
• Lightheadedness or dizziness
• Hunger and nausea
• Sleepiness
• Blurred/impaired vision
• Tingling or numbness in the lips or tongue
• Headaches
• Weakness or fatigue
• Anger, stubbornness, or sadness
• Lack of coordination
• Nightmares or crying out during sleep
• Seizures
• Unconsciousness

And their onset is rapid. Not exactly the reactions of a child ready to learn. Of course, skipping lunch will not result in hypoglycemia for all students, but there will be negative effects from any student who has not eaten lunch.

And quite honestly, I, as an adult, have on occasion have had to ask someone to help me when I have been forgetful. The real world has kindness in it as well.

Interested in reader reactions.

Being stategic in tech support

When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s easy to forget you came to drain the swamp.

Today is the first day of school - for our staff. About 900 are coming back, many, many to new buildings or classrooms or offices. We have a lot of newly constructed classrooms and offices, some not yet networked. We have a lot of new programs to get to place nicely with our legacy systems. We just distributed about 2400 Chromebooks to high school kids. We have professional development - a lot.

We have a building tech support staff of 10.

The math is pretty easy and a little frightening - you may well in number 89 in line for tech support this week if you need help. This is the tech support equivilant of Friday afternoon rush hour. Before a holiday. When there is construction. During a downpour.

Our tech staff has the reputation of being very efficient and effective. We would like to retain that aura.

So this means that over the next couple weeks we will need to also be strategic in how we prioritize our work.

Here is the message I sent out our techs this morning

Looking forward to an exciting school year. I think we all know, however, over the next couple weeks a lot people will be wanting a lot of service from our department. I am probably telling you stuff you already know, but to make the most of our time let's...

1. Minimize travel between buildings. I would let my principals know a schedule of when you will be at their building this week - and then stick to it - regardless of sad stories. Give people an hour to solve their own problems and it's amazing to find what they can do. Require a helpdesk ticket.
2. Get the easy stuff done first. Please make your priority just getting as many teachers' phones and computers working as possible. Any issue that looks like it will take a long time or need special trips for equipment or materials or will not impact classroom instruction, postpone until all teachers are good to go online. Don't worry about printers or Smartboards at this time.
3. Please refer people to me if they are upset or unreasonable. I will be happy to visit with them.
4. If you can work longer hours this week, keep track, and you will be comped. We can do some adjusting so comped hours can be taken later in the year if you'd like.

Good luck out there. I have never worked with a better, more skilled, or more professional group. I am very proud of our service and dedication!

All the best,

Doug

What am I missing? What have you, my readers discovered about dealing with technology rush hour?

BFTP: My education was "flipped" way back when

It is called the flipped class because what used to be classwork (the "lecture" is done at home via teacher-created videos and what used to be homework (assigned problems) is now done in class.Jon Bergmann, Jerry Overmyer and Brett Wilie

My teacher had us read the text book at home so we could use class time to discuss the contents.

Today's "flipped" teacher has the students listen to a lecture at home so they can discuss the contents in class.

Other than the information presentation media (print vs video), what's the dif?

I applaud the concept as good teaching methodology, but is this really new?

Original post July 8, 2011