Everything is the Same

I am a planner.  I have lists on paper, lists that live in my head, symbols of the passage of time are present in so much of my daily life.  

I keep a stack of bookmarks and I choose a new one with each book I start, carefully placing the one just used at the bottom of the stack, ready to use in the future, aware as I do it that the 10 books down the line may be read over two or three months  When I open a bag of coffee beans, I think of the future, aware that when the bag has emptied, six weeks will have passed.

I organize so much of the minutiae of my daily life in this way.  I watch a houseplant as new growth sparks and know that when the new leaf is full, the next season will be closer at hand.  I organize the cloth napkins on which I set out my morning coffee service each week and know that when the floral ones have been used, the bandana prints will follow, and then the green floral prints, and then…..my mind quietly recites the events to which I can look forward: JT will be home from college, T’s birthday will be celebrated, my tomatoes will bloom….

I do this so often, so much of the time, that it feels as if the planning and anticipation are just another part of my daily life.

I thought of this habit this morning when, for the first time in weeks, I put on some mascara, sandals instead of my now customary work-from-home flip flops, a skirt fancier than what I’ve worn for the last few months, and got ready for the last day of school.  But I didn’t walk out the front door and drive 8 miles to school in the early morning.  Instead, I went downstairs to sit at my desk for a Zoom teleconference with the 7th grade.  Together, if from our separate homes, we watched a recorded version of our closing ceremony and said goodbye to the school year.

Today is the last day of school and, in a normal world, I would have been anticipating this day for weeks; weeks marked by bookmarks shifting and different morning coffee set ups, by an app on my phone that marks each day that ticks by until a much-anticipated event will occur.

Instead, the weeks have all jumbled together as we lived in the world of the pandemic.  Daily existence seemed both more important and smaller as we navigated the condensed world of everything happening at home.  The amount of work required to teach remotely meant that weekends were also given over to work, hours and hours spent writing clear instructions for students to read and carefully follow so that they would know where to be: in Zoom, at our class webpage, on a shared Google doc, in a discussion forum…..but all of it from the same place, looking at the same screen.

So it seemed fitting that today would be the same as so many of the school days have been since we began to learn remotely.  That time has passed is clear.  The curve of disease has flattened,  my pandemic anxiety has become a familiar companion, the days have more sunshine and warmth, everyone has longer hair, we’ve learned new things.  But there is a sameness to it all that is the unsettling reminder of all that we’ve been through together even as we’ve been in our separate homes.

Teaching and Learning: In Praise of Projects, part II

Teaching Middle School after years of teaching older students has been an epiphany for me.  While it is new and the comparisons are fresh in my mind, I’m making note of some of the biggest distinctions between middle schoolers and older high schoolers.  These thoughts of mine are sometimes open-ended; I don’t have any big answers.  But I do have plenty to mentally chew upon and I intend to do so.  Today’s topic is a continuation of yesterday's posting on class projects in lieu of final exams.

Yesterday, I made the argument that projects are better method of assessment and college preparation than exclusive reliance on midterm and final exams.  Today, I’m going to explore the experiences that brought me to this point of view.

Two years ago, as an exercise to prepare for midterm exams, my 11th grade U.S. History students formed groups and created illustrated projects on some big theme ideas in the first 100 years of U.S. History:  the missions and motivations of the different colonies, significant moments in the Revolutionary War, and major compromises from 1776-1860 were among them.  We did this as a way to bridge the gap of weeks of instruction lost to Hurricane Sandy and to practice use of iPads, which the school was adopting as part of a 1:1 initiative.  Between review, research, planning, and learning to use a new technology, the students spent a week’s worth of class time at work on the projects.  They enjoyed creating the projects and then shared them with one another to use as a study tool for the midterm.  Those midterm exam scores were the best I’d ever seen.  That they came from a class that hadn’t been particularly strong was noteworthy.  My mind was opened to the value of big ticket projects, the kind that take time to create and perfect.

So I was already thinking of the value of projects when my own child came home later that same school year year excited about a project he was to make in lieu of a final exam in his 7th grade U.S.  History class.  The task: to create a theme park based on American history.  A child who had spent most of the year complaining about schoolwork settled right in to create his very own American history theme park.  From the Jamestown Scavenger Hunt for Food Snack Shack to the Boston Harbor Lazy River Ride, my 13 year old wrote nearly 5 pages worth of creative and analytical descriptions of American history, creating and engaging with ideas and material in a way that he and I both found thrilling.   The project showed him just how much information he retained. It also persuaded him that he could write more than a paragraph without whinging and moaning.   In fact, more than a year later, JT remains proud of the project and open to the idea of creating more big-ticket projects.  He embraced the 8th grade end-of-the year- project.  American history remains alive and thrilling for him.

So it was that by the end of the 2012-2013 school year, I was sold on the value of projects as a learning tool superior to the traditional exam format.  This past school year, my 6th graders have practiced answering multiple choice questions on quizzes and they have written about history in all sorts of ways, from statements of fact to explanations of why certain events occurred.  For their end of the year project, in lieu of a traditional final exam, they generated an historical time travel brochure, written and illustrated work that illustrated the historical value of select places and people they studied in the Medieval world.  The final product was digital and illustrated with images selected from the Internet.  They worked on it in class and at home for two weeks and in the process I saw both how much they have learned and how they internalized the lessons about people in history.  In their final projects, I can see the sophistication of their thinking as well as their sense of humor.  Most important, the individual projects were fun to make and the students are proud of their work.

Reviewing the value of final projects, I’ve generated a list of the skills gained in my 6th graders' most recent project work.  It's a list that can be applied to other project-based assessments:

1.  Thinking big and then narrowing down to specific examples to support a point of view.
2.  Reviewing the whole of material studied in the school year.

3.  Creativity in a whole variety of ways, from design of the brochure to organization of their time travel tour.

4.  Planning, organization, and time management.

5.  Practice in both detail and analytical writing.

6.  Practice and facility with variety of digital applications.

7.  Patience, as they manage big ideas and summarize them in a useful fashion

I think it’s this list that really confirms the value of projects.  Midterm and final exams are useful, but they cannot lay claim to this kind of value.  Projects are about process and the final outcome.  The students have something tangible to show for their year in the class and that’s of much greater value than an exam score on a sheet of paper.

Teaching and Learning: In Praise of Projects

Teaching Middle School after years of teaching older students has been an epiphany for me.  While it is new and the comparisons are fresh in my mind, I’m making note of some of the biggest distinctions between middle schoolers and older high schoolers.  These thoughts of mine are sometimes open-ended; I don’t have any big answers.  But I do have plenty to mentally chew upon and I intend to do so.  Today’s topic is class projects in lieu of final exams.

Learning has many moving pieces and assessment is a big part of the process.  The idea behind a midterm or final exam is to measure student knowledge over the course of a semester (or year).  In theory, a major exam is an important part of that process and it is one that is proceeded by review so that the students can identify the material they should master in preparation for the exam.  I’ve given plenty of exams in this style.  Some students do very well; some don’t.  But it’s fair to say that no one really enjoys taking such exams.  And as much as we like to tell ourselves otherwise, enjoyment is essential to successful long-term learning.

In my experience, most prep school teachers are fans of midterm and final exams.  Convinced that the world of college will require big exams, teachers rely on their own versions of midterm and final exams to fulfill the preparatory part of their mission.  Our teaching goal in a college prep environment should be to provide students with the skills to prepare for the large final exam-style standardized tests that will sometimes occur in college.    This is not the same as taking sample examples of such exams.  Here is where I take a non-traditional stand:  preparing students for college need not require endless rounds of midterm and final exams.  To fulfill the goal of successful preparation for college, we must consider the fact that giving major exams ourselves is neither creative nor particularly useful as the major assessment in a course.  

Big exams are understandable preference, but I feel that it is short-sighted.  I can say this because I used to be a fan of midterm and final exams.  I’ve since seen the light when it comes to projects as a replacement for major exams.  My epiphany wasn’t immediate.  But over the course of the last two years I’ve come to see that midterm and final exams don’t really facilitate creative, long-term learning.

Tune in tomorrow, when I will have a post about the value of projects as final course assessments.

More Play, Less Homework!

A few months ago, I wrote about my frustration with homework and relentlessly paced "learning" which sucks the joy out of actual learning.  I received quite a few private e-mails about that post and a comment or two which suggested that I'm not the only parent who feels this way.

This week, I read about another parent who's doing a lot more than whining on her personal blog.  Pop on over to Slate and read about Vicky Abeles' film "Race to Nowhere."  It sounds like a powerful endorsement of the notion that we owe our children more than standardized tests, piles of homework, and more and more assignments.  We owe them a childhood.  And as Abeles suggests, we may be falling well short of that goal.

The Road Ahead: Education Reform, part II

Last week, I outlined the first half of a set of ideas to improve education in the United States.  Today, I'm wrapping up those thoughts with the rest of my desired reforms.

More teaching, less administration.  Our resources must be used to put more teachers into more classrooms.  Principals can set the tone for a school and work to get resources where they are most needed, but the administrative overhead in public schools goes well beyond that.  We need less administration and those who remain  must also be regular classroom teachers.  If they teach, they will understand what students need.  And student needs must drive our eduction system. 

Teacher autonomy.  Most teachers are effective classroom planners and they value autonomy in getting the job done.  Successful learning requires flexible teachers who adapt their lessons to their students.  I know this first-hand.  On a year to year basis, I may focus on different elements of the subjects I teach.  That's not to say there is no goal; no endpoint.  In fact, all of my courses have objectives, but my school is flexible enough to permit me to map my course to student interests while working toward that goal.  This means greater engagement for everyone in my classroom.  We all win.

Eliminate tenure.  Though experience is valuable and should be rewarded, we must acknowledge that the "job for life" model of teaching in no longer useful.  Job security is important, of course, and elimination of tenure should not serve as a license for schools to get rid of experienced teachers.  But the current tenure system is not serving our students well and we must acknowledge that fact.

Let the state run the show.  I'm not always a fan of state government, but local control of our schools has proven a disaster, especially in terms of funding.  Local control means that local taxes are used to pay for the schools.  And where the tax base isn't up to the job, local schools (and the children enrolled in them) suffer mightily.  Our haphazard system of local control rewards well-off children while leaving the rest of our youth to muddle through. If the state collected the money and then doled it out to districts, we'd have much greater equality in the system.  And if the state is footing the bill, then they should set the standards.  Then we could quit pretending that the petty fiefdoms that we call school boards are a good idea. 

I am convinced that this is the recipe for educational success.  Innovative, successful programs like the Harlem's Children's Zone and KIPP are getting the job done.  But, for all their success, they are still rare bright lights.  I fear that we lack the national commitment to provide a system that will succeed for all of our children.   The price of this neglect is steep, and that it is paid by the most vulnerable among us is deeply shameful.   We can do better.

The Road Ahead: Education Reform, part I

For the last three months, I've been reading about education reform.  And let me just say that plenty of ink has been spilled on this topic.  Thinking about education in the first place got me thinking about my own approach to teaching, and I wrote about that a few months back.  Today's posting isn't about me in the classroom, it's about classrooms and our kids.

President Obama's Race to the Top proposal interests me, not because I think it's brilliant, but because at this point in the game I'm intrigued by any serious proposal that aims to shake things up.  It's not that all American schools are in trouble; far from it.  Our problem is that the poor kids in at-risk schools are suffering.  We have a 75% high school graduation rate in the United States, much of it due to the abysmal completion rate in our poorest schools.  In a nation like ours, with an unacknowledged but powerful class system shaping so many of our children's lives,  a good education can still create better life opportunities.  Our most needy children are most in need of a real education if they are to have any chance of getting ahead.

I write from my perspective as a teacher, not a teacher in a large system or government-run school, but rather a teacher at an independent school, one with the ability to be innovative and with the luxury of well-cared for children.  My job can be demanding, but I would be the first to acknowledge that my challenge is not the same as the challenge present in places like Camden, Newark, Los Angeles or Washington D.C.  But it is those children to whom we owe a real commitment.  And frankly, we need to spend some money to give them what they deserve.

I'm not convinced that teacher salaries are where we need to spend the money, by the way. Teachers should be well-compensated, of course, and by and large the last 40 years have seen to it that teacher's salaries and benefits place them squarely in the middle class.  For example, the average public school teacher in New Jersey makes $65,000 a year, plus benefits and a pension plan.  Those folks may not be living the dream, but they are doing okay.

But we must spend money on some very important things.  Today, I'll outline a couple of the ideas on my list.  Later on this week, I'll finish up.

Nutrition and social services for children.  Hungry children from unstable family environments cannot learn.  What these children require is food, health services, stability, and security in the company of adults who care. Schools can provide breakfast and lunch, but that's just the beginning.  Schools need to open early and close late, providing after school enrichment, activities, and fun, and most of all the stability that children crave and deserve.  It will take more caring staff to make this happen.

Smaller classes.  The very best teachers I know are people who have a complete handle on their classrooms and their students.  They know how to challenge a child and move them forward; they teach with a focus on learning autonomy but with the sure knowledge that children benefit from guidance.  A teacher can do this most effectively with 15 - 18 students in her care.  Classrooms at that size allow for plenty of quality work to be assigned (and assessed to measure progress); they allow a teacher to develop assignments and activities that target the child's learning needs.  They ensure that a child has a meaningful relationship with his classroom teacher, a teacher who is neither over-worked nor under-valued.  The average class size in American schools today ranges from 22 to 30.  That's not good enough.

Don't scrimp on the "extras."  There is a growing amount of scholarship that demonstrates what good teachers already know: Learning across diverse disciplines is connected.  Children with regular gym class have better math scores.  Children who receive regular art instruction are better thinkers and writers.  Children in regular music classes learn to be adept problem-solvers.  Math and reading are essential, of course, but these skills don't develop without a full serving of learning in fields as diverse as science, history, foreign language, and so much more.  This learning must be in the hands of professionals who are committed to their subjects.  Among other things, that means that students are working with many caring adults who are teaching subjects they love.  It's a recipe for lifelong learning.

Subject Training.  My exposure to schools of education has convinced me that pedagogy is not nearly as useful as content.  There is simply no substitute for content and more is always better.  'Nuf said.

These ideas are a start, but they aren't the whole story.  Later this week, I'll outline the rest of my reform agenda.