# [[EDUC 7650]] Assignment 4 Jethro Jones ## Assignment Directions Remember to revisit last week's assignment and give me a brief reaction to my reaction... 1. Again, please send a _handwritten_ note to someone - in the mail, on their desk, however. Then send me an email when you do it. It's not necessary to tell me to whom or for what it was sent (though I enjoying reading your details). 2. What thoughts does Simon Sinek's short video elicit? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA0MNM3OFQMLinks to an external site.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA0MNM3OFQM) [Minimize Video](https://umsystem.instructure.com/courses/303610/assignments/2983893#)  1. BEFORE you read the following, take a moment and consider what factors might be considered to determine students' economic status (other than eligibility for free or reduced price lunch). If you visited home, what indicators might you see? After thinking a bit, read the following and then give me a paragraph or three reaction. What do you think of this? [https://www.k12dive.com/news/nations-report-card-new-student-poverty-measurement/733874/Links to an external site.](https://www.k12dive.com/news/nations-report-card-new-student-poverty-measurement/733874/) ## Assignment Regarding your comments from [[7650 Assignment 3]], you mentioned that teaching SEL is vital, and last week, I was able to attend a session with [LeiLani Cauthen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/leilanicauthen) who said the following about SEL: > The purpose of SEL is to: 1. stand up identity ably; 2. restore free will. This focus of teaching SEL really hit me. That's exactly what I have been coming back to again and again. She also said that the reason people don't stand up their identity is always because they are ceding their identity to someone they see as senior to them. Powerful insights. ## Simon Sinek's Video We've forgotten to teach leaders how to lead. One of the people I am coaching right now suggested a compliment sandwich as a way to deal with someone who needs some improvement. First, we don't call sandwiches based on the bread, so it's a negative sandwich. Second, they don't work, because everyone knows what there is to know about them. ## Identifying Economic Factors I struggle with this idea. In 2015, I received national and local attention for going to [visit students in their homes before school started](https://jethro.site/kms/reflection/2015/08/25/home-visits/). A few teachers and I visited the home of every student, and it was a powerful connecting event. Unfortunately, one of the teachers mentioned that the benefit of doing this was seeing "what the students were living in." Our point was not to discuss or focus on their impoverished state (or not) but to let them know we were willing to leave our comfortable place and visit them in their place. Our goal was to send the clear message that they are valuable, and we are willing to partner with their families, not ask their families to partner with us because [[Education Is The Responsibility Of The Parents]]. So, I don't care about students' families' economic status, and anytime we do, we simply are judging them. It's not helpful. Looking at the article, I can see why it would be beneficial for large testing companies to have that data, but I still think it is not necessary. > In NAEP’s new model, it will rely on data NCES already collects in a questionnaire asking students in grades 4, 8 and 12 this question: “About how many books are there in your home?” The problem here is that this is once again a sign of too little too late. Many kids will resort to reading text on devices, rather than in physical books, even at young ages. Ebooks are available on a variety of devices and some students may have many books, but not on their shelves. Rather than focusing on performance based on economic status, we should focus on ensuring that all kids are successful. And we should do whatever is necessary to do that. Honestly, what good has come from this collection of data on students? According to the metrics that we choose to care about, we still suck at educating our children. Obviously, we don't care about their success that much. If we did, we would do things differently.