The Death of Boredom vs. Bored to Death

I worry about my grandchildren, specifically, and our youngest generation of students, generally, and their overall inability to accept boredom into their lives.  Without boredom, how will they think? 

When I was a child, my mother and father expected me to rake, shovel, dust, and do a whole host of very boring things.  Yet, while I did these chores, my mind was active.  As a duster, I remember ‘staging’ commercials in my mind.  I could dramatically wave my hands and ad lib about my streak-free shine and Pledge’s ability to bring out the natural beauty of the wood.  As I got older, I used the boring times, such as walking home from field hockey practice or washing dishes at Friendlies, to problem-solve the ‘major’ issues in my young life.  I ran scenarios; I pre-scripted upcoming events (as in, I’ll say this, and then he’ll say that, and then I’ll say…); I made plans, both for the weekend … and for the future.  Even now, when I’m driving home to Massachusetts or gardening in the backyard, my mind is active.  Boredom is important to my mental processes.  Boredom is where I reminisce about the past and sift through new opportunities, ideas, and solutions.  Boredom leads to a clear mind.  A clear mind leads to creativity.

The problem I see in my beloved and beautiful grandchildren is their desire to fill every moment with activity and their complete uneasiness with ‘boredom.’  If we are waiting for a table in a restaurant, riding the escalator in the mall, or even standing in the kitchen, waiting for the toast to pop up, they are texting or playing a quick game of ‘Draw Something.’   In the back seat of the car, they have headsets on, cutting them off from both conversation and observation. 

They call it multi-tasking, but they watch TV and are on their computers or cell phones at the same time making even TV-watching less cerebral (if that’s possible!), because they aren’t processing either the facial expressions or the dialogue.  If you ask them a thought question about the show, they respond, ‘I don’t know. Why?’ as if thinking about the story-line was absurd. 

I love them dearly, but I worry that I never, ever hear them complain ‘I’m bored;’ and as a result, I never, ever get to say, ‘Well, think of something to do.’

For more information about kids, creativity, and boredom, check out:

Aha! Parenting's "Why Boredom is Good for Your Child"

Essential Kids'  "The Battle to Let Them Be Bored"

 

 

 

 

Schools and the Social Networking Terrain

I don't think social media is getting any easier to navigate.  There's a lot of information circling amongst my peers purporting the merits of 'going social' by creating a district Facebook page or by joining the ranks of the 'twittering Superintendents' ... or by doing both, since each has its separate merits. 

 

Racing through my head lately is that piece of professional advice, coupled with a nagging fear that Orange isn't doing enough to make our kids as cybersmart as they should be before hitting middle school, ... and tripled by this information I just read this week:  Author Emily Bazelon wrote an article in The Atlantic detailing how an anonymous student created a Facebook page called "let's Start Drama" at a Middletown, Connecticut, middle school and used the page to bully her fellow students.  She called herself simply 'Drama Queen.'   Bazelon writes, “She hovered over them in cyberspace like a bad fairy, with the power to needle kids into ending friendships and starting feuds and fistfights… Wrapped in her cloak of anonymity, she was free to pass along cruel gossip without personal consequences.  She started by posting a few idle rumors, and when that gained her followers, she asked them to send her private messages relaying more gossip, promising not to disclose the source. Which girl had just lost her virginity? What boy had asked a girl to sext him a nude photo?” Before long, Drama Queen had an audience of 500, many of whom had follow-up comments on the rumors. She pitted students against each other by posting side-by-side photos of girls and asking who was hotter and photos of boys asking, “Who would win a fight?”  It turns out that after investigating, the middle school turned up 12 other pages of the same ilk.

 

Any parent and educator would find this scenario scary.  She had 500 like-minded participants -- or, at least voyeurs into this dehumanizing world she had created?  

 

In my mind, we should be teaching our children to be exactly the same person on-line as they are in person... they should be the same person they are when they walk the corridors of the school... and the streets of any new city they visit.  If they wouldn't go up to other classmates, in person, and call them names or say cruel things, then they shouldn't do it online either.  If they wouldn't walk up to a stranger in the mall and hand that stranger a picture of themselves in their underwear, then they shouldn't 'sext' that picture, or post it online, either.  There's something about the 'artificiality' of social media that has stripped us of the basic sensibilities we know to be true in our daily interactions with 'real' people.  It's as if in the social media arena we aren't 'responsible' for what we say in the same way we are responsible for ourselves in public. 

 

In the Bazelton article, she talks about two 'organizations' who are tackling the cruelty of cyberbullying; one is BullySpace and the other is Anonymous (yes! that same controversial vigilante group).  Both are using artificial intelligence and algorithms to detect bullying language and posts and then targeting those message posters with pop-ups which read anything from, "That was nasty! Wait 60-seconds before you post!" to expletive-driven, 'What gives you the right!' messages.  Facebook, who reports that kids would rather be expelled from school than expelled from Facebook, has started shutting down offensive pages.  But, in truth, they are coming late to the party!

 

If you haven't already, it's not too late to talk to your pre-teen about social media and what your expectations are for his or behavior in that arena as well as in public.  We can't assume that they are naturally transferring those values, and the consequences for mistakes can be devastating.  Often, when cyberbullies are caught, or when a community finds out about a bullying page and lashes out at the kids who started it, the kids are shocked.  They say they 'were only trying to have some fun!'  They claim they 'didn't know anyone would be hurt by it!'  They rationalize 'it's not like it was real or anything!'

 

It's not easy to navigate, and it's real!

         

Get Your #2s Ready for the CMT!

In the midst of all our snow closings and delays and sub-freezing temperatures, the CMT tests arrived in Central Office – all 48 cartons!  Ann Marie DePetto inventoried every barcode on every Math, Writing, Reading, and Science test booklet, in addition to counting the Test Examiner manuals, writing prompts, rulers, and so on, readying them for delivery to the schools.  In fact, by the time you read this, the cartons will have been reinventoried in the offices of our Principals who, in addition to their regular duties, are also serving as our Test Coordinators.  And, in the meantime, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Colleen Murray, took on the overall responsibility for the CMT’s, setting up the administration schedule and making certain each State guideline is followed to the letter.

Every farmer knows you can’t get the little pig fatter by weighing him.   I sometimes use this statement as an analogy to the obvious limits of standardized tests such as the CMT.   We certainly won’t make our children more 21st Century-skilled or more academically successful simply by testing them.   And while, this blog is an inside look at the time and effort that goes into the “weighing,” we all know the real work is what our teachers do every day in their classrooms to help our students achieve. When they teach students to explain their thinking in solving a complex word problem in math or to repsond in writing to a text-dependent question, they are not "teaching to the test," they are imparting important real-life skills. 

On the other hand, I’d also like you to know that preparing for these tests is no simple task … and our efforts in Orange are replicated in every school district across Connecticut.   Each year when our Coordinators and our Principals check-in our boxes, (which inevitably arrive wet and sandy), I remind myself that some districts are receiving 100’s of boxes and need a whole storage facility to store them.

Here are some facts to ponder!   Based on last year’s data, we can expect to spend a total of 58.5 total hours in actual testing. Our third graders have the least amount of testing -- 7.5 hours. Our fifth graders have the most – 13 hours!   We will likely administer about 250 make-up tests for students who were sick or away from school during test administration.   We will work with over 100 official accommodations, such as for those students who need a reader or scribe, or large print materials, or extended time and an alternate setting, per their special education Individualized Education Plan (IEP).   We will need about 90 teachers as trained proctors during the various exams.

The three school Principals, Colleen, and Ann Marie will spend about 175 hours on the various administrative tasks, including 50 hours in unpacking and inventorying tests and supplies, 15 hours training proctors and readers, 15 hours in phone or email correspondence with Measurement Incorporated over interesting testing ‘issues,’ and 30 hours repacking the test booklets for scoring.    We'll send back and forth about 140 emails.  Lest you think even the inventory is simple, at each school the principals will count hundreds of small blue paper rulers and formula sheets. 

There are individualized bar code labels for each student’s testing booklets. In addition, your school Principals, and sometimes even their PTO’s and parent volunteers, will spend many hours re-doing the bell schedule, planning whole school assemblies or pep talks, finding appropriate space for small group accommodations, scheduling proctors and substitutes, writing letters home, and even arranging healthy snacks for our test-takers.

At the end of March, we’ll count it and box it all up again – the completed tests and all the materials -- and each box will be taped shut, numbered, and affixed with its two security seals and two address labels routing it back to Measurement Incorporated.

No one is complaining!! (Well, maybe a little!) But, in Orange, we take this time very seriously, intending that every detail is well planned and every eventuality is controlled. It’s important to us that this community continue to enjoy its excellent test scores.   But, more importantly, it’s crucial to us that your children continue to master the math, reading, writing, science, and analytical problem-solving skills that the Connecticut tests measure.   We want them to feel confident going into these tests and proud of their accomplishments afterwards.  It wouldn’t be fair of us to send them into a testing situation feeling overwhelmed or underprepared.  

Over the summer, we'll study our results and make changes in curriculum and instruction that will help more children reach the goal.  We'll report back to you on the results.  In a few weeks, I'll blog about the new test, the SBAC, headed our way.  In the meantime, we've posted March's CMT schedule and some easy-to-follow tips on the webpage.