1

ADVICE TO TEACHER ACTIVISTS

Al Shanker founded my union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).

Commenting on his negotiation strategy, Shanker once famously said, “You can’t get SOMETHING with nothing.”

How can we expect to REPLACE something with NOTHING?

Getting rid of some tests WILL NOT automatically change the mindset that creates Tests.

Teachers will need some help transforming the entire instructional cultures of their schools— those day-to-day learning environments which have become increasingly dried-out, left-brained, data-mad, and materialistically-driven.

When TEACH THE WHOLE CHILD is the stated purpose of American Education again, it will be easier to diminish the urgency of numbers-driven mandates, replace numbers-driven consultants, and eliminate all the cynical numbers-driven incentives.

More importantly, the mindset of TEACH THE WHOLE CHILD will immediately influence the instructional culture of every classroom, invigorating the actual day-to-day learning experiences American schoolchildren receive from their teachers.

TEACH THE WHOLE CHILD will transform the instructional culture of our schools and classrooms

• Children and teachers will be more engaged with art, music, dance, drama, sports, gym, sewing, woodwork, metal work, handwork, manual labor, Community-based Learning.

• Teachers will be planning lessons engaging their children’s multiple intelligences.

• At staff meetings, pedagogical issues will be asserted and interdisciplinary projects will be conceived, planned and scheduled.

• The school budget will support instruction for children rather than numbers and data production for the state and federal governments.

• Re-defined “teaching teams” will now include the full participation of otherwise marginalized arts, physical education, library, and vocational education teachers.

• Trained and experienced professionals will re-think curriculum, local learning standards and appropriate assessments in light of TEACHING THE WHOLE CHILD.

• Professional Development will expand, not contract the personal talents, skills, intelligences and creativity that teachers intuitively bring into their practice of teaching.

Teacher-Activists can transform American education by practicing their craft as GUERRILLA TEACHERS.

GUERRILLA TEACHING MANUAL

LINKS

GUERRILLA TEACHING 1 /Why We Need to be Guerrilla Warriors in Our Classrooms

GUERRILLA TEACHING 2/The Imperial Power of The LEFT (BRAINED)

GUERRILLA TEACHING 3 /You Can Practice Guerrilla Teaching Tomorrow

GUERRILLA TEACHING 4 /Just Show Up

GUERRILLA TEACHING  5/ Push Pedagogy

GUERRILLA TEACHING 6/ The Historical Rage Against Reason

GUERRILLA TEACHING 7/ The Basics of Guerrilla Lesson Planning

Try a Little Mindfulness

The Yin and Yang of a Drama Lesson

The Spiritual Power of SPOKEN WORD in the Classroom

2

ADVICE TO PARENTS AND COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS

1. Use the AUDIT below to research the publicly documented as well as the hidden costs of testing and test preparation at your school.

2. ASSESS your school’s level of commitment to the WHOLE CHILD

AUDIT: EDUCATE THE WHOLE CHILD

Exactly how much money are you paying for testing in your school? What is being cut out of your school’s budget in order to pay for these federal and state mandates? Request an account of your schools’ expenditures for all standardized testing, test preparation, and test-related teaching time. You must consider the costs of testing materials and test preparation materials, including transporting the materials. Consider the pro-rated salaries of teachers and supervisors accounting for time on testing and test preparation. Include scoring and reporting costs. Account for all test-related instructional services for students, including after- school programs and on Saturdays. Pro rate teachers’ and supervisors’ salaries for hours of test-related meetings and professional development. Also count cash and prize incentives for supervisors, teachers and students.

$$$  COSTS OF TESTING at Your School $$Testing Materials, including distribution costs$$$

Test Preparation Materials, including distribution costs

$_____

Pro-rated Salaries of Teachers and Supervisors Accounting for Time on Testing and Test Preparation

$_____

Scoring Costs

$_____

Reporting Costs

$_____

Test-related Special Instructional Services Including After- School Programs and on Saturdays

$_____

Pro-rated Hours of Test-Related Meetings and Professional Development for Teachers and Supervisors

$_____

Cash and Prize Incentives and Rewards for Supervisors, Teachers and Students

$_____

Total for Testing and Test Preparation

$_____

Total School Budget

$_____

 

ASSESSMENT: EDUCATE THE WHOLE CHILD

Assessing WHOLE CHILD EDUCATION at Your School

Consider READING INSTRUCTION for the WHOLE CHILD in your school.

What stories do your children read?  Why were those stories selected by your teacher?  What lasting values are expressed in those stories? How are such lasting values discussed and put into practice in your children’s classrooms? To what extent do your children recite poetry and spoken word in class? What poems, literary passages or famous speeches do they know by heart? To what extent do children act out literature in the classroom? i.e. put on plays?

Consider PHYSICAL ACTIVITY for the WHOLE CHILD in your school.

During your children’s school day, how are times for narrow ranges of movement balanced by times for broad ranges of movement? Is MINDFULNESS practiced in any classrooms?

Consider ARTISTIC EXPRESSION for the WHOLE CHILD

To what extent do your children regularly sing and dance in school? How often are assemblies held in your school where students perform for each other? Do their artistic performances demonstrate professional  instruction in music, dance and dramatic arts. Does their art work demonstrate professional art instruction?

Consider the WHOLE CHILD IN THE COMMUNITY.

How can the children in your school participate in Place-Based Education, Community Service Learning or other programs where students apply social and academic skills learned in the classroom directly into their communities?

Consider the WHOLE CHILD AND CIVIC VIRTUES

Does your school have recycling program? Are conservation measures apparent in the school culture? How is good citizenship promoted? What evidence is there of school spirit? How do students behave when a teacher is not around? When greeting a stranger, do students actively shake hands and make eye contact?

3

ADVICE TO SCHOOL LEADERSHIP TEAMS

Become a WHOLE CHILD COMMITTED SCHOOL  (link)

 

4

ADVICE TO COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS PARTNERS

Preparing children for the future means investing in ALL their capacities today.

“The linear-sequential, left-brain drone thinking being drilled into children today for timed tests will ultimately handicap them.”

DANIEL PINK