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| Teaching Between The Lines: All The Little Things Teachers Say and Do, but Never Learned in College Hello, This March I'm participating with another teacher in the CAIS conference. We are asking teachers and parents to answer the following question(s) to help us with our presentation. We appreciate your time and would love it if you would make this question a part of your next faculty meeting. Please send us your responses as soon as possible. Thanks, Kelly Townsend - Director of Miles To Go Drug Prevention The Event (for teachers): CAIS Southern Regional Meeting Please join us for the Workshop Session Two March 5, 2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm The Questions: (please cut and paste your answer and return it in an email to milestogo-drugeducation@juno.com) Poll Questions For Teachers: · What are the challenges you have to deal with that you were never trained for or thought you would be expected to do or teach? · Do you have any resolutions for these issues? Do you have any suggestions that could help new teachers? · Do you remember when you were a new teacher? What problems really threw you off balance? Have you learned a tip that can help a new teacher? · What grade do you teach? · Are you also a parent? Poll Question For Parents: Name one basic life skill that you wish all parents would teach their children that would eliminate the time that their teacher spends on it instead of taking up academic time in the classroom. · What grade is your child in? · Are you also a teacher? The Presentation: Teaching Between The Lines: All The Little Things Teachers Say and Do, but Never Learned in College As teachers, we deal with everything from runny noses to families going through divorce. A huge percentage of what schools deal with actually starts in the home, but often teachers are left to deal with these issues by default. This workshop will build a checklist of positive proactive language concerning the sensitive but important subject of training parents so they can create academically, behaviorally and emotionally successful students. An experienced team of teaching professionals will guide the discussion as we explore the things teachers do that aren't in their job description, and how they can engage and train parents to be more successful and effective in their efforts. Example Responses: 1. Divorced parents: we need rules for how they should interact with us, their children and school. 2. Teaching kids to blow their nose. 3. Don't send kids to school sick. 4. How do I get my parents to open emails, respond to information or know that I need them to take action? a. How can I become a more effective communicator - what are the teacher tricks? 5. Wiping their hands on their clothes as a napkin. 6. Being kind, Manners, friendship. 7. Discipline. 8. How to eat appropriately. 9. Dressing children suitably for the current weather. 10. Basic school prep and organization, being responsible for your school supplies & gear. 11. Administrative tasks that you never thought you'd be doing. 12. How do I manage all the emails I'm getting during the teaching day? How The Idea Developed For This Presentation: As a teacher, I regularly found myself stopping in the middle of my class to watch my fourth, fifth and sixth graders blow or wipe their noses on their sleeves, shirt-tails or hands. I couldn't understand the disconnect between the home, where parents would normally teach their children to blow their noses into a tissue, and the classroom, where the contents of their noses end up all over them, their desks and their gear. In short, I was horrified. Why couldn't parents teach their kids to blow their noses properly, and why, as a teacher, was that job left to me? I also wondered how to differentiate between when a kid is just being a kid and when a child lacks basic skills because parents expect the school to do that job. This curiosity continued when I became friends with several divorcing parents at my child's school. Many of these parents' children began to experience new problems in school, and most of these problems were left to the teachers to deal with. Many of the difficulties were the result of poor communication between the parents-homework assignments went missing, necessary sports gear was in the other parent's car, and mixed messages flew back and forth like carrier pigeons. Every teacher I spoke to had a story to tell about how much of their time went into the children of divorce that had nothing to do with the teacher's real job of academic instruction. I started to wonder how many other things teachers find themselves doing that don't have anything to do with academics. I also started to wonder how much of the tuition I pay the school each year is spent teaching other children the skills their parents should have taught them at home years ago. Then a very unsettling thought hit me-what was my child missing from her skill set that ended up wasting the teacher's time! I first turned to Nancy Larimer, my friend, a mom, and the best kindergarten teacher in the whole world. Nancy has been with the Pegasus School for the past 22 years, and we both think kindergarten is a critical stage where our children start down the path to a lifetime passion for learning. For many, it is also the first time they put their skill sets up on public display. Our discussion led to the realization that while we are both teachers, I am a visiting specialist and she is a homeroom/primary teacher, which meant she has a completely different set of issues to deal with on a daily basis. We each began conversations with other teachers and discovered that there is a set of skills that all teachers need that they were never taught in college. We found in our discussions that we each had a different perspective based on our different jobs. Nancy felt it was extremely important that teachers be given a set of tools to get through the daily classroom activity. I felt like so much begins in the home, and that we need to give teachers additional tools to aid them in their efforts to engage parents. We each had very interesting challenges that were similar, but different. Between us, it always came back to what we never thought we'd be dealing with when we started our teaching careers. As we talked about how many little things parents could teach their children that would in turn free up huge chunks of time for the teacher to pursue academic goals, we realized the developmental issues would vary for each grade level. As we progressed with this discussion, we started a list of the problems that we encounter, and explored tips and resolutions for each of these issues. We thought this would be especially helpful to new teachers entering the workforce. We didn't want to create a complaint session; we wanted to create something tangible so teachers could go back to their schools and say, "Here is how teachers and parents can be proactive to enable us to do the job we are employed to do." Many of you reading this today know that my new book, The Mother's Checklist of Drug Prevention: All the Little Things We Say and Do, is mostly about parenting, not drugs. The team we have assembled for this presentation has created a new version of this concept-Teaching Between the Lines: All the Little Things Teachers Say and Do, but Never Learned in College. This will not be a "why am I so overworked" session, but an opportunity to be proactive in your school to help teachers and parents be the best they can be by sending you children who are ready to learn and display a strong foundation of life-skills and behaviors to match. We need to help our parent's parent, so we'll work as a group to problem solve together. Can we solve the problems, issues and situations that teachers face in this one session? Of course, we can't, but this is the beginning of a problem-solving mission to build a community of teachers trying to help each other. At the session, we will create a continuing conversation that can go on for years. You'll have the opportunity to join an email list, and we'll send you the results of what we've accomplished. We've made a private Facebook page for teachers to join so that we can continue the conversation, list problems to be solved, discuss resolutions, and post the results of polls. We'd love to have you join us at the CAIS conference as we work to find solutions to Teaching Between The Lines: All The Little Things Teachers Say and Do, but Never Learned in College. Find the results and continuing conversation on this facebook page. Miles To Go Linkedin where we will update this conversation too! |
| Simplifying a Complex Subject |
| Post your comments, Reply to this article, Share your thoughts; A growing trend in NON-factual information! October 29th, 2009 An ongoing trend in internet research is for websites to allow comments, replies and shares which allow the reader to create a discussion about the subject matter. Unfortunately, in the field of drug education, comments translate into inaccurate information that is later passed on as factual science and news. Lately, we’ve seen an increase in the volume of “online” opinions being reported back to us in the classroom. It is a high tech telephone game of misinformation. Referencing comments about articles is not factual or scientific; nor is it a consensus – it is simply the echo of opinion. Over the course of a year we review thousands of articles, news reports, science journals and case studies which have comments attached. People who comment on drugs articles represent a wide range of roles and careers such as doctors, nurses, family members of addicts, teachers, and counselors who all have real life experience and something to add to the conversation. Unfortunately, not everyone has something helpful to say; some are terribly misinformed know-it-alls. Others are teenagers who have so little life experience that they’ve never seen any damage from drugs, so they assume there are no dangers involved. Pro-drug advocates often seem to have the loudest voice and will comment on anything and everything. For years, we’ve warned teachers, librarians and parents about using the internet for research due to the proliferation of pro-drug websites. Today, we want to warn you about using comments. They are usually nothing more than a finger on the pulse of one group of people who are interested in the subject at hand. People who portray replies to an article as factual perpetuate rumors and ignorance. We all need to work together to watch where our students get their information for debates, classroom discussions and reports. |
| There is NO Tobacco in Tabasco! This is dedicated to Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby: After 14 years of teaching drug education, I’m tempted to think I’ve heard it all. I’m used to getting questions from out of left field, but I always attempt to answer my student’s questions honestly, scientifically and without laughing. I NEVER want to make them feel bad for asking. My class is a safe haven for 4th – 6th graders to ask drug questions, and it is my job is to simplify a complex subject by teaching a class called “Myths Around The World,” which is the history of drugs played in a geographic game. Our goal is to dispel myths, discuss slang vs. scientific terminology, and talk about how many of the drugs of abuse began as medicines. It’s a fun way to learn the beginning levels of drug prevention education and jumpstart this life-long discussion. The history of drugs is naturally funny without me or my students adding anything extra. After all, hundreds of years ago, they actually thought tobacco could cure lung cancer! The usual questions come up in every class: “my uncle smokes, how do I make him stop?” “What do drugs taste like?” “Why do people do drugs?” These are simple, honest and expected questions. There is one question, though, since I hear it so frequently and because it points out the kind of hilarious confusion drug education can inspire, that I feel I must address once and for all - I want to officially say that there is NO TOBACCO IN TABASCO. Honestly, this makes me smile every time I hear it. It is a simple case of misunderstanding the language, and it is my job to clear up the confusion. After I get the question, the class comes to a complete halt. I carefully take a few minutes reiterating my answer in several ways just to be clear. Tabasco is a hot sauce. Tobacco is a plant that cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff are made from. Nicotine is the stimulant drug in tobacco. There is no nicotine in Tabasco. In my class, I use the example, “My husband loves Tabasco hot sauce on his tacos, but as a former tobacco smoker, he is very careful to never use tobacco products.” I promise you that there is not now, nor has there ever been, tobacco products, leaves, ingredients or additives in Tabasco. Some kids giggle, but after I answer the question I always get the same exuberant sigh of relief, and some kid always shouts out, “I love Tabasco!!! I’m so relieved I can still use it.” Being a traveling drug educator has the potential to be a very depressing, but my husband and I have found a way to make this job fun. We never expected questions that are so innocent and naturally funny. I couldn’t write funnier questions than some that I get repeatedly from my students. The number one cutest question I get is, “How high do people float when they get high?” The number one award for literal thinkers is, “When a person barfs their brains out, how do the brains come out of their head?” And for those readers wondering what is the number one most common question I get? The winner is, “Which one is worse, pot or weed?” Most adults remember drug education as gloom and doom coupled with scare tactics (that is if they had any drug education at all.) But in my class, scattered among the myriad questions about drug abuse, are the questions that bring a smile to my face. It’s these questions that remind me that kids are still innocent and that it is my responsibility to guide them, because I may be the first person to ever talk to them about this subject. How I choose my words can make an impact for the rest of their life, and at the very least I will have made this small difference – they’ll never be scared of Tabasco again. |
Take The Athlete's Challenge It is no secret that Jonathan and Kelly at Miles To Go are big Olympics fans. The Olympics represent an achievement of goal setting that is unprecedented. This Friday night (2/12/10) the games will open and approximately 2,500 athletes will begin competition in 15 sports with over 86 separate medal events. Before a single athlete passes over the starting line, they will all have been extensively warned about the drug testing rules and procedures, the list of banned substances, and had every opportunity to receive drug and competition awareness education. There will be no excuses or loopholes for athletes to try to beat the testing. 700 volunteers have been trained to conduct the blood and urine tests that can be given at any time from opening of the Olympic village until the closing ceremonies. The information is clear and concise, and the anti-doping organizations are trying to lead the way for exemplary planning and execution for future games. Because we are so committed to the idea of drug-free competition, Miles To Go is kicking off “The Athlete’s Challenge.” Over the next 10 years (which will include 2010, 2014 & 2018 winter Olympics and the 2012, 2016 and 2020 summer Olympics) Kelly and Jonathan will ask all athletes, coaches and teams to take “The Athlete’s Challenge” to compete fairly without using drugs. We feel this pledge should include the promise to avoid all drug abuse, not just those that enhance the ability to compete. In the coming years, we will invite partners to join us as we encourage athletes to preserve the integrity of their sport and not fall prey to the temptation to cheat despite the money and endorsements offered to them if they will. Never again do we want to hear an athlete say that they didn’t know they were given a banned substance; and we implore athletes to protect themselves against unscrupulous coaches and management by being responsible for everything they put in their bodies. We will continue to develop our web page called The Athlete’s Challenge over the years by providing information about doping and drug use among athletes, exposing inappropriate doping in the coaching field, and by giving teachers, advisors, parents, and coaches information so they can continue this discussion at school. We wish the best of luck to the competitors from all over the world and expect fair competition to be encouraged in all of our schools. |
April Is The 24th Annual Alcohol Awareness Month For your discussion: In 1944, Marty Mann, the first female member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) founded the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) to “reduce the stigma and to educate Americans that alcoholism and other drug addictions are preventable and treatable, not a moral failing.” The NCADD developed employee assistance programs, succeeded in placing warning labels on all alcoholic beverages, formally defined alcoholism in the Journal of the American Medical Association and currently sponsors Alcohol Awareness Month each April. Miles To Go salutes the NCADD for their ongoing efforts to increase alcohol awareness and lower the rate of alcohol use by teens. For more information about April’s Alcohol Awareness Month including links to audio reports for the classroom, home-school or family. Please preview the reports and tell us how you used them with your students or family. Most are good for grades 5-college. SAMHSA: http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/seasonal/aprilalcohol/ NCADD: http://www.ncadd.org/index.html NCADD Awareness Activities: http://www.ncadd.org/programs/awareness/index.html MADD: Why 21 & Alcohol and the teen brain (Our favorites to kick off discussions) http://www.why21.org/myths/ http://www.why21.org/teen/ NPR Article: Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage with audio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122765890&ps=cprs NPR Article: Keeping Teens Sober At Prom With Science. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104519897&ps=rs Study: Teen Drinking Can Have Lifelong Effects http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123221107 Alcohol and cancer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_cancer http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/healthissues/1109728149.html Our daily twitter updates can help you keep the conversation going in the classroom: http://twitter.com/MilesToGoDrugEd http://milestogodrugeducation.com/twitter.html |
Hello to all the teachers and Home School teachers looking to supplement their curriculum with drug education topics, ideas and projects. We encourage all teachers to integrate drug ed into their classes. No matter what you teach we will help you find a teachable moment that can incorporate drug education. We've seen wonderful examples of math, social studies, PE, government, life skills, literature, library, environmental studies, technology, advisors and mentors that we will share with you on this page. Begin with our Links Page to find safe places to find information for research papers. Then use our written and audio Twitter News For Your Classroom, MTG Blog Page and our Drug Fact Update page, to find specific entries that may work for topics of discussion for social studies, government, psychology, role models, smoking, etc. Don't forget to check Our Favorite Books Pageand our Athlete's Challenge Page Check back monthly or subscribe to our Drug Fact Update emails. |
| From The Disney Cruise To The Homeschool Conference Click on audio player to listen This summer we had the pleasure of attending a home school conference in California. Here’s how two public school kids who have made a career teaching private school kids ended up a home school conference: Three years ago we went on a long Disney cruise to Europe in May (when the prices are low and the crowds are smaller!) We got to know many of the families and quickly learned how many of them were homeschoolers taking advantage of the lower prices and lower demand for cabins on the ship. The more we got to know each other, the more they talked to us about their frustration in finding the right way to teach drug prevention within their health and science lessons. Human development is a subject that is usually only covered in private schools and home schools. It encompasses so many life skills, and all the information needed is rarely found in one handy manual. Private schools tend to bring in a series of speakers to adequately cover all the pertinent subjects. They also have counselors, a nurse, health teachers, and advisors all working together to plan the curriculum. Public schools rarely have human development programming, and what they do have is all over the map because of their budget limitations and strict rules about how and what they can teach. I have reviewed many programs over the years and have found many of them to be out of date by the time they are published. (You should know that I am incredibly picky.) Since we only teach in California, I promised several of the moms from the cruise (who lived all over the country) that I would find a way for them to teach drug education that I had read and approved. As the year passed, I started learning more and more about webinars and Podcasts as teaching tools. The more I learned, the more I discovered that our programs could be available all over the world by re-thinking the way we taught our “live” lectures. We soon figured out that the same programs we had been teaching in private schools for the past 15 years could be presented as webinars or on-demand presentations on the internet. We have spent the past year planning and organizing how to make these programs available to families, schools, and home schools anywhere in the world via the internet. We have created webinars for far-flung students so they can experience our entire program the same way an entire classroom of students would in a brick and mortar school. Also, we have created Podcasts that are available for free to utilize as a homework assignment or as a seed for discussion or further research efforts. |
