Professional Development at Buckingham Browne & Nichols

Last week Louise and I came off a 6 week fall road trip: Boston, Buffalo, St. Louis, Memphis, Indianapolis, and back to Boston.  Throughout we were working with our client schools…and friends.  In future blogs we’ll catch up on more specifics from our experiences with each stop, but for now I’d like to point to the book ends of the trip,  Buckingham Browne & Nichols (BB&N) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In the beginning of October Louise and I spent a day with the BB&N preprimary (“Beginners”) through second grade faculty.  We helped them to initiate a Lead Learning Team including administration and faculty representatives to ensure that leadership was shared by all involved in this Professional Development initiative.  We focused on reorganizing some of their classrooms to demonstrate how much the environment can create contexts for dynamic, engaged learning.  We helped develop a pattern of planning meetings with protocols, where teachers could reflect on their projects and wonder about new ways to approach old studies.  When we returned five weeks later, we were struck by the changes underway.  Perhaps most impressive... at the end of the day with the whole group of about 20 teachers and administrators, two teachers, a second grade teacher and a science teacher, presented work they’d done over the past month.

The second grade teacher, Susan Kinsky, described how she transformed a typical, My Hopes and Dreams project (something she’d done every year for while…the same way) into a dynamic investigation of how personal strengths weave together in a classroom community.  What had been a one day, even one period exercise was transformed into several days of intermittent and ongoing discussions, compositions, reflections, revisions, and creative problem solving.  Their emblematic product was a “quilt” of their ideas.

Susan’s told us that her goal at the outset was to genuinely engage the students in making something meaningful and aesthetically pleasing.  She also confided that while she wanted to pull out/allow more student voice, she also wanted to maintain some control.  And, she also wanted to slow down…to allow time for thoughts and ideas to evolve.

In the end she observed that:

the students did become genuinely engaged…that  they were happy to spend more time

they used each others work for inspiration and were naturally inclined to work on a series of drafts

their images became pure and honest

they discovered cardboard for the background and the ribbon to unify the piece

their partnerships were generative…aspirational

they invented strategies for collaboration and for building consensus

The science teacher, Maria Elana Derrien, described how she rethought an often used “unit” on drawing and reporting on a plant or animal.  Her innovation began with the idea we had planted in October, to encourage the use of many drafts.  We had shown the faculty the marvelous video of Ron Berger revisiting this idea with a group of students, looking at Austin’s Butterfly.  Similar to the second grade teacher’s experience, what had been a straight forward one or two period unit in science, turned into an eight session, complex investigation into individual life forms in their animal tank: entailing close observation of detail, work on multiple drafts of drawings, discovery of new resources and several drafts of summary reports.

Maria Elena shared the following reflectons:

the drawings were not so much about talent, they became more about close observation 

it became about seeing details…real observation came from themselves, not from me… they were developing a habit of mind for precision

the students enjoyed going deeper…spending more time…working harder

the students worked together naturally…they became a strong learning community

Susan and Maria Elena transformed what I think of as standard “units” into explorations/investigations that were more open to real discovery; that engendered good hard work; and that resulted in high level achievement.  Along the way, the time they spent resulted in much deeper thinking and more meaningful understanding.  And YES, the basic skills of reading, writing and logical thinking were significantly developed as well.

One Big Question at La Scuola

We have been working with La Scuola in Miami, Florida and the school’s intrepid director, Barbie Perez, for a decade.  Most recently, at the end of July, Ashley traveled to La Scuola to lead two days of professional development focused on mapping plans for the coming year.  Two years before, in a similar format, the faculty decided to focus on ONE BIG QUESTION for their project work, a new and challenging path.  They experienced great success with the question: What Is Food?  Last year they dove into: What Is Water? Ashley had piqued their interest in this path by showing them the work of The St. Michael School of Clayton, Missouri (SMSOC).  Over a 16 year period of developing inquiry-based project work, SMSOC evolved from pursuing as many as four projects in a school year, to a more refined and deeper focus on one big question that unified the experiences, research and discoveries at every grade level (from 3-year-olds to eighth graders).

Among the advantages that both SMSOC and La Scuola have found in this approach are:

• increased collaboration among students and teachers, both within and between classes
• increased excitement of both students and teachers to generate new questions from their research and discoveries, questions that deepen their understanding
• increased sense of adventure in the whole process
• increased connections made with the resources readily available in the immediate community
• increased participation of parents in the process
• increased willingness of the students to work hard on their research and compositions
• more authentic connections between students' research and their understanding that leads to more authentic expressions of their understanding…expressions in forms that make more significant contributions to their immediate and extended community

In July, La Scuola faculty decided the coming year’s focus would be: What Is An Ecosystem?  Barbie just sent me their most recent newsletter where she and her teachers give brief descriptions of their project work so far.  It’s simply amazing…in just the first month of school!  As Barbie told me on the phone yesterday, The first day of school didn’t even feel like the first day of school.  Everyone already had an exciting experience to embark on.  The students became immediately engaged.  

In their summaries you read about babies in water experiencing the water cycle, one-year-olds exploring and observing a worm bin, and two-year-olds discovering the interconnectedness of living and nonliving things in their raised bed vegetable garden.  Other two-year-olds are collaborating with first graders to create a school composting system and three-year-olds are researching a mangrove near the school.  Other young students are exploring rivers and going on a kayak adventure on the Oleta River (each with an adult paddler!), and others are “diving into” the ecosystem of a nearby pond.  Kindergarteners are exploring the ecosystem of nearby Hobie Beach and first graders are researching the Pine Rocklands (this week, because of their keen observations on one of their field trips, they received an unprecedented invitation from the reserve officials to witness the annual “burn”).  Second graders are discovering the producers, consumers and decomposer of Biscayne Bay, third/fourth graders are discovering (and literally experiencing) a connection between the Gumbo Limbo trees and mosquitoes, and the fifth/sixth graders are uncovering the role of water and plants in different sections of the Everglades.

This is multi-disciplinary, integrated, inquiry-based, long term research project work at its best.  Hats off to Barbie and her inspired and inspiring faculty and parents!

P.S.  I’ll bet if you want to know more about the evolution of their work at La Scuola, Barbie would be happy to talk with you.  One caveat, represented by my new nickname for Barbie, “3B”…for Busy Busy Barbie.

A New Edition of In the Spirit of the Studio!

Nine years ago, I had the good fortune to work with Lella Gandini, Lynn Hill and Charles Schwall on an exciting project that became a book...In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia.  Early in 2014, we received an e-mail from Teachers College Press asking if we would work on a second edition.  TCP had sent the book out for review and the response was extremely positive and very clear about why there is a need for a second edition and what would make the book stronger: more contributions from the Italian educators; clearer interpretations of the meaning of "the grammar of materials," and other related topics; and updated chapters from pioneers in North America who have now been at work for several decades.

The four of us have worked most of the summer on that new edition and we are so excited about it.  I am not sure we realized when we started just how much more all of us understand about this work almost ten years later.  We have also observed that many of us in this field  have come to believe even more strongly in the essential role of "aesthetics and poetics" in today's world.  There has never been a more critical time to revisit the concept and content of this book and to bring it into the present.

We invite you to stay tuned for the publication date of the second edition which has more that 40% new content and takes the principles and practices of the work of the studio to a new level.   We are certain that you will want to read it! We hope that it might be out in time for the celebrations, conferences and the Wonder of Learning exhibit that will open in New York in 2015.  We will let you know.

What Are You Most Proud Of? Transformation at Buffalo School 33

When asked, "What are you most proud of this year?"  Kelley Boyd, a first grade teacher at Buffalo School 33 wrote the following... What am I most proud of...?

How transformed I've become this school year.  Here are a few examples.

I felt very displaced when I learned that I could not use the borders that I'd invested in and the bulletin board paper that I'd purchased to match my borders.  I did not want to take away the color that I've become so accustomed to in an elementary classroom.  Now, I am excited to create a welcoming, comfortable, well-designed environment that features beautiful student work instead of commercial school decorations. 

I was resistant to the philosophy behind projects and inquiry-based teaching as well as the Reggio Approach.   I only wanted to do it for one hour.  I thought to myself... "OK, I can just get through the hour."  My prep was during our Reggio "time" and I loved that until half way through the year.  Then, I stopped taking my preps because I became so engaged in the projects with the students.

I was terrified of writing with first graders.  Now, I can't wait to do more next year.  I made my first book with my students about a field study to the zoo, and I want to do so many more.

I'm not very artistic, or at least haven't been properly trained to be artistic.  Now, because I am learning too, I find myself helping my students to look closely, to see different lines and to find new ways to portray their drawing.

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All year, I have been looking for my assistant principal's approval.  I now realize that when I became engaged and excited about learning, design, authentic experiences and meaningful student work, I also became proud of myself and my students.  That my colleagues and my assistant principal are proud of me too is no surprise and such a confirmation.  

I've come so far.  I want this kind of learning to spread and happen all day long.

This is the kind of transformation that we would all love to see.  It is the kind of dramatic change in persepctive that makes teaching and learning and work in schools worth it.  When we see this kind of turn around in teachers or in students, everyone wants to shout for joy. Think of all the other transformations that come with this...lack of happiness to joy, resistance to taking on a challenge and working through it, discomfort to risk-taking, boredom to excitement, individuals to teams, hum drum to beating the drum....

Ashley and I are so fortunate to work with all kinds of schools and all kinds of teachers who are willing to take risks and to change...who are willing to grow and improve for the benefit of all the children they teach and all the colleagues with whom they work.  There is a  ripple effect created in this kind of transformation, in people and in school cultures.  This is the kind of momentum we all could use.

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Inspiring Work at Buffalo School 33

Last August, we started a new adventure partnering with School 33, a pre primary-eighth grade public school in Buffalo, NY.  We wrote about our first work with them last September.  Since then, Ashley has traveled monthly to Buffalo and also coached teachers and administration via Skype meetings.  Louise has accompanied Ashley on three of his trips. We just returned a few days ago from a two day session of professional development with all the teachers.  Louise worked with the pre-primary-second grade teachers and Ashley with third-eighth grade teachers.  What they are accomplishing is impressive.  The teachers had very little background in project-based learning before we began working with them in August. They had practically no experience in collaboration, in designing high quality, engaging learning environments or in making students' learning visible.

Now, they are reading together (Ron Berger's Ethic of Excellence), engaged in change and action and reflection such that there is real momentum.  They are tackling the most complex way of teaching and they have embraced it in varying degrees and they are all working hard.  This is a school with large classes and much diversity. Their task is daunting.  They are inspiring to us!

In order to achieve any level of fidelity with their goal, significant transformation in core beliefs has been ESSENTIAL…we've witnessed this sort of transformation with most of faculty in preprimary-5th.  Some are reticent to change.  I can’t do projects because I have to prepare these kids for the tests.  It is our experience that inquiry based projects, when developed with intelligent connections to Common Core Standards and 21st century skills result in very successful test results…in most cases HIGHER achievement.  It is also our experience that inquiry based projects, when developed with a keen sense of students passions and interests, result in much higher student functioning (far fewer behavior problems).

Our inspiration comes from those teachers who have changed their beliefs and have embraced these fundamental ideas.

• Real, lasting learning engages our whole self: mind, body, and emotions.
• Lasting learning results in authentic, high quality, meaningful work.
• As educators, our job is to design, organize, facilitate, and orchestrate the context and conditions for lasting learning.
• It is our job to follow, record, and compose an understanding of the lasting learning; and to assess and evaluate the students’ work and our own.

In Buffalo School 33, we have witnessed the following concrete manifestations of their changing beliefs:

• The classroom environments are cleaner, more organized, with materials more accessible to the children.
• The materials and provocations in the areas of the rooms and in the elementary investigations are more authentic, exciting, and generative.
• The teachers are following the students more mindfully...their observations are keen...they are taking time to reflect on the students' actions and inquiries.
• The teachers are composing documentation in one page journals, on blogs, and in large exhibitions in the hallways.
• The teachers are meeting together, in weekly and daily meetings.  They are having lunch together and talking about projects!
• The students are engaged.  Behavior problems are reduced.  Wonderful connections are being made from three-year-olds on up.

If this can happen in a public school that was deemed two years ago as "failing," with a majority demographic of free and reduced lunch, single parent households, mostly English language learners...then it can happen anywhere.