Inspired Teacher

Tips and Ideas for December

2010-12-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

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!

How do you encourage independent reading in your students?

Have books of various reading levels constantly available to the students and teach them how to identify books that are at an appropriate level of difficulty for their personal reading level.
Topics of non-fiction reading should be current/popular things that the children are motivated to learn about.
Change the books that students see on the bookshelves so the library is never static.
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).

Describe a “right-before-winter-break” activity that has gone well in your classroom:

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?)
Communal meals in which every student takes a part (families are even better!)
Making ice cream!
Writing personal autobiographies - anything to do with "me" grabs attention.
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.

How do you address the needs of students who never understand directions?

Seek ideas/feedback from co-workers, parents, peers.
Give them written instructions to go with my oral instructions, or the other way around.
Ask the child to repeat the instructions back to me.
Have students write down instructions given orally.
Ask students to check their understanding of the directions by explaining them to their peers.
Give students time/strategies to be ready for the directions.
Have students act out the steps of an activity physically before sitting down to do it.

What kinds of things do you do to “get back in the routine” when school starts again in January?

Have students create New Year’s resolutions for what they want to accomplish in the second half of the school year.
Games that review and reinforce procedures/expectations.
I let the students set up the classroom space (redesign).
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.

When do you have students teach each other? (And how?)

We do lots of reciprocal teaching, complete with rubrics!
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.
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.

How do you get in touch with parents or guardians who are unreachable?

Come to school early so you catch them when kids are being dropped off.
Stay late one day so you can catch them when kids are being picked up from after school programs.
Call at times that are convenient to parents – talk to students to figure out when those times might be.
Ask the principal for assistance.
Set up conferences at times that are convenient for parents – consider meeting on weekends when they might not be working.
Invite parents to school events either during the school day or afterward. Make the events inviting by including food.
Class plays or school-wide events can be good times to catch parents.
Talk to older siblings in the school to find out how best to reach parents.
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?

Inspired Teaching in Action

2010-11-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

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 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.

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:

“In order to create student buy-in and interest, and to make the curriculum interesting and relevant to the students, we decided to teach the civilization through the lens of 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 the US invasion in 2003, and showed and read some of the news coverage that followed the invasion.

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.

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 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 artists and modern curators, Iraqi soldiers and American soldiers, etc, and wrote a double voiced poem from the perspective of these two voices.

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.

Of my 52 7th and 8th graders, every single student wrote and published a poem for two voices. Each was invited to attend the poetry reading, but none was required to go. They were not even offered extra 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.

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, and finding a friend in the thesaurus, was a huge success.

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.”

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.”

Bri’s students 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.

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.

The Meaning and Measure of Teacher Quality

2010-10-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

By: Aleta Margolis

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

In my 15 years experience working with teachers, I have observed that a high quality, exemplary teacher demonstrates:

high expectations for all students and a belief in their desire to learn;
the ability to build a positive, safe, and respectful classroom;
many ways to assess student learning and use assessment data to improve instruction;
a commitment to ongoing professional growth, and
instruction that fully engages learners; An exemplary teacher is not just a provider of information, but is an instigator of thought.

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.

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.

Caterpillars are Making Me Do Observation Push Ups

2010-09-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

Our parsley patch has been inundated by Black Swallowtail caterpillars. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I am seeing the potential for butterfly transformations everywhere. The world is quite a wonderful place when viewed through the lens of wonder.

Sillybandz and Motivation

2010-09-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

By, Aleta Margolis
(Adapted from a speech at the 2010 Inspired Teaching Alumni Conference.)

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?

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

Challenging Students

2010-04-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

School was a challenge for my brother.

Reports cards often included statements like:
“behavior remains a problem for Andrew”
“it is a challenge for him to sit still”
“he is working on keeping his hands to himself and not talking so much”
“he struggles to stay focused on the task at hand”

Perhaps it is more accurate to say my brother was a challenge for his schools.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Andrew grew up before ADD had a label and a medication. Perhaps today Ritalin would enable him to fit the mold better.

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.

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.

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?

Can Standardized Testing and Whole Child Teaching Coexist? Only if Whole Child Teaching Comes First.

2010-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

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.

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?

If we move to make this point, achievement on these annual tests would simply become a side effect of good instruction – not its focus.

The Believing Game

2010-03-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

While 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:

“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.”

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!

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?

Seeds of Knowledge

2010-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

A 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.

So I took them out and put them back on the counter.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Whole-Child is hard, but can we stomach the Part-Child approach?

2010-01-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

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.

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.

The pressures of the school system are one huge obstacle.

The challenges and demands of life outside of school, both for the students and the teacher, present another.

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.

So is it an impossible dream?

No.

But like anything of value it takes time and effort to make possible.

I have met teachers who:

Incorporate movement into every class period even though what they teach is high school Chemistry.
Meet individually with every student each week to conference about reading, even though they have well over 100 students.
Put responsibility for class rules and expectations in the hands of students, even though the students are only 4-years-old.
Achieve the highest test scores in the school without students ever knowing they were preparing for a test.
Strengthen classroom community by eliminating desks, even though they’re teaching middle school science.

Teaching is not an easy job. If we put a very 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.

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?

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?

Musical Chairs (and Desks)

2009-12-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

“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

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.

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.

Phase 1: Rows (assigned seats)– easy to move around, easy to move students around, not great for community

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

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

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)

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

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.

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.

My Learning Story

2009-12-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

(Reposted from Rethink Learning Now)

I recently read through the Gates report - A Silent Epidemic, 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.

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.

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.

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 - "Be cool, Stay in school?" It is our responsibility to make sure that school can be the meaningful experience worth "staying in" for.

My Service Learning Birthday Present

2009-11-23T11:19:00.001-08:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Request to be Radical

2009-11-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

"I know that this is exactly what my students need but..."

"I can’t do that."
"I’m not allowed to."
"That’s not how it’s done at my school."
"My lesson plans are already written by someone else."

Over the past few years I’m hearing things like this more and more when I do workshops with teachers around Inspired Teaching strategies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

So this is what I tell my doubtful colleagues:

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.

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.

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.

But,

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.

What are these trees exactly?

Student work: 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.

Research: 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!

Strategic Alliances: 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.

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 students are benefiting, then extra work is worth it.

Fostering Imagination May be the Key to Real School Reform

2009-11-05T20:23:00.000-08:00

This is a response written by Aleta Margolis to the October 20, 2009 New York Times Op-Ed entitled "The New Untouchables."

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.

Friedman dares to list ‘imagination’ among the skills schoolchildren need to develop in order to succeed in the workforce.

In today’s climate where accountability rules and high test scores have become the goal of schooling, assigning a value to imagination seems radical.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Remembering and Honoring Ted Sizer, 1932-2009

2009-10-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

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.

In Dr. Sizer's obituary, The New York Times offers the following quote from his most famous book, Horace's Compromise, "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 Coalition of Essential Schools and the Forum for Education and Democracy, have written beautiful tributes, which I encourage you to read.

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.

Aleta

Aleta Margolis,
Executive Director,
Center for Inspired Teaching

Education Reform: Beyond Buzz Words

2009-10-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Education reform has its share of buzz words, given the slew of innovation-this, 21^st century-that talk which has been keeping politicians and education reformers busy lately. Just ask Jeb Bush, who gave the keynote address at last week’s Excellence in Action 2009 Conference in Washington D.C.

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.

In his keynote address, Bush declared that “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.”

If this sounds like a an impassioned plea for reform à la Inspired Teaching, think again.

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.

Here is an example:

“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.”

I cringed when I read this.

Comparing public school students to boxes of cheap cereal should give anyone who values students for the individuals they are, certain pause. That kind of language speaks volumes about the entrenched factory-model of education we are still working against. (Watch the informative video 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^st century really means if one is to fall for the buzz-word-heavy hype.

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 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.

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 digital divide faced by students and teachers in urban public schools today.

Inspired Teaching works from the research-based understanding that teachers are key to reforming education, from inside the classroom out. 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.

Music must be in us.

2009-10-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

There is plenty of research out there 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.

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.

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!

Who reminds you of why you became a teacher?

2009-09-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

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:

Here are synopses of what some of the fellows said:

(The names of students have been removed to respect their privacy.)

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.

~ Travis Barnwell, Middle School English Teacher

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.

~ Tim Street, Kindergarten Teacher

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?”

~ Anne Atwell-McLeod, Middle School English Teacher

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.

~ Rob Otterstatter, Middle School English Teacher

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.

~ Catherine Currie, 2nd Grade Teacher

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.

~ Monique Phillips, Pre K Teacher

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.

~ Allison Rose, 2nd Grade Teacher

Getting it Over With

2009-09-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

(This is a reprint of an editorial Aleta Margolis wrote in 2004)

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.

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.

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.

Except for the whole drudgery thing.

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.

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.

They might be receiving this message:
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?)

Or this one:
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.

Or, worst of all, this one:
There’s no joy in learning—so do it for the cookie.

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.

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.

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.

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 worthwhile

In a Pinch I Teach Poetry

2009-09-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

The following idea was submitted by Julie Sweetland, Director of Research and Teacher Education at Center for Inspired Teaching.

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.'

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

by William Carlos Williams

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:

What makes these words a poem?
Do you think William C. Williams was really sorry?
Have you ever done anything that made you feel like you needed to say ‘forgive me,’ but you were secretly glad you did?

Then I had the students write their own 'apology' poems. Here are a few.

Paper Cut

I am sorry, paper
for cutting you really really fast

That's why you are probably in pieces right now

I was cutting fast
and drowned you in glue

I know you're really angry
but it was just for fun

Sorry

--Marquette

"My Cellphone"

This is just to say
I'm sorry for losing you for a week
in my dad's car
you might have been so lonely
just sitting there waiting for someone to find you
you were just sitting under
the dark black scary car seat
anyway
i apologize

--William

"To the Paper"

I always took pencils.
I scribbled all on you.
I balled you up and threw you
right in the trash.

I know you always wanted to stay alive
but I have to put you in the garbage
that is just how it is.

Don't blame me if you don't stay white.
But I am sorry
for using you

-Alexus

"That Old Door"

the door that i slam
when i'm mad at my teaher
and the paint comes off

this is just to say
i slammed you
and you fell down

-Rajanique

And my favorite...based on a true story, when the child had actually driven a car at age 6.

"Sorry, Car."

Sorry I drove you
and crashed you
into another car.
To me you looked so fun.
I thought it would be very easy.
I didn't really mean to scratch you
and leave a big dent in the front.

But you shouldn't blame me.
Blame my sisters and cousins.
Could you find a way to forgive us
Deep in your engine? --Rakia

Education in Context: Looking Ahead, Looking Back

2009-09-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a familiar scenario:

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.

Now take a guess as to when such a scenario could have taken place.

Was it last year?
Ten years ago?
How about 100 years ago?

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 Ladies’ Home Journal 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.)

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 – Education and the Cult of Efficiency (University of Chicago Press, 1962).

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.

Please stay tuned to my future Friday posts in the Inspired Teacher blog. 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 current push towards innovation and the cultivation of new Common Standards echos the struggles of educators in the 20^th century, even as we are forced to reckon with them in the 21^st.

Top Five Inspired Tips

2009-08-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

There are many resources available about getting into shape. Here are our “Top Five Inspired Tips” to get back into shape as a teacher:

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

Keeping the Door Open

2009-08-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

This 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.

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.”

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:

I will not be afraid to do publicly what is right for children.

I will share my best practices with my colleagues and not be afraid of their judgment or curiosity.
I will take the risk of failing publicly if the new things I try don’t go well the first time I try them.
I am confident in my approach to teaching.
I am comfortable with students’ behavior and with what people will think of them, and me, when they pass by.
I am setting an example that I hope my peers will follow.
I want to step into other open doors besides my own.

“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:

How much time you could save lesson planning if you collaborated more with your peers!
What new strategies for building classroom community your colleagues might have up their sleeves!
What supplies you could avoid buying on your own if you shared with other teachers!
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!

The list goes on.

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.

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?

The Art of Being a Child – How Quickly We Forget.

2009-07-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

A Good – Bye.

2009-06-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

Another year of believing, hoping, dreaming,
learning children.

Listening more, talking less.

Adapting, like a chameleon, to their needs.
Seeing with the eyes of all senses
–who they are.

The last day shares equal parts
glee, and sadness.

It is summertime,
and you all crave the promise
of long days in the sun,
ice cream, lazy, hazy, joy.

But you also know
what a long great journey
you have traveled together
to reach this good – bye.

Rediscovering Childhood

2009-06-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

When I was little I remember sitting in my parents' garden after we'd spent that first full day of spring getting all the baby seedlings in the ground. I would plant myself next to a tiny twig of a tomato and watch it as hard as I could. And I would tell my father that I saw it grow. Today I believe I can't see a plant grow and I am sad that I have lost that ability, but I am trying to learn the skill again.

I have the glorious opportunity afforded to parents and teachers alike - to see growth happen right before my eyes in the ongoing evolution of my child.

When he was 8-months old my son crawled into the living room and tried to eat the sunspots off the carpet. Last week he carried an empty bowl upstairs, filled it with his toys, and tried to feed them to our dog. Today he figured out how to get himself onto the top of a slide and invented four different ways to slide down.

I used to think kids learned everything from the adults in their lives, but today I am changing my thinking. Today I think adults learn a great deal from kids, and when protected from danger but left to their own devices, kids do a huge amount of their learning all by themselves. To go from a totally dependent newborn 13 months ago to someone who knows what interests him, where he wants to go, how he wants to get there, who he wants to "talk" to, what he wants to eat, ... at this rate I suspect that there is no stopping his quest for self actualization. And why would I want to?

But then I consider what will happen in a few years when he enters the box called school. Suddenly there will be a time and place for climbing under beds and studying cobwebs. There will be seats to sit in for longer than you want to. Papers that require you to stay inside the lines. Separate categories for "real" and "imaginary". One "right way" to get down a slide.

Of course there will also be whole worlds opened up to him through the ability to read. He will discover the power of numbers in the space of they day where he once discovered bugs and weeds. And the study of science, social studies, art, and music will expand his imaginary world beyond things he's actually experienced and into things that he never thought of before.

But on that journey I know most of us lose the ability to taste the sun or to see a slide as more than something you get down feet first. I am wondering if maybe that ability is precisely what we really need as adults to imagine our way out of some of the inexplicable situations into which we get ourselves.

Keith Johnstone calls adults "atrophied children." When something atrophies, it wastes away due to neglect. When you consider what happens in most school settings it is easy to see how this process begins and why we get to this sad place where we forget how to play and imagine as adults.

It is the great fortune of teachers, parents, and people who choose to be influenced by children that we do not have to forget this skill entirely. The more we open ourselves to letting kids be kids, and allowing them to do their own kind of growing and not just the growing we want them to do - the more we build the muscles of our inner atrophied children.

Today I went down the slide with my son... albiet the "right way." A 3-year-old nearby looked up at us and told me "hey, you're too big to be on that slide." And I looked back at him and said, "No I'm not."

2 Million Minutes

2009-04-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

At today’s brown bag lunch discussion, Inspired staff members watched “2 Million Minutes.” The filmmakers (Robert Compton, Chad Heeter, and Adam Raney) present experiences of six high school students—two each from China, India, and the United States—and display how they spend their 2 million minutes preparing for college. Whether working towards a dream career or financial sustainability, students will eventually be part of a global economy in which these three nations are competing for that most precious of resources—“human capital.”

After the video, staff members jotted the comments posted below and engaged in a lively discussion.

“The educational system isn’t just broken in the U.S., it’s broken on an international level too. Despite less rigorous academic programs in the U.S., people from around the world often come here only to have their degrees disregarded. Unjust immigration policies and insufficient means for determining what a student knows and is capable of mean that the U.S. can maintain its imperial place of power even in fields where it doesn’t excel, while other countries compete for #1 spots in all academic areas. If we’re all competing to be the best though—schools, districts, countries—then someone else will always be on the bottom.”

“Many Indian students ‘escape’ the challenges of Indian schools to study in the U.S. schools. The academics here are less rigorous and come easier yet with more prestige. Why does the level of difficulty not directly correlate with the prestige and notoriety?”

“The greatest difference I saw between the students from each country was their understanding of ‘why.’ The students from China and India seem to have a greater understanding of why they are working so hard and why they need to be the best (economic stability, building upon their parents’ success). I did not get the same sense from the American students. They don’t seem to know why they’re going to school each day and getting an education. Perhaps this is where the American education system needs to start.”

“Whose privilege is it to take risks?”

“Economic drive in the U.S. is not as powerful as in India and China. Americans hope to keep their place in society and do well, as opposed to the real pressure of surviving and avoiding starvation.”

“The same ‘economic opportunism’ that leads students in India and China to see education as the ‘cure for hunger and poverty’ also produces Americans—the Privileged Children of the World.”

“In India—and perhaps China—education was a means to escape poverty. Is education, particularly urban education, designed to sustain poverty? ... institutionalized poverty?”

“It’s very powerful seeing the balance spent studying and doing extra-curricular activities.”

“The U.S. has a lot to learn from these countries in the value they place on education for getting ahead in life and society.”

“How do students of Indian and Chinese immigrants compare in school attitude/beliefs to students born to American-born parents?”

“How much of this video is propaganda?”

“While many, many school systems are failing, there are many succeeding. What can we uncover about these?”

“I feel this video was limited in many ways. The biggest issue I have with it is that it did not present American schools well. There is such a disparity between the low-income schools and schools [privileged] kids. It actually made me cringe. The video left me wanting more information beyond the statistics. It presented a narrow and stereotypical view of each community’s education. The question should not only focus on the privileged kids, but in what we’re not doing for kids at disadvantaged schools and how that ultimately impacts our society, including its educational and economic position in the world.”

“I feel quite strongly that we are asking the wrong questions. There is no agreement on what constitutes an ideal society. Certainly one would not easily find agreement on the current state of India, China, or the United States. We can likely agree that each possesses desirable/good/essential traits. But what do we want to be? And which path should we choose to get there? There is much to explore and no single answer.”

Join the conversation! Leave a comment and learn more about the video at www.2MMinutes.com online.

Teachers as change-makers -- A Chalk Talk

2009-04-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

At yesterday's Teacher Advisory Board meeting, we discussed teachers as change-makers and the role of the teacher in advocacy work. Check out the Chalk Talk that got it all started ...

What traits/skills do good teachers have that make them ideal change-makers?

lead necessary discussions while making everyone feel included and invested
able to tackle multiple jobs at once
project management
passion for serving communities
asking useful questions
survival skills
assessing/observing potential within groups and individuals
good listeners
used to changing!
not usually condescending
thoughtfulnes/connection to the realities of young people's lives

If you were asked to speak to members of Congress, what might you talk about?

how all communities (teachers, faimilies, schools, admin., etc.) can work together
without finger-pointing BUT taking responsibility for each part of the equation.
make education available for all, including parents (we have many low-literate and
illiterate parents)
the paramount imporance of parents--who need training. Social service funding MUST
increase.
elevating the role of the teacher through laws that recognize them as vital to the
success of our country
the necessity to engage active educators in education reform
transofrming public schools into center of community engagement institutions. Each
school should house human support services such as health, housing, parent
training.

What are you an advocate for?

making sure kids are treated fairly
treating kids as all humans should be
humor, thinking, and RECESS
trade and technical schools, distance-learning for homebound students or students
who could do better in this kind of learning environment
individuals with special needs
equity in schools/educational opportunities
lifelong education! accessible education for all ages
creative thinking
*highest* respect for children

Can schools change society? How?

Yes, by offering young members of society opportunities to thrive, discover their
strengths, and grow.
Yes, by educating parents.
Yes! But schools must be 'hubs' for collaboration and service to community.
Yes, by preparing young people to be the designers of a better future.
Yes, by demonstrating how people connected to a school--i.e., students, parents,
educators, community members--can work together toward a single goal.

A Different Kind of Smart

2009-02-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

I remember the first time I realized you could be smart doing something besides schoolwork. I was about 7 years old and my family was camping in Northwest California. We had just picked a campsite and my Dad was starting to set up the pop-up trailer. He was struggling to get the camper to sit straight and I suggested he use a bottle of water as a level.

I will never forget the look in my father’s eyes. It said: “Why didn’t I think of that?
My daughter is so smart!” And I will never forget how proud I felt when he put that water bottle on top of the camper and adjusted the jacks so it sat straight.

I wonder now if it would be possible for a kid to show smarts in that way in a school setting. And I wonder what a teacher could do to help her kids see they are smart, like my Dad did, without grades – without even saying a thing. What a lasting impact that kind of teaching and learning would have.

Interview with an Inspired Principal

2009-01-14T19:12:00.000-08:00

Turnaround school stories in Washington, DC are few and far between. When they make it into the headlines they usually involve a school that has replaced all its staff and started from scratch. Orr Elementary’s turnaround story is different. The school has seen remarkably low teacher turnover in the past 5 years and the experienced staff is challenging the theory that veteran teachers can’t change their practice.

For Principal Michelle Edwards the turnaround is all about creating an environment where teachers and students can realize their full potential.

When Michelle walked into Orr Elementary in Southeast DC in the fall of 2004 as a brand new principal, her arrival was greeted with uncertainty from a staff that had persevered through a string of short-term administrators. As she got to know her students and staff, Michelle identified goals for the school and started bringing in partners, including Inspired Teaching, to help meet them. Michelle wanted to raise student achievement and create a professional learning community – but in order to do that she knew she had to ensure a positive climate for teachers and students.

Five years later Orr’s test scores in reading and math have gone up. The school is part of a district-wide model-school learning community, and teachers within the building are active participants in daily site-based professional development.

In this interview, learn more about Orr’s successes and the way Michelle, her staff, and her partners have made them possible.
________________________________________________________________

How have your goals for Orr changed since you started working here in 2004?

Well, they’re being realized! But really they’re ongoing. Today people are more accepting of what we’re trying to do. My teachers are doing everything from attending conferences to actual on the job, in the classroom, training. They’re working side by side, coaching one another, demonstrating lessons, holding weekly grade level team meetings around instruction… We’ve gone from having retreats five years ago about how to improve our school culture to focusing now on boosting student achievement.

My teachers are able to do real data analysis on their own now. When I came to the school in the beginning we had someone else disaggregate the data from test scores once a year and tell teachers how the kids were doing. But now we’re doing that inside the building using our own benchmarks and checking them regularly. Teachers are more engaged in the process of knowing where children are having difficulty and what they need to teach next to help them learn.

How would you describe the Orr community today?

Orr is a very stable school where teachers are very committed to students’ learning and to the families. I would say it’s innovative as well. We’re trying a lot of things that are not necessarily happening in other schools in the city or in the country. My teachers are open to learning new things and trying to apply those strategies in their classrooms.

We are a workshop school where kids are able to do a lot more reading and a lot more writing about things that are meaningful to them. A focus on what interests kids is much more prevalent than it was back in 2004.

How would you describe your role at Orr?

I consider myself an instructional leader. I provide teachers with what they need in order to facilitate instruction in their classrooms.

What would you pinpoint as your secret to success in making the changes you’ve made at Orr?

I would say consistency, and providing support.

I’m asking teachers to do lots of new things but I’m also providing them with the supports to do them successfully. I’m committed to keeping the good things we have going for us in place. For example, the workshop model is something we will do until I leave Orr. They’re not seeing me do something different every year. Teachers appreciate that.

What I’m focusing on is their role as teachers, and becoming better teachers – not better implementers of someone else’s program, but better teachers. I want them to teach in response to what the kids need, not in response to some predetermined curriculum sequence or program.

How has Inspired Teaching helped you to achieve your goals?

Inspired Teaching was the pioneer partner in my building. They facilitated the first job-embedded professional development and started the discussions about teaching and learning, what lessons should look like, how we are treating children… Inspired Teaching really helped me lay the groundwork for culture building in the school and boosting the morale of teachers.

What advice would you give to a new teacher just starting at Orr in order to help him or her be successful?

Be a learner. Be reflective. Be willing to learn and get to know the needs of your kids, socially, emotionally, as well as academically.

Describe a breakthrough you’ve had with an Orr student:

There was a girl who was causing problems when I first got here, she was in first grade and she was already organizing her own little gang. Today she is a proficient student. I think the change came about when we introduced her to Writers and Readers Workshop. That transformed her.

Her behavior has improved so much. I think it was because her teachers became more prepared in their instruction. This student knew what was expected of her and she was given a choice about what she was going to read and write. Instead of having to sit there and get fed information all day she was able to take ownership over learning something and trying it out.

How would you describe the role of a teacher at Orr:

A teacher at Orr must: Expect to be first and foremost a learner. I expect them to be an observer. I expect them to be more of a facilitator. I expect them to be responsive to the needs of the students. I expect them to be prepared to work with kids, and be professional. I expect them to be reflective. I expect them to be smart too.

What can kids expect from their experience at Orr?

They can expect an environment where people care about them and respond to their needs academically and socially. They can expect to be surrounded by smart people who are learners themselves. They can expect a teacher who is willing to say they are learning too. That teacher will have high expectations for them. That teacher will believe that that student can learn and that they can be great. They should expect committed adults who are here for them.

I Am From Poems

2009-01-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Try this wonderful activity with your students to get them reflecting on their lives - and you learning more about them!

Instructions

Ask your students to write on a piece of paper:

(This is a suggested list. We have also created some modified lists for discipline specific projects below.)

Characteristics of the town they grew up in;
Values they were taught as children;
Kinds of food they loved growing up;
Kinds of food they hated while growing up;
What they were taught to fear;
What they were taught to love;
Significant people they loved;
And any other thoughts they want to write down that flow from what they have already written

Then ask your students to compose statements that being with "I am from," using what they have written and adding anything else they want. Encourage them to play with rhythm and flow; for instance, one "I am from" could be followed by a laundry list of places, names, and statements, followed by a series of lines where "I am from" is repeated over and over followed by only one word or phrase each time.

When they are finished, ask for half of the group to sit in a semicircle facing the other half (the audience) and stand behind them. (You may want to work with less than half your class, groups of 3-5 work well.) Have students place their poems in front of them. Tell the students you will tap their shoulder to have them begin reading and tap it again when you want them to stop. If they finish reading what they wrote they should go back to the beginning and continue reading until tapped to stop. Your job is to orchestrate the reading - sometimes having a student read solo, other times initiating simultaneous speaking, sequencing and so forth. When the first group is finished, invite another group to perform.

Then reflect on the process and the product with your class.

Keep in mind that you should modify this activity depending on the needs of your group - you can simply change the prompts or the overall structure. For Pre-K and K students you may ask them to draw pictures instead of writing words. Prompts for younger students might concern favorite colors, foods, cartoon characters, etc.

Subject Area Modifications#

For secondary school subject areas this could be a great way to learn how your students feel about what they're learning. Consider using prompts like those that follow and inserting your particular subject in the blanks.

What do you like best about ________?
What do you dislike about _______?
What aspects of this subject are hardest for you to learn?
What do you need as a student to make learning this subject easier?
What do you need as a student to make learning this subject more interesting?
When have you enjoyed learning _______?
What people do you remember teaching you ______?
What words do you associate with ______?
Why do you think it's important to learn ______?

Tips for Teaching Through Food Metaphors

2008-12-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

I’ve been a science and math teacher for over a decade and in my work with middle and high school students I’ve used food to teach everything from erosion to angles.

What I love about using food to teach science and math is that it takes these abstract, foreign concepts and creates experiences that bring them closer to home. Kids may not understand why minerals are important. But when they are given the task to create their own toothpaste using household minerals -– suddenly what lived on textbook pages jumps into their own lives. When I’m teaching something even further removed from their day-to-day, like how the globe is divided into hemispheres, using a tangible metaphor like an orange takes something huge and unwieldy and suddenly brings it down to size, indeed, it makes the concept digestible!

While I believe this is an excellent way to teach and make what the students learn stick – there’s also a rather steep learning curve involved. The successes I experience today were hard earned through more than one food fight and experimental disaster. Here are a few things I’ve discovered along the way:

Make the Link to Instruction Obvious – Your kids will love eating their edible soil horizon cups, but will they also learn something from the experience? Make sure you infuse each activity with lots of questions relating back to the content you’re teaching. Encourage students to ask even more. Consider follow-up assignments that push students to reflect on the experience and its relevance to the topic they’re learning.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare – As much as possible do all the prep for your lesson in advance. Divide materials, set up stations, clean surfaces, organize steps, and practice directions ahead of time so the lesson flows smoothly. Consider having students do independent work for 15 minutes before the lesson begins so you can double check that everything is in order. But even when you do this, like I did for a lesson involving cupcakes once, remain flexible knowing that regardless of your level of preparation you are bound to encounter factors out of your control. (For that particular lesson, the class arrived with the beginnings of school-wide stomach flu… so I had to change plans quickly in favor of something non-food related!)
Set Clear Expectations – Can students eat the food they’re working with? What happens if edible manipulatives begin flying? When and how should students clean up? Establish your routine ahead of time and introduce food activities at a point in the year when you’ve established a good and trusting rapport with your class. This will ensure everyone gets the most out of the activity.
Keep It In The Classroom – You may be the cool Inspired Teacher making fondue to show state changes in chemistry, but that doesn’t mean the English teacher down the hall wants chocolate and cheese tracked into her room. You can motivate your colleagues to try what you’re doing by showing them how easy it is to manage when clear expectations are set.

Giving Thanks

2008-11-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

The week of Thanksgiving is an excellent time to give thanks to teachers.

At Inspired Teaching we see dozens of teachers every day and their work brings us joy, hope, and motivation. Here are a few examples of the amazing things our teachers do...

They are willing to change the way they see the world:
At a recent workshop on Differentiated Instruction one teacher commented, “If I only teach my students the way I myself learn, over the course of the year they either adapt to my method of teaching or fail in trying. But those who adapt are only learning my way. Doesn’t that mean they’ll have a hard time when they go to a new teacher the following year if she doesn’t teach the same way? Maybe this is why I get parents who say, ‘Johnny did fine in Mrs. So-and-so’s classroom last year—I don’t know why he’s struggling with you.’ Perhaps Johnny struggles because we’re not teaching him the way he needs to learn. And he’s spending all his time in school adapting to our styles without really being able to thrive in his own."

They step back so their students can shine:
On a recent visit to an Inspired School, one of our facilitators was pulled into a first grade teacher's class to “see something.” The something turned out to be a book written and illustrated by the entire class. Without direction from the teacher (who was able to take a back seat during the performance) each student read his or her contribution to the book, a written piece and a picture.

They think outside the box:
When asked to teach using a "drill and kill" math curriculum, a second grade Inspired Teacher decided to take the material into her own hands. Instead of asking her students to chant “fifty-two is five tens and two ones” over and over again, she decided to create a lesson that would more fully engage her students in the concept of place value. She found a huge, rug-sized plastic mat and used tape to create ones, tens, and hundreds columns. Children loved this larger-than-life manipulative, and eagerly engaged in modeling addition problems that required regrouping. They even created their own terminology, christening regrouping as “pushing” because they needed to push the items into the next column. Experiences such as these fix basic concepts in children’s minds, and teach additional valuable lessons like: Learning can be fun!

They become change agents in their schools:
After her classes consistently scored the highest in the school on end-of-grade tests, one of our fourth grade Inspired Teachers was asked by her principal to take her strategies to the whole school and step out of the classroom for a year to be a teacher-leader. Now she is visiting all their classrooms teaching them about ways to incorporate more movement into their instruction and to make the material more accessible and relevant to their students' lives. She finds the work challenging because adults don't adapt to change quite as well as children, but she is encouraged by the hope that these "new strategies" will help all the kids in the school, not just the ones in her classroom.

These are profiles of just 4 Inspired Teachers. There are hundreds of them throughout DC's schools. We think that's a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving on behalf of all the Inspired Teaching staff.

The Most Powerful Thing in the Universe...

2008-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Words are the most powerful thing in the universe.

I started every year with the statement above and proceeded to back it up. Words start and stop wars, define the rules of a game, document citizenship, communicate the next incredible idea, start relationships, escalate fights, express emotions, etc.

So it's not surprising that teaching and learning vocabulary was central to my practice.

There are a lot things I got wrong as a teacher, but vocabulary is something I think I got right. I gave the words away for free but I knew I'd achieved something when my students saw that owning these words made them rich.

What started as play acting, as students practiced using the new words in classroom conversation (usually with fake British accents) eventually grew into regular use of the words. Students came to see them less as an academic add-on and more as tools to better communicate their thoughts and ideas.

So how did I do it?

I started with the notion that the brain processes information best in smaller, more concentrated quantities. I gave the students eight words to learn each Monday. The words came from what we were reading that week so they immediately had some relevance to what the students would be experiencing.
Each Monday students got the words and they spent half an hour looking up the definitions, writing sentences using the words in context, doing something physical with them be it a stretch, a skit, a dance, or a body sculpture, and doing something visual with them like drawing a representative picture or creating an acrostic poem. For homework they wrote a cohesive paragraph using all of the words. The notes they'd created during the day's vocabulary activities could be used to guide this process.
Each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we started class doing something different with the words. Students created short skits in which they were engaged in conversations using the words, they played various games like bingo or jeopardy, created stretches to remind them of each word and "worked out" to the vocab, wrote songs, performed dances, drew murals, played Pictionary. Each day we had a new experience to make the words more and more a part of our working memories.
On Friday students knew they would start class with their vocabulary quiz. They put all their notes away. I wrote all the words on the board. They wrote a paragraph (just like they did on Monday for homework) using all their words in context. They knew the paragraph had to make sense and that each sentence that used a word would have to contain context clues that showed me they knew what that word meant. The process took a while to learn, but after a month or so students really knew what to do. And they did it well. They owned those words!
To test the effectiveness of this vocab program I gave one a more conventional "match the word to its definition" test each quarter using all of the words they had learned during that quarter. Very few students scored below 90 percent on those tests. The words stuck.

More important than adding these words to their mental vocabulary banks was the fact that my students eventually incorporated them effortlessly into their daily conversation and writing. On my year-end student evaluations, vocabulary was often the highest rated aspects of their experience in my classroom and when asked to explain why, they regularly wrote something like: "These words make me sound smart. I am smart because I can use these words."

How do you "walk the walk?"

2008-10-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

The philosophy and practices of Inspired Teaching come to life in classrooms in the Greater Washington area and beyond.

How do you "walk the walk" of an Inspired Teacher? Which qualities of an Inspired Teacher do you strive to bring to your teaching? Which activities have you adapted and applied to your classroom?

Post a comment to let us know.

Assessing How I Learn

2008-10-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

What tools can you teach your students to use to assess the ways in which they learn, and how can these tools help them succeed in school?

Let's start with the premise that every child is born with an innate desire to learn. Now, consider the possibility that given the right environment and the right stimuli every child possesses at least one kind of intelligence in which they can excel.

Unfortunately, our schools are not traditionally designed to celebrate these ideas. We spend a lot more time focusing on what our students don't know how to do than on learning about where their true strengths lie.

If you really think about it, most of the assessment we do in the classroom is designed to help us figure out what our students don't know about a particular subject, topic, concept, etc. We learn a lot about their deficiencies, but their assets often remain hidden unless you happen to be teaching a subject in which they naturally excel. What if things were different?

What would happen if you knew what each of your students needed in order to excel?
If you knew each of your students' Learning Styles (their strongest and their weakest) you could group them and differentiate assignments accordingly. If you knew where each of your students fell on the spectrum of Multiple Intelligences you could provide them with projects that play to the ways in which they are smart and allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of certain topics in a mode that comes most naturally.

Consider some of these assessment tools and resources:
Learning Styles Online Questionnaire Gives you a quick print-out with your results and includes good descriptions of each of eight learning styles and the things learners can do to excel in their particular areas of strength.
Learning Styles Inventory Online but also can be printed as a hand-out.
Learning Styles Inventory Print from the online version, can easily be filled out by elementary and middle school students.
Find My Strengths An online Mulitiple Intelligences assessment.

What would happen if your students knew the learning style modifications they would have to make to best understand each concept you teach?
Teaching students about learning styles is definitely not in the standard curriculum, but the more students learn about the way their brains work, how they process and receive information, the better equipped they will be to take control of their own learning now and in the future. You can help them build this essential skill by making the process of assessing Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences transparent. Involve students in reviewing the data gathered from these tests and help them develop study and note-taking strategies that utilize their strengths and help to improve their weaknesses.

Consider some of these activities and resources:
Multiple Intelligences Activity Chart Lists activities ideal for each of eight intelligences.
Multiple Intelligences - How to Teach Anything 8 Ways Resources and information.
Student Learning Strengths Inventory An excellent lesson plan built around teaching students about their learning style.

Tell Me Something

2008-10-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Learning how to create safe spaces for students to share their thoughts and feelings can be a challenge when you have so much else to accomplish in a class period. But there are some simple things you can do to make great strides in that direction.

Check-in Notes - Just before students leave class have them jot down on a piece of paper how they're feeling about the class, about their day, about the subject, about your teaching...whatever you choose to ask them. They can do this anonymously or with a name - and when you read through their comments you can get a sense of how they're doing.

Chills and Thrills - (one of my all time favorites!) At the start of class–especially when you can tell the students are coming in a little riled up–ask them to share a chill and a thrill. A thrill is something good going on in their world. A chill is something not-so-good. This simple exercise can do a lot to clear the air. I always made the sharing voluntary but usually got a good variety of students responding.

Assignments About Me - as often as possible try to relate assignments and projects to the lives of your students. This not only gives you a better idea of who they are and where their interests lie, it also makes any activity instantly more engaging for them. With a little thought you can make almost any project personal. If you want students to do a report on a famous person - make it a person they'd like become when they grow up. If you want students to demonstrate understanding of a particular math concept - have them write and solve a word problem about a situation in their own lives where they might need to use this kind of math.

Opportunities Outside Class - It's strange but true that the best time to get to know your students may very well be when they're not in your class. At a football game, after school, at lunch, during recess (if you have it), before school, between classes...these are some of the tiny opportunities you can seek to ask your students how they're doing, talk to them about their plans for the future, and get some insight into what they need to be successful in the present. Outside the context of your class students are often more likely to open up and the things they have to share can help both of you when class is in session!

Why We're Here

2008-10-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

The task of transforming education is not for the faint of heart. The slow process of change takes patience. The incredible hurdles along the way require unwavering commitment. But what gets education reformers up each day is an overwhelming passion for their work.

Today we're asking the Inspired Teaching staff:

What makes you passionate about your work with students, teachers, and schools?

An Apple a Day Keeps the Teacher in School

2008-10-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Miss Rainey never missed a day of school. This was lucky for her students since the substitutes at Proctor Elementary were notorious for their strict and unpredictable ways. But it was also lucky for them because her presence every day ensured an incredible learning experience that could not be replicated by anyone else.

Miss Rainey was my fifth grade teacher 21 years ago and when I think back on her amazing attendance record I realize that dedication to her job was only part of what kept her healthy and present every day. She was incredibly physically active, coaching both track and volley ball. She ate well and taught us to do the same. She kept her classroom lively and filled with creative projects - but impeccably clean at the same time. She never sat at her desk, instead she was constantly in motion throughout the classroom. Miss Rainey is still teaching today - by my count she's been at it for at least 40 years - and she still coaches both teams.

Fifth grade was a long time ago so I can't remember if her attendance record rubbed off on her students but I do know that I looked forward to her class every single day.

As teachers we are trained to think constantly about the well being of our students. We manage their academic progress but increasingly these days we take the time to nurture their social, emotional, and sometimes even physical development as well. And as exhausting as this whole-child approach to teaching may be, it makes sense when you consider that all these elements that make up a life are interconnected and dependent on one another to thrive.

So the way we take care of ourselves naturally sets an example for how our students might take care of themselves. For many of the young people in your class YOU may be the adult they most look up to. If you're running yourself ragged, calling a bag of chips and cup of coffee lunch, and teaching from a chair in front of the room because you're too exhausted to move about - it may be time to take a look in the mirror and change a few habits.

Just as in any relationship, you cannot be your best for another person if you're not being the best for yourself. And this is a tall order when you're feeling overwhelmed by all you have to do just to keep afloat of the papers to grade, the lessons to plan, the workshops to attend, the grade books to complete, and oh, the dreaded report cards that are always just around the corner. But believe you me - as overwhelming as all that seems right now, it's going to be impossible if you're too sick to get out of bed.

Flu season is just around the corner and the change in weather invites a whole host of viruses to a end-of-year party with your immune system. An endless parade of sick kids is about to begin its march through your classroom door. But you can keep yourself out of the fray with 3 healthy meals a day, a decent amount of sleep each night, and at least a half hour of exercise 3 times a week.

At first you'll feel like you're sacrificing so many important things to take the time to care for yourself. But once you establish a healthy routine you'll realize that the few hours you spend now will have exponential benefits if they earn you the "perfect attendance" award in June - not from your principal, but from your students who have experienced the gift of your presence every single day.

Differentiating Between Your Interests and Theirs

2008-09-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of things you have to teach, and few of them your students seem interested in learning... how do you bridge this gap?

We were right in the middle of a unit on 19th century American Romance Poets and though I was smitten with the topic it was clear to everyone present that things couldn't get much more dull. I might have celebrated the calm classroom control I was experiencing if it weren't for the fact I had to physically wake half the class up each day when the bell rang. This was not going well.

The fact that Rodney wasn't finding beauty in these words we poured through each day did not surprise me. Nothing had captured his interest all semester so this seemed par for the course. But Rodney ended up saving the day for the whole class, and me, when one afternoon he came up after the bell and handed me a cassette tape. "What's wrong with this stuff you're teaching Ms. Fournel is that it's not speaking to any of us. If you want to hear real poetry, listen to this."

And that's how I met Tupac.

It took me awhile to learn how to listen to Tupac. I was not used to this kind of music and I hadn't developed an ear for hearing more than a repetitious beat. But when I took the time to really hear what Tupac was saying - I could appreciate what Rodney meant. This too, was poetry. And my struggle to reach that conclusion opened my eyes to the struggle my students were experiencing.

From that day on Tupac became part of my curriculum as did countless other musicians, spoken word poets, family storytellers, and visual texts that we will probably never see in the textbooks we're asked to teach.

My students learned more about meter and rhyme, simile and metaphor, irony and symbolism using texts that interested them - than they ever would have using solely the texts that interested me (or my school system).

Sure, I had to photocopy more - and that was a pain because there was never any paper (so I bought it myself). And I sometimes had to justify the music blaring from my room when the principal walked by. But if your ultimate goal is to make sure your students learn, eventually you realize there's no easy way to accomplish that.

You can tap into your students interests by formally surveying them early in the year, or you can simply listen to their conversations and ask them questions to learn more about what they read, what music they like, what natural phenomena they're fascinated by, what their jobs are, where they want to visit, what cultures they're curious about...

Students are so used to us dictating the content they're exposed to in school that they begin to take it like medicine - without much question as to whether or not it's good (or useful) for them. But it doesn't have to be this way and the true fun of teaching comes when it ceases to be a one-way operation. You may very well have a Rodney in your class who has as much to teach you about poetry as you have to teach him.

The news last night made me wonder..

2008-09-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

What would a $700 billion 'bailout' for education get us?

If Wall Street's firms are "too big to fail," certainly our school system is too big to fail, too.

What do we learn from the debates?

2008-09-22T18:34:00.001-07:00

How many people will be watching the presidential debates this Friday? How many students will be among those numbers?

Of all the TV time these candidates have had throughout this election – the hours they spend publicly debating should be the most important. Though they practice for the debates and deliver much the same rhetoric we hear in speeches and commercials – the very format of a debate requires a level of un-scripted conversation we rarely get to see in a presidential election.

If education is essential to full participation in a democracy, a well educated person should form his or her opinions of a candidate not based upon the latest attack ad, or even an emotionally delivered speech at a recent campaign rally. A well-educated person needs to be able to research the background of the candidate, to assess their experience and how that prepares them for the office, and to hear them speak without a teleprompter on what they really think about the issues.

The presidential debates should be forums for a real glimpse into the personality and thinking of our candidates. As they stand on visual and verbal display we should be able to assess how they perform under pressure, how quick they are to react to a challenge, how honest they seem when sharing an opinion.

But what is a voter to do when even the debates give us another healthy dose of recycled lingo and field-tested sound bites? To truly form well-founded opinions of our candidates we have to work harder than ever to seek out unbiased truths and to separate the facts from the fiction.

This is why it is more important than ever that our students learn the vital skills of critical thinking. Unless we are content to let our votes be dictated by the flashiest, or ugliest, ad campaigns – it is imperative that today’s kids learn how to seek, find, interpret, and use information to make the very important decisions that will determine the shape of tomorrow.

The Large Hadron Collider and My Quest for Inspired Teaching

2008-09-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

For the past several weeks I’ve been daydreaming about the Large Hadron Collider. It’s the world’s largest particle accelerator – designed to help physicists study the smallest known particles that make up all matter.

I don’t currently understand the first thing about the various wonders this 100 meter long machine is designed to find, but I am fascinated by their names: The Higgs Boson, an extra dimension, dark matter, the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang, Quark gluon plasma, antimatter, the Beauty Quark, cosmic rays…

My family has been quite puzzled by my new infatuation. I pretty much failed physics in high school and science has never been my strongest subject. So why this sudden obsession with particle physics?

It took me a bit of reflection to figure out the answer to this question, but now I know.
I’ve been working in education and school reform for the past decade and never before found such a perfect metaphor why I wake up every morning and still hunger to do this work. You see, to me, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic example of what people can do when they make the most of their innate desire to learn. It’s the largest machine in the world – and it was created exclusively to find the answers to questions.

Think about all the time, money, and creative energy that went into creating such a monstrosity.

Do a quick search of the web and become overwhelmed by the ecstatic chatter of scientists who cannot wait to begin exploring what the LHC is going to find.

This is hunger for learning in giant, incredible proportions.

Through my years spent in schools and in the company of passionate change agents I have often heard the doubtful voice that says our society is not built to handle an entire population of well-educated individuals. There aren’t enough colleges, enough jobs, enough career ladders to accommodate so much brilliance. They use this logic to explain away a lack of progress, a resistance to change. But the LHC is a splendid example of the fact that such nay-sayers are mired in a failure of imagination.

If every kid had an Inspired Teacher, and grew up to be a radically creative adult, take a minute to ponder the tremendous things human beings might invent to answer every question that comes to mind.

A Conflict - Without Resolution

2008-09-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

I never actually heard the racial epithet that rocked my classroom, but the fallout from that single hateful word was heard throughout the entire school.

It began with two high school students, one white, one African American - both young men. The actual incident involved an innocent piece of paper that ended up on the ground and the accusation that it landed there on purpose. Something so simple, hardly even the hint of a spark. But it took little more than a spark to fuel a fire that was always lurking in the embers of this rural southern school.

The white boy threw the verbal Molotov cocktail.

It's been nearly ten years since those boys hurled their desks to the floor, threw punches at one another, ended up suspended, and stirred up anger and resentment among their peers. But I still spend nights thinking about what I might have done to prevent the conflict, and what I should have done afterwards to see that it was resolved.

The school where I was teaching had been for "whites only" until desegregation laws forced a change. Though it had been decades since the laws went into effect, my fellow teachers could tell harrowing stories of their days as the first class of African American students to step across the threshold. In a poor rural county where the farm owners could easily trace their ancestry back to before the Civil War, the scars of slavery and its aftermath ran deep, even in 2000. It was rumored that this county still housed an active branch of the KKK.

This history that clung to the mini-skirts and jerseys worn by my students baffled me. I was new to the south, new to rural life, and blissfully unaware of the complexities of living and learning in a historically racist community - thanks in large part to my upbringing in the Bay Area of California.

But in retrospect all of this is an excuse, one I use to comfort me when I think about that day in my classroom. It's vital to understand the context in which our students exist, but it's not okay to use that knowledge as an excuse for our inability to help them function there.

You see what's missing from the story I've told so far is me. Where was I? I was standing in the front of the room, frozen with panic. And after the immediate smoke had cleared, I actually tried to go back to my lesson. I'm not proud of one second of that story. I'm deeply disturbed that it happened in the first place.

It was my job as a teacher to create a classroom community that was safe from that kind of hatred. And though I am not naive enough to think I could undo decades of entrenched racism in a single semester, at the very least I could have made the effort to have courageous conversations with the students about this reality in their lives. After the conflict I should not have pretended like it didn't happen - for that only furthered the hurt. I should have found a productive way to talk about it with my students so we could determine as a community how to prevent such a thing from occurring again.

The way I handled the conflict in my classroom was no different from how my peers had been handling it for years. The fact that it happened in my classroom was nothing unique to me - it happened in other classrooms all the time. But as a teacher I had the power, and I would argue the responsibility, to play a role in history not repeating itself. I taught English, but I probably would have made a greater impression on the lives of my students if I had focused more on teaching the skills of conflict resolution.

Teachers, like all other people on this planet, learn from their mistakes. But because we work with young, impressionable human beings - there are greater ramifications when we make those mistakes.

Today the young people from that class are in their late-twenties. They are out working in the wide world, making lives for themselves and leaving impressions on the lives of others. When I think of my old students I find that I don't wish they remembered reading Thoreau or Hughes or even that they are writing in personal journals. Today all I wish is that they they are kind.

Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates

2008-09-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

What follows is an open letter we sent to the presumptive candidates in July - urging them to make education a top issue in the campaign and in the policy agenda of the next president of the United States.

Dear Senators McCain and Obama,

Though there are many issues in this election, few are more important to the future of our country than education.

Center for Inspired Teaching is transforming education by investing in teachers. Our work with thousands of teachers, through courses, mentoring, and whole school partnerships over the past 13 years has proven that teachers are the solution. They are where the rubber meets the road in our schools. Yet all too often teacher quality is not the focus of school reforms. Improving accountability systems, establishing programs to attract new teachers and retain experienced ones, and encouraging new curricula are all valuable strategies in and of themselves, but they will accomplish little if we are not simultaneously investing in the quality of our nation’s teachers.

Inspired Teachers like Carolyn Wells prove this point. Carolyn teaches second grade in a school where less than 30 percent of students are reading on grade level. Her school tried every intervention you can imagine to get kids reading: after school tutoring, new textbooks, less recess, more testing. But what Carolyn noticed was that none of the one-size-fits-all strategies were working for her class filled with 22 individuals. So she came to Inspired Teaching looking for new ways to reach the students who were struggling to keep up. She took an Inspired Teaching course in which she learned to teach vocabulary through movement, to tap into students’ imaginations through storytelling, and to let her children’s various interests guide the reading material – not the chapters in the textbook. She applied what she learned in the classroom and at the end of the year she had the highest reading scores in the school. Carolyn was the solution, and there are hundreds of thousands of teachers out there just like her who have the potential to change what happens in their schools.

With this in mind, as you continue to develop your education agenda Center for Inspired Teaching asks you to consider the following:

1. If our nation is to remain strong and healthy, it is time to establish a higher, and more meaningful, standard for student success. It is not enough for young Americans to do well on standardized tests that assess a narrow set of basic skills. Rather, the graduates of our K-12 system must be prepared to engage fully in civic life. All of our children deserve a rich, relevant, and rigorous school experience that prepares them to think critically, demonstrate understanding, solve complex problems, and apply their learning to the challenges facing our communities.

2. A higher goal for students requires a new role for teachers. It is time to redefine the role of the teacher in the United States from deliverer of facts to developer of future citizens in our democracy. Redefining the role of the teacher will require rethinking our policies and practices in the areas of teacher recruitment, preparation, and evaluation. The effectiveness of an excellent teacher cannot and should not be measured by credentials or test scores alone. Rather, teacher quality policies for a strong democracy will encourage fresh approaches to evaluating what matters: the quality of actual classroom instruction, and impact of that instruction on students’ abilities to be active, productive citizens.

At Center for Inspired Teaching we know there is tremendous potential in our nation’s classrooms. We are calling on the next President of the United States to push for comprehensive education reform that addresses the needs of the new global economy. In order to be successful this reform must include a strong focus on teacher quality. We urge you to bring the challenges we identify above into the current political debate so that the potential of our teachers can be turned into practice.

As you craft your education policy agenda, we would be honored to share with you our years of experience in schools and classrooms and our advice on the best and most effective way to reform our schools.

Sincerely,

Aleta Margolis
Executive Director
Center for Inspired Teaching

Read and Write Back

2008-08-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

Reading lists aren't just for summer, but it helps to have a heads-up on what a book has to offer before devoting precious time to it during the school year.

You can start with this list of classics and staff favorites. Have you read some of the selections already, or are you curious about one? Post your questions and responses as comments.

Can you have a classroom without classroom rules?

2008-08-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

Pretty much everyone who's invested in what Robert Fried calls "the game of school" likes rules because they afford a sense of order to classrooms, which are among the most crowded of human social environments. But a room without rules need not be unruly--if an equally compelling alternative is offered. In my classroom, I established a Guiding Principle, which was my non-negotiable expectation for everyone in our classroom community: We must speak, act, and move in ways that let teaching and learning go on without interruption. I introduced this principle by asking students to explain what they thought it meant, and then checking to make sure that this was something that everyone felt they could agree to uphold. It was. We then brainstormed ideas about what sorts of things might interrupt learning. The resulting list included all sorts of things that might keep us from the important work of learning: teasing our classmates, talking over other speakers, using a noisy pencil sharpener when everyone needed to focus, coming to class unprepared to participate fully. We posted these examples around the large Guiding Principle, and added to them as a class as new ideas came to us from our collective experience.

The Guiding Principle helped me, as a teacher, distinguish between the “small stuff” that warranted attention and the small stuff I could let slide. I didn’t have to worry about ‘correcting’ a child who splayed themselves out on the story rug—unless and until their splayed legs threatened another child’s work space. Similarly, the Guiding Principle allowed me to pose a question to children about a given behavior, rather than simply citing a rule. “How did your un-organized desk affect your learning today?” I could ask—which invited the child to reflect, analyze, and suggest their own solution. I got the result I wanted as a teacher—the child cleaned out her desk—but I was in the role of facilitator, not dictator.

A Guiding Principle isn’t the only alternative to rules. Some Inspired Teachers use a classroom constitution, which enumerates rights and responsibilities. Others develop lists of mutual expectations, inviting their students to share the expectations they hold for their peers and for their teachers. The common thread is that these are all ways of sharing power with students, and of keeping discussions about problems in the relationship between individuals--rather than locating the reason for certain behaviors in institutional authority. And in contrast to Rules, which can have an aura of fear, expectations, rights, and responsibilities all carry an aura of hope and trust. Much more Inspired.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 10: I will

2008-07-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

"A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron."
-- Horace Mann

What a tremendous ten days the Inspired Teaching Institute was! And once again, I'm delighted by the purposeful use of our activities. As Inspired Teachers and allied staff work to support childrens' desire to learn, the Inspired Bookfair has provided one more chance to share our own interests and learn independently.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of the Institute participants at the Inspired Teaching Alumni Conference on August 18, but in the meantime I'll keep everyone in mind while I check out A is for Ox, Imagined Communities, Last Child in the Woods, and more! Thanks for the recommendations and for contributing to this great learning environment.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 9: The roil we

2008-07-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

An Inspired Teaching Institute Vocabulary List

Review:

preternatural

incendiary

Introducing:

roil we

noun: The first-person plural pronoun used by educators to reinforce the notion that they are part of a community of individuals who continuously hone their craft, exhibit and share a preternatural excitement about education, and stir up students’ innate desire to learn.

[Usage note: This term refers to any educator who embodies the qualities of an Inspired Teacher. It can include participants of the Inspired Teaching Institute as well as others who do not have a formal connection to Center for Inspired Teaching.]

An original poem by Inspired Teaching Institute participants led to an impromptu vocabulary lesson today. I learned preternatural, and a teacher inquired about incendiary. This new one, roil we, is my attempt to capture the community I sense among other Institute participants, despite the fact that I’m not a teacher or facilitator in any formal sense at the moment. As we discussed today, this community and all of the epiphanies that have germinated during the course of the Institute are the result of at least two things: absolute engagement on the part of participants, and dynamic, highly intentional facilitation.

I have had the privilege of better understanding that these two elements are dependent on each other, much like the members of any learning community. And I look forward to hearing about the new Inspired Teachers’ experiences and the students they inspire.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 8: Are we there yet?

2008-07-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

After a fruitful discussion about lesson plans, an Inspired Teaching staff member referred to the list of questions that we used to consider the plans as a new “measuring stick.” With guidance from these questions, a teacher might take a lesson plan from active to engaging, from just an opportunity for students to express their answers in many ways to shaping the questions that direct classroom activity.

I imagine that if I were in the place of an Inspired Teacher, I would feel a bit relieved to see an example of an Inspired lesson plan on paper. Reading it in black and white might make it seem more real and more like something I could do. The space between participating teachers’ perception of their potential and this idea of an Inspired Teacher seems to decrease with exercises that are closer to teachers’ daily activities, but when will it close completely?

(Here comes the ever covetted and rarely granted straight answer.)

Never! The work of an Inspired Teacher is motivated by, as we’ve heard, a “divine dissatisfaction.” It won’t happen in two weeks, nor in a year because there is no finish line. And the awareness that one can always improve and become more radically creative means that a teacher of any level, in any subject can be Inspired as long as that teacher is willing to continue striving for the goal.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 7: Leaving the door ajar

2008-07-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

“Scientists are used to dealing with doubt and
uncertainty. I believe that to solve any problem
that has never been solved before, you have to
leave the door to the unknown ajar.”
-- Richard Feynman, Theoretical Physicist

Learning, like life, can become a habit. We start to only bring as much excitement as the day before or as the people around us. We develop hang-ups and complexes. You may believe that understanding physics is something other people do. Or maybe you have convinced yourself that you’re incapable of learning how to yo-yo.

Each day at the Institute has reinforced for me the idea that being out of one’s comfort zone, of relinquishing control can open* the “door to the unknown.” And just look at what’s sneaking in! Creativity, deeper motivation, renewed curiosity—what’s coming through it for you?

There seems to be an unstated alternative step in the Inspired Teaching Five-Step Process: letting one’s old philosophy unravel.

Let it fall or disappear along with any complexes, right along with any labels—whether chosen or assigned—that limit you from discovering how you can be the teacher and person that you want to be. The new philosophy that you find for yourself just might make you the teacher you dream of being.

This afternoon we discussed possible explicit and implicit meanings in posters. From our conversation, I gather that a statement like “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason” might take on a more moving meaning (less authoritative too) if it were borne out of a collaborative effort to guide a classroom or school as a community, than manufactured by some pereson or business that has never known your learning community. Likewise, the new philosophy of teaching that one grows after letting the old one unravel can have a greater impact in the classroom.

Let it.

*In this era of the linguistic blend, I think the word that I first typed—“hopen”—could be an apropos new term that also just happened to be a Freudian typo.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 6: Inspiration through adaptation

2008-07-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

How can I bring “Inspiration” to a subject that is traditionally taught through direct instruction because people believe it can't be taught any other way--like biology?

I was so excited when an Institute teacher posed a question similar to this one. To me, just asking suggests that one believes it’s possible. Although this question will manifest in an upcoming Institute discussion, it’s been on my mind enough that I want to process it here. After the Institute today, the appeal and potential in changing feels so palpable. But how does one make it happen?

While the other participants and I choreographed dances using mathematical concepts as our foundation, I wondered how the activity could be adapted to suit other subjects. Creating a dance or a pantomimed skit to demonstrate literary devices might have kept me more alert and helped me to retain more of the concepts in some of my high school English classes.

And quite frankly, I can imagine the challenge for a biology teacher. Biology was one of the areas in which I most needed something more interactive than direct instruction. I loathed lectures and homework in that class, and I couldn’t conceive of many real uses for what I was learning. It’s sad to say, but coloring anatomy drawings was probably the highlight for me.

Even in my school though, there were teachers whose classrooms were far more engaging than mine, and I wished I could be a part of them. As we’ve touched on at the Institute, I had the curiosity of any child or learner, but I focused on passing tests when I realized the instruction wasn’t going to leave a lasting intellectual impression on me.

So what Institute activities could my biology teacher have adapted to enrich our classroom? The question, I suppose, could be reframed a number of ways, and starting with the end vision in mind might show an educator the way. What are the qualities of an Inspired Teacher? What qualities of an Inspired Teacher can I embrace, and with practice, where can such a shift lead me and my students?

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 5: Getting the rhythm

2008-07-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

All of the music that accompanies the Inspired Teaching Institute has already been carefully selected, but I would like to propose another song for this unofficial soundtrack: “Three-Four Vs. Six-Eight Four-Four Ways,” performed by Max Roach and the Legendary Hassan.

It’s characterized by portions in varying meters, or the basic rhythm that notes are played over. From a waltz-like three-four time (ONE two three, ONE two three) to the straight-forward four-four time of a march (ONE two three four, ONE two three four). The composition and its name illustrate what teachers do all day—change gears.

It’s almost unbelievable how many different factors a teacher must be cognizant of at any given moment. Hours of intensive preparation only take one so far. One Institute participant shared that an administrator at her middle school believes teachers need to be able to scan a room and in ten seconds assess students’ moods and possible situations—who is happy, who didn’t get enough sleep, who was just dumped in the hallway, and who’s texting under a desk? Ten seconds would be quite a challenge, I imagine, but however long it takes to develop and utilize, this skill could determine how a teacher would pose the same basic question to, say, the one who was dumped versus the one who is texting. And if there’s any hope of proceeding toward the objectives of a lesson, it all needs to flow like music.

In the song, the sections in different meters play out with a strange synergy. They sound distinct but not oppositional. On the contrary, they make the whole piece more interesting.

Now, I’ve written a song or two in my day, and composing is hard enough in one time signature. Why would I go out of my way to compose or even improvise in three different meters in a single piece? For some of the same reasons, I suppose, that teachers at the Institute may have decided to participate in this professional development opportunity: to take one’s craft to a higher level, infusing it with a new element of interest.

All of the my new ideas catalyzed by this experience are beginning to reveal their own pattern with a call to action. In step three of Inspired Teaching’s Five-Step Process, we explore the connections between one’s philosophy of teaching and one’s classroom practice. This weekend we will grapple with questions that will allow us to strengthen this relationship and make our classrooms truly inspiring. Fortunately, we have at least are five more days of the Institute and many practicum sessions left to support each other along the way.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 4: Greater gratification

2008-07-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

What’s your cardinal orientation? Yesterday, I learned that I’m a solid “South-East,” so I care that everyone in a group is involved (South) and I’m driven by my intuition (East). I enjoyed brainstorming the strengths and weaknesses of Souths with others who share the work-style type. Much more than usual, I wasn’t the only one taking special care to include all voices. And for the rest of that day, I paid even closer attention to the Institute group dynamic.

Enter today’s debate. Pro-rewards versus anti-rewards in an imaginary new school. The planning discussions moved quickly once the rules were outlined, and I was asserting myself and interjecting like I did before the seventh grade, when something switched. I paid more attention to getting the job done, as a “North” would, and finding out all of the details, the who/what/where/when/why, like a true “West.”

Extrinsic rewards—incentives that are outside of the individual, like money or pizza parties—can take many shapes, and in this situation, my desire to win was propelling me more than my interest in considering the potential effects of incentives. Would a decision from the debate jury in my team’s favor have been an extrinsic reward?

I’m glad the jury didn’t declare a winner, because I might have lost sight of this jewel of an epiphany: I chose to argue in favor of rewards, even though I generally don’t support them. Call it an intellectual exercise. But just before the jury posed questions to my team, we took time to explore our personal beliefs about extrinsic rewards, more than we were willing to earlier in the activity. We only had a few minutes left, and at least as a group, our focus wasn’t on winning or losing or demonstrating any more to the jury that we wanted to convince them, because our simmering ideas needed to be addressed. That is intrinsic motivation.

I only realized this because I seemed to be the one person a bit antsy to get back to preparing our next argument. My whole student history was reflected then. What faded in the seventh grade and only came back during college was an unslakable curiosity. In the end, I let that very strong desire and my South-inflected concern for group members’ experience win by not protesting, just listening.

I say, Dan Stinebring, Pam Brooks, Tom Reid--eat your hearts out. My college professors moved me with their own passion, and not just for astronomy, African American history, and bowling. They taught me to love learning, and I'm delighted that so many Institute educators share their goal.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 3: Inspired Teaching is reacting

2008-07-09T17:37:00.000-07:00

After day 1, Julie, Inspired Teaching’s Director of Research and a linguist by trade, marvelled at the Institute leaders’ skill. Two in particular have led the Institute for years and have heard the same responses to similar questions over and over again. Yet somehow they are able to respond as if they’re hearing it for the first time. They took this skill from their theater backgrounds straight to the classrooms in which they taught. Now, in the classroom that is the Institute, they demonstrate it so flawlessly that we forget that our epiphanies and quandaries are nothing new to them.

So while we played an intentionally repetitive game, I followed their lead.

This is a horse.
A what? A what? A what? A what? A what?
A horse. A horse. A horse. A horse. A horse.
Oh, a horse.

Basically, everyone sits in a circle and takes a turn offering a random object to the person beside him or her, and saying that the object—which is not at all horse, much more likely a cell phone—is indeed a horse. The person responds by asking, “A what?” and the individual offering the object confirms, “A horse.” “Oh, a horse,” the recipient answers. If it were just one round, it would be so simple. But as the game continues, the question and answer must return each time to the first person who offered the object.

Too much information? Confused? Well, imagine 20+ people playing with both a “horse” and a “cow” circulating in opposite directions!

I confess: Other than feeling some anxiety when I had to simultaneously receive and pass two messages different ways around the circle, it got to be a bit dull.

Fortunately, we took time to unpack the activity, looking at what lessons could be taught through the game. Then we journaled in response to questions about the entire day. As a teacher, what do you do when you’re out of your comfort zone or are in the unknown? Co-teaching with a colleague whose mental processes are very different from yours. Engaging students during the last few days before a standardized test. Maybe fielding some of those curiosity questions: “Are you married? How old are you? Who’s that lady in the hallway?”

Or being bored. During the game I tried to do what Kaneia and Aleta do—to react genuinely to each statement as if I didn’t know what was coming because I had never heard it. It was a fake-it-till-you-make-it tactic, and it kept me amused and thoroughly engaged.

A teacher can show their students how to ask and answer questions, but over time, the magic might fade for the teacher. Remaining open increases the chances that everyone involved—teachers, students, families, principals—won’t get bored with school. Instead they might be inspired again and again by opportunities to learn.

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 2: Where self-care and play connect

2008-07-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Over a tasty lunch, I spoke to a few teachers about how they care for themselves. One maximizes summer break, building relationships with other educators through professional development opportunities. They all agreed that prioritizing whatever matters to them is essential. They make sure that their loved ones and hobbies are nonnegotiable, because the rejuvenation, they said, that these can provide help them to stay balanced. In turn, their teaching is enhanced because they can be 100% present.

Complete presence is also what the Inspired Teaching Institute facilitators asked of participants for day two. A variety of warm-ups led us into the “meat” of the day, which focused on observation. And what better way to practice tuning our observational skills than playing?

Yes, playing. Turns out that some of the games that I played at school and church growing up are excellent “Petri dishes” for observing myself and others. We dove into better understanding how we learn, building upon the unique space created yesterday of peers who care deeply about students.

In the quest for improving education, it can feel like there isn’t time to take care or to note that teachers, just like students and all people, see the world in a distinctive way. A couple of participants told me that their colleagues used to joke about who will have the next bladder infection from not maintaining their own heath. At the Institute and at school alike, many teachers struggle to “stop the cop” from stifling creativity and self-care in the class.

But this second day of the course and last night’s homework led me to another question that I now leave with you: Regardless of the subject matter, how inspiring can school be—for students and educators—if teachers are so distracted by their own needs that they can’t build relationships with students and allow creativity and observation of play to catalyze change and growth?

Inspired Teaching Institute Day 1: Let the questioning begin

2008-07-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

One of our friendly facilitators led a 20-person warm-up.

“Now pull your shoulders up beside your ears, inhaling, pull up to the top of your head and up to the ceiling.”

We stretched, head to toes, and swung our arms with increasing imaginary weight until we were spinning in our spots around the circle.

As the last participants arrived for the 2008 Inspired Teaching Institute, I smiled and wondered what they were thinking. I continued to speculate during the next exercise that involved a magical scarf similar to talking sticks I’ve seen used to facilitate group discussions. The scarf, however, has the power to make people observe and mirror the actions and energy of the person wearing it. So instead of an individual making faces and toggling their hips and shoulders to a funky ‘70s tune, a full room of adults did it.

That’s what made me sure of my mind-reading abilities. I could almost hear their shared thought: “What does this have to do with teaching?”

Fortunately, two other facilitators, Kate and Aleta, spoke the issue aloud during staff introductions. What do stretching and mirroring exercises have to do with teaching a traditional, pre-K through 12 class?

They asked that we sit with the question and trust that all will be revealed during the two-week intensive course. But by the afternoon, I had my own answer: these activities have everything to do with teaching.

Pointed inquiry is an essential practice of an Inspired Teacher. The right questions help students find their own way to complex understandings and more questions—a hallmark of engagement. During this first day of the Institute, teachers’ questions wandered from “what in the world are we doing?” to “how can I bring these first elements of the program—play, observation, inquiry, 100% engagement, community—into my classroom?”

Furthermore, how can a new way of teaching transform the impact that teachers have on their students?

None of us has all the answers. Instead these Inspired-Teachers-in-the-making—whose experience ranges from one to 30 years in education—are experimenting, discovering what kinds of learners they are, and beginning to get acquainted with one another.

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for tomorrow. Perhaps the homework will tell me because I’m eager to find out.

Stealing Library Books

2008-06-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

I am totally against the practice of stealing library books, but I must admit that I did it once.

When I was in high school, visiting the library, my favorite teacher Mr. Mulvey suggested I check out the book “The Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison. I did, and in the process I fell in love. This was a book unlike any other I had read. It was powerful and challenging. It made me question my world. It made me hunger for more books like this. And it ignited a deep affection for Ellison, an author who could do such amazing things with words. Ultimately, that book is the reason I became an English teacher.

While I was reading “The Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison died. On the one hand I knew this was really nothing more than a strange coincidence, but it triggered something in my imagination. I began to feel more than the usual connection to that book. I kept renewing it long after I had read the pages twice over. I convinced myself that Ralph Ellison himself wanted me to keep it.

I didn’t want to steal it. I went through the rational process of asking the librarian if I could buy it. She thought this was a crazy proposition as I could buy a copy at any local bookstore. But I wanted THAT book and she refused my offer. This left me no choice, and the way I saw it I’d pay for it in library fees later on. So one day I walked out of the library after renewing it once more and never brought it back.

I carried that book with me everywhere. It was my constant companion throughout college and each year I dedicated part of my summer to reading it again. Every year my life experiences brought new insight to the pages and I loved it all the more.

Then I became a teacher, and though my students’ reading levels made the text cumbersome, I loved sharing passages from the book whenever appropriate. At the end of one school year a student who’d really made progress came and asked me if he could borrow THE BOOK for the summer. He really liked the pieces we’d read in class and wanted to try the whole thing.

I should have said no, but what kind of teacher would I have been to shut down that desire to learn? Predictably, he didn’t come back the next school year and I never saw my beloved book again. To this day I can still see the pages where I scrawled my epiphanies over the years, and there are whole passages I can still recite from memory.

I figure the disappearance of “The Invisible Man” was my payback for stealing a library book in the first place. But I like to imagine passing that book on was my way of continuing a powerful chain of events Mr. Mulvey started long ago.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Feedback

2008-05-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

At Inspired Teaching one of our favorite interview questions for potential employees is: “How do you take feedback?” Feedback is something we expect everyone who works with us to give one another on a regular basis. We consider it to be essential to our growth as individuals and as an organization.

This belief reflects our efforts to practice what we preach. We believe the art of teaching is one of continual reflection, readjustment, and improvement. Feedback is key to the process of becoming an Inspired Teacher.

Even though I know this now and consider feedback an important part of my work, whenever I interview a candidate who says, “I LOVE feedback” I am suspicious. This reaction comes from my old relationship with the term.

Before joining Inspired Teaching I always thought of feedback in the negative and, to be honest, I still cringe whenever someone tells me I’m doing something wrong. Nobody likes to be wrong, but growing up I never considered the critical connection between acknowledging mistakes and growing as a person. In my first professional role as a teacher I was no less afraid of having my errors laid plain on the table. Maybe because I’m the big sister in my family, I just simply never wanted my flaws to be publicly recognized.

So, when I was asked, “how do you take feedback?” at my interview with Inspired Teaching I’m pretty sure I lied and said, “I love it.” In my few months working with the organization my colleagues gave me feedback on pretty much a daily basis. Every time they shared a concern I went home and melted into a pool of embarrassment and self-pity. I know I got an equal balance of positive feedback from them as well, but it was the negative that I noticed most.

Eventually I started spending more time in our training sessions where we constantly ask teachers to reflect on their practice and to offer feedback to one another. I learned about our mentoring program, which is built on the art of giving feedback. I took the Inspired Teaching Institute and learned about giving and receiving feedback to and from your students. Gradually I stepped outside of my ego and looked at the effect all the feedback from my peers was having on my growth as a person and a professional.

It was hard not to notice that I’d achieved more in my time at Inspired Teaching than at any other non-profit job I’d ever held. It was also hard not to notice the genuine and rich relationships I now had with my colleagues. And at the end of the day I realized that an environment that required us to give constructive feedback to one another was responsible.

Now when I teach teachers I actually look forward to the feedback I get from them at the end of each class. When they ask me to bring more clarity to the next session I look forward to the challenge. When they say they need more activities and resources I set to work finding them. Every time they share their observations and opinions, I become a better facilitator.

I’d still be lying if I said I LOVE getting feedback, my ego still rears its ugly head from time to time and it takes awhile to lose the sting of a critique. But what I do love about feedback is what it’s done and continues to do for my growth.

Why is science so cool in school?

2008-05-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

There was the science room in elementary school where we could touch frogs and taxidermied skunks. There was Mrs. Stemler’s dissection of a pig uterus in middle school. And all of my most potent high school memories come from biology, chemistry, and physics.

As a high school English teacher it did not escape my notice that the most memorable things were still happening in the science wing of my building. I married a science teacher and for years I’ve seen that his dinner-table school-stories are way more engaging than mine.

This has prompted me to wonder, why is science so cool in school?

I think it’s because the root of science as a study is inquiry and inquiry requires problem-solving and an active approach to learning. By its very nature, the subject of science requires inspired teaching – especially if teachers build their instruction around the scientific method and use exploratory experimentation as the foundation of their curriculum.

While there is plenty one can read about science in textbooks and magazines – the subject lends itself so well to hands-on investigations of every concept learned. From the kindergarten grow-a-lima-bean experiment to the high school physics matchbox-car-derby, there are a million and one ways teachers can bring exciting experiments into the classroom.

But why should science teachers get to have all the fun?

No matter what subject you teach, there’s probably some way you can link your curriculum to the fun of science. Students can read about the latest scientific discoveries in English and discoveries of the past in History. They can write biographies of famous scientists, or perform an experiment and practice writing directions to describe how the experiment was done. Experiments that require measurement obviously involve math. Physical education can easily lend itself to experiments that study heart rate, speed, and even the biological wonder of how we turn food into energy. Art teachers can revel in the beauty of nature and tie into math as well as they look for geometric patterns in the growth of all living things.

As our young people grow up into professionals in a highly specialized job market, the need for scientists will never be greater. No matter what we teach in school, science should not be a side-subject and it can easily play a feature role in the “core subjects” we must teach every day. Perhaps if that happens all of school will be cool – not just one subject a day…

Investing in Teachers to Turn Schools Around

2008-05-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Lots of voices in education seem to believe that the only way to turn low-performing schools around involves big, top-down initiatives. While the role of excellent leadership can’t be underestimated, there is plenty of evidence that the key ‘lever’ to change is teacher quality. A good example of the essential role of investing in teachers is in the Benwood schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Benwood schools went from among the 20 worst-performing schools in the state of Tennessee to acclaimed models of success. The results are impressive – in the eight targeted schools, student achievement has jumped 27 percentage points on state reading tests, well above state and district averages, teacher morale is up and teacher turnover is down, and an analysis using William Sanders’ Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System shows significant gains in teacher effectiveness. Simply put—the students learned more because the teachers got better.

So what made it happen? Both Benwood reformers and outside analysts acknowledge that there were multiple factors that led to the changes, but as Elena Silva at Education Sector explained recently, the success can ultimately be ascribed to the fact that the reform was teacher-centered and partially teacher-driven. Instead of taking an ‘out with the old and in with the new’ approach (firing under-performing teachers and relying on new hires to create change), the Benwood Initiative invested in the teachers it already had, providing ongoing professional development focused on high-quality classroom instruction.

The most high-profile of the Benwood reforms was a financial incentive plan, established by local business leaders, and designed to attract top talent to Benwood classrooms. These incentives, which included help with mortgages and graduate school payments, as well as performance bonuses, appeared in the press, government proposals, and policy papers nationwide. Yet only 5% of teachers actually participated in the incentive plan. Silva concludes that the impact of financial incentives was "overstated" and that reforms that focused on existing teachers, such as mentoring, collaboration, and feedback, were at least as successful as trying to bring in new talent, if not more so.

In an ultimately successful move, the district superintendent asked Benwood teachers and principals about their needs and opinions, and then listened to what they had to say. As a result, teachers soon had "mentor and peer support, constructive principal feedback, and more time for instruction and lesson preparation." The district brought in consulting teachers, leadership coaches, and additional staff such as reading specialists, and fostered an improved relationship with the union. This new atmosphere of collaboration, support, respect, and progress led to more satisfied teachers, better schools, higher-performing students, and a more effective administration.

There are many lessons to be taken from this. As Silva affirms, "teacher effectiveness isn't fixed." Instead, supporting and inspiring teachers to challenge themselves is not only possible, but essential to building better schools. Teacher-centered reform should not mean mass firings and new hiring, but helping teachers become more effective, and allowing those teachers to have a voice in the reform process.

Sounds pretty inspired.

Thanks to Research Assistant Rebecca Shinners for researching and drafting this post.

Using the skills of a teacher in my home

2008-04-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago your faithful blogger became a mom. I hope that helps to explain the somewhat random nature of today's entry.

I prepared for becoming a mom in much the same way one prepares to become a teacher. I studied the books. I asked the experts. I took the classes. I watched other moms in action. But as with the first day teaching your first class, nothing really prepares you for your first child like the child himself.

When Leal popped into my world all the classes, mentoring, and preparation gave me confidence that I knew what was going on, but it was my skills of observation, trust of my own intuition, and ability to learn from mistakes that began this slow journey of getting to know my son.

What has surprised me most is the fact that at only 2 weeks of age he has as much to teach me as I have to teach him... such is the student/teacher relationship. We are learning each others' rhythms, patterns, and needs. At this tender and wonderful age it is amazing that his cry can be stopped once I figure out what it originates from. There is such enormous responsibility and power in my ability to do that!

Now I am wondering if this baby cry phenomenon isn't true for all children. Often our students' cries are not audible, sometimes they are just gestures, facial expressions, tiny behaviors... but if as teachers we can unlock the meaning behind these signals - can we too begin to meet their needs?

Over the years I suspected a link between parenting and teaching but I, like so many educators, had been resistant to make that connection. Shouldn't a strong line be drawn between the responsibility of the parent and that of the teacher?

That made perfect sense until two weeks ago.

Today as I think of what it will mean in a few years to entrust my perfect, beautiful, child to the classroom of a teacher who isn't me - I realize that my expectations of that future teacher are just as high as they are for myself. I don't ever want his "cries" to be misunderstood, ignored, or overlooked.

In some ways I'm glad I was a teacher before I was a parent. I think the enormity of the task before me would have been even more overwhelming knowing what I know now. Just as nothing in my life will ever be the same again now that my baby is here - my philosophy of education, my understanding of what it really means to be a teacher, and my expectations for myself as a teacher of my own child and those of others - will also never be the same.

What an awesome job we have as parents and teachers.

We nourish, we grow, we inspire.

We raise the children of today into the adults of tomorrow.

Is there any job more significant than that?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…

2008-04-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

As a new teacher with big ideas and no social life outside of school, I spent much of my first years planning elaborate lessons and exciting projects. Many of them bombed due to my lack of experience with classroom management and my failure to recognize that what I deemed engaging wasn’t always what my students found interesting. But I did develop a pretty killer unit on Romeo and Juliet.

I had a mentor teacher for my first two years of teaching and she was assigned to me by the district through a program designed to halt declining teacher retention rates. She was a veteran teacher with about 25 years of experience. When you stepped into her room it was easy to imagine that she was a creative teacher. There were bright floral displays everywhere, student projects hung on the walls, and colorful cabinets and bins made everything look quite orderly. On closer inspection one noticed that most of the projects were a few decades old, and the bins contained stacks and stacks of worksheets that were all copied a year in advance. So, while my mentor might have been an Inspired Teacher in her past, she’d slacked a bit over the years.

The same year she became my mentor her straight run teaching the same special education English class over and over again was disrupted. Because so many kids had failed the Freshman English exam the previous year, the 9th grade English classes were huge and they gave her one to teach. I was teaching all freshmen that semester so it seemed like a great opportunity for me to learn from my mentor.

She took her mentoring seriously. She left me happy notes at least once a week. But when it came to learning about how to teach she was remarkably silent.

She was required by the district to observe my class once a month and she always had the nicest things to say after her visit. A cheery note would always greet me following an observation saying something like “Keep up the good work kiddo!” It seemed strange that for all the notes she took, I usually only got one line of “feedback.”

When it was time to teach Romeo and Juliet I noticed that my mentor was observing me more than once a month. She spent a lot of time in my classroom and asked a lot of questions about the unit. About a month later it was announced at a faculty meeting that she was chosen to present a workshop on teaching Romeo and Juliet at a statewide English conference. When she gave an overview of the presentation to our staff the material was strangely familiar and completely un-attributed…

My real mentor, my mother, offered her usual response to my outburst on the phone that night. As the oldest child of 3, she has used this phrase many times: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

I think that’s really only true if your imitator admits what he or she is doing. But my experience with my mentor taught me that all teachers can learn from one another regardless of their level of experience.

While her support didn’t improve my practice it did help me feel loved in a very lonely and challenging phase of my life. And for her, I hope teaching Romeo and Juliet my way turned her on to a different kind of instruction and rejuvenated her enthusiasm about being in the classroom.

How can we better assess what students know?

2008-04-10T15:58:00.000-07:00

At Inspired Teaching we believe standardized tests alone are not a sufficient measure of what students know, are capable of doing, and still need to learn.

These are a few of the reasons why:

These one-day "snapshots" of student knowledge do not take into account the child who suffers from test anxiety, went to school without breakfast, or didn't get any sleep last night.
They are not catered to the particular learning styles of individual children and therefore do not allow every child to perform at his or her best.
Because of their standardized format they do not include opportunities for students to demonstrate higher-order problem-solving skills.
Most of these tests do not address the needs of English language learners.

But don't we need to measure student achievement so we know how to help students improve?

Certainly.

We just need to use a broader approach to make this happen. There many assessment tools out there that paint a more complete picture of student learning than a standardized test can alone.

These are just a few approaches to “authentic assessment” that our Inspired Teachers use:

Performance Tasks
Example: Students have been studying global warming for a unit in science and they are asked to create a presentation for the Environmental Protection Agency responding to the following prompt: What are 5 things people in the DC metro area can do to solve global warming? Include documentation and evidence to support the proposed solution.

In the classroom, performance tasks like this one ask students to craft individual responses to questions and/or create products that demonstrate their understanding of a concept. The final product in a performance task should demonstrate that students are applying what they have learned in class to analyze a particular problem. It is essential when teachers use performance tasks that their expectations are very clear and that students have a full understanding of how their final products will be evaluated.

Another example of a performance task that is familiar to all of us is the road test you take to get your driver’s license. Your mastery of the concept is evaluated based on how well you actually drive the car.

Portfolios
Example: With the support of an advisor or teacher, once a year high school students compile a portfolio of their best work from the school year to demonstrate mastery of a core set of academic standards and skills. Students create written reflections for each piece in the portfolio explaining the strengths and weaknesses of individual “learning artifacts.” They present their portfolios to a panel comprised of teachers, parents or guardians, and peers as part of a comprehensive assessment of their readiness to progress to the next grade level.

Portfolios, like the ones described above, can contain just about anything from rough drafts and final copies of written work, to videotapes of student performances, to teacher recommendations, graded project rubrics, and reviews. The process for creating this type of assessment varies, but it is recommended that students play an active role in determining what the portfolio contains.

An artist’s portfolio is usually a well-presented collection of her finest work. Gallery owners, show jurors, and potential buyers assess her skills based on what they see in this portfolio. A student portfolio serves the same function. Usually compiled over the course of a year or several years – student portfolios offer concrete evidence of student performance, growth, and progress.

Let’s teach them to make Molotov Cocktails!... or not.

2008-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 2004 I taught in a program called the Civic Leadership Institute run through Northwestern University. The goal of the program was to take extremely bright high school students away for 3 weeks, plant them in the poorest parts of cities (Chicago and Baltimore), give them service projects to do each day and courses to take on civic leadership each evening, and by the end of the program they’d leave with a passion for changing the world.

The summer of 2004 was an interesting time to be teaching in this program. I spent those weeks with amazing kids and incredibly passionate teachers. The teaching staff was disproportionately liberal (in fact I’m not sure there was a Republican among us.) And with the election months away we spent many of our lesson-planning hours debating the future of our country. The war in Iraq was going badly, and we were spending every day with our kids experiencing the reality of extreme problems in our own country that were going relatively unnoticed.

Part of the Baltimore program included a trip to Washington, DC and my colleagues thought it would be a good experience for the students to arrange a protest outside the White House. I don’t remember what exactly happened politically the day before we were scheduled to go but some bit of news had really riled up a few of the teachers and when I stumbled upon them in the lounge they were talking about teaching their students to make Molotov Cocktails. They were joking of course about this element of the experience, but an organized protest was still very much in the planning stages. Several of them had been part of the war protests in Chicago the previous year and had spent time behind bars for their participation. They were heroes in my eyes, real activists who had put their beliefs on the line in a way I never had.

In almost every way the opportunity to turn our kids onto social activism was incredibly exciting, but I knew there was something wrong with this protest plan. The kids would have jumped on board in a heartbeat. They would even have loved the thrill of getting carted off and fingerprinted for their role in a protest. But I knew they would have been doing it for all the wrong reasons.

In a summer program, away from their parents, their preachers, and their communities, my kids were searching for sage adult advice to help them put the poverty, neglect, and inequity they were experiencing in perspective. Tempting though it was to provide my own perspective when solicited, I was conscious that these students’ parents, preachers, and communities had entrusted me with their safe-keeping, not their indoctrination into my own belief system.

I talked this over with my colleagues and after passions had cooled a bit they all agreed. Even though I knew we’d made the right decision, I went to bed that night feeling like I’d disappointed myself.

Had I just killed an experience that would have led these young people to become the greatest political leaders of our future?

Had I pro-actively diffused an important spark of passion for social justice?

But then I remembered the huge political movements of the past and the way that those with the power of experience and knowledge can easily persuade those without to believe in agendas that lead to both good and terribly bad outcomes. That summer it was my role as a teacher to provide my students with the space to develop their own beliefs based on their own experiences and knowledge.

Years later I know that many of those students went on to be leaders on their college campuses. They ran service learning spring break trips, majored in political science and sociology, led student activism groups, and joined political campaigns.

They will be future leaders, but I like to believe they will do this because it is a path they have chosen, not one we as teachers forced them to follow.

Even Superheroes Need to Sleep

2008-04-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

I’ve never met a teacher who signed up for the job because he or she wanted to be mediocre in the classroom. Everyone comes to that position from a slightly different place but when you ask teachers why they chose to teach, you tend to get some variation on one theme: to make a difference in the lives of young people.

That’s a pretty lofty career aspiration if you think about it. It’s right up there with a doctor’s wish to make people well, and a fireman’s wish to keep people safe. So it’s not really surprising that many find teaching to be a stressful job. When you wake up every morning determined to make a difference in the lives of children, all the obstacles of the day that try to divert you from that goal can get a bit overwhelming.

Even if you don’t visibly let yourself sink beneath the pressure, your body may be the first to let you know it’s feeling the stress. I remember one very stressful spring when everyone in the building seemed to want me to do something and I was trying desperately to sprout new arms and heads to accomplish everything on the list. My colleagues frequently remarked that I was shockingly calm and relaxed considering all that was going on. I told them I was feeling fine.

But then my eye started twitching.

It was the kind of twitch your eye does occasionally, just a simple muscle spasm, except that it happened almost constantly, all day, for a week. I ignored it. The feeling was unusual but not painful or particularly unpleasant and I had stacks of papers to grade, a student leadership conference to plan, the prom to oversee, and the tests to prepare for. I thought everything was going fine.

Then I talked to my mom on the phone. “You’re stressed out and overly tired,” she said. I rejected this observation and asked her how she could tell. “You’re talking really fast and I can hear the tiredness in your voice, trust me. You need to get some sleep.” My mom has been a teacher for fifteen years, and she knows me very well, so hiding teacher-stress from her was not going to work.

“But I have so much to do! I have enough work to pull an all-nighter and then some,” I whined into the phone. That’s when she gave me advice I’ve held onto ever since. “You’re going to be less productive trying to work when you’re tired than you’ll be with a good night’s sleep. All that work will still be there tomorrow and its completion is not life or death. Put some of those papers you’re grading in the circular file cabinet – no one will miss them. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of your kids.”

She was right. A good night’s sleep cured my twitching eye, and the kids never even asked about those papers.

When you’re trying to “make a difference in the lives of young people,” it’s easy to convince yourself that you don’t need to spend time making a difference in your own life. But if you don’t, progress towards your ultimate goal will meet the limitations of your own body and mind.

After all, even superheroes need to sleep.

Confidence: The Secret to Test Success

2008-03-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

Second period freshman English was a motley crew of the lowest-performing, worst-behaved, hopeless cases at my high school. On the first day of class they looked around the room and up at me and asked who I’d pissed off in the administration. “We’re the worst in the school and we’re all in the class for dumb kids.” For some reason I became a liar and an actress in that awkward moment because with great confidence I explained that they were quite mistaken and that actually this was an honors class. They didn’t really believe me, but they didn’t have any way to prove me wrong, and so our semester of “honors” English began.

The class was small and that group of eight posed no threat thanks to their desire to live up to their befuddling “honors” reputation. They worked hard that semester. They ditched most of their classes, but not mine. They supported one another and called our group a family.

The principal told me he didn’t expect them to pass the end-of-grade test but he didn’t want them in the other ninth grade classes where they would disrupt their peers and bring the overall scores down with their antics. So, from the start, my competitive nature established the goal that they would ALL pass the test. Passing the test was also required for them to move to sophomore English. Every one of them had been stuck in ninth grade for a few years thanks to this one course.

You’d think with such a goal I would have had a robust action plan in place, but I would have to say my greatest test prep strategy was simply telling them they would pass. They were honors students after all. They knew the material. They were reading novels (for many, this was a first). They could write. They were going to pass.

So on the day of the test they had to fill in the cover sheet with their names, my name, the title of the course, and whether or not it was an honors course. And you already know what they filled in. I could have cleared up my lie on that last day, but what would the point have been?

Every last one of them passed. It’s crazy what a little confidence can accomplish.

An Inspiring Reality Check

2008-03-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

I came to Inspired Teaching in 2004 with a pretty high opinion of myself as a teacher. I’d worked with students grades 4 through college and always had a good rapport with my kids and good reviews from my administrators. At times I had questioned the academic impact of my teaching on the lives of my pupils, but casual comparison with my fellow educators always made it clear I wasn’t doing any worse than them – and in most instances I was better.

That was enough for me, until I took the Inspired Teaching Institute.

I’d been working with Inspired Teaching for a full year before I took their flagship course. I’d participated in enough workshops to know it would be interesting and probably entertaining, but I didn’t really expect to learn anything new. Boy was I in for a surprise.

Over the course of 5 weeks the facilitators led me through a rigorous process of self examination and teacher transformation. This is an outline of the process Inspired Teaching uses to accomplish this:

Step 1. Analyze and deepen my understanding of the ways I learn.

Step 2. Articulate and defend my philosophy of teaching and learning, including what I believe about children. Find room in my philosophy for an appreciation of children's natural curiosity and desire to learn.

Step 3. Make the connection to classroom practice - develop new strategies to make sure my philosophy of teaching and learning matches what I do in the classroom.

Step 4. Build the skills of effective teachers, including listening, asking thoughtful questions, observing, and communicating effectively.

Step 5. Practice! Create and practice new strategies that will make my classroom an active place of learning fueled by students' ideas. Arm myself with research that shows children learn best when they engage in work that is important and challenging.

And this is what happened to me:

I realized that I had a lot to learn as a teacher and someday when I go back to the classroom I’ll be doing things completely differently.
I learned that “better” than my fellow educators was still not good enough for my students.
I learned that even if I thought I had high expectations for my students, the discipline systems I was using to control them conflicted with my belief that they had the capacity to govern themselves.
I learned that teaching students the rules of grammar means little if I haven’t also empowered them to use those rules to strengthen their own writing.
I learned so much more. I was truly humbled by the experience.

Before I took the Inspired Teaching Institute I believed I was a good teacher, and I had references in the world outside that experience to back up this belief. But after taking the course I discovered my desire to be an exceptional teacher and I became fully aware of the fact that this is something I can’t accomplish in a single course or a program. It’s something I’ll have to continually work towards my whole life.

Got Motivation? Not in this environment!

2008-03-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about what must be done to motivate students. How do we “get them to perform” on standardized tests? How do we “get them to achieve” at grade level? How do we “get them to behave” according to the rules and regulations of the school?

There’s a growing trend out there to bring money into the conversation. Our neighbors in New York City and Baltimore are experimenting with paying students for their test performance. In schools in DC, students are rewarded with pizza parties for good attendance. And in classrooms across the country students participate in “behavior modification systems” designed to recognize good rule-followers with sticker charts and prizes.

Though some of the approaches are new, the philosophy from which they are born is not. Over the past several years we’ve begun to operate under the assumption that kids need to be bribed into “doing well” in school. Perhaps this is because going to school isn’t very inspiring these days.

In many instances we’ve traded the joys of art, music, PE, even recess for more “instructional time” devoted to math and language arts. We’ve abandoned field trips for the same reason. In order to maximize this instructional time, we’ve had to minimize class disruptions so we’ve grown more strict about keeping students in their seats and off their feet. We have so much to cover in a school year; there’s no time for deviating from the standard curriculum so students’ individual interests cannot be pursued unless they happen to fit within the content we’re required to teach. And now we’re in the thick of testing season with the added pressure of filling any available mind space with the facts kids need to do well on the big exams. And we as teachers will be judged much more by how students do on these tests than they will.

If you were a student in this environment you might need an incentive to get up in the morning and go to school. (Indeed, all the talk of merit pay implies teachers need that push as well.) At a young age you might not question being bought for a slice of pizza, extra recess time, or a couple of bucks.

But when you grow up and get into the real world, nobody pays you to be a good parent. If you get paid to go to college, it’s only because you’ve worked hard to be a strong student or athlete. You get paid to work, but nobody pays you to have the right qualifications for the job, or the motivation to keep it. No one is going to hand out checks to folks who treat their spouses and family members with dignity. You don’t get a pizza party for showing up to a meeting on time.

While there are often short-term rewards for the prizes and payoffs we currently use to keep students “on track” in school, there may also be real long-term problems associated with failing to instill intrinsic motivation in our young people.

We can only build the intrinsic motivation to learn in our students if we make the learning itself an appealing option. As a student, I can look forward to going to school because I want to know what happens in the next chapter of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or because I am excited about the building project we’re doing in geometry. I can even look forward to going to school to take the test if I know it will give me an opportunity to show off how smart I’ve become this year. But if I’m asked to go to school to meet AYP, you’re going to have to sweeten the deal for me because that goal has nothing to do with what matters to me as a young person.

What is Inspired Teaching doing to improve education?

2008-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

Because of the work of Inspired Teachers and principals, we are changing the way DC’s children are educated one student, one school at a time. And they have shown that we have the potential to do so much more.

For example: here in DC, in Ms. Vee Lindsay’s classroom, students are researching their neighborhood by interviewing residents, traveling to the city archives to uncover old maps and planning documents, conducting surveys, and learning how to use web-based information tools. They’re turning their findings into presentations that they will share with a historical preservation organization. They are learning by doing.

Inspired Teaching is rooted in the belief that every student possesses the ability to think critically, learn and understand information, and solve complex problems—and that students should spend their time in school doing just that.

We believe teachers and principals can be the agents of change who can make this happen.

And the approach works. Our results show that teachers are spending less time dealing with discipline problems and more time teaching. Their students are engaged in more challenging, meaningful work. Not only do test scores rise and attendance rates go up, but students and teachers report that they like school better.

This year, we are working with over 1000 teachers citywide, through our courses, mentoring, and whole school partnerships. And the demand continues to grow-with a waiting list of schools that want to become Inspired Teaching partner schools. We are exploring opportunities to bring Inspired Teaching to students, teachers, and principals outside DC and we’re working alongside the DC school district to help a number of schools slated to merge build a positive culture and build their students’ achievement.

Working Memory: The Conscious Processing of Information

2008-03-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

(Notes from a chapter of the same name in Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice by Patricia Wolfe)

Getting students to remember what we teach for more than 15-20 seconds is not easy, but it’s also not impossible if we understand how the brain works and make use of strategies that get information to stick.

The Cocktail Party Effect

Even when lots of people are talking all around you, it is possible to pay attention to one person who is talking directly to you. Using selective auditory attention, your brain allows you to pay attention to the information that is most relevant.

However, it is nearly impossible to consciously process two trains of thought at the same time, especially if they involve the same sensory modality.

Implications for your teaching: It is important to minimize classroom distractions as much as possible because you don’t really want it to resemble a cocktail party, but when students are working in groups it may very well sound that way. So, if a lot is going on in your room at a given time, think of ways to make distractions work to your favor by providing additional ways for students to learn. For example, make the things you post on your walls informative so your visual learners can take in something new and important when they’re gazing around the room. If you or your students are giving an oral presentation, try to include an additional learning modality in your talk. Can you include visual charts or pictures? Can you incorporate movement into the learning process?

The Magical Number Seven (Plus or Minus Two):
Our span of immediate memory tends to be around 7. The number of digits children can recall accurately increases by one every two years until a mental age of 15 at which point the magical number of 7 is reached.

Implications for your teaching: When I learned vocabulary words in school I usually had lists of 20 words to memorize in a week. Years later I probably only remember a fraction of the words I was taught, partly because I was given too many to learn at one time. When I taught vocabulary to my students I only gave them 8 words to learn in a week but at the end of the year they were able to define and use almost every word they learned during the week. The old phrase “less is more” applies here!

Rote Rehearsal
Rote rehearsal is repeating the information over and over, but this strategy for memorizing typically works better with skills or habits than with content.

Implications for your teaching: Rote rehearsal happens to be the main strategy we use when trying to get students to learn a lot of material – so it’s interesting to note that it doesn’t actually work that well when it comes to content. So, when teaching content, we should rely more on these other strategies than on repetition of the facts.

Frostballs and a “Relevant” Lesson on Estimation

2008-02-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

I grew up in the Bay Area of California where it doesn’t snow and you can grow into adulthood without ever seeing an icicle. But every once in a rare and wonderful while, we did have frost.

I remember one such winter day when my friends and I got to school before the first bell and headed for the playground to make “frostballs.” We set to work scraping the frost off blades of grass on the field and mashing them together into a giant lumpy brown ball. We were so proud of that frostball that we carried it to class and the teacher let us put it on a plate by the window. Without so much as a pause she turned our frostball into a lesson on estimation complete with graphs and a rich discussion. Everyone in the class had to guess how long it would take for the ball to completely melt.

We talked about what prior knowledge informed our guesses. Some students had been to the mountains and made real snow balls. Some reflected on how long it took an ice cube to melt in a glass of water. Some talked about how the frostball’s position in the room would speed or delay its melting. Some wanted to experiment with smaller balls before making their guess. In the end the ball surpassed all our guesses. Nobody saw its final meltdown after the last school bell of the day sent us home.

Twenty years later I still remember so much from that tiny experience: the questions we asked, the charts we drew on the board, the stories we shared of melting things. That teacher took a moment from outside of the classroom and used it to build some key skills in her students. That probably wasn’t the day she planned to teach about estimation, and she didn’t have a worksheet or a textbook to guide her lesson but she managed to cement some learning into my brain even without these tools.

Making learning relevant to the lives of our students requires more of our ability to be smart and spontaneous and to open our eyes than it does our ability to plan complicated lessons. If you watch and listen to your students, you’re likely to find sources of inspiration a million times richer than what you’re given in the curriculum.

Habits of the Teacher Mind

2008-02-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

“When we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

~ Wendell Berry

In reflecting on “Habits of Mind” that we want to cultivate in our students it’s interesting to note that they are often similar to the habits we need to cultivate in ourselves as teachers.

Every second we spend in the classroom requires us to make decisions – some small, some large. We have to mediate conflicts while simultaneously ensuring students are comprehending content. We have to plan lessons at the same time we grade past assignments. We have to dedicate ourselves to our students and to our lives outside of school.

How do we do all these things? We employ our own set of “Habits of Mind.”

Much of what we know about what works in the classroom must be learned through trial and error, and patient progress through experience. At Inspired Teaching we have spent several years learning from teachers and from our own teaching experience. Our observations have generated a list of qualities we believe exceptional teachers possess and what follows is an attempt to condense them into what we could call Habits of the Teacher Mind.

What would you add to this list? What would you take away? Let us know!

Habits of the Teacher Mind

Inspired Teachers are…

Passionate about the art of teaching, the subject matter, and the students we teach.
Compassionate and dedicated to building positive, and productive relationships with and among students, colleagues, parents and the community.
Observant and proactive, using the data we collect from our students to help them reach their full potential in school and in life.
Reflective and curious, always seeking new ways to improve our practice and reach our students.
True facilitators who know how to get the most out our students by holding them to and helping them reach high expectations.

Our goal is to teach students how to think, not just what to think and as educators this is also the goal we hold for ourselves.

Teacher Expectations and Student Outcomes

2008-02-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

While browsing the web in preparation for writing this newsletter, I came across the following quote:

“Research ‘clearly establishes that teacher expectations do play a significant role in determining how well and how much students learn’ (Jerry Bamburg 1994).”

It reminded me of a student I had who truly demonstrated the truth of this statement.

Alex was your classic problem child: never came to class on time, never had his homework, never read the book, never paid any attention, always had a talent for disrupting my lessons.

Alex was on his third try at eleventh grade English by the time he came to me. He couldn’t seem to pass the class and an attendance record dotted with trips to the juvenile detention center hadn’t helped. So when the year neared its end and he was clearly going to fail--yet again--he decided to take radical action. He stayed after school.

I was impressed with his last-minute interest in passing my class, but by this point I had pretty much given up on him. It would take a feat of human genius to make up the months of work he’d missed.

What I hadn’t realized about Alex in all the time he’d spent disrupting my class was that he was capable of feats of genius.

He stayed after school every day. He took home every book to read. He wrote. He reported. He wrote some more. He took tests, and passed. He talked. And as I began to learn more about this boy who became a man when he was still a child, I came to understand the person he’d been in my class all along.

He didn’t know his father. He was the caretaker for a physically disabled younger brother. His mother had been in jail for the past several years, and at present he was raising himself. All of that might have been the reason for his behavior, but that’s not where he placed the blame.

He told me that his childhood dream had always been to become a doctor. He poured over anything he could find to read about science and the human body. He imagined himself curing the sick and caring for those in need.

And then he had the teacher, one teacher, who killed that dream. “She told me I would never amount to anything and that it was stupid to think I could become a doctor. From that day on I just believed her.”

In that instant school became a requirement but not an opportunity for Alex. And all he wanted to do now was live until he was 27. That was his big life’s goal.

To think one teacher’s comments could do all that. It angered me and humbled me at the same time, for I too had given up on this boy.

Ultimately, he ended up passing my class. Then he started passing all his classes. He graduated with a “most improved student” award and went on to start a successful career in the military.

His story has a happy ending. But whenever I think of Alex, I think about all the young people like him out there whose stories don’t end that way, and of the teachers who knowingly, or unknowingly, play a role in what their students become.

Cooperative Learning Lessons

2008-02-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

The suitcase project was pure genius on my part – except for the fact that it was also a total failure.

We had only a month left in the school year and I had completely neglected literature from the 20th century, so I put the students in groups and gave each group a decade to research and a project to complete based on what they found.

They were to identify a book from the time period and create a “suitcase” for one of the characters from the book filled with “artifacts” from the era they’d studied. The project had a rubric, a choice sheet, a task sheet – the works.

But unfortunately for me and my best-laid plans, giving students a project of this magnitude at the end of the school year (when they’d never worked in groups before) ended up in disaster.

Only one group finished its project. The rest ended up with ruined friendships, half-read books, mounds of lost work, and weeks of lost time.

What I had failed to do was prepare students earlier in the year for this grand finale. And a year later, informed by this experience, I did just that. The results were quite different. The projects were fantastic. These are some of the things I learned in the process:

Discuss your expectations before you have students begin working together, and solicit their input in identifying what a group needs to do to make the learning experience meaningful and effective.
Begin with something simple like pairing students and having them read and reflect on a passage. After trying a relatively low-risk exercise talk with the class about the benefits and drawbacks of the experience. Do these kinds of activities regularly until students are ready to move on to more complex projects. Mix up the groupings so they learn to work with different peers.
Plan even a simple group activity well in advance and run your instructions/expectations by another teacher to see if they are clear. Make sure students understand what they are supposed to do before they break into groups to work. (This minimizes the time you have to spend answering the same question for every group.)
If things fall apart (students veer off task, the project becomes unexpectedly complicated, etc.) take time to talk with the class about what went wrong and use their input to recraft either that assignment or a future group project.

Do I get a grade for my EQ?

2008-01-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

Every time I’ve ever been cast in a play I’ve played a mother. In college that was my nickname on every dorm-room floor. When I was a high school teacher it was not infrequent for my students to accidentally call me mom. In my adult life I’ve probably spent more time listening to people share their feelings than I have watching TV. I’ve never been tested, but I suspect my EQ (emotional quotient) could run a few circles around my IQ.

So, it’s little wonder that one of the most meaningful things a student ever wrote to me reads: “through this class I have learned how to create, imagine, and dream. Thank you. It’s because of your encouragement I’ve become comfortable expressing myself.”

The standards I was supposed to teach her focused primarily on comprehension and analysis of various American literary genres, and she did an amazing job of learning everything she was taught. But that’s not what she remembered from my class.

Without knowing what I was doing, I was building my students’ emotional intelligence. And I was just doing what came naturally. I think one of the biggest errors people make as new teachers is assuming emotion has no place in the classroom. I loathe the old saying, “don’t smile until Christmas” because it forces teachers to suppress one of the true joys of teaching! If I didn’t smile at least once in class I knew the day was NOT going well.

How we feel, what we feel, and why we feel are core elements of what makes us human. Teaching about these elements of our humanity comes naturally if we’re in touch with these elements of ourselves. You don’t have to deviate from your general instruction. You just have to bring emotional intelligence into your instruction.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

End of Class Shout-Outs – At the end of the class period (especially one in which you’ve worked through a complex assignment or had a particularly intense discussion) invite students to give shout-outs to their peers. A shout-out is a piece of positive feedback like: “I’d like to give a shout-out to Rashawn for helping me understand this math problem.” Push your students to be as specific as possible. In this way they’re not only learning how to support each other but how to identify their own good qualities.

Pre and Post Test Reflections – Have students write a brief description of how they’re feeling prior to taking a test. After the test is completed, have the last item on the assessment be a question that asks how they’re feeling after finishing. Be sure to ask WHY they are feeling this way – that really helps students examine where their feelings come from.

Birthday Silhouettes – For younger students, trace their bodies on a piece of butcher paper or bulletin board paper on their birthday (for older students you can just use a decorated piece of poster board). Ask each student in the class to offer a positive statement about this student that you write on the paper. Make sure students’ comments are specific. The birthday girl or boy takes the paper home at the end of the class.

Life Boxes – Ask students to bring in shoeboxes that they’ve decorated at home along with 5 things they can put into these “life boxes” that are very important to them (but not things that could get stolen). One at a time, invite students to share the contents of their life boxes with the rest of the class and to explain the way they decorated the boxes. The rest of the class should be encouraged to ask questions and make comments about what is shared. The life boxes should stay in the classroom for a while so everyone can look at them, and when students are doing writing activities they can go to these boxes for inspiration!

What can I do in my classroom to maximize student success?

2008-01-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

So you have 5 and a half months of school to go, and a room full of students primed and ready for the most important stretch of the academic year. You want every one of them to be successful, but you have SO MANY to keep track of! What can you do to maximize their potential right now? Consider the following questions and ideas as they relate to your class:

The Physical Classroom
Study your classroom throughout the day and look at how the space is being used. Consider the following questions and think about new ways to organize the room to best suit the needs of you and your students.

Do you have a quiet corner for students who need to get away from external stimuli to focus?
Can you easily move students from individual work to group or partner work?
Do students know where to find things in the room if they need to get their own supplies (pencils, paper, staples, paper clips, scissors, etc.)?
If you have a teacher-desk, where is it located? How do you use it? Is there another way to use that space that would be better for students?
Do you have computers in your room? If they don’t work, is there a way you can move them to free up space? If they do work, is there a way you can use them more for students who learn best with this tool?
How do you move around the room throughout the day? Is it easy for you to reach all students? How could you rearrange desks so that your path is even easier to travel?

Student to student relationships
There is only one of you in the classroom at any given moment, but there are always many students. At this point in the year you can use that to your advantage and share a little more of the responsibility for teaching with the class. For example:

Partner students of different abilities so some have teaching opportunities and others have an additional support.
Create small working groups that focus on different projects (reading different books, taking math problems at different levels of complexity, research projects on different topics).
Try the “ask 3, then me” rule where students can ask for help from 3 of their fellow students before they ask you. This gives you more time to work individually with students and fosters more self-reliance in the classroom.

Creative Techniques for Each Individual Child
You can’t possibly meet every student’s needs all the time, but there are some tiny individual things you might consider that end up helping everyone in the class. For example:

Can you give your more physical students something to manipulate (like a squishy ball, or a piece of yarn) so they can burn off energy and pay attention?
Do your students always have to sit in chairs? Some might be more comfortable on the floor (consider getting some cheap carpet squares, pillows, or yoga mats for this purpose), and some might even be more comfortable if they can stand. See if a local office supply store will donate clipboards to your class for those students who hate to be confined to a desk.
What happens when you play music in class? Some students really do learn better when there is a little noise in the air. Some need total quiet. Think about what would happen if you allowed headphones in class when students are working independently. (In some schools these aren’t allowed and they pose problems when it comes to stealing, but for some students they can make the difference between acting out and getting down to the business of learning.)

FUNdraising Fridays

2007-12-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Included in this entry are some fantastic opportunities for students, teachers, and schools. I encourage you to look at these during the holiday break.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

~Eneida

Opportunities for Students

• The Gates Millennium Scholarship Program

Deadline: December 31, 2007
Award Amount: Varies

The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS), funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was established in 1999 to provide outstanding, low income African American, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline they choose.

Continuing Gates Scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.

The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence by providing thousands of outstanding students, who have significant financial need, the opportunity to reach their full potential.

• Global Action Awards

Deadline: January 31, 2008
Award Amount: $5,000

NetAid, an initiative of Mercy Corps , is accepting applications for the Global Action Awards. The awards honor high school students in the United States who have organized and led a project that has impacted people in poor countries, or raised awareness about global poverty in their own communities.

The awards celebrate young people who have shown great leadership in areas such as preventing disease, alleviating hunger, protecting the environment, promoting human rights, and improving access to clean drinking water, health care, or education. Projects may involve organizing advocacy campaigns, raising funds, volunteering, or using media and technology to involve others in the fight against global poverty.

Each year, a prestigious panel of judges reviews applicants on the basis of innovation, cooperation, leadership, inspiration, and impact. The honorees receive $5,000 each for college or a charitable cause of their choice, and are honored at a ceremony in New York City.

Guidelines and application materials are available at the NetAid Web site.

• National Peace Essay Contest

Deadline: February 1, 2008
Award Amount: Varies

The United States Institute of Peace established the National Peace Essay Contest to expand educational opportunities for America's youth.

The topic for the 2007-08 competition is "Natural Resources and Conflict." Participants are asked to write a 1,500-word essay stating what they believe are the necessary elements for the development of fair, peaceful, or effective use of natural resources after a conflict.

Students are eligible to participate if they are in grades nine through twelve in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory, or if they are U.S. citizens attending high school overseas. Students may be attending a public, private, or parochial school, or participating in a high school correspondence program. Entries from home-schooled students are also accepted.

First-place state-level winners are awarded $1,000 each and compete for national awards. National awards include one first-place award of $10,000; one second-place award of $5,000; and one third-place award of $2,500. First-place state winners are also invited to Washington, D.C., for the awards program. The institute pays for expenses related to the program, including travel, lodging, meals, and entertainment.

Visit the USIP Web site for complete program information and entry procedures.

Opportunities for Teachers

• Funding Available from the Professional Educator Standards Board

The Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) has funding available to support teachers to add the following endorsements:
• Secondary Mathematics
• Any Secondary Science area
• Middle Level Mathematics/Science

Funds may be used to pay for PRAXIS II exams, university supervision for the pedagogy assessment, and in some cases, tuition for a limited amount of coursework. Priority will go to teachers currently teaching in secondary math or science without an endorsement, or those whose district would provide the opportunity to teach in one of those areas if an endorsement was earned.

Apply by emailing Mea Moore at PESB.

For more information on Pathway I and II and endorsement requirements go to the PESB website under Quick Links select “Add an Endorsement”.

• Leadership and Learning Grants

Deadline: February 1, 2008
Award Amount: $2,000 - $5,000

The NEA Foundation supports individuals participating in professional development activities, such as summer institutes, or groups of teachers and education-support professionals engaged in research, mentoring, or other relevant activities. Eligible applicants include teachers at public schools, education-support professionals at public schools, and faculty and staff members at public colleges or universities.

For more information, visit the NEA Foundation's Web site.

• Student-Achievement Grants for Teachers

Deadline: February 1, 2008

NEA Foundation supports individuals whose work engages students in critical thinking and problem solving that increases their knowledge of curricular subject matter. Proposals that focus on enrolling low-income or minority students in advanced coursework are especially encouraged. Eligible applicants include teachers at public schools, education-support professionals at public schools, and faculty and staff members at public colleges or universities.

For more information, visit the NEA Foundation's Web site.

Opportunities for Communities and Schools

• We the People Bookshelf Program

Deadline: January 25, 2008

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in cooperation with the American Library Association Public Programs Office is accepting applications for the fifth We the People Bookshelf program.

Each year, NEH identifies a theme important to the nation's heritage and selects books that embody that theme to build the We the People Bookshelf. The theme for the 2007-08 Bookshelf is "Created Equal."

The program will provide three thousand school (K-12) and public libraries across the United States with a set of classic books related to the "Created Equal" theme.

Any U.S. public library or K-12 school library in the United States and its territories is eligible to apply. School libraries include public, private, parochial, and charter schools. Libraries with collections that circulate to the general public and offer reading-based programs for the general public are eligible to apply. A library system or school district may apply on behalf of its member schools or branches.

Each library will receive a collection of seventeen classic hardcover books for young readers, all related to the Created Equal theme, and related resources and materials for programming.

Visit the We the People Bookshelf Web site for details about eligibility and instructions for completing the online application.

• ThinkQuest International 2008 for Students and Educators

Deadline: April 2, 2008

The Oracle Education Foundation has announced the opening of ThinkQuest International 2008. ThinkQuest is open to students between the ages of 9 and 19 and their teacher-coaches worldwide. Students are encouraged to team with peers in other regions to develop Web sites on educational topics. The program is designed to help participants develop important skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, self-direction, problem solving, and technology skills. In addition, students become published Web-authors in the popular ThinkQuest Library, sharing their work with thirty million Web learners each year.

Qualifying entries will be published in the ThinkQuest Library. Winners will receive prizes from the Oracle Education Foundation, including laptops and $1,000 school grants for the top five teams in each age division, travel to the annual ThinkQuest Live event for the top three teams in each division, and digital cameras for the team that receives the Global Perspectives Award.

Students and educators interested in participating should visit the ThinkQuest Web site.

What skills are needed in a democracy?

2007-12-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

According to an article by John Patrick, when we think about teaching students to be informed participants in a democracy there are three areas in which educators tend to focus: civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic virtues.

This is how he describes each area:
"Civic knowledge consists of fundamental ideas and information that learners must know and use to become effective and responsible citizens of a democracy… In particular, it involves concepts and data about democracy in the learner's country and comparisons with other countries.

"Civic skills are the cognitive operations that enable the learner to understand, explain, compare, and evaluate principles and practices of government and citizenship … Civic skills involve the citizen's use of knowledge to think and act competently in response to the ongoing challenges of democratic governance and citizenship.

"Civic virtues … are the traits of character necessary for the preservation and improvement of democratic governance and citizenship. Examples of civic virtues are respect for the worth and dignity of each person, civility, integrity, self-discipline, tolerance, compassion, and patriotism.”

In the context of the school day we can think about these three areas in terms of the content we need to teach, the skills students must develop to understand the content, and the sense of community we build in our classroom so students feel safe and can focus on learning.

The problem solving students do today in math class should build the same skills necessary in the future to solve a budget deficit, an architectural challenge, or an applied math solution to a biological crisis.

The critical thinking students put into planning a debate today should build the same skills necessary in the future to present an argument in court, negotiate an important business deal, or make a political speech.

The social skills students develop while learning to work together in your class should build the same skills they’ll need in the future to hold leadership positions in their jobs, or work with a team to accomplish a business objective.

The skills needed in a democracy are the same skills we already know students need to be successful in school. But if we think about them as important beyond their relevance to passing benchmarks, meeting AYP, and getting good grades – perhaps we’ll endow them with a even more enticing significance.

Walking in an Inspired School Wonderland

2007-12-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

What might school look like if walking down the halls were more like "walking in a winter wonderland?"

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
in the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
we're happy tonight,
walking in a winter wonderland.

In an Inspired School, students experience learning through all of their senses. They hear things, see things, feel things, smell things, taste things. This is important because everyone learns and displays his or her knowledge in different ways. When schools only teach to verbal/linguistic or visual learners they risk losing students who learn better in a different format.

Gone away is the bluebird,
here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song,
as we go along,
walking in a winter wonderland.

In an Inspired School students learn to connect what they are learning to the world around them. They know how math concepts can be applied in their community, how science can teach them about the local flora and fauna of the area, or how music can be a form both of personal and cultural expression. If students are taught concepts only in a textbook context, they are less likely to keep interested or see the relevance of the material in their own lives – and often won’t retain this knowledge for future use.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown
He'll say: Are you married?
we'll say: No man,
But you can do the job
when you're in town.

In an Inspired School students are encouraged and expected to use their imaginations. Schools should be places that foster creative thought and prepare our young people to be the innovative thinkers of tomorrow. Imaginative play is where those skills are born.

Later on, we'll conspire,
as we dream by the fire
To face unafraid,
the plans that we've made,
walking in a winter wonderland.

In an Inspired School students are trusted to make decisions and to take some ownership over their learning experience. Our world is not going to get less complicated as time goes on and we are likely to face many problems that can only be solved by creative and independent thought. If we do not foster the skills of higher-level thinking and decision-making in our young people, we risk bringing up future generations who won’t have the ability to think outside the box when it comes to tackling major challenges.

Preparing to be a Teacher

2007-12-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

The following is the first in a series by Inspired Teaching Program Intern Michelle Costa. Michelle will graduate from George Washington University this spring and start a teaching position in New York City next fall with Teach for America.

Over the next few months she will share stories about her preparation to become an educator. At Inspired Teaching Michelle helps us to prepare workshops for teachers. Michelle’s learning experiences here are getting her ready for the exciting journey ahead.

As I anxiously waited for the phone call from a Teach For America representative all I could think about was how much I wanted to teach. Before joining Center for Inspired Teaching as a Program Intern, I worked as a Campus Campaign Manager with Teach For America. It was my job to convince graduating seniors to dedicate two years to teaching in a low-income school. After meeting countless Teach For America corps members, the reason seemed simple- a teacher can make a difference in the lives of students. Each day I was further inspired by the tales of overcoming obstacles, pushing the limits, and helping students to reach their full potential.

Now that I know I was accepted into the 2008 corps of Teach For America, I am beginning to really think about and question what I will be doing. I have listened to the stories of so many successful teachers, but can I do what they had done? Will I be able to give my students the opportunity to succeed? Can I help my students to make the gains necessary to bring them to the same level as their higher-income peers?

In my Teach For America acceptance packet there was a letter:

Edwin Lopez Oct 19, 2007

To the future teacher,

I suggest you teach in NYC. It’s the best place in America. It pays more. The schools are bigger, and it’s cleaner. They give you all the stuff you need. The schools are in good condition.

Tears began to well up in my eyes as I read this letter. I walked into the common room of my apartment where my four roommates were sitting, watching TV, and I showed it to each of them. I told them this is why I am going to be a teacher.

A Sample Question Curriculum

2007-12-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

In November, Center for Inspired Teaching presented at the Coalition of Essential Schools Fall Forum in Denver, CO. Participants in our workshop put their heads together to create a "Question Curriculum" that offers several thought provoking ideas!

Participants began by brainstorming inspired questions their students might ask and then generated sub-questions, divided by subject area, that would address these larger ideas.

K-3 Question Curriculum

Inspired Question: Why is she mean to me?

Subject Area Sub-Questions
Social Skills

How can we include everyone?
What are ways we can support each other?
Do we know of periods of time where people were mean to each other?

Language Arts and Reading

Have you ever felt this way?
Has anyone read a story about people being mean to you?

Writing

How can writing help us solve our problems?
What would you say to someone who was mean to you?
Can you write a story about a time you solved a problem
about someone being mean to you?

Science

How do you feel when someone is mean to you?
How can you tell how someone is feeling?
What did you notice when you did…?

Math

Can we keep track of acts of kindness- tally marks, graph

Inspired Question: Why did my dog die?

Subject Area Sub-Questions
Social Skills

Have you experienced a loss?
Can you imagine what it feels like?
How can you help others?
What helped you?

Language Arts and Reading

Read books about loss and ask- how did you feel?

Writing

How can writing help you deal with your loss?

Science

Life cycle- how do we care for ourselves?
What happens to our bodies?

Math

How long do we live?

4-5 Question Curriculum
Inspired Question: Why is our world in conflict?

Subject Area Sub-Questions
Reading

Why did the Holocaust happen?

Writing

Why do we fight with people we love?

Math

Why is gas so expensive?

Science

How will global warming increase conflict?

Social Studies

Why are we in Iraq?

6-8 Question Curriculum

Inspired Question: Why are things unfair?

Subject Area Sub-Questions
Math

How do we show that things aren’t fair?
What mathematical representations can illustrate unfairness?

Social Studies

Should things be unfair?
Is the justice system fair?

Language Arts and Literature

What is the definition of unfair?
What literature pieces give examples of fair/unfair?

Science

Is ‘survival of the fittest’ fair?
How do we make environmental decisions?

Art

Does advertising impose ideas of fairness/unfairness?
What areas of the arts are open to whom? Fair?

Health

Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why are some people healthier than others?

Inspired Question: Why are illegal immigrants returned to Mexico?

Subject Area Sub-Questions
Math

What is the demographic distribution of people in the United States and Mexico?
What is the relative income between Mexico and the United States?

Social Studies

What are nations? What are borders?
How do you choose where you live?

9-12 Question Curriculum
Inspired Question: Why can’t you just tell me?

Subject Area Sub-Questions
Math

What is the difference between knowing something and understanding something?

Science

How does discovery lead to new inventions?

Language Arts and Humanities

Why do you have to learn some things on your own and what experiences have you had on your own?

History

Why is there only one answer?

2007-11-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

It is the time of year when seniors need to get serious about college applications and fundraisers need to start making their end of year appeals. Below are some resources to help you on your way.

~Mike

Opportunities for Students

• Action For Nature Offers International Young Eco-Hero Awards

Deadline: February 28, 2008

Action For Nature , a nonprofit organization that encourages young people around the world to carry out individual environmental action projects, presents the International Young Eco-Hero Awards to recognize the individual accomplishments of young people (ages 8-16) whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment.

Action For Nature will award cash prizes of up to $500 each to young Eco-Heroes for their outstanding accomplishments in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research, or protection of the natural world.

The applications will be judged according to several criteria, including but not limited to originality, difficulty, organization, length of time devoted to the project, influencing/educating others, use of outside resources (e.g., library, experts, media, community leaders), degree of success in reaching goals, and the impact on the environment.

See the Action For Nature Web site, for complete program information and application guidelines.

Opportunities for Teachers

• FastTrack Fundraising Tips and Articles

This is a great site with helpful tips and ideas for a full range of fundraising activities, including school, club, and sports fundraising. Visit their Web site and get Inspired!

Opportunities for Schools and Communities

• Educational Full Scholarship for Single Mother

The Sister Thea Bowman Foundation has four scholarships for African-American single mothers and their child to attend the College of St. Mary in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Foundation will grant $30,000.00 over a period of four years to the College of St. Mary on behalf of each student. In return the College of St. Mary will match that grant with an additional $24,000. The student must be an African-American single mother who has completed high school. She must be from low-income housing. She must be able to gain admission to College of St. Mary. She need not be Catholic.

Each student will have an African-American mentor during her course of study at the College of St. Mary. Each student will also have an African-American host family from Omaha who will also serve as mentor. Each mother may take up to two children with her to the College of St.
Mary. The cut off age for the child is nine. Each mother will live in a dorm with other single mothers and their children. This dorm has been especially renovated to accommodate mothers and their children.

If interested, please contact Mary Lou Jennings, Executive Director of the Sister Thea Bowman Foundation at: marylouj11@aol.com.

More Movement Ideas

2007-11-26T07:15:00.001-08:00

What are some other ways you can bring movement into the classroom?

So you want to get your class up and moving... where to begin? These are a few simple activities you can use to get students on their feet and out of their seats. As recess time gets taken over by the cold weather, some of these energy-burners may become the difference between an unruly afternoon and one that makes way for learning!

Warm Ups
Count Down Shake Down: The class should do this in unison. Beginning with the right hand, shake and count in rhythm 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, then do the same with the left hand, the right foot and the left foot. Begin again with the right hand and count in rhythm this time from 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, move to the left hand, right foot and left foot. Continue counting down until you get to one. You can start at a higher or lower number depending on how much shaking you need the class to do!

What's Shakin'? Call out parts of the body to shake, for example:
Shake your right hand.
Add your left shoulder.
Add your right knee.
What's shakin'? Students will respond: "right hand, left shoulder, right knee"
Now, take out your right knee.
Add your left knee.
Take out your right hand.
Add your head.
What's shakin'? Students will respond: "left shoulder, left knee, head"

Zip, Zap, Zop: This activity is done in a circle. The starter gestures (with the palms of both hands together, arms straight, and all fingers pointing out) to someone in the circle and says, "ZIP". That person gestures to someone else in the circle and says, "ZAP". That person gestures to someone else in the circle and says "ZOP". The next player says "ZIP" and play continues.

Subject Specific Movements
Vocabulary Exercises: Students create stretches or exercises that express the meaning behind each of their vocabulary words. These exercises can be used to start each class period or practiced right before the test so the words are fresh in their minds.

Math Movement Chants: Many teachers use math chants and accompanying movements to help students remember concepts or formulas. This site may provide you with a few ideas but you can just as easily have your students create their own.
http://www.songsforteaching.com/numberscounting.htm

Acting Out History: Have students choose particular events from their history or social studies text books to dramatize. Acting out these events and then talking about the experience is a good way to make these "events from the past" relevant to students' lives today.

Science in the Everyday: As much as possible try to connect science concepts to real-world applications. Bring in living things when discussing biology, use common household chemicals when talking about chemistry, look at everyday phenomena to explain physical theories. This is more work for you up front, but the more students connect what they learn in a textbook with their own lives, the more interesting and engaging the material will seem!

New Thanksgiving Stories

2007-11-19T17:42:00.002-08:00

These stories were of the variety that capture public attention, but they were not stories that captured the magic I felt in being a teacher. They were true, but they were also mainly shocking. Like most of the news we hear about schools they featured the appallingly low skills of my students, the struggle to overcome a tremendous lack of resources in my school, the atrocious behaviors that cropped up in my classroom, the adult experiences endured by teenage children, etc., etc., etc.

My stories were not of the inspiring variety, and I remember thinking when I went to bed that I had created a grim picture of my school in the minds of my audience. Though I knew the picture was accurate, it was not complete, and I was sad that I had not used my moment on the stage to talk about all the beautiful things that also happened within those cinder-block walls.

Maybe this is why people have such a bad opinion of schools in general. We don't tend to tell many of the good stories, although in even the worst schools wonderful things happen every day. These are not the things of bold headlines, often they're so tiny they escape the notice of nearly everyone in the building.

Last week we asked our Teacher Advisory Board, a group of about 15 DC Public School teachers, to share their inspiring stories from the past 3 months of school. It took a minute for the group to warm up to the request. That's just not the way we're used to talking about school.

Eventually these are some of the beautiful things that came out:

A Head Start student who has already been kicked out of 5 elementary schools finally found a teacher who is taking the time to see what makes him tick. He's learning to work with his peers and trust the love he's getting from his teacher.
A music teacher found a way to let a suspended student attend the opera because she'd seen a spark light up in him when he studied the score.
Tasked with the challenge of teaching a classroom full of boys, a teacher changed her style to incorporate more kinesthetic learning in the day.
After struggling under challenging leadership for a few years, a teacher has discovered new enthusiasm for his profession with an inspiring new principal.
A lesson on nutrition empowered one young girl to teach her mother about what constitutes a healthy breakfast.

These are just a few of the stories we heard, and they're not the kinds of stories you're likely to see covered on tonight's evening news. But they are the kinds of stories that keep teachers coming back to school every day, and they're the stories that hint at the slow but incredibly powerful work we are engaged in when we set about the task of helping children reach their full potential.

I like to think I didn't tell these kinds of stories that Thanksgiving long ago because I didn't have them to tell. But I did. In truth I think I knew they wouldn't get the same reaction out of my audience. Perhaps if we told these stories more, people would begin to expect more out of our schools because they would see what is possible.

This Thanksgiving I have the tales of these teachers to tell. I have the other variety too. But I've come to believe those really aren't the stories people need to hear.

New Thanksgiving Stories

2007-11-19T17:42:00.001-08:00

Monday, November 19, 2007

New Thanksgiving Stories

At my first Thanksgiving as a new teacher I was the center of attention at the dinner table. My first three months had provided me with plenty of captivating tales to tell. It felt good to make the table ooh and ahh, laugh and gasp, over my stories. But I remember feeling slightly uncomfortable after the dinner table talk died down.

These stories were of the variety that capture public attention, but they were not stories that captured the magic I felt in being a teacher. They were true, but they were also mainly shocking. Like most of the news we hear about schools they featured the appallingly low skills of my students, the struggle to overcome a tremendous lack of resources in my school, the atrocious behaviors that cropped up in my classroom, the adult experiences endured by teenage children, etc., etc., etc.

My stories were not of the inspiring variety, and I remember thinking when I went to bed that I had created a grim picture of my school in the minds of my audience. Though I knew the picture was accurate, it was not complete, and I was sad that I had not used my moment on the stage to talk about all the beautiful things that also happened within those cinder-block walls.

Maybe this is why people have such a bad opinion of schools in general. We don't tend to tell many of the good stories, although in even the worst schools wonderful things happen every day. These are not the things of bold headlines, often they're so tiny they escape the notice of nearly everyone in the building.

Last week we asked our Teacher Advisory Board, a group of about 15 DC Public School teachers, to share their inspiring stories from the past 3 months of school. It took a minute for the group to warm up to the request. That's just not the way we're used to talking about school.

Eventually these are some of the beautiful things that came out:

A Head Start student who has already been kicked out of 5 elementary schools finally found a teacher who is taking the time to see what makes him tick. He's learning to work with his peers and trust the love he's getting from his teacher.
A music teacher found a way to let a suspended student attend the opera because she'd seen a spark light up in him when he studied the score.
Tasked with the challenge of teaching a classroom full of boys, a teacher changed her style to incorporate more kinesthetic learning in the day.
After struggling under challenging leadership for a few years, a teacher has discovered new enthusiasm for his profession with an inspiring new principal.
A lesson on nutrition empowered one young girl to teach her mother about what constitutes a healthy breakfast.

FUNdraising Fridays

2007-11-16T06:15:00.000-08:00

To all Inspired Students, Teachers, and Schools,

This week’s exciting opportunities include teacher funding for the addition of Science and Math endorsements, a free set of classic books for school libraries, and a chance for students to participate in a Web site development contest. In addition to these opportunities, awards are available for students who are taking action against global poverty and schools who are instilling students with strong values.

~Mike

Opportunities for Students

• Oracle Education Foundation’s ThinkQuest International 2008

Deadline: April 2, 2008

The Oracle Education Foundation has announced the opening of ThinkQuest International 2008 and is inviting students and teachers from around the globe to take part in the international project learning competition.

ThinkQuest is open to students between the ages of 9 and 19 and their teacher-coaches worldwide. Students are encouraged to team with peers in other regions to develop Web sites on educational topics. The program is designed to help participants develop important skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, self- direction, problem solving, and technology skills.

Qualifying entries will be published in the ThinkQuest Library. Winners will receive prizes from the Oracle Education Foundation, including laptops and $1,000 school grants for the top five teams in each age division, travel to the annual ThinkQuest Live event for the top three teams in each division, and digital cameras for the team that receives the Global Perspectives Award.

Students and educators interested in participating should visit the ThinkQuest Web site.

• Global Action Awards for Global Poverty Efforts

Deadline: January 31, 2008

NetAid, an initiative of Mercy Corps, is accepting applications for the Global Action Awards. The awards honor high school students in the United States who have organized and led a project that has impacted people in poor countries, or raised awareness about global poverty in their own communities.

The awards celebrate young people who have shown great leadership in areas such as preventing disease, alleviating hunger, protecting the environment, promoting human rights, and improving access to clean drinking water, health care, or education. Projects may involve organizing advocacy campaigns, raising funds, volunteering, or using media and technology to involve others in the fight against global poverty.

Guidelines and application materials are available at the NetAid Web site.

Opportunities for Teachers

• The Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) Funding

PESB has funding available to support teachers to add the following endorsements: Secondary Mathematics, Any Secondary Science area, and Middle Level Mathematics/Science. Funds may be used to pay for PRAXIS II exams, university supervision for the pedagogy assessment, and in some cases, tuition for a limited amount of coursework. Priority will go to teachers currently teaching in secondary math or science without an endorsement, or those whose district would provide the opportunity to teach in one of those areas if an endorsement was earned.

Apply by emailing Mea Moore at PESB: mea.moore@k12.wa.us

For more information on Pathway I and II and endorsement requirements go to the PESB Web site under Quick Links select “Add an Endorsement”.

NOTE: The October 12th deadline referred to in the bulletin has been removed.

Opportunities for Communities and Schools

• National Endowment for the Humanities We the People Bookshelf Program

Deadline: January 25, 2008

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in cooperation with the American Library Association Public Programs Office is accepting applications for the fifth We the People Bookshelf program.

Each year, NEH identifies a theme important to the nation's heritage and selects books that embody that theme to build the We the People Bookshelf. The theme for the 2007-08 Bookshelf is "Created Equal." The program will provide three thousand school (K-12) and public libraries across the United States with a set of classic books related to the "Created Equal" theme.

Any U.S. public library or K-12 school library in the United States and its territories is eligible to apply. School libraries include public, private, parochial, and charter schools. Libraries with collections that circulate to the general public and offer reading-based programs for the general public are eligible to apply. A library system or school district may apply on behalf of its member schools or branches.

Visit the NEH Web site for details about eligibility and instructions for completing the online application.

• K-12 School Awards

The Character Education Partnership (CEP) recognizes K-12 schools and districts throughout the U.S. demonstration outstanding character education initiatives that yield positive results in student behavior, school climate, and academic performance. Although winners may differ in method, content, and scope, all emphasize core ethical values such as honesty, respect, responsibility, and caring.

Eligible applicants include public and private schools. The deadline for applications is December 3, 2007. Approximately 10 winners will be awarded $20,000. For further information, go to the Character Web site.

This is Our Classroom

2007-11-12T12:32:00.001-08:00

This is a lesson on belonging as taught by a mysteriously decapitated Nasturtium.

After spending several months getting to know my 9th grade students I had arrived at several conclusions - key amongst them was the realization that they hadn't had many of elementary school experiences I remembered with great fondness from my own childhood. So, I tried to find ways to weave these experiences into their adolescent lives in ways that made them seem (at least tangentially) relevant to the curriculum I had to teach (9th Grade English).

The Nasturtium project was one such effort. Most of my students claimed they had never planted anything in their lives - not even the lima-bean-in-a-cup that is the standard science project of so many Kindergarten classrooms. We were beginning a poetry unit and it seemed like as good a time as any to explore the magic of watching a seed grow. I wanted something more exciting than a lima bean and something that would grow quickly so we could write about this growth process weekly and explore the metaphorical connection between the seed>plant>flower and their own lives. Upon a quick study of flowers, the Nasturtium emerged as the seed of choice with only a week's gestation period and the promise of flowers by the end of the month.

The students were so excited to plant the seeds. They took the watering of those seeds more seriously than they had taken most of what we done all year. The poetry flowed each week as they watched the seeds sprout, grow leaves, and then get moved from cups to pots. Simile, metaphor, and personification came naturally as they saw beautiful parallels between the unfurling of each new leaf and their own emergence into young adulthood.

I had three classes doing the project and each was incredibly possessive of its tray of plants. Students often ran to class early to chatter over how their plants were greener, taller, stronger, than those of another class. (In truth they were all basically the same.) They brought in students from other classes to show off the wondrous lives they were cultivating.

Real excitement began to brew as the month drew to an end and the first bud of a flower appeared. Strangely, only one appeared at first. It belonged to Diana in 3rd period. Each morning hoards of students would pour into my classroom to see if Diana's plant had bloomed. What color would it be? When would it appear? How long would it last? These were the questions that bubbled amongst them. A little jealousy was present, but I never thought it would cause any harm.

Then, one day, probably the very day that bud should have burst open, we arrived at 3rd period and found it severed at the stem. A pair of guilty looking scissors lay on the counter beside the plant tray with traces of green juice fresh along the edge of the blades. Someone had snuck into the room when I wasn't there to commit the crime.

Chaos ensued. Anger rose. Some students began to cry. Threats of payback flew. My students, people who had witnessed human cruelty of the worst kind many times in their young lives, were horrified by this tiny act of plant violence. I did not know what to do, so I set aside my plans for the class, moved the desks into a circle, and we talked about how they were feeling.

This was a class that, at the start of the year, regularly erupted into verbal altercations and had come to blows more than once. But surprisingly, none of the students ever suggested the flower-murderer came from their own class. On this day they were adamant that no one in our class would ever hurt one of their own. Even though only one student's plant was affected, they felt a collective sense of loss because that single flower had been a source of collective pride. As I listened to them speak I realized that my silly plant project had become something much bigger for these students. Perhaps it was because they had been asked to make a personal connection to these plants from the time they were seeds.

After some careful discussion moderation, I successfully convinced the class not to partake in retaliatory pruning of the other classes' plants - and we even got some powerful poetry out of the experience. But the best thing that came out of the Nasturtium project, at least for that class, was not particularly academic. It was a sense of belonging and a sense of collective responsibility for one another. That experience has often made me wonder what would happen in our world if teaching kindness, respect, and compassion were as important in our schools as teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Within a week everyone's plant had bloomed, and Diana's quickly grew another flower of its own. The culprit behind the plant crime never came forward but, lucky for us all, the scissors never struck again.

The Rewards of Taking Risks

2007-11-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

A teacher brings a field trip she couldn't take into the classroom. Students take a stand in the name of free expression. Each of these true stories was a risk, and the risk-takers experienced the rewards.

The Risk: Carol teaches Pre-K in the inner city. Her students have never been to a pumpkin patch. She wants to do the traditional "trip to a farm" but due to budgetary constraints and concerns that "out of class time = no learning" she's not allowed to take the students this year. Carol is undeterred. She takes a weekend drive to a pumpkin patch and with her own money buys enough pumpkins for every student in the class. She also buys a bushel of apples, several hay bales, and some corn stalks. "If I can't take them to the farm, I"ll bring the farm to them," she says. On Monday morning she arrives at school before the sun comes up and sets to work creating a "pumpkin patch" on the playground. She covers the pumpkins with hay so the students can hunt for them, and hides the apples as well. She ties the cornstalks to tree trunks and sets up a paint station, a clay station, apumpkin carving station, and a giant tarp/tent. When the students arrive they spend the morning "on the farm."

The Reward: "I might get written up for insubordination," Carol says, "but to see the smiles on my students' faces - that made the whole thing worth it." She recognizes that the learning experience her students had that morning trumps whatever she could have taught them about math or writing.

The Risk: Richard walked into high school one day with his usually blonde hair dyed bright green. His hair caused quite a sensation and, in the eyes of his principal, quite a distraction, so by the time 4th period rolled around he was in the office being suspended. I was Richard's American Literature teacher and it just so happened that we were deep in a week-long debate about the virtues and drawbacks of our American freedoms as described in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. When Richard was missing from class, the students shared his story. They were indignant that he should be suspended for what they considered his right to free expression. I encouraged them to use the power of the pen to share their concerns with the principal. They did, but their letter was met with the explanation that the rights of an American citizen and the rights of high school students are not the same. So, they took an even bigger risk. After school they met at one student's house and the entire class dyed their hair a wonderful rainbow of florescent colors.

The Reward: When this group (representing the highest achieving students in the school) marched in the next day, there were too many students to suspend (and too many influential parents involved). Richard was allowed back in school and the students celebrated what they considered a triumph of their rights as free citizens and the potential power of social activism.

Neither of these risks was particularly "academic" and yet it would be difficult to argue that learning didn't take place in each example. While it's never a good idea to take risks that put students in danger, those that challenge their minds and encourage them to seek their own pathways for learning are undeniably valuable.

Ultimately, shouldn't learning that stretches one's mind, takes one to new places, and opens new doors - be exactly the kind of learning we're supposed to do in school?

Building Teamwork in Your School

2007-11-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Whether you're a teacher, student, principal, parent, or community member you can play a role in building community in your school. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

If you are a teacher:

Start a Collaborative Learning Community: Share one of your lesson plans with a colleague and ask for advice on how to strengthen it. In the future this simple step can encourage her to do the same. Better yet, invite a few colleagues to review the lesson or visit your class and give you feedback. Your brave first move opens the door for them to try it too!
Share Resources: If you're in grad school or taking an interesting class, make copies of articles you find interesting and share them with your principal. You might even want to post them in the teachers' lounge. You don't have to find these sources in classes alone. As you browse the web or look through resource books you might stumble upon something good to share. It's more than likely that what grabs your interest might grab someone else's too and once the sharing starts you won't have to spend so much time looking for good information on your own.
Initiate a Skill Swap: There are things you know you do well with your students and there are things you know your peers do well. Consider orchestrating a skill swap! Ask one of your colleagues to model the skill you want to learn with your students and offer to do the same (modeling your skill) with theirs. (This might mean you have to combine your classes, or you could do it when one of you has a planning period.)

If you are a parent:

Think Beyond Your Child: When you visit the school it's logical that you focus on what your child needs to be successful - but in fact his or her success depends largely on the success of lots of other people in the building. The next time you meet with your child's teacher consider asking, "Is there anything you need?" This simple question could bring a range of requests, and hopefully some of them (i.e. copy paper, an overhead projector, a field trip fund, markers) will be things you can get the parent organization (or even just the parents in this class) to fill. If several parents are asking this question of different teachers you might even find that a theme emerges that could help the parent organization to create a group solution. If you don't have a parent organization, you can solicit local businesses to donate the supplies or resources your school needs.
Share the Good Things You See: If a particular teacher is doing something wonderful in his classroom, it's highly likely that you may be one of the first adults to notice it. Share the good news! Mention what you saw to the principal and other teachers. Sometimes parents have a broader view of the school (especially if they have students in multiple grades) than the teachers working there (who have to focus fully on their individual classes.)
Contribute Your Talents: Do you know how to ballroom dance? Do you like reading books out loud? Can you sing? Can you talk about your line of work? Chances are good that you have something great to share with your child's school, talk to a teacher, principal, program coordinator, or specialist teacher about volunteering!

If you are a student:

Start a Spirit Day: If you don't have one at your school already, talk to your teacher and the principal about starting a spirit day. Spirit days can be anything from days when everyone wears the school colors to days when the whole school does a service project. The purpose of these days is to create a sense of unity within the school and depending on your goals they can be very easy or very complex to arrange.
Create a Student Feedback Box: True teamwork requires the voices of all people on the team to be heard. In a school, that means people should be listening to students. Unfortunately, students are often not invited to staff meetings, parent meetings, or board meetings where the big decisions are made. You can still share your voice by setting up a "feedback box" in the main lobby of your school where students can drop their ideas or concerns. These notes can be typed up and shared with the school staff during meetings. You might also sugget creating a student liason position where a student from the school attends these meetings on behalf of the student body and shares the comments left in the box.
Be the Change: Model the behaviors that build teamwork by helping fellow students, and not just those in your grade. You can tutor younger students, start an after school club that's open to all grade levels, create intramural sports teams, etc.

If you are a principal:

Seek Input from your Staff: You work in a particularly alienating profession but you don't always have to feel so alone! Use surveys, staff meetings, individual conferences, and team meetings to solicit advice and input from your staff - particularly as it relates to improving student achievement. You will find that your teachers have great ideas you've never tried and they'll be more invested in the implementation process knowing you asked their opinion first.
Share Best Practices Research: One of the problems many principals face when trying to implement changes at their schools is that they fail to back up their requests with information explaining why they're being made. Teachers are smart and they like to be treated like they're smart. If you ask them to change the way they're teaching math they want to know why this approach will be better than what they've done before. You need to know this too! Share articles, bring in experts, and be open to their concerns and questions. These steps not only make the change more palatable - they also build trust!
Make Time for Teamwork: Teamwork isn't something you can do without time to meet with the team. That's why it's so hard to build in a school! If you can build collaborative planning time into your schedule it is much easier for teachers to meet. Being creative with after school time (offering compensation if possible, providing food, providing material resources) can also make planning together "off the clock" more appealing. At Inspired Teaching we've found biannual all-staff retreats to be incredible community builders. We recommend taking teachers away from the buiding, overnight is preferable. We've found it's actually not impossible to get small grants to cover all the costs of such an event, contact us if you want to brainstorm ways to make it happen!

If you are a community member:

Find Out what Your School Needs: Meet with the school's principal, a group of teachers, or parents to learn about the needs of the school. These may be primarily related to the physical building, but they may also be things like tutors, catered meals for meetings, typists, artists, etc. Find ways to use either your own or the community's resources to help meet those needs. You might even suggest a school-wide survey that students, parents, and staff take to identify needs. The data collected from the survey could be used to create a wish-list for the year.
Organize a Community Clean-Up Day: Find out the physical needs of your school and organize a Saturday when the community can come in to meet them. Get paint donated from a local hardware store, have neighbors bring garden tools, distribute lots of trash bags, buckets of water, and rags - and start cleaning! This is a great project to do right before school starts so students come into a fresh building as the year begins.
Tell Good Stories: You can do a lot for a school simply by talking it up. Find out what great things are happening at the school and talk about them with the community. Try to get a local paper interested, or see if neighborhood churches or businesses would like to recognize the school at their events. We hear so many bad things about our schools it's a wonder they have the courage to open their doors each day. A few more positive words can build the motivation to move towards higher and higher goals!

Being Fully Present for Your Students

2007-10-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

With so much to focus on in the classroom it can be easy to switch into auto-pilot when it comes to giving your students feedback. Unfortunately this often cheats you and them out of a meaningful learning experience. So what can we do to be fully present in the classroom?

Engage the Body and the Brain
Your mind and body must work together so if you're going to be mentally engaged with your class you need to be physically engaged as well. Try to exercise before or after work, this will improve your sleep and overall health which will make it easier to focus during the day. You can also include your students in your exercise by starting each class with a brief physical warm-up. This will bring the same benefits to your students!

Learn to Compartmentalize
The better you get at separating your work-life from your home-life the better the classroom experience will be for you, your students, and your family. This doesn't mean you shouldn't share elements of each world with the other. It simply means you deserve to have quality time away from each. The art of teaching requires balance in all aspects of your life. Explore hobbies, go on trips, spend time with people outside of work - these activities will keep you fresh when you're in school.

Listen and Repeat
If you're having trouble focusing on what your students have to say, practice listening and repeating what you hear. You can say things like, "So what you're saying is..." "Am I understanding this correctly?..." This makes the speaker feel heard and ensures that you understand what they've said.

Focus on the Details
Pay specific attention to your students' body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, etc. If you're focusing on these things you're less likely to get distracted. Try to remember details and practice recalling things your students said at the end of the day. If you can remember these things, chances are good you've been fully present during the day.

Eliminate Distractions
With so many ways for people to get in touch with us during the day it's easy to be distracted, even when we're teaching, by the world outside. Confine the use of your email, cell phone, pager, ipod, blackberry, etc. to times when students are not present. Even though its tempting to stay connected all day long, you'll find that you can enjoy the moments in your classroom more when they have your undivided attention.

Be Prepared, Be Organized
It goes without saying that a well planned day goes much better than one planned on the fly. It's not always easy to have everything planned in advance but doing so greatly reduces the stress on you and your students. Try to always be prepared at least one day ahead and have all the materials you'll need for a lesson ready before class begins. At the end of the day take 20 minutes to put everything in order for tomorrow. This ensures a calm start to the morning and a calm morning bodes well for the many hours that follow.
Be Gentle with Yourself
Making an effort to be fully present in your classroom is like any exercise, it takes time to build up the muscles that eventually make it easy. So, don't beat yourself up for daydreaming now and then or having an "off" day. Nobody is perfect, not even teachers. (Though we do come closer than most.)

Why Does Differentiation Matter?

2007-10-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

Most of us remember learning in classrooms where everyone was doing the same thing at the same time. We turned out okay, so why should our teaching today be any different?

When I was growing up my grandmother entertained me with stories of her school experiences in a one-room schoolhouse in North Dakota. She described Norman Rockwell-esque scenes of trudging through snow to class and huddling around the potbelly stove while the teacher read stories and the class performed plays. What I could never wrap my mind around was the idea of all these kids, babies through teenagers, learning from just one teacher. I always asked my grandmother how it was possible for all the students to do the same thing in her school when they were at such different ages. She always said, "they didn't."

My grandmother went to a school highly specialized in the art of differentiated instruction, and that was nearly a century ago. Today, what seemed like the unfortunate instructional necessity of poor rural schoolhouses is actually being heralded as the best way to help all children learn.

What I didn't realize as a kid listening to my grandmother's magical school stories is that students actually shouldn't all have been doing the same thing in my classes either.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that every human being is different and so it logically follows that we can't possibly all learn the same way. But our schools today are designed under the false premise that we do all learn in roughly the same way. If they acknowledge difference at all it's usually through ability grouping or tracking so "gifted" and "struggling" students are in separate classes. Within these classes there will still be a wide range of difference in student interest, ability, and learning style - but generally speaking teachers are expected to teach everyone the same way.

Teaching as the teacher did in that one-room schoolhouse in North Dakota is a lot of work. It requires knowing each student intimately for her strengths and her weaknesses and devising an instructional plan tailored specifically to that child's needs. In my grandmother's school you had 14-year-olds learning to read next to 9-year-olds writing essays because depending on your parents' occupation you might be well behind your peers thanks to many months of the year spent working the fields.

The teacher was expected to take each student as he or she came - and work to bring everyone up from where they were. In essence, to help each student achieve his or her potential. What if that were the goal of classrooms today instead of everyone achieving some generic measure of achievement as determined by an end-of-grade standardized test?

The good news is, we can make that our goal even in the midst of so much emphasis on standardized tests. If we are really working to help each student in our class meet his or her full potential then chances are pretty good they'll meet the state's standards of achievement in the process. (When you consider the fact that students need to get around 50% of the questions right on standardized tests in DC to be considered "proficient" it's rather clear that our expectations of children in this city could use a boost.)

Differentiated Instruction matters because the life of each child in our care matters and sacrificing even one child in the name of efficiency seems unacceptable when we consider the long term ramifications of that decision.

If the slow reader in 1st grade gets passed along to second grade without the support he needs we all know how that cycle goes - we end up with entire high school classrooms filled with 18-year-olds reading at an elementary level. Those 18-year-olds graduate (if they're tenacious) without the skills to get further education and, unless they're particularly industrious, will be limited to low-paying jobs and a lifetime of struggle to make ends meet in an increasingly expensive society.

We all know these students. Whatever grade you teach you probably have more than one in your class. And when you consider the needs of everyone else in there, it seems impossible to find the time to help each and every student move from where they are to where they need to be. But this is the incredible responsibility and opportunity of the teacher. If you wanted to mass produce something every day, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you probably chose the wrong profession.

Most of us are not teaching in one-room school houses today, but we are still teaching in single classrooms that house tremendous diversity. When confronted with the feeling that teaching to all those needs is impossible it's helpful for me to remember what was possible a decade ago in my grandmother's school.

Differentiated Instruction isn't some newfangled teaching fad - it's just plain good old-fashioned teaching and it's what every student deserves.

-Jenna Fournel

2007-10-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

Fall is on the way and so is another exciting football season! Is your school or community’s football field ready for action? Check out the NFL Youth Football Fund Grassroots Program efforts to improve football fields under Opportunities for Communities and Schools.

~Mike

Opportunities for Students

• New America Foundation Essay Contest

Deadline: December 15, 2007

Starting this fall in Washington D.C., New America will be offering $1,000 to the student who best answers the question, “You have just been elected the President of the United States. What is the most important thing you will do to improve the lives of America's children?"

The contest is open to all public and private high school seniors in Washington, D.C. this year. Essays must be no longer than 600 words and must also be accompanied by the Official Entry Form. For further information, visit New America’s Website.

• Gates Millennium Scholars Pre-College Event for Young Men

Saturday, October 13th, 2007, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Southeastern University, Multipurpose Center, 501 I Street, SW

The event, entitled GMS Bridge Builders, is a part of GMSP's many efforts to identify and reach promising college-bound students of color early who demonstrate the potential to become Gates Scholars upon high school graduation. The event will feature a workshop on the importance of preparing and succeeding in high school and college, and will introduce young men to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program. Interested students/parents should call or email Next Generation as soon as possible to indicate your intention to attend at: Lisa.Peyton-Caire@nexgenfoundation.org, 301.860.0111

Opportunities for Teachers

• The Character Education Partnership

Deadline: December 3, 2007

The Character Education Partnership (CEP) recognizes K-12 schools and districts throughout the U.S. demonstrating outstanding character education initiatives that yield positive results in student behavior, school climate, and academic performance. Although winners may differ in method, content, and scope, all emphasize core ethical values such as honesty, respect, responsibility, and caring. The criteria used to judge award winners are CEP’s Character Education Quality Standards. Eligible applicants include public and private schools. Approximately 10 winners will be awarded $20,000. For further information, visit Character Education Partnership’s Website.

Opportunities for Communities and Schools

• Community Efforts for Youth Awards

Deadline: November 2, 2007

America's Promise Alliance recognizes outstanding community-wide efforts that improve the well being of youth. Winning communities, both urban and rural, have developed innovative ways to solve problems that improve the lives of children and young people through the power of America’s Promise Alliance’s Five Promises. Selected communities will receive national recognition and media exposure and are eligible to participate in post-competition request for proposal process for $300,000 in grant funds. For further information, visit America’s Promise Alliance’s Website.

• NFL Youth Football Fund Grassroots Program to Support Community and School Football Field Improvements

Deadline: November 30, 2007

The NFL Youth Football Fund Grassroots Program, a partnership of the National Football League Youth Football Fund and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), provides nonprofit, neighborhood-based organizations with financial and technical assistance to improve the quality, safety, and accessibility of local football fields. Applicants may request a maximum of $200,000 from the program to be used for capital improvements. For further information, visit LISC’s Website.

What is a "Highly Qualified Teacher?"

2007-10-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Federal No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization this year and the Miller-McKeon Discussion Draft (PDF) of the new bill presents a much more comprehensive approach to supporting high quality teaching than previously existed in the law. Since we know that for each and every challenge faced by our nation's schools, excellent teachers are the solution – this seems like a positive step for NCLB, but only if the law recognizes that a "highly qualified teacher" does much more than raise test scores.

In the current law a "highly qualified teacher" is defined as "a teacher who proves that he or she knows the subjects he or she is teaching, has a college degree, and is state-certified." (ed.gov) Proof of "content knowledge" has largely been accomplished through tests like the Praxis. While we agree that teachers should demonstrate strong content knowledge, consider a parallel application of the same assessment tool: No state would ever dream of issuing a driver’s license solely on the basis of a test of the applicant’s knowledge of traffic laws—instead, we take the time to observe and evaluate applicants' performance in an actual vehicle. The same careful consideration of performance should be in place for the teaching profession and we are encouraged that new drafts of the NCLB legislation support development of a national performance-based teacher assessment.

But what would a performance-based teacher assessment look for? One of the weaknesses of the previous law is that the definition of a ‘highly qualified teacher’ relied only on indirect measures of teaching skill and emphasized the importance of content knowledge to the exclusion of other dimensions of excellent teaching. We recommend the new law define "exemplary teaching" in a way that supports a bold vision of what characterizes an outstanding teacher.

The term "exemplary, highly qualified teacher" ought to mean a teacher who:

demonstrates a belief that every student possesses the innate desire to learn and maintains high expectations for all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, linguistic background, or learning style
demonstrates expertise in instructional methods that fully engage students in the learning process
fosters a positive classroom environment characterized by physical and emotional safety, strong interpersonal relationships, and student-teacher respect
demonstrates expertise in multiple methods of student assessment, and the ability to interpret multiple types of student data in order to plan and refine instruction
demonstrates a commitment to ongoing professional learning and dedication to the habits of a reflective practitioner

We are encouraged that lawmakers are starting to recognize the vital role teachers play in "leaving no child behind." But just as we do not consider a single standardized test to be an adequate measure of all a child knows and is capable of doing - we believe the measure of a teacher's effectiveness in the classroom cannot be one-dimensional and must value the qualities that make the teaching profession one of such challenge and such opportunity.

2007-09-14T06:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all Inspired Students, Teachers, and Schools!

My name is Mike Dalious, and I am a new member of Center for Inspired Teaching. I will be working this year to support the amazing efforts of Inspired Teaching's development team.

I just moved to DC to begin my graduate studies at the George Washington University’s Elliott School for International Affairs in International Development and Global Health Studies. I am a recently returned Peace Corps volunteer, who served in Bolivia from 2004 to 2006. Originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, I attended Shippensburg University, graduating with a degree in Biotechnology. Ultimately, my goal is to improve access to health services to underprivileged communities in the developing world.

I am looking forward to learning more about the efforts made by Inspired Teaching and all of you in improving the quality of education here in Washington, DC.

I hope you enjoy reading this week's opportunities.

~Mike

Opportunities for Students

• School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents

Through January 1, 2008
National Archives, 7th St NW and Constitution Ave, NW
Metro: Green/Yellow lines, Archives
FREE

The Presidents of the 20th century were once boys struggling with their studies, teenagers trying to fit in, and young men deciding on a career. Journey back to the school days of the 20th-century Presidents through documents, artifacts, photos, and films from the collections of the National Archives' Presidential libraries. You may discover that you have something in common with these uncommon men.

• McDonald’s College Expo

Saturday, September 29, 2007, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Historic Carnegie Library, 801 K St NW (across from Convention Center)
Metro: Green/Yellow lines, Mt Vernon Sq – Convention Center
FREE

The 2007 Expo will bring local, regional and national colleges and universities directly to high school students. Students will be able to “shop” for the college or university that best fits their needs while taking part in free educational seminars on everything from tips on applying for federal financial aid to dorm room decoration ideas. The expo has garnered support and endorsement from the Washington, DC Office of the Superintendent of Education, the Maryland State Department of Education, Virginia Department of Education, and the West Virginia Department of Education.

Opportunities for Teachers

• Inspiration Awards
Recognizing and honoring the most improved schools in America

The College Board Inspiration Awards celebrate the extraordinary commitment of educators and communities to their students' futures. Despite sometimes overwhelming odds, these outstanding schools across America are taking remarkable steps to give their students the bright futures they deserve.

Each spring the College Board presents Inspiration Awards to three of America's most improved secondary schools. Award-winning schools are recognized for their outstanding college preparation programs and partnerships among teachers, parents, and community organizations. Through their dedication and commitment, these school communities have opened doors to higher education for students facing economic, social, and cultural barriers by:

* Improving their academic environment
* Helping a significant percentage of seniors realize the promise of higher education

Winning schools are selected by a panel of independent experts and are announced each April. Three winning schools receive $25,000; five schools receive $1,000 honorable mention awards.

Contact InspirationAwards@collegeboard.org or go to College Board's site to find out more.

Opportunities for Schools and Communities

• Learn about Learning Standards

District of Columbia Public Schools - Link here to learn about DC’s Learning Standards for Grades preK-12. If you want to know what’s happening in your protégé’s classes, take a look!

• Harvard University announces that students from families earning less than $60,000 a year will pay no tuition

Starting in the 2007-2008 school year, Harvard University will cover the cost of tuition for students from families earning less than $60,000 a year. This is a part of a larger initiative to attract and retain "talented students from families of low and moderate income to attend Harvard." The initiative also covers "recruitment, admissions, and a summer academic program designed to prepare talented students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds for college." Harvard is also lessening the financial burden for students from families that earn between $60,000 and $80,000 a year. For more information visit, Harvard College Financial Aid Office's website or call (617) 495- 1581.