Nancy Bailey's Education Website

Revive, Rally and Recover Public Schools

101 (And MORE) Wishes For Students in 2018—In 5 Words or Less

By 28 Comments

Post Views: 506
  1. Provide children plenty of recess.
  2. Pay attention to child development.
  3. Cherish play for children.
  4. Encourage teens to socialize.
  5. Lower class sizes.
  6. Bring back the arts.
  7. Provide all students art instruction.
  8. Give students credentialed art teachers.
  9. Let children dance.
  10. Sing-along with students.
  11. Teach students to play instruments.
  12. Display student art in schools.
  13. Bring back school plays.
  14. Showcase student writing.
  15. End high-stakes testing.
  16. Teach better civics.
  17. Bring back Home Economics.
  18. Help teens balance a checkbook.
  19. Teach students self-care.
  20. Provide school nurses.
  21. Help students learn money management.
  22. Provide 12th grade career information.
  23. Develop good career-technical education.
  24. Give students with disabilities services.
  25. Make IEPs relevant and personal.
  26. Address dyslexia.
  27. Show students how to adapt.
  28. Help students find alternatives.
  29. Find student strengths.
  30. Provide teachers special education preparation.
  31. Value parents in educational decisions.
  32. Quit pushing school choice.
  33. Stop throwing money at charters.
  34. End charter school scandals.
  35. Require refunds from corrupt charters.
  36. Create a strong school system.
  37. Technology is better with teachers.
  38. Decrease screen time.
  39. Reassess the use of Chromebooks.
  40. Protect student privacy.
  41. End corrupt online school programs.
  42. Hire educationally prepared school leaders.
  43. Support professionally trained teacher educators.
  44. Create good teacher education programs.
  45. Stop misusing university adjunct instructors.
  46. Don’t destroy public universities.
  47. Demand for-profit college accountability.
  48. Stop the teacher shortage.
  49. Help recruit future teachers.
  50. Hire professional and credentialed teachers.
  51. Allow teachers to be creative.
  52. Provide teachers excellent resources.
  53. Teach reading teachers corrective reading.
  54. Respect the teaching profession.
  55. Give teachers time to plan.
  56. Support school libraries and librarians.
  57. Increase credentialed counselors.
  58. Honor teaching assistants.
  59. Treasure substitute teachers.
  60. Give teachers decent salaries.
  61. Provide fair teacher pensions.
  62. Feed hungry children.
  63. Help homeless families.
  64. Improve cafeteria food.
  65. Fund public education.
  66. Work together to save schools.
  67. Try invented spelling with children.
  68. Teach children reading is fun.
  69. Cherish books and free reading.
  70. Encourage children to read books.
  71. Increase free reading in class.
  72. Improve science classrooms.
  73. Reduce or end unnecessary homework.
  74. Rebuild old schools.
  75. Make school buildings safe.
  76. Teach children to love math.
  77. Give students a whole curriculum.
  78. Provide time for student socialization.
  79. Build tolerance towards others.
  80. Address mental health in school.
  81. Monitor philanthropy through feedback.
  82. Separation of church and state.
  83. Insist on participatory school boards.
  84. Consider tutoring in public schools.
  85. Help children socialize.
  86. Parents and teachers, work together.
  87. Teach children manners.
  88. Bring back cursive writing.
  89. End school to prison pipeline.
  90. Support children in public schools.
  91. Celebrate diversity.
  92. Teach cultural studies.
  93. Support second-language students.
  94. Plant school gardens.
  95. Make school buildings inviting.
  96. Ensure students have clean bathrooms.
  97. Welcome parents.
  98. Take interesting field trips.
  99. Laugh more.
  100. Have great after school programs.
  101. End Common Core.
  102. Let teachers use technology creatively. (Resseger)
  103. Stop collecting data on every keystroke. (Resseger)
  104. Beware algorithm-mediated content/assessment. (Resseger)
  105. Make all public schools great. (Katakowski)
  106. Refer curriculum to developmental needs. (Fiske)
  107. Stop unnecessary paperwork. (Karen T.)
  108. Teach life skills. (Karen T.)
  109. Save us from behavioral objectives. (Turrentine)
  110. Wonderful-arts education for all. (Chapman)
  111. Add foreign language to curriculum. (Martin)
  112. Include Latin in secondary schools. (Martin)
  113. Try invented spelling with children. (Swacker)
  114. Include phonics. (Swacker)
  115. Expanded access to high-quality Pre-K. (Kelly C.)
  116. Teaching practices connected to educational theory. (Kelly C.)
  117. Students taught to think critically. (Kelly C.)
  118. Students taught how to analyze sources. (Kelly C.)
  119. Student and teacher learning is visible/displayed. (Kelly C.)
  120. Beauty and joy incorporated in classrooms. (Kelly C.)
  121. Get outside. Pick up bugs. (Kelly C.)
  122. Wonder-inducing opportunities in lesson plans. (Kelly C.)
  123. Teaching and learning that is reflective. (Kelly C.)
  124. WAY fewer worksheets! (Kelly C.)
  125. Fair implementation of discipline policies (Kelly C.)
  126. End to systemic racism and classism. (Kelly C.)
  127. End to behaviorist reward-punishment systems. (Kelly C.)
  128. Families welcomed, included and heard. (Kelly C.)
  129. No profiting off of children. (Kelly C.)
  130. No business model of education. (Kelly C.)
  131. Education as a way of life. (Kelly C.)

It doesn’t have to end at 131. Add your ideas!

Comments

  2. a wonderful list! I would only add: Stop collecting data on every keystroke a student makes on reductive online curriculum. Let teachers use technology creatively, rather than forcing them to stick children in front of algorithm-mediated content/assessment.

    Reply

    • I agree, Thomas. I’ve been reading about its loss for a while. I think writing helps children spell. My guess is that the sensory movement is important. It is also a relaxing activity, unless there are extreme fine motor problems. Most children like to practice their letter writing with cursive. Thank you and Happy New Year!

      Reply

  7. When I really want to,say something important, I get my favorite pen and write it slowly, in cursive. I really like my grandfather’s old fountain pen. The pump,quit working years ago, but I can still dip it in the ink..

    My five words?

    Save us from behavioral objectives.

    Reply

    • I had someone hand me one of those pens to use the other day. It was quite nostalgic. Thanks, Roy!

      Reply

  9. Some really great ideas here. I did not see anything about foreign language instruction. I would love to see more foreign language instruction, especially in the early elementary schools. This is commonplace all over Europe, and we should emulate their ideas. Our economy is globalized, and our students need a grounding in the European languages, as well as Arabic and Mandarin Chinese.

    I would also love to see Latin brought back into secondary schools, All students need a basic understanding of Latin, it is the “anchor” of English, and definitely assists in building writing proficiency.

    Reply

    • Thank you for recommending Latin! I taught introductory Latin and Roman Civilization to middle school and high school students at the RI School for the Deaf for many years. I emphasized comparing grammatical structures in English and Latin, as well as English vocabulary derived from Latin (prefixes/roots/suffixes). Attention to the details of inflectional and derivational morphology provided a boost to accurately reading in English, as well as awareness of word class in writing.

      Reply

      • My sincere pleasure! I am a sign language interpreter (do not have a C.I.) I read an article some years ago, The article said that H.S. kids enjoy Latin, so they can have a “secret’ language like “Klingon”, and can thus talk to each other in a “code”. I got a chuckle from that.

        Reply

  11. -Expanded access to high-quality Pre-K.
    -Teaching practices connected to educational theory.
    -Students taught to think critically.
    -Students taught how to analyze sources.
    -Student and teacher learning is visible/displayed.
    -Beauty and joy incorporated in classrooms.
    -Get outside. Pick up bugs.
    -Wonder-inducing opportunities in lesson plans.
    -Teaching and learning that is reflective.
    -WAY fewer worksheets!
    -Fair implementation of discipline policies
    -End to systemic racism and classism
    -End to behaviorist reward-punishment systems
    -Families welcomed, included and heard
    -No profiting off of children
    -No business model of education.
    -Education as a way of life.

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.