I have been reading, with great interest, the postings of a California teacher, Alan Lawrence Sitomer. His committed work and passionate voice first came to my attention last week with a blog post titled, “Raise your test scores, that’s all they want.”
I highly recommend that every teacher start tuning in to Mr. Sitomer’s blog. They will find mirrored there the many questions, frustrations, joys, challenges, and tests that every thinking, heart-centered teacher has.
On Monday night I had the honor of being the featured speaker at the Emeryville Unified School district’s parent teacher’s association meeting. After a delicious holiday dinner we all moved into the library of Emery Secondary School and PTO President Brynnda Collins introduced me. The school district generously provided each parent at the meeting with a copy of my book. I gave a talk on the book and particularly chapter 5, “How to Calm Down.” I think the material in this chapter is particularly helpful for parents when their kids are stressed out about tests.
Talking about his family, President Obama said, “And part of our job as parents — Michelle and my job — is not just to tell our kids what to do, but to start instilling in them a sense that they want to do it for themselves.”
I remember a high school student brought in by her parents. I asked her, “Do you know why you are here?” She immediately replied, “Yes. My parents want me to get higher SAT score. And I don’t want to work for it.”
Then the three of them leaned in. All eyes were on me…
While I was in the midst of editing my book, a bright high school senior named Jamal came to see me. Anxiously, he asked me to help him raise his SAT scores by 200.
"Tests make me tense!"
As Jamal spoke, his right leg bounced up and down rapidly, his shoulders tensed and rose almost to his ears, and his speech accelerated like a car with a jammed gas pedal. Several times while he spoke, he held his breath. “Just talking about the test makes me nervous,” he said anxiously. “I feel like I’m flipping out right now. This is what happened to me on the SAT.”
Despite low test scores, some schools in Maryland have taken a different approach to making sure students learn. The teacher are making the difference. Through their tireless hard work they try a range of approaches, including games, and– noteworthy to me, “When students make a mistake their teaches tell them not to be embarrassed and work it through with either a partner or teacher.
I’ve written chapter in my book specifically for teachers. They need support for their great service. Teaching is arguably one of the most challenging professions in the world. It demands on-going attention to an ever-changing flux of variables – from an individual student’s cognitive and emotional growth to dynamic group factors, from highly charged cultural and political issues to rapid advances in technology and information processing. Keeping a finger on the pulse of all this is a full-time, virtually non-stop, excruciatingly difficult job, and yet that’s what teachers are expected to do. The dedicated teacher has to be wide-awake and ready to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving system.
I started writing this book for students. It is meant to equip students – high school, college, graduate – with the nine tools for being calm, confident and focused on any test – the qualities necessary for success in performance situations. Teachers started using the model too and reporting excellent results. Teachers who are calm, confident and focused are less stressed and more successful in their role in the classroom. They are also more exemplary as role models for their students.
By the way, I am giving a workshop 4-5 pm today at UCSF Mission Bay Campus. Free. Open to public. Both students and teachers are welcome. Come say hello and bring your questions. See post directly below (Nov 2) for details.
If you are stressed out over tests, you have come to the right place. If you want higher test scores, you will find the path here. If you’re a student, a teacher, a school administrator or an educational policy maker, and want to improve test results, read on. THE WORKBOOK FOR TEST SUCCESS: How to Be Calm, Confident and Focused on Any Test is for you.
We are thrilled to be online and sharing the THE WORKBOOK FOR TEST SUCCESS. Advance copies of the book are already selling quickly! Generous, thoughtful sponsors are providing copies, free, to University of the Pacific in San Francisco; the Young Musicians Program at Cal Berkeley; and to Etgar, a summer traveling program for teens. Corporate and philanthropic sponsors are gifting the book to schools, parent teacher associations and to youth development groups. Two wonderful teen summer interns are employed (under the stimulus package!) to work on the book launch. Great things to come! And please be patient with us. With all the interest in the book we want to get this blog/website up and running.
Talking about his family, President Obama said, “And part of our job as parents — Michelle and my job — is not just to tell our kids what to do, but to start instilling in them a sense that they want to do it for themselves.”
