Thoughts on Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West

When two young Society women in 1916 find themselves bored with daily life in New York, they head west to Colorado to become school teachers. While they both have degrees from Smith College, neither woman has any teacher training, but they commit to learning and giving back to society. In preparation for their arrival, Ferry Carpenter, the lawyer and rancher who hires the women, suggests they read John Dewey's Schools of To-morrow. Citing Dewey, Carpenter emphasizes in letters to the women the importance of "learning by doing, rather than by rote teaching and the rod."

Dorothy Wikenden's book Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the

My husband gave me this book for my
birthday when we were vacationing in
Colorado this past summer

West immediately hooks curious readers with the telling of the story of her grandmother and her grandmother's best friend, two Society women desiring adventure and exploration. Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood (Ros) write letters to their families back in New York during the year they spend in Routt County Colorado. Wickenden finds the letters and creates a nonlinear narrative where we learn about education and life in Elkhead from 1916-1917.

You will like this book if you are interested in rural education or the ideas of John Dewey. Personally, the book fits perfectly with many of my interests about education, history, women's rights, and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Wickendon, captures all of this in her informational and historical telling of the year Elkhead opens its school. Upon seeing the Elkhead school high on a mountain Rosamond exclaims "it is the Parthenon of Elkhead!"

Indeed the school serves as a prominent landmark where students learn and the community gathers. Dorothy and Rosamond ride horseback several miles to reach the school each morning, and the students, wearing thin and tattered clothing, walk or ski to school each day even in winter blizzards (imagine walking 3 miles in thigh high snow drifts and you get the picture).  Wickenden writes

"the teachers found their work strenuous but rewarding: preparing for classes, attending to the children's diverse academic needs, and seeing that everyone was paying attention and behaving (117)." 

For Dorothy, her favorite time of the day is storytelling. In her original letters she shares how the students would "make a mad scramble to pick up all the loose papers, put their desks in order--and then fold their hands and sit at attention!" when it's time for her to tell them stories.

A short time after the women arrive in Elkhead, they must travel to Steamboat Springs for the state teacher examinations. "...the nervous strain of the exams was awful for everyone makes so much of them here and you realize you are a public official...They weren't as bad as they might have been, by any means, but so silly, and taking ten [actually, twelve] exams in two days is not a pleasure trip!"

Wickenden shares more details about the content of the exams (fascinating for readers who are interested in education). She also tells about how Dorothy and Ros meet the school superintendent, Emma Peck, and provides more historical details about Peck--her professional contributions and the geographical landscape in Northwestern Colorado.

The teachers take exams to demonstrate requisite knowledge for teaching in Colorado schools. We read about the teachers creating lessons involving languages, performances, practical living skills, arts, math and current events. Even without teaching experience, the teachers' passion and zeal appeal to the community.

"They weren't yet fully aware of the awe with which college-educated teachers in such far-flung areas were regarded. They spoke perfect English and other languages, too. They valued education for its own sake, not simply as a way to escape the hardships of life at home. Most astonishingly, these two young women from New York seemed genuinely excited by the opportunity of teaching the children (213)."

If you decide to read the book, it's a great glimpse into the lives of school teachers in the early 20th century and it's also so much more. You'll learn about homesteading, mining, westward expansion, and life in Northwestern Colorado. If you teach writing, you'll appreciate the nonfiction narrative as another example of how informational text and narrative work well together. Read Wickenden's original article in The New Yorker or purchase the book published by Scribner.

"If we teach today's children as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow."

~John Dewey 

How Rosa Parks Can Inspire Our Efforts to Transform Education in the United States

One month before our family visited Washington, D.C. for spring break in 2013, a statue of Rosa Parks was unveiled 
at the Capitol, so we were excited to snap this photo when we visited.

Today, on the 59th anniversary of Rosa Parks not giving up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama,  I'm thinking about how Parks' refusal to give up her seat moved the world. She was a leader who made a difference in the Civil Rights Movement because she was passionate and took a stand when she was tired of giving in to the inequities she faced as an African American. I believe there are lessons we can learn and apply to the world of education and the inequities we see as evidenced in both achievement gaps and opportunity gaps. 

We must be passionate about our work to transform education & act on our passion to improve the opportunities for all students to enjoy high quality learning experiences. Where I work, we often talk about "blowing up the education system." Not in a violent sense, obviously, but definitely with a sense of urgency. We are impatient about the need to change and improve our current educational system. Too many children and teens are bored in school because so many school systems are doing the same thing they've been doing for hundreds of years, and it's often focused on test prep, worksheets, and isolated learning experiences.

We can make a difference together.  Just as Parks was part of a longstanding effort to create change, we must not underestimate our individual and collective efforts to stand up for what we believe is right for children and teens. Last month I was offered the opportunity to blog for Teaching Channel, and what resulted was a post on transforming the teaching profession and honoring teachers as leaders as one strategy for improving the educational system for the students we teach.

We must shine light on bright spots in education. Granted, boring instruction is not happening everywhere, and I'm all for highlighting effective learning experiences. We need these experiences to be more widespread for all students.

 "I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people." 

One of my all time favorite quotes by Rosa Parks

Complacency Makes Me Cringe

 Complacency has been on my mind this week because of the number of times I have interacted with complacent people or heard mention of it by others, and it makes me cringe. As any English teacher would do,  I looked up the word in the dictionary for more careful consideration of what I would write about it.  Cambridge Dictionaries Online defines complacency as "a feeling of calm satisfaction with your own abilities or situation that prevents you from trying harder."

When I started this post several hours ago, it started as a rant about complacency in the workplace, but as I continued to muse on the topic, I realized I had to discuss the more serious issues of complacency we heard this week at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech.  (a speech I always enjoyed reading and analyzing with my students)

All across twitter on Wednesday we saw people share their own #Ihaveadream ideas, and many people in education shared dreams of learning opportunities for all, learning opportunities based on more innovative ideas, opportunities to never stop learning.  So, when I also encountered numerous statements indicative of an attidude of complacency, I cringed.

"That innovation stuff just isn't me; I'm more of a traditional gal."
 So, listen, I have nothing against tradition.  In fact, there are many traditions I respect and some for which I feel nostalgic, especially in relation to classic literature, art, and music.  Believe me, I enjoy my share of the classics.  However,  I cringe when I encounter people who refuse to consider a new approach anything--learning, teaching, creating presentations.  I've even heard--"I've been teaching over a decade; I know how to lecture and teach writing" or "I earned a degree in this field years ago, so I know how to plan for a presentation."  As if presentation styles haven't changed in twenty years?  Seriously?

Consider the person who says--"I can't work too hard because I'm a single parent, and my child requires my attention."  To not even try harder is unacceptable to me; it makes the rest of us have to work even harder, and even if we enjoy what we do, it's cringe worthy to be associated (by default) with a lack of effort.  I work in the field of education, so all adults should be modeling for students the diligence, determination, persistence, and hard work we expect of children and teens.

Forever glued in my mind is a statement of a former co-worker who rarely did any work outside work hours.   "I don't have much work to do at home, but I do carry the problems of students home in my heart."  To be sure, complacency or perceived laziness or lack of interest is a downer at work, and it even hinders the organization for which you work.

Nonetheless, there are other even more serious reasons to avoid complacency.  Consider what we heard this week from President Obama at the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.  "They did not die in vain, Their victory was great.  But we would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest that the work of this nation is somehow complete.  The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own.  To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency."

at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial April 2013

Indeed, there is much work to be accomplished in this world--in our lifetime.  For the sake of equality for all people, for the sake of children who deserve an opportunity to learn, for the sake of those who have gone before us.  We must not be complacent in efforts to make a difference.