The Best Version of School, Revisited

Yesterday I wrote a post about what helps me get grounded when thinking about school reform--imagining my daughters' experience.

My husband, who supports my ideas but does not live in my head, sent me this comment:

"I’m all for your view of education, but I think that your three NO’s are going to lose support, rather than gain it.

Vague statements like that can quickly be damaged with examples that contradict those statements—“Biology can be looked up on the internet, but my daughter is going to be a doctor”…”Some good learning may exist outside of school, but what I learned in school helped me become a doctor….”

I’d suggest always inserting an example after each NO, so that people better understand your views.  Otherwise, statements like your NO,NO, NO sound more like the angry parent than the hard working educator.  Examples will make your blog worth reading…"

 

Thanks for this feedback.  Here's my revised version...

Do I want them sitting at their desks doing work other people deem important?  No.  But I DO want them hard at work learning how to think, how to analyze, how to appreciate different perspectives.  I DO want them to have choice in how they learn and how they share what they have learned.  And I DO want them to learn to assess their own strengths and areas for improvement.  I want them to be able to handle any academic challenge with confidence and competence.  I DO want them to have the support of talented teachers who can nurture and guide them as learners and people.

Do I want them learning content that is readily available to them all the time?  No.  But I DO want them learning all of this (and more!):

Creativity and Innovation

Using knowledge and understanding to create new  ways of thinking in order to find solutions to new problems and to create new products and services.

  

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Applying higher order thinking to new problems and issues, using appropriate reasoning as they effectively analyze the problem and make decisions about the

most effective ways to solve the problem.

Communication

Communicating effectively in a wide variety of forms and contexts for a wide range of purposes and using multiple media and technologies.

Collaboration

Working with others respectfully and effectively to create, use and share knowledge, solutions and innovations.

Information Management

Accessing, analyzing, synthesizing, creating and sharing information from multiple sources.

Effective Use of Technology

Creating the capacity to identify and use technology efficiently, effectively and ethically as a tool to access, organize, evaluate and share information

Career and Life Skills

Developing skills for becoming self-directed, independent learners and workers who can adapt to change, manage projects, take responsibility for their work, lead others and produce results.

Cultural Awareness

Developing cultural competence in working with others by recognizing and respecting cultural differences and work with others from a wide range of cultural and social backgrounds.

Beers, Sue Z.  “21st Century Skills: Preparing Students for THEIR Future.”  21^st

Century Skills.

Do I want them doing work that does not exist outside of school? No.  But I do want them learning how to make, create, innovate, experiment, reconfigure, organize, explore, imagine...

I want school to be a training ground for the work that will be expected of them when school is over.  Where working together, tackling challenges, using resources, and inventing new possibilities will equal success and fulfillment.

I hope this sounds more positive and less grumpy and stubborn! 

The Best Version of School

This weekend I was lucky enough to have lunch with a group of supportive, like-minded educators and friends who helped recharge my passion about making school different.  It's gotten a bit lost this year at work amid administrative changes, a new teaching load, and the general business of getting my job done day-to-day.  Not only did the hours I spent with this tribe reinvigorate me, but it also helped me crystallize my mission:

Simply, what do I want school to be like for my daughters? 

Do I want them sitting at their desks doing work other people deem important?  Do I want them learning content that is readily available to them all the time?  Do I want them doing work that does not exist outside of school? 

No, no, and no.  That's it. 

A school revolution can happen if educators and policy makers think like PARENTS OF TODAY'S CHILDREN, parents who understand that the world is different now and that it will continue to change.

There's nothing more powerful than an angry parent demanding more, demanding better for his or her child.  It's time to demand the right thing.

5 Reasons Why School is Not Preparation for the Real World

 While I'd love to see schools make massive overhauls to how they operate and educate, I wouldn't mind a few small shifts that would actually allow the "We have to prepare children for the real world" cliche to be true.


Here are just five of the many reasons why we aren't preparing them...  Add your reasons to mine!

1.  In real life, we don't walk in straight, silent lines from place to place.

from thelesleyshow's photostream on flickr

2.  In real life, if we need to stand up and move around to do our best work, we usually can.

from Michael 1952's photostream on flickr

In real life, we are allowed (encouraged) to seek help from coworkers or other resources so we can be as efficient and successful as possible.

from flickingerbad's photostream on flickr

In real life, we suffer the consequences of our poor choices, but the consequences are likely to be logical. 

from eddie-grrl.deviantart.com

In real life, we are not grouped by age in our work.  We are grouped by interest and skill.

from schooldv.devhub.com

Why Our Children Deserve Raw Meat

If you stick with me long enough, you will see that this is a story about providing the best version of school we can create for our children.  It is also the story of finding the best dog food.  And it is the story of refusing to change for no good reason.

Almost one year ago we adopted our rescue dog, Pixie, a small, adult shih-tzu mix.

She was our first dog, and there were so many things we didn't know. 

Especially about dog food.  Kibble, to me, seemed like the way to go.  It was relatively cheap, easy to buy, easy to measure out, and easy to clean up.  (Just like our current version of education--scoop it out, dump it in a bowl, expect it to be good enough).  But our little Pixie wouldn't eat it.  She snubbed it repeatedly, eating only a few bits and only out of our hands.  Her foster family who had nursed her back to life had given her only wet food--the gross stuff out of the can that resembles and smells like vomit.   No way--that wasn't going to happen in my kitchen.

So we began to pretty up the kibble by pouring a warm broth over it.  (In education, the broth could be any number of "reforms" we have put in place to make things "better").  The broth had glucosamine and condroitin in it, so I told myself there was medical value since the vet had warned us about Pixie's loose knee cap.  But it was really just a way to make the kibble more appealing.  Pixie outsmarted us.  She lapped up the broth and left the kibble.  I tried at least four kinds of kibble and as many specialty dog food stores in our area.  Each time I tried a new store, I got the same answer from a knowing employee--"Have you tried raw food?"

What?  I'm pretty much a vegetarian and never cook red meat, so no, I hadn't tried raw food.

Tired of throwing away sloppy kibble (wasn't it supposed to be so neat?), I relented and gave her canned food but insisted that the unused portion in the can be stored in our basement refrigerator.  Thankfully, Pixie wasn't all that interested in the canned food anymore.  She preferred to stalk the perimeter of our kitchen table and beg.  (The educational equivalent of canned food?  One-off projects, a day of fun after the test...).

Next I moved on to dehydrated raw food--finally convinced by the many, many dog boutique clerks that kibble and wet food were at the bottom of the dog food chain but unconvinced that I could handle keeping raw dog food in my freezer.  For a while, Pixie loved the warm, wet mixture.  But after a few months she snubbed that as well.  (Here's where some of us find ourselves now in the growth of schools--lots of talk about 21st century skills, STEM, PBL--so close, but not there yet).

I recently stopped making up reasons why I shouldn't and bought my first package of raw frozen food for our dog.  I knew before Pixie had demolished the starter pack that I was finally doing what was best for her.   It has been nagging at me for almost a year.  Once I learned, many months ago, that the dog food hierarchy (nutrient-wise) looks like this

1. Raw food
2. Dehydrated raw food
3. Wet canned food
4. Dry kibble

I should have purchased the raw food right away.  But I didn't.  I KNEW it was the best thing to do for our dog, but I was stubborn. I didn't want the expense, the smell, the extra precautions with cleaning anything the raw food may touch... I just didn't want to try it.  And  just like anyone in the field of education KNOWS that school should be a joyful experience for kids--one they want to tear into like Pixie wants to tear into her raw delicacy.  School should be the most nutrient-rich environment for our kids--a glorious combination of play, passionate pursuit, collaborative opportunities, discovery, and even some disaster.

So let's give the kids raw meat, sort of.

Do-Over

This morning our faculty got together during a two-hour delay to continue our "assessment work."  We met in the gym and watched a video overview of our middle school's Rube Goldberg challenge from last month.  After the video and a brief reflection from the middle school director, we were asked if we had any questions.  One person made a comment. 

It wasn't me. 

But I thought about raising my hand.  I thought about asking questions.  Why didn't I?  Probably because it felt awkward to pose challenging, ruckus-raising questions from the gym bleachers in front of the whole faculty.  Now I wish I had.

So I'm using my blog as a do-over.  If I could turn back time (sorry Cher) and ask the questions that were bubbling in my mind, here's what they would have been:

1. This year we devoted two days to the Rube Goldberg challenge in middle school.  The idea began as a two-week J-Term and was reduced to two days.  Next year, will we take the first two weeks of January, as was originally proposed, to provide the time and space for a new challenge for our middle school students and faculty?   If so, who is leading it?  What will it look like?  What do the kids need and want?
2. We have seen the success of the Day of Play in the lower school and the Rube Goldberg challenge in the middle school.  How will we provide a similar experience for our upper school students?
3. And the big dog daddy of a question:  How do we move from pockets of innovation to full-scale educational overhaul.  In other words, how do we make our school different?  (I probably would not have really asked these questions, but it is the one that drives me every day as a parent and an educator).

I feel better now.

Next month, in the gym, I will ask my questions.

On the eve of returning to work, for my daughters, 6 and 9

So.  This is it.  The year of no homework.  The year of no worksheets.  No desks in rows.  This is the year of "what if" instead of simply "what."  After swimming around in our faculty summer reading of Tony Wagner's Creating Innovators, surely we are all ready for a year of igniting creativity, nurturing bravery, and challenging the real or imagined barriers students carry to school.  

Right?  

It has to be, because this is our chance to leap into whatever magic is through the portal, glittering not so far away.  If we wait, if we hesitate even one day more, the portal will pass and we will be stuck in rows and worksheets and rote memorization and complacency for another school year.

So.  As a parent I will be my children's advocate.  As an educator I will be your children's advocate.

My inspiration for my work this year comes from this poem I found in a book marked for Goodwill, If You're Not Here Please Raise Your Hand, by a former teacher, Kalli Dakos:

"The Wind is Calling Me Away"

How can I sit through one more day,
For the wind is calling me away,
And I want to change with the leaves that fall,
But I'm here in school and I'm missing it all.

While leaves as bright as the sun fly by,
We add, subtract, and multiply,
And none of these numbers makes sense to me,
When the sky is as blue as the summer sea.

Oh, teacher, please let's race the leaves,
Let's jump in piles and climb in trees,
Let's add, subtract, and multiply,
The wind, the leaves, and the deep blue sky.

--Kalli Dakos

And one more, just because in my crusade to make school different, I can't forget about my first passion, the fight to make reading wonderful.

"I Have No Time to Visit with King Arthur"

I have no time to dream a dream,
Or think a splendid thought,
Or visit with King Arthur
In the land of Camelot.

I've underlined one hundred nouns, 
And circled thirty verbs,
While wishing that this workbook
Had a story to its words.

I could travel to another time
With Huck Finn on his raft,
Or read a poem by Silverstein 
That really makes me laugh.

Instead I fill in compound words,
A neverending chore:
How I long to be with Gulliver
On a strange and distant shore!

Nouns and verbs and compound words
Are sad and dull and stale,
Unless they're fired with the spark
Of a mighty, wondrous tale.

--Kalli Dakos