imaginative teaching and learning: October 2011

A Different Kind of Assessment

I have a tiny pill that is completely safe, easy to administer, and you can give it to your students every day. It is absolutely guaranteed to make them attentive listeners, clear thinkers, careful speakers, expressive writers and lovers of books. Would you be willing to try it? I’d ask them to line up and stick out their tongues.

I actually have something that is better than a pill. It is a tried and true instructional method that works for students of all ages and abilities, and is especially effective for students with learning differences.

The method is narration. Narration is retelling. It is not memorization or parroting. Narration includes feelings and reactions that merge the spirit of the teller with the spirit of the author. It is an essay response to a broad, open-ended question, testing what the learner knows, not what he doesn’t know.

The primary purpose of narration is to glean understanding of material the first time it is presented and to make it one’s own.

Charlotte Mason developed this learning technique, like she did all of her methods, by observing students. She did not try to impose practices on them based on the work of some educational theorist. She did not try to teach as she was taught. She observed her students and prepared ways of learning that suited them. Benjamin Bloom, whose Educational Taxonomy we studied and were tested on in college, was not born until a century after the height of Mason’s work, yet she incorporated the Educational Taxonomy in her method of narration.

We use language to make sense of life. Our children are bursting forth with descriptions of events they have witnessed. We need to listen and encourage them to retell. All too soon we will say, “What did you do in school today?” and they will answer, “Nuthin.’” Listen while you can.

Mason teaches us that children’s minds reject “twaddle” or stale, dry texts. Therefore, until approximately the age of 14, she believed that children’s knowledge should come to them through “living books”: books written by the best writers a culture has to offer. These books should make events, people’s lives, and the stories of history live in the imagination of the child. These are not condensed books with watered down vocabulary, void of description, which qualify as twaddle.

Another educator, Neil Postman, says, “Without stories as organizing frameworks we are swamped by the volume of our own experience, adrift in a sea of facts. Merely listing them cannot help us, because without some tale to guide us there is no limit to the list.” That is why I love to read historical fiction. If I were given facts, for example, regarding the history of NYC, I would struggle to remember them. Instead, I am reading Edward Rutherfurd’s book, New York: The Novel, and I am absorbing fascinating details through the story. Stories can serve students just as well in math or science as they learn about the difficulties researchers had to overcome and the talents or hardships that brought them to their place of achievement. They will become champions of these people through stories, not sidebars in a textbook.

Why are stories a better avenue for learning than facts? Professor of Education at Gardner-Webb University, Carroll Smith, writes that stories are charged with emotion. Emotion is the cord that binds the reader to a text. For people of all ages the story provides the emotional energy needed to help us attend. Emotion drives attention. This attentiveness or engagement then helps the child in the narrating process.

What do you think of this idea? Next week I’ll share narration “how-tos.”

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson, Ph.D.

“The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves, most inspired, and achieve at their highest levels,” writes Sir Ken Robinson. Past work in creativity development, innovation and human resources have led him to this thesis.

In The Element, Robinson pursues the idea that following one’s passion and finding one’s “tribe” (mentors and peers who are in their element) brings each of us to a place of wholeness and creativity.

Enjoy a laugh or two with Robinson on YouTube: Creativity and Literacy

Robinson says, “My definition of creativity is ‘the process of having original ideas that have value.’ Imagination can be entirely internal. You could be imaginative all day long without anyone noticing. But you would never say that someone was creative if that person never did anything. To be creative you actually have to do something. It involves putting your imagination to work to make something new, to come up with new solutions to problems, even to think of new problems or questions. You can think of creativity as applied imagination.”

I think the argument can be made that the happiest people are those who find and live in their element.

This should be the objective of all schools: to prepare an environment in which faculty and students can live and work in their element every day. The electric charge given off by such schools would shock our economy out of the doldrums.

When are you in your element? What do you really love to do and be?

The Writing on the Wall

I grew up hearing this phrase from the Book of Daniel which foretells the collapse of the Babylonian Empire. Today the writing is about the collapse of the public school system as we know it. And this is okay because it's time for a change. We do not need to pump up a deflated system, we need to do what's best for kids.

Charter schools, some of which are run more like private schools, are finally making a dent in our education system. There is also an undercurrent, mainly heard on Twitter, from teachers who want more freedom in teaching.

Are Charter Schools better than other schools? It depends on what you measure. Their popularity is on the rise for numerous reasons. See:

http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/six-districts-with-charter-schools-enrolling-30-of-students/

Now parents have the force of law to back them up:

http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/empowering-parents-through-quality-charter-schools-act-passes/

Choice in education is better for parents and their children for several reasons:

· If schools operated more like businesses, paying attention to customer needs instead of legislative mandates, giving teachers more authority in curriculum development and classroom management, we would see greater achievement and better direction for our students. See an earlier post, http://teach2imagine.blogspot.com/2011/09/somebodys-got-it-right.html

· If schools are permitted to specialize, then teachers with particular talents and interests will be drawn to the schools where they can use their talents to make a difference. Students with talents and needs can do the same.

Does a governmental system ensure better learning for our students?

Can the U.S. risk taking a free enterprise approach to governing education?

What do you say?

Grading: Has It Outlived Its Usefulness?

Was it ever useful? Let’s answer that one first. Grading was useful when the school environment was modeled after factories where students were soon to be employed. Workers on an assembly line in the early days of the Industrial Revolution were told to be quiet and work for 14 hours a day.

In the new century, the Internet has brought about changes in how we live and work whether we are connected with it specifically or not. Workplaces are more like a web in their design, even when one person is the face of the organization. All workers, from low salary to highest have a say in the day-to-day operations, and sometimes in the future of their company. Businesses are looking for employees who care about the quality of their work and the success of the organization overall. In the U.S. we are no longer making so many widgets, now we need to focus on inventiveness, collaboration and quality. Will our educational system be ready?

Speaking at the 2010 Midwest Sociological Society, Diane L. Pike purported that the idea that grading motivates learning is dead. She makes a clear distinction between grading and evaluating.

"Evaluation is the process of making a judgment about the quality of work using either an explicit set of criteria or an implicit one... Grading is the step of assigning a summative symbol that represents overall performance."

Are grades really what motivates learning? Pike believes, "Interesting and relevant assignments, timely feedback, connection between student and teacher, connection among students, meaningful use of time — these things motivate learning."

In the late 19^th century, a founder of schools and a teacher’s college, Charlotte Mason, established a child-centered system of determining whether students were learning. She asked students to “narrate,” or “tell back” what they had learned. It is so simple as to be overlooked. Narration requires that a teacher, with assistance from parents and other volunteers, listen to the student’s answer to a broad question regarding subject matter. Narration measures what a student has learned, not what he doesn’t know.

Among the many benefits of narration, 21^st century learners will:

1. become clear thinkers,

2. careful speakers,

3. expressive writers, and

4. lovers of books.

What is this magic wand that does away with grades and develops even the youngest of thinkers? I’ll save the description of narration for another post.

What do you say?

Learning the Chinese Way

I observed as Mei-Lin, the nanny, taught eight-month-old Miles, along with her four-year-old son. Miles sat in a high chair while she provided treats. Mei-Lin went back and forth between the boys, showing them objects. Miles listened as she named the objects and repeated her words, then stuffed his mouth with the slightly sweet rice balls on his tray. He watched her every move for more than an hour as she spoke softly, adding multiple words to his Mandarin vocabulary. Mama and Dada are his only English words spoken at home.

Later, Mei-Lin told him it was time to go to the park. She wiped his hands and face with a warm lemon-scented cloth and placed him on the floor with instructions that I couldn’t understand. He sat more still than any eight-month-old I have ever seen while she carried her son’s bicycle down the stairs and onto the sidewalk, then Miles’ stroller, then came for Miles.

Miles was happy to be engaged in learning with an appropriate amount of freedom, choice, encouragement and reward.

What do you observe in this situation?

Occupy Wall Street

Kevin Wolfman does a thoughtful analysis of the participation of Gen Y job-seekers in the Occupy Wall Street Protest. Wolfman aptly calls our present situation: unemployment, underemployment, student debt, and thwarted ambitions, “a perfect storm of dissatisfaction.” He points out that educated people have a history of favoring civil liberties and nonviolent protests. Young graduates, hoping to use their education to make a better world for themselves and others, feel like their American dream is dead.

See: http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/kevin-wolfman-why-students-are-occupying-wall-street/

The First Discipline Is Self-Discipline

The personal discipline of students, more specifically lack of discipline, is a major factor in poor student performance. It is a shame because there is an easy remedy. When children are raised in an environment with routines they have the opportunity to perform well and demonstrate their competencies, which raises their self-esteem.

These home routines make life easier for all:

Respond to alarm clock and get ready for school without cajoling

Prepare own breakfast while parents prepare lunches

Do a share of dinnertime preparation and cleanup

Place dirty clothes in a bin, fold and put away clean

Maintain orderly (not perfect) bedroom

Manage own gear for sports practices and arts lessons

When expectations are set fairly and administered cheerfully, the child is free to be competent.

I see the value in Harry and Rosemary Wong’s, First Days of School. First Days shows teachers how to set expectations for the classroom and be sure that they are carried out. The work for the teacher is done in advance of class, and s/he can give instruction and guidance because all students are working productively.

Students want to do well, but some are afraid to believe that they are capable. A framework for discipline helps them to be successful.

Many teachers are dissatisfied with their profession. They think they should have attended a police academy instead of a college of education. If that’s the case for you, try establishing procedures.

What do you think?

Best Practice: NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month. The NaNoWriMo project was begun by Chris Baty in San Francisco in 1999 with 140 participants. In 2010 over 200,000 writers participated worldwide. Perhaps you, or some of your students, have ideas or an outline that you’d like to turn into a novel.

The object is to write 50,000 words toward a complete novel in one month’s time. There are now groups across the country meeting for inspiration, contemplation and write-ins, but most of the work is solitary writing and word-counts logged online.

Since 2005, NaNoWriMo has promoted the Young Writers Program, for kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Teachers who register their classroom receive a starter kit which includes reward items, lesson plans and writing ideas.

Students, as well as adult writers can participate in forums and local programs.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Steve Jobs: The Personification of Innovation

People worldwide grieve the loss of Steve Jobs, the incredible entrepreneur and designer, CEO of Apple, Inc. Jobs was visionary, not just for Apple employees and all people involved in technology, but for all people who want to make the world a better place – his mission.

This article speaks particularly to students and what they can learn from him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-what-students-_n_998584.html

Ask the Students: A New Approach to Curriculum Design

What do you want to learn this year? It’s a valid question.

Yes, there is a curriculum to follow. And yes, there are ways to enrich the stated curriculum. The current situation is one where textbook publishers have the power. They write the books, and some of them write the standardized tests. Hmm . . . I am the only one who thinks this is fishy? To make it easy for teachers, now there are scripts; next there will be robots. Instead, let’s plug our students’ interests into the curriculum.

Teachers can assign (and students may choose) projects that meet criteria for research, content and organization skills. Once students have chosen a topic they must decide how to present it. Here is one imaginative resource -

Glogster is a great medium for patching ideas and concepts on a poster. It is a social network that provides the means for users to design glogs (graphical blogs) on any subject. Although it looks like a poster, it has much more to offer. Glogs can capture the interests and interest of students

Students can use original text, photos, images, audio and video to display information on their projects. They can then place them in wikis, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. They can put the glog on a flash drive and present it to the class. Use by a teacher for up to 50 students is free. edu.glogster.com/

These glogs were generated by teachers, by students working independently, and as a class project. Take a look at these fabulous glogs:

These third graders will never forget this Owl Investigation.

http://sararodriguez.edu.glogster.com/owl-research/

Third grade English test prep designed by teacher,

http://sunrise651.edu.glogster.com/test-6-preparation/

French and Indian War project,

http://s4owua7.edu.glogster.com/french-and-indian-war-project/

This is a student’s response to an assignment on the Qin Dynasty.

http://pagesocstud094.edu.glogster.com/

Have you used glogs? Will you give them a try?

Best Practices - High Expectations

Perhaps the most beloved musical in Western culture is “My Fair Lady.” In 1912 George Bernard Shaw wrote the precursor, “Pygmalion,” a witty romantic comedy peppered with social criticism. To satisfy his curiosity, and win a bet from his friend Colonel Pickering, the opinionated, pompous Professor Henry Higgins undertakes to make a lady out of Eliza Doolittle, a poor girl selling flowers from a cart. Shaw based his script on the work of Ovid who wrote about a sculptor who fell in love with the statue he created. Much to his surprise, Professor Higgins fell in love with the person he created in Eliza Doolittle.

On one occasion, when asked how she learned good manners, Eliza explains, “It was very difficult. I should never have known how ladies and gentlemen behave if it hadn't been for Colonel Pickering. He showed me that he felt and thought about me as if I were something better than a common flower girl. You see . . . the difference between a lady and a flower girl isn't how she behaves, but how she is treated. I'll always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl and always will. I'll always be a lady to Colonel Pickering, because he always treats me as a lady, and always will.”

Leadership development expert Anthony Bell, http://leaderdevelopmentinc.com/, uses Eliza’s monologue as an entrée to discuss leadership. Bell recommends that we question our preconceived ideas and adjust our perceptions going forward. He asks:

· What are your expectations for them? Think several years out: what do you think they could become?

· When you look at them, do you see mostly weaknesses or strengths?

· If you see mostly weaknesses, are these weaknesses a matter of reality or a function of perception?

· If you were them, would you be flattered and challenged, or hurt and misunderstood by your perception of them?

· What would they say are your expectations of them?

· What strengths need developing that could make them shine?

· If you decide that your perception of their limitations is justified and accurate, in what role or context could they shine?

“Distance is the enemy of impact. You cannot deeply impact someone without getting close to them,” warns Bell.

What implications does this idea present to schools?

Hey Grownups - Stop Fighting and Let the Kids Learn!

The city of Boston’s Public Schools have agreed to work with the charter schools located in the city to boost college readiness for all students. It’s called a historic agreement which demonstrates how self-centered adults are when it comes to their turf. What about the kids? Aren’t they te reason we are teachers?

Thanks to Bill and Melinda Gates for providing a little monetary incentive.

http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/boston-reaches-agreement-between-city-charter-schools/

What do you say about this?

imaginative teaching and learning