Joshua Katz teaches math at University High School in Orlando, Florida. From all reports, he is much loved and respected.
He made a short, soundless video to welcome his new students.
He explains in plain language how to succeed in math and in his class.
It is nice to be reminded that there are great teachers in our public schools, who put children first and ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism in the corporate reform movement who want to take away his pension, his healthcare, his job security, and judge him by his students’ scores on standardized tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“WERE” OTHERWISE…GREAT POST!!
Thank you so much, Diane.
This is very meaningful appreciation.
Thanks so much for introducing us to Joshua Katz. When you have a minute (actually 17 of them) search youtube and find Joshua’s talk at the University of Akron regarding the toxic culture in education today. Phenominal! This man would make a better Secretary of Education than John King could ever dream to be.
I am proud to know Josh. His campaign for a seat on the OCPS school board was inspirational and is part of the reason I am confident in my ability to run in neighboring Brevard Co., FL.
Unless and until we have qualified educators participating in making educational decisions, we will not change the trajectory that insists on the cycle of “test, blame, punish, repeat” for teachers and children.
Josh is a star because he does what we are all called to do: put children first, meet their needs, and do it unapologetically.
Seems like a nice guy… Unfortunately a whole minute was spent on “earning points.” Here’s the big contradiction: Points = sticks and carrots = a strong force that is acting against learning for understanding. He has still sent the message to students (even though it wasn’t his intended message) that the goal is to “earn points,” and the means is “doing stuff.”
If you have to give “points” as a teacher (which is, of course, absurd, but how the winds currently blow), at least don’t tell students that they have to learn “for points.” This undermines any well-intended effort to get students to focus on the material for its own sake.
Better to make fun of the entire idea of “points,” so that students stop caring about “points” — at least in your class. Then you might see them care about math. Then you might see some real initiative.
Points are an empty promise.
I hope this helps some otherwise good teachers out there.
Being a fan of Alfie Kohn, I know what you are saying. I’m operating in a system that cannot remotely fathom what you say. I work with high school students who have been indoctrinated by a system that cannot fathom what you say. I am doing what I can in the framework in which I operate, and I do see real initiative from students. I still know I’m not there yet.
Thanks for replying, Joshua. I’m glad to hear this from you.
I’m not sure that you needed to include the whole “points” bit — perhaps it would make a good difference if you didn’t?
I completely see where you’re coming from. It’s like rowing upstream. However, since you are “in the know,” I hope you keep an eye out for chances to reshape the framework.
It’s the age of accountability. Currently I’m trying to have the right conversations with the right people. The topic is high stakes testing and accountability programs. The more I can talk about in-class assessment during these conversations the better. There are other political issues at play with points and grades. I have to bridge the gap between what we have now and going gradeless (which is where few us acknowledge is where we need to be).
Not sure. Kids are very motivated by points, and extra credit points.
Many students don’t necessarily learn math for the sake of learning it – in the value sense you explained. Perhaps some teachers couls build that culture in their classroom, and I certainly tried – but points worked. It’s provides context for the kids, and they “did work” to learn math. There’s certainly overlap. 😎
Sure, they are “motivated” — and points “work” — in the completely wrong way. “How” we are motivated makes a huge difference. When we are “motivated” “extrinsically,” it strongly affects what we learn, how well we learn, why we learn it, and if we will continue learning in the future. And as Joshua replied above, it is the unfortunate truth that most educators/institutions do see or understand the difference. When we realize this, systemically, our teaching and learning power will increase exponentially… 😉
Agreed! If only this was started early on…I love all of your “quotations” haha.
It’s like in university…we didn’t get “points” along the way in learning material (in most of my classes, actually). It was expected that you leaned the material, discussed it, studied it, etc.! We earned points when taking an exam/writing essays/etc. to prove our knowledge of the material.
This is a system I would never be able to do in my former school, as we were required to have two grades per week, assigned point value…an interesting concept: points for the sake of a grade. In fact, we were required to give students as many points as possible and weighted in a fashioned the grade distribution was distributed right. Too bad I fought this 😎
If anyone knows of a school that’s hiring that still holds on to traditional values, let me know – LOL.
My story and that of all the best educators who were autonomous in their CLASSROOM PRACTICE, and taught in ways that they knew were how the human brain learned… acquired skills and knowledge.
We all had to go, so they could sell the Core crap, and so along came VAM…and the media has still not told the stories you can find here for a decade.
The media is BETRAYING THE PUBLIC and the professionals who have been thrown to the dogs. It is beyond criminal , immoral, and unethical that this still goes on.
The story of Franceso Protelos is like that of Mr. Katz.
It is my story, and that of David Pakter and thousands…
http://www.endteacherabuse.org
http://nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com/2009/03/gotcha-squad-and-new-york-city-rubber.html
http://parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=7534
This is great, Liz. Watch his video.
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He can talk too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnC6IABJXOI
Perhaps a bit fast, but he is obviously a very clear thinking person. I can’t think of a better, clearer, more authoritative summary of the problems facing education. He is obviously very passionate, maybe even angry, but he talks without hate.
He is a young guy, but he sees it, understands it all, and knows how to communicate it.
What amazes me is that he probably is teaching 5-6 hours a day plus he prepares for classes, plus he grades tests and home works, so he puts in a 50+ hour week with great restrictions by tests and common core, and he still finds energy to give talks like this. I hope he doesn’t burn out.
I wonder how he’d change math ed, if he had the freedom. I wonder what he thinks of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPnSQD5ca7M
Thank you very much for your words. I have thoughts about a lot. Check out my blog at http://greaterwhenheard.com
I’ve seen that puzzle video and I love it. That’s just teaching. It’s fantastic. No worries about standards or benchmarks or data. Just throw a question at kids, get them interested, then get the heck out of the way.
This: http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education
I’m not burning out quite yet. I just love my students, and I let the rest take care of itself.
Joshua, I am viewing from my wordpress account, and I don’t see a way to subscribe to your blog without having a blogger site myself.
“I just love my students, and I let the rest take care of itself.”
One time a student asked me, “do you actually like kids?”
My reply: “it would be a horrible job if I didn’t.”
I am a classroom teacher in a public school. Please give me a list of 5 things I can do
to help. The big companies and reformers have the ears of the public and great influence. I don’t have either of those. Please tell me what I can do to spread the truth.
I want to help, but with lost respect for teachers, nobody listens except other educators.
I also have to quote this
“When Kiana’s math teacher, Joshua Katz, was downgraded to “effective” from “highly effective” this year, his salary was slated to drop by $1,100.”
This is from the article http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/08/opt-out-standardized-testing-overload
I loved the video until “the points” and the mention of Kahn if not for the fact that Kahn is taking the place of teachers in some districts with the teacher being the “facilitator”.
Kahn is now working closely with Bill Gates and for some reason I feel that can’t be good. I believe our students are more than a test score and should get “points” for trying and improving even if they don’t make the grade. Progress should be weighed just as heavily as reaching grade level. We all learn at different paces. But glad to see a teacher trying to get through to his/her students. The caring really comes through. And as the above comment mentions, a good teacher should never be downgraded because the scores don’t match the true effectiveness of this teacher.
My grand niece is in first grade and her mother had to text me her math homework because she didn’t get it. It seemed like things that I taught in 2nd and 3rd and even 4th and 5th grade had made it’s way down to 1st. My other niece is tearing her hair out trying to help her daughter with Every Day Math–a program I personally despised and was happy when my principal dumped it. I took so many workshops in the early 70s on ways to make math fun and relevant to my elementary students. But that all went out the door when NCLB reared its ugly head. Math should be fun!!