Most Likely to Succeed Film and Book

More than a half-dozen times now I have watched Brian's eyes light up with an I did it--I created something that works expression, and I have watched Samantha's confidence shine as the all female play she directs garners applause from an audience of family and community members. I have also watched Scout's father, film director Greg Whiteley, acknowledge his daughter's feelings that "this whole thing called school is B.S."

The compelling storyline in the film Most Likely to Succeed speaks to me as a parent, educator, and community member. I've sat in parent/teacher conferences not unlike the one Whiteley's daughter and wife endured and even once was told by an administrator that I should have my son read boring books at home so he would be better prepared to read the boring texts on the state standardized tests. More positively though, I have also observed the I created something and it works look in my son's eyes when he built a computer.

As pointed out in the beginning of Most Likely to Succeed, our education system was designed in 1893 by a Committee of Ten men who wanted more efficient, compliant, and educated factory workers for the industrial age. A standardized education system with a teacher who dispensed knowledge provided what the economy needed at the time and guaranteed workers "a perfectly average job, with a perfectly average family, a perfectly average home, and a perfectly average life, and a perfectly average funeral."

We no longer need as many factory workers because more and more jobs have become automated. We have knowledge at our finger tips as we consider access to the Internet a basic right in our developed country. We need students who can think critically, communicate effectively, solve problems creatively, and collaborate productively to make our world a better place. Most Likely to Succeed does not offer a panacea for the issues in public education, but it does open eyes and convey a sense of urgency needed if we are going to make sure kids receive the education they need in our ever changing world.

In addition to seeing the film multiple times, I have now also read Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era by Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith. I am encouraged, empowered, and more ready than ever to continue my personal and professional mission of
 re-imagining public education.

As Dintersmith and Wagner acknowledge in their book, we could have completely redesigned our education system, the position advocated by Ted Sizer founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, as we headed into the twenty-first century. Instead, our country chose to "push for incremental improvements and rely on policies calling for curriculum homogeneity, more pervasive standardized testing, and teacher accountability tied to student test score performance (26)."

Unfortunately, we are paying a price for this choice as "student and teacher engagement levels have plummeted in the face of a steady diet of test prep (27)." We've turned public education into a series of hoops to jump and games to play (just ask my 9th grader). The book is not all depressing though; the authors offer examples of how we can re-imagine school. Think about their suggestion of what we might consider as the purpose of education.

"The purpose of education is to engage students with their passions and growing sense of purpose, teach them critical skills needed for career and citizenship, and inspire them to do their very best to make their world better (44)."

If we decide this is our purpose, then we must respond as such and we must offer students--
choice, opportunities to learn from failure, lessons that require critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. We must also teach students to communicate effectively both in writing and in speaking. I've written on this topic previously.

Dintersmith and Wagner don't stop their conversations with K-12. In fact, one entire section of the book is devoted to ideas about college degrees. They say they "don't subscribe to the view that a college needs to revolve around practical courses (169.)" Rather, they give college faculty, administration, students, and parents plenty to think about. As a liberal arts graduate, I was pleased with this perspective--

"Today, employers look for graduates who exhibit critical skills, ask great questions, and demonstrate perseverance and grit. These critical skills can be taught in traditional liberal arts pursuits as well or better than in business courses (170)."

Re-imagining public education has been on my mind for nearly as long as I've been out of college. It started in graduate school when I read works by Ted Sizer, John Dewey, Deborah Meier, John Goodlad, and Maxine Greene. I began teaching in a high needs school in North Carolina and committed myself to teaching with intentionality, even writing "purpose in instruction" at various places around the classroom as a reminder to myself to keep our studies, projects, and lessons meaningful.

Read about how I helped arrange Ted Dintersmith's visit to KY

I'm not alone either because I know dozens of committed teachers throughout the United States who work diligently inside our flawed system to provide students the deeper learning experiences they need. I also know parents who advocate for change and who work together on re-imagining the system. I'm optimistic about what we can do when we work together.

In the past nearly four years, I've used this blog as a place to share my voice about how we need to re-imagine curriculum, instruction, assessment, and the overall system. Blogging has connected me to others and taught me more about what we can do if we speak up and work together. We need to remember that all of our voices can have impact. We can, together, make a difference to bring the change we need in public education. We no longer live in 1893. We need a bottom-up approach led by teachers, students, and parents demanding change to the system.

I urge you to see the film and read the book Most Likely to Succeed because once you do I guarantee you'll be ready to join me.

Let Them Be Curious: 13 Year Old Shares His Ideas on Science Education

Note: This article originally appeared in Science Connection, a newsletter produced by the Kentucky Department of Education.

Since his toddler years, my oldest son (now age 13) has shown an interest in physical science, especially anything having to do with energy. From his earliest years, science books, gadgets, circuitry, and anything solar powered has fascinated him. He even spends spare time watching YouTube clips about science and Mythbusters. Now, before you get a mental picture of educators’ son (My husband is an educator, too) who’s just a nerd, let me tell you that this child is an average teen interested in video games and computers like most other teens his age. The other trait Ethan has in common with average kids his age is a curious mind interested in exploring and learning. What’s exciting to me about the Next Generation Science Standards is the push for greater exploration of scientific concepts and the opportunity for students to ask more questions. Since the goal will be for students to ask the questions rather than for teachers to create a lab experiment with step-by-step instructions, I recently asked Ethan about NGSS Standard PS3.C. His curious nature took hold as he explained to me how he would teach this standard if he were the teacher. Below is a portion of our conversation.

Ethan: An active teen

RB: Ethan, I’m looking at the Next Generation Science Standards being implemented in schools around the country, including Kentucky, and I’m looking specifically at a standard for middle school that says “when two objects interact, each one exerts a force on the other, and these forces can transfer energy between them.” What do you think?

Ethan: yeah, what about it?

RB: If you had to teach that standard to kids, how would you do it?

Ethan: Well, there are several ways you could do it. You could use magnets, or plastic combs or balloons, but you should really let kids explore and see what might happen before you tell them anything.

RB: What do you mean?

Ethan: So, take the plastic comb idea. I would gather the students around a sink, give them all plastic combs and tell them to make the water bend.

RB: What if they don’t know what to do?

Ethan: That’s okay. They’ll figure it out probably if you give them a chance.

RB: But how would I give them a chance and still teach them anything? What if they just stand there?

Ethan: Mom, these are middle schoolers standing near a sink, they’re not going to just stand there. They’re curious and they will want to play around.

RB: ok. But what if they don’t figure it out?

Ethan: Well, after you wait a bit, you might have to start giving them hints.

RB: What kind of hints?

Ethan: Well, you could ask them questions or get them to ask you questions.

RB: What kind of questions?

Ethan: More than likely, the students will start asking questions and trying things out. They might ask—what will happen if I put this water under water? What will happen if I run the comb through my hair and then put it in water? If they don’t ask those questions or try out those things you might ask them how they think they could make static electricity with the comb.

RB: So, more than likely they will have some experience with combs and their hair having static electricity, right?

Ethan: yeah, then you could start explaining stuff to them like electrical charge happens when objects are rubbed together, so you will have charge when you run the comb through your hair.

RB: Tell me more.

Ethan: Negatively charged particles move from your hair to the comb. This makes the comb negatively charged. Electrons repel other electrons. If the negatively charged comb (from rubbing it in your hair) is near the water, it repels the electrons in the water. The water near the comb has a positive charge. The attraction between the positive charge and the negative charge bends the water.

RB: So how do you know this? Is this an experiment you did at school?

Ethan: No, I tried it in the bathroom sink one time. Plus I watched a YouTube video about it. It works the same way with strong magnets. But really, mom, you should try it and read about it too.

And, there you have it, a science lesson from my 13 year old son, and I would guess most science teachers already know this experiment, so the purpose of our sharing was not so much to tell you a cool experiment kids might enjoy. Instead, the purpose of our sharing this exchange and idea with you is to help you see just how curious kids are on their own, if we let them be. We don't have to provide step-by-step instructions for doing the experiment, and it seems the NGSS don't want us to do that anyway.

Some sites Ethan suggests for learning about bending water (just make sure you don’t provide kids the step-by-step instructions).

http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/bendwater.php

http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/BENDWATER.html

Sunday Salon: What I Read Online September 8-14

Homework

Since I was preparing for a conference presentation on re-imagining homework, I must have read at least thirty different articles and blog posts about homework this week. I'll share just a few here.

Cathy Vatterott wrote Re-thinking Homework, a publication by ASCD that I read a couple of years ago, and I revisited the book this week. You can read chapter one, The Culture of Homework online here.

Canadian educator, Joe Bower, has an entire section of his blog devoted to posts about homework.

Ultimately, in my conference session, I advocated for more wonder and curiosity, and since curiosity was on my mind, I read this post at Psychology Today.  The author provides three strategies for staying curious.


Connected Educators

At Connected Principals, George Couros blogged about the need for courageous leadership and with this connectedness that brings together an entire community--parents, students, and faculty at a school. What I liked best is the focus on not portraying an image that the principal and faculty want the school to have but focusing instead on what the students experience and feel about their experiences at a school.

Deanna Mascle blogs at Metawriting about her PLN, and she created an interesting visual to show all the ways she's connected.

Peter DeWitt writes about ways to engage parents in our schools, and what I like best is the part where he talks about really engaging parents in dialogue. Instead of an open house where parents go from class to class and listen to the teachers talk, flip it, and send a video and syllabus ahead of time so Open House can be spent in real conversations with parents!

Gaming

A huge topic of conversation to get my thirteen year old son to talk is to chat about technology and gaming, so when I read that Microsoft might buy Minecraft, I had a great chat with my son who loves to talk about topics that interest him.

In this TED Talk Ali Carr-Chellman talks about using gaming to re-engage adolescent boys in learning.


Literacy

Vicki Davis always has great blog posts, and this one is about her new book Re-Inventing Writing, but the post itself is about Note Taking Skills for 21st Century Learners.


Educator, Kevin Hogdson blogs about close reading and has a fantastic podcast of his poem about close reading for you to enjoy here.

I head this story this morning on the news, and then I just had to find it online because it was one of those give you chills kind of stories. A star football player, Malcolm Mitchell, at the University of Georgia entered college as a struggling reader, but he ended up joining a book club full of women ages 40-60. He improved his reading abilities and now says what he feels most proud of in life is improving his reading because it's something he had to work for, and football and sports always came easy. Inspiring story.

#teachingis the chance to never stop learning

In my senior year of college, I began my psychology internship at a home for adults with special needs.  The experience confirmed my desire to help others and to make a difference in the world, but it did not confirm a future career.  For my second semester internship I was placed in a learning center for high school students who were taking psychology electives. It was in this small rural learning center that I learned my true calling as a teacher. Together, my students and I explored topics of behavior, attitudes, and career possibilities. A large part of the curriculum included working with the teens on their outlook in life.  Vividly I recall conversations about making the most of less than desirable situations, and in these conversations, I realized I was learning, too. You see, as a college student I struggled with keeping a positive outlook on life, and often fell prey to circumstances in which I would play the victim, often blaming my life circumstances on being a first generation college graduate or coming from a family who struggled financially. A former college roommate even told me once (after tiring of my whining) that I was the one who could determine my life outlook and I could make a decision about whether I wanted to be happy or not (maybe I had been reading too much Sylvia Plath).

This card was sent to me by someone who knows me now.

The teens at that rural learning center taught me about my future career, so I finished my psychology degree and promptly enrolled in a Masters program to become a teacher.  Here's where all my reading of poetry paid off because I was offered a chance to choose whether I wanted to become a teacher of social studies or a teacher of English. What I knew was that I wanted to teach teenagers, and because a poetry class as an undergraduate was where I learned to read critically, I determined that I would teach English, so I could teach teenagers how to read critically. The experience with the teenagers at the learning center also taught me that I wanted to teach teenagers so that I could have the chance to...

• never stop learning
• encourage curiosity & creativity
• listen
• refine questioning techniques
• discuss ideas
• explore concepts
• be flexible & open-minded
• connect with other people
• make a difference in the world 

This academic year, I've thought about teaching as I've taught future teachers at a local university, and I recognize that teaching is dynamic and ever changing.  I'm blogging today in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week and the Center for Teaching Quality's #teachingis campaign.  Five and a half years ago I left the high school classroom in search of leadership opportunities and a change, but I did not stop learning, nor did I really stop teaching.  Teaching is in my blood, a part of who I am and who I always will be.

For the Love of Social Studies!

“As long as I don’t have to miss social studies” was the reply from my ten-year-old son when I told him the school interventionist was going to start pulling him for extra help with reading two times per week.  Really, I couldn’t agree more with him.  You see, my ten-year-old loves history, and has loved history for most of his elementary school aged years, but this year (5^th grade) is the first year he has had regular social studies instruction.

Fortunately for my son, he also has a 5^th grade teacher who happens to love history too.  She is a National Board Certified Teacher who is dynamic, reflective, thoughtful, and purposeful with instruction.  She also understands the importance of kids moving, exploring, and learning in non test-prep ways (in most of Kentucky, public schools only teach social studies in 5^th grade because that’s the year it’s tested for the state testing system).  This is wrong, and even slightly illegal, given that the state has required social studies standards for every year of a child’s elementary grade.  Unfortunately, schools feel pressured by the high-stakes testing and accountability system, so most schools in Kentucky only teach a subject if it’s tested that year  (they only teach science during 4^th grade—the year it’s tested, much to the dismay of my older son who loved science and only had it one year grades K-5).

I have written about this frustrating system and approach in previous posts and have shared ways my husband and I have worked to supplement our sons’ public school experiences.  Rather than make this post another soapbox post about how much I want the system to change, I’ve decided to focus on Isaac’s love of history and the great year he’s having because he’s receiving excellent social studies instruction—something that really interests him. 

Isaac says his teacher makes history interesting because she has students role-play, debate, ask lots of questions, read and write (all called for by the Common Core) and explore artifacts she’s collected and keeps in her room.  She also enriches standards based classroom instruction with games and field trips.

On a recent field trip to Fort Boonesborough, the students dipped candles, learned about blacksmithing, heard about Daniel Boone, and very impressively--discussed with one another primary and secondary sources and historical artifacts. They knew what they were talking about, and they were curious, bright-eyed, and attentive as they walked from cabin to cabin.

Not only does Isaac's teacher provide explicit and purposeful social studies instruction, she also supplements the history standards that are part of her fifth grade curriculum with social studies issues related to present day, and she recommends books to children based on their interests.  For Isaac, her recommendation included Kate Messner’s Capture the Flag, set in Washington D.C. (specifically Regan National Airport). This was perfect because Isaac had the requisite background knowledge since our family flew into this airport for our Washington D.C. trip during spring break last year.

 She’s also currently working children’s rights into her instruction and having children learn about Malala and watch clips from the film Girl Rising.  These issues are pertinent to children having a global perspective about the world in which we live.  Even though the standardized test children will take in the spring is focused on early American history, this teacher understands the importance of children learning about the bigger world in which we live.  She purposefully works into instruction issues and topics relevant to current political events as well as historical events being remembered. 

I decided to check out what the National Council for the Social Studies has to say about learning social studies in elementary school.  Turns out, they have plenty to say about “powerful and purposeful teaching of social studies in elementary schools.” They share links to research and documentation about how the subject has been marginalized in the years since No Child Left Behind was passed.  One of the many important quotes from their site--

“teachers should ensure that the social studies experiences woven throughout the curriculum follow logical sequences, allow for depth and focus, and help young learners move forward in their acquisition of knowledge and skills. The curriculum should not become, in the pursuit of integration, a grab bag of random social studies experiences that are related marginally to a theme or project. Rather, concepts should be developed to assure coherence and meaning.”

Thankfully, my son’s teacher practices purposeful instruction and keeps Isaac’s love of history alive each day ensuring he experiences coherence and meaning with what he learns.  We are grateful beyond belief for this excellent teacher and the fabulous year Isaac is experiencing.

My Eleventh Hour Connected Educator Blog Post

For the entire month of October, I have had the privilege of publishing a daily blog post at my place of employment.  Each day I posted a profile of a Kentucky educator who's connected; these profiles were sent to me throughout the month and covered educators from a range of roles and regions.  It was a sheer pleasure to read what my colleagues in the state had to say about how they are connected.  In addition to reading and posting all the Kentucky educator profiles, I spent time following educators across the country and world who also wrote connected educator posts.  I even found humor in those who proclaimed connected educator month silly, nonsensical or annoying.

I also spent each day thinking about how I should write my own post about being a connected educator, and each day I put it off to focus on other things in life, including my current personal project and my commitment to practice a more balanced sense of living.

Now as we approach midnight and the end of the month, I decided it would be worth recording a few of my own personal thoughts about ways I'm connected and how it impacts my practice.

I am connected via multiple social media platforms as well as through other networks, some of which meet face-to-face.  I connect because I like to learn and with all the different people in my professional learning network (PLN) I have people from across the world from which to learn via Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Google +, Linkedin, the NCTE Connected Community, R-Group Space and various Listservs.   I am learning from educators and non-educators alike; I'm learning from other learners who are equally curious about the world in which we live.

Since I moved an untold number of times as a child, teenager, and young adult, I have always enjoyed connecting with others and maintaining some level of contact with those left behind after a move.  For me, technology has made maintaining these connections more feasible.  I have a friend who teaches in France and another who teaches in China, and these connections help me maintain a global perspective--clearly essential in our increasingly connected world.  In addition to these friends, I have met new colleagues who teach in my very state but whom I never met prior to with connecting via Twitter.  I've met new colleagues from other states and even a few new colleagues who teach in other countries.  Though technology might not be the only way to connect, for me technology has impacted my practice by allowing me to connect with a wider and more diverse group of people who all bring different perspectives to an online conversation.  

One of the grumpy connected educator posts I read this month made a distinction between being a teacher and being an educator. This person said those of us who call ourselves educators are really just tyring to sound more important.  Well, for me, that's not the case (meaning, I'm not trying to sound important).  I call myself an educator because I no longer teach on a day-to-day basis in a high school classroom.  In many ways I'm still a teacher though and will never stop being a teacher. 

This semester I taught a pre-service class at the local university and was so happy to be back in a classroom on a regular basis.  Together, my students and I worked on literacy and being connected and prepared to teach adolescents in a digital world.  A favorite connection for us all this term was when the students commented on the blog of Troy Hicks and he commented back to them. They were thrilled because of his willingness to engage in conversation and to continue the learning across state lines.  

In addition to learning with my students, I continued learning by participating in weekly edchats on Twitter, by reading and commenting on various blog posts and by attending face-to-face trainings and summits.  A highlight of connected educator month, actually, was when I had the opportunity to meet face-to-face several of my fellow Kentucky colleagues who participate in the weekly #KyEdChat sessions.  Connectedness via technology is great, but it's even sweeter when a face-to-face connection occurs as well.

One Year Blogging Anniversary

In the past few days I have enjoyed reading New Year or reflection blogpostsfrom some of my favorite bloggers. I was amazed at the statistics a few people shared, including the total number of page view sper day and overall for the year. One blogger shared that she averages close to 20,000 page views per day.  As a relatively new blogger, 20,000 views in a day sounds remarkable, especially considering I was happy to reach a yearly total of just over 20,000 views for Learning to Muse.

While most of the blogs I read are education related,I also follow a few who write about parenting, and homemaking because I have plenty to learn about these topics too.

While the numerical statistics for my blog are an okay starting point for me, I, of course, hope to have a larger reach in the coming year. Today marks the one year anniversary of my blog, so I thought I’d spend some time considering my reach and reflecting on what I learned during this first year in the blogosphere.

Global Connections.

 Pretty cool.  Learning to Muse had multiple page views from readers on four continents.  This is exciting to me because I like the idea of being globally connected to the world through my blog but also through social media, another goal of mine this past year. I've met many fine educators from all around the USA and even some from other countries. Some I've met only virtually through twitter and others I met during my travels. A few are friends and former students, and some are long time family friends with whom technology has enabled me to stay connected across many states.

 

Popular Posts.

My most popular post was titled Why I Left Teaching, and I suppose it was most popular because an Ed Week blogger linked to it when she told the world--anyone who says he/she loves teaching should stay in the classroom and teach or not expect veteran teachers to beg them to stay.  If you’ve read many of my blog posts, you will know this is an issue with which I have struggled because I do love teaching, but I also think educators who believe in teachers and students are needed as leaders.  It’s taken me a while to get to this line of thinking, but when I think about what it would be like to have people who no longer love teaching in a position like mine, it makes me sad. I think it would be terrible, actually.

Other popular posts were common core related, and that’s certainly no surprise, given that I’m in the USA where the common core has captured the attention of not only the education world, but certaint opics have even reached main stream media as well.

I love, love, love the fact that two of my popular posts are related to curiosity and wonder because, really, those ideas are part of what drove me to start this blog in the first place, and they are ideas that feed my goals as an educator and parent. Curiosity and wonder must become more a natural part of public education if we want genuine learning happening in our schools (and with that statement, I’ve circled back to where I started last year on January 2, 2012—with this blog).

Thanks for reading—I hope you experience peace and joy in the New Year!

 

Renee

 

Curiosity, Moths, and Moving Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay

Tonight I should be working on final preparations for a workshop with English teachers tomorrow, but instead, I’m researching moths.   I can’t say I’ve ever had much interest in moths before, but I also have never before seen one like the one I saw today.  Today’s experience was even more sweet, given that I was with 35 middle and high school science teachers who regularly utilize literacy strategies to teach their content.

In between the sharing of strategies like word sort and concept ladders, someone from the facility came in the room to ask if there were any moth experts available.  Half a dozen science teachers rushed outside to see a moth.   My curiosity caught the best of me.  We called for a break and went outside to inspect this moth. 

Our best thoughts right now are that we saw a Pandora Sphinx Moth.  I tweeted a picture of the moth and received a reply from a friend and former colleague who reminded me “form matches function at every level.”  She, as she usually does, provided me more to consider in my musings, but I’ll have to get back to musing on moths later because right now I need to gather my wits for talks tomorrow about why we need to teach students to move beyond the five paragraph essay in English class.

Form does match function at every level.  

What if: Thoughts on Middle School

A few nights ago my oldest child and I were discussing his venture into middle school—I asked if he was nervous.  He replied by asking questions which he answered before launching into a long story about how his favorite thing to do at school is to ask questions, especially what if questions.

Here’s how he replied to my question if he was nervous about going to middle school:

What would I have to be nervous about?  Going to the building?  I’m not nervous about that—I’ve been going there for the past two weeks for cross country practice.  Meeting my teachers?  I already met my teachers at Camp Beaumont.  Using a locker?  I already have that down.

His responses with questions caused me to probe deeper into his thinking about what middle school would be like, and they also caused me to start asking my own what if questions.  Since I like to think and to blog about education and the possibilities for making learning experiences positive for students, I decided to utilize Ethan’s what if approach to rethink some thoughts about how traditional middle school operates in the United States.  When I told Ethan what I was doing, he came up with a better suggestion:  posting the what ifs on the blog and asking readers to respond.  So, reader, check out the what if scenarios here and respond to those which interest you. 

• What if I woke up and middle school was over?
• What if teachers turned into monkeys so we could do whatever we want?
• What if summer reading meant you could read any book you wanted at your level?
• What if desks quit the job?
• What if instead of recess there were only tests?
• What if when you did your homework--the papers walked away?
• What if whenever you wrote with a pencil it bit your finger?
• What if books flew away into the sunset?
• What if schools had no electric power?
• We didn’t have roofs on schools?
• What if we had more adventurous hands-on activities?

 In a future post, Ethan and I will revisit your suggestions and offer our own responses.  You will notice that some of these what if questions are more serious and some more silly.  That’s what makes the mind of a curious eleven year old boy so much fun.  He’s certainly unafraid to think outside the typical box.