Newsletter #7 – The One Thing I Focus On

Intellectual Curiosity.

Little children always ask ‘why?’.  It’s borderline obsessive at times.  Every parent knows this.  A garden variety 3-year-old is always wondering about things, and asking why things are the way they are.  The things that occur in nature are easy to explain, for the most part.  That’s how those things are in the natural world, and here’s how they work.  

Things that are man-made … well, that’s not so easy.  Stated differently, it was easier for me to explain photosynthesis to my daughter than our political process.  It wasn’t even close.

Fostering and nurturing intellectual curiosity is the one thing that I keep as a baseline ingredient as a teacher.  Our teenagers are swamped with incoming information, at speeds we can’t imagine. For them it’s normal, but they are still not immune to the effects.  The onslaught of digital information feeds our Instant Gratification DNA, and destroys our ability to delay gratification.

The “curiosity gene” gets hammered into dust after a few years of this.  Why be curious about anything when all the information is simply sent to you?  Why wonder about stuff?

Year 24 begins for me on Tuesday.  I maintain energy and vigor in the classroom by trying to re-ignite teenagers’ intellectual curiosity.

It was there years ago. I get fired up trying to bring it back. It is what keeps me going.

Sincerely, 

Douglas Marolla – English, MVHS, Room 227 

https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/

G. E. D. Report #31 - Hope Lies With the Proles

As the censorship levels increase, as the Top of the Pyramid sprints toward the finish line, there are people who have already broken free. In 1984, Orwell talks about the Proles. These 'lower' people don't do any of the things required by the Party, they live as they wish. Now, they are not well off, nor are they consciously holding any power. However, Orwell explains that they have LEVERAGE. They don't know it, but they, through sheer numbers, could defeat the Party quite quickly. Power resides where it is believed to reside. The Proles are too numerous to bring to heel, so the Party ignores them, and tells the Goodthinkers that the Proles are trash. Orwell got many things right. He seems to have been able to not only recognize how massive government power would play out, he seems to have been able to pinpoint the psychological nature of those who crave power.

Newsletter #3 – The Decline and Fall of English Grammar

I'm talking out of school again... Newsletter #3 – The Decline and Fall of English Grammar This is a topic that is safe for parents, but not too many teachers. Here it is: A larger percentage of students than ever before do not know how to write.  I don’t mean they can’t write like Stephen King or Toni Morrison.  I mean they don’t know how to write basic English.  You’ve seen this at least once I’m sure.  Most parents, on parent teacher night, are upset that their sons or daughters are using ‘text language’ when they should be using regular English. School is supposed to not only teach rock solid basic English grammar, but reinforce it over the years.  That doesn’t seem to be happening.  As a matter of fact, even the people at Harper’s Magazine, who just did an article on this, have noticed. From the article: “As far as I can tell, most schools today downplay grammar and punctuation if they teach these subjects at all. (Last year, in Iowa, authorities banished S. Keyron McDermott as a high school substitute teacher for criticizing “second-grade” grammatical errors in students’ prose.) The neglect shows. I resist teaching creative writing if only because, on the few occasions that I’ve done so, the students have proved too creative.” The author goes on to say that his students were ‘creative’ in that they created incredibly new and incorrect ways of writing English. The parents I’ve spoken with since 1996 have all noticed that the school systems have neglected doing the difficult, and sometimes boring, work of teaching grammar.  I’ve resisted this trend throughout the years, but it is getting more difficult each year. It’s one of the reasons I teach some grammar and literacy online – with more classes to come.  They are here: https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/courses

The Power Over the Tax Cattle

A School With No Schedule

Newsletter #2 – A School With No Schedule

That headline isn’t fake. This school has no bells, no itinerary on the chalkboard, no Google Classroom, no buzzers, and no student has an individual schedule, because no student, teacher or volunteer has a schedule.

Students just show up and do whatever they please…all day long.

Sound crazy?  Sound like a joke?  Sound like a school where students play video games or basketball all day long?  That’s what it sounded like to me too.  Then I looked into it.  It’s called the Sudbury Valley School, and they have an amazingly successful track record.  Students not only do well in the classic school subjects – they do well on whatever Standardized exams they decide to take.

It sounded a little off even to someone like me at first.  Then I watched the welcome video, and I found out that when young people are left to their own devices, they take deep dives into things that interest them – and learn great things along the way.  One student played video games for AN ENTIRE YEAR.  That’s what he did for 9^thgrade. Then he got tired of that and learned how to play guitar.  Then he spent the third-year crafting essays about the things he’d learned speaking with the students and teachers in the common area.  Deciding, at year four, that music wasn’t going to be his career, he went into neuroscience because he was intensely curious about now music is perceived by the senses.  He then prepared for a successful entrance into a traditional college setting that would focus on science.   

Is that how things are at your high school?  It isn’t where I work. 

I recommend you watch the intro video.  I was skeptical as well, but I’ve found out that young people in the High School are capable and determined – when it matters.  Things that take EFFORT have VALUE to teenagers, as they do for everyone. I’ve been trying to get teenagers to unleash their potential for 25 years.  There are many ways to do that.  My online courses are only one way.  This unbelievable and contrarian place destroys the Acceptable Opinion ™ when it comes to school, education, and learning.

I have shown this place to students for over 10 years. Now it’s your turn to take a look…

Look at the homepage: https://sudburyvalley.org/

Here is their introductory video from their YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxPnvJE0V2E

G.E. D. Report # - 29 The Real Way Toward Self Esteem

Newsletter #5 

Self Esteem is a Result. 

We talk about self-esteem a lot in school. We’ve had staff meetings, staff training sessions, development sessions – all about student self-esteem, and how to improve it. 

Self-esteem isn’t something you tell someone. It also isn’t something that, if repeated, magically happens. A person’s sense of self and self-confidence are results of creation... of creating something. It almost seems to be that the people in charge of schools think that if we just tell students that they’re wonderful people, they’ll have a glowing sense of self and feel great about themselves. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. 

People gain self - worth by creating. Sensible children do not wish to be incomplete adults. There are no exceptions to that previous statement.   

There are tons of ways to make something. I try to do many small assignments throughout the year in class, culminating with a ‘portfolio’ of written work, and some art. That’s my method.   

There are tons of other things to do nowadays, especially with all the new avenues via technology. I urge students to create a blog via WordPress or blogger. It doesn’t have to be something massive. A paragraph a week gets you a good body of written work in one year. Starting a YouTube channel with spoken word content or artistic expression is easy. An online art portfolio is easy to make.   

These suggestions dovetail nicely with the way I do things in room 227. 

The mindset to change is from one of ‘passive’ to ‘active’. Instead of staring at a screen with someone else’s creation on it, make something for other people to read or look at.  

When all is said and done, you’ll have created something that is YOURS. It can be used as part of a resumé, or, more importantly, something to point to and say “That’s mine – I made that”. 

That’s how you build self-confidence and self-esteem. 

Sincerely, 

Douglas Marolla – English, MVHS, Room 227

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You Are a Cockroach

Introductory Quote from Bryant's "Unfinished History"

Newsletter #1 - The Rationale

--- Newsletter #1 ---

The catalyst that started this project was the idea of taking years of hard work as a teacher in the bad neighborhood, and the success that came with it, and move it onto the internet.

I started teaching in 1996.  The ‘World Wide Web’ was a new (and quiet) medium.  Windows 95 was a big deal.  Apple Computer had fallen to a distant second place.  I used Netscape Navigator to browse the Web.  My computer’s hard drive had 6.6GB.  Most people had pagers – a few had cellphones.

Think about how technology, communication, and media have changed since then.

Now think about how little school has changed.  Sure, there are smartboards, Google classroom, laptops and tablets, and quick wireless connectivity.  But students still go into a building for 7 hours a day, are grouped the same way, and get all the same assignments.  It doesn’t make sense to me.

This first newsletter is about philosophy:  I think it’s time we use the technology available to not only teach well, explain things clearly, and search for the truth, but also to use the tools we have to teach those who don’t fit into the narrow school paradigm we’ve been given.

Thank you,
Douglas Marolla
https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/