tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62320523068268941652024-03-13T06:20:58.150-07:00Inspired TeacherJenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-56844563598342708342010-12-01T19:13:00.000-08:002010-12-01T19:49:58.101-08:00Tips and Ideas for December<style>@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0in; }ul { margin-bottom: 0in; }</style> <p class="MsoNormal">Last night teachers in the 2010-2011 Inspired Teaching Institute shared strategies that have worked for them in response to common classroom challenges. Please share your thoughts and we'll update the lists! <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you encourage independent reading in your students? </span> <ul><li>Have books of various reading levels constantly available to the students and teach them <a href="http://www.booknutsreadingclub.com/fivefingertest.html">how to identify<span style=""> </span>books that are at an appropriate level of difficulty</a> for their personal reading level. </li><li>Topics of non-fiction reading should be current/popular things that the children are motivated to learn about. </li><li>Change the books that students see on the bookshelves so the library is never static. </li><li>Parent/student book club where all students in the class read the same book and their parents do too. At the end of the book they all come together and discuss the book over a meal (prepared by the participants). </li></ul><p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Describe a “right-before-winter-break” activity that has gone well in your classroom:</p> <ul><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Posters/art projects that combine seasonal imagery (turkeys, snow-scenes, winter hats, etc.) with writing (prompts such as: What are you thankful for? What traditions do you celebrate with your family in December?)</li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Communal meals in which every student takes a part (families are even better!)</li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span><a href="http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/a/aa020404a.htm">Making ice cream</a>!</li><li>Writing personal autobiographies - anything to do with "me" grabs attention.<br /></li><li>Service projects that incorporate social studies, language arts, and math - like working at local shelters, conducting food drives or penny wars - each project has lots of opportunities for research, reflection, building social skills - and applying academic learning in life outside of school.<br /></li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you address the needs of students who never understand directions? </span><br /></p> <ul><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Seek ideas/feedback from co-workers, parents, peers.</li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Give them written instructions to go with my oral instructions, or the other way around. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" ></span></span></span>Ask the child to repeat the instructions back to me. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Have students write down instructions given orally. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" ></span></span></span>Ask students to check their understanding of the directions by explaining them to their peers. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span>Give students time/strategies to be ready for the directions.</li><li>Have students act out the steps of an activity physically before sitting down to do it. </li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">What kinds of things do you do to “get back in the routine” when school starts again in January?</p> <ul><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Have students create New Year’s resolutions for what they want to accomplish in the second half of the school year. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Games that review and reinforce procedures/expectations. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>I let the students set up the classroom space (redesign). </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>I give a survey before winter break that gives ME feedback from the students about how they feel the class is going and what they want to see change. When we return from break I explain how I am using that feedback to create specific changes.</li></ul><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When do you have students teach each other? (And how?)</span> <ul><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>We do lots of <a href="http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm">reciprocal teaching</a>, complete with rubrics! <a href="http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at6lk38.htm"></a></li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>We are buddies with another class (younger students) and my students develop “lessons” to teach their buddies. They really have to understand the material to figure out how to communicate it to a younger audience. </li><li><span style="font-family:Symbol;"><span style=""></span></span>Often if I’m teaching a science unit with lots of components (about the planets, for example) I break the class into groups so each group becomes an expert on a particular part of the curriculum and then their project consists of creating a lesson to teach the rest of the class about what they’ve learned. Students learn about lesson design, facilitation, as well as really grasping the content at the highest level because they are able to teach it to others.</li></ul><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you get in touch with parents or guardians who are unreachable? </span><br /></p> <ul><li>Come to school early so you catch them when kids are being dropped off. </li><li>Stay late one day so you can catch them when kids are being picked up from after school programs. </li><li>Call at times that are convenient to parents – talk to students to figure out when those times might be. </li><li>Ask the principal for assistance. </li><li>Set up conferences at times that are convenient for parents – consider meeting on weekends when they might not be working. </li><li>Invite parents to school events either during the school day or afterward. Make the events inviting by including food. </li><li>Class plays or school-wide events can be good times to catch parents. </li><li>Talk to older siblings in the school to find out how best to reach parents. </li><li>Find out other family members you can reach out to – are there aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. who regularly come to the school for this child, or relatives of this child? </li></ul><br /> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-60712245615016525062010-11-23T12:55:00.000-08:002010-11-23T13:05:48.660-08:00Inspired Teaching in Action<style>@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> When Inspired Teaching Fellow Bri Zika was presented with the challenge of teaching her 7th and 8th grade Capital City Public Charter School students about ancient Mesopotamia she could have gone in several directions with the subject.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwrI6a_hTI/AAAAAAAABg8/pYRrAZSh0yk/s1600/poetryreading4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 177px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwrI6a_hTI/AAAAAAAABg8/pYRrAZSh0yk/s320/poetryreading4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542852673507657010" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A classic approach would have been to study pictures and texts and write formulaic essays about the specific contributions the culture made to our lives today. That’s how most of us were taught about ancient civilizations and unless we had a particular interest in the subject, most of us don’t remember much of what we learned.<br /><br />But Bri took a different approach. She recognized the disconnect between the study of a culture from 5000 years ago and the lives of her students today and she set to work finding a way to bridge that giant chasm of relevance. It’s best to explain what happened next in Bri’s own voice:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“In order to creat</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwsCgoNgeI/AAAAAAAABhE/_sbcKsfaSwo/s1600/poetryreading1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwsCgoNgeI/AAAAAAAABhE/_sbcKsfaSwo/s320/poetryreading1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542853663016190434" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">e student buy-in and interest, and to make the curriculum interesting and relevant to the students, we decided to tea</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ch the civilization through the lens o</span><span style="font-style: italic;">f </span><span style="font-style: italic;">the Iraq war. When the unit started, not one of the students in my class knew that we had waged war on a country that sat on top of the world's first ‘civilization.’ We showed videos of the looting of the Baghdad museum during </span><span style="font-style: italic;">the US invasion in 2003, and showed and read some of the news coverage that followed the invasion.<br /><br />The kids were full of questions and confusion following this introduction, so we spent the rest of the unit looking at issues of looting, fairness, and cultural ownership. We visited the Freer Gallery and the Natural History museum, and participated in exciting panels led by art historians, curators, relief workers, and international development professionals.<br /><br />We read Mesopotamia's ancient myths (Gilgamesh and Lugalbanda), and studied famous pieces of art and artifacts from the Babylonian and Assyrian cultures. To show their understanding of the conflict, my</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> students wrote double-voiced poems about the looting. After a 5-week introductory unit on poetry, they demonstrated their writing skills and content knowledge by choosing two voices: looters and guards, ancient ar</span><span style="font-style: italic;">tists and modern curators, Iraqi soldiers and American soldiers, etc, and wrote a double voiced poem from the perspective of these two voices. <br /><br />Andy Shallal, owner of Busboys and Poets, is Iraqi and has been incredibly supportive of this project since we first met to discuss our ideas. We created a partnership with Busboys and Poets so that the students could participate in a true, authentic poetry reading in that venue.<br /><br />Of my 52 7th and 8th graders, every single student wrote and </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwsbNH-BJI/AAAAAAAABhU/NTG9nhTqyMc/s1600/poetryreading3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwsbNH-BJI/AAAAAAAABhU/NTG9nhTqyMc/s320/poetryreading3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542854087277413522" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">p</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ublished </span><span style="font-style: italic;">a poem for two </span><span style="font-style: italic;">voices. Each was invited to attend the poetry reading, but none was required to go. They were not even offered e</span><span style="font-style: italic;">xtra credit! Voluntarily, 41 of my students came to present their work. It was quite a site to look over my shoulder as I walked down 16th Street and see a sea of 12-year-olds behind me. I asked, "Whoa- what are you guys doing?" I thought only a handful would come. And they looked at me like I had lost my mind. "We're coming to read our poetry!" It was truly moving.<br /><br />This event was a testament to what kids can do when you set high expectations and truly believe that they will rise to the occasion. When we first began the poetry unit, many students claimed they couldn't write poetry, they thought poetry had to rhyme, and they would never read their work in front of an audience. But the beautiful thing about poetry is that, if introduced properly and in the right context, it can provide an opportunity for every student to be successful. Some students' success looked like weaving a metaphor throughout both voices. For others, simply learning to use alliteration, </span><span style="font-style: italic;">and finding a friend in the thesaurus, was a huge success.<br /><br />By the end of this unit, every student was proud of something they had accomplished. The fact that so many showed up to read their work is a testament to how confident and proud they were.”</span><br /><br />Bri gives credit to her instructors at Inspired Teaching for some of the strategies she used in teaching this unit, but Dr. Julie Sweetland, who is one of those instructors, says, “Bri has done an amazing job of planning rich, relevant curriculum for her 7th and 8th grade students – as a result, a topic that might otherwise be found dry and irrelevant to students has been highly engaging and has stimulated students' intellectual curiosity.”<br /><br />Bri’s stude<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwsP3rCFxI/AAAAAAAABhM/EXJ2hrxhEKk/s1600/poetryreading2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/TOwsP3rCFxI/AAAAAAAABhM/EXJ2hrxhEKk/s320/poetryreading2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542853892540339986" border="0" /></a>nts are now studying Ancient Egypt through the question of whether the British Museum should return the Rosetta Stone to its native land. “This is a particularly exciting unit, because students are thinking seriously about language and writing, why we write the way we do, how we take meaning from images, and why our brains interpret symbols the way they do,” she explains.<br /><br />Perhaps the best testament to what’s taking place in this dynamic classroom is the pride Bri’s students are developing in their own abilities and work. The day after the poetry reading one of her students spontaneously asked if they could take a moment to give each other “shout outs” and “acknowledgements” for what they had accomplished the night before. <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"></span></p>Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-25269236349575516772010-10-11T20:39:00.000-07:002010-10-11T20:41:07.468-07:00The Meaning and Measure of Teacher QualityBy: Aleta Margolis<br /><br />Current events and movie releases have raised public awareness about education to a level we haven’t seen for some time. And talk about teacher effectiveness is front and center in the current debate. But we are mired in a circular argument regarding teacher quality, retention, and evaluation. The logic goes: if we hire good teachers, and get rid of the bad ones, education problems and inequities in our public education system will disappear.<br /><br />Quality teachers are more important than anything else in ensuring student achievement and we certainly need good people to make that happen. However, we not only need smart, engaging teachers, we must also change what we ask of them and how we train them. This is what is often missing in the debate – that all-important connection between teacher training and quality teachers. Isn’t it also about the difference between what the teachers produce and what children experience as they work toward that product? For example, an Inspired Teacher can get the same high test scores as an uninspired drill sergeant – what differs is what that teacher did with students to achieve those scores.<br /><br />At a U.S. House Education and Labor Committee hearing earlier this year scholars and senators alike wrestled with what it means to be a quality teacher, and that age old question: Are good teachers born or made?<br /><br />In her testimony, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers pointed out that students cannot do their best unless they have well-prepared and engaged teachers, and that we cannot expect new teachers to enter classrooms ready to work miracles when we know that the complex art of teaching requires thoughtful training and preparation. It is teacher training, “both initial and continuing, and not sanctions, rewards, or other incentives” which is key in getting there, as Dr. Deborah Ball, dean of the University of Michigan School of Education pointed out in her Congressional testimony, while lamenting that we are failing to adequately prepare teachers in this country. A “highly qualified” credential label does not guarantee good teaching or equate to high achieving students. A diploma is not a sure-fire ticket to ensure that teachers-to-be will be instigators of thought, or facilitators of life-long learning.<br /><br />The heated debates that surround us today are sure to put pressure on lawmakers to turn the quest for teacher effectiveness into policy. They must be careful to define what it means to be a highly qualified teacher in terms which echo how students learn in the classroom and beyond, not just what one single measure of a multiple choice standardized test can tell us.<br /><br />A wholesale cast change isn't going to fix education, we'll just end up with a new batch of perhaps well-intentioned, but inadequately prepared players in a flawed system, unless we change what we ask teachers to do and the way we train them to do it.<br /><br />In my 15 years experience working with teachers, I have observed that a high quality, exemplary teacher demonstrates:<br /><br /><ul><li>high expectations for all students and a belief in their desire to learn;</li><li>the ability to build a positive, safe, and respectful classroom;</li><li>many ways to assess student learning and use assessment data to improve instruction;</li><li>a commitment to ongoing professional growth, and</li><li>instruction that fully engages learners; An exemplary teacher is not just a provider of information, but is an instigator of thought.</li></ul>Becoming this kind of teacher requires ongoing training, support and reflection which challenges teachers to evaluate their teaching practice. It is a constantly engaging, 100% participatory, ongoing process (just like learning!) which allows teachers to collaborate with their colleagues, and use their own expertise and experience in building their practice going forward. Indeed, proper training is the missing ingredient from many attempts to improve teacher quality.<br /><br />We must push for quality teaching and quality teachers to be defined in a way that is good for children. We cannot turn away from tackling the complex and vital practice of teaching, making it possible not only for our students to achieve high scores on tests, but also for them to thrive for the long term. In supporting our nation’s educators, we must bring quality teacher preparation, from before they enter the classroom and on through the entirety of their careers, to the forefront of the teacher quality debate.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-22003212029402444122010-09-20T19:48:00.000-07:002010-09-20T19:58:13.676-07:00Caterpillars are Making Me Do Observation Push Ups<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bonnieplants.com/Portals/0/articles/Black-SwallowTail-Caterpillar-lg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 187px; height: 123px;" src="http://www.bonnieplants.com/Portals/0/articles/Black-SwallowTail-Caterpillar-lg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section</style>Our parsley patch has been inundated by <a href="http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg266.html">Black Swallowtail caterpillars</a>. The other day we brought a few into the house so we could watch them all day. We bought a live parsley plant, put it in a giant glass jar covered with a screen, and further removed the need for TV. <br /><br />It’s funny what you can see when you train your eyes to look for something new. Each day we’ve learned so much about these caterpillars not from the Internet but from seeing them live their lives on our dining room table. We observe how they eat a leaf in surprisingly fast neat little rows. We watch them change color and shape as they devour entire plants in a matter of days. <br /><br />One by one we’re watching each caterpillar go through its final molt, climb onto a branch, curl up into a tight apostrophe connected to the branch by a single silk thread, and like magic transform into a papery green chrysalis. It feels like a miracle every minute – so I have to keep reminding myself that what I am seeing is just life. <br /><br />We are waiting for wings. But it is hard to imagine these caterpillars that have become so much a part of our family will emerge into such different creatures after they complete their change. <br /><br />Watching this lifecycle so intimately each day has changed the way I see a lot of things. Strengthening the observation muscle, even outside the realm of the classroom, still makes it stronger in that context. With a group of students last week I swear I saw their eyes, their body language, heard their voices, felt their energy, just that much more.<br /><br />I am seeing the potential for butterfly transformations everywhere. The world is quite a wonderful place when viewed through the lens of wonder. <span style=";font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt;" ></span>Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-73019165697810584052010-09-08T20:55:00.000-07:002010-09-08T21:01:47.966-07:00Sillybandz and MotivationBy, Aleta Margolis<br />(Adapted from a speech at the 2010 Inspired Teaching Alumni Conference.)<br /><br />In almost every workshop we do over the course of the year conversations come up about on word in particular: Motivation. How do I motivate my students to learn? They’re motivated to play video games but completely unmotivated to learn math. How do I motivate myself to keep doing this hard job every day? How am I supposed to stay motivated when it seems like all the decision makers are going against my approach?<br /><br />In an attempt to explore these questions, let’s talk about Sillybandz. These shaped rubber bands are all the rage right now. Children are passionate about these things. They wear them like bracelets, trade them like we once traded stickers, and because they have captured so much of students’ imaginations – at the end of last year several schools went on the record publicly banning them from the building.<br /><br />This got me thinking. There are some things that definitely do not belong in school. But why is it that whenever our students become motivated by something they’re really interested in, like Sillybandz, we’re so quick to label it a distraction? Or seen through another lens entirely - Why is it that whenever we’re motivated by a new strategy that’s really working with our students it seems like someone’s looking in the doorway saying, “What are you doing? This looks like it’s distracting from learning.”<br /><br />I think it’s time to rethink the term motivation, or rather, to reclaim what it really means. As a society we’re conditioned to think that carrots and sticks motivate us. But in reality – when you’re really passionate about what you’re doing; when you’ve found an endeavor worthy of your focus and attention; when you’re fully engaged in the process of getting really good at something; or simply when you’ve found something you like – like Sillybandz, you don’t need carrots and sticks to hold your attention.<br /><br />So that’s why I’m going to go against the public education tide, and ask you to suspend your disbelief for a moment and consider the possibilities if instead of banning Sillybandz from our classrooms – we found ways to intertwine them with our instruction.<br /><br />Imagine this. You’re teaching whatever grade you teach this year, and by some bizarre natural phenomena right at this moment every textbook and curriculum guide in your classroom disappears. And in their place, you find piles and piles of Sillybandz. This is what you have to teach with this year. But, you still have to teach all the subject matter you would normally have to teach – just using this tool instead of the textbook. What could you do?<br /><br />Could you teach geometry using these shapes and ruler? Could they be used to create storyboards for creative writing? Could their physical properties be explored in science, or their variety be used explore the concept of species classification? Could research into their manufacturing and complex barter and trade systems provide a foundation for social studies? Could their colors and shapes inspire art exploration?<br /><br />What do you think would happen if we used Silllybandz to teach? Would your students be motivated? What would you have to do to establish the right conditions in your classroom so these things that seem like distractions actually become learning tools instead?<br /><br />I’m not suggesting by any means that Sillybandz become your sole instructional tool this year. But I am suggesting that we pause and reflect the next time we notice something that is capturing our students’ imaginations. Rather than jumping to the societal conclusion that their newfound interest is a problem – we take the time to wonder how we can make the most of that interest in an academic context.<br /><br />Can we turn that interest, that passion, into motivation? If so, perhaps our students have been holding the keys to this elusive, but essential, learning tool all along.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-19934707847465779942010-04-25T20:54:00.000-07:002010-04-25T20:57:07.605-07:00Challenging StudentsSchool was a challenge for my brother.<br /><br />Reports cards often included statements like:<br />“behavior remains a problem for Andrew”<br />“it is a challenge for him to sit still”<br />“he is working on keeping his hands to himself and not talking so much”<br />“he struggles to stay focused on the task at hand”<br /><br />Perhaps it is more accurate to say my brother was a challenge for his schools.<br /><br />This is because my little brother is brilliant. Throughout school he was almost always bored. Every call home to my parents contained an untold story of Andrew’s quest for something interesting to do.<br /><br />I know this is true because his best year in school, by far, was when he had a teacher who loved science as much as he did. She spent huge portions of the day doing hands-on experiments. That year Andrew’s report card looked very different. It said things about his creativity, curiosity, and eagerness to learn.<br /><br />At home, keeping my brother out of trouble was not hard. Supply him with interesting books about how things work and some broken appliances and he was hooked for hours. Let him play with tools and wood scraps and he’d invent something beyond your wildest dreams. Give him the chance to create games with the neighbors and he was in his glory.<br /><br />But traditional schools are not set up to handle people like my brother. He’s not the classic sit-in-a-chair-studiously-for-hours “gifted” kid that we’re taught to expect when we think of genius. But neither are most kids, and I don’t think that means intelligence is just exceptionally rare.<br /><br />Andrew grew up before ADD had a label and a medication. Perhaps today Ritalin would enable him to fit the mold better.<br /><br />But even beyond the possibility of a clinical diagnosis, as an educator I wish that Andrew’s teachers had understood him as well as his family did. Even if they didn’t have old telephones for him to take apart and put back together, his teachers would have been amazed by the knowledge he could glean at the age of ten from a scientific article. If they’d simply let him work with a partner on one of their uninspired assignments, he would have gotten the job done just because he would have been able to exercise his interpersonal intelligence.<br /><br />Challenge comes in all forms for children. What Andrew learned from the kind of challenge he experienced in grade school was that he could learn more outside the classroom than he could within it.<br /><br />I know he’s not alone in that discovery. He graduated, but countless other bored students simply get tired of wasting their time and don’t. How do we curb that tide? How can we create more of the educational challenge that engages, and less that makes students want to walk away? How do we make school meaningful for all children, not just the ones who can find meaning in a conventional instructional format?Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-83946058292517520322010-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:002010-04-05T19:06:48.032-07:00Can Standardized Testing and Whole Child Teaching Coexist? Only if Whole Child Teaching Comes First.In classrooms across the US students and teachers are busy getting ready for the big standardized tests that come each spring. These tests are often seen as antithetical to the whole child instructional approach. Although they have become too much of a focus in our schools, and have done damage to the reputation for creativity, spontaneity, and innovation that once made the teaching profession so exciting - for the near term they are here to stay, and we Inspired Teachers are here to stay, so it’s important to find a way to prove that good teaching (as we know it) and student achievement (as measured by these tests) are not mutually exclusive.<br /><br />The growing consensus seems to be that if you want students to do well on the tests, every moment of your instruction must place a laser-like focus on their form and content. It is true that an exclusively narrow and content (rather than student) -centered approach is incompatible with whole child instruction. If the tests are the sole focus of your instruction, and the only tool you use to measure student achievement, it is unlikely that your classroom is a place in which things like social-emotional needs, divergent and creative thinking, problem solving, and self expression get a great deal of attention.<br /><br />But here’s another way to think about the tests: in a classroom in which growing the whole child is a teacher’s focus, achievement on these annual tests will actually come naturally. More importantly, when a teacher looks at each student and figures out how to address his or her academic, physical, social, and emotional needs – she is teaching not for the test at the end of the school year but for the life-long aspirations and achievements that this child is destined to realize.<br /><br />It’s hard to argue effectively against the validity of standardized tests when their results so often mirror the inequities that exist in our educational system. We know things need to get better, most of us don’t think tests themselves are going to do the trick. As Inspired Teachers we believe and have seen that good teaching given its proper time and support will ultimately enable students to achieve. So here's a provocative idea, what if instead of defeating the tests on the basis of their shortcomings as comprehensive assessment tools – we make them superfluous because the whole child instruction our students receive prepares them to do so much more than simply fill in the right bubbles on a standardized test?<br /><br />If we move to make this point, achievement on these annual tests would simply become a side effect of good instruction – not its focus.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-23785711625363572382010-03-07T18:46:00.000-08:002010-03-07T18:48:27.809-08:00The Believing GameWhile interviewing an applicant to the Inspired Teacher Certification Program last week I was struck by something he said in response to a question about feedback and how he has used feedback in his life. He said something along these lines:<br /><br />“Whenever I’m in a situation where I’m hearing something for the first time, whether it’s critical, approving, hard to take, against my beliefs, whatever, I try my best to play the believing game. I listen with my whole self and take in everything I hear as if I were going to believe and take to heart every single word. When I have done this well, I know I have really heard the person speaking, and I have in my possession all the information I need to form my own opinions from what they have shared.”<br /><br />This applicant had a background in theater and perhaps that is why the “believing game” sounds so much like the exercises one does in improvisational acting to become a character, understand motives, or immerse oneself in a scene. But what a valuable tool for a teacher!<br /><br />What new things might we learn about our students and ourselves if we played the believing game more in our classrooms? What insights might we gain from being so fully present when listening to the voices of our children? How might the believing game change our approach to working with colleagues and administrators? What could practicing the believing game do to the culture of our school? If everyone listened to everyone more fully, what conflicts and misunderstandings would be avoided because everyone was being heard?Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-56391654426047243552010-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:002010-01-31T18:10:13.096-08:00Seeds of KnowledgeA few weeks ago I cut up an avocado for a salad. Leal, my two-year-old, was helping to put the pieces in a bowl. When I threw the skin and seed into the compost bucket, he started to protest.<br /><br />So I took them out and put them back on the counter.<br /><br />With incredible attention and focus he studied the leathery skins and showed me with amusement how they were different on each side. Then he set those down and picked up the seed with a huge grin. “Ball!” he said, and cradled it so carefully in his hands. He looked at that seed with what I could only interpret as awe.<br /><br />I had to dust off my imagination to see through Leal’s uncluttered eyes what would make an avocado seed worthy of such a grin. It didn’t take long to remember that it is kind of a miracle to find an almost perfectly round hard brown ball hiding in the midst of that squishy yellowy green flesh covered by that thick bumpy black skin.<br /><br />Leal played with that amazing seed for about an hour, talking to it, showing it his train, reading it a book, hiding it and finding it again. Eventually we balanced it in a jar of water. We’re waiting for it to grow. Every morning he asks to have his seed sit with him for breakfast. I imagine this is because I’m always telling him to eat so he’ll grow. He holds it and looks it over, pointing out changes. I’ve seen him try to give the seed eggs, but it’s never been very responsive to breakfast foods.<br /><br />Since the arrival of the avocado we’ve planted other kinds of seeds, and they have sprouted little green leafy heads that also must make their appearance at the table. Leal likes to pet them and talk to them. “Seed! Seed!” he demands as soon as he arrives in the kitchen each morning. We take them down and with great ceremony appreciate their beauty.<br /><br />When I think about the trajectory of our discoveries together since Leal first found his seed, I marvel at what teachers and students could learn if they had the same freedom of time, imagination, and curriculum.<br /><br />I set out to make a salad – but together we found the magic of seeds. What wonderful things like this are being missed each day because we focus so much on finding the things we know, and not on the things our children can teach us?Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-48778963540472350382010-01-18T13:54:00.000-08:002010-01-18T14:01:10.286-08:00Whole-Child is hard, but can we stomach the Part-Child approach?I’ve never met a teacher who didn’t agree that teaching the “whole child” is important. Talk to anyone who has been in the classroom for even a few weeks and they’ll be able to give you myriad examples of the physical, emotional, and intellectual growth – and needs – of their students.<br /><br />But nearly every teacher I know has struggled mightily with the notion that she can actually create a classroom environment that fosters growth in all these areas equally.<br /><br />The pressures of the school system are one huge obstacle.<br /><br />The challenges and demands of life outside of school, both for the students and the teacher, present another.<br /><br />There just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day, or enough hands on deck, to ensure that every child gets what he or she needs between when the first bell rings and the last one stops ringing.<br /><br />So is it an impossible dream?<br /><br />No.<br /><br />But like anything of value it takes time and effort to make possible.<br /><br />I have met teachers who:<br /><br /><ul><li>Incorporate movement into every class period even though what they teach is high school Chemistry. </li><li>Meet individually with every student each week to conference about reading, even though they have well over 100 students. </li><li>Put responsibility for class rules and expectations in the hands of students, even though the students are only 4-years-old.</li><li>Achieve the highest test scores in the school without students ever knowing they were preparing for a test.</li><li>Strengthen classroom community by eliminating desks, even though they’re teaching middle school science. </li></ul><br />Teaching is not an easy job. If we put a <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> benevolent spin on current trends in education we can say that decision makers are attempting to make the job easier. The further we move away from teaching the whole child, the less we have to do. Teaching part of a child is certainly less work.<br /><br />But in the future will we be okay with the knowledge that our schools only partially educated our society? If we succeed in teaching all of our students how to do well on these tests, will they also do well on the tests of life – tests that rarely have fill-in-the-bubble answers?<br /><br />And if such forward thinking makes us uneasy today – is it not our responsibility, and indeed our opportunity, to find a way to do things differently?Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-34946707676249589762009-12-07T16:33:00.000-08:002009-12-07T16:38:17.976-08:00Musical Chairs (and Desks)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/Sx2f3CIFSiI/AAAAAAAABbc/gMR9zfk8SsY/s1600-h/School-Desk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 121px; height: 130px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/Sx2f3CIFSiI/AAAAAAAABbc/gMR9zfk8SsY/s320/School-Desk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412658094981597730" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~ Steve Jobs</span><br /><br />My journey to becoming the English teacher I wanted to be was mostly about learning to trust my own instincts and filter the advice from others. Today I know that it is also about knowing that I will never reach the perfection I seek - the journey towards that goal is what matters.<br /><br />When I think back on my early days in the classroom I realize that there was a very visual way to see the evolution of my confidence: the arrangement of my desks.<br /><br />Phase 1: Rows (assigned seats)– easy to move around, easy to move students around, not great for community<br /><br />Phase 2: Small Groups (assigned seats) – easy to move around, hard to control without good classroom community, bad for whole-group discussions, hard to keep focused without engaging lessons<br /><br />Phase 3: Concentric Semicircles (assigned seats)– better for classroom discussions, hard to move around, harder to manage student conflict in, still not easy for everyone to see each other<br /><br />Phase 4: One Big Circle - great for classroom discussion, hard to move around quickly to be physically near students, okay if you’ve got good classroom community (which by now I was starting to get)<br /><br />Phase 5: Flexible Seating – Every day is a new day, arrange the desks to fit the lesson, trust students to sit where they are going to be most successful<br /><br />Getting to my final classroom-setup took time. It took trial and error and understanding of the fact that what works for other teachers doesn’t have to work for me. I went through all these configurations in just 4 months, but what I learned at each stage was essential to moving on to the next.<br /><br />Though it frustrated me to not get it right the first, second, or even third time – I came to realize that if I wasn’t learning as a teacher, I probably wasn’t being a very good teacher. To this day, I pick myself up after every instructional disaster and find peace in the knowledge that this exact fiasco won’t ever happen again.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-49524115969213833432009-12-03T07:37:00.000-08:002009-12-03T08:13:32.713-08:00My Learning Story(Reposted from <a href="http://rethinklearningnow.com/">Rethink Learning Now</a>)<br /><br />I recently read through the Gates report - <a href="http://www.civicenterprises.net/pdfs/thesilentepidemic3-06.pdf">A Silent Epidemic</a>, which chronicled the real reason public schools fail to graduate and adequately prepare our young people - namely boredom in school, and not being pushed to succeed. A solid half of students who drop out are talented and capable. They possess the skills for success, but they do not see how their school experience is meaningful, how it connects to the future. Most importantly, they are not challenged to try hard or apply those talents, by either their peers, who feel the same sort of ambivalence and ennui about the drudgery of school, or their teachers, who fail to connect textbook curriculum to the real world. I think back to my own public school experience, and these findings ring true.<br /><br />I graduated in the top ten of my high school class, was an honors/AP student, and a success by most standards. (I now have both a B.A. and an M.A. from prestigious private universities.) However I too was bored out of my mind, and performed most of my work out of a sense of duty, responding to a dreaded chore list in all but the one class where I had an inspiring teacher - Mr. Lawrence, who challenged our assumptions, and pushed us beyond adequacy. He treated us with respect and affection, as if we were his own children. He opened our eyes that textbook history always has an agenda, and to be thoughtful of what that agenda is, what the perspective of those who lack power might be, and to never assume that just because we read something in a textbook, that meant it represented the truth. My class painted a mural portrait of him as a surprise, while working on a community project after we finished preparing for the AP exam. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, that teacher was fired because he did not fit the mold. He taught us to think outside the box, and the box seemingly had no place for a non-conformist like him.<br /><br />When I skipped study hall, a period where attendance and silent participation was mandatory, in order to do an independent study with that very teacher, I got written up and sent to the vice-principal's office. I unsuccessfully tried to argue against the rhetoric of blind rules and compliance. As a student of relative privilege, given my high class standing and good grades, I still chaffed at the lack of room for personal growth, personal responsibility, and most importantly, freedom of choice. However, I had parents with high expectations, and I never once considered dropping out as an option. But what of all those students who don't? They end up as statistics, a sad testament to the inadequacy of de-individuated, traditional public schooling.<br /><br />This is what fuels my passion for education reform today. There is no reason why we should continually be forced to conform to the same old standard of one-size-fits all schooling. A standard which paints all students with the same wide brush, and leaves so little breathing room or support for creativity and intellectual curiosity; a dreaded "waste" rather than the path to self-realization and opportunity it was meant to be. Remember that credo - "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkayCY5paMM">Be cool, Stay in school?</a>" It is our responsibility to make sure that school can be the meaningful experience worth "staying in" for.Tatyanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12323553004942120823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-15246819959290825902009-11-23T11:19:00.001-08:002009-11-23T11:20:40.900-08:00My Service Learning Birthday Present<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/SwrgeT-QVqI/AAAAAAAABbU/3YMfQmoo8Zs/s1600/birthdaycake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/SwrgeT-QVqI/AAAAAAAABbU/3YMfQmoo8Zs/s320/birthdaycake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407381113973790370" border="0" /></a><br />I never considered myself spoiled as a child but my parents did everything under the sun to make sure that my siblings and I never wanted for a thing. Birthdays and Christmas were designed specifically so dreams came true. Every year. Without fail. And this is probably why on my 15th birthday they gave me a gift that forever changed my life.<br /><br />My birthday just so happens to fall on April 25, and on this particular day in 1992 Berkeley, CA was celebrating Christmas in April. But this celebration turned out not to be about presents. On the morning I turned 15 we got up at the crack of dawn, dropped my siblings off at Grammy’s, and drove to a falling-apart house in a falling-apart neighborhood. There were swarms of people all around the house with shovels and paint and saws and brushes. For 9 hours that day I worked alongside my Mom and Dad fixing up this place for a poor, wheel-chair-bound, old lady.<br /><br />I will never forget discovering how to measure and cut wood for a ramp, learning about lead-poisoning as I scraped away old paint, imagining the stories behind the unfamiliar pictures that hung on rusty nails throughout the house, feeling shocked that someone had to live this way… but mostly I remember the beautiful cacophony of all these strangers working joyfully together to do something kind for a woman none of us knew. What a gift to witness such a thing at the ripe old age of 15.<br /><br />I can honestly say that this single day transformed my understanding of what it meant to be a human among other human beings. I had always been taught to be kind to others, but I had never really thought about the heights to which this lesson could be taken. This was more than sharing with my siblings, or inviting the unpopular girl to a party. This was more than being polite or waiting my turn. This was truly giving of my time, energy, and thought to another person –without any expectation of anything in return. And it felt really good.<br /><br />Nearly twenty years later I find myself working as an educator, on behalf of educators – and I know the life choices that led me to this vocation began with the simple seed of that experience. When I consider the long-term effects of that single day - I often wonder what would be different in our country if every child started his or her 15th year this way.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-88335186261033493012009-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:002009-11-08T13:16:39.564-08:00A Request to be Radical"I know that this is exactly what my students need but..."<br /><ul><li>"I can’t do that." </li><li>"I’m not allowed to." </li><li>"That’s not how it’s done at my school." </li><li>"My lesson plans are already written by someone else." </li></ul><br />Over the past few years I’m hearing things like this more and more when I do workshops with teachers around Inspired Teaching strategies.<br /><br />What strikes me most in their resistance to applying these methods is the up-front acknowledgment that this is in fact what would be good for their students. Teachers are a smart bunch. As keepers of the developing intellect of our population they kind of have to be. They didn’t go into the profession to do what’s “wrong” for kids. But several times a month I hear from teachers who say that they find themselves spending a lot of time going against their beliefs in the classroom.<br /><br />They battle the difficult fight between doing what keeps the people in charge of their jobs happy and doing what they believe is in the best interests of the young people in their charge.<br /><br />This is not a fight teachers should be waging. With so many tiny potentials at stake their full energy should be focused on nurturing the flames of curiosity and knowledge into bonfires of possibility.<br /><br />But they know, and I know, that you can’t make school what it should be for children if you’re fired from your job in the process.<br /><br />So this is what I tell my doubtful colleagues:<br /><br />Yes, you must teach the standards you are given and by and large they are not bad standards if we view them as guideposts on the journey of intellectual discovery.<br /><br />Yes, you must turn in your lesson plans and plug them into that cumbersome grid and format so that your principal can take one quick look and be reassured that you’re teaching those standards she’s required to have you teach.<br /><br />Yes, you must keep these textbooks in your classroom and find pieces of them that are relevant when people want to see that the money they invested in textbooks isn’t going to waste.<br /><br />But,<br /><br />No, these requirements are not excuses for denying your students the education you know they deserve. If you must become guerrilla Inspired Teachers – grow the trees of knowledge up around your classroom so true learning can go on.<br /><br />What are these trees exactly?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Student work</span>: that you post in the hall, on the wall, in the principals’ mailbox, in classroom performances you invite others to see. If you dazzle them with what your students are capable of doing they will spend less time questioning your technique.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Research</span>: Document your own strategies and successes and share what you find. Also, pull in outside resources for back-up. For instance, if you’re using a lot of movement in a school, where movement is frowned upon. Share an article that makes the case for this approach to raising student achievement. Your instincts aren’t alone – there are teachers and researchers like you all across the country who are similarly aware that this stuff works!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Strategic Alliances</span>: It’s much easier to do something brave when you’re not doing it alone. Find a colleague who also wants to think outside the box and partner in your efforts. Plan together, observe each other, give and receive feedback, then when the questions come flying you have someone by your side who can help fire back.<br /><br />We have to remember that even though the powers-that-be often seem to be working at cross purposes to our own goals for our students, they also didn’t enter into this profession to do what is wrong for children. Given evidence, research, and support to back an innovative approach to learning –I think we as teachers would be hard pressed to find a principal who would shoot our efforts down. Of course this takes more work than simply being compliant to the whims of the head office, but if it makes us sleep better at night (and not just out of exhaustion) because we know <span style="font-style: italic;">students</span> are benefiting, then extra work is worth it.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-2969518277191080542009-11-05T20:23:00.000-08:002009-11-05T20:36:51.096-08:00Fostering Imagination May be the Key to Real School Reform<span style="font-style: italic;">This is a response written by Aleta Margolis to the October 20, 2009 New York Times Op-Ed entitled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/opinion/21friedman.html?em">"The New Untouchables."</a></span><br /><br />In Thomas Friedman’s ‘The New Untouchables’ he points out the changes we’ll need to make in our education system in order to rebuild an economy that can thrive into the future.<br /><br />Friedman dares to list ‘imagination’ among the skills schoolchildren need to develop in order to succeed in the workforce.<br /><br />In today’s climate where accountability rules and high test scores have become the goal of schooling, assigning a value to imagination seems radical.<br /><br />Here in Washington, DC where one in four children live in poverty (according to 2009 US Census data), there are those of us working to boost student achievement—make sure students can read, write, add, and subtract—while simultaneously sharpening students’ creativity and intellectual imaginations.<br /><br />But it’s an uphill battle. Creativity, imagination, and even the ability to think are hard to measure. And some believe that these so-called ‘soft’ skills are a luxury for kids who are struggling to master the basics of reading and writing and math. However these critical thinking skills are what make a good education stick – ensuring that students remember what they learn beyond the day of the tests.<br /><br />If the goal of schooling is indeed to educate children and young adults, then we need to see standardized test scores for what they are—an indicator of progress, not an end in themselves. And we need to abandon teaching strategies that focus solely on test preparation and leave little time for students to inquire into areas of the curriculum that interest them.<br /><br />It’s time for a radical reevaluation of the way we think about schooling in America. It’s time to ask ourselves some tough questions about the path forward. Are we okay with the notion that creativity and imagination are a luxury? Should the development of those skills be reserved for those students who first master ‘the basics’? Or might the development of creativity and imagination actually enhance students’ ability to read, write, add, and subtract—not just on the day of the test, but for the long term?<br /><p class="MsoNormal"></p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p>Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-414278902378540052009-10-23T08:02:00.000-07:002009-10-23T08:03:36.275-07:00Remembering and Honoring Ted Sizer, 1932-2009<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">Dr. Ted Sizer, who died on October 21, was considered by many to be the greatest educator of our time. His writing, his teaching, and all he stood for profoundly influence our work here at Inspired Teaching. He described in vivid detail the sights, sounds, and visceral experience of walking through the halls of American schools. He shed light on the way the structure of our education system forces teachers into roles that undermine their ability to teach and their students' ability to learn. But Dr. Sizer did not simply bemoan the failures of our educational system. He believed he could make it better. And he did, in a manner that respected the dignity of students and the adults who teach them.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">His Essential Schools, of which there are over 150 nationwide, provide a wealth of examples of what good schools, and good teaching, look like. Like anyone with the audacity to go beyond critiquing the status quo and offer a concrete alternative, Dr. Sizer had his critics. But just as he encouraged teachers to learn from one another as 'critical friends,' Dr. Sizer learned from his critics as well as his many, many supporters and admirers. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">I started Inspired Teaching fourteen years ago as a young teacher who felt a deep sense of frustration with the state of teaching, and an equally deep sense of hope in the potential of teachers to transform our profession. Ted Sizer's work had a profound influence on me as a young teacher, and continues to guide my thinking today.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">In Dr. Sizer's obituary, </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102782325240&s=4032&e=001ZKhfAy8iI1mOMAiz0Un1aqk0f5fqQpUW_Et93QyRdMEFnTIgd_INzwkNrr6reecZgkG0JpKxy-TFd8G-dtd4p8hx-IIEuKz_w8iRJQBCnYO3teTJN-E9kcY7yqFrMEvfp7kZOZZZEz5kbSoglTTV70qMA_FL9WDnvxj5wM2e2vLSrLoxGLp_lg==" target="_blank" track="on" linktype="link"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The New York Times</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> offers the following quote from his most famous book, <i>Horace's Compromise</i>, "Inspiration, hunger: these are the qualities that drive good schools. The best we educational planners can do is to create the most likely conditions for them to flourish, and then get out of their way." Those who knew Dr. Sizer best, his colleagues at the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102782325240&s=4032&e=001ZKhfAy8iI1nQt1BroiXE4c_F9OmbsA06x5KsnyRkLNzc6zg7EAq2-02MroRWgYA8MyKvr0_6iLn7XO1HZcqX-xsbhUh7D-B6sGA8nMybRg6yS07g659uycbRuBSo95fm_Ie_vAcW2RbDjNZt3rQ57j6ymK8apf6xKuoW6B2E62xaYeTR1Vf4XQ==" target="_blank" track="on" linktype="link"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Coalition of Essential Schools</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> and the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102782325240&s=4032&e=001ZKhfAy8iI1mGmlgTUih8R16-PqVbiEn-Qnk3baEokki9kDUVrBVyjc4GrH15NmESoytiEFWp0j_6wc5ch3NeAITiL72m0JX-Dddr0CeKENKXLwmEWZbfUt5X1X405h6ckXBI76nvIhF8gg5U5WkEryh7iZV5EGJ2TAwELB8lOl-Mmvp5BhR4uZj1a-FAp0ac" target="_blank" track="on" linktype="link"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Forum for Education and Democracy</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">, have written beautiful tributes, which I encourage you to read.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">To all our friends, and especially our Inspired Teaching staff, mentors, and teachers: I urge you to keep learning about Ted Sizer, keep reading his books, keep grappling with the powerful questions he poses. He has much more still to teach us.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; color: black;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; color: black;">Aleta<br /><br /><img id="_x0000_i1025" src="http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs028/1101676672567/img/171.jpg?a=1102782325240" alt="small signature" name="ACCOUNT.IMAGE.171" border="0" /><br /><br />Aleta Margolis,<br />Executive Director,<br />Center for Inspired Teaching</span>Tatyanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12323553004942120823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-12979312649201513552009-10-14T09:04:00.000-07:002009-10-14T09:06:45.098-07:00Education Reform: Beyond Buzz Words<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >Education reform has its share of buzz words, given the slew of innovation-this, 21<sup>st</sup> century-that talk which has been keeping politicians and education reformers busy lately. Just ask <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeb_Bush">Jeb Bush</a>, who gave the keynote address at last week’s <a href="http://www.excelined.org/Program/ViewPage.aspx?pr=4&pc=21">Excellence in Action 2009 Conference</a> in Washington D.C. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >The conference, “A national education summit for the country’s leading policymakers to share the latest research, lessons learned, success stories and strategy” concluded on Friday, delivering a program chock-full of presentations by international heavy-hitters in education and bite-size slogans on education reform strategies. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >In his <a href="http://excelined.org/multimedia/viewmultimedia.aspx?path=uploaded/Schools%20Matter%20Jeb%20Bush%20Innovation%20and%20Technology.flv&title=Governor%20Jeb%20Bush%20at%202009%20Education%20Commission%20of%20the%20States%20National%20Forum%20on%20Education%20P">keynote address</a>, Bush declared that </span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >“To really transform education, we need to embrace the fundamental concept that education should be custom-designed to maximize every child’s god given capacity to learn.” </span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >If this sounds like a an impassioned plea for reform à la Inspired Teaching, think again. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >Though Bush talked about keeping kids engaged, organizing curriculum around students’ individual interests, and other child-centered approaches, his speech was also full of alarming metaphors and familiar empty rhetoric. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >Here is an example:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >“Frankly, if Walmart can track a box of cereal from the manufacturer to the check-out line, schools should be able to track the academic growth of a student from the time they step in the classroom until they graduate.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >I cringed when I read this. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >Comparing public school students to boxes of cheap cereal should give anyone who values students for the individuals they are, certain pause.<span style=""> </span>That kind of language speaks volumes about the entrenched <a href="http://www.schlechtycenter.org/">factory-model of education</a> we are still working against. (Watch the <a href="http://www.schlechtycenter.org/">informative video</a> at the Schlechty Center for School Reform.) Likewise, the speech described dozens of grocery-aisle milk options, in a nonsensical attempt to introduce the idea of customized curricula. Much like a glossy breakfast cereal commercial which claims that artificially sweetened clusters in nature-defying colors can be “part of a balanced breakfast,” this speech aims to dazzle, but fails to satisfy, leaving an over-blown and flimsy impression of what education in the 21<sup>st</sup> century really means if one is to fall for the buzz-word-heavy hype.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >Despite an earnest intention to advocate for a customized, creativity-fueled affirmation of education, time and again politicians can’t seem to break familiar habits of <span style=""> </span>traditional top-down tactics. The tell-tale signs in such speeches belie their lofty goals and often point out an alarming, if unsurprisingly disrespectful view of both students and teachers. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >It is notable that Bush mentioned teachers only in relation to technology in the classroom. In addition, the kind of digital innovation he described is a far cry from the <a href="http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today">digital divide</a> faced by students and teachers in urban public schools today. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:12;" >Inspired Teaching works from the <a href="http://www.inspiredteaching.org/research.php?p=methodology">research-based</a> understanding that <i style="">teachers</i> are key to reforming education, from inside the classroom out. <span style=""> </span>But that’s not what you hear from politicians these days and it’s not what’s being pushed on the national reform front. We need the leaders tasked with making changes to our school systems to mature beyond the catch-phrase and to develop a deep understanding of what makes education reform possible. Our doors at Inspired Teaching are open whenever they want to learn, and perhaps when they do, the keynotes at educational conferences will give us reason to applaud. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Tatyanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12323553004942120823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-79556195445323604582009-10-11T19:22:00.000-07:002009-10-11T19:25:33.547-07:00Music must be in us.When my 4-month-old son started sitting in a high chair next to the stereo we discovered that he could dance. He couldn’t crawl, sit by himself unassisted for very long, or say anything… but he could dance. My boy has rhythm and any time he hears something with a beat he’s got a move to go with it.<br /><br />This week he’ll turn 18 months and the dance moves have grown more complicated and the reaction to music has grown even more immediate. Watching my son grow into a love of music makes it clear to me why my students always seemed so engaged when the CD player was on in our classroom. I think music must be in us because the joy it brings us even as infants - seems to be innate.<br /><br />There is <a href="http://www.sound-remedies.com/musforbabmus.html">plenty of research out there</a> to suggest that my observation is not unique – and (contrary to my own belief) my son is not some musical genius because he can make a statement on the dance floor at less than 2-years-old.<br /><br />Music is in us and it’s ignorant of reality to think that teaching children should happen without it. Whether we use it in the background to set the mood in our classroom, or discuss it as text to illuminate content music can be used to bring order to chaos or convey ideas.<br /><br />Music is a very versatile classroom tool and as I am sure most parents can attest it also happens to work wonders in the home!Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-87340298617731127972009-09-25T11:37:00.000-07:002009-09-25T12:35:40.797-07:00Who reminds you of why you became a teacher?<span style="font-size:100%;">Last Saturday we asked the 2009 Cohort of Inspired Teaching Fellows to share stories about students who remind them of why they became teachers. This is a "word cloud" generated from their responses:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/Sr0RJ76F-RI/AAAAAAAABVw/mHTG0R02Esg/s1600-h/wordl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 183px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IfpmfIqKZOk/Sr0RJ76F-RI/AAAAAAAABVw/mHTG0R02Esg/s320/wordl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385479591802829074" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Here are synopses of what some of the fellows said:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >(The names of students have been removed to respect their privacy.)</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />I am a teacher because of M. On your average day he is way too cool for school, roaming the halls, skipping class. But one afternoon I sat with him to talk and after all of my questions he’s been doing work and is more trusting of me.<br /><br />~ Travis Barnwell, Middle School English Teacher<br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I am a teacher because of S. Before parting ways at the end of this week, we had a caring conversation and I had the chance to ask him a lot of questions. I tried to show him we care for him and we will continue to do so. That’s why we’re here.<br /><br />~ Tim Street, Kindergarten Teacher<br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I am a teacher because of J. She gets into trouble for being to dramatic and wild in other classes, but in English class she comes alive. She loves making meaning out of personal experience, reading aloud, demonstrating the emotional component of what we read. She is such a strong leader. Every day I get a hug from her and she says, “you know you’re my favorite teacher, right?”<br /><br />~ Anne Atwell-McLeod, Middle School English Teacher<br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I am a teacher because of N. He reminds me of myself at his age, needing a guiding hand in keeping his mind occupied with meaningful work so he doesn’t get bored and in trouble by doing something else.<br /><br />~ Rob Otterstatter, Middle School English Teacher<br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I am a teacher because of D. He failed his even/odd quiz and was having lots of problems. But afterschool I saw him crying and asked why. I found out he was being bullied and he asked to come to my room to do homework. We went over his quiz and after only a few minutes he grasped the entire concept and was able to redo all his problems.<br /><br />~ Catherine Currie, 2nd Grade Teacher<br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I am a teacher because of M. He is very active and easily distracted by books. Whenever we are doing something in a circle he wanders off to the library and gets lost in a book. I worry that someone is going to squish this love for reading and thirst for information so I try to encourage it whenever I can.<br /><br />~ Monique Phillips, Pre K Teacher<br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I am a teacher because of J. She is excited and enthusiastic about learning, sometimes to the extent of being deafeningly loud. I am always patient with her volume control issues because the reward of seeing her face light up is so great. But I have seen her completely shut down when other adults get angry with her (for screaming). She reminded me that she needs a teacher like me.<br /><br />~ Allison Rose, 2nd Grade Teacher</span>Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-18939016236260988452009-09-25T10:43:00.000-07:002009-09-25T10:49:31.698-07:00Getting it Over With(This is a reprint of an editorial Aleta Margolis wrote in 2004)<br /><br />I just finished doing the dishes and I am rewarding myself with 2 cookies. It changed my whole outlook on cleaning the kitchen…I worked quickly, and even smiled as I envisioned myself sitting at a freshly cleaned kitchen table with two chocolate chip cookies and a big glass of milk. <br /> <br />Doing dishes is drudgery, a necessary evil, a means to an end. It’s something you just jump into, rubber gloves and all, and get it over with. There’s little inherent enjoyment. So it’s nice to know there’s a cookie (or 2!) waiting when it’s over. <br /> <br />School’s the same way. You get through the homework, the worksheets, the textbook, the chapter test, and—more likely than not—a sticker, piece of candy, or even some cash meets you at the other end. And what’s wrong with that? You work hard, you get a little appreciation from the teacher. <br /> <br />Except for the whole drudgery thing. <br /> <br />A teacher’s job, simply put, is to get students to do their work. A common mechanism used to make schoolwork important is reward (stickers, prizes, etc.) and punishment (detention, missed recess, etc.). This is usually carried out with little thought or concern as to the long term impact on children.<br /> <br />But it merits further investigation. We ought to wonder what message children receive when they are routinely rewarded with stickers, candy, cash, and the like for completing their schoolwork or for behaving in class.<br /> <br />They might be receiving this message:<br />Schoolwork is drudgery. We, your teachers, sympathize with you—so much so in fact that we’ll give you something good to look forward to once you get your schoolwork over with. (If you doubt that schoolwork is drudgery, ask yourself: Would I enjoy math worksheets? Reading aloud from a textbook, one paragraph at a time? Memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution?)<br /> <br />Or this one:<br />We don’t expect all that much of you. So when you do complete an assignment, or do something nice for a classmate, we’re so excited that we’ll reward you, in hopes of getting you to keep on working and/or behaving.<br /> <br />Or, worst of all, this one:<br />There’s no joy in learning—so do it for the cookie.<br /> <br />I’m not suggesting that teachers should be in the business of making schoolwork easy, or even fun. Far from it. I am suggesting that schoolwork should be interesting, challenging, worthwhile, and nothing at all like drudgery.<br /> <br />Effective teachers take on the difficult and complex task of making schoolwork itself important. They take the time to find out what’s interesting and exciting about math, reading, science, etc., and start there with students. This isn’t just about making kids feel good: when schoolwork is inherently interesting, students work harder, and learn more.<br /> <br />Rewards don’t cause boring teaching, but they do help facilitate it. Students will put up with a lot more drudgery if they know they’re working for a reward. <br /> <br />School without the cookies can be pretty bland. If you take away rewards, school is a lot like doing the dishes. We need to take a careful look at what we ask children to do in school and make sure it’s worthwhileJenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-14560767434284176002009-09-13T13:52:00.000-07:002009-09-13T13:58:51.933-07:00In a Pinch I Teach PoetryThe following idea was submitted by Julie Sweetland, Director of Research and Teacher Education at Center for Inspired Teaching.<br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Here was the scenario in my classroom years ago: I hadn't spent much time on planning. Faced with a long stretch of time and not a lot of preparation, I pulled out William Carlos Williams' famous poem 'This Is Just to Say.'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This Is Just to Say</span><br /><br />I have eaten<br />the plums<br />that were in<br />the icebox<br /><br />and which<br />you were probably<br />saving<br />for breakfast<br /><br />Forgive me<br />they were delicious<br />so sweet<br />and so cold<br /><br />by William Carlos Williams<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I prefaced the poem with the story behind it...it started as a note to his wife, and when he found it later, he realized it was in perfect meter. The personal story always hooks the students. Then I asked:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">What makes these words a poem?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Do you think William C. Williams was really sorry?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Have you ever done anything that made you feel like you needed to say ‘forgive me,’ but you were secretly glad you did?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Then I had the students write their own 'apology' poems. Here are a few.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Paper Cut</span><br /><br />I am sorry, paper<br />for cutting you really really fast<br /><br />That's why you are probably in pieces right now<br /><br />I was cutting fast<br />and drowned you in glue<br /><br />I know you're really angry<br />but it was just for fun<br /><br />Sorry<br /><br />--Marquette<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"My Cellphone"</span><br /><br />This is just to say<br />I'm sorry for losing you for a week<br />in my dad's car<br />you might have been so lonely<br />just sitting there waiting for someone to find you<br />you were just sitting under<br />the dark black scary car seat<br />anyway<br />i apologize<br /><br />--William<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"To the Paper"</span><br /><br />I always took pencils.<br />I scribbled all on you.<br />I balled you up and threw you<br />right in the trash.<br /><br />I know you always wanted to stay alive<br />but I have to put you in the garbage<br />that is just how it is.<br /><br />Don't blame me if you don't stay white.<br />But I am sorry<br />for using you<br /><br />-Alexus<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"That Old Door"</span><br /><br />the door that i slam<br />when i'm mad at my teaher<br />and the paint comes off<br /><br />this is just to say<br />i slammed you<br />and you fell down<br /><br />-Rajanique<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And my favorite...based on a true story, when the child had actually driven a car at age 6.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Sorry, Car."</span><br /><br />Sorry I drove you<br />and crashed you<br />into another car.<br />To me you looked so fun.<br />I thought it would be very easy.<br />I didn't really mean to scratch you<br />and leave a big dent in the front.<br /><br />But you shouldn't blame me.<br />Blame my sisters and cousins.<br />Could you find a way to forgive us<br />Deep in your engine? --RakiaJenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-57517006455240475402009-09-04T11:14:00.000-07:002009-09-04T11:18:17.679-07:00Education in Context: Looking Ahead, Looking Back<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Here is a familiar scenario: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span><i style="">Parents, community members and the media are outraged. Business leaders claim that today’s education fails to adequately prepare tomorrow’s workforce. Headlines criticize: “Is the public school a failure?” “How much do our schools cost the taxpayer?" And what sort of education are they getting in return? Issues of teacher incompetency and erosion of education quality prevail in the public consciousness. Superintendents across the country bring in consultants and use business tactics to run public schools, promising to lower drop-out rates through more rigorous standards and greater accountability. As a result, teachers’ ability to control their own classroom and curriculum implementation erodes. Teacher unions protest. <o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Now take a guess as to when such a scenario could have taken place.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="">Was it last year?</span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="">Ten years ago?</span><o:p></o:p><br /><span style="">How about 100 years ago?</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><u1:p></u1:p>Believe it or not, the scenario above was the state of American education roughly at the turn of the century. The headline “Is the public school a failure?” ran in the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ladies’ Home Journal<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>in 1912. Business leaders testified at the NEA “advising, urging, and warning them to make education more practical” in 1908, citing what at the time was seen as frivolous attention to impractical subjects – like literature, art, and Greek. Concerns that should be familiar to anyone working in education reform today. (Just replace Greek with Latin, or another similarly under-appreciated scholarly subject.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">In chronicling the rise of a professional class of education administrators who turned to brandishing business credentials in running their schools, Raymond E. Callahan compiled many such scenarios in his book –<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ViP3zBznZkQC&dq=Education+and+the+Cult+of+Efficiency&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=KVihSq79JJWg8Qbs8vHSDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false">Education and the Cult of Efficiency</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>(University of Chicago Press, 1962)<i>. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">The stories are painfully familiar – but not unexpected in a country that is still attempting an educational experiment found nowhere else in the world. Offering free education, K through 12, to every citizen of the United States is a bold goal in and of itself, particularly given the challenges educators face. Ensuring that this education is of high quality and effective has been, of course, another matter entirely.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Please stay tuned to my future Friday posts in the Inspired Teacher blog. </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> I hope to present many more such revelations and lessons learned as I delve into the questions of how our current system of education came to be. I am finding that the<span class="apple-style-span"> current push towards innovation and the cultivation of new </span></span><span class="IntenseQuoteChar"><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/04/16/29standards.h28.html?r=478779452"><span style="color: rgb(79, 129, 189);"></span></a></span></u></span><a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/04/16/29standards.h28.html?r=478779452">Common Standards</a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> echos the struggles of educators in the 20<sup>th</sup> century, even as we are forced to reckon with them in the 21<sup>st</sup>. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Tatyanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12323553004942120823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-26744036259264229962009-08-07T11:45:00.000-07:002009-08-07T11:50:01.725-07:00Top Five Inspired TipsThere are many resources available about getting into shape. Here are our “Top Five Inspired Tips” to get back into shape as a teacher:<br /><br />5. Breathe—Remember letting out a big, loud sigh after Mental Math exercises at the Inspired Teaching Institute? Try it in your own life and it can keep you moving to the next lap.<br /><br />4. Dance—Why do kids feel so much more comfortable than we do with moving their bodies? Put on some music that makes you happy and excited and let loose! <br /><br />3. Find a dependable route—Find a place where you feel comfortable planning for class. It might be in your classroom; or perhaps a quiet coffee shop. Turn off your cell phone and remember how it feels to have those magical teaching ideas take shape in your mind.<br /><br />2. Connect with your “Jackie Joyner-Kersee”—Jackie Joyner-Kersee was one of the top female athletes and won many gold medals for track and field in the Olympic games of the 1990s. Imagine training for a marathon with her! Connecting to a teacher that you admire will inspire you and challenge you to reach your teaching goals. You might have met him at a workshop; maybe she’s an author that you like to read. Introduce or reintroduce yourself as a fan and as a teacher with a great deal to offer.<br /><br />1. Stretch—Take a few minutes to stretch every inch of your body, from your eye brows down to your tiny toe. Then reach for the solid ground beneath your feet. Reach for the height of your dreams. You are ready for a great year!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-43161150488187881662009-08-03T18:56:00.000-07:002009-08-03T18:59:17.036-07:00Keeping the Door OpenThis summer during the Inspired Teaching Institute we were working through the question of how teachers can help to not only change their own practice, but change that of their peers as well. We discussed the typical school phenomenon where teachers close the doors to their classrooms so they can exercise freedom to teach the way they know they should, in relative obscurity.<br /><br />In devising their own leadership strategies for next year, one teacher responded to this “closed door” tendency with a simple goal. “This year I will keep my classroom door open.”<br /><br />That statement sticks with me today as I think about getting ready for the fall. It is so brave in its simplicity. “I will keep my classroom door open” means:<br /><br />I will not be afraid to do publicly what is right for children.<br /><ul><li>I will share my best practices with my colleagues and not be afraid of their judgment or curiosity.</li><li>I will take the risk of failing publicly if the new things I try don’t go well the first time I try them. </li><li>I am confident in my approach to teaching. </li><li>I am comfortable with students’ behavior and with what people will think of them, and me, when they pass by. </li><li>I am setting an example that I hope my peers will follow. </li><li>I want to step into other open doors besides my own. </li></ul><br />“I will keep my classroom door open” may seem to be a simple goal, but it is a huge step towards breaking down much of the norm in our current educational system. If, as teachers, we all opened our doors –imagine what synergies might emerge! Just think:<br /><br /><ul><li>How much time you could save lesson planning if you collaborated more with your peers!</li><li>What new strategies for building classroom community your colleagues might have up their sleeves!</li><li>What supplies you could avoid buying on your own if you shared with other teachers!</li><li>How many new ways you could try to reach a challenging student if you talked with everyone in the school who knows him or her!</li></ul>The list goes on.<br /><br />It’s not a coincidence that wherever you find people tackling major challenges, you tend to find them working in supportive groups. Marathon runners, smoking quitters, dieters, community organizers, they all know the magic of working in numbers.<br /><br />Finding peers who share your goals enables you to push through the hard times when you feel like giving up, and to celebrate your victories together when you achieve major milestones. Human beings are social creatures and we do not tend to make our greatest advancements in isolation. Why should the art of teaching be any different?Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6232052306826894165.post-68077558577268745732009-07-13T08:56:00.000-07:002009-07-13T08:57:15.693-07:00The Art of Being a Child – How Quickly We Forget.I just shared the last two weeks with an incredible group of educators in the 14th Annual Inspired Teaching Institute. As with every year, this program brings us the best and the brightest of DC’s passionate educators and by the end of the summer session we all emerge changed for the better. What struck me this year was the recurring theme amongst participants that the summer experience “reminded them of what it was like to be a child.”<br /><br />That has always been the first step in our training process for educators, but it was eye opening to be part of the rediscovery process. On the first day our activities feel uncomfortable. Running around with a magic scarf, singing, sitting in a circle, making sculptures with our bodies – all these things feel so foreign and as adults we are very self conscious in such seemingly new experiences.<br /><br />The irony, of course, is that we are doing with great difficulty the very things we did so easily as children. We “know” how to imagine a red ball without seeing it. We “know” how to play a game. But we’ve boxed away our ability to do these things freely because these are the “idle pleasures” of youth and have no place in the seriousness of being an adult.<br /><br />I could make the argument that every single adult profession would be enhanced by a greater connection to the pleasures of childhood. Simply putting the muscles of our imagination through regular exercise would make scientists better experimenters, fighter pilots quicker problem solvers, and lawyers more innovative arguers on the courtroom floor. If these professional shirk a connection to their inner children, their potential suffers but probably not much else.<br /><br />However, as teachers I think we can actually do harm to students if we let ourselves get too far from what it means to be a child. At the very least we stunt their growth.<br /><br />In any profession the most successful practitioners are those who know their material intimately. As teachers our “material” is both the content we uncover, and the children we teach. So how can you know a child without reconnecting with what it means to be one?<br /><br />I’d say you can’t. So where to start? Pull from the storehouses of your own memory. Talk to the children in your lives. Go on an investigative journey and simply observe the young people around you.<br /><br />But since it is the summer, and the weather has been unusually nice, and its never to late to try something old – anew. You might be best served in this endeavor to find a willing young person and ask him to be your teacher for the day. Grab his hand, don’t look back, and be.Jenna 4nelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12599678278705597321noreply@blogger.com0