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

Summer Reading Begins

Since my twitter handle is "bookcrusader," it's time that I posted about a few good books.  In the past few weeks I've read a mix of literary fiction, nonfiction, and young adult fiction.  I highly recommend each of these:

Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner
This interesting and motivating book challenges parents, companies, and schools to nurture innovation by doing things differently.  Parents should encourage their children to explore their passions, even when those passions fall outside the "mainstream."  Parents should give their children freedom (but not at the risk of their safety!) and support, prioritize play, and promote reading.  Educators must overhaul school so that it is a place where children tinker, think, create, play, and collaborate.  Companies must reconsider how they manage and train their employees to leverage everyone's talents.  Tony Wagner's PLAY + PASSION = PURPOSE is an equation we should all be following.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Now, for an escape from reality, this book offers the reader a trip deep into the Amazon and even deeper into the ethics of a pharmaceutical company.  What happens when a scientist knows she is developing a drug that will not bring in a profit for the company but will save thousands of lives?  Can she manipulate the system so that everyone is happy?  There are so many layers of plot in this book, from pregnant 73-year-olds to a mysterious death to a secret romance.  It took me two days to journey through this; I only wish it could have taken longer.

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt
This YA novel is heavy; Henry learns fairly quickly that his father could not have been more wrong when he said that if you build your house far enough away from trouble, trouble will never find you.  Henry and his family face trouble when Franklin, the oldest son, is hit by a car and hospitalized with "indeterminate brain activity."  Worse, his sister's secret boyfriend, Chay Chouan, a Cambodian immigrant, is accused of driving the truck that hit and eventually killed Franklin.  Henry is left to resolve his feelings for his brother and Chay Chouan without the support of his parents, who are too lost in their own sorrow to be of any use to him.

Forget Thinking Outside The Box

Yesterday in New York City Seth Godin told us to dance on the edge of danger.  He told us to find our edge, to consider what we'd be willing to get arrested for.  He asked us to figure out whether or not we are doing something so important that we are willing to fail at it.  What story, he pushed, are we prepared to live?  Most passionately, he implored us not to wait for someone to pick us; we need to pick ourselves.

Most of the attendees were entrepreneurs, marketers, and writers.  But a few of us were educators, eager to hear more about Stop Stealing Dreams and how to "make school different."  About five of the questions asked all day centered on making change happen in schools.  What follows are MY major take-aways from his responses:

1. At our school, we need to tell the same story.  All of us.  So who gets to decide the story?  And when?
2. Would anyone miss us (the school) if we were gone?  If not, our story doesn't matter.
3. We need to help kids find their superpowers and then celebrate those powers all the time.  Kids need to find their heroes among themselves.
4. We need to understand the parents' worldview--they want their children to be successful.  Instead of fighting that, bank on it.  We want success, too.  Let us show you how...
5. School can't change overnight.  We need to work from inside the box, lean against the walls, find the weakest wall, and leverage that weakness. Stop thinking outside the box!  Get in it--then bust through one wall.

Make School Different

This weekend I did something I swore I'd never do:  stick a bumper sticker to my car.  I really stuck it--no magnets, tape, or other alternative affixes.  For the past few weeks I drove around with it curled up on the front seat of my car, debating whether or not to take the plunge.  In all my years of driving, I have never peeled the backing off a sticker and placed the sticker on my bumper--not just because I don't want to damage the paint (though that is part of it), but because I cannot think of a sticker that holds a message significant enough that it should be a permanent and public banner of my beliefs.  So why now?  

Because Phil Sharp's "Make School Different" sticker, inspired by Seth Godin's Stop Stealing Dreams, is that important.  I will never stop believe that our children deserve a new vision, an entirely different concept, of school.  Car paint be damned. 

Lessons Learned in Vermont

Rather than outlining my third day in Vermont, which included a trip over to the 3-8 building (Williston Central School) to see kids blogging, writing pieces for the Vermont Young Writers' Program, skyping with an author, using Pixton to create graphic novels, I'll close out my reflections from the trip as a whole.

Here are my major takeaways:

Third grade classroom

Sixth grade classrooms

1. In every classroom I visited, I saw kids sitting at tables--not individual desks.  This arrangement is a physical representation of the belief in collaboration.  I'd love to see our individual student desks replaced with collaborative work spaces like tables.
2. Kindergarteners can and want to blog, tweet, video chat...and not for a gimmick.  These activities transform their learning, helping them explain their thinking, publish their work, and connect to the larger world around them.  I'd love to see every student in our building publish work and thoughts on a blog hosted by their teachers.
3. Teachers who are connected via a PLN (personal learning network) can transform their instruction virtually (no pun intended) overnight.  Of course we should support the work of the teachers right next to us or down the hall, but why not reach out beyond our building to share best practice ideas with other teachers throughout the country and around the world?
4. If we are truly child-centered, our decisions about schedules, facilities, access to technology, and curriculum and instruction must not be based on adult-conveniences but on what's best for kids.  We also need to figure out how to help parents understand our choices, offer them boundaries, and hold them to those boundaries so they do not interfere with their children's learning.
5. We cannot depend on programs to define our instruction.  While teachers may benefit from following a set of lessons or a packet of resources, we must bring our understanding of best practice to everything we teach.

 Many, many thanks again to all of the people at Allen Brook School and Williston Central School who opened their classrooms to me and spent time talking with me.  Of course, I am especially grateful to Sharon Davison for coordinating my visit and for being an inspiring, motivating teacher.

Allen Brook, Day 2

Today at Allen Brook School I was treated to a full schedule beyond Sharon's kindergarten class.  She so wanted me to see as much as possible that she thoughtfully arranged for me to see a variety of language arts instruction, a Reading Recovery lesson, and iPads in math.  I also spent time with one of the district's literacy coordinators.  I won't detail my day here--I'll just highlight a few parts of the day (like the Vermont cheese sampler we enjoyed for dinner!).

The day began with a visit with Julie Rogers' first grade students during their morning meeting.  I loved watching how her students so confidently lead, participate in, and enjoy the meeting that Julie facilitated.  Julie's morning meeting affirmed my belief that students should be at the very center of their learning.  There's so much more to say about the Julie's teaching--I will share what I observed from her in a post in the near future.

Just after morning meeting I flew down the hall to Maria McCormack's room where I watched her students using iPad apps as a way to target their specific needs.  They could choose between the Multi-touch Math app or the Number Rack app.  Not only did Maria invite me to observe her students but she opened her own vault of resources by sharing her team's website, her curricular wiki, her email address, and her twitter handle.  I will certainly be checking in on all of her digital gifts.

Later I met with Carol Huntington, Allen Brook's literacy coordinator.  My hour-long conversation with her made me feel connected to a larger community of literacy leaders.  Her words were reassuring--just the reminder I need as I prepare to head home and do important curricular planning for the 2012-13 school year.  Carol said that she tries to get the most bang for her buck in her work.  In her school she began by defining balanced literacy, looking at the schedule to find time for a 90-minute literacy block, and agreeing on standards of practice for each team.  She also reminded me that the WHAT of what we teach is non-negotiable, but the HOW is debatable; we must not get derailed by the "side conversations" that drill down into minutia or veer into complaint sessions.  I look forward to meeting with the K-6 teams to discuss the standards of practice for our reading instruction.

I ended the day with a visit to Jessie Stein's second grade Writing Workshop.  Her students were using Scribblepress to publish their realistic fiction stories.  Her students were so eager to share their stories with me and show me how to use this app to create books.

It was another whirlwind day, one that highlighted the importance of organization, forethought, and assessment in instruction.  I am sad that my visit will end tomorrow, but I will bring home ideas, plans, and connections that will enrich my long-range vision and day-to-day work.

The Best Professional Development: A School Visit

This week I am lucky enough to be spending three days at Allen Brook School in Williston, Vermont with Sharon Davison and her kind and generous colleagues.  Back in November I found Sharon's class blog when I was doing some research for our kindergarten's Jan Brett author study.  One look at Sharon's jam-packed blog and I knew she was a dynamic, creative, and passionate teacher.  Now that I have had the privileged of spending one day in her clasroom, I understand that she is a remarkable teacher driven to deliver only the most sound, effective, and meaningful instruction to her students. 

Sharon immediately welcomed me into her class, introduced me to her students and co-workers, and then got busy teaching so that I could see all that I came to see (and more).  She knew I was particularly interested in language arts and technology, so I saw her class use the Smart board, iPads, and computers.  I saw the students sort letters, write words, and draft blog posts.  I watched them enjoy the newest addition to their class blog, a slide show Sharon put together using Smilebox.  I heard them ask when they would get to compose their daily tweet, helped two students return the iPads to the technology room, and listened with them as Sharon explained the concept of pinboards on Pinterest.  Students in Sharon's class are at ease with technology because they have learned how to use it and understand how it enhances their learning--it is not a gimmick or a mere substitute for pencil and paper.

Taking pictures during Explore Time

Sorting letters during Explore Time

Morning Message

Fundations with Smart Board and iPads

Nonfiction text displayed via ELMO

Kidblog

Sharon spends a lot of time with her students--I was amazed by her schedule (below).  The students only had one special today:  art...at the end of the day!  Although her days are exhausting, Sharon is grateful for the amount of time she has with her students each day as she layers her teaching, always knitting content, process, character, and metacognition into her work with the children.  It is all fluid.  Not a moment is wasted, not an opportunity overlooked to teach her students how to think, act, and reflect. 

In addition to spending hours in Sharon's class, I also had the chance to talk with Allen Brook's technology integration specialist, Bonnie Birdsall, over lunch.  I loved sharing our experiences and look forward to talking more with her on my final day in Williston.  My conversation with Bonnie further solidified how lucky I feel to work at Flint Hill School, where our 1:1 iPad/MacBook program makes embracing technology so easy.  Our challenge continues to be using technology to transform our instruction; I hope my visit to Allen Brook will help me bring back new ideas on how to do that.