Category Archives: Education

Old School Writing Reading List

Education, reading, writing

Tuesday is Twitterverse day and today I met William Chamberlain (@wmchamberlain) who tweeted about speed writing as a way to build creativity with his 6th grade students. I was suddenly back in my own language arts classroom in the late 80s and early 90s where I did similar kinds of activities as I tried to encourage the students to see themselves as writers. I decided to put together an old school reading list for the current generation. I know, in education, we are often encouraged to use more “up-to-date” sources but sometimes authority from the past can be a guide. Here are a few books that guided my practice all those years ago:

In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell: I read the original from 1987 and this book became the centerpiece of my middle school language arts curriculum. With a friendly, encouraging voice, she guided me through the radical act of putting the basal reader on the shelf and pulling out the battered paperbacks. Of putting aside the neat worksheets on sentence writing and letting the kids just write, sometimes even about anything they wanted. The updated version includes lessons learned from Atwell’s years as a teacher. It’s nice to know that she learned along with the rest of us: “I know my students and I will continue to learn and be changed. I am resigned—happily—to be always beginning for the rest of my life as a teacher.”

Writing: Teachers and Students at Work by Donald Graves: This wonderful book about reading and writing and teachers and students now has a 20th anniversary edition. Graves passed away two years ago but his ideas about how we can encourage reading and writing as lifelong skills live on in his work and the thousands of teachers like me who were inspired to open our classrooms to his enthusiasm. When I read the book, I pictured him hunkered down in a little chair, face close to an earnest young writer, discussing the work at hand. He made me want to talk to kids more and learn about their thinking.

The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy McCormick Calkins: Another classic for the writing teacher. I think I gravitated to the focus on the “art” of writing in response to a more grammar-centered curriculum followed by some of my colleagues. Just as with Atwell and Graves, I found in Calkins a kindred spirit who saw the potential for making students more confident in themselves as human beings who could use language to express their greatest dreams and deepest concerns.

Writing Without Teachers by Peter Elbow: A manifesto for getting writing out of the hands of teachers altogether. Elbow advocates free writing as a major tool for heating up the creative juices and argues for writing groups where members share and critique work together. The original was published in 1978 and it seems to have the aura of that time: people breaking out of expected roles and looking for ways to express themselves more freely. This isn’t necessarily about teaching but his ideas can be beneficial for anyone who wants to include more writing in their lives.

It is a testament to the longevity of these writers that their books have come out in updated editions. With the exception of Donald Graves, the others are alive and well and still writing and thinking and sharing. I’m sorry that none of them seem to be blogging but in my search, I did discover that not everyone loves the idea of reading and writing workshops.

Finally, you should definitely see what Mr. Chamberlain is doing with his students…as busy as he is, it is great that he takes the time to use the web to show his students and their work. Right now, he is looking for funding for an after school ukelele class.

 

Friday Find: Why Empathy is Important

21st Century Skills, Education, school reform

This blog post showed up in Zite this morning: Glimmers of Hope in the Education Debate. The writer makes the case that the two sides are not as far apart as it might seem.  He shows several places where the seemingly rigid accountability movement is opening to the possibility of non-cognitive skills:

Friedman gives a nod to the Common Core Standards, adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia — and long anathema to many in the progressive educator circles — which establish clear learning goals and competencies in math and literacy for students across multiple grade levels. Quoting Duncan, he cheerfully writes, “For the first time in our history, a kid in Massachusetts and a kid in Mississippi will be measured by the same yardstick.”

Even there, however, the battle lines are no longer quite as rigid as we tend to think. Earlier this year,Expeditionary Learning — known for an educational model built on Outward Bound, with an explicit focus on empathy, collaboration, and self-discovery — was hired to develop the curriculum and professional development training for grades 3-5 of the Common Core for the state of New York.

It’s a big deal, because for the first time, it means we don’t have to choose: we don’t have to choose between academic learning and non-cognitive development; we don’t have to choose between overly burdensome (and by many accounts, meaningless) standards and nothing at all; we don’t have to choose between the interests of teachers and the interests of those who control them.

It’s worth a read: the cynical side of me couldn’t help but think that Flowers was being a Pollyana, something she says of herself. The people she reads might be interested in redefining “highly skilled worker” but I haven’t heard a whole lot of discussion of empathy in the mainstream discussion.  Maybe Paul Tough‘s book will help form a foundation for discussion. And, maybe I’m just in a negative mood since my current read is Jonathan Kozol.

The blog post is part of a larger website focused on empathy, which is sponsored by Ashoka, an organization that strives to develop the citizen sector of society. They believe that empathy is an important 21st century skill:

We know that a child who masters empathy at the age of six is less likely to bully ten years later, and that, for students, having one supportive relationship with an adult outside the family can be the difference between success and failure as an adult. And we know that far from being a “nice-to-have,” empathy – and the various skills it entails – is increasingly critical to our success at home, in the workplace, and in the world.

I was also intrigued by the writer’s comment that he had a Google alert related to empathy.  That was not the kind of search time that occurred to me so I signed up. The first email included a wide range of articles from a report about research that shows empathy can override analysis in the brain, a description of a new app designed to make commuting on the London Tube less stressful, and an interview from The Salt Lake Tribune where a CEO discusses the characteristics of great leaders, one of which is empathy.

I was a bit surprised by the depth and breadth of articles and am looking forward to future alerts. There are articles, well written blog entries and lots of videos. One series tells the story of a Tokyo teacher and his students who write notebook letters to each other:

Getting Started with Kozol

Education,

I haven’t set a new 30 day challenge but I am at least thinking about what I am going to read for the next month.  I have been reveling in fiction lately but feeling like I need to dig into some more serious reading. I looked back at my post about the banned books in Arizona. It’s been a very long time since I read Jonathan Kozol so yesterday I pulled Death At An Early Age off the shelf. (I just bought a digital copy of Savage Inequalities so that will be next.) From there, I will dive into the Latino literature on the list with maybe a side of Howard Zinn.  I’m about half way through A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present and this would be an excuse to finish it.

My biggest problem is finding time to read this kind of serious writing. It can’t be at night before I go to sleep because i am simply not attentive enough. Night time is all about easy fiction and falling asleep with a book in your hand. Kozol, Zinn and Latino literature deserve my full attention.

Yesterday, I found that time and dug into Death At An Early Age. His descriptions of the lives of the students and the teachers who expect so little from them is painfully raw in its honesty:

For it is the Boston schoolteachers themselves who for years have been speaking of the Negro children in their charge as animals and the school building that houses them as a zoo. And it is well known by now how commonly the injustices and depredations of the Boston school system have compelled its Negro pupils to regard themselves with something less than the dignity and respect of human beings…the price it exacted was paid ultimately by every child, and in the long run I am convinced that the same price has been paid by every teacher too (1967, p. 7).

We all pay when people are not treated with respect and dignity. And while No Child Left Behind suggested that it was about equality, it did nothing to change the classroom culture but simply said, you need to get everyone to pass a test, a distraction from the real issues that are harder to address. Here’s Kozol on NCLB:

NCLB widens the gap between the races more than any piece of educational legislation I’ve seen in 40 years. It denies inner-city kids the critical-thinking skills to interrogate reality. When they reach secondary school, they can’t participate in class discussions. Only 4 percent of Chicago high school graduates complete four years of college. Ninety-six percent drop out because they’ve never learned to pose discerning questions. NCLB’s fourth-grade gains aren’t learning gains, they’re testing gains. That’s why they don’t last. The law is a distraction from things that really count. There’s nothing in it about class size. Children in the top suburban schools – Brookline, for instance – are in classes of 16 or 18 students. Inner-city schools often have 32 students in elementary school classes and up to 40 in high school classes.

Not surprisingly, Kozol draws attacks. Clearly, Jay Greene is not impressed. And The Weekly Standard makes fun of him, a sure sign he is a danger.

Yet, even as I was writing this entry, Tavis Smiley’s report Too Important to Fail came on. The program focuses on the increased drop out rate amongst teens, especially young Black men and highlights schools that are making a difference in their lives. He is interviewing the principal of a Philadelphia high school who calls these young men victims of Society. They’ve had experiences they shouldn’t have had and they bring those experiences with them to school. Thinking you can ignore that baggage leads to clashes in the classroom. The principal focuses his attention on building relationships with the students to help draw them into the school, baggage and all, and let them see that there is a place for them in school.

We are still fighting the battles for equality of access and opportunity and we’re lucky to have Kozol to continue to lead the way.

 

 

Day 30! Well, actually Day 31 ;-)

Education, technology

NB: I realized that it is Halloween and that is October 31st.  (Thirty days hath September and so forth.) I reached my goal YESTERDAY so today is the first blog post in the next 30 days but I’m not starting another challenge until tomorrow.)

I have reached the 30th 31st day of my challenge! I posted a substantive blog post every day for the past 30 31 days. Writing is part of my daily routine and I have put a plan in place to continue to incorporate writing, along with the reading and research that I do to prepare each entry.  I feel more connected to the larger educational world through the work I’ve done this past month. I am more thoughtful about spending Quadrant Two time and am finding the Google Alerts to be a helpful way to get news headlines.  It is interesting to see the trends across various publications. On Wednesdays, I’m going to highlight some of those headlines.

One of my alerts is ipads in education and I’ve been seeing lots of links to local news stories about their local school’s adoption of iPads. Today was no exception:

School board candidates share views
From the Powell Tribune, Powell, Wyoming
The first question asked the candidates to give their views on the use of technology in education, specifically the increased use of iPads. Candidates expressed mixed feelings about iPads, with some questioning their printing-compatibility with …

This one is worth a read.  The candidates are concerned about some very interesting things: the inability to print, a desire to throttle access to “outside interfaces” and the ability to save money on textbooks with a side of concern for students’ backs.  One member did look to the future for students:

“They’re probably pretty handy to have because as people grow up and go to college they’re going to have to have them with their businesses too,” he said.

Not much vision for how these devices might support student learning in the short term and really not any real enthusiasm for them.

Meanwhile, from Park City, UT:

One-to-one initiative to take off
From the Park Record
Following board approval earlier this month, the North Summit School District is moving forward to implement a new program which students in the high school will receive iPads. Using capital funds, the school district will invest $150,000 in providing …

The article gives a few examples of the uses of the iPads but I worry a bit about the focus on comparing them to textbooks:

From education applications to online textbooks, teachers have already been figuring out the best way to use the new technology. It could be a biology class using an app in which students can rotate a three-dimensional diagram of a heart. It could be easier to distribute in-class quizzes. Either way, getting iPads distributed to students will serve as a launching point to bring classrooms that added technological edge.

“These are basically textbooks,” Holmes said, “but each one is a textbook that has video or 3D imaging. When you open a textbook, you just see the picture. Pictures on the iPad come to life, and that’s the point. It is interactive.”

Certainly, interactivity is an important feature of digital devices but interactive textbook ties the device to traditional methods.

Finally, from the Charlton County Herald in Folkston, George:

iPads for everybody — FES gets new technology
From the Charlton County Herald
Every classroom at Folkston Elementary School will have its own iPad this year after 35-40 of the devices were purchased by the Charlton County school system using federal education dollars. “This is the first of our schools to be completely outfitted …

Am I reading this correctly?  One iPad per classroom? An interesting approach…the article doesn’t give much details related to professional development plan or integration ideas.

These all suffer from the same lack of vision. Vague reasons for making large expenditures. No conversations about student learning or instructional support. No discussion of school vision or mission statements and how buying iPads might fulfill them.

Whole System Reform: Balancing the Reaction to Poverty

Education

One of Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn’s big ideas at the ISTE Leadership Forum was that we are after Whole System Reform. This is not the typical educational approach where we tinker, tightening a bolt here, putting on some oil there. We don’t get to the heart of what really needs to be done to ensure we realize Jefferson’s vision:

I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness…Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish & improve the law for educating the common people. Let our countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against these evils [tyranny, oppression, etc.] and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.

Fullan and Quinn focused on the education system as the system to be reformed.  But, and increasing focus on poverty’s affects suggests that real school reform can only come when it looks beyond the walled garden of the school system to the neighborhood beyond.

In a guest post for Larry Cuban, John Spencer writes about the need to carefully balance accountability with a concern for student welfare.  Recognize the effects of poverty without making it an excuse. He tells the story of Marcus Foster, a Civil Rights era educator who refused to accept limitations for his students but also worked to hold everyone in the system accountable:

On one occasion, for example, he closed the Oakland schools and transported thirty busloads of Oaklanders to the state capitol to seek more support for needy urban students—resulting not only in more money but in “three-thousand folks of all persuasions saying, ‘We stand together for schools.’”

He points to the Broader, BOLDER Approach to Education as an organization trying to bridge the gap by acknowledging that a healthy child is a better learner. They also focus on the need to focus on the time students spend outside of school and call for organized learning activities that take better advantage of that time:

Successful programs do not exclusively focus on academic remediation. Rather, they provide disadvantaged children with the cultural, organizational, athletic, and academic enrichment activities that middle-class parents routinely make available to their own children.

A proposal like this emphasizes the need for a bigger view than just the school system as the approach will have to include parents and the community if it is to work effectively.  We are all accountable for having healthy children who can be successful learners and something like this can’t simply fall on the shoulders of school teachers.  This is a community rallying to the aid of its youngest,  most vulnerable members.