Virginia Journal of Education: October 2022

The magazine of the Virginia Education Association

COVER STORY

All

UPFRONT

4-7 This month:

Words matter, trying to keep everyone in school, and Touching Base

With Virginia Beach’s Cat Evans.

FEATURES

13 Demystifying Dyslexia

What

is,

16 Drawing the Line

Have

Running Out to Toss Debt! The deadline is approaching for student loan forgiveness.

19 Dealing with Challenging People? Try an approach of GRATITUDE.

? DEPARTMENTS

20 Membership Matters

VEA leaders headed for the hills this summer.

24 Insight on Instruction

Making parents your allies.

30 First Person

Meet our new First Person columnist, Bruce Ingram.

Cover photo by Tom Allen; design by Lisa Sale.

Tom Allen

“What I should have been doing during my vacation instead of playing video games…”

Editorial Assistant/Advertising Representative Kate O’Grady

Contributors

Cat Evans Bruce Ingram

Jennifer Floyd Dr. Maria Church

Bonnie Lafountaine

David Naff

Vol. 116, No.1

Copyright © 2022 by the Virginia Education Association

The Virginia Journal of Education (ISSN 0270-837X) is published six times a year (October, November, December, February, April and June) by the Virginia Education Association, 116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

Non-member annual subscription rate: $10 ($15 outside the U.S. and Canada). Rights to reproduce any article or portion thereof may be granted upon request to the editor. Periodicals postage paid in Richmond, VA.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Virginia Journal of Education, 116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

Article proposals, comments or questions may be sent to the editor at tallen@veanea.org or Tom Allen,116 South Third Street, Richmond, VA 23219, 800-552-9554.

Member: State Education Association Communicators

VEA Vision:

A great public school for every child in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

VEA Mission: The mission of the Virginia Education Association is to unite our members and local communities across the Commonwealth in fulfilling the promise of a high quality public education that successfully prepares every single student to realize his or her full potential. We believe this can be accomplished by advocating for students, education profession als, and support professionals.

VEA President Dr. James J. Fedderman

VEA Executive Director Dr. Brenda Pike

Communications Director Kevin J. Rogers Graphic Designer Lisa Sale

Say It in Three Words

Daniel T. Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and well-known education researcher and author, recently asked his Twitter followers this question: What’s the best teaching advice you can give in three words?

We thought it would be fun to share some of our favorites from among the nearly 3,500 responses he got:

Don’t grade everything.

“We need a first grade substitute with experience and, if possible, some herding instinct.”

“OK, which one of you has a ringtone that sounds like the dismissal bell?”

Laugh every day.

Drink heavily, often. Relationships matter most. They’re someone’s child. Set the tone.

They deserve feedback. Buy machine washable.

Trust your heart.

Ask for help. Befriend the custodian. Remember your why!

Honor students’ experiences. Progress, not perfection. Love them first.

Wear good shoes.

Don’t give up. You matter too. Find a mentor.

Give them hope. Start with purpose. Don’t lose heart. LISTEN to students.

Consistency is key.

Model, coach, fade.

Pick your battles. Check for understanding. Learn their names. Lead with love. Know your stuff. Ask. Don’t assume.

See good therapists.

Expect the unexpected.

Always stay calm. Be authentically human. No teacher’s perfect. Find your tribe. Productive struggle matters. Firm, fair, fun!

Pee when possible.

Every conversation counts. Cherish the moments. You’re not alone. Are they thinking? Bring the love. They’re worth it!l

If You Know Something, Say Something

If you’re aware that any of your students are being bullied online, it’s important to get your school counselor or psychologist involved: Victims of cyberbullying are more likely to consider suicide than victims of in-person bullying, according to an analysis of data from the Adoles cent Brain Cognitive Development study. Because of this, researchers recommend making questions about cyberbullying a routine part of school health professionals’ evaluations of their students.l

Words Matter

Seven things you can say to create a supportive classroom:

1. “I believe in you.” A great re minder for students that you’re there to help.

2. “We missed you.” This lets stu dents know you thought about them when they weren’t there.

3. “I’m listening.” Can be both a confirmation and an invitation.

4. “Oops. I made a mistake.” A great challenge to the taboo of academic error.

5. “We’ll figure it out together.” This positions teachers and students as partners and collaborators.

6. “You’ve really improved…” and “I really admire…” Specific, measured, and focused feedback motivates students and shows you’re being noticing them.

7. “I’m sorry.” Using this judiciously instills trust, signals respect, and makes you more accessible.l

Source: Former English and history teacher Stephen Merrill, writing on Edutopia.org.

How Does This Compare to Your Life?

TOUCHING BASE WITH…

CAT EVANS

VIRGINIA BEACH EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Elementary school teacher

What’s something you like about your job?

I love working with my third-graders. I’m an energetic person; working with 8- and 9-year-olds is such a great match for me. They’re diverse, fun, and not too “cool” to be silly, but they can also get immersed in a research project. Every child brings new perspective and ideas, and I love watching their confidence grow through out the year. These kids are going to change the world!

How has being a Union member helped you?

54Average number of hours per week a typical teacher works, with just less than half that time spent directly teaching students

Source: National survey conducted by the EdWeek Research Center in January and February, 2022

I joined the VEA in 2015 as a student member and attended as many conven tions and conferences as could. When I got my first teaching job in 2019, I immediately joined my local, the VBEA. The VEA has felt like a family since my first instructional conference. Members are supportive, uplifting, and push me to be a better educator and advocate. I joined the VBEA Board of Directors and recently accepted the role as the chair of our political action committee. VEA is helping me to do my own part in chang ing the world. l

Photo and illustration by iStock

Trying to Keep them ALL in School

According to the Virginia Department of Educa tion, of the students who entered high school as first-time ninth-graders in 2017:

• 52.8% earned an Advanced Studies Diplo ma.

• 38% earned a Standard Diploma.

• 2.1% earned an Applied Studies or Modi fied Standard Diploma.

• 0.7% earned a GED.

• 4.3% dropped out.l

What We’re Really Up To…

Teachers are not part of some nefarious cabal trying to indoctrinate children. Instead — through a curriculum featuring diverse people, places, and perspectives — teachers are teaching our children the true history of the United States and giving them the tools to understand how to make our country even better.

— Eric Duncan, an attorney and Senior P-12 Data and Policy Analyst, Educator Diversity, at The Education Trust.l

Words of Wisdom in the Press

In a season where edu cators have taken some very ill-deserved heat from school critics and some members of the public, editorial writers in Virginia have come to your defense. Two examples:

Teachers are not the ene my, and people sitting in the bleachers and yelling need to quit attacking the people who walk into the arena every day and do incredibly challenging work. To those who feel they can do better, get licensed and do better.

— From an editorial in the (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star entitled “Undercutting Teachers Won’t Fix Education”

“[Educators] returned to school even when COVID-19 case num bers spiked. They enforced mask policies when required. They have heard the shouts of parents and endured the governor’s pressure. And they have done it all with remarkable professionalism, knowing that their work to prepare students for promising futures is a noble and necessary calling. Our hats are off to them.

— From an editorial in the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot headlined “Hats Off to Educators”l

‘We’re All Part of the Same Education Family’

“As paraeducators, custodians, secretaries, bus drivers, and other ESPs, we give our all. We give our all in service to our fellow educators, students, and our communities. And as we do that, we face many challeng es, including a rise in staffing shortages driven by workload issues, exhaustion, and an overall lack of respect. Despite the challenges all educators face, we can find hope in the power of unions—in collective bargaining, organizing, and advocacy. Through our union, we can find hope in each other, through love, support, and care. We must lean on each other. We’re all part of the same education family.”l

— Debra Ward-Mitchell, NEA’s 2022 ESP of the Year, assistant director of an infant care center in Chicago

“I tried yelling, ‘Not it!” but she called on me anyway.”

Ain’t English Fun?

What’s the difference between a cat and a comma?

One has claws at the end of the paws. The other is a pause at the end of a clause.

What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Short.

Teacher: Name two pronouns. Student: Who, me?

The past, present and future walked into a bar.

It was tense.

Whoever put the letter B into the word subtle deserves a pat on the back.

I’ll never date an apostrophe again. He was so possessive.l

Source: Boredpanda.com

“He’s going for his master’s.”

Photo and illustrations by

ALL IN ON

MENTAL HEALTH

By David Naff

The hardest and best job I ever had was as a high school counselor. I was only in that position for four years before leaving the pro fession (as so many do) eight years ago, but think about it every day because of the ongoing impact it’s had on me, both personally and professionally. When I would get home and my wife would ask me how things went at school, I often couldn’t remember the details because so much had gone on that day. My days were characterized by challenges and triumphs, both stressful and beautiful.

I had amazing colleagues who were committed to the success of our students, but our morale would dip at times as we grew frustrated by rising demands and dwindling resources. My case load of 300 students felt entirely manageable on some days and smothering on others. My students were remarkable and inspiring, and accomplished so much more than I could have ever imagined when I was a high school student. They also had needs, like any teenag ers, which oftentimes emerged from their circumstances: battling parental drug addiction, experienc ing eviction, witnessing violence in their neighborhood, or watching younger siblings after school while mom worked a second job to cover the bills.

All of them had mental health needs. You read that right. Just as I do. Just as you do. Plenty expe rienced significant (even clinical) levels of depression, anxiety, or dis tress. We all do, in varying degrees, especially during the formative ad

olescent years. My students taking five AP classes while playing varsity volley ball and doing homework until 2 a.m. after games and practices had mental health needs, often stemming from perceived high pressure to achieve. So did my students struggling to pass Algebra I. So did my student who was recovering from a concussion she sus tained in a soccer game, or my student who was still reeling from an argument he had with his dad that morning, or my student who had to sleep on the porch because her mom locked her out of the house the previous night.

In addition, my students from low-income backgrounds saw their emotional challenges all too often com pounded by lack of resources, like my student who had to walk three miles to school because he missed the bus and couldn’t find a ride, or my student who found herself suddenly homeless and didn’t tell anyone. My students also had mental health needs when they were thriving, playing the lead in the school musical, receiving scholarships, finding out they got into their dream college, or landing full time employment as an electrical assistant or cosmetologist after graduation.

I was trained to meet those needs—like other school-based mental health professionals, I’d learned thera peutic techniques designed for inter vention in a crisis and offering strate gies for coping in the face of adversity. My graduate school professors let me know plainly, though, that I’d need to learn how to deliver all of this in 15 minutes or less because that’s often all the time I’d have with a student during the school day. Ironically, I received no training in the tasks that would ultimately take up the majority of my time: academic advising, college access

promotion, and school dropout prevention. All were worthwhile and brought me closer to my students, but a common refrain among our counseling team was how we never seemed to have enough time for individual or group counseling. There were five of us for a school of 1600 students. We shared a wonderful, veteran school social worker with one other high school and ele mentary school, whose primary task was often outreach to absent students. Our school psycholo gist also split her time with other schools and primarily worked to support testing for placement in exceptional education. Our nurse was only able to come to our school one day every two weeks.

Today work with the Met ropolitan Educational Research Consortium (merc.soe.vcu.edu), a researcher-practitioner part nership between the School of Education at Virginia Common wealth University and six school divisions in the Richmond metro area. We conduct collaborative research studies on topics iden tified as relevant by our school

Photo and images by iStock

Building schools to navigate pandemics, pressures, and political unrest.

division partners to the needs of their students and educators.

It’s no surprise that our latest study focuses on supporting mental health in schools.

Our team for the study was made up of university faculty and graduate students in education, counseling, and social work as well as school counselors, social workers, and psychologists from our part nering school divisions. One of our first steps was to develop a common definition of mental health, informed by existing definitions from the CDC, Virginia Department of Education, mentalhealth.gov, and prominent recent literature on this topic. Our team thought it was important to emphasize the dynamic nature of mental health, how it can be char acterized by negative and positive emotions, and how it is important at every developmental stage. (See “What’s a Mentally Healthy Person

Like? on page 12.)

Mental Health an Enormous Issue

What we learned is that the mental health needs of our students and educators have never been more significant. This is certainly due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it reshaped the school experi ence. No one can deny the impact on student learning during this time and how it exacerbated existing race and socioeconomic status disparities. The just-as-pressing emotional wellbeing of K-12 students has been getting increasing media attention, and for good reason. The mental health of the professionals striving to meet their needs deserves equal attention, as educators are currently experiencing high levels of burnout and are leaving the profession at accelerated rates.

Compounding all this are urgent safety concerns in the wake of the massacre of 19 elementary students

and two teachers in Uvalde, TX, one of 27 school shootings leading to death or injury this year. One in four educators say that climate change is affecting their school to some extent, offering another source of stress and anxiety. In addition, educators here navigate the potential of being reported for the perceived promotion of “divisive concepts,” something that’s been met with considerable pushback by Virginia education leaders. Related ly, anti-immigrant rhetoric has led Latina/o/x students and multilingual families to live in increased fear of harassment while educators find their ability to combat such rhetoric to be hampered by political restrictions. The need for studying and supporting mental health in schools in this con text is overwhelming and complex, yet it must be done in earnest, and it must be done now.

We recently did a systematic review of 104 international empirical

studies on mental health, and it’s re vealed the scope of the challenges we face. In the past three years, K-12 stu dents have reported staggering levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, often to the point of clinical diagno sis. They have increasingly used the internet, devices, and social media, often to the point of addiction. Stu dents have endured social isolation, stress from rapidly transitioning to online learning, and massive disrup tions to their daily routines and sleep patterns. We learned how caregiver and child mental health is closely connected, as studies repeatedly showed strong correlations between parent and student levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. We learned that certain student groups, such as pre-K students, have seen their mental health particularly affected by the pandemic. We’ve seen a high level of susceptibility to misinforma tion about COVID-19 in elementary schools, and acute feelings of social isolation in adolescence. We’ve seen higher levels of mental health issues among females, non-binary stu dents, Black, Latinx, and low-income students. Asian-American students and their families have endured pan demic-related racism. Encouragingly, research also showed considerable evidence of resilience and positive coping strategies in our youth.

The Help We Need Altogether, these studies suggest that meeting the mental health needs of students will fall to all stakeholders in K-12 education. How do we do that?

First, we still have more to learn. Our team is preparing to explore existing efforts in Virginia school divisions to meet the mental health needs of their students, faculty/staff,

and families, and what character istics define successful programs and initiatives. We’re also inves tigating the emotional and pro fessional capacity of Virginia K-12 educators to meet their students’ needs, which requires us to learn more about their own mental health and the training they’ve re ceived to offer emotional support for their students.

Based on what we’ve found so far, we have several recommen dations.

First, we need more schoolbased K-12 mental health professionals. The American School Counselor Association’s recommended student ratio is 250 to 1, but in the 2020-2021 school year, Virginia was higher at every level (375 in elementary, 325 in middle, and 300 in high school). The ratios for school social workers and school psychologists are even farther from what’s rec ommended. Not only that, those professionals’ time needs to be protected enough to allow them to be available to help promote students’ social and emotional wellbeing. Considering that youth are 21 times more likely to receive mental health support in schools than in community-based clinics, it makes sense to finally staff our schools accordingly.

Second, we must thought fully prepare teachers to support their students’ mental health needs. We need shared language about how mental health encom passes more than stress, anxiety, and depression. While specific training in this area often happens in graduate programs for school counselors, school social

A CAMPAIGN WE CAN GET BEHIND

The Hopeful Futures campaign is a gathering of 17 organizations, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Healthy Schools Campaign, UNICEF USA, and the National Center for School Mental Health, created to help ensure that kids get the mental health services they need.

The organization has put together a report card scoring every state on how well it sup ports mental health in its schools, along with recommendations on how to do so better. HF’s website also offers strategies, solutions, and ways to advocate for kids in what’s been labeled a “state of emergency” in children’s mental health by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Learn more at hopefulfutures.us.l

workers, and school psychologists, it must also be a focus of training for pre-service and in-service teachers. This is in no way a replacement for the critical function of school-based mental health profession

als, and we must be careful to not place yet another expectation on our teach ers, who are already overworked and underpaid. However, when approached thoughtfully, equipping teachers for stu dent mental health support could offer added value not only for their students, but also for the climate of their class rooms and schools. Restorative practices are one example of an evidence-based method of community building that could be a useful foundation for teacher training efforts.

Finally, any effective model of mental health support in schools must attend equally to the needs of the educators working there. Schools and divisions often offer plenty of programs and initiatives for student mental health but com paratively fewer for the staff members working with them. This leads to compassion fatigue, often mistaken for burnout, where individuals helping others finds themselves psychologically and even physiologically taxed. This is one potential explanation for what we’re witnessing in educator attrition. School divisions should invest time, energy, and resources in supporting the mental health of their employees, as well as their students. A public commitment of this scope could prove transformative at a time where schools are already reimagining how they operate. Let’s place mental health support at all levels in a school at the center of those efforts.

On my drive into work one Friday morning in June I stopped behind a

WHAT’S A MENTALLY HEALTHY PERSON LIKE?

Here’s the definition MERC researchers developed for their study:

Mental health is a dynamic state of internal balance which enables individuals to use their abilities to connect and contribute within society. It includes one’s abilities to regulate emotional experiences, flexibly adapt to stress, orient to the present moment, create a sense of coherence, access empathic connection with others, cultivate a harmonious relationship between their body and mind, and take values-driven actions. Mental health can be evaluated and described by psychological challenges like depression, anxiety, and stress, as well as by the presence of positive processes like resilience, coping, and thriving. Mental health is important at every developmental stage from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.l

school bus unloading in front of a middle school and witnessed a COVID-masked teacher offering his disembarking students a se ries of personalized handshakes that they had meticulously craft ed over the course of the year. It was as concrete evidence of the importance of relationships in public education as one could ever need. I immediately flashed back to my time as a school counselor, standing in the front lobby in the morning as my stu dents poured into the building, wearing a vest because I thought it looked cool (Justin Timberlake was wearing them a lot back then) and offering high fives to each passerby on what my students and I deemed “high five Fridays.” I thought about what it must be like to work in a school these days, and how a secret handshake is not nearly enough to rise to the moment of what students and educators must be navigating, while at the same time encapsulating everything that they might need right now. When the last student stepped off the bus, the stop sign on the side retracted to allow passage.

I idled, caught up in a moment of nostalgia and admiration for what I had witnessed. They made their way up the stairs into the building, just as they surely had done every day, steadily proceeding as they knew they could.l

David Naff, PhD, is the Associate Director of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium and an Assistant Professor of Ed ucational Foundations at Virginia Commonwealth University. He can be reached at naffdb@vcu.edu

Demystifying Dyslexia

You’ll serve your students better when you know what the disorder really is, its warning signs, some misconceptions to disregard, and how to find helpful resources.

By Jennifer Floyd

As

many as one in five of your students and 80-90 per cent of those with learning disabilities may be affected by dyslexia, according to the Interna tional Dyslexia Association, but the disorder remains frequently misun derstood. Even after decades of re search, misconceptions still thrive, leaving many educators somewhat unclear about how to best support their dyslexic readers.

To help your students succeed, it’s essential to know what dyslexia really is, to reject the most com

mon misconceptions about it, to understand how it affects readers, to identify potential warning signs, and to learn a few effective instruc tional strategies.

What is Dyslexia?

It’s a language-based phonological processing disorder that often caus es those who have it to struggle with making connections between letters and sounds and distinguish ing between individual sounds in words. Dyslexic readers have diffi culty developing word recognition,

decoding, and spelling skills, and in reading accurately and fluently, which can affect comprehension.

Dyslexia and the Brain

Dyslexic brains differ from the brains of non-dyslexic readers, according to image studies. One important differ ence can be the amount of gray and white matter in the brains of people with dyslexia. A reduced amount of gray matter can affect one’s ability to process phonological information; reduced white matter can limit the connections

by

that enable communication between different parts of the brain. In addition, dyslexic brains show a lack of activation in key areas related to reading. The brain’s left hemisphere is responsible for reading and areas within it work together to enable language comprehension, phonological processing, and orthographic processing. The brains of students with dyslexia, though, do not show that activity.

Misconceptions Abound

Some misconceptions about the disorder involve characteristics of dyslexia or intervention materials; others are about identifying dys lexic readers. As a consequence, we need to evaluate information and resources carefully to ensure that these misconceptions don’t become part of our teaching.

One of the most common misconceptions is that reversing letters and words is an indicator of dyslexia. However, research has repeatedly rejected this mis conception and recognized the role of phonological processing deficits. Dyslexic readers have an incomplete understanding of letter-sound relationships and labor to recall the symbols that represent different

sounds. Therefore, when students reverse letters or words, it is a reflection of their struggle to access and use pho nological information when reading and writing. Providing students with colored overlays or lenses to use when reading will not address the dyslexic reader’s phonological deficits. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Oph thalmology discourage the use of these lenses and overlays readers because it’s more important to offer interventions aimed at furthering the development of word recognition, decoding, and spell ing skills, along with comprehension and vocabulary development.

the IQ-discrepancy model does not differentiate between students who will be easy to remediate and those who for whom remediation will be more difficult.

You Can Teach Online without Being Ruled by Technology

nemic and rapid automatized naming skills are recognized as “reading univer sals” that affect literacy acquisition.

Warning Signs

A second common misconception deals with the idea that dyslexic readers can be identified through their scores on IQ and achievement tests, and that a significant difference in the two scores points toward possible dyslexia. This approach assumes that dyslexic readers differ from other struggling readers who have both decoding and compre hension deficits. However, both dyslexic and non-dyslexic readers who struggle display phonological processing deficits and those deficits are not the result of differences in intelligence. In addition,

The idea that boys are more likely than girls to be dyslexic is another misconception that continues to be widely accepted. This belief has become popular because boys are more frequently referred for special education evaluations, even though standardized testing results do not identify significant differences based on gender. In addition, there is no evidence identifying genetic differ ences related to reading disabilities by gender. Instead, the increased number of identified males seems to be based on behavioral differences: Specifically, males are more likely to demonstrate negative behaviors that factor into the referrals for testing. Since the identifi cation of females often happens much later, the extended time taken before a diagnosis just serves to amplify their deficits. It’s extremely important to separate behavioral concerns from students’ actual reading abilities.

A final misconception suggests that dyslexia is limited only to En glish-speaking populations, an idea which can be especially harmful with the increasingly diverse student population in our schools. Dyslexia exists in any language with a written component and is even found in speakers of languages that do not have alphabet ic writing systems, such as Chinese. The phonological deficits that define dyslexia that have been recognized in En glish are also factors in other languages. Additionally, pho

required by state law to identify a reading specialist to serve in this role. The Dyslexia Advisor can provide suggestions for interventions as well as identify instructional methods and accommodations to help the student.

Recognizing the warning signs of dyslexia is important so students can be assured of receiving appropriate, timely support. Since dyslexia is a language-based disorder, the delayed acquisition of language skills is one clear indicator to consider. Students may demonstrate issues pronouncing words like “spaghetti,” where sounds within those words are altered even after the correct pronunciation. Word retrieval issues can be another indica tor so it is important to notice when students use vague words like “thing” or “stuff” in lieu of more specific terms.

Difficulties acquiring letter-sound knowledge is another warning sign. Students may struggle to make con nections between letters and sounds and may be unable to identify when words begin with the same sound. For example, when presented with a group of words such as rat, rake, and run, students may not realize that all three words begin with r. Students often also demonstrate weaknesses when asked to segment words into their individual sounds.

Significant deficits in word rec ognition, decoding, and spelling skills can be an indicator of dyslexia. An inability to recognize words by sight and laborious decoding are also char acteristics of dyslexic readers. Students may guess words based on context or the presence of illustrations. Students may also continue to demonstrate deficits with foundational letter-sound knowledge and comprehension may be an issue unless material is present ed orally. If you suspect that a student may be dyslexic, consulting with your school division’s Dyslexia Advisor is a great first step. Each division is

Strategies and Recommendations

Accommodations and modifications to the regular curriculum are vital for dyslexic readers to ensure that they can access the same information as their peers can. An accommodation, whether used during instructional activities or during assessments, is a change to the activity or assignment that enables a student to access and demonstrate their understanding of grade-level concepts without lessening the expectations you have for them. Providing a student with a read-aloud of material or additional time to complete assignments are ex amples of accommodations. Accom modations, though, are not limited to assessments, but should be made available to dyslexic readers as a regu lar part of instructional practices.

Modifications, however, do alter what is required by an assignment or test because expectations are adjust ed to account for the student’s partic ular skill level. For example, a dyslexic reader who has not yet mastered short vowels when classmates are exploring long vowel patterns would need a modification to the curriculum that would allow for the student to work on the appropriate concepts.

Providing intervention support for dyslexic readers that targets and develops their areas of weakness is critical; experts recommend a structured literacy approach. Struc tured literacy is not a program, but represents interventions that address phonemic awareness, phonics, or thography, morphology, syntax, and semantics; reflect explicit, systematic

instructional practices; and include opportunities for multisensory learning. Assessment is a key aspect of structured literacy and founda tional skills must be mastered before students advance to more chal lenging concepts. Students need regular and precise feedback during instruction and regular reviews of past concepts.

Resources

The International Dyslexia Asso ciation’s website (dyslexiaida.org) provides a wealth of information, from fact sheets and infographics to publications. You will also find videos and materials targeted to educators there.

The Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia (www.mtsu.edu/dyslexia/) also offers valuable information. You may also want to visit The Windward Institute website (www.thewindwardschool. org/the-windward-institute), which includes professional development opportunities, presentations from leaders in the field of dyslexia, and hosts the Research Education Advo cacy Podcast (READ).

Several books, such as Overcom ing Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, Basic Facts About Dyslexia & Other Reading Problems by Louisa Moats and Karen Dakin, and Structured Literacy Interventions: Teaching Students with Reading Difficulties, Grades K-6 edited by Louise Spear-Swerling, offer information about dyslexia and interventions for students.l

Jennifer Floyd, Ed.D., a member of the Rockbridge-Lexington Education Association, is a reading specialist at Mountain View Elementary School in Buena Vista and past president of the Virginia State Literacy Association.

Drawing theLine

al continued to cry after school and express how afraid they were.

The bullet, sadly, did not sur prise me. What most definitely did, however, was the lack of conse quences. The reaction felt mostly like “next time there will be consequenc es.” It’s difficult for me to blame our school division because, from what understand, it’s done everything in its power in light of the pressure coming from the state that “suspen sions lead to drop-outs.” As a former dropout myself and a woman raised in a violent and sexually abusive household, I disagree strongly with this.

My personal feelings and experiences with this student do not matter: It doesn’t matter if I don’t see him as someone who would ever harm another human. It doesn’t mat ter if I think he’s a wonderful, loving kid. What does and should matter is that this same child threatened other kids several weeks before he brought the bullet to school that he was going to kill them, slice them open, remove their organs, and sell them on the black market. Do we really want to see what “next time” would be?

share examples of their frustration and concern for their students. There are support staff members that work at each of our schools that find solace in confiding in me. And, the various students that find me... oh my good ness!

I know I’m not the only person listening. Even my primary care physician has said that our area seems to be brewing with hostility and anger.

The magnitude of frustration over the accepted violence, the hostility, the growing lack of support, and the severe lack of con sequences is growing.

some anxiety, but so is his classroom. I, as a teacher in his building, know that he is often not in a safe environment. As his mom, I fear any kind of trauma tizing experience and I hate the fact that school is becoming one of the most traumatic places in his life. When and why did going to school become a traumatizing experience?

By Bonnie LaFountaine

Let me begin by saying that this is very difficult to write. However, I do so because I know that I’m coming from a place of honest compassion and true concern, and that I’m writing for my students and for all children. I also do so because when I speak with school board members and other education policymakers, they tell me they wish educators would speak up more about the issues that concern

them most.

believe we have done an injus tice to our students and to society at large by teaching kids and their parents that discipline in schools is no longer a “thing.” All confirmed bullies must be suspended, and we must have zero tolerance for any and all death threats, and for any weapon or ammunition brought to school. The tragic school shootings in Texas and Michigan earlier this year need to be a

wake-up call to all school districts that more can be done and more needs to be done!

wish I wasn’t writing from experi ence, but am. Last December, a child in my class brought a bullet resembling a piece of 9mm or .308 ammo into my classroom. It was done accidentally, but when other students realized it was there, some gasped loudly, a few jumped back, a few began to cry, and others began talking all at once. Sever

The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and those in far too many other places, should be the warning that it could have easily been “this time.” My children...our children de serve better than this. We all deserve to come to school knowing that our school buildings are safe. Unfortu nately, it is blatantly obvious that many students, teachers, and staff no longer feel that way. There are a number of parents I’ve had over the years that continue to confide in me with their fears and concerns. There are a number of teachers from all of our schools that I bump into who

On a teacher note, I can confidently say that this pandemic has not been the cause of teacher burnout; it’s only magnified what teachers were already dealing with. It is the lack of consequences that force teachers to personally man age way more than they ever have had to before. We must manage classes that are corrupted with behavior problems, angry student reactions to these be haviors, fearful and tearful traumatiz ing reactions to these behaviors, and then having to, in addition, manage our own personal magnitude of emo tions.

My own son developed anxiety after entering third grade last year. He had to witness violence, anger, and destruction from some of his class mates. Reading is already a cause of

Why are we forcing students, teachers, and staff to manage all these behav iors? When will public school policy makers and administrators find the backbone to do what must be done to provide students and educators with the safety we need and deserve?l

Bonnie LaFountaine is a member of the Greene County Education Association and a fourth grade teacher.

Have we become too accepting of student misbehavior, even when it’s potentially dangerous?

When and why did going to school become a traumatizing experience? Why are we forcing students, teachers, and staff to manage all these behaviors? When will public school policymakers and administrators find the backbone to do what must be done to provide students and educators with the safety we need and deserve?

Time Running Out to Toss Student Debt!

Don’t miss the Halloween deadline to find out if you qualify for student loan debt forgiveness through PSLF.

October

31 is an important date this year, and not just because it’s a potential day of dealing with sweets-snarfing, high-energy kids at your school.

It’s also the deadline for you to take advantage of the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) pro gram. After Halloween, the program’s special waiver, which allows more loan payments to qualify, will expire.

PSLF began in 2007 and is designed to wipe away federal student debt for public employees, including educators, who have given 10 years of service and made 120 monthly payments on their federal student loans. (Even if you haven’t reached 10 years yet, you can still apply to reap the benefits of the temporary changes when you do.)

Here are a few important PSLF questions and answers:

Who can qualify to have student debt forgiven through PSLF?

You can, if you’re working full-time (defined as 30 or more hours a week) for a public service employer, which includes public school divisions, and you’ve accrued 120 months of public service employment while repaying your loans since October 1, 2007. PSLF is available for both teachers and education support professionals.

How can I determine if I’m eligible to be considered for PSLF?

Up to the approaching deadline, you can count qualifying payments on a federal student loan for any month since

October 1, 2007, if when you made the payments, you were working full-time for a public service employer. You don’t have to be working or working full-time now.

If you can qualify to have your debt cancelled, it doesn’t matter which repayment plan you were in, as long as your loan was not in a deferment or default. Also, each month of the COVID-19 payment suspension does count toward PSLF, as do late or partial payments.

Is there a limit to how much debt can be forgiven?

In a word, no. PSLF forgives the remaining balance on your federal student loan after 10 years of service and 120 payments on your loans.

Do my 10 years have to be consecutive?

In another word, no. As long as you’ve made 120 pay ments since October 1, 2007, while working for a qualify ing employer, you’re eligible, even if you’ve had a break in qualifying work or transferred.

How can I confirm what type of student loan I have? With your FSA ID, you can log in to studentaid.gov/aidsummary/ to find out what type of federal student loans you have.

• Once logged in, scroll down to the “Loan Breakdown” section.

• There, you’ll find a list of each student loan you have taken out.

• If you expand “View Loans,” then click the “View Loan Details” arrow next to a loan, you’ll see your specific loan types:

• Direct Loans begin with the word “Direct”

• Federal Family Education Loans are indicated by “FFEL”

• Perkins Loans include the word “Perkins” in the name.

FFEL and Perkins loans, once excluded from PSLF, are now eligible until the Oct. 31 deadline.

I have student loans through a private bank. Will PSLF work for those?

Sorry, no. PSLF only works for federal student loans under the Federal Direct Loan program.

How do I start the process?

To get the ball rolling, visit studentaid.gov/pslf to use the U.S. Department of Education’s PSLF Help Tool.l

To learn more, visit NEA’s “Navigate Your Student Debt” webpage at vea.link/navigate. There, you’ll find more answers, along with access to podcasts, webinars, and video briefings.

This action may be awkward at first, but can be positive, as that person complaining believes that you can do some thing about it – they have faith in you! If they didn’t, they would say nothing.

Abundance. Choosing an abundance mindset over a scarcity one affords you the opportunity for many differ ent outcomes. Trying to find a solution can sometimes be exhausting because you may not see options. With a scarcity mindset, the options are typically either/or. With an abundance mindset, the possibilities are endless, energiz ing solutions instead of an exhausting experience.

Thankfulness. Being thankful for the challenging person may be the last thing on your mind. However, the situation may just be the growth you need or want as a leader. And when growth happens, it shows up as experience and wisdom.

Dealing with Challenging People?

Intention. Leading and living with intention is the needed edge to be effective. When you approach a challenging person with a specific intention, your thought (intention) influences your behavior. If your intention is to come to resolution, then your behavior will match.

Together. When dealing with a challenging person, remember that they are connected to you – not on an is land on their own. Find a connection. Do you share a love of art? Horses? Books? Bring that connection to the forefront for the dismantling of the challenging situation.

Try an approach of gratitude

.

Asthe new school year gets underway, chances are better than excellent that you’re going to encounter some challenging people, whether they be students, parents, administrators, or a variety of other folks. After all, why should 2022-23 be different than any other year? What could be different this year, though, is how you handle it. Dr. Maria Church, a speaker, consultant, and execu tive coach, thinks such relationships are excellent opportuni ties for growth. She suggests you focus on GRATITUDE, which she defines this way:

Giving. Give someone the benefit of the doubt when they challenge your patience. Try giving that person some grace. You really don’t know what is happening in their lives that may be influencing their “challenging” behavior.

Receiving. Position yourself to receive what the chal lenging person says with openness and without judgment.

Unconditionally. No conditions, without strings, no quid-pro-quo when breaking through the challenge barrier – nada. If you want true connection, unconditional presence and no judgment will help immensely. If you accept others for who they are, you will find the challenging aspects of them diminish.

Directed. A direct focus on the challenging individual enhances your presence and the way you show up. When you direct your attention, body language, and energy towards the challenging person, it will be noticed and appreciated. This tells the other person that they are valu able and important enough to be given your full attention.

Everyone. Everyone is challenging at times. When challenging people come into your life, there is a lesson and an opportunity for you. The choice is yours in what you want to do with that opportunity. How will you react to it?

Church believes that following the GRATITUDE steps can go a long way toward making positive change in your school’s culture. You can make an important difference— the choice is yours, she says: Choose well.l

To learn more about the work of Dr. Church, visit www.DrMariaChurch.com

VEA Leaders Headed for the Hills this Summer—and Made the Most of It

VEA members made it happen in July: They gathered to learn how to be better organizers, more efficient communicators, more prepared lobbyists, and better recruiters and sup porters of education-friendly candidates for public of fice—and they gave up a piece of their summer to do it. It all went down at VEA’s Summer Organizing Institute, a three-day event in Harri sonburg, where educators gathered information, were trained in new skills, planned events, and networked with fellow Union members from around the state, all in pursuit of greater union power and effectiveness.l

Chesapeake’s Stewart Wins VEA’s Annual Beblon G. Parks Scholarship

Mikya Imani-Joy Stewart, a June graduate of Oscar F. Smith High School in Chesapeake, now a freshman at Old Dominion University, has been awarded the 2022 Beblon G. Parks Scholarship.

The Parks Scholarship awards $500 to a high school senior who plans to pursue a career in edu cation and is named for the VEA’s longtime, now retired, Director of Field Support, Organizing and Minority Engagement.

“In a way, I feel like education chose me,” Stewart says. “My mother [Chesapeake Education Association

member Jennifer Stewart] and my aunt are educators—it’s in my blood. It’s important to me that we make a change in the community and that starts with the children. I have always valued education and the role it plays in helping children reach their full academic potential and life goals.”

l

VEA Mini-Grants Add Pizazz to Instruction

Public education is what we do, and we’re always looking for ways to do it better. One of our Union’s best ways to help members is our annual Mini-Grants program. We know many of you have a project you’ve been wanting to get off the ground in your classroom but needed a financial boost to make it happen. With that in mind, here are our 2022 grant-winners, along with the projects they’ve created and for which they’ve now been funded with up to $500:

• Gregory D’Addario of the Arlington Education Association, for “Engag ing Books for Tactile and Visual Learners”

• Helene Grossman of the Chesterfield Education Association, for “Lan guage Development for Deaf Kindergarteners through Dramatic Play”

• Charmaine Dyson of the Chesterfield Education Association, for “Living in Outer Space: Is It Worth It?”

• Lesley Frew of the Fairfax Education Association, for “Hands-On Digital Logic Lab Kits”

• Mary Frances Daly of the Fairfax Education Association, for “Students Seeing Themselves in Books”

• Abigail Quinn of the Fairfax Education Association, for “Using Series Books to Increase Reading Engagement and Achievement”

• Allyson Gillispie of the Frederick County Education Association, for “Soundbellows Create Inclusion!”

• Barbara Haas of the Richmond Education Association, for “Graphic Novels for Middle Schoolers”

• Keri Treadway of the Richmond Education Association, for “Providing Varied and Quality Decodable Reader Texts for Struggling Readers”

• Christy Flanagan of the Virginia Beach Education Association, for “Aeroponics in the Kindergarten Classroom”

• Andrea Eisenberger of the Virginia Beach Education Association, for “Lights! Camera! Create!”

• Ashley Eich of the Virginia Beach Education Association, for “Readers and Leaders.”l

VEA Welcomes New Staff Members

Melissa (Missy) Alexander is a UniServ Director in the Mountain View office in Fredericksburg. A longtime VEA member and gradu ate of the NEA Pre-UniServ Academy Program, she was a high school English teacher in Prince William County. She’s also been a member organizer and building rep.

Robert (Bob) Fink is a UniServ Director in Prince William County. He joins VEA from Parkdale High School in the Prince George’s County, Maryland, schools, where he was a building representative and collective bargaining participant for several years for the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association.

Isabel Sullivan is VEA’s first professional learn ing/grant coordinator in the Teaching & Learning Department. After earning her master’s in public administration from North Carolina State University, she served as an intern in that state’s General Assembly before joining VEA’s Organizing and Field Support Depart ment last year.

Dr. Emily Yen is VEA’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Coordinator, a position funded through a NEA grant to enable VEA to analyze and optimize the ARPA funds allocated to Virginia schools. She was a Visiting Faculty Scholar at the University of Virginia and a former edu cation local president in California.l

Fedderman, Bauer, Bohringer Re-Elected at VEA Convention

VEA President James J. Fedderman, Vice Pres ident Carol Bauer, and NEA Director Christina Bohringer were all re-elected to new terms by delegates to the 2022 VEA convention. Fed derman began a second two-year term on August 1 and Bohringer a second three-year term on the NEA Board September 1. Both ran unopposed.

Bauer won the only contested election and also began her second two-year term August 1. A York Education Association member and elementary school teacher, Bauer has served VEA in a range of positions, including as a member of both the NEA and VEA Boards of Direc tors, as York president, and a member of numer ous statewide committees. She’s also a National Board Certified Teacher, a past winner of VEA’s Award for Teaching Excellence, and a finalist for the Horace Mann National Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017.l

Straight Talk from NEA President Becky Pringle on Capitol Hill

Over the summer, the House Committee on Over sight and Reform had a hearing about the tragic level of gun violence in the U.S., and one of the witnesses invited to testify was NEA President Becky Pringle. Here’s some of what she had to say when given her chance to speak directly to federal lawmakers:

“We cannot keep dodging this issue by proposing solutions that do not get at the problem. We cannot place enough armed guards at every school building in America, or at every store, or at every hospital or concert venue to protect us. We cannot ask educators, who enter this profession to help children soar, to carry weapons and wear body armor while teaching addition or the Pythagorean Theorem. Because by the time someone has shown up at the school or the store or the hospital or the house of worship with a military weapon, it is already too late.

Educators never lose sight of their core values or purpose. We always show up for our babies, even knowing that tragedy can strike at any time. However, educators are leaving the best profession in the world in droves…driven out by the pandemic, book bans, and the lack of respect for their expertise and experience. What we need are more resources to teach our students and support their mental health and other needs—not revolvers.

We must finally reckon with the crisis we face. Guns are far too accessible. And they are in the hands of far too many individuals who use them to vent their rage, hatred, and frustration.

You can help us to not only heal, but hope. Pass common-sense legislation so that not one more community is shattered, and not one more anguished parent has to lay a precious child to rest.”l

VEA Retirees Earn National Recognition

VEA-Retired’s past president, Dennis Pfennig, accepted an award this summer at the NEA-Retired annual meeting in Chicago for VEA-R’s Connections newsletter, which was honored for its “extraordinary support of NEA-Retired and public education.” NEA-R President Sarah Borgman made the presentation. l

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The Work You Do Matters—Every Single Day!

After a couple school years that were anything but normal, it’s my privilege to welcome you back into your schools for the 2022-23 school year, a year we can only hope will feel a lot like a return to normal. What’s not new this year, though, is this: No matter what the circumstances are that you’ll find yourself in as the weeks and months go by, you are still doing the incomparably important work of public education. You’ve done it under historically difficult circumstances for two years now.

What you do matters Every single day and in ways you may never even know.

In Virginia, there is no better way to do the essential work of our schools than as a member of the Virginia Education Association, and it’s my honor to be able to call you members and colleagues. No organization in the Commonwealth works as hard for public schools as the VEA and you, our hard-working and committed members, are the ones who make it happen.

I see you reaching out to policymak ers and community members in support of collective bargaining rights for educators, explaining to them how that process is a win for everyone. I see you going the extra mile to provide amazing learning experiences for your students. I see you taking stands for justice, for all of us. I see you welcoming new educators at division-wide events and telling them

what Union membership is all about. And I couldn’t be prouder.

We’ll be even stronger and better if we can, in this new year, continue to grow as an organization. We accomplish mighty things now, in our classrooms, in our communities, and in working with local and state government. I love to think about some of what we’ll do as we grow even larger and more influential.

Our strength is in our professional excellence and in our numbers. So let your colleagues, both the rookies and the veterans, know about the great work and the great camaraderie of the VEA. There are forces out there whose aim is to weaken and destroy public schools, often to pave the way for privatization and profiteering. We must stand strong for what our public schools are sup posed to be: our bedrock democratic institution for offering all our young people equal opportunities to achieve their goals in life and to grow into their potential. Our schools aren’t here to line the pockets of venture capitalists and investors. Our purpose is far more noble and meaningful than that.

So, as we build momentum into a new school year, never forget that you’re the good guys. The work you’re doing every day is absolutely critical to our future and the future of our local communities, our state, and our nation.

Seeing you do it makes me prouder to be VEA’s president than I can even describe.l

Loudoun’s Markwood Named Teacher of the Year by Washington Post

Jordan Markwood a Loudoun Education Association member and chair of the Fine Arts Department at Rock Ridge High School, was named The Washington Post’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, chosen from among 18 finalists in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

He’s the school’s choral director, sponsors its Music Honor Society, and oversees the a cap pella club and musical theater productions. The award includes a check for $7,500.

Brittany Sparks a Tazewell Education Association member and a fifth grade teacher at Richlands Elementary School, has received the 2022 Lakey/Bentley Education Award from the Virginia D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Educa tion) Association. She’s been a D.A.R.E. program teacher through much of her career.

York Education Association member

Taylor Goodson a third grade teacher at Coventry Elementary School, received a 2021 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, which honors classroom excellence and future promise. She’s known for her skill in differ entiating instruction and engaging, motivating lessons. The honor also comes with a $25,000 cash award.

Bland County Education Association mem ber April Trail a math teacher at Bland County High School, has been named Teacher of the Year by the Wytheville-Wythe-Bland Chamber of Commerce.

Laura Kincer a Tazewell Education Association member, received the 2022 Wiley R. “Pappy” Yates Teacher of the Year Award from the Rotary Club of Tazewell. She is an English teacher and yearbook advisor at Tazewell High School.

l

James J. Fedderman, VEA President Carol Bauer, VEA Vice President

Christina Bohringer, NEA Director

— Dr. James J. Fedderman

INSIGHT ON INSTRUCTION

Your Students’ Parents Can be Your Best Allies

Some pointers for becoming teammates.

Nobody knows the kids you’re working with every day like their parents do, so getting mothers, fathers, step parents, guardians and all the adults in your students’ lives on your side is a big win for everyone. Here’s some advice on helping make that happen, adapted from National Education Association resources:

Encourage parents/guardians to:

• Make completion of homework a family expecta tion.

• Show interest in their child’s classes and school activities by asking specific questions.

• Help students prepare for tests by going over the material, perhaps in a question-and-answer session.

• Share their expertise with their students’ classes or chaperone a field trip.

• Provide their children with a quiet area to study in, and to supervise screen time.

• Bear in mind that not all your students have parents at home and try to be aware of the special challeng es children face when they live in non-traditional settings.

Head off conflicts; manage them if they happen

When educators and the adults in their students’ lives butt heads, it doesn’t help anyone. Make it a priority to do all you can to create positive relationships early in the school year and to maintain good communication throughout.

• Call parents to introduce yourself very early in the school year, perhaps even before it begins. If you can’t reach them by phone, or would prefer

to do so in writing, send a note or newsletter.

Use back-to-school night to establish rapport with parents; have the kind of conversation that demonstrates to them that you really are well-acquainted with their child.

• If it does become necessary to deliver bad news, don’t do it in writing—call or arrange a meeting. Try to make sure parents hear the news from you first.

• Handle disciplinary episodes carefully. Touch base with the student before he or she leaves your room to dispel hard feelings and review the reason for the discipline. Inform your princi pal afterwards.

You may have done this, and more, but sometimes you can still end up being confronted by angry parents. Try to remember that it’s usually not about you, or not only about you—you are part of a team at school. Don’t hesitate to seek advice and support from your principal or experienced colleagues.

• If you get an angry email, don’t respond right away. Take time to calm down, think through your response, and then respond with a phone call instead of in writing.

• When you meet with parents, the best thing

you can do is listen. Let them express their feelings, note the issues they bring up and ask questions that show you are trying to understand their point of view. Once they’ve had a chance to vent and have calmed down, you can begin to give them miss ing information and redirect the conversation to how you and they will work as a team to ensure their child is successful.

• Don’t get put on the defensive. If the parents are unwilling to listen to you, ask respectfully if they will meet with you and your principal to discuss the situation.

• Remain professional at all times. Choose your words carefully and calmly. Never argue, yell, or use sarcasm.

• Try to keep the focus on the future—what you and the parents will do to make sure the problem will not recur.

• Set a date for a follow-up meeting or conversation to go over the plan and determine whether any changes are needed.

• Document both positive and negative contacts with parents and keep the records in a file for future reference.

• If your supervisor asks you to meet with parents to apologize for your conduct, contact your UniServ Director before you agree to do so.l

AIM-VA Can Help With Assistive Technologies

Collaboration and inclusion are just two of the hallmarks of a high-quality classroom environment designed to meet the needs of all students.

Meeting those goals can require the use of assistive technologies, and here in Virginia help is available. One source is the Ac cessible Instructional Materials Center of Virginia (AIM-VA), a Virginia Department of Education project based at George Mason University.

It’s a ready-made partnership! Edu cators are passionate about providing the best classroom resources possible for their students and AIM-VA has been producing and distributing textbooks and other printbased instructional resources in alternate formats (e.g., audio, braille, digital and large print) since 2008. Eligible K-12 Virginia students can get them at no cost, with eligibility determined by an Individualized Education Program and a confirmation of a print disability.

To learn more about what’s available to help your students, visit aimva.org or con tact AIMVA@gmu.edu or 888-496-0252.l

Tiffany O’Neal, AIM-VA Training and Technical Assistance Specialist

Respect from Tinseltown

Teachers should never want for any thing. It’s a public service. Who are we without teachers?l

— Quinta Brunson, creator and star of the hit ABC comedy Abbott Elementary

Photo

illustrations by

Some Helpful Resources for Addressing Climate Change in Your Classroom

Here are some tips for keeping your students physically and emotionally safe as the new year starts in the time of COVID:

• At NASA Global Climate Change (cli mate.nasa.gov), you’ll find sections la beled Facts, Articles, Solutions, Resourc es, and more. For younger students, try climatekids.nasa.gov.

• The National Center for Science Education says that 40 percent of middle and high school teachers may be teach ing climate change inaccurately. Learn more and get materials at ncse.ngo.

• On the website of The Nature Conservancy you and your students can calculate your carbon footprint. Visit the site at nature.org and then click on the Get Involved tab.

• Schools for Climate Action is a non partisan group working to empower schools to speak up about climate action. See its site at schoolsforclimate action.weebly.com.l

Turn Up the Music!

The argument for including music in our schools, homes, and daycare programs be fore the pandemic was compelling; today, it is urgent. Making music together can foster a vital sense of belonging, providing an antidote to isolation. In fact, more than 30 years of research into musical practice and the brain shows that music helps with many of the necessary skills needed for learning, growth, and development. l

— Joan Koenig, music educator and author of The Musical Child: Using the Power of Music to Raise Children Who Are Happy, Healthy, and Whole

Preschool: Another COVID Victim?

The COVID pandemic turned the clock back in American preschool enroll ment, eliminating what had been a decade of growing numbers of children benefiting from state-funded early childhood education programs, according to a report by the National Institute for Early Education Research.

The Institute’s 2021 State of Preschool Yearbook showed a de cline in state-financed preschool enrollment for the first time in 20 years, with nearly 300,000 fewer children participating. Adding to the problem is that the largest negative effects were for children from minority and low-income homes.

Through the Virginia Preschool Initiative, the com monwealth had 18,056 children enrolled in preschool programs in 2021, down 1,103 from the previous year. Those numbers equate to 1 per cent of the state’s 3-year-olds and 17 percent of 4-year-olds. Money for VPI is available to Virginia school divisions with at-risk 4-year-olds not being served by federally-funded Head Start.

The Yearbook is available on the Institute’s website, nieer.org l

Virginia’s Special Educators are on a Roll!

Virginia educators now have an 11-year string of earning the U.S. Department of Education’s highest rating for improving outcomes for students with disabilities and for compliance with IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act).

The rating is based on how well a state does on improving special education students’ graduation rates and on state and national reading and math tests. Other factors are considered, as well, including discipline, iden tifying minority students for special education services, resolving disputes, and evaluating students for services and developing their individualized education plans.

The 2022 rating is based on the most data in the federal special education reporting system, from the 2019-20 school year.l

VDOE Offering Monthly Webinars for Science Teachers

The Virginia Depart ment of Education is offering webinars designed for sci ence teachers the third Wednesday of every month at 4 p.m. It’s a chance for science educa tors to hear directly from VDOE’s Science Team on topics such as Supporting English Learners in Science, Using the Common Rubric with Science Performance Assessments, and Develop ing Science Literacy. Attendees will get a certificate from VDOE for each webinar they attend fully.

To learn more and to register, go to vea.link/sciwebinar.

There are also classroom resources, professional development information, helpful websites, and other science mate rials on the VDOE website’s (doe.virginia. gov) Instruction section.l

The number of students in grades 6-12 being reached by Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs in Virginia public schools. These programs are preparing them for productive futures while meeting our state’s need for welltrained and industry-certified technical workers.l

Source: Virginia Department of Education

Surviving—and Thriving—After the ‘Worst Student Teaching Experience Ever’

manner,” assuring me that things weren’t as bad as believed.

After a month, Miss D told me to prepare for my first day of actual teaching, a week later. In my hand written lesson plans, I had to detail every word I’d say for every one of my five classes, beginning with, “My name is Mr. Ingram and today we’ll have the following objectives…”

Miss D exploded the next day when forgot to list my name for one class. Of course, she was dissat isfied with my “incomplete lesson plans,” also telling me that two of the boys in class were smarter than I was… a gratuitous barb. At the end of that day, she again hammered home that I had an F average. I be gan to fear that was not meant to become a teacher.

Then Miss D went too far. In a conference with Dr. Welford, she told him I had a low F average, that I was lazy, and that she sincerely believed was, in her exact words, “mentally retarded.” That night Dr. Welford called me, and I vividly recall his first words.

“You’re right—that woman is crazy!” he said. “She even called my dean and demanded I be fired. It’s too late to get you out of this, but I’ve got a plan.”

Dr. Welford’s scheme was for me to just try to survive until the end of my student teaching, and he’d give me an A that would balance Miss D’s failing grade; thus I would receive a C for student teaching.

“I’m going to fail you—I hate being a teacher and I don’t want anyone else doing it for a career.” It was early February in 1974, my first day as a student teacher, and those were the initial words my supervising teacher (who I’ll call Miss D) spoke to me. I was a senior at Roanoke College, and my dream job was to become an English teacher.

At first, thought perhaps Miss D was just having a bad day, but I soon realized that she was not bluffing about failing me. Every day was horrible, and her quest was to make me as miserable and stressed as possible. That first day, she told me to remain silent, take notes about everything she did and turn them into her, and to copy every page of her state attendance register and gradebook from the first five months of the school year that night. There were to be no errors, either.

The sheer illogic of that drudgery was beyond comprehension (after all, copying machines existed even then) but was so terrified of Miss D that I did it, completing her tasks in about seven hours, finishing around 2 a.m. The next day when I presented my register and gradebook to her, she erupted in rage when inevitable mistakes were found.

I also soon discovered that Miss D’s students were as wretched as I was in her classroom. She bullied and berated them in every way imag inable, and days were spent in mindless rote learning: memorizing titles, authors, and characters with no attempt to analyze plots or connect characters to the students’ lives. The one thing that Miss D, the students, and I had in common was that we all dreaded being in her classroom.

Several weeks into my student teaching, my advisor, Dr. Welford, a man I greatly respected, asked how things were going.

“She’s crazy,” blurted out. “She said she’s going to fail me.”

Dr. Welford reprimanded me for describing her in an “unprofessional

Near the end of the experience, Miss D suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. With the full-time sub being uninterested in instruction, I was left alone to teach as pleased. Freed from hours of writing down everything was to say the next day, reveled in the teaching experience—and still do, 48 years later.

For the last 33 of those years, I’ve taught at Lord Botetourt High School. Before he retired, Dr. Welford would drop by when he visited a student teacher. He told me that he always included me in his curriculum as “the worst student teaching experience ever.”

As for me, I did take away some lessons from student teaching. I’ve tried my best to be a teacher who is kind but firm, demanding but interesting and, above all, to show students I care about them and want them to become lifelong learners. I’m proud to have spent my professional life as a public high school teacher.l

Bruce Ingram, a member of the Botetourt Education Association and a veteran educator, teaches English and Creative Writing at Lord Botetourt High School. He’s our new “First Person” columnist and can be reached at bruceingramoutdoors@gmail.com.

— Bruce Ingram

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