imaginative teaching and learning: September 2011

Do It to Your Heart's Content

Last month my eight year-old granddaughter, Haley, and I went out for an end of summer fling. We took bikes to the trail close to our downtown area. Haley rode back and forth across the bridge spanning the Reedy River, then back and forth again, and again. Although it was yet another 90+ degree day in Greenville, South Carolina, the breeze blew on her cheeks and she felt free and happy.

Later we stopped by the river, ignored the signs that say “CLIMBING OR SLIDING ON ROCKS IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED” and followed the trail of children who were hopping from stone to stone. One baby doll girl in white ruffles went ker-splash, but not to worry. The sun and breeze soon dried her eyelet layers and she will have happy memories of her day.

As I watched Haley and the other children enjoying their last day before the start of school, I heard my mother saying, “Do it to your heart’s content.”* At that moment I determined that those words would be my motto for grandparenting. My daughters are excellent mothers, but they have so many responsibilities, and so little time. They provide plenty of activities to develop their children’s talents outside of school, and they drive multiple car pools to ensure that the kids develop social connections, but there isn’t much downtime.

When I think of Haley’s day at the river park (which also included lunch at a sidewalk cafe and an ice cream stop) I see some important observations for teaching and learning. The things we learned as playful children (in kindergarten, as Robert Fulghum wrote) are the things we need to see us through a lifetime.

· Haley had time on that day. She repeated actions that soothed her. She rode her bike across the bridge till her soul told her she had enough.
· She touched the elements of life. She hopped across stones in her bare feet, feeling the warm sun on her arms and the splash of cool water.
· Her imagination was fired. As she lifted her head and viewed the city skyline, she thought of cities she wanted to build.
· She made social connections. “Follow me,” said a brown-haired boy. “Can you do this?”
· There was no sense of urgency. Haley moved at a slow pace and completed everything she desired to her satisfaction. She felt fulfilled.

N o wonder one teacher reported that she was going to provide more “sand and water” experiences for her high school students. We all need to make time to feel the wind, to splash in water, to be warmed by the sun, and we need to do it to our heart’s content.

What do you say?

*The expression “heart’s content” is found in Shakespeare’s writing. Jessica, daughter of Shylock, wishes Portia (her Ladyship) all heart’s content, and Portia returns the greeting as though it is common speech. Henry VI introduces his wife, Queen Margaret, to the court saying, “Her grace in Speech, Makes me from Wondring, fall to Weeping joyes. Such is the Fulnesse of my heart’s content.”

Best Practices - Studio Schools

Studio Schools are blossoming in the UK. Students are learning by doing projects. Take a look at this ten minute video.

http://www.ted.com/talks/geoff_mulgan_a_short_intro_to_the_studio_school.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-09-27

Ongoing Assessment for Learning

Dylan Wiliam has devised a testing philosophy and practice for K-12 students called Embedded Formative Assessment. The program is organic, using practices common in Japan, where teachers work together to develop 5-6 effective questions for each lesson. These questions are embedded in the lesson. Teachers prowl the classroom while students practice what they have just been taught, quietly asking individual students and testing their understanding. Through this simple evaluation teachers can see and bridge gaps in student knowledge.

According to Wiliam’s plan the five key strategies of classroom assessment are:

· sharing learning intentions with students,

· eliciting evidence of achievement,

· providing feedback that moves learning forward,

· activating students as learning resources for one another, and

· activating students as owners of their own learning. (C.M. Rubin)

You won’t be surprised to learn that this simple technique has been packaged. This is dessert for publishing companies. With or without Professor Wiliam’s approval, this seems like overkill. Harry and Rosemary Wong have been touting these procedures for years. See First Days of School, http://www.effectiveteaching.com/ . The Drs. Wong produce many fine educational materials, but First Days is complete and following through gets results.

See article by C. M. Rubin at http://www.educationnews.org/international-uk/the-global-search-for-education-what-did-you-learn-today/

Here’s a summary of a conference with Dylan Wiliam, http://www.tielights.net/?p=526

Especially interesting point - students raise hands only to ask questions, never to give answers.

Teachers, can’t we devise important questions without the aid of textbooks, workshops and expensive programs? Yet again, an idea that is simple and effective will become complex and unproductive if we relinquish responsibility.

Dylan Wiliam is Professor Emeritus of Educational Assessment at the Institute of Education, University of London, teacher, teacher trainer, and director of a testing program.

Somebody’s Got It Right

While most US educators are fumbling around, throwing money down dark holes and trying new (unproven) initiatives, Tim King is putting us to shame and making the difference all educators say they long for.

King is the founder and President of Urban Prep Academies in Chicago. Urban Prep is a network of open-enrollment, public, all-male, college-preparatory high schools. He has found success for his students through identifying his students and their needs and directing all efforts full-force to engage, inspire and equip them.

From Wikipedia - Urban Prep structures its educational approach through four curricular and extracurricular "arcs":

§ The Academic Arc: a rigorous college prep curriculum with added focus on reading, writing, and public speaking skills.

§ The Service Arc: a focus on deepening the students' sense of responsibility and identification of community needs by completing volunteer programs throughout the area.

§ The Activity Arc: a focus on increasing students' confidence, interpersonal skills, and leadership qualities by participating in at least two school-sponsored activities per year (sports, clubs, etc.).

§ The Professional Arc: a focus on providing students with valuable experience in a professional setting by requiring them to spend one day a week within such a setting. This serves to reinforce character and leadership development in students, as well as providing for them a means of work experience.

Each grade level at Urban Prep is divided into six groups of twenty students, known as "Prides".

Prides compete with one-another for points awarded for good attendance, high average GPA, and through intramural athletic competitions. Alternatively, Prides may lose points for dress infractions, attendance violations, or other disciplinary infractions.

Everything a boy foundering on the streets of Chicago could need is here. We can look forward to a generation of competent, caring men if they model themselves after their teachers, mentors, and Tim King.

The Buzz: Technology

Technology is the main topic of Tweeter/Teachers these days, but is it the be-all, end-all that people hope? It seems obvious that technology is a useful tool, but that focusing spending on it will not solve any problems.

Our history as a nation has been that we spend money on every new program that comes down the pike without regard to the value of the program. You would think that with 50 education laboratories we could figure out what is important and worthwhile and spend accordingly.

http://www.educationnews.org/technology/are-technology-initiatives-in-schools-paying-off/

These Are Our Children

PBS Video Production by Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley put together an important presentation on the situation for young Black boys struggling to learn and succeed in America. The boys portrayed in the show, Too Important to Fail, had school trouble in their middle school years and transferred to high schools that were prepared to give them what they needed to be successful. While it is still too early to rate the effectiveness of the new high school programs through college graduation rates and career achievement, the boys are moving in a positive direction.

Smiley interviewed kids who said that their new schools connected them with adults who were on their side. For some, it is the first time an influential adult has listened to them.

Dr. Alfred W. Tatum, associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, brings this out in his annual African American Adolescent Male Summer Literacy Institute which gives boys an opportunity to improve their writing skills and express their perspective on life.

Dr. Tatum writes, “The United States has become a nation in which too many young people surrender their life chances before they get to know their life choices. This is particularly true for young black males who live in communities of turmoil. They are struggling to negotiate their existence amidst an awful national narrative that traps them within the limiting confines of blackness and maleness. Without a full recognition of their humanity, outsiders begin to look on as silent bystanders who have lost faith in the intellectual and creative prowess of these young males. Taking a cue from the outsiders, many black males have learned to become accomplices to their own failure.”

The 2008 Schott 50-State Report on Public education and Black Males, Given Half a Chance, cites some astounding statistics, most importantly,

More than half of Black males did not receive diplomas with their cohort in 2005/2006.

Principal William Wade, of Philadelphia calls these boys “victims of society.” These children are citizens of our country, born into circumstances that the rest of us know about only through sordid news reports or cheap action films. They have witnessed murders, have one or more parents in jail, live in high crime, drug-infested neighborhoods, sometimes without a parent or adult caretaker. Overall, the little we are doing for them is not working.

There are some bright spots. Smiley meets with former Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Arlene Ackerman. Her district promoted Promise Academies, with grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods Initiative. Urban Preparatory School in Chicago, http://www.urbanprep.org/, is a non-profit organization founded by Georgetown University Law School graduate, Tim King. As a charter school, it offers open enrollment through a lottery to ninth grade African-American males.

Watch the hour-long show,

http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=tavis%20smiley

or see a preview,

http://video.pbs.org/video/2119780838

take a look at the Schott Report,

http://www.blackboysreport.org/files/schott50statereport-execsummary.pdf

Join the Club by Tina Rosenberg

Book Review by Rosemary Moore

We owe a debt of gratitude to Tina Rosenberg. She has taken the idea expressed by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point and brought it to life in example after example. The concept is major social change though small human actions. Rosenberg’s subtitle: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World, says it clearly. She sites stories of overthrowing dictators, smoking cessation in teens, college math achievement for minority students, and more. Significant changes that improve lives can come though positive peer pressure. Everyone who has a stake in influencing others for good should read this book.

A librarian, attempting to encourage fifth graders to read five new books from a list of 20 had some enthusiastic readers. She also got these responses:

“The books are too long.”
“I don’t have time to read.”
“I didn’t want to do it this year.”
“I don’t like reading.”
“We have to read in class all the time.”

“Can someone read the books to me?”
“Is it OK if I read the books to Amanda?”
“Could I read one page and she reads one page?”

How can my librarian friend enthuse more readers? A pizza party didn’t cut it. And this is from one of the most imaginative, tech-savvy, student-loving librarians you will ever meet.

Since librarians don’t issue grades on report cards, motivation is tricky. Rosenberg might suggest glogging or texting book reviews to one another. And what about listening to the kids’ responses and thinking differently about them. Are they just being lazy? It’s possible. Are they craving social contact? For sure. They’re only a few months away from sixth grade. What if the librarian made a space for kids to come read together - temporarily designing a corner of the library like a Starbucks, and encouraging kids to text comments on their phones while “the readers” read aloud?

Things to understand when building positive peer pressure:

What are kids passionate about?

Being cool. Rejecting authority.

How can teachers turn their passions to their greater good?

Give them a way to be cool while accomplishing the goal. Get their input on branding the program or goal. Approach their trusted peers for a recommendation.

How can teachers use positive peer pressure to turn their students into involved, engaged achieving persons? What do you say?

The Fuss About Finland

Well, maybe the fuss is just about over. The Finns have revamped their education system and now they are rated #1 in the world. Can we expect to import their successful practices and institute them here? Greater Atlanta has the same population, not the same density, however, nor demographics.

How did Finland go from a country with severe economic and educational problems to #1?

· Their guiding principle was cooperation.

· They started with teacher education.

· They abolished national testing and most school inspections.

· Classroom size is limited to 20.

· School has become a place of personal discovery for students where they develop social competencies.

For more specific information see these sources: Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn About Educational Change in Finland? by Pasi Sahlberg

http://www.educationnews.org/ed_reports/157152.html

See the documentary, The Finland Phenomenon. http://www.2mminutes.com/products/pc/viewPrd.asp?idProduct=22

Sahlberg says, “A country’s educational system must be equitable, accessible, and flexible. Cooperation, not competition, is a principal pillar of educational system success. Also essential is a tremendous investment in teaching quality. But beware of standardized testing, as it will undermine the achievement of these objectives.”

What do you think? Can it work in the US? What are the most important takeaways ?

Why Education in Finland Works - YouTube

Why Education in Finland Works - YouTube: ""

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Feeling Like a Kid: Childhood and Children’s Literature

by Jerry Griswold

A Book Review by Rosemary Moore

In this day of eBooks, audio books and Kindles, it is easy to forget that holding a book in hand is an avenue for learning, as well as a pleasurable encounter. Yet, that is just what I experienced while reading Feeling Like a Kid, by Jerry Griswold, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.

The cover and binding are reminiscent of volumes I borrowed from my grandmother’s shelf. The heavy pages and well-chosen font add to the feeling of stepping back in time. Illustrations from favorite children’s stories illuminate the pages. The compact 6X7” size feels like it belongs in my hands, resting on my lap. The reading of it calls for a cup of tea.

Dr. Griswold has much to teach children’s authors, teachers and parents. He pinpoints themes that occur in classic children’s literature and reminds us of the qualities that cause a child to feel sympathy for a character and compel him to turn the pages. As I read about “Smallness: Growing Up and Looking Down” I had an “aha” moment about why older children can be notoriously unkind to their younger siblings. In order to grow up, they must look down and reject the ways of childhood. (This is not an excuse for bad behavior, but perhaps our understanding will lead to overcoming this behavior.)

The connections that made us reread our beloved stories, long after we knew the outcome, these are the qualities Griswold looks at through his hand lens: snugness, scariness, smallness, lightness and aliveness. These are still elements of the best children’s literature, and the author explains why.

So what’s new here? Perhaps nothing is new. One critic suggested that he could have produced the same themes. If I had been a student in Dr. Griswold’s class, assigned to read Heidi, The Borrowers and The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and identify five elements that have been admired in children’s literature throughout the ages, I might have come up with the list myself. Thankfully, I did not. Instead, I stumbled across this precious volume.

Pass the Earl Gray, please. I take mine with lemon.

Google Your School

I never expected a visit to Google to make me a better teacher, but it did. Google is the company known for its exceedingly fast Internet search engine. You type in a few words and in less than a second get 300,000 plus responses, many of which will probably answer your question. How do they do that? And what does this possibly have to do with education?

Google and other hi-tech corporations – Yahoo, Youtube and EBay - are successful because they have learned how to unleash creativity. That is what our schools should be doing, too. The time-honored method of teaching – lecture - requires brain surgery: opening students’ skulls and pouring information in (what psychologist and author, Carl Rogers, called the “mug and jug” theory of education.) Students study and are expected to recite what they have read, or what teachers have told them. Lecture is an efficient way to deliver concise information. However, the message is clear: “These 30 pages of text on the Civil War are all you need to know about the subject.”

Rather than diluting, distilling and spoon-feeding information, our job as educators should be to help students discover themselves, their talents and the exciting questions that need to be answered. We must encourage their creativity and their output. How can we do that?

I see a model for schools everywhere in what I observed at Google in Mountain View, California.

Google workers are connected to the world through the Internet. They have access to all the information currently available to answer their questions.
Google workers eat nutritious meals and snacks. You won’t find a soda dispenser on their campus. You will be able to savor three, free, healthy meals daily, as well as snacks.
Google workers collaborate on their projects. They share ideas and make discoveries. They spend their mealtimes eating outside on a patio, playing with ideas and sparking one another’s imaginations.
Google workers are free to stop “work” and play volleyball on a sand court, play an etude on the grand piano, take a walk or a swim.
Google workers have both individual offices and quiet open areas where they can think and complete their projects.

And, my favorite:

Google workers are expected to spend 20% of their time on the job pursuing an idea that interests them, chasing a sunbeam that may have no connection with their assigned work. At every turn they are rewarded for taking initiative.

If that’s not enough to motivate, Google corporate will financially support an innovator’s new ideas if he or she can convince two co-workers that the idea has merit.

Sounds like a dream, but I believe that students are capable of learning in a structured environment that offers comparable benefits.

Schools can offer every one of the Google incentives: Internet connections, brain food, time for play and collaboration, quiet space and community space, and time for individual projects.

I am not advocating the Summerhill School of the 60s in which students make all the decisions. I am advocating an environment in which students are given responsibility for their own learning and opportunities to explore their own interests - interests that will lead to a productive career and an inspired life.

The mission of educators is to break down the walls in our schools and provide opportunities for students to develop the inquisitiveness, collaborative framework, research skills, and confidence they need to meet the future.

One of Google’s mottos is: "work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun." Education should also be challenging, and the challenge should be fun. When we create an environment that fosters initiative, creativity, collaboration, and responsibility, we create life-long learners whose ideas may change the world.

Education in the News

Howard Gardner questions our view of success and suggests we look at values: "Good Work is about how we can help young people live a life of good work and good citizenship. We and the youth whom we hope to inspire should strive to live by 3 E’s, which are firstly, technical Excellence (the worker knows his work and keeps up with the latest knowledge and techniques); secondly, being Engaged in the world around us (it feels good, it feels right, and it is personally engaging); and finally, good work is good in a moral sense, and that means it is carried out Ethically in a way that is responsible."

http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/160324.html

The Emperor’s Not Wearing Any Clothes

Not the US emperor, nor the UK emperor.

OFSTED, the UK Office for Standards in Education conducts routine inspections in schools and reports directly to Parliament. Their web site claims, “we are independent and impartial.” Yeah.

The Telegraph indicates that supply (substitute) teachers are hired to take misbehaving students out of their regular classrooms during the inspections. But the inspections are “independent and impartial,” so how could this be?

Administrators who complain about bad behavior of students in a public venue turn up unemployed. Well, there’s always another side to the story. Surely the out-of-work deputy headmaster did something really bad. She didn’t get fired for telling the truth. Did she?

Whatever happened to parents sending well-behaved children to school and expecting them to respect their teachers and fellow students and work to the best of their ability? And what about students who do fit that description? How are they coping in the chaos?