Time and the Class of 2024

 
The Word Cloud from our discussion of the needs and attributes of the Class of 2024

Our school has asked us to imagine what attributes our students in the class of 2024 will have when they graduate, and how will our school need to change and adapt to meet their needs in the coming years.

We met to discuss this seemingly distant future with our Board's education committee and a group of curriculum leaders for grades PK-4. A wide ranging discussion ensued, including visions of the future demand for world resources and the resulting need to be more resourceful and environmentally aware, and the need to be connected globally, not just to impoverished countries that need a share of our bounty, but to cultures across the world that are as developed as ourselves and therefore give us a different perspective on ourselves. We wondered about how to balance the future of online courses and connections with the eternal need for personal relationships and emotional growth and development. There was hope we will provide our students with the tools and attitudes that will make them innovators, creators, and collaborators.  But the conversation just kept coming back to one main theme: we need to give them time.

Time pervaded all of the discussion, as can be seen in the word cloud. Time for students to relax and discover things, to play outside in unstructured moments, time to delve into a subject that inspires them and actually take their ideas to a conclusion, time to breathe and cultivate their thinking, time to focus on studies that are important to their development without the burden of homework for homework's sake. Of course the time issue related to our teachers as well: time to learn new ways of approaching students, time to develop authentic ways to integrate technology, to teach more languages, to be able to offer service learning experiences both locally and abroad.

The big questions that emerged in the end was the ever-present issue of our school schedule, both daily and the annual school calendar. In order to offer additional language courses, the opportunity to explore robotics or other engineering in depth, to develop meaningful relationships across neighborhoods and borders must we extend the school day? the school year? Do we change the schedule to a more European model where school sessions are punctuated by longer, more frequent breaks but school continues through most of the summer?

It will take much creative thinking and willingness to change our familiar routines to meet the goals of our lofty brainstorming. There are solutions, but they are not necessarily rooted in our current conceptions of what is important and therefore will require a leap into the unknown - not a leap educators are comfortable with as a rule. I look forward to continuing this discussion as our schools wrestles to define itself in the future.

The Future of Teaching – Extending our Imaginations

Thursday at NAIS ended with a stimulating panel discussion focused on students in the digital age and how they learn. Four “thought leaders” gathered to present their perspective on how children learn: Megan Smith V.P. at Google, Milton Chen of the George Lucas Foundation, Wanda Martinez president of the New Tech Network, and Shelley Goldman, professor of ed. at Stanford University. The panel was ably moderated by Wanda Holland Greene, head of the Hamlin School.
The panelists opened with statements about their view of the future of learning. Comments included:

· The future is networking and interconnection
· We have to adapt to our students - we have to stop telling our students to adapt to us.
· Technology that enables/culture that empowers/teaching that engages are required.
· Back to John Dewey - His ideas were about putting students in touch with their own learning. An example is project-based learning
· School life should be more like real life.
· Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself - John Dewey

All of this led to a discussion that was not so much about what learning will be like in the future, but was a message to the 4,000 assembled educators about the future of teaching. Add to the list above the following challenges to teachers at all levels:

· Teach teachers that it's okay for the classroom to look like organized chaos. Group dynamics is the big thing. Teachers are facilitators.
· Return us to an age when students were taught in a more intimate way, when they were in touch with families.
· Teachers as facilitators -- no longer “the sage on the stage”
· Start with the teachers: Re-light the lightbulb in the head. Remember what it feels like to be a hungry learner.
· Rather than "covering curriculum" we can help our students uncover meaning.
· We can help guide them in school about appropriate use and time spent online so they are more thoughtful about the time they spend at home. That means engaging in online work at school to start the dialogue.
· We need to reach our kids - include them as smart participants and honor their interests.

And finally, we ended with the thought that really challenges all of our teachers, possibly beyond their comfort zone:

“We are so comfortable with what we have today, we look for confirmation of our existing hypothesis. We look in the rearview mirror. The future either looks like the present or a lot like the past in most of our imaginations.”

How can we extend our imaginations to meet and comprehend the present, then to look forward to our student’s real world future (not our imagined one)?

Enhancing Learning with Digital Practices

Whenever I am asked to speak about what we do in Technology classes, I always say we try to engage students in authentic work that is enhanced by the technology. The listeners always nod approval, but I doubt they have a clue what I’m talking about. On Wednesday I got to hear students articulate how having access to digital tools has enhanced their learning as they engage in a challenging, yet innovative high school curriculum.

On Wednesday I attended the three-hour workshop at NAIS given by Howard Levin and students and faculty from the Urban School in San Francisco. The Urban School is a 9-12 school that has had a 1-to-1 laptop program for 12 years. This was the third time I've heard Howard speak about his school - the first time his focus was the nuts and bolts of starting and maintaining a laptop program, the second was about his incredible work collecting oral histories with students. (www.tellingstories.org/) This workshop opened the doors of the school (without going on site) and gave us a sense of how students and teachers engage in "digital practices" that enhance the learning and build relationships between students and faculty. Howard explained that he is discouraging the work “technology” and encouraging the term “digital practices” to describe the integration of digital tools in the curriculum.

What made this presentation powerful was the students who stood up to describe the ways in which having ubiquitous access to digital tools has enhanced their learning and enriched their school experience. Teachers introduced a project and then the students stepped up to describe how the digital practices were a significant aid to their learning. There was an example of students deconstructing a challenging poem by sharing their initial reactions in an open conversation online that collected responses and clarified meaning for them before they discussed it in class. In science they created short films using stop motion to demonstrate understanding of important concepts. For history, a student shared the process she went through as she used primary sources to research life in medieval times and then created a newspaper that demonstrated her understanding of life in that period. Another student spoke eloquently about how important it has been to have access to notes and lectures online after class because her learning disability makes it challenging to absorb everything in one session.

Each student (and I only share a few examples here) made it clear that the laptops and the digital practices have given them more access to learning, ownership of the process, and the opportunity to find creative ways to demonstrate their understanding. If you ever wondered how ubiquitous access to technology can change a student’s experience, the work the Urban School is doing makes it clear that courageous teachers, willing to imagine what is possible, enable students to learn ways that best suit their learning style and inspire them to get deeply involved in the learning process.

Thoughts about Lenses

Recently, our school community was fortunate enough to participate in a workshop given by Mark Williams, in which he brings to life the principles he has developed to describe how each of us view people different than ourselves. These “lenses”, as he calls them, are definable and each has its strengths and its weaknesses (or shadows). In the workshop, which was attended by all our school faculty, Mark appeared as different characters, each representing a lens through which some of us interpret race relations or differences between ourselves and others. The character interacted with the participants, challenging us both for what we said, and in the way in which he embodied the behaviors of someone who unconsciously adopts the “lens” in question. The experience was profound, particularly because it challenged each of us to evaluate our own lenses, while encouraging us to lead with the strengths inherent in the lens, and try to move away from the shadows.

His book is The 10 Lenses: Your guide to living and working in a multicultural world.

But the idea of lenses through which we view diversity led a group of us to consider the lenses through which teachers view change. Mark’s lenses on diversity offer an interesting parallel to the reactions of teachers to proposals for innovation. Fundamental is, of course the response of the personality that leads from “yes” and the personality that leads from “no”. Taking these two dichotomous positions and you can fill in a wide range of lenses:

Full acceptance of the new

Willing to be led by someone with conviction

Sceptic, but positive

Sceptic, but negative

I can’t start something new at this point

This is the way it’s always been done

If it was good enough for my grandparents, it‘s good enough for these kids

Then one must flesh out the “strengths” and “shadows” of each lens. This process is the most meaningful. On first attempt we begin to see the deeper meaning behind each lens and appreciate that it is not only valid in context, but has its strengths. With this perspective, we hope to take the shadows into account and move away from the.

For instance, if we take two extreme examples:

Lens	Strengths	Shadows
Full Acceptance of the New	Willing to try new things Does not hesitate to participate, even when prospect is unfamiliar Advocate for new ideas Likely to stay on top of trends and keeps things fresh	Does not discriminate or ask enough questions about validity of change. Invests time in new projects that may not, in the end, pan out. Becomes known for enthusiasm and therefore is written off by colleagues who do not share this lens.
This is the way it’s always been done	Knowledgeable about teaching practices as he/she has practiced them. Clear about what works with children and what doesn’t. Has developed a successful teaching style, judged by the many years of continuous teaching.	Reacts negatively to any hint of proposed change. Stands by his/her reputation but resists evaluation of teaching practices. Does not see the need for professional development. May, unwittingly, be out of touch with colleagues, students, and parents.

For a faculty as a community, there would be tremendous growth in beginning to understand, embrace, and then move on from the shadows of our lenses to our strengths. Each of us view change from a different place. If we were able to develop compassion and understanding for those who come to change from a different viewpoint, wouldn’t we be better able to negotiate the demands of a changing society and student population?

How Do We Get There?

Last Sunday in Meeting for Worship, what rang out to me in the silence were the core values of Sidwell Friends School. I found myself grounded in the following statement, and I put it on paper as soon as I got home.

It begins with a voice. The inner voice. The voice that tells us what is in our heart. Quakers believe that there is “that of God” in every person. It is by listening to our inner voice that we may appreciate the greatness that is within us. We understand that it is through the guidance of our inner voice that we let our lives speak.
In Meetings, both for Worship and for Business, we share what is in our hearts with our community. We honor the voices that we hear through listening with an open heart, mind and spirit. All voices are held equal. We witness the affect that others’ voices may have on us and how we may affect others. It is through this process that we are able to appreciate the power of our own voice.
Teachers, administrators, and parents join together to help students develop their voices. Whether putting their words on a page or vocalizing them, we teach students to articulate their passions. Although they must remain guided by their unique inner voices, we share with students the wisdom and truths that we have gained from experience and teach students how to grow from their own experiences. We instill in them an understanding of the significance of speaking truth to power and provide them with the skills and the confidence to do so.
We recognize as well our responsibility to use our voice as a community. The depth of our values and the richness of our history have made our communal voice an authoritative one. We not only let our life speak as a community, we are also committed to speaking out for peace, for social justice and for environmental stewardship in a world in which the chorus is in equal parts necessary and far too hushed. As we engage in our work as advocates, we speak with one voice.

The statement both grows out of and further inspires the following queries that represent to me areas that we could each help the school grow from Good to Great:

• Do we as faculty, staff, and administrators consistently model being guided by our inner voice?
• Do we hold all voices equal in Meeting for Worship? In Meeting for Business? In daily interactions?
• Do we consider how what we speak will affect others? Do we aim to us language that is sensitive to all in our community?
• Do we effectively mentor students in how they can articulate their passions outside of the classroom?
• Do we develop in each student a confidence in his or her voice in and out of the classroom?
• How do we encourage the school to use its voice as an institution effectively? How can we continue to voice or institutional values to students?

Getting our minds around Good to Great – November 27th Gathering

We gathered on Tuesday, November 27^th, to discuss the monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors: why business thinking is not the answer, by Jim Collins. We ate a delicious dinner provided potluck-style by many attendees. There were four Upper School faculty, two from Middle School, seven from Lower School, and the Lower School Principal in attendance. This made a good crowd to huddle close to the fireplace and talk.

We opened with a discussion of the story about the Cleveland Orchestra’s rise to prominence. The process included deciding that “artistic excellence” would be their lofty (audacious) goal. Then they had to define it, and find a way to measure it. Since there is no reliable way to measure something as qualitative as artistic excellence, the leaders decided that they would create measures that they could track over time and stick with them, in spite of the question of reliability. They created a chart entitled “Greatness at the Cleveland Orchestra” and set out criteria for three categories: Superior Performance, Distinctive Impact, and Lasting Endurance. Since, Collins points out, no quantitative or qualitative data is completely reliable the field is wide open to defining goals that make sense for a situation and creating one’s own criteria for measuring success. (Collins, p. 6)

Don’t Be Satisfied with “Good”

While we do not doubt that we teach at a “good” school, Collins reminds us that in his research in the business world and the social sector he found that: “No matter what you have achieved, you will always be merely good relative to what you may become…The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide toward mediocrity will have already begun.” (Collins, p. 9) Doug Heath, the Quaker educator, put it another way; he suggests that we remain “divinely discontent”.

Our Audacious Goals

This raised the question, what are the audacious goals we have for our school (and school community)? How do we define them, and what evidence could we assemble that proves we have achieved them? If we review the criteria from the Cleveland Orchestra, we could consider evaluating our school and community according to:

• Superior Performance
• Distinctive Impact
• Lasting Endurance

Or what are the categories for criteria that we would choose? The following is a synopsis of the many thoughts shared by those present at our gathering:

• Is our enduring impact our environmental focus?
• Is it our community’s perception of Sidwell as a Quaker school, as a place where faculty stays a long time?
• Is our measure of success based on the colleges our students get into?
• What about what jobs our students have ten years out of Sidwell? Do they go on to be people still dedicated to service? Is that how a Quaker school measures success?
• We could create ways to measure our “core values” as they are posted on our website: environmental stewardship, academic excellence, prizing diversity, and Quaker values. What evidence would we collect to determine if we have attained these goals?
• Perhaps we measure our success based on the community we build among our colleagues,
• Or perhaps we look at the families of our students and their choices,
• Or by our own students’ self-images – are we building self-confident learners who feel good about themselves and able to be positive with each other about their successes?

Our Goals for Our Students

How do we measure success in terms of the experience our students have in our school? Is the only measure of success the list of colleges they are accepted to? This topic brought out a range of interesting views and experiences. Some of the thoughts about success for students outside of college admission included:

• That our students come to school every day with the passion for learning that matches the faculty’s passion for teaching
• Students are motivated by their own internal drive to learn, and are rewarded with praise for effort as well as success
• Students have a passionate feeling that the school enhanced their own sense of who they are
• Students come to appreciate their strengths and feel recognized for them- that they have found their unique talents are of value here
• Students feel good about themselves (high self-esteem) as students and as people
• Students feel supported at all levels of achievement and do not feel stigmatized for needing or receiving help – they are empowered to seek teacher support and are rewarded with the time and encouragement of the faculty
• Students are met at their developmental levels and allowed to make mistakes, try again, and even resist in appropriate ways according to their age.

Faculty and Staff

What are the ways we could measure success for our school as a workplace? We thought of a few criteria, some of which apply to teachers, students , and staff:

• Do students, teachers, and staff feel good about coming here every morning?
• Do we keep questioning everything – not afraid to try something new, not afraid of change
• Can we find the passion within the child, beginning in the earliest years and continuing throughout their school experience?
• Do we make sure that every student feels successful in some area?
• Do we all practice “right speech” while in the workplace (no gossip, practice kindness)?
• If we didn’t give grades, would we know our students well enough to accurately evaluate them? How would this change the students’ experience and motivation?
• Do we constantly seek ways to broaden our craft as teachers, not just within our specialized area, but in light of new ideas and thinking about the craft of teaching itself?

Getting the Passionate People on the Bus

In the business world, Jim Collins encourages organizations to get “the right people in the right seats on the bus”. He says the challenge in the social sector is getting the “passionate people on the bus”. In our environment there are many questions about this:

• How does this concept fit with our Quaker mission to see the light in everyone? How do you select people and uphold this tenet?
• Do we apply this students as well as employees? If we select for the passionate students, can we offer them the freedom to follow their passions?
• Do we encourage all teachers to engage in regular professional development and keep the conversation about how we teach open?

More on this subject at the next meeting

After a fascinating discussion it seemed we had just begun to approach the question of how we would define success for our school. We have therefore decided to continue the discussion, based on the thoughts listed here and continued consideration of the Collins monograph. We hope to hold our next gathering in early January. We would be happy to have anyone participate through this blog in the meantime.

Habits of Mind – October 25th gathering

Our first gathering of Conversations in Education began with a delicious meal of lasagna, homemade bread, and salad. We ate together, then began our discussion. There were twelve members of the Sidwell community present.

We opened by reviewing Arthur Costa’s 16 Habits of Mind. His concept is to understand the habits of mind that lead to “having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties.” They are:

Persisting

Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision

Managing impulsivity

Gathering data through all senses

Listening with understanding and empathy

Creating, imagining, innovating

Thinking flexibly

Responding with wonderment and awe

Thinking about thinking (metacognition)

Taking responsible risks

Striving for accuracy

Finding humor

Questioning and posing problems

Thinking interdependently

Applying past knowledge to new situations

Remaining open to continuous learning

We talked about encouraging our students to pose ideas, take risks, to not be afraid of being wrong. The challenge to create a climate in which a child can be his authentic self, and not be concerned about being just like those around him.

Risk Taking

How do we demonstrate the value of risk-taking in an environment where everything is measured? How do our assessments deter students from taking risks, knowing that they will be graded on the outcomes that they perceive their teacher is looking for. Assessments are often as much a measure of how well we are teaching as they are a measure of how well a student is learning.

How do we find the time to develop these habits?

All the “habits” on the list require a long time to develop. An example is listening with understanding and empathy. This isn’t done quickly, but over a long period of time. If one is to truly listen with understanding one must be patient, attentive, and willing to explore the subject in depth. Several people shared places in our school where this habit is cultivated and developed:

• In the Middle School Quakerism in the Arts course, a student is assigned the role of “conductor”. This person listens to another’s story, then repeats the story back to show that they truly understood it.
• Quaker Meeting is a place in which our students and teachers listen to one another and learn the value of being open to the thoughts of others.
• The third grade partner readers are trained to listen to their partner’s response to the reading with comments that extend what they hear their partner saying, rather than chiming in with their own thoughts.
• The second grades have started a tradition of half hour class meetings once a week in which students know it is safe to bring up thoughts and concerns they want the whole class to know about. This tradition has paved the way for third grade classes to hold the same kind of meeting, building on the listening skills and respectful responses they learned the year before. This weekly lesson in empathy has changed the equation in the classroom – students are more aware of each other’s feelings and teachers can take on the role of healers.
• Drama classes, plays, role-playing activities, and classroom skits are exercises in empathy. Students must try to imagine the thoughts of another person, try on their skin, so to speak.
• Our Founder’s Day pairing of older and younger students has the potential to develop empathy and create bonds between students. There would be more to be gained by having the Upper School students pair with the youngest, as they would be stretched more and probably learn more about themselves and their younger partners.

Habits of Mind in the 21^st Century

Daniel Pink, in A Whole New Mind talked about the six qualities of mind that will be the most important in the future: design, story, sympathy, empathy, play and meaning. (Note: he will be the keynote speaker at the AIMS conference on November 5). He argues that the traditional skills taught in schools are not the skills that will be required of our children in their future jobs. Ironically, the policy makers who have created the testing environment in schools are creating a climate of fear that has educators focus on the short-term results, and ignore the long-term future of our students.

Building Community by Listening and Responding

Developing habits of mind is about the whole community. We are fortunate to be working in a community that wants to take part. We are not just educating children, we are educating the parents as well. We should continue to build our whole community. Listening with understanding means listening and understanding everyone in the community. How can you listen to every constituency? How do we make time to hear what parents think the school should be providing? Parents hunger for community, too. We reflected on the meeting held recently at Lower School to talk about the Quaker values of the school. At the meeting, queries were discussed about being in a Quaker school and fostering Quaker values at home and at school.

The discussion of community brought us to the broader issue of where our community begins and ends. We wonder about how much we can influence the behaviors and choices of families and students in their off- campus time, from choices at parties (drinking for instance) to their behavior at non-school sports events. Although our handbook states that behavior off-campus still reflects the school, it is difficult to consistently enforce. Parents are likely to defend their child’s behavior no matter what they’ve done. There is a tendency to “circle the wagons” when your child’s behavior is questioned, even if you wouldn’t tolerate the same behavior from another child.

If we hope our students will become risk-takers, then they must be allowed to take some risks! We wondered if we are too concerned with sheltering our kids from bad or unwise behavior. We should show that we trust them – everyone has to learn from their mistakes. They are good kids who may make some bad decisions, but they deserve our support and respect. As adults we must show that we believe in them and let them learn in the process.

On the other hand, there is information and guidance we could be providing our younger middle school students about their changing bodies that will might help protect them from risk-taking behavior at too young an age. The 5-6 curriculum could include more direct instruction related to sex education to help them understand the changes they are experiencing.

The group is interested in reading Good to Great for the Social Sectors by Jim Collins. We will order copies to be distributed to the current list of interested group members and a few extra for those who might like to join us next month.

Our Conversations Can Start With Questions

Nothing shapes our journey through life so much
as the questions we ask. Greg Levoy

What are the important questions teachers, schools, and leaders in education should be asking themselves?

Are we “preparing” students as life long learners or merely “preparing” them for future schooling in “higher” institutional settings?
If we believe that:

The object of education is to prepare the young
to educate themselves throughout their lives.
Robert M. Hutchins

Are we doing the work we need to do as teachers?

I, honestly, spend a lot of effort “preparing” my students for future grades in hopes that my efforts and more schooling will cumulatively fuel their growth as lifelong learners. While it is clear to me that “preparing” students for future grades inherently includes preparing them as learners, I am not sure how their future teachers will envision their roles.

There is a neurophysiologic basis for constructivist teaching and yet many teachers persist in teaching as if it is their job to “impart knowledge.” How do we shift teachers’ view of their role to one that supports students in learning how to think and to one that helps students’ learn how to learn?

How is it that eons ago schools decided upon “reading, writing, and arithmetic” as areas of focus and haven’t changed that much!? Perhaps we have really shifted how we teach reading, writing and math, and yet, are we limiting our thinking and approach by using the same old categories designated in the days of imparting knowledge?

If our goal is to prepare students as life long learners, there are lists of the skills positively associated with the process of learning. Arthur Costa’s 16 Habits of Mind could all be labeled lifelong learning skills. Here is the list he developed with Kallick:

· Persisting
· Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision
· Managing impulsivity
· Gathering data through all senses
· Listening with understanding and empathy
· Creating, imagining, innovating
· Thinking flexibly
· Responding with wonderment and awe
· Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
· Taking responsible risks
· Striving for accuracy
· Finding humor
· Questioning and posing problems
· Thinking interdependently
· Applying past knowledge to new situations
· Remaining open to continuous learning

When I go over that list, I realize which “habits of mind” I try to foster subject by subject and yet, am I giving students the feedback they need and how am I assessing their “progress” and my success? If we value these habits of mind, how do we hold ourselves accountable to fostering their growth? Are there ‘habits of mind’ that are missing from this list?

Many of these habits of mind inherently demand slowing down, taking time, and pausing to be reflective. Deep listening takes time and full presence. Creativity and imagination usually suffer with a tight time schedule. While we practice silence in Quaker Meeting, are we finding times throughout the day to bring that calm back? Do we ourselves take time to pause and reflect?

Our lives and the current lives of our students and parents seem to be running at a faster and faster pace. Not only that, it seems to me as a teacher today, the times demand that I expose kids to moral issues, ethical questions and spiritual ideas as well because I am old enough to see the shadow side of the competition, consumerism and technology, all of which can get ahead of deeper thought.

Aren’t gratitude, kindness, hope, grace, forgiveness and compassion all basic to being human? And are these cultivated or learned ways of being that school can influence? Don’t we all need to work for justice, a free and fair world, where oppression and inequality no longer exist, and for peace? Service certainly is part of thinking interdependently and it has to include developing a deep sense of reverence for the interconnectedness of all life on this Earth.

‘The “salvation of this human world,” Havel once said to the US Congress, “lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and in human responsibility.” All is not lost if we will resist the forces that conspire to disabuse us of what we know to be right and human and true. Hence the works of educators is no less than the salvation of this world.’ Diana Chapman Walsh (college president)

It is no wonder that the job of being a teacher feels overwhelming! And yet, this is the calling many of us are trying to answer. There are many dimensions to growing our hearts as individuals and as global citizens. Simply stated, becoming a teacher is a lifelong process of growing ourselves to be whole for the “work” at hand.

At a good school teachers and students are jointly engaged in a search for truth, in what Quakers call continuing revelation. Students greet the school day with enthusiasm. Teachers and administrators are there to guide, to respond, to teach, and to learn. They hold high expectations for their students, knowing that students work toward expectations. And as good teachers grapple with improving the intellectual abilities of their pupils, they also work to provide a climate of sensitivity to the human condition, to ensure that our most personal gift, the gift of our minds, is used in a generous spirit for worthy goals. A good school’s overriding aim is to help each student respond to the best that is in him or her. Robert Smith, Former SFS Headmaster


How do we keep striving towards the best?

We teach by being life long learners ourselves. We can serve as role models of continuous learning- by staying relentlessly open to ideas in search of the truth to make learning come alive for our students.

The Research Process as Lifelong Learning

When I was teaching second and third grade (combined) I began to develop a research process that focused on the mode of inquiry, that is the “how to do research” part while engaging the students through a variety interesting Social Studies topics. As a graduate of Hampshire College, I believe that the most valuable lessons we teach are those that prepare us for lifelong learning. Therefore, research at all levels is not just about finding out more about a specific topic, but it is an experience in learning how to learn more in an area of discipline.

Since I taught a 2-3 combination class, I had the luxury of teaching these student for two consecutive years and thus build on the work we started in second grade so that, by third grade, they were able to take charge of much of the process. I stepped away from the typical method of doing research in elementary school in which a teacher hands out an outline with topics and questions already prepared and students fill in the blanks. Or another popular method, in which the topic is handed out at school, but the research and writing is done at home leaving the family to take charge of the process, for better or worse.

To help students understand research as a process we wanted them to feel in charge of their topic. We chose a general topic (e.g., the Lewis & Clark Expedition), which we had studied and read about at length before starting our research. Students knew enough about the general topic to be able to list a wide range of possible smaller topics to focus on (e.g. Sacagawea, Fort Clatsop, Nez Perce Indians). Their next job was to generate all the information they already knew about these topics and then to ask a series of questions about things they would still like to find out. Once they knew what they were looking for the teachers and librarian help guide the discovery of sources that were appropriate to the student’s reading level. Throughout this time the teachers read aloud from a wide variety of research-based books and the class discussed the style and presentation of the material in each format, from picture books to journal articles to historical fiction. As the students became more aware of the many ways research can be presented, we encouraged them to decide on an audience and a writing style for their own project. This literary analysis of the texts also kept the question of whose creative work we were reading and how the author’s unique perspective is stamped on their work. This, in turn, made the discussion of plagiarism straightforward: the author you are learning from spent a lot of creative time and energy producing this unique set of materials. You are also spending time creating your own unique work. You wouldn’t want to claim their hard work, nor would you want anyone else to claim yours. The result of the project was a wide range of research presentations, some written in first person, some written as a travelogue, some to a younger audience, etc. We hope that the experience helped out students develop a lifelong perspective on the process of research and the process of creating uniquely personal projects.

While approaching research from this, perhaps more constructivist perspective students have learned to research now and in the future, rather than seeing the project as a brief focus on a series of facts which are soon put aside and forgotten.

What Power Do We Have To Change Our Relationship With Time?

We have arrived at a tipping point at school, to use the language of the day, around the issue of time.

What Power Do We Have To Change Our Relationship with Time?

Right now- the question for me is how we use our time, not just Use our time, but view our time, live our time. ….and I want to ask myself, do I let Time define my teaching? Does time set the tone in my classroom? Is Time defining us as educators?

I think we are letting our reaction to time run us into frenzy, command us at a pace we can’t sustain. It seems every moment we are together we are complaining about how little time we have and how we are relentlessly interrupted and disrupted and now, as our school year is ending,…
All this dissatisfaction and frustration occurs at an even higher pitch…

We won’t be able to address this issue constructively until we shift the whole way we are looking at it. # 1 we need to stop complaining. And #2 we need to ask ourselves some deeper questions: Questions that will get at the root of what is really upsetting us. Blaming is just a way to avoid taking responsibility.

As Albert Einstein said:
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."

I don’t believe that TIME works against us
(only our thoughts about it.)
Why every day- it brings a new sunrise and children who are growing.
Every day
new beginnings, openings and possibilities.
Yes,
even between the fragments,
these moments occur
- and they do! - between subjects, between classes, between lunch and recess. .
unforgettable ones, transforming events, even pivotal times. And they happen in our classrooms too. And yet, we miss so many of them.
We are so focused on getting to the next thing
So often, I fear we rob ourselves daily of the TIMES we could truly relish
In our teaching, with our students, with each other, in our daily routine of rushing.

I think we need to give up trying to perfect the art of time management. It has been the sure cause of stress. And before we try to re-do our schedule, I propose we think about when, how and where we create the atmosphere we want for our students. I know I value the time we spend appreciating books- reading aloud, and discussing books for book club. Those are good blocks. And I feel just as strongly about Writing Workshop. ….giving children a space to write their thoughts and feelings- explicitly saying: I value what you think and what you notice and IT MATTERS…for me this is the essence of how learning can empower and free ……When I re-evaluate the meaningful work we are doing in our classrooms, I am proud of the way we use our time and the way kids spend their time. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that

childhood is more a space than a time.

I think we can teach everything with respect for this space-cultivating reflection and awareness- nourishing ourselves and our students simultaneously with the mindset of helping kids access this space within them for learning, creating, asking….wondering …..risking….
….yes, especially math…..and science and art and poetry……… we can and do plan lessons and activities that inherently engage kids and encourage kids to explore, create, investigate, discover, and make connections. I don’t think creating these “timeless” spaces requires extraordinary extended periods of time…..
Just a conscious awareness and commitment on our part..
When we’ve had a day of those engagements, I contentedly think,
“The school day is just the right length!”

Let’s start the whole TIME/Schedule discussion anew…by asking ourselves what we value, what we want kids to experience and how we want them to experience various activities and between times at school.

At the end of the day, instead of thinking of all the things we didn’t do-
Think of all we did do!
Remember those moments you shared with your students?...right now I am thinking about the poems my students read to their classmates and the excitement they found designing Cuisenaire structures with surface areas of exactly 100 sq. cm. There were countless “timeless” moments …and too many of them go unnoticed
Time and time again.

We need to know- and trust that we don’t need to do more than we have time to do!
What if we believed we had the perfect amount of time? And everything happened just as it should? On time? What would happen to our stress levels? And then without that stress, wouldn’t we be better teachers?

Let’s get out of our stuck places and work together to ensure the meaningful work of all our days.

Habits of Mind in Math Learning and Teaching

I was thinking about math and the students who are so "quick.” Many of them have to talk themselves out of being "impulsive," while so many of us have to talk ourselves into persevering without losing confidence.
Somehow in math we don't draw on the habits of mind we might readily apply when writing an essay or reading for deeper comprehension. Why not? Have they not been modeled?
Surely many students exhibit the habits of mind they need in writing and reading and in thinking about big ideas in history.....
why don't they automatically transfer them to math?
Is it the environment of math class? Is it a setting where students compare themselves and judge their success in comparison to others?
What are the questions we should be asking ourselves to bring clarity to this?

Sometimes parents approach me because they are convinced their children have a problem understanding mathematics. Often the whole thing isn't a problem understanding mathematics at all. It is something deeper but it fascinates me because we see this time and time again. (This is especially documented in girls during their MS years).

I fault the way we teach and the institution of school and want to figure out how we can change- so that all students can feel successful.
This shouldn't happen in math or any other subject.

One response to this problem (of some kids being so quick while other lose confidence even with what they know) is to give more problem solving to students at an early age....... (at my elementary school we have been doing this regularly) i.e., we are trying to expose our students to problems that no one will readily solve...so that all our students deal with the space of not knowing.
Then it is interesting to see how they react. ...define and see themselves....accept and push themselves......or simply give up

Certainly it is where we can all grow...(whether we must control our
impulsivity or learn strategies for persevering)

Facing the unknown
in the broadest of senses....is all about being human
and learning is so much about
asking questions
that can't even be answered....

(what do we really know anyhow?)
But back to math

How do we assess understanding? How young are children when they begin to form this misconception that getting the "answer" quickly means you are a better math thinker? How do we as teachers, perpetuate this myth? We have witnessed intuitive math thinkers and applaud them but why does that have to undermine those whose minds are meandering, wandering, and thoroughly enjoying exploring their way....following another type of intuition....the
foundation of discovery!

Sometimes kids have "test skills" but they can't apply that knowledge in a problem- solving situation.....They can test to prove quickness, but what does that really tell us about their thinking? I've had kids who can't memorize their facts (rote) and yet they show strong higher order thinking skills...which I place a much greater value on . Often these very strong thinkers are slammed in MS in 5th and 6th grade for not having that rote ability, where rote procedural and memorization skills are constantly assessed as if they are measures of understanding.

How do we overcome our own blocks? Our own triggers (or tendencies) to
freeze and lose confidence?

Over time, I have come to appreciate that:

When I understand something, I feel calmness in the air around me.
When I don't understand something, and I think I should, I get upset. (I think this happens to kids all the time in school)
The key, however, has been for me to learn that: When I don't understand something --- I believe and trust that I will come to understand it in time, and therefore, I am fine....

even if that time, is mine and mine alone...

To arrive at the last stage, takes maturity and confidence in oneself-
Are our school's fostering that type of growth?

Rilke’s over-quoted quote is worth quoting again:

Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart.
Try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms
and like books written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not seek now the answers, which cannot be given to you because
you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now....perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer...

Life long learners trust the process of living the questions.

How Do We Help Create Life-Long Learners?

Two terms that always get me going are "life long learners" and "risk takers". If there is anything that has kept me going as a teacher and a learner it is the hard lessons I learned at Hampshire College. There I had to struggle through the process of describing the "mode of inquiry" I used to complete a project, and the actual topic of the project came second in importance. I had to prove that I understood how to solve problems or do research in an area of study before I presented the actual project. This requirement is why I can learn new things, take on new projects, and conceptualize on a big scale -- I am always looking at what is behind the idea or the concept - - perhaps I should say the big idea rather than focusing simply on the content. This is the gift I believe we are supposed to be sharing with students. This is the gift that leads to life-long learning.

I work with kids who are both potential life-long learners and risk-takers (in a good way) -- kids who are jumping out of their skin to move forward and desperate for the next thing to do and might be willing to struggle with deeper meanings or the messy process of focusing how to learn. So often, however, because of their competitive instincts (or parental pressure) these students become satisfied by succeeding where ever rote response is required and become learners who are fine with learning superficially as long as they maintain their "top of the class" label. We should challenge these kids to reach beyond and try to really comprehend the underbelly of everything they learn, rather than rewarding them for success by letting them think they are "winning" for rote or formulaic responses. In truth, they will never be truly satisfied because deep inside they really know that there is more to it than this.

I think it is the responsibility of schools to educate life-long learners and risk takers, rather than to focus on rewarding those who achieve the highest mark, however easily or cheaply obtained...