A Neutral Print with Green!

A little history…

Grab a beverage and get comfy…this is gonna be a long one! When I was teaching, my corporation was heavily (as in totally) involved in ITI, HET, CLASS, whatever you want to call it! ITI was the brain child of a lady named Susan Kovalik. The acronym stood for Integrated Thematic Instruction. When Indiana adopted it, the state referred to it as CLASS (which may or may not stand for Connected Learning Assures Successful Students). Eventually, ITI became HET which stood for Highly Effective Teaching. Some may have called it Hardly Ever Teaching. Nineteen Lifeskills and five Lifelong Guidelines were central to the program. Our curriculum revolved around those as well as all kinds of key points, Conceptual (notice the capital letter) and some other kinds.

A little more…

When I began my journey with CLASS, the Indiana model, it was focused more on the atmosphere of the classroom. I enjoyed that part of the process. Our classrooms were to be homey; we were to try to stick to earth tones like navy, burgundy, hunter green, and brown. Lamps and plants were also encouraged. Here is a sweet teacher web page (her page is no longer in use, though) that does a really good job explaining the overview of the program. In Indiana, schools had to apply to be a part of the CLASS program. There were a few schools in my corporation already a part of the program, but my particular school was not. We were just getting started in it. When the state defunded the program (as Indiana often does…begins something then lets it fizzle out), my corporation decided to go right to the top…to Susan Kovalik herself. Thus began my sojourn with ITI which morphed to HET.

Oh, even more…

If you want to skip to the end where I talk about the outfit, that’s OK. So, CLASS workshops (before Indiana defunded it) were held in the summer if you weren’t part of the actual program. I attended these workshops over a few years. The presenter (whose name escapes me now) was often a bubbly yet really chic and classy woman. I was a little intimidated by her because she was the epitome of a fabulous educator. And, then came the day my principal decided to attend. He was a very prim and proper kind of guy, always wanted his teachers to be professionally attired. So, here’s Barbara (oh, I just remembered her first name), and she says…wait for it…”We’re going to do the Chicken Dance” and pulls out a chicken hat and claps it onto her perfectly coiffed page boy! I think Mr. R thought he could fly under the radar…bad pun, I know! Oh, no! She was not going to let anyone bow out of the dance! It was a fun-filled, laughter-enriched 20-30 minutes of the Chicken Dance! There were well over 100 teachers there all bawking and clapping and dancing! It was a riotous time, and I loved it!

Just a little more…

During those summer sessions, I learned lots about the brain and how it learns. The differences between right brain and left brain learners was reinforced. Distinct parts of the brain perform distinct actions. I was actually quite fascinated by this. Little by little, though, the idea of how to teach the curriculum the HET way was introduced. We were always told to just relax and take it easy; it would get easier. It.Did.Not! Long story a little bit shorter…the curriculum portion of HET worked like this: Your focus is on tying science and social studies together through your key points and teaching lessons accessing all of the different intelligences. For example, one of our key points was cause and effect (it was a state standard for us at the time). So, we would teach cause and effect. Oh, here was a biggy…we had to write out these key points on chart paper and come up with movements to help the students remember the key words in the key points (accessing the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, or movement). We would come up with those movements with the kids. Still with me? Well, we would then break down the Conceptual Key Point (cause/effect) into those other key points whose names escape me. Then, we would create more movements to go with those key points. Here’s another mind boggling part of HET. We were to teach these big concepts all together. So, going back to cause/effect…we would teach all wars involved in our particular social studies (mine was Indiana History) around the idea of cause/effect with absolutely no regard to a timeline. The reason? Fourth graders have no concept of time…did you spit out your Diet Coke yet?

And the Lifelong Guidelines and Lifeskills…

Honestly, I was several years into the program before it dawned on me I had absolutely no idea why I was even teaching these things! I finally worked up my nerve to ask. The Lifeskills enable students to reach their Personal Best which is one of the Lifelong Guidelines. The other four Lifelong Guidelines just came along for the ride, I guess! No, I was told if students utilized these things, they would become fine upstanding citizens. Woe to the rest of us who never had the benefit of this program.

It gets worse…

We were not allowed to actually post much student work in the classroom because that would create too much clutter in the classroom. This didn’t actually bother me that much because I was busy teaching content, and the cute artsy projects fell by the wayside with the threat of standardized testing always there. But, we had to post those dumb charts with the Conceptual Key Point (oh, see I still capitalize them because it was ingrained in me) on them! And, we would have multiple charts because we were also teaching science in this way. But, the hope was we were integrating science into our social studies so there would be fewer charts. Now, as a former special ed teacher, my big question always was, “How is this helping my students to read better?” Crickets… Reading and math were not a part of HET from the curriculum part with the exception of how we were using picture books (you read that right…in fourth grade) to teach our CKP (Conceptual Key Point). Now, here’s one of the things that really grinds me. This was diluted when it came to middle school. And, high school? Forget it! Those teachers may have attended a few “classes,” but they were never pushed to incorporate HET into their very lives like elementary educators were. Our integration of the curriculum piece became part of our yearly evaluations and was used to determine if we were highly effective, effective, or in need of improvement. Years after my first summer workshop (and thousands upon thousands of dollars), Susan Kovalik spoke at our opening breakfast for the school year. When asked about standardized testing (big thing here in Indiana), she said we needed to not worry about those tests…getting students to understand how their brains worked, using the Lifelong Guidelines, Multiple Intelligences, and Lifeskills…all of these things would make for better students and citizens. And, nope…this was NOT and never would be a reading program!

In all fairness…

We were always told Susan Kovalik used brain research to develop Integrated Thematic Instruction/Highly Effective Teaching. But, try as I might, I cannot seem to find any of that online. I do believe lots of what we were taught over the years. Different people’s/students’ brains learn in different ways. Some students do need movement or music or hands on activities in order to learn a concept. This particular part of HET came from Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. That I could find! And, if you have lots of time, no standardized tests about which to worry, unlimited funds, small class sizes, and a supportive administration, I can see where HET is effective. But, my friends, I tried…I really tried to use this program to the best of my abilities. I sang; I danced; I drew! Did that make me a more effective teacher? Nah…I was doing lots of the singing, dancing, and drawing before HET! What HET did do was make me more stressed because I just couldn’t see the wisdom of a program that totally ignored the importance of reading (oops…that wasn’t fair, was it).

This is the last bit…

As with all things in education, nothing stands in isolation. At the same time we were incorporating these aspects of HET, we were also beginning a new reading and writing initiative. We had to have small reading groups (the lower elementary teachers were pros already) and teach the writing process (PAT – Purpose, Audience, Topic). These were relatively new ideas (the hows not the subjects) for us. Again, all of this was on teacher evaluations! But, what still irritates me the most is the amount of money spent on this program. I’m sure it was in the hundreds of thousands because we had coaches who would come into our classrooms to help us. Some of those coaches came from Susan Kovalik’s organization (located in Seattle). Some were from our corporation. The Kovalik coaches always made us feel like we’d been skinned alive, scabbed over, and they came in and ripped the bandages off! I am not kidding. I never left a session with one of those coaches feeling like I was any good at anything in life, let alone teaching! The corporation coaches were kinder because they were there in the battlefields (sort of) just like us.

I lied…

I do have to tell this bit. We had four coaches in our corporation. I’ll be honest. Teachers are not good students especially when the teachers are their cohorts! These four teachers had been sent to Seattle one year for a convention (all dollars for professional development were sucked dry by this program, too). While there, they came up with the idea of having model classrooms. Surprise, surprise! They would teach those model classrooms. Here’s how that worked. They would pair up, and begin the year with both teachers in the classroom. Remember, there are two classrooms with four teachers. At a certain point, one of the teachers would leave the classroom and go out to the other schools to coach us on HET. We would also have to go to their classrooms to observe the other teacher at work. Then, they would switch. Oh, and here’s another thing. They had less than 20 students. These were the years my co-teachers and I had 29 and 30 students…big difference! Those poor students (first and fourth grades) must have been so confused and stressed. There would have been several groups of teachers coming into their classrooms on a regular basis, and their own teacher would be changing every six weeks or so. That carried on for a couple of years. Interestingly, all four of those teachers have now left the corporation!

What does that have to do with this…

Well, when I started writing this, I had no intention of writing a magnum opus on HET!!! I had only intended to use it to explain my brown and green look! See what happens when a teacher gets a captive audience! She talks and talks and talks!! This is the discontinued Siren dress from Garnet Hill. I wore another one in this post! I don’t think you can tell, but I used a bobby pin to keep the bodice a little more school appropriate (as befits the topic). I love these little linen cardigans from J Jill (similar in cotton). They are just the right weight when you need to keep the chill off your shoulders.

The Lewk!

I wore my Eileen Fisher espadrilles. They are expensive, but I wear them so often. I think my cost per wear must be pennies by now. I hope they come out with them in a camel color. As the color is so close to my leg color, I just can’t quite decide if they’re flattering (Jodie will hate that word) or not! I don’t care; they’re way too comfortable to not wear! The earrings and necklace are old Stella & Dot. I think they may have been called the Medina. I do think the earrings came out a few years after the necklace. I love to have matching earrings and necklaces. Throw in a matching bracelet, and I’m in hog heaven (do they say that where you live)!

Affiliate links and such:

Just a reminder that Marsha in the Middle may use an affiliate link. Those links are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link I provide, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support. I recently became a Brand Ambassador for Sarah Flint shoes. You can use SARAHFLINT-BAMARSHA for $50 off your first pair. As of right now, I also have an affiliate code for Kantha Bae! Use MarshaintheMiddle in the promo code box for $5 off any order (excluding Bestie restocks)! I have also become a Halftee Partner. Use the code, MARSHA2098, for 20% off any purchase. In case you didn’t know, bloggers must disclose the use of affiliate links. That’s why I include this in each post.

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I promise not to post lots of rants like this one! But, like many professions, educators have come under so much fire for teaching this, that, and the other thing. And, we all know teachers are in it for June, July, and August as well as the money! And, if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you! I just wanted to give you a peek into my life as a teacher. Believe me when I tell you this is the abridged version! You may come away from this thinking I hated teaching. I didn’t. I loved almost every single second of it. I also loved to learn so summer workshops were something to which I looked forward. I will always support public education because it’s what I know. Teachers are working hard. And, that June, July, and August business? I almost always spent at least 2-3 weeks of it in professional development or continuing ed classes. So, can we talk? Are you familiar with HET, ITI, or even CLASS? If you’re in or have been in education, does this fit your experience? Please leave me a comment or two about this or anything at all, and we can have a conversation! It doesn’t even have to be about education! We are definitely moving this week so I’m not sure if I’ll pull together a Thursday post. Look for a Friday post with a link party, though!

Thank you!

Thank you so very much for reading my blog whether you’re a regular, a subscriber, or you just happened to stumble across me! I appreciate each of you. If you’d like to share my blog, I’d love that, too! You can follow me here on Instagram.

Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, My Bijou LIfe, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, Being a Wordsmith, and Mummabstylish. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I’m a co-host on the Weekend Traffic Jam (here). I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I also host Final Friday Print Mixing on the last Friday of the month. I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

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