The State of Public Education in the U.S.

Recently, my principal felt compelled to share an article with his staff. It originally appeared in the January-February 2013 edition of the AAUP, American Association of University Professors and was written as a letter from a retired high school teacher to college professors everywhere: Warnings from the Trenches by Kenneth Bernstein.

You should take a moment to read Mr. Bernstein's letter because although I agree with every point he makes, I'm not going to summarize it here. Instead, I'd like to share what can be done to strengthen education in the U.S. I have spent the past 14 years teaching in both public and private schools at the upper elementary and middle school levels, so I think I'm qualified to share an observation, or two, or more.

Given a choice, many wealthy parents choose private schools for their children because they believe their children will get a better education. I'll come right out and say it. I think they're right. Furthermore, I want government officials to take a long hard look at what is being done in the private sector. If they really want to begin to repair our faulty educational system, there are a few things they must be willing to do. 

First, spend time in a variety of classrooms. Get out there and see what's working and what isn't. Next, talk to the people on the front lines: the teachers, aides and principals who work with students on a daily basis. Ask the right questions, get them talking, and most importantly, take their advice. Finally, do away with so many standardized tests, and most certainly do not "grade" teachers based on their students' results. Instead, use standardized tests as just one of many measures to check how students are doing in the classrooms. Let schools and parents use results from those tests to guide their instruction. There should be no other purpose for standardized tests. Period. 

What do private schools offer that public schools do not? They have lower student-teacher ratios, smaller class sizes, less standardized tests and offer an abundance of "specials" classes including: physical education, music, art and foreign language to name a few. Not only are these classes offered, but they are offered more frequently than I ever saw in the public schools. The private school where I now teach offers daily Spanish classes to students in preschool through middle school. The elementary and middle school students have both recess and physical education daily. They have music three times per week and receive art instruction twice per week. A multitude of after school and summer school enrichment opportunities are offered. Some examples are pottery, Lego robotics and individualized musical instrument instruction.

How do I know that smaller class sizes and instruction in a variety of subjects help students to succeed? I know because I'm in the classroom every day, watching my students grow and learn. I know because overall, they excel on the few standardized tests we give. And don't even begin to suggest that it's because we are selective regarding the students our school accepts. In both my public and private school teaching experience, the kids aren't all that different. There is a range of talents and abilities in every classroom. We modify our teaching as needed to challenge those who might be considered gifted and talented in traditional settings and provide extra time and support to those who have special needs ranging from ADHD to ASD to dyslexia.

Do we want the next generation of U.S. citizens to be prepared to enter a diversified and technologically advanced workforce? Of course, we do. So here are a few simple changes that will help to make that possible:

1. Get rid of No Child Left Behind.
2. Choose one standardized test that aligns with the new National Standards, and test students only once per year.
3. Get the results back to schools in a timely manner so that the results are helpful for everyone involved.
4. Do not promote or dismiss teachers nor fund or close schools based on those results.
5. Require that all students in all grades in Everyschool, USA, have recess daily, physical education at least four times per week, and music and art instruction at least twice per week.
6. Make sure that science and history classes are given the same importance as reading/writing and math instruction.
7. Provide extra funding for technology to schools that do not have computers in every classroom and a computer lab in every school.

Our children and future generations are worth it, and they deserve our support.

S.L. Wallace is the author of the Reliance on Citizens trilogy and Retrospection.

Dream Big!

Welcome to the Dream Project Blog Hop!

Writing is largely solitary, and sometimes a lonely endeavor. Sure, writers talk to friends, experts for research, discuss what works and what doesn't with their editor, and bounce ideas off of fellow writers. But in the end it's one person pounding the keyboard or twirling the pencil. But what if it didn't have to be completely alone?

1. You have the opportunity to hire anybody as your cover artist. Who would you hire?

I've enjoyed having both Carl Graves from Extended Imagery and Yezall Stronghold from Covers by Yezall do my cover art. I think I'll continue to stick with them.

2. Who would you co-write your next novel with? What genre? Why?

I prefer to work with people I know and trust, so I would love to work with my husband, author Jay Merin, on my current project, but he prefers to write solo. My current work-in-progress is a dark urban fantasy, and I've actually asked my friend, Troy McCombs if he would like to work with me, because I like his style and I believe it would fit my next novel. Unfortunately, he's in the middle of another project right now. This would have been my first joint venture in writing, but I guess that will have to wait.

3. Your publisher wants to do an audiobook version of your novel and they're not sparing any expense. Who do you think can narrate your masterpiece?

Hm... I'd like Gina Torres to narrate my Reliance on Citizens trilogy.

4. They're really going all out! Your novel is getting a full soundtrack. Who should compose it? If your novel uses a lot of songs, list your compilation here.

Greg Edmonson for sure. He adapted music to fit the story line and characters in the TV show, Firefly. I'm sure he would do the same for my books and characters.

One of my main characters has a passion for music that was popular in the 1930's. I bet Mr. Edmonson would have a great time updating some traditional songs such as "Little Brown Jug," "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "Sunny Side of the Street."

5. Congratulations! Your novel is being turned into a major motion picture. As the creator of the original work, you get to pick the director.

Yay, I choose Joss Whedon!

6. The director has some ideas on who to cast, but you get to cast one character. What role/character is it and who portrays them?

I think Jared Padalecki would make a wonderful Scott Maddock. In Price of a Bounty, Scott is a military man with a big secret. At the end of the book, he flees his home realm, with good reason, so we don't see much of him in Canvas Skies. However, with peace restored, he returns in Heart of Humanity bringing his family along with him.

7. You've been hired to write a novel based on a preexisting character or franchise from another medium. Which character or franchise is it?

I'd love to write a Firefly novel. I would be honored to write a story about any one of the characters or about the entire group. One thing I absolutely love about Firefly is the unique voice of each of the characters.

8. It's the anniversary of your favorite literary character's debut. You've been hired (yay, work!) to write an anniversary novel. Who is the literary character?

I have a collection of Cinderella stories from around the world. I think I'd like to try my hand at an ethnic Cinderella story. I usually write with an adult audience in mind, but at some point, I think I'd like to write a story for my daughter to enjoy.

Scheduled Stops:

February 1 - Thank you to Cody L. Martin for starting this Blog Hop.

February 3 - Please stop by and visit JenColafranceschi.

Febryary 5 - Donna R. Wood at Butterfly Phoenix has a terrific blog.
February 6 -  Check out Wendy Siefken's blog!
February 7 - Kai Wilson's blog is live!
February 10 - Stop in and say, "Hi!" to Author Merita King.
February 11 - Dan Peyton has the spotlight!
February 13 - Please visit Lisa Cody's blog.
February 14 - S.L. Wallace, oh that's me!
February 15 - Next up is Allison Cosgrove. Tag, you're it!
February 16 - Here's Brian Bigelow!
February 17 - Please stop in and say hi to Ed Griffin!
February 18 - DeEtte Beckstead Anderton would love a visit.
February 19 - Won't you stop by and see Laurie Boris?
February 21 - Way to go, Colleen Rose!
February 23 - Martin Crosbie welcomes you.

February 25 - Today is the day to visit Kevin Brown and Heidi Nicole Bird!
February 28 - Meet Sheila Lytle.

Thank you for visiting!

On Poetry and being a Poet

Please welcome W.M. Driscoll to the Crossroads.

Aristotle called poetry "imitation", not in the negative sense, but in the sense that all art is an imitation of life. Centuries later, and halfway around the world, beat poet Allen Ginsberg would claim that poetry was "the one place where people can speak their original human mind." These always struck me as two wildly divergent ideas bracketing centuries of rich and varied poetic traditions. When I, occasionally, find myself thinking on what it means to be a poet in our young tech-savvy century, and on the state of the art itself, I often look back on this sweeping arc of styles and purposes with astonishment.

There is little record of the first poets who seem to have been the intergenerational transmitters of knowledge and wisdom for their non-literate societies the shamans and wise people, if you will, and their poetry a mnemonic language designed to aid in this transmission. Since then, with the advent of the written and then printed word, poets around the world and their poetry have been transformed anew many times, the poets taking on the guises of oracles and historians, prophets, entertainers and philosophers; their poetry shifting to become here the mystic's song, there the pious' devotions, the troubadour’s lilting love plea or the bard’s narrative scaffolding.

Born into an era every bit as transformative technologically, socially and artistically as any in the recorded past, I regret to say our current poetry and poetic forms seem to me to be failing to meet the challenge of their times, seeming for the most part oddly lackluster and devoid of purpose, beleaguered by alternative expression (popular music especially) and starved by neglect. Having retreated into the cloistered sanctuary of the academies (never a good sign for an art) and having erected a “thou shalt” dragon, a rigid set of rules and guidelines that not even Nietzsche could slay, the stultifying blandness of much of the poetry being currently produced is staggering, its sole purpose appearing to be that of a political or cultural tool, an elite plaything for the parochial few.

Bleak as my view of the current poetic landscape may seem, I take heart in knowing that it will not continue this way for long. As the late Nineteenth Century French Realists (who controlled the academies and the salons in their day and used these vehicles of authority to proscribe a ‘correct’ form for their art) gave way to the impressionists and post-impressionists, so too something new and vital will inevitably grow from the authoritarian decay and public neglect of our once vibrant and striking modern and post-modern poetic forms. In fact, I can see green shoots pushing their way up through the cracked earth all around; they are ripe for the plucking--from the poetry slams and open mike nights in every major city to the individual poet boards that formed first on Usenet (the creaky old uncle of today’s social media), then spread from website to website, group to group.

What does it mean to be a poet in today’s technological, post-industrial, post-modern world? For me, personally, it has meant being a voice in the wilderness crying the coming of a modern Manet and the inevitable return of the Salon de Refusés. But for others, especially the young poets I watch daily using the technology and new paradigms that have so baffled many of us, their older contemporaries, I look forward to seeing the direction they will take poetry and all the arts in the years to come--to an inevitable flowering, a crossing over into a promised land of wonderful living art, no doubt, an art that my behemoth generation as we pass clumsily from the earth might not live to see.


If you enjoyed this post, please connect with W.M. Driscoll at Facebook or Goodreads. His books are available at Amazon.

The Living Gods

 Lyrics

Reflections after Sandy Hook

I know in today's fast paced age, December 14, feels like a lifetime ago. Today, I'll pause to remember and reflect... Will you join me?

It was just over a month ago, when many people's lives were forever changed by one man. In addition to the people who lost a loved-one that day, other people's lives have changed as well. Schools have already implemented new safety measures, government officials continue to debate changes to gun control and medical health laws, news reporters try to dig up one more angle, and everyone else seems to have something to say about it.

Here's what I know.

I've taught for many years in many different settings.

I was teaching in a grade K-8 school when the Columbine massacre happened. That scared us; it scared the entire nation. New safety measures were put into place back then too. Since then, I've participated in drills. These drills were meant to help school employees know how to best react in similar situations. We never included the children. We were taught that it was most important for the staff to know what to do in a crisis. Because every crisis is different, the students' role is to follow directions.

With Sandy Hook, the world has changed again. Now, an intruder has entered an elementary school. Now, I teach in a school that educates children from age 2 through 7th grade. Now, we feel it is necessary to prepare the children as well as the adults.

When our school ran it's first drill, I thought I was prepared. After all, I'd done this before; I knew what to do. But something else has changed for me. Now I have a daughter who attends the same school where I teach. Her classroom is nearer the front entrance than mine. Her class consists of young children who may not be able to keep silent in a crisis, no matter how hard the teachers try. While I huddled, out of sight, with my students, I couldn't help but think, "I wouldn't be able to help my daughter, and I would be able to hear everything." I couldn't sleep for a week after that drill, and I had no words to explain when my daughter asked me why I was crying.

I've been trying to avoid any news about gun control because I can't believe people are bickering when they should be discussing solutions. Stricter gun control laws can be implemented without denying people's rights. We can implement laws with harsher penalties for those who misuse guns. We can make sure guns are more difficult for certain members of the population to get. Will that stop all future gun violence? Of course not! But that doesn't mean we should make it easy.

On the other hand, I have begun seeing news about mental health changes. It's about time! It infuriates me when people who need mental health services are put on a wait list that is two or more years long. I feel physically ill when friends of mine (health care providers) are laid off because the mental health services at the hospital are being cut back to save money. Is saving money really worth more incidents like Sandy Hook?

As a nation, we really need to begin looking out for each other. That means spending money up front to prevent catastrophes. It means caring for those in need, so they will not feel the need to lash out indiscriminately. We need to develop compassion. For those who are worried about cost, prevention usually costs less in the long run. Please, vote for compassion when the time comes, even if that means spending our resources a little differently or completing extra paperwork for those who choose to own a gun.

Thunderous Blog Tour

Welcome to JM Schroder, author of Thunderstorm and Daughter's of Eden.

Jennie Schroder lives with her husband and three amazing and energetic children in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She studies Court Reporting at Sumner College in Portland, Oregon. Her love of writing took off in her junior high school years in Mrs. Eckert’s Creative Writing Class. Now she is sharing the stories in her head with everyone because there are way too many to keep to herself. If not writing, seeking out readers, interacting and thanking her amazing supporters, or daydreaming about her next story or being a very exhausted mother to 2 young boys and a teenage daughter, Jennie loves most to be playing with her family – indoors and out and reading.

Website: http://jmschroder.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JMSchroderAuthor

Twitter: @jmschroder

A Day in the Life of JM Schroder


My day usually starts at 5:30 a.m. Not during vacation time, but that's normal every other day. I wake and get ready for the day. I basically start out making myself my very own Raspberry Mocha Breve. Yes, that's a carryover to my book if you have read it. LOL. Then I head out for school.

School you say, how old are you anyway? Well, I am 40, just turned. Wow, that is amazing, I can't believe I am actually 40. I always thought that was so old. But it does not feel like it. As I drink my delicious coffee, I brush my hair, which actually I can't stand, I wish I could cut is short again. But I just happened to make an agreement with my husband to grow it out. If it gets to my waist, I can cut it off. I have 6 more inches. So I have forever to go. I apply very little make, and then it is time to head out. Not much in my preparation to get out of the house.

I jump into my 74' VW Bug, which I love! She is a beautiful yellow and purple, one of a kind lady. She rumbles to life, well most of the time. She is sometimes temperamental, and it takes a couple of tries, but she is my baby. (Secret...She will be in Drina's book.) I drive the 25 miles to school, again with the school. I am going to school to be court reporter.

Yes a court reporter, one of those interesting people who you see tapping away at this funny looking machine taking down everything that is said from anyone who talks in the court room. But they do so much more. You know the closed captioning you see on the TV during life broadcasts? Well, guess what? That is a court reporter's job too. Why, you ask, would you ever choose that? The honest answer is because of the money, but also because it is a challenge.

I am at school from 7:30 to 12:30 every day, Monday through Friday. I come home, and then depending on appointments that I may have, decide whether or not I'll write. What appointments, you ask? I am a mobile notary. A mobile notary is notary who meets or goes to people's homes. I am also certified to do loan signings, for home refinances and home purchases. That is where most of my work comes in. I do on average 3 to 4 a week. Not many now since I am a full-time student, but enough to support my family. Well not really, but it gets us by.

If I am not taking those kind of appointments, I take other types. I help people (mostly seniors) acquire their Durable Medical Equipment. I help them to improve their quality life. I don't sell the scooters, or bed, or oxygen. What I help them with is knee braces that help them walk without pain. They are therapeutic braces, not the painful ones. Arthritic gloves that decrease the pain of their arthritis, so that they can actually type, write, and grip things. I love working with people and helping them.

When I am done with my appointments, I get home again, and I start letting my mind go and that is when I write. I write in between, typing things on my boys' computers for them, or fixing them food, no not their meals just snacks. I have this lovely man who fixes dinners. My husband. He is awesome in my busy, busy life. He encourages all my daily activities, and he cooks. I hate cooking. Really I do. I have no love for it. I am not creative that way.

Now my husband, he is the best cook alive, at least I think he is. He has changed my mind about so many different foods that I thought I hated, and it really shows on my waistline. And yes, I do blame him for my waistline. Haha!

While I work, my kids come to me a least a million times a night (I exaggerate) but a lot. I do get things down though. We eat dinner, and then I finish up all my appointment paperwork and get it ready to go out the next day. I put the kiddo's down for bed at 9:30. That does not mean they go to bed, but it is the beginning of the hour or so long battle until they fall asleep. I then take my time around 10:30, and write for a steady hour or two.

After writing, I take a shower and then pull my husband to bed at about midnight. We read for an hour or so, and that is my day. Weekends are much the same, except I do not go to school. And somewhere in there, I breathe.

Here is something everyone can use. Whether you have insurance or not. Just compare and pick the lower price. Print out and use. Easy as that.

Thunderstorm

Next stop on the Thunderous Blog Tour

Epidemic

Today, I'd like to welcome Mike Jenkins to Crossroads of Humanity.

The epidemic changes through person to person, time to time and situation to situation. This epidemic isn’t some dreaded virus, but it is just as serious. This epidemic is the toxin known as bullying. I am writing this as a tale of how I am, was and starting to overcome this frightening condition and spread the cure.

My first encounter with this disease came from my tender youth. I was only in kindergarten. Another young child asked me if I believed in God. I told her that I didn’t know. She then asked if I went to church. I told her that my family didn’t go to church. I was then blasted with this young girl’s fury, and the disease spread to me with the statement that I was going to Hell. I, even how wise I was at that age didn’t know what this meant, I asked my mom, and she was appalled at such a statement that a young girl would make. The disease was halted for awhile from the tender care of my mother. Several months down the road, the disease continued to spread through my classroom. Its vicious cycle made children cry and the teacher worry, but it finally came to me once more. The new encounter came as an attack on my age. One may think that the plague of ageism only happens when you are older, but I can assure you at the tender age of six, stricken with sadness, thinking that this wouldn’t happen to me but another blow to my already fragile immune system was the fact I was taller than some of the kids in the class. From that point on, I tried to stay away from most of the children. Again, I took the only treatment I knew of, talking to the teacher and taking refuge in the loving care of my mom’s arms.

Years later the disease has all but faded in my system. In fact, I had thought that I was cured from this disease, but I thought wrong. I was in the third grade, I became somewhat popular, but there was one kid who had the illness. This time it didn’t affect me so rapidly, but it did affect someone I cared about. I decided to give the potential infected victim a shot of 50cc of protection and another 50cc of compassion. That halted the disease spreading throughout that body. Around this time, a new threat appeared. It was a new strain that I had never experienced which made the attack on my system more severe. This individual was younger than me. This individual followed me around the school yard making sure my recovery was never going to happen. To make the recovery even more difficult, he tied my hand to a rope, making it hard for me to escape and tell a teacher. That summer, I ran into him again, and he seemed to be cured of his bullying, but as time went on it appeared again. This time I decided to act; I attacked gently with my lunch box to let him know that I don’t want him near me. After this happened, he ran and told our counselor, and I got into trouble with the camp. But with my dad, I was applauded, and he was proud of me. I was proud but hurt because I had stooped to the bully’s level.

Several years later, throughout my middle school years, I was teased but not as severely as my younger days. Though there was an instance before my thirteenth birthday when some of the children threw rocks at me for no reason. I am sad to admit that it affected me severely enough that I had wanted to end my life. I overcame this instance with the help from an uncle, but nonetheless, it still haunts me to this day on how far I would have gotten if it weren’t for him.  As time went by, the bullying decreased, but when I entered high school, it was still there. I was mainly teased because I acted differently and dressed differently, and I continued to act up because it made the plague jealous because I was getting friends, and they weren’t.

This disease still affects me to this day, but I try to overcome it and remember the medical treatment I received in love and compassion. The best way to make sure this dreadful disease is ended is by awareness and action done by the teachers or whoever is in charge.

Daily Inspiration

Where do you find your inspiration? That was the question posed by Kate Gould, editor of The "I" Word: Writers on Their Inspiration, where nearly 100 writers came together to share their sources of inspiration in 100 words or less.

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What did I write, in 100 words or less? A simple question and a simple response every morning, lead to my daily dose of inspiration.

And now I'd like to pose the same question to you. Whether you are a writer, a painter or a poet. Perhaps you prefer to sketch in the margins of your notebooks, or you excel at needlepoint. Whatever your passion, be it singing, dancing or stand up comedy, where do you find your inspiration?

I find it whispered on the wind, soughing in the trees, cresting with the full moon.

I find it in my daughter's jokes and my students' seemingly random comments.

Words of inspiration are all around us.

All you have to do is be aware.

Listen with your ears and also with your heart.

Open up your mind to the endless possibilities that life provides.