What teachers have to say about Performance Education
All were interviewed in early 2007.
Marian
Inner-city, Los Angeles
High school
“I teach the incarcerated.”
County profile
Population: 9,758,886
Racial makeup: 49% white, 10% African American, 12% Asian, 45% Hispanic or Latino
Median household income: n/a
Below the poverty line: n/a, but significant.
What the county is like
The most populous county in the U.S.
Latinos form a plurality (and likely a majority in the near future).
It has the largest Asian population in the country at 1.4 million.
38% speak only Spanish at home.
"I think your workbooks are perfect for us. Perfect for Title I. Perfect for our state standards.”
Amy
upstate South Carolina
High school
“I use Performance Education workbooks in almost every class.”
Teacher profile
She has been teaching for five years and is the department head.
She teaches 9th grade World History and 11th grade U.S. History.
She teaches regular classes, as well as AP History.
County profile
Population: 70,000
Racial makeup: 89% white, 8% African American, 2% Hispanic or Latino
Median household income: $37,000
Below the poverty line: 11%
What the county is like
John Edwards, 2008 presidential candidate, was born here.
His father was a worker in the local textile mill.
Uses the lessons every day
“We just finished with your workbook on Imperialism. (Students loved the simulation – ahead of time, they researched their roles.) Right now we’re doing your workbook on the Progressive Era. Today was the Populist Party and I’m using all your stuff.”
Instead of a textbook
“I have every one of your workbooks for U.S. history and world history! I’ve got a whole shelf in my classroom with nothing but Performance Education workbooks.”
Invested her own personal money
“I’ve spent a thousand dollars just with Performance Education. Why? Because the workbooks are worth it: the lessons are easy, user friendly, and very accurate.”
Students love the games
“The games are very popular with high school students. The Gong Show: Hilarious. They love the gong. (I actually went out and bought a gong.) The Bell Game: I also bought ten bells. The Great Race: High school students are very competitive. They love anything that gets them out of the desk and into the action.”
Homework on the internet
“For homework, my students do your lessons on the internet. Last week, they interpreted political cartoons about the Anti-Imperialist League. The web pages actually work – and that’s awesome!”
Jay
rural Colorado
High school
“Performance Education is all I need – and all I use.”
Teacher profile
He has two master’s degrees.
His students are 90% Hispanic or Latino.
County profile
Population: 4,000
Racial makeup: 68% Hispanic or Latino
Median household income: $19,531
Below the poverty line: 27%
What the county is like
Rural, it borders the state of New Mexico.
Spent his own personal money
“I teach at a rural school in Colorado. The only thing is: the school has no money. I spent $800 in one year - I bought five Toolkits out of my own pocket. And don’t think I make a big salary like teachers in Colorado Springs.”
Instead of a textbook
“When I started teaching, I had nothing - the textbooks were 20 years old and sitting in a warehouse somewhere. But that’s okay; I don’t use them. I’m not going to set the students up for failure. Besides, I don’t believe in textbooks. What I get from Performance Education is all I use. A laptop, a projector, the internet - and the lessons in your workbook. That’s all I need.”
Classroom management
“In U.S. History, your workbooks get me to do games. I’m 60. I come from the old school, but kids have to have fun. I give them an hour lecture in just 20 minutes, and then we play the games. Kids love the bell game, the blackboard game. Students love competition. I didn’t think they would, but they do. And they learn. Winning helps determine their grade.”
Saves paper
“I scan your pages - the graphic organizers - and put them up on the wall on a big screen. I do copy the tests, though. I use them over and over.”
Saves on red tape
“Each quarter we have to submit a timeline showing what lessons we’re going to cover. I just made a copy of your table of contents - and gave them my timeline for the whole year. When they asked for samples for each assessment, I sent them a copy of your test!”
Raising test scores
“The tests are already made. We play that game Last Man Standing. Boys against girls. I read every test question aloud. If they get it wrong, they sit down.”
Students learn the logic of a standardized test
"Then they take the written test. You ask the same questions five different ways on the test. So after a few questions, the students get it - and then go back and change their previous answers.
Lynette
upstate New York
High school
“I teach Regents classes, so I’m driven by the New York state curriculum.”
Teacher profile
She teaches 10th and 11th grade at a high school that has 2,100 students.
This is her 17th year of teaching.
County profile
Population: 125,000
Racial makeup: 97% white
Median household income: $37,000
Below the poverty line: 14%
What the county is like
Located on the Erie Canal, near Lake Ontario
Home of Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat
In February 2007, it was blanketed by more than ten feet of snow.
State standards
“I teach Regents classes, so I’m driven by the New York state curriculum.
It is full of DBQs – document-based questions.
Your political cartoons are wonderful for this part of our state tests.”
The multiple intelligences
“I just started using your lessons this year and overall I’m pleased with them. I take time to select the ones that will fit the multiple intelligences of my students.”
Visual learners
“I gear my lessons to the individual students in my class. This year, many of my students are visual – and very much into art. They really like the political cartoons. (Now I like the political cartoons because the websites are still active.) But they are drawn to art in any form. So they create their own political cartoons . . . to capture the historical era.”
Auditory learners
“We listen to music throughout each era in U.S. history. During the Harlem Renaissance, it’s jazz. Some of my students – who don’t excel in other areas – are amazing at turning historical eras into .”
The games
“Every student has a laptop. That’s how we play the games. But students like variety, so I do not overuse the games.”
Life is like a rock group
“Your group analysis works very well in my class.”
Bloom’s taxonomy
“Bloom! Now that’s my favorite – once students get the hang of it, it goes very quickly.”
Block classes
“Teaching becomes more challenging every year. You have to go to greater lengths. That’s why I buy your supplementary materials.”
Rhonda
Florida
High school
“Many of my students are at-risk.”
Teacher profile
She has been teaching for 27 years.
She has an M.A. in curriculum and reading, plus she is National Board Certified in Social Studies.
For the past two years, she has had interns – university students studying to become teachers.
Her high school has 2,300 students (grades 9-12).
She teaches U.S. History to students in 11th grade, many of whom are at risk.
County profile
Population: 220,000
Racial makeup: 73% white, 19% African American, 4% Asian, 6% Hispanic or Latino.
Median household income: $31,000
Below the poverty line: 23%
What the county is like
Home of the University of Florida
Raising test scores
“In Florida, we don’t have an end-of-course standardized test for U.S. History. We make up our own, so it is helpful to use the Performance Education tests at the end of each workbook.”
Performance Education workbooks
“We have all of your workbooks for U.S. History. Each workbook has so many lessons, so you can pick and choose. Right now we’re on Reconstruction, so I have to pick up the speed.”
Students at risk
“Many of my students are at-risk. But even the least motivated students like your games, especially The Bell Game and The Great Race.”
Hesitation
“I have not yet tried Life is like a rock group. I should, but I was not sure I could pull it off.”
How she found us
“On the internet! I was looking up free lessons and found you.
You have a really good website.”
Jane
just north of San Francisco
High school
“Performance Education? I love it. It’s the best I’ve ever seen – and I’ve been teaching a long time. I’ve told the other teachers in my high school about it. I really push your product.”
Teacher profile
She teaches Special Ed. in high school – and this is her 30th year of teaching.
County profile
Population: 250,000
Racial makeup: 84% white, 3% African American, 5% Asian, 11% Hispanic or Latino
Median income for a household: $89,000
Poverty level: 5%
What the county is like
Just north of the Golden Gate Bridge
In 2005, CNN and Money magazine ranked it 10th on its list of 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S.
It has the highest per capita income of any county in the U.S.
It is the home of Senator Barbara Boxer.
Special education
“I’m a special ed teacher. I teach students with severe learning disabilities. The lessons are easy to read, easy to use, very user friendly. I use the overheads – they work really well for short lectures and graphic organizers. But the kids love the games, especially The Bell Game. I went out and bought the bells, of course – and so did the other Social Studies teachers at my high school.”
Students love the speeches
“This week we’re doing the Civil Rights movement. I follow along in your workbook. The kids really got into the activities on Jim Crow. When it came to speeches, each student became a different person in the Civil Rights movement. As you recommend, we’re watching the film ‘Eyes on the Prize.’ And then we’ll do the postcards.”
State standards
“It definitely fits our state standards.”
“I loved the workbook on Africa . . . and I’ve been to Africa. I used to work for the State Department in Washington, D.C.”
Michael
Suburban southern California
High school
“I go once a year to a show by publishers. You have some of the nicest stuff out there.”
Teacher profile
He has been teaching for 15 years.
Today he is teaching World History.
What the city is like
Population: 53,000
Racial makeup: 82% white, 11% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 3% African American
Average cost of a house: $458,000
Site of the 1983 film Valley Girl and the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Higher test scores
“In my classes I’m seeing higher test scores. The students are making better connections – especially connections between the eras. Your tests are good. You take one concept and turn it into five or six questions. But I use the test in a new way. I start every class with a quiz. I use it as a review from yesterday – and as a warm-up for today.”
High interest
“The lessons in the workbooks are pretty comprehensive, detailed – and high interest. They’re nicely done. We’re finishing up World War I, so last week we did the lessons on propaganda. They’re not worksheets so much as they are thinksheets – and they’re very, very good.”
Fit the state standards
“The workbooks are a really nice fit to our curriculum.”
Martia
California’s Central Valley
Middle school
“I am crazy about your stuff! I’ve been singing its praises to our principal.”
Teacher profile
She has been teaching for eight years – and grew up in the district.
She teaches 7th and 8th grade.
90% of her students are Hispanic and many are at risk.
County profile
Population: 400,000
Racial makeup: 58% white, 50% Hispanic or Latino
Median household income: $34,000
Below the poverty line: 24%
What the county is like
Rural, it is located in the Central Valley of California .
Despite being the most productive county in the U.S. in terms of agricultural revenues, it is one of the most impoverished counties in California.
Raising test scores
“Yes, your workbooks are raising our test scores. We’re in the middle of the U.S. Constitution – and these are the highest scores I’ve had. We need to raise our test scores. We are a high poverty school. There is a great deal of emphasis on language arts and math. So we cram one year’s worth of history into just one semester.”
Promotes literacy
“The lessons in the workbooks make sense. I use the graphic organizers, teach the vocabulary, and students love the games.”
Active learning
“The students are up and moving both physically and mentally – and the principal really likes that.”
Better than the textbook
“You’ve got so much material – far more than our textbooks. Our textbooks are not very good. They don’t cover our state standards.”
Perfect for the state standards
“For starters, you’ve already unpacked the California standards. The lessons are totally standards-based.”
Backwards Design
“I select the questions from your tests – and then use the activities to teach those questions. I then test and re-teach.”
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