To All Mothers and Teachers

Mother by Ted Kooser

Mid April already, and the wild plums bloom at the roadside, a lacy white against the exuberant, jubilant green of new grass and the dusty, fading black of burned out ditches. No leaves, not yet, only the delicate, star-petaled blossoms sweet with their timeless perfume.

You have been gone a month today and have missed three rains and one nightlong watch for tornadoes. I sat in the cellar from six to eight while fat spring clouds went somersaulting, rumbling east. Then it poured, a storm that walked on legs of lightning, dragging its shaggy belly over the fields.

The meadowlarks are back, and the finches are turning from green to gold. Those same two geese have come to the pond again this year, honking in over the trees and splashing down. They never nest, but stay a week or two then leave.The peonies are up, the red sprouts burning in circles like birthday candles,

for this is the month of my birth, as you know, the best month to be born in, thanks to you, everything ready to burst with living. There will be no more new flannel nightshirts sewn on your old black Singer, no birthday card addressed in a shaky but businesslike hand. You asked me if I would be sad when it happened

and I am sad. But the iris I moved from your house now hold in the dusty dry fists of their roots green knives and forks as if waiting for dinner, as if spring were a feast. I thank you for that. Were it not for the way you taught me to look at the world, to see the life at play in everything, I would have to be lonely forever.

Paris Views: Collections, Materials, Compositions

Ashley and I just took a marvelous spring break from the never ending winter in New England and went to Paris.  It was spring in Paris and we used the new bike system,Velib, to ride everywhere.  This trip, we frequented Les Puces, or the Flea Markets.  I have always wanted to visit  them.  It is a bit of a trek to the outskirts of the city, but every bit worth it.  We wandered over many blocks loving what we saw.  We did not buy anything really, but we were swept away by the spectacle and the aesthetic.  More than ever before, we were struck by the French art of arranging and composing materials and goods.

We were reminded of our studios and ateliers in the schools were we work.  There is a great similarity in what we are trying to achieve.  A sense of order, and richness and abundance at the same time.  A great diversity of materials placed in pleasing juxtapositions so that the imagination can take off based on what the eye sees.  Unusual combinations and provocative placements so that we are sparked by new possibilities.  Pleasing compositions of materials attract us and we are drawn to touch them and explore them.  Loris Malaguzzi used to say that the areas of our classrooms should be like market stalls, enticing children to interact with what they find and to learn in joyful ways.

What we found in Paris was a great feast for the eyes, and a lovely reminder of what thoughtful display and organization can provide for us.  We were also renewed by the challenge to go looking for beautiful stuff everywhere with children and families.  In this way, we can all benefit from playing and learning with diversity, beauty, color, form, fabric, yarn, metals, ceramics, found objects and the joy of holding the stuff of the world in our hands and shaping it anew.

Are Standardized Tests the Super Bowl of Education? Guest Post by Dean Ena Shelley of Butler University

  The following post is a reprint of a monthly letter from Dean Ena Shelley to the community of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Ena is a dynamic and undaunted educator in today's world and she is a close friend and colleague of ours.  

This piece seemed related to Ashley's posts:

What Does Baseball Have do do with it?

What does Bubba Have to do with it? 

What does Basketball Have to do with it?

Ena makes a powerful case in comparing the Super Bowl to high stakes tests. 

Dear Friends,

I, like many, have a great deal of respect for Peyton Manning. He has achieved much as a football player and has shared his success with others, including his tremendous support for a Central Indiana children's hospital.  While he is no longer an Indianapolis Colt, Peyton provided a reason for many local football fans to still have a rooting interest in this year’s Super Bowl.

Yet, earlier this month we saw a lopsided outcome to that game featuring two teams that had, up until that point, been equally competitive in their respective divisions.  In fact, most media and spectators had the Broncos as the “favorites.” Despite all predictive indicators, the finish showed that even a great team and great players can have a bad game.

As the Super Bowl game slipped away from the grasp of Peyton and his team, I began to wonder what the ultimate outcome would be for this player and this team if current education policies were applied.

With the loss of the game, would Peyton have been evaluated as “ineffective” and put on an “improvement plan” with the understanding that his future scores had to rise significantly, or he and his coaches would be dismissed? Despite all other forms of evaluation, would he have missed the cut-off for a “Pass” or “Pass Plus” rating as a league quarterback?

And, even though the Denver Broncos had to win many games in order to earn the right to be in the Super Bowl, would this one game be the only data point to determine if the team would receive an “A-F” grade?

Peyton and his teammates were obviously having a bad day.

This one game is what the ISTEP exam is like for many children.

In reviewing Peyton’s performance, some would say that “he couldn’t handle the pressure,” yet Peyton is an adult who has multiple life experiences to handle such situations.

Think about the amount of pressure we put on children as they set aside normal classroom lessons and practice for the test. Schools direct students to get extra rest for the test, and eat a better breakfast because of the test. Teachers feel and reflect anxiety that their students and schools could be publicly identified as “failing.” Then we wonder why students fall apart on the day of the test.

The Super Bowl wasn’t an accurate reflection of all Peyton could do, but if he were a student in Indiana, his performance on that one day and one moment in time could have dire consequences. In an interview after the game, a reporter asked Peyton if he was embarrassed by his performance and that of his team.

He rightfully replied that, to say it was an embarrassment dishonored all the team had accomplished to get to the final game.

I immediately thought of all of the teachers who help students make progress and strides in their growth, only to come up short because of the measurements and scores that have been put in place. They are made to feel embarrassed rather than honored for all they have accomplished.

I wonder what would happen if educators stood strong, like Peyton, in their conviction to be proud of their accomplishments and refused to be judged solely by one game, one moment in time. How can we change the scoreboard of education? Perhaps the first step is honoring the victories, accomplishments, and successes that happen every day.

So, as we leave football season and enter testing “season,” please help us define your work and the work of your students by more than just a number, more than just “one game.” Post your successes on Facebook and Twitter using #greatteachingIN, #BUCOEimpact, and @ButlerCOE to get the word out about what is right in education and the fact that one test should not be the Super Bowl of Education.

Until next month,

Dr. Ena Shelley

Dean, College of Education

Birthdays

Today is my birthday.  And, it is also a snow day.  Beautiful, quiet, fluffy snow has been falling all day on Boston.  I have spent the day mostly alone...Ashley is working in Memphis, Tennessee with Hutchison School.  I watched the snow, I spoke with friends who called me, I took stock of my year.  What a year it has been...starting with a big fall and a three month recovery in Vermont. This year, I am glad to be in Boston for my birthday, glad to be back on my feet and out in the world.  Grateful for all of our good work with schools and to be close to our family.  I love the east coast...traveling on Amtrak, getting to know Boston, reclaiming Vermont as home, weaving together country and city life and our life of working with schools with enjoying so many treasured times with friends and family.

It seems improbable to come full circle around the year and arrive at yet another anniversary of one's birth.  How does it all happen so fast? How do the years go by, round and round?  Looking back and looking forward.  It is supposedly linear, this progression of years, but rather it seems cyclical, like a merry-go-round, like a spiral, like a the petals of a rose.  I like to think of this life that way...learning  as we go, up and down, around and around, picking up bits and pieces, revisiting people and places, settling down more and more into the steady beat and rhythm of our breath, of wind and weather, of the seasons.

That is the way it feels to me now and I am again, grateful for all of it.  And, grateful for another birthday.  Happy February.

Vea Vecchi and Documentation

I have been working a lot lately with different groups of teachers, preprimary and elementary and middle school, on documentation of students’ learning.  Typically, there is a daunting intimidation factor in moving into this largely undiscovered area.  Some common questions are:    This is for doctoral students, not classroom teachers...right?       What’s the point?       How do I know what to note?       When I get it all down,how do I know if it is important? 

Yesterday I was rereading  In the Spirit of the Studio.  In an interview with Lella Gandini (page 139), Vea Vecchi, the first atelierista in Reggio Emilia, Italy, talks about documentation as follows:

Documentation has been a fundamental element in our evolution.  Its is a tool that nourishes our own research, our attention, and our desire to discover.  Observing and documenting the strategies of understanding and discovering, ways of reasoning, and the processes of learning of the individual and of children in small groups, are all extremely rich aspects of learning.  In this regard, there are scholars, such as Edgar Morin (1999), who contend that even if we are aware that all of the processes of understanding cannot be foreseen, the only way to begin reflecting on them is to make these processes visible.  It is a paradox that we must be willing to accept.

This is liberating!  Vea, one of the great teachers of Reggio Emilia, declares that she starts from a place of NOT KNOWING.  She starts from the ACT OF OBSERVING, of looking for the ways of reasoning.  Certainly she probably has some hypotheses as to what might happen if....  However, she is focused on following what ACTUALLY HAPPENS.  By observing what actually happens, (notebook and camera in hand), she collects the evidence of learning.  Afterwards, looking at the evidence, she (with the help of her colleagues), can discover the patterns and processes of learning.  In Morin’s words, that which cannot be foreseen, can be discovered in reflection.

Set up the scene (blocks, dramatic play, clay in the studio, science experiment, a reading assignment, etc.)

Observe the students...listen...photograph...perhaps insert a “wondering” question as a provocation for them to think about...write their words...note their actions.

Lay out your observations...reflect...on your own...and with colleagues.  What happened?  What patterns do you see? How are your students learning? What are their strategies? What are you learning by observing them? How will what you learn and observe enrich both your teaching and your learning?

Compose your thoughts and images about what you discover.

Wonder what might happen with another group in the same situation. Wonder what would happen if you changed the situation by _____? Beginagainmichaelfinnagin.