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A Great Story Is Worth Repeating


Photo Courtesy of Google Images

If you teachyou know the story of Jaime Escalante who came to the U.S. from Bolivia lookingfor a better life for his family. Once he had leapt through the hoops (a ten-yearprocess involving odd jobs while earning another college degree) that lead toteacher certification, he taught calculus to students in a troubled Los Angelesneighborhood. We cried and cheered for the students’ achievement as we watchedJames Edward Olmos portray Escalante in the film Standand Deliver.
In the 1970s Garfield High School in East LosAngeles was an unlikely place for success. Escalante had the gift of seeing thegood in his students and he inspired them to believe in themselves and pushedthem to do the work required of all great achievements. In 1982 his students passedan advanced placement test in calculus. Educational Testing Service invalidatedsome of the test scores, believing the students had cheated. Escalanteprotested, saying that the students had been disqualified because they wereHispanic and from a poor school. That summer the students retookthe test and passed, proving their capabilities a second time. 
In 1988 a book (Jaime Escalante: TheBest Teacher in America by Jay Matthews), and a film (Stand and Deliver starring James Edward Olmos) chronicledEscalante’s success.

Escalante’s achievement at Garfield High is alesson to all who teach: See the good in others, inspire them to do their best,build a team to achieve.

What do you think?

Changing China



Whatever you have read or heard about China has changed. Themanufacturer of cheap junk is now the manufacturer of high quality technologyproducts.  The nation of farmers (thoughstill 70%) is becoming a nation of factory workers and executives. Poor childrenhave grown up to be successful entrepreneurs. National enthusiasm, hope for thefuture and economic infrastructure are all on steroids.

There is no way to understand the zeal of the Chinese peoplewithout visiting. You can feel it in the air, cut it with a knife, if you will.However, you can visit, and still not understand China.

As Americans at all levels of participation are agreeingthat our educational system needs an overhaul, we look at other countries tosee what makes them successful.

The educational structure of China, K-12, has been likenedto a toppling layer cake by Amber Winkler. In ten days in China she struggledto obtain honest answers to the question of educational governance: who decideswhat and for whom?  The answer appears to be a patchwork of government agencies at different levels of authority. Teachers have more autonomy at the elementary level where there is less pressure to perform. Overall teachers and principals do not seem to be able to influence hiring or curriculum. Her article is well worth reading, especially considering the blockbuster achievement of Shanghai’sstudents.

http://www.educationgadfly.net/flypaper/2011/11/postcard-from-china-chinas-tiered-cake-of-educational-governance/

Village School near Xi'an (C) Lewis Moore, 2011

My recent experience in China was as part of a tour group.It became apparent after a few days that we were seeing what the Communistleaders wanted us to see and hearing the stories they wanted us to hear. It wasstill a wonderful trip. There is a dynamism in China that I have never experiencedin my own country or in travel to Europe and South America.  People are willing to work hard, endure a lowerstandard of living, and sacrifice all for the betterment of their one child andthe children of China.  

The tiered cake is not likely to topple, or at least notwithout a save from the national government, because all the people of Chinaare focused on the good of all the children of China.

What do you think?

Teacher Education: The Arizona Solution

Courtesy of Google Images


If there is one comment I can remember from new teachers in the many schools where I have taught it is, “The College of Education did not prepare me to teach.”

Arizona State University initiated a program ten years ago that is working to dispel that feeling and make new teachers feel at home in all things school. The university now requires one full year of student teaching before graduation.

Student teachers study at local campuses while experiencing all aspects of teaching. They are involved in classroom instruction, team planning, mentoring and parent-teacher conferences throughout the year. The results, says Mari Koerner, dean of ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, is a well-prepared, confident professional.

http://asunews.asu.edu/20100823_iteachaz

Do you think this is a worthwhile system? Is this the solution for teacher education?

Happy Thanksgiving



Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. 
                                                                                                                                ~Theodore Roosevelt

The Paper Clip Project

In 1998, in the sleepy town of Whitwell, Tennessee, Middle School Principal Linda Hooper initiated a project with two teachers, David Smith and Sandra Roberts, which would gain support and recognition throughout the Western world. Hooper was concerned that her students lived in a cocoon in their town of 1,600, and did not have perspective on the larger society. She searched for an idea to develop tolerance in her students, and she produced a winner. The school began a voluntary after-school program for eighth graders to learn about the Holocaust.

Searching for a way to understand the enormity of the 6,000,000 Jewish lives lost, the students discovered the silent symbol of resistance to the Nazis worn on lapels by Norwegians: the paper clip. The students began to collect paper clips, boxes of 100 and handfuls at a time. They were getting nowhere. Determined to collect 6 million paper clips, they began publicizing their efforts, and the paper clips poured in.

The Paper Clip Project has taken on a life of its own. After Holocaust survivors visited Whitwell the students raised money for a memorial. Two newspaper reporters aided in bringing a rail car from Germany that had carried Jews to concentration camps. This now houses Whitwell’s Holocaust Museum and all the millions of paper clips that have been collected. 

The students have grown in their awareness of the word beyond Whitwell; they have developed a greater tolerance for all people who at first appear different from them, and they have become compassionate in responding to human need. Sometimes it is hard for one person to step out and stand up for justice, but these students have learned that together they can accomplish great things.  

The “Teacher App” — A Disturbing Vision

This column by Will Richardson is worth the time and consideration of all teachers, school administrators and parents. What learning environment do we want for our students? Who will benefit from the changes we make? 





In his response to a recent Wall Street Journal article touting rote online learning as the wave of education’s future, Powerful Learning Practice co-founder Will Richardson calls to action every educator who believes that great teaching is not only relevant but essential in the Digital Age.
Will’s comments (first published at his blog and then at Edutopia) match the spirit of our Voices from the Learning Revolution group blog, which shares the work and ideas of educators committed to creating a robust vision of teaching and learning in the 21st century. So we’re publishing them again in this space.

“My Teacher Is an App”

So I hope no one minds if I continue to try to document the ways in which “education” is being reframed in this country at the peril, I think, of losing everything that is best about schools and teachers and classrooms.
If you’re not up to speed with these reframing efforts, the above titled article in the Wall Street Journal this morning should do the trick. The canary is singing in full throat. And let’s not make any bones about it: the Journal has a vested interest in making the type of online learning it describes successful as it owns a large stake in many of the vendors trying to occupy the space.
The author would like us to believe that education is being “radically rethought” by the online and “blended” options that are available to students. But let’s be clear; the only things being rethought here are the delivery models of a traditional education and, most importantly, the financial models to sustain it and make lots of money for outside businesses who see technology and access as a way to not only line their pockets with taxpayer money but also bust the unions that stand in their way.
It’s a disheartening and disturbing vision of what an education might become:
Tipping back his chair, he studied a computer screen listing the lessons he was supposed to complete that week for his public high school — a high school conducted entirely online. Noah clicked on his global-studies course. A lengthy article on resource shortages popped up. He gave it a quick scan and clicked ahead to the quiz, flipping between the article and multiple-choice questions until he got restless and wandered into the kitchen for a snack.
And this vision is exploding:
In just the past few months, Virginia has authorized 13 new online schools. Florida began requiring all public-high-school students to take at least one class online, partly to prepare them for college cybercourses. Idaho soon will require two. In Georgia, a new app lets high-school students take full course loads on their iPhones and BlackBerrys. Thirty states now let students take all of their courses online.
It means the elimination of schools and teachers:
Although some states and local districts run their own online schools, many hire for-profit corporations such as K12 Inc. of Herndon, VA, and Connections Academy in Baltimore, a unit of education services and technology company Pearson PLC. The companies hire teachers, provide curriculum, monitor student performance — and lobby to expand online public education.
And the selling point is not just cost but personalization, which I’ve written about here before.
Advocates say that online schooling can save states money, offer curricula customized to each student and give parents more choice in education.
But this isn’t different. Notice the ways in which the “success” of online schools is being judged.
In California, Rocketship Education, a chain of charter hybrid schools that serves mostly poor and minority kids, has produced state test scores on par with some of the state’s wealthiest schools. Rocketship students spend up to half of each school day in computer labs playing math and literacy games that adjust to their ability level.
At Southwest Learning Centers, a small chain of charter schools in Albuquerque, NM, standardized test scores routinely outpace state and local averages, according to data provided by the schools. Students complete most lessons online but come into class for teacher support and hands-on challenges, such as collaborating to design and build a weight-bearing bridge. The high school recently received a statewide award for its students’ strong scores on the ACT college admissions test.
And don’t miss the point. It’s all about how we define learning. Listen to this one parent quoted in the article.
“I don’t think learning has to happen at school, in a classroom with 30 other kids and a teacher …corralling all children into learning the same thing at the same pace,” she says. “We should rethink the environment we set up for education.”
It’s an easy way for us to minimize the role of the teacher in a child’s education:
The amount of teacher interaction varies. At online-only schools, instructors answer questions by email, phone or the occasional video conference; students will often meet classmates and teachers on optional field trips and during state exams. Southwest Learning Centers requires just 14 hours a week of classroom time and lets students set their own schedules, deciding when — or whether — to come in on any given day. And in Miami, students at iPrep Academy work in free-flowing “classrooms” with no doors or dividing walls but plenty of beanbag chairs and couches. Teachers give short lectures and offer one-on-one help, but most learning is self-directed and online.
“If it seems strange, that’s because it is strange,” says Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Miami schools. But he sees no point in forcing the iPod generation to adapt to a classroom model that has changed little in 300 years.
Cut teachers, save money.
The growth of cybereducation is likely to affect school staffing, which accounts for about 80 percent of school budgets. A teacher in a traditional high school might handle 150 students. An online teacher can supervise more than 250, since he or she doesn’t have to write lesson plans and most grading is done by computer.
In Idaho, Alan Dunn, superintendent of the Sugar-Salem School District, says that he may cut entire departments and outsource their courses to online providers. “It’s not ideal,” he says. “But Idaho is in a budget crisis, and this is a creative solution.”
Other states see potential savings as well. In Georgia, state and local taxpayers spend $7,650 a year to educate the average student in a traditional public school. They spend nearly 60 percent less — $3,200 a year — to educate a student in the statewide online Georgia Cyber Academy, saving state and local tax dollars. Florida saves $1,500 a year on every student enrolled online full time.
Make war with the unions.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who co-founded the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which promotes online schools nationwide, says learning will be “digitized” with or without cooperation from the unions. “I’m happy to go to war over this,” he says.
And make, potentially, lots of money.
Last year News Corp. bought a 90 percent stake in Wireless Generation, an education-technology company that sells hand-held computers to teachers to help monitor student performance.
And there, in a nutshell, is the future. (And to be really scared, read the comments on the article.)
<rant>
Look, not for nothing, but if we don’t start writing and advocating for a very different vision of learning in real classrooms, one that is focused not just on doing the things we’ve been doing better but in ways that are truly reinvented, one that prepares kids to be innovators and designers and entrepreneurs and, most importantly, learners, we will quickly find ourselves competing at scale with cheaper, easier alternatives that won’t serve our kids as well.
No doubt this will be hard. And I wonder if we can pull it off. But here’s the other thing. It’s not so much about tools and technologies as it is about that learning thing. To be honest, I think we’ve all got to stop cranking out blog posts and Tweets that tout new tools and the “10 Best Ways…” and instead begin to make the case in our blogs and in person that technology or not, this is about what is best for our kids.
That in this moment, 20th Century rules will not work for 21st Century schools. That direct instruction and standardization will make us less competitive, not more. That those strategies will make our kids less able to create a living for themselves in the worlds they will live in. That as difficult as it may be for some to come to terms with, this moment requires a whole scale “radical rethink” in much different terms from the one Jeb Bush wants, the same type of rethink that newspapers and media and businesses and others are undergoing.
And it’s time to raise our game, write comments and op-ed pieces and journal articles and books, have conversations with parents (or at least give them some reading to do), speak up at conferences and board meetings and elsewhere, not about the wonders of technology but about the changed landscape of literacies and skills and dispositions that the current system, online or off, is not able to provide to our kids in its current iteration. That schools can be places of wonder and exploration and inquiry and creation, not just force fed curriculum, 75 percent of which our kids will forget within months of consuming it. That learning and reform as they are currently being defined are both nothing of the sort.
<rant>
“My Teacher is an App.” Really? If that’s fine with you, stay silent. If not, I don’t think it’s ever been clearer where the lines are being drawn.
You are the lead learner in your community. Not Jeb Bush. Not Rupert Murdoch. Not Pearson. You.
Lead.
– Will Richardson

Extraordinary Teacher


In 1992 I had the privilege of spending three days at Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, an academy for elementary-aged students on the Westside of Chicago. I’ll never forget what I observed there. Neither will I forget the taxi ride across town from my lakeside hotel. The buildings I saw through the taxi window looked like the pictures of bombed Sarajevo I had seen on the preceding night’s news. I couldn’t believe that I was in America. What good, I wondered, could happen in such a place?

Marva Collins, the esteemed founder and head teacher, scheduled seminars for educators as a way to raise money for the school. By the time I attended the seminar I had read her biography and seen Cicely Tyson’s portrayal of this great woman.

The school, located in an old bank building on Chicago’s Westside, would not have passed health inspections in some states. Collins’ methods would be rejected under today’s state standards. In spite of this, she was doing something magnificent: inspiring young children to read and think.

How did this woman from a segregated school in tiny Atmore, Alabama, become a person worthy of national acclaim? Collins remembers the good things about her life in the segregated South. Her parents encouraged her to learn and to believe in herself. Perhaps she was always a dreamer, ignoring her school’s lack of books and indoor plumbing, the rejection at the door of the public library where no people of color were allowed. She attended Clark College in Atlanta, taught for two years, and around 1960, participated in The Great Migration to Chicago. Collins married and taught fourteen more years in public school before her distress with the attitudes of coworkers and administration toward students left her in despair.

She started Westside Preparatory School in 1976. Collins essentially adapted the Socratic Method for elementary school students. The school offered strict academic rigor and no frills. Students took an hour break for lunch and played in the parking lot out back. There was no physical education, music or art. Instead they read and performed Shakespeare, studied Greek tragedies, history-makers, and enough math and science to get by.

Marva Collins is a hero for rescuing children from the streets of Chicago and inspiring them to learn and have great ambitions. These videos from a 60 Minutes program show what former students have achieved.



These seven-minute videos will blow you away!
Part 1:60 Minutes
Part 2: http://youtu.be/DxsCDyGSU1A

Classroom Feedback


When I teach a lesson, I want to know if my students have caught what I have taught. I may say I have spent three weeks teaching a particular subject, but when test time comes, the results show that the students did not learn it. Were they lazy? Did I miss the mark? 

Professors on college campuses are using a tool originally developed for businesses called Plus/Delta (sometimes called Plus/Change.) The tool is simple to use, and you may find it effective. Perhaps you can make midstream adjustments and avoid test shock. The first chart is for middle or high school classes.
Prepare a whiteboard or poster that looks like this:

PLUS +
CHANGE  ∆
What is helping me to learn in this class?
What changes are needed in this course to improve learning?
What am I doing to improve my learning in the course?
What do I need to do to improve my learning in this course?

Ask students to write their responses on post-it notes and update them. If they initial the notes you can reflect on the expressed needs of individual students and you will know who has not responded, the one’s you need to seek out.

Some students zone out because our style of presentation doesn’t speak to them. A small change on our part can make a big difference.

Here’s one for elementary school teachers:
PLUS +
CHANGE  ∆
Things I like in this lesson:
I get confused when:
I learn when I:
I can improve by:

One college professor gleaned this from a class:
PLUS +
CHANGE  ∆
Good pacing
Interesting topic
Hands-on materials
Everyone was participating
Good discussions
Lots of people shared ideas
Different activities to choose from
Monitor noise level
Limit sidebars
Slow pace of lesson
Model examples
Check for understanding with new vocabulary words

Teachers Writing Curriculum


Teachers have always written curriculum. That’s how we got started. Of late, we have left the writing of curriculum to textbook companies. Minnesota high school teachers have put a new twist on this. They saved their school district mega dollars, and students’ math scores on exit exams have improved.

Three teachers spent 100 hours each during summer break writing statistics curriculum to meet their state standards. The resulting textbook is available online. The beauty of the online text is that it can be updated continuously. “That's the cool thing about it,” Michael Engelhaupt, one of the developers said. “The book is kind of a living document.”

Could your students benefit from your efforts in this direction?

For more information read these articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/minnesota-teachers-write-_n_1084972.html

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/220538/

If You Want a Good Answer, Ask a Good Question

Then

Now

In the late 1800s a woman in the village of Ambleside, England, observed the keen minds of her students, and determined that she would offer a differ type of educational atmosphere from the new factory schools that were training village children to work on assembly lines.

Charlotte Mason developed narration, a method of questioning students that emphasized analysis, synthesis and evaluation.  Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist born in 1913, encouraged this type of questioning in his "Taxonomy of Learning." In 1918 Mason wrote, narrating develops the student’s ability to “generalize, classify, infer, judge, visualize, discriminate, labor in one way or another, with that capable mind of his, until the substance of his book is assimilated or rejected, according as he shall determine; for the determination rests with him and not with his teacher.”

Here are some sample questions to get your imagination working:

Preschool and Primary School
Math: 1.) Describe how you would make the number fifty-six using manipulatives. 2.) Explain the rules of carrying in addition. Illustrate for the class.
Literature: 1.) Sketch a fairy tale. Describe it fully. 2.) Select a fable from Aesop. Apply the moral to the story. 3.) Consider Helen Keller’s first meeting with Anne Sullivan. Relate the important events that foretold their future.
History: 1.) Describe the life of a boy in Ancient Egypt. 2.) Explain the problems encountered on the voyage of the Mayflower.
Science: 1.) What have you noticed about trees in autumn? 2.) Classify two different types of tree. 3.) Report all you know about the Hermit Crab.
Art: 1.) Tell about “The Four Dancers” by Degas. 2.) What is your favorite illustration from Where the Wild Things Are? How does Maurice Sendak capture your interest?
Poetry: 1.) llustrate “Ferry Me Across the Water” by Christina Rosetti. 2.) Describe the cat in Edward Lear’s poem, “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.”
Field Trips: Tell about your visit to the farm. Describe all you noticed about the ducks.

Elementary Grades
Math: 1.) Define perimeter and tell how to find the perimeter of a rectangle. 2.) Explain the principle steps in solving a word problem.
Literature: 1.) Describe a journey to Narnia. 2.) Describe the mood in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson when the news of Leslie is learned. Relate incidents, thoughts and setting.
Science: 1.) Describe seed dispersal of birch, pine and dandelion with an illustration. 2.) Draw a diagram of the eye. Explain how we view the world around us.
Art: Tell about the use of arrangement and color in Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.”

Middle and High School
Physical Education: What are three common sports injuries and can they be prevented?
Psychology: How are the beliefs of Carl Jung evident in religious faith today?
Street Law: What is the role of the court in a contentious child custody case?
Computer Application: Explain the procedures for mail merge to a novice.
Art: Explain the process, illustrating materials and tools, for developing a 3-D design from concept to finished product.
Dance: Discuss the dance element of energy. Cite its use in two performances you have studied.
Drama: Discuss the importance of drama games in developing quality performance.  Explicitly demonstrate from your first-hand knowledge.
American Government: In your opinion, which founding document best expresses the rights and
liberties Americans hold dear? Compare the strengths of this document to the weaknesses of others under consideration.
Algebra I: Name two algebraic concepts that are used in real world situations and explain their importance.
Chemistry: Define the Mean Value Theorem, defining terminology and providing a formula and illustration on an x-y axis.
Band: Tell all you know about “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin. Include structure, key, popular use in the era of its publication and production throughout the last century.

Every answer will require knowledge, and also a full understanding of the subject. As we think about our students, do we want them to be concerned about possibilities, or about marks and grade averages? Do we want students to develop interests as they proceed through school or to develop test-taking techniques? The answers to those questions are in our hands. 


Albert Cullum: Push Back the Desks


I first learned about Albert Cullum through an enthusiastic teacher, Cindy Frady. Cindy guided fifth grade students as they transformed their classroom into a Georgia O’Keefe Museum. I watched her students grow in their enthusiasm for art, business and event planning, and public speaking, as they prepared the museum conversion. Their enthusiasm and confidence ignited the school.

Another year Cindy taught Middle School English. She knew that most kids hate to study grammar, so she developed Grammar University. As students took turns being the professor they learned what all teachers know: if you don’t understand it, you can’t teach it. They willingly studied for exams, reviewed one another’s work, and revised their own writing.

Many of Cindy’s inspired ideas came from Albert Cullum’s book, Push Back the Desks. And push them back she did. By the time I had the privilege to see the results she produced, she was full of her own imaginative ideas.

Albert Cullum (1920 – July 2003) was a teacher in Rye, New York in the 1950s. He introduced his students to classic literature such as Shakespeare and Greek Dramas. Cullum was a proponent of learning through play, even with upper elementary students. He became a professor of education at Boston University and Stonehill College. 

Cullum’s dream was to become an actor, but when that failed, teaching chose him. He said, “Teachers can be bearers of gifts. Not only do we have the privilege of introducing great literature to young, imaginative minds, but we also have the priceless opportunity of giving each child the gift of believing in him or herself.”

Albert Cullum wrote numerous books on children’s education, including the following titles:
Push Back the Desks
(MacMillan, 1967) 
This classic book contains innovative ideas for all elementary school grades and curricula, including the “grammar hospital” seen in A TOUCH OF GREATNESS.
Shake Hands with Shakespeare
(Scholastic, 1968)
Cullum’s revisions of eight Shakespeare plays includes tips for costumes and staging.
Greek Tears and Roman Laughter: 
Ten Tragedies and Five Comedies for Schools
(Citation Press, 1970)
Cullum’s famous adaptations of Greek and Roman classics for budding dramatists of all ages.
Aesop in the Afternoon
(Citation Press, 1972)
These sixty-plus dramatizations of Aesop’s fables are suitable for younger students and include staging suggestions.
Murphy, Molly, Max and Me
(Delacorte, 1976)
In this fictional work, a child's friends, a dog, a doll, and a frog visit his teacher to see if they can work together to help him with a school problem.
You Think Just Because You're Big, You're Right 
(Harlin Quist, 1976)
Text and pictures examine the inconsistent behavior of “big” adults towards children.
Greek and Roman Plays for the Intermediate Grades
(Fearon Teacher Aids, 1993)
Cullum’s versions of ancient plays are adaptable for school children, but preserve the content of the originals.
The Geranium On The Windowsill Just Died But Teacher You Went Right On
(Harlin Quist Books, 2000)
Written in 1971 and reprinted in 2000, this best-selling and timeless commentary on teachers and education is inspiring and illustrative of Cullum’s philosophy.

A PBS documentary, A Touch of Greatness, was made about Cullum’s life in 2004 by Robert Downey Sr. The film includes scenes from his classroom and interviews with former students who became teachers, judges and company presidents.

Falling Behind


Fareed Zakaria has a thought-provoking article in the November 14, 2011 issue of Time. He begins by stating the problem: American education is declining while schools around the world are improving. The U.S. now ranks 26th in the world.

His remedy is not complex: study with highly competent professionals and work harder. Finnish students attend classes taught by teachers who represent 10% of the applicants to teacher training programs. In the U.S. teachers represent the bottom third of their college class. Zakaria notes that by the time South Korean students graduate from high school they will have spent the equivalent of two more years in school than American students.

What are we worried about? No one needs to understand physics to make beds and wait tables. As the U.S. becomes a service economy the Finns and South Koreans can visit Disney World and we can maximize their dream vacation while they’re here.

Whatcha think Mickey and Minnie? 

Zakaria's Facebook page and Wikipedia share this description:
Fareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-American journalist and author. From 2000, he was a columnist for Newsweek and editor of Newsweek International. In 2010 he became Editor-At-Large of Time magazine. He is also the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS, and a frequent commentator and author about issues related to international relations, trade and American foreign policy.

NARRATION: The Art of Knowing


When I find myself rereading passages of novels, or other books that I have chosen for pleasure-reading, I realize that I have lost my focus. A British educator, renowned in the 19th century, Charlotte Mason, developed a simple method of teaching students to retain information.  She wrote, “[The child] should be trained from the first to think that one reading of any lesson is enough to enable him to narrate what he has read, and will thus get the habit of slow, careful reading, intelligent even when it is silent, because he reads with an eye to the full meaning of every clause.”

If it sounds a bit Victorian, it is. Mason lived from 1842-1923, during Queen Victoria’s reign. Her greatest contribution as an educator came from her powers of observation. Instead of following the theorists of the time, she observed students as they went about the business of learning. Through this practice she developed the concept she called, “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.  In the process, students become attentive listeners, clear thinkers, careful speakers, expressive writers and lovers of books.

This method can be taught beginning in kindergarten. Students will refine it themselves as they listen to lectures or read research for a project.

How to Use Oral Narration in Class
1.       Briefly review previous material in order to awaken the mind and imagination.
2.       Lightly introduce a small portion of new vocabulary if there is a lot of it.  Minimize time spent on this as understanding of new words will be gained by context.
3.       Instruct students to listen with the intent of telling back.  Present the material once.
4.       Ask one student, and then another to narrate until the whole story or selection is told back. 
5.       If a student states something incorrectly during an oral narration, she should not be corrected during the course of it.  Let another narration naturally follow with the corrected version. 
6.       Move from shorter to longer passages.
7.       Use written narration once the student is confident in telling back orally. 
8.       A teacher can keep a written record as an evaluation of the student’s progress. I usually make a chart of significant points and check them off.

This is an effective way to begin narration with young children. More later on how to begin with older students.

Why Did You Do That?


It’s a legitimate question, but don’t expect a reasonable answer. According to professor and author Dan Ariely, we are Predictably Irrational. Ariely calls himself a behavioral economist, but he writes as though he is speaking to you from across the dinner table. He explains studies of human behavior that are engaging and will leave you wondering: how did the human race come this far?         

Teachers, especially teachers of teenagers, will find the people they deal with every day in the pages of this book. And maybe, after contemplation, we’ll understand them better.

See http://danariely.com/ or watch this TED Talk, http://youtu.be/JhjUJTw2i1M

Another Cheating Scandal


An enterprising college freshman has made a good day’s wage taking the SAT for disinterested high school students. Six students from Great Neck, NY, are charged with cheating on the SAT - paying a college student to take the test for them. More arrests are likely as the investigation widens to other high schools.

The arrests have me wondering:

I wonder where these high school students earned $1,500-2,500 to pay the test-taker. Most gifts for high schoolers are gift cards. Did these students ask grandma for cash instead? Did they have jobs that supplied the income? Did their parents knowingly give the money?

I wonder what these students thought they would do when they entered their first choice college on a falsified record. Apparently they did not expect rigorous requirements, or maybe they planned to pay someone else to take their exams and write their papers for the next four years.

http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/eshaghoff-and-6-more-nabbed-in-nyc-sat-cheating-scheme/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-c-vacco/whats-next-felony-gum-che_b_1028152.html

What do you think?