Voices and Visions

Matt, Mary and Mike are the new sheriffs in town in Cave Creek, Arizona. So you've been warned. (Photo by Calamity Jane Studios - used with permission)

STARTING THE 2010-11 SCHOOL YEAR AT AIS-RIYADH

AFTER A SUMMER of visiting Matt in Hollywood, my folks in the Phoenix area and returning to the home base with Mary's mom in Iowa, the school bells are ringing again in Riyadh. Teacher work days are ending and, on Aug. 15, students are arriving. The campus has undergone another summer metamorphosis featuring gallons and gallons of yellow and blue paint and a few relocations.

Meanwhile, Riyadh is its usual simmering and suffocating self. Temps are around 115 with plenty of sand and dust to breathe anytime you're foolish enough to wander outdoors. And drivers remain dangerously creative. So hang on for the ride and we'll see how it all turns out.

In the meantime, you may amuse yourself with this article I posted to Examiner.com last fall:

WHY DO SCHOOLS GIVE GRADES?

by Mike Kielkopf

Des Moines High School Examiner - October 2009

BLAME YALE. It all started there in the late 1700s, not long after American independence. Yale is where we first see mention of a grading system in American education. It’s been pretty much downhill since.

Many educators in Des Moines, around Iowa and the country are beginning to realize that grades do far more harm than good when it comes to learning. A good teacher will have written a variety of informative comments and suggestions on a student’s work, but for most students – and parents – the grade overshadows it all.

In an anonymous response to an online discussion of grading last year, this teacher unwittingly explains one big reason why grades are counterproductive to learning: “Oh, this may not be the most politic thing to admit, but I do punish with grades. I see it all as one narrative… Student makes class a chore for everyone, dock it. I don't care what it sounds like. Dock it. Play the game as it's designed, precious beauties, and you'll succeed. Disrespect me, the process, and the class, dock it.” Sister Mary Benedict would be proud.

Let’s go back to the not too distant past, 1945, the glory days of Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, stars of the well-known film, The Bells of St. Mary’s. Crosby plays Father O’Malley, the head of an inner-city parochial school, while Bergman is the by-the-rules nun, Sister Mary Benedict.

As the script writer would have it, Sister Mary Benedict and Father O'Malley look at a struggling student named Patsy and advocate diametrically opposed strategies. The sister wonders, "Do you believe in just passing everybody, Father?"

"Maybe I do," Father O'Malley answers and then poses his own question: "Are we here to give children a helping hand -- or are we here to measure their brains with a yardstick?"
When the priest inquires why 75 is the passing score at St. Mary's, Sister Mary Benedict responds, "You would put the standard at 65, Father?"

"Why not?"

"Then why not at 55? Why any grades at all, Father? Why don't we close the school and let them run wild?"

Father O'Malley reflects and then replies, "Maybe. Be better than breaking their hearts."

Sister Mary Benedict believes in grades: play the game or be docked for it. Father O’Malley believes in people. Incredibly, all these years later, the debate continues. So when the schools in Des Moines, in Iowa and around the country send those grades home, think about what they really mean. Are schools here to give children a helping hand – or to measure their brains with a yardstick? Too many people are still trying to figure that out. But don’t blame Father O’Malley. Blame Yale.

RAINY DAY in RIYADH

The worst rain,wind and hail storm to hit Saudi Arabia's capital city since 1996 struck about 2:30 local time on Monday afternoon, May 3. The day dawned bright and sunny and blue skies were still around in the early afternoon. But the clouds began to gather quickly about 1 p.m. and by 2:30 an eerie orange sky warned that a storm was coming.

And when it came, it brought wind gusts over 60 mph, driving rain and hail. At the American International School of Riyadh, large vinyl sun screens and the steel arms that anchored them were ripped down. Tree branches were snapped off and debris skimmed through the air.

Riyadh roadways were quickly inundated, turning the highways into raging rivers. Many intersections were flooded with from three to almost seven feet of water. Thousands of people were stranded in stalled vehicles and incredible gridlock. Some people reported that their usual 45-minute commute turned into harrowing 7 and 8-hour oddysies. Two people were reported to have died and hundreds of others were reported injured in the chaos.

With debris waiting to be cleaned up and the roadways still under water in many areas, the American International School in Riyadh called off classes on Tuesday, May 4, for one of the rare times in its 60-year history.

By Wednesday, May 5, most roads were passable, the debris was being cleared and schools and businesses reopened. But those of us who saw it won't soon forget May 3, the day the rain ravaged Riyadh.

(Photos courtesy Alriyadh Daily Paper: http://www.alriyadh.com/2010/05/03/article522524.html)

No one has mentioned it around campus here in Riyadh today, but I see where the USA defeated Canada 5-3 in a hockey match last night in a little thing called the Winter Olympics. How aboot that? Otherwise, it's heating up in Saudi now while baseball spring training is underway in Florida and Arizona.

FIRST YEAR IN RIYADH ENDS -- SUMMER AWAITS IN IOWA

iowamike21@hotmail.com

The 2008-09 school year ends this week, then it's off to Iowa and Arizona for the summer, with a stop in Hollywood to visit Matt as well. We leave Riyadh on June 18 and will head back for the new school year on Aug. 6. In the meantime, we hope to have a productive summer visiting family and friends.

NO PASSAGE TO INDIA

mikekielkopf@hotmail.com

MARY AND I returned from snowy Iowa to sandy Riyadh in late December 2008, a bit earlier than planned, thanks to the indifference displayed by the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. Etihad moved our flight from Abu Dhabi to Delhi back four hours -- but without telling us or our travel agent -- and so we missed our connection to Vadodara and our friend's wedding. Once again we realized how foolish we were to believe we would show up at a particular place at a particular time just because some airline let us buy tickets and plan an itinerary. It somehow seemed a fitting finale for 2008.

But back we are in Saudi Arabia, ready to see what surprises await in 2009. We'll let ya know...

ON TO RIYADH - mike kielkopf

iowamike21@hotmail.com or mikekielkopf@hotmail.com

AFTER TWO interesting years in Venezuela, Mary and I have moved on to Saudi Arabia and the American International School of Riyadh (K-12 student body of about 1,000). Mary is teaching 4th grade and I'm teaching 10th and 11th grade English. We arrived in Riyadh on Aug. 6, and our shipment caught up with us two weeks later. 

So far we've been really busy getting acclimated at school and learning to find our way around Riyadh. We've driven in Cairo, Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Bombay, Athens and many other places around the world, but we're finding Riyadh's wild drivers and maze-like road system a worthy challenge. (I say "we," but of course, Mary -- like the rest of the women in Saudi Arabia -- is not allowed to drive here.)

Still, we've managed to find excellent supermarkets, electronics shops and malls. Products from the U.S. are everywhere and are reasonably priced. We left the world's cheapest gasoline in Venezuela (15 cents per gallon) for the world's second cheapest gasoline here: 40 cents per gallon.

We have a 10-day Ramadan-Eid holiday from Sept. 23 through Oct. 3, then our winter break begins early, on Dec. 4. We should be back in Iowa for a holiday visit in time for supper on Dec. 5. So keep the meat loaf and cornbread warm...

Things are going well in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so far. We'll keep you updated...

***

THE SUMMER of 2008 saw Mary and me drive from Waterloo, Iowa, to Mount Rushmore, then on to Jackson, Wyoming, where we spent a week on a wagon train adventure in the Teton National Forest. From there we drove to Los Angeles where we visited Matt for a week. He moved recently from the UCLA-Westwood area of LA to Hollywood where he now works for an Academy-Award winning sound production studio. It was a busy but exciting summer...

Meanwhile, my sixth book -- KINNICK-the novel -- is still on sale at Iowa Book in Iowa City (among other bookstores), and online at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, lulu.com, and most other online booksellers. You can preview the book here: http://iowamike21.typepad.com/kinnickthenovel/

In early August 2007, Mike and his wife, Mary, returned for their second year as members of the teaching staff at Colegio Internacional de Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela. Mike is again serving as chair of the English Department while continuing the student newspaper launched last year and coaching. Mary will once again help sponsor a variety of activities, from International Day to Community Service projects, along with teaching 4th grade.

In May of 2005 Mike completed his contract as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication at Jacksonville University (Fla.). He has taught for 23 years in Florida, Iowa, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and now Venezuela. He is also an award-winning journalist, working for 10 years as a daily newspaper reporter and editor in addition to recently publishing his first novel. He has also published five non-fiction books.

In the summer of 2006 Mike completed his tenure as head coach of the Weyburn Beavers college summer baseball team in Saskatchewan, Canada. Mike's brother, Blaine, served as assistant coach. Mike, a former scout for the Kansas City Royals, now has a career coaching record of 334-298. His playing career includes starting at second base for the Big Ten champion Iowa Hawkeyes and playing in the College World Series in Omaha. Mike has coached baseball in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe in adition to Canada and the U.S.

Before arriving in Saskatchewan, Mike was working as a freelance writer in Casa Grande, Arizona. Among his clients were a national magazine covering college and university adjunct professors, a regional trade magazine for dental professionals, a weekly newspaper in Louisiana, a fitness magazine serving the state of Arizona, and an online newspaper published in Hyderabad, India.

Mike has been honored for outstanding teaching by Tufts and Iowa State universities, and he has been included in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. His editorials were named best in the U.S. in the William Allen White-U of Kansas competition. Mike has also earned writing awards from Writer's Digest magazine, the Associated Press, the Illinois Press Association and the Education Writers Association of the United States and Canada. And he was recently selected for the 2007 edition of the Marquis Who's Who in American Education and the current 60th edition of the internationally recognized Who's Who in America.

In addition to college baseball, Mike also played freshman football for the Hawkeyes and two years of minor league pro football in the Northern States League. He plays basketball regularly and hikes with his wife, Mary. Their son, Matt, earned his BSc. (with Honors) from De Montfort University in Leicester, England, in July of 2007. Matt plans to begin his professional career soon in the field of sound and recording technology.

You may not agree with what Mike writes here, but his ideas may inspire your own thought, and thinking is good.

In early August 2007, Mike and his wife, Mary, returned for their second year as members of the teaching staff at Colegio Internacional de Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela. Mike is again serving as chair of the English Department while continuing the student newspaper launched last year and coaching. Mary will once again help sponsor a variety of activities, from International Day to Community Service projects, along with teaching 4th grade.

In May of 2005 Mike completed his contract as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication at Jacksonville University (Fla.). He has taught for 23 years in Florida, Iowa, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and now Venezuela. He is also an award-winning journalist, working for 10 years as a daily newspaper reporter and editor in addition to recently publishing his first novel. He has also published five non-fiction books.

In the summer of 2006 Mike completed his tenure as head coach of the Weyburn Beavers college summer baseball team in Saskatchewan, Canada. Mike's brother, Blaine, served as assistant coach. Mike, a former scout for the Kansas City Royals, now has a career coaching record of 334-298. His playing career includes starting at second base for the Big Ten champion Iowa Hawkeyes and playing in the College World Series in Omaha. Mike has coached baseball in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe in adition to Canada and the U.S.

Before arriving in Saskatchewan, Mike was working as a freelance writer in Casa Grande, Arizona. Among his clients were a national magazine covering college and university adjunct professors, a regional trade magazine for dental professionals, a weekly newspaper in Louisiana, a fitness magazine serving the state of Arizona, and an online newspaper published in Hyderabad, India.

Mike has been honored for outstanding teaching by Tufts and Iowa State universities, and he has been included in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. His editorials were named best in the U.S. in the William Allen White-U of Kansas competition. Mike has also earned writing awards from Writer's Digest magazine, the Associated Press, the Illinois Press Association and the Education Writers Association of the United States and Canada. And he was recently selected for the 2007 edition of the Marquis Who's Who in American Education and the current 60th edition of the internationally recognized Who's Who in America.

In addition to college baseball, Mike also played freshman football for the Hawkeyes and two years of minor league pro football in the Northern States League. He plays basketball regularly and hikes with his wife, Mary. Their son, Matt, earned his BSc. (with Honors) from De Montfort University in Leicester, England, in July of 2007. Matt plans to begin his professional career soon in the field of sound and recording technology.

You may not agree with what Mike writes here, but his ideas may inspire your own thought, and thinking is good.

In early August 2007, Mike and his wife, Mary, returned for their second year as members of the teaching staff at Colegio Internacional de Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela. Mike is again serving as chair of the English Department while continuing the student newspaper launched last year and coaching. Mary will once again help sponsor a variety of activities, from International Day to Community Service projects, along with teaching 4th grade.

In May of 2005 Mike completed his contract as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication at Jacksonville University (Fla.). He has taught for 23 years in Florida, Iowa, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and now Venezuela. He is also an award-winning journalist, working for 10 years as a daily newspaper reporter and editor in addition to recently publishing his first novel. He has also published five non-fiction books.

In the summer of 2006 Mike completed his tenure as head coach of the Weyburn Beavers college summer baseball team in Saskatchewan, Canada. Mike's brother, Blaine, served as assistant coach. Mike, a former scout for the Kansas City Royals, now has a career coaching record of 334-298. His playing career includes starting at second base for the Big Ten champion Iowa Hawkeyes and playing in the College World Series in Omaha. Mike has coached baseball in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe in adition to Canada and the U.S.

Before arriving in Saskatchewan, Mike was working as a freelance writer in Casa Grande, Arizona. Among his clients were a national magazine covering college and university adjunct professors, a regional trade magazine for dental professionals, a weekly newspaper in Louisiana, a fitness magazine serving the state of Arizona, and an online newspaper published in Hyderabad, India.

Mike has been honored for outstanding teaching by Tufts and Iowa State universities, and he has been included in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. His editorials were named best in the U.S. in the William Allen White-U of Kansas competition. Mike has also earned writing awards from Writer's Digest magazine, the Associated Press, the Illinois Press Association and the Education Writers Association of the United States and Canada. And he was recently selected for the 2007 edition of the Marquis Who's Who in American Education and the current 60th edition of the internationally recognized Who's Who in America.

In addition to college baseball, Mike also played freshman football for the Hawkeyes and two years of minor league pro football in the Northern States League. He plays basketball regularly and hikes with his wife, Mary. Their son, Matt, earned his BSc. (with Honors) from De Montfort University in Leicester, England, in July of 2007. Matt plans to begin his professional career soon in the field of sound and recording technology.

You may not agree with what Mike writes here, but his ideas may inspire your own thought, and thinking is good.

Speaking of Writing...

Remember when you were learning to speak? No? Then maybe you remember watching your child -- or someone's child -- learning to speak. Either way, no doubt you fondly recall how the adult teacher presented the grammar of the English language in all its nuances in order to facilitate the acquisition of spoken language by the young learner. You recall the instruction regarding the proper formation of sentences: "A sentence must have a subject and a predicate. The subject must be a noun or prounoun (the name of a person, place or thing or the word that represents that person, place or thing), and the predicate must be a verb, a word that shows action or state of being, such as 'is'...."

You don't remember that? People don't learn to speak by first studying the conventions of grammar? Really...

Then what makes you -- well, maybe not you, but most folks -- think people should learn to write not by mimicking what writers do, but by studying grammar?

We learn to speak without knowing a SINGLE thing about grammar. Not one whit. Nada. We hear other people talk, and we try to do the same thing. And that's the best way to teach writing. Great writers don't need to know a SINGLE thing about grammar. Not one whit. Nada. All kids -- or anyone else -- learning to write need to do is mimic good writers. Being able to identify a conjunction doesn't make anyone a better writer. Research actually supports that common sense notion.

So knock off with the grammar already. You want to teach kids to write? You want to teach adults to write? Throw away the grammar books. Replace them with examples of the kind of writing the students want to do: a personal essay, a literary analysis, a movie or book review, a sports story, a report, a legal brief, a medical diagnosis... Do that and you'll teach someone to be a great writer, and to love writing.

But if you want to teach someone to be a poor writer and to loathe writing, teach grammar.

Whether it's speaking or writing, we learn best by following good models. Imagine what would happen if we tried to teach kids to talk the way too many people still try to teach them to write...

-- (Copyright) Mike Kielkopf, May 12, 2005

On Honor

            About 2,100 years ago, the Roman philosopher Publilius Syrus asked a question that we are still struggling to answer today, across the U.S. and on the campus of Jacksonville University. “What is left,” Syrus asked, “when honor is lost?”

            Many Americans – including a majority of American college students – are answering that question in ways Syrus may not have expected. What’s left? Higher GPA’s and attendant grad school admissions. Better jobs. Higher profits. Career advancements. Research makes it clear that the vast majority of today’s college students are pragmatic, not idealistic, when it comes to honor. Be honorable and lose? Most college kids today consider that option just plain dumb. And that’s a fact. You could look it up.

            But how did we reach this point? Wasn’t there a time when most Americans, even most American college students, believed honesty really was the best policy, when most college kids really did believe honor was more important than GPA, when it really was more honorable to lose fairly than to win by cheating?

            Honor is not an intuitive human trait. It must be learned. To be learned, it must be taught. That teaching may be indirect, through example, or direct, as in formal lessons at home, at school, in places of worship. A combination is best, for few people become honorable by accident.

            And so if we have an honor crisis in America, including on America’s campuses – and the facts say we do – there are plenty of people and institutions to blame. But one we have control of on this campus is our curriculum. Perhaps the most important required course for all entering JU students should be one in ethics. And perhaps as a culminating act in that course students would be asked, but not required, to sign an honor pledge. Perhaps then JU would be more reflective of the truth embodied in Teddy Roosevelt’s observation: “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” If most JU students arrive on campus without having learned the value of honor, then it would seem incumbent on JU to fill that educational chasm with both example and instruction. It would seem incumbent on JU to do all it can to avoid educating people in a moral and ethical vacuum that unwittingly creates menaces to society. And it would seem the honorable thing to do. After all, if we didn’t know it before, we know now what’s left when honor is lost. -- Mike Kielkopf

On Writing and Teaching...

Please click on book cover to enlarge