My Summer at Tech Camp

Graduation. It’s an iconic scene. It’s the same everywhere. A universal passage of sorts. I experienced my sixth graduation from Camp El Valor, six graduations in three years. And now my summer job is over.

Graduation. It is always so final. A coming of age ritual that symbolizes the end of something and the beginning of something else. The graduation for the second half of Camp El Valor brings a bit more symbolism for me. Another summer gone; my favorite job of all time over again for another year. I hope not forever. The August graduation symbolizes back to school, and I am without a teaching job.

At El Valor’s summer camp graduation, diplomas were passed out and accolades were given to those of us who encouraged the children and pushed them to learn more about science and technology. This time, my sixth and possibly last time, I invited my husband to come and witness the celebration, a celebration that always leaves me affected with emotion and excited about the future. I had described it to him before. He had read my previous blog about parent testimonials. But he had to see it to believe it, and he was moved by his experience.

“It just felt like such a shared feeling,” he said. “Like the community was coming together to celebrate the power of education. Everyone just seemed so happy and so proud. It made me feel like it should be easy to make the changes that need to be made (in public education).”

When the parents talk about how happy they are to have this community center that offers such a high quality, free summer camp program for their children, everyone listening feels affected. We feel motivated. We feel lucky to be part of something so inspirational. And we know that there are not enough programs like this one.

The happiness is something my husband comes back to when I ask him to expound on his experience at graduation. I like hearing the experience coming from someone else. “There was this shared feeling of pride and happiness," he went on. "I thought about how all people, everyone, go through this ritual at some point or another. Usually multiple times. Parents and children all dressed up. Everyone feeling festive and happy and talkative. Eating. Drinking (coffee and juice)…” My husband continued talking and I began thinking about what he said. There is a shared feeling of happiness. A universal feeling we all share when we watch our children succeed, because it means we’ve succeeded. Through education, we can succeed as a society.

I want to thank El Valor and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum for giving me the opportunity again this summer. Working as a Technology Educator with the kids this year was, as always, an amazing experience. Working with the tutors, who are all such intelligent and wonderful role models, and 15 to 18 students in the classroom at one time gave us all an opportunity to get to know one another. The field trips deepened the friendships formed. Everybody was learning while enjoying themselves. The children enjoyed fresh fruit and vegetable snacks and spent an hour and 15 minutes at lunch and recess where they enjoyed brutal games of dodge ball and fast action soccer. Sometimes everyone was required to play, but not always. Some kids just sat under the trees and played UNO. Another fierce competition.

But in the classroom, there was only helping. All of us helping one another to learn more. Four weeks of building a community that will hopefully last a lifetime. Rolando Madrid, the Educational Director at El Valor, is, as my husband agrees, one of the most motivational speakers we've ever heard, and we've heard some good ones. His successes are due in large part to his belief in community and partnerships.

I understand that not everyone can build a community center. Not everyone has the time to volunteer. Heck, I don't even have a job or real health insurance! But if every single person found a meaningful way to give back to the community, maybe there wouldn't be so many children being "left behind." It's all about community.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Institutionalized discrimination. What is it?

“If a particular group is disproportionately absent in comparison to the pool of those possessing the relevant skills, discrimination is occurring even if it is impossible to document specific individual instances.” – Jo Freeman

Have you noticed that minority students are disproportionately absent from high school graduations across this country? It is a fact that Black and Hispanic youth are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to drop out of high school. In 2004, 12 percent of blacks and 24 percent of Hispanics ages 16 to 24 had not graduated from high school, compared with 7 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

This leads me to the question, are certain high schools with low minority graduation rates limiting social and economic opportunities for those who attend these schools? I think so. We face numerous problems as we commit ourselves to challenging the exclusion of many Americans from full participation in our society, and one major problem is public education.

Today at El Valor, I did something I’ve never done before… I “acted” in a commercial! (I played the part of a science teacher and steamed up a pair of goggles.) It is a commercial to be aired on TV meant to show parents that they have options when it comes to high schools for their children. Options like private schools that offer financial assistance, charter schools and magnet schools. Going to high school is a life changing experience, where a child becomes a young adult. The quality of the high school helps determine if and where a student goes to college. The student’s peer group in high school plays a huge part in his or her academic success. And this is what parents want for their children: academic success.

Across this country, the academic institutions called high schools that many of us remember so fondly (though hopefully NOT as the best years of our lives) are not the safe halls of academia we might recall. I once worked in a school where I saw the police paddy wagon parked nearly everyday after school, waiting to arrest students who were known participants in criminal behavior, mostly drugs and gang violence. Is this where you’d want your child to go to high school? It certainly offered little in the ways of academic success.

The inequality of education in this country is unacceptable. The challenges we face today in many public schools include the lingering effects of racism and poverty. Until we face these challenges, they will perpetuate institutionalized discrimination as proven in the dropout rates, as well as incarceration rates.

But how can we change what we often do not see? Educating communities about school choice seems like a good place to start, though there are many more students than there are good schools from which to choose. Until we, as American citizens, start wanting academic success for every child in this country the way we want academic success for our own children, institutionalized discrimination will continue.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Today at Tech Camp, my friend/colleague told me her story. She is taking a serious pay cut to switch from public schools to museum education. A $14,000 pay cut. She told me she loved the kids but couldn’t deal with the crazy administrative rules that, I believe, stifle the true art of teaching. A few things really summed up her five plus years as a public school teacher, but one story stood out in her mind above the rest.

My friend was evaluated for her performance in her Kindergarten class. She was a first-year teacher at the time and had many children who hadn’t been to preschool. Twenty-eight kids and no aid. The grades of the evaluation were S for Superior and E for Excellent. My friend received all E’s so she went to her principal to ask what she could do to improve, to get all S’s. The principal told her that she needed to be using her workbooks more. She could get better control of the class if the children used the workbooks. Do we want our children doing workbooks in order to keep class control in overcrowded classrooms? Do we know who’s writing the workbooks? Informed scholars, I hope.

On June 25, President George W. Bush discussed the No Child Left Behind Reauthorization with his Presidential scholars.

"The reason I've asked to speak to you is because I want people to understand how important this No Child Left Behind Act is to America and its future. And we will talk about ways to make the law better. I know some members and senators have got concerns about the law, and we're more than willing to talk about flexibility. But there is no compromise when it comes to setting high standards and measurement. You cannot compromise away the principle of saying, we expect good results, and we're going to measure to determine whether or not we've achieved those results. And when you've achieved the results that we, a society, expect, we'll give you the big embrace."

The last part of the Bush quote bothers me. “We” is our society, including the president. So that makes “you,” the scholars he’s put in place to fix what is broken with our educational system. “And when you've achieved the results that we, a society, expect, we'll give you the big embrace." This implies that American society is waiting to give those scholars a “big embrace” (cash reward?) because they will achieve high standards for all children. Personally, I do not expect that the group of Presidential scholars will fix problems that exist in public education: overcrowding, poor nutritional choices, workbook learning, millions of future American citizens in urban and rural America who see no point in graduating from high school... These are changes we need to demand and help facilitate as a community. But how do we do that?

As teachers, parents and community members, we know that children are facing serious educational problems. Many are similar to those we faced, and others are of a new brand. Educational budget cuts are imminent. Problems are becoming more expensive.

Speaking of problems, according to a report card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers on the infrastructure of the United States, "The Federal government has not assessed the condition of America's schools since 1999, when it estimated that $127 billion was needed to bring facilities to good condition. Other sources have since reported a need as high as $268 billion. Despite public support of bond initiatives to provide funding for school facilities, without a clear understanding of the need, it is uncertain whether schools can meet increasing enrollment demands and the smaller class sizes mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act." What is a small class size? Twenty-eight Kindergarteners is not small, nor is thirty-one 6th graders.

We all live in communities with problems. What is our role in combating those problems? Would you want your child to spend a day in the worst public school, just to have the experience? Is a teacher’s job to merely teach the curriculum using workbooks and prescribed formulas? Is it the community’s job to sit back and hope that their local public schools are doing an ok job?

What do you think?

Posted by Amy Abeln at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Two weeks ago, I was on vacation in northern Minnesota and I was in the country. Midway through the week, we were running low on necessary vacation beverages, so my husband and I drove 30 miles on dirt and paved country roads to the nearest convenient store. While in “town” at this shop, we took a few moments to watch FOX-ified CNN on the television that hung prominently in a well-viewed corner. (Note: Over the bar.) I learned three things in less than 10 seconds. The Dow had dropped by 300 points, Lindsay Lohan was off the wagon and, horror of horrors, FAT IS CONTAGIOUS!

Obesity is a rampant problem across this country. All one has to do is stand in the greet zone at a major Midwestern airport to see the truth in this statement. But it is taboo to talk about. Fat is a politically incorrect term. Yet there seems to be a lot more overweight kids now than in the past. More fat people all together. And that makes sense, if fat is contagious.

Am I responsible as a teacher to let a child know he or she is getting fat? I see students returning to tech camp this summer, kids I taught two summers ago. Some are unrecognizable because they’ve grown up so much between 10 and thirteen. A few girls and boys have really packed on the pounds. It is crushing to see a beautiful child turned into a self-loathing adolescent because of obesity. (And many other problems, for sure.)

More often than not, the overweight child comes from an overweight family. Eating habits are emotionally tied to the family. Much time is required to change eating habits and I think it is important to start with the child in the classroom. Healthy Life Styles should be taught from a holistic approach surrounding nutrition, exercise and sustainability. Nutrition and math go well together. One pound equals around 3,500 calories. There are many word problems to write around that one statement. And think of Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard project. How could you (or I) start something like this in our own communities? Change takes place at a grassroots level.

But the reality is, there are few schools doing projects like this. Many schools still spend money on nasty, albeit “nutritionally balanced”, processed-food pre-made lunches, and in many schools, breakfasts, too, packed with empty carbohydrates. How hard is it to provide a healthy, well-balanced meal? As hard as it is to get a group of people together to start a community project???

Poor nutrition, at home and in schools, is one problem contributing to low performing schools in America. Teaching children about nutrition from a young age, especially in low performing schools where children often have hot chips and a sugary drink for breakfast and/or lunch, seems like a logical way to combat the heath problems AND health care and insurance issues of the future. (Obesity is causing expenditures in health care to explode in this country and is directly linked to diabetes, heart disease and many types of cancer.) Teaching children how to search for food growing in their local communities also promotes a healthier lifestyle.

A quick story to end: Last year I was in my local pharmacy/drugstore purchasing popcorn for the Christmas Party. It was 7:45ish in the a.m. and I remember because I was running late. A mother was in the store with her young daughter. She looked around four, but she was older. I know because the checker asked the mother, “Your daughter’s so cute! How old is she?”

“She’s in second grade.” The mother responded while holding her daughter’s wrist in an eagle’s grip. Moments before I watched her ask her daughter what she wanted for breakfast. The daughter chose Firey Hot Chips and a can of Coke.

As teachers and parents, how should we envision the school’s role in helping to fight obesity? What is our role in influencing nutritional choices? As a teacher, what does your school lunch look like? As a parent, what does your child eat during the day? Is fat contagious?

Posted by Amy Abeln at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

After returning from a week long vacation, I am back at Camp El Valor for the second four-week session and I must admit, I am very excited! We have the same curriculum, but new faces and new challenges. The first difference I’ve noticed is the wider range of ages. Last session saw mostly fifth and sixth graders. This session has quite a different split: several incoming fourth graders, as well as several incoming freshman with a strong showing of all ages in between.

I find teaching in multiage classrooms incredibly exciting and rewarding. My first job teaching was in a Montessori classroom of 12-14-year-olds. I then moved into a 9-12-year-old classroom. Montessori splits by age, not grade, and I find this creates a motivating, dynamic environment.

At camp, days 1 and 2 always include several introductory activities. While many children are learning keyboarding posture and technique, more advanced typists are transcribing hand-written journals about their science experiences into Microsoft Word documents. While some work on creating interviews in a question and answer style, others work on turning their questions and answers into paragraphs about the person they interviewed.

Already I’ve seen the younger children observing the older children, witnessing the “next level” as the older students discuss their work. Some of the nine and ten year-olds asked if they could write in paragraphs, too. “Of course!” I answered, excited to see their desire for a challenge. And the older children seem more ready to set a positive example. Students learn better when they have peer role models they can rely on for help, and when they practice their skills by teaching others.

The typical expectation of a single-grade classroom, that children possess similar knowledge and skills, creates pressure on both children and the teachers. There is a tendency in a homogeneous age group to judge the children who fail to meet benchmarks as “below average.” Yet there is no evidence that supports the idea that groups of children who are all the same age learn the same things in the same way at the same time.

Conversely, in a multiage classroom, the difference in ages begets different sets of behavior and performance expectations. In this environment, the teacher more readily addresses differences because differences are more obvious. It is also easier for a child to address his or her strengths and weaknesses without feeling judged by his or her peers. Students can progress along a continuum of simple to more complex skills at their own pace.

Dr. Maria Montessori developed educational methods based on her belief that children learn best by doing, not by being acquiescent vessels to be filled with pre-existing knowledge. Montessori believed learning should occur in multiage classrooms where children at various stages of development learn with and from one another. Though it’s been several years since I’ve been in a Montessori classroom, I see her idea of multiage learning once again as fresh and innovative, offering possible solutions to many of the problems that plague public school teachers. I’m finding my multiage experience to be reinvigorating both for me, and for the children in this camp.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In her blog last week, New Terrain, Jessica Shyu posed the question, "Why do teachers stay?" I think a lot about why teachers quit. But Jessica’s question demands optimism, something that is easy to lose in this profession.

I teach because I want children to reap the benefits of problem solving, the enjoyment of reading and the pride of finishing a well-written paper. I want to help each child develop a positive self-image in order to appreciate the beauty of life, and the critical thinking skills needed to determine the injustices of the world. I teach because I love to learn and I want to pass that love on to others. But this doesn’t answer the question, “Why do teachers stay?” The truth is, though I love to teach, I’ve never stayed with one job longer than three years.

Today I attended Camp Graduation. It was very emotional, as it is every camp, every year. I gave a short speech. It seems a bit cheesy now, but it came from my heart and I could barely get it out past the lump in my throat. In my speech I said:

“Learning is a journey that lasts your whole life. There is always something new to learn. Never quit wanting to learn. Never quit trying to overcome obstacles. Never give up.”

Tears broke past the lump in my throat when one mother gave a moving speech. She said, before breaking down herself, how thankful she was that her son had a place like El Valor to come to in the summer; a place where he could learn in a positive environment; a place where the people really cared. When she started crying, I started crying. It’s something about this place, this atmosphere, it’s almost magical.

Another mother spoke about her daughter finally answering the age-old question, what did you learn today? She said:

“When she comes home from school I ask her, what did you learn today? She says, ‘nothing’ or ‘not much.' When she comes home from camp and I ask her, what did you learn today? She talks my ear off about monarch butterflies and pollination. About recycling and building Web sites. I love the way this place excites our children about learning.”

And it’s true. This place is inspiring, and not just for the children. If I could teach here all year, I’d stay. If I had worked with these parents in some of my old jobs, I might have stayed. If I felt supported and appreciated the way I feel at El Valor, I’d stay in that job, too. Unfortunately, many teachers often feel fatigued by the constant battles and guilty for acting like wardens in their over-crowded classrooms. Teacher retention is a crisis among many plaguing our public school system. Until major overhauls are made, many good teachers won’t stay. It’s unfortunate but true.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 7:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We have entered the fourth and final week of camp session one. We just returned from camping in Mokena, IL, a first for many of these children. I’ve enjoyed seeing them in a new environment. We met a skunk, a groundhog, a coyote, two gray wolves and a raccoon from the Big Run Wolf Ranch, a federally licensed non-profit educational facility specializing in North American wildlife. We helped replant the prairie at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. We identified caterpillars in the wild and studied butterflies gently swooped up in butterfly nets. We learned how to watch for birds using binoculars.

Many of the students were well prepared for this cumulative experience, as these are the things we’ve been studying for the past three weeks. They researched wolves, coyotes, butterflies and birds, cropped pictures in Adobe Photoshop and inserted these photos, along with their research, into tables built in Microsoft Word documents. They learned how to make bibliographies. We bonded with each other and had meaningful learning experiences. The children are now struggling to finish their Web sites depicting their camp experiences before graduation, which is this Saturday. We have a lot of work to do to get things done!

Of course, we’ve taken to complaining a bit, as is human nature, even though we all realize our fortunate situation. A much more fortunate situation than most of us face for this coming fall, including the children. And this lack of excitement for returning to school is something we discuss in camp. One boy, a smart and kind 12-year-old said,

I love learning, I love camp. But I hate school and I don’t want to go back.

It is always a difficult transition, going from this summer program at El Valor back into the rat race of 30 plus students per teacher with short 40-minute periods. Last weekend I met three teachers who resigned this past Spring after three or more years of service in CPS. One is moving into architecture, another into biology. Both are still volunteering as mentors. The third teacher I met is moving to LA to teach Literature to a small class of twelve students in an exclusive private school. We talked for over an hour about the loss of great teachers in CPS.

But back to the topic of technology. Someone asked me recently in a comment on the blog,

Any suggestions for using computers in the classroom that is more meaningful? How do you motivate the teachers to do this?

I think research is meaningful, especially when it is related to the curriculum. However, the students must know how to read. I think building Web sites based on learning experiences is a good way of incorporating technology, too. But the second part of that question,

How do you motivate the teachers to do this?

This is the tricky part. It is difficult to keep good teachers in a system that overcrowds its classrooms and undervalues its resources, let alone motivate them to try harder when already feeling exhausted and defeated.

I also encourage reading. I find reading motivational. Read books about technology. I am currently reading The Flickering Mind by Todd Oppenheimer. It is a good one. Next on my list is Technology in Its Place: Successful Technology Infusion in Schools by John F. LeBaron and Catherine Collier. In addition, I find it is important to observe others using technology in the classroom and make your own evaluations. I do believe that any teaching method, technology or any other instructional tool and/or activity must be continuously evaluated based on student-centered principles if we are to give our children the education they deserve.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Two cheerful and gifted girls sit in the back row of my morning technology class.

“Are you having fun at camp?” I asked.

“We love it!” they replied in unison, like best friends often do.

“What do you love most?” I questioned, secretly hoping for a few compliments.

“We love science class!” the bolder one remarked, while the quieter of the two smiled and nodded away at her friend’s proclamation. I must admit, my ego deflated slightly even though I felt elated to hear two sweet, smart and beautiful girls professing their love of science.

“We love the projects,” the quieter girl added.

“We like technology, too,” the more assertive one reassured me, “but we get to do computers all the time in school. We’re in the gifted class. But we hardly ever do science.”

They ‘did’ computers but not science in their gifted program? What did they do on the computers? I’ve been in several Chicago public schools where ‘doing’ computers often revolves around a separate agenda, vaguely connected to the curriculum. I’ve also witnessed (and been guilty of) using computer time as a reward for finishing class work. But working at El Valor has made me rethink these practices. At the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, we worked hard to create a challenging technology curriculum for El Valor that fosters and integrates the study of science and that demonstrates to students how to use computers as a tool to enhance understanding.

I relayed the girls’ love of the science projects to my science counterpart at the end of the day. She smiled and nodded. “The projects are a lot of fun,” she remarked. I believed her as I looked around at the colorful displays of scientific art on the walls and the mess of tissue paper and crushed flower petals that littered her room.

We began to fulminate against the lack of science in schools and against the typical technology curriculum, in schools lucky enough to have the budget, for often failing to make meaningful academic connections. Then we laughed wildly at the thought of doing labor-intensive projects with one teacher and thirty-plus students. It's difficult enough with one teacher, three tutors and 18 students.

The students at this camp are very involved in the projects in both science and technology class, excited to be working and talking, sharing their ideas while they are learning. Nevertheless, with student excitement and engagement comes a bit of chaos, as all teachers know. However, at El Valor, with an adult to child ratio of about 1:4, confusion and aggravation are minimized.

All of this left me thinking. Computers are being used in schools, but at the expense of science? What other academic fundamentals are being lost? What does our society really need, technically savvy people or critical thinkers? It doesn’t take long to become technically savvy. When I think of all the computers and other equipment that I’ve seen sitting unused in schools, or used in ways unconnected to the curriculum, I have to question if we are shortchanging students. The skills and characteristics children need to be successful in today’s world involve getting a good education, and being educated is a lot more than just knowing how to use a computer.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Recharge. This is what teachers do in the summer. My batteries run out of juice around April. By mid-June, when Chicago Public Schools let out, I feel completely deflated—and not from the students. This past year I started my own business to meet the needs of after school programming because I was unable to find a job in a school suitable for me. Sounds a little particular for someone with no health insurance, but I had worked in an unsuitable school before—a junior high with metal detectors and aggressive guards, where I witnessed the principal slap a kid across the his head and I taught thirteen-year-old babies with babies. The same unsuitable school where police barged into my classroom to question my 7th grade student, and my coworker was trampled by a troupe of 8th grade boys.

The most shocking aspect of that horrible experience, though, was that it came on the heels of the best working environment of my life; a summer job teaching technology to kids ages 9-14 at the El Valor Summer Camp in Chicago’s densely populated Pilsen community.

“A summer job?” many colleagues question with amused looks. I know what they are thinking. Aren’t summers supposed to be about relaxing? About not working and finding renewed energy to return to school refreshed and recharged? Well, my energy is renewed by working with underprivileged kids in a stimulating, motivating environment outside the institutional walls of our overcrowded, underfunded schools.

I’d like to take a moment to address the word "underprivileged." It is a fact that thousands upon thousands of children are attending poorly funded Title 1 schools, sitting all day in overcrowded classrooms with old books that, more often than not, have obscenities scribbled on the pages. And it is a fact that these children are, more often than not, from African American and Latino backgrounds. This sort of institutionalized discrimination severely limits social and economic opportunities for those who attend these schools, as evidenced in high school drop out rates. So, I feel motivated and recharged when working at El Valor because the people here are doing something to solve these problems.

El Valor is a multicultural, multiservice organization with a mission to support and challenge urban families to achieve excellence and participate fully in the community. The programs here are designed to enrich and empower people. I am blogging about my work at the camp this summer because there needs to be more effort around this country to create FREE motivational opportunities like the ones created at El Valor. The two 4-week sessions of summer camp address the many issues that plague underprivileged communities by providing an environment where children are nurtured intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. This camp addresses the recommendation set forth in 2003 by the president’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans to set new and high expectations for Latino children by creating partnerships that provide expanded options. El Valor collaborates with the USDA Forest Service, the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie and Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to implement inspiring educational opportunities.

Working together with my exceptional co-workers (there are eight of us for 32 students) motivates me. Showing these children how to use technology to interpret their science investigations, how to build Web sites using Dreamweaver, and how to make art using digital cameras and Photoshop motivates me, too. I am motivated to want more for the people in my community, in my city, and in my country. So yes, my summer job recharges me. It makes me see more clearly the reasons I became a teacher. It wasn’t for the summers off.

Posted by Amy Abeln at 6:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)