And if we REALLY wanted to change...

In thinking about TRULY IMPACTING LEARNING

In thinking about truly impacting education. I think it's about changing what school looks like---chaging it all up! 
Who ever thought that kids going to 7 different classes in a day---completely disconnected---was a smart way to learn What if we had less walls---no bells---students learning things that were connected--not only to each other, but also to the world they lie in? IMAGINE?!?!?!?
I truly believe if we want to tackle the achievement gap, and ensure learning for ALL, I mean really learning--this is the way to make it happen. I could go on and on forever about this, and I believe in my lifetime we may see this happening. This would be the beginning of real change.

I am in no way insinuating that teachers aren't doing enough. OH MY GOODNESS NO!! I think teachers are working harder than they ever have. It's about a system that doesn't necessarily fit kids any more. I welcome skepticism, I don't know if this is the answer, but my gut tells me we have GOT TO TRY!!

How do we Critique and Challenge Inequity

Dimensions of Equity

• Removing the predictability of academic success or failure based on social, economic, or cultural factors.
• Interrupting inequitable practices, eliminating biases and oppression and creating inclusive school environments for adults and children
• Discovering and cultivating the unique gifts, talents, and interests that each human being possesses within and across schools, districts and communities in partnership with one another (Osta and Perrow 2008 p 3-4)
• Resource---Every Day Anti Racism: does this practice lead to more educational opportunity or less educational opportunity? Why? What is our EVIDENCE?

Limits:

Whose voice is heard

Whose is silenced?

Whos is represented?

Who is missing?

Who stands to benefit?

Who stands to lose?

What assumptions fuel this

How does this inform our decisions and drive our work?

So now...

I posted yesterday in regards to the positive impact of a growth mindset within education. I would like to come back to that for a moment, and consider this. We each bring to our environments our individual background and experiences...our schema. Everything we have learned through exposure and experience since the day we were born. Every time we enter a situation we bring that schema with us, and therefore despite the best intentions and plans, situations will tend to take on a life of their own based on the schema of the people present at the time. With that being said, it is quite amazing that we have everything from large corporations, to small businesses, to educational and governmental systems and structures that run well at all.  We know the role history has played in much of that, and of course through experiences we have learned to create successful, global systems and structures that continue to grow and experience success. However, we can acknowledge that it takes strong leadership in any organization to conduct the orchestra of their enterprise.  A strong leader assesses a situation, gets to know the stakeholders, begins to understand their schema, and then uses each person in such a way that they are operating in their greatest area of strength to benefit the whole of the organization.  Once a leader has accomplished that, they may strategically begin to build teams around strengths to help strengthen their organization, and to help utilize the right people in the right area to create the greatest impact.


We do this in schools every day with the development of leadership teams, and PLC's (professional learning communities), and even a variety of task forces to problem solve, and committees and other various teams to lead implementation efforts. 

So now my wondering is, can we do a similar process in classrooms?  What if we build smaller versions of grade level, student led leadership teams, and classroom PLC's, and what if we began to chip away at the tight structures within education that lend themselves to a more direct instruction model, to begin to not just look at differentiation within instruction, but rather differentiation within a learning system within the classroom?

 I'm getting more excited as I process through this idea....what if we did this? What we really took the words of the Common Core, and the verbage of "creating students who are college and career ready", and actually began to create systems and structures within the classroom, and school that are small scale versions of a larger, more global work force?

What if even at a kindergarten age we began to teach our little ones how to take on the role of leader, of advocate for their learning, and as they get older we refine and strengthen their roles, and teach them about their strengths, teach them TO their strengths, and then give them opportunities to DEVELOP those strengths within varied leadership roles and opportunities throughout their education. What if we teach our students through the vehicle of building their leadership capacity?

What if we did this? What if we took a risk, took down the isolations, and silos within educational systems and structures and began to approach learning with a growth mindset...

So now I ask....why not? Why not try? Why not start with our students who have been labeled as "least likely to succeed"? What's the worst that can happen? The current system has already failed them, so what's to lose? No great change agent in history made change without taking a risk, without sounding foolish perhaps with outrageous ideas (and yes, I know you may be thinking that about me;) at this point in this post), but why not? Someone has to look at this with a fresh, and innovative perspective.  Innovation always comes with risk, and some failures, before reward.:)

Let's do this!! Don't ask me how as this started to unfold in my head in traffic today...I don't know exactly how yet, but I'm for sure going to find out!!:))) Now to find my action research willing participants.:)

As always...I welcome your thoughts, ideas, wonderings.:)

These Are All Our Children...

"Dear Parent: About THAT kid..." by Amy Murray

Dear Parent:

I know. You’re worried. Every day, your child comes home with a story about THAT kid. The one who is always hitting shoving pinching scratching maybe even biting other children. The one who always has to hold my hand in the hallway. The one who has a special spot at the carpet, and sometimes sits on a chair rather than the floor. The one who had to leave the block centre because blocks are not for throwing. The one who climbed over the playground fence right exactly as I was telling her to stop. The one who poured his neighbour’s milk onto the floor in a fit of anger. On purpose. While I was watching. And then, when I asked him to clean it up, emptied the ENTIRE paper towel dispenser. On purpose. While I was watching. The one who dropped the REAL ACTUAL F-word in gym class.

You’re worried that THAT child is detracting from your child’s learning experience. You’re worried that he takes up too much of my time and energy, and that your child won’t get his fair share. You’re worried that she is really going to hurt someone some day. You’re worried that “someone” might be your child. You’re worried that your child is going to start using aggression to get what she wants. You’re worried your child is going to fall behind academically because I might not notice that he is struggling to hold a pencil. I know.

Your child, this year, in this classroom, at this age, is not THAT child. Your child is not perfect, but she generally follows rules. He is able to share toys peaceably. She does not throw furniture. He raises his hand to speak. She works when it is time to work, and plays when it is time to play. He can be trusted to go straight to the bathroom and straight back again with no shenanigans. She thinks that the S-word is “stupid” and the C-word is “crap.” I know.

I know, and I am worried, too.

You see, I worry all the time. About ALL of them. I worry about your child’s pencil grip, and another child’s letter sounds, and that little tiny one’s shyness, and that other one’s chronically empty lunchbox. I worry that Gavin’s coat is not warm enough, and that Talitha’s dad yells at her for printing the letter B backwards. Most of my car rides and showers are consumed with the worrying.

But I know, you want to talk about THAT child. Because Talitha’s backward Bs are not going to give your child a black eye.

I want to talk about THAT child, too, but there are so many things I can’t tell you.

I can’t tell you that she was adopted from an orphanage at 18 months.

I can’t tell you that he is on an elimination diet for possible food allergies, and that he is therefore hungry ALL. THE. TIME.

I can’t tell you that her parents are in the middle of a horrendous divorce, and she has been staying with her grandma.

I can’t tell you that I’m starting to worry that grandma drinks…

I can’t tell you that his asthma medication makes him agitated.

I can’t tell you that her mom is a single parent, and so she (the child) is at school from the moment before-care opens, until the moment after-care closes, and then the drive between home and school takes 40 minutes, and so she (the child) is getting less sleep than most adults.

I can’t tell you that he has been a witness to domestic violence.

That’s okay, you say. You understand I can’t share personal or family information. You just want to know what I am DOING about That Child’s behaviour.

I would love to tell you. But I can’t.

I can’t tell you that she receives speech-language services, that an assessment showed a severe language delay, and that the therapist feels the aggression is linked to frustration about being unable to communicate.

I can’t tell you that I meet with his parents EVERY week, and that both of them usually cry at those meetings.

I can’t tell you that the child and I have a secret hand signal to tell me when she needs to sit by herself for a while.

I can’t tell you that he spends rest time curled in my lap because “it makes me feel better to hear your heart, Teacher.”

I can’t tell you that I have been meticulously tracking her aggressive incidents for 3 months, and that she has dropped from 5 incidents a day, to 5 incidents a week.

I can’t tell you that the school secretary has agreed that I can send him to the office to “help” when I can tell he needs a change of scenery.

I can’t tell you that I have stood up in a staff meeting and, with tears in my eyes, BEGGED my colleagues to keep an extra close eye on her, to be kind to her even when they are frustrated that she just punched someone AGAIN, and this time, RIGHT IN FRONT OF A TEACHER.

The thing is, there are SO MANY THINGS I can’t tell you about That Child. I can’t even tell you the good stuff.

I can’t tell you that his classroom job is to water the plants, and that he cried with heartbreak when one of the plants died over winter break.

I can’t tell you that she kisses her baby sister goodbye every morning, and whispers “You are my sunshine” before mom pushes the stroller away.

I can’t tell you that he knows more about thunderstorms than most meteorologists.

I can’t tell you that she often asks to help sharpen the pencils during playtime.

I can’t tell you that she strokes her best friend’s hair at rest time.

I can’t tell you that when a classmate is crying, he rushes over with his favourite stuffy from the story corner.

The thing is, dear parent, that I can only talk to you about YOUR child. So, what I can tell you is this:

If ever, at any point, YOUR child, or any of your children, becomes THAT child…

I will not share your personal family business with other parents in the classroom.

I will communicate with you frequently, clearly, and kindly.

I will make sure there are tissues nearby at all our meetings, and if you let me, I will hold your hand when you cry.

I will advocate for your child and family to receive the highest quality of specialist services, and I will cooperate with those professionals to the fullest possible extent.

I will make sure your child gets extra love and affection when she needs it most.

I will be a voice for your child in our school community.

I will, no matter what happens, continue to look for, and to find, the good, amazing, special, and wonderful things about your child.

I will remind him and YOU of those good amazing special wonderful things, over and over again.

And when another parent comes to me, with concerns about YOUR child…

I will tell them all of this, all over again.

With so much love;

Teacher

The must haves...

Motivation and Engagement...it is our basic human need in anything we approach to feel motivated to be an active participant in the process, to feel engaged throughout the process, and then to feel a sense of self-efficacy around accommplishing a task. As research states:

• Students who are motivated can succeed even in less-than-optimal environments; this is true for various racial / ethnic groups and both genders (NCREL, 2005).

• Studies show that 15-year-olds whose parents have the lowest occupational status but are highly engaged in reading, achieve better reading scores than students whose parents have high or medium occupational status but who are poorly engaged in reading (PISA Report, 2000).

To achieve this within our classrooms, educators must first have a growth mindset around what this research promotes.  As Carol Dweck states in her book MINDSET (refer to attached article):

Recent research has shown that students’ mind-sets have a

direct influence on their grades and that teaching students to have a growth mind-set raises their grades and achievement test scores significantly (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Good, Aronson,& Inzlicht, 2003).

       
So the question then becomes, "How are Districts, Schools, and Classrooms promoting a growth mindest? How is a growth mindset an organic part of school climate and culture? How do we begin to take the words off the pages of the research and the texts around this issue, be willing to have the courageous conversations that it takes to address this, and then be willing to put a plan in place to make sure that every classroom is a place where the growth mindset is at the core of the learning environment?


It is incumbent on us to provide collaborative conversation around mindset within ALL educational settings, and then to be prepared to address issues around the conversation, as well as be prepared for a solutions-based outcome within the process.

What if...

What if we took a step back and in our analysis of educational systems from around the world, took on the stance of learner. What if, for a moment, we set aside our mindsets around education in America, and took on the stance of researcher, of learner, of active participant in knowing and understanding educational systems, practices, and learners from around the world. What if within that we began open, honest, and non-competitive dialogue around educational systems, structures and practices from around the globe that give credibility to Kari's ideas from yesterday around learning for ALL.  We have a habit in this country of using the word equity very loosely.  We tend to lump it into a jar of "politically correct" things to say, but do we act on those words? Do our actions in our educational settings represent equitable education for ALL students? My hope is that in this work, and through this blog that we are using to share our journey, we will open up a broader, more global conversation around this issue.  What does the application of equitable education for ALL students look like, sound like, feel like across the globe?  I am anxious for your thoughts, ideas, wonderings around this, as it is my intention to use a variety of global perspectives to address this issue within our work. I welcome your thoughts!:)

What Our Students Need

Here is the sad truth:  some students are being left behind. We are expecting all students to do the exact same assignment. We expect each student to read the same text. They are expected to show mastery all in the exact same way. We are forgetting to back up and look at what the standard is asking, and then determine how each student can show mastery of the standard being assessed. High School teachers, as expected, get concerned about the grade, and what that means for all students: fair being fair. 

When it comes to the lives of each and every one of our students, I believe it is time for us to stop trying to achieve FAIR, (Remember--Fair is not about everyone receiving the same---but rather everyone receiving what they NEED!)  and realize that if our students can demonstrate mastery, then they can move on to the next standard. Instead of getting F's in classes and losing motivation, they can continue on, feeling successful and could maybe be ACTUALLY LEARNING!  

Can we PLEASE stop referring to them as "those kids" or "your kids" (receiving some sort of service: SpEd or EL services). If these students are part of our school community---then they are ALL OUR KIDS! It's time for a dramatic shift. It's time to look at how we have been "doing school" for all these years, and it's time to ask: WHAT DO ALL OF OUR STUDENT'S NEED??

THIS is what drives us in our work!! We are ready for the challenge!

And So...

Discourse around student motivation, and engagement in learning, and its impact on student behavior has long been the dialogue, and research of educational professionals working to better understand the correlation of these components within learning. However, I wonder if it is not time to begin to address these same components as they pertain to teaching?  Is it not equally as important to ask ourselves as educators...."What is my mindset around student motivation, and engagement, and what is the greater impact that it has on behavior towards learning within my classroom, building, district?"  Although I find great value in the research around the interaction of these components with learners, I find equal value in addressing the mindset around these components with teaching...I do not see how the seed of one can grow without the rich soil of the other. These are the "white elephant" conversations that we often are too afraid to address in our teacher professional development, however they can no longer be ignored. I fear that our failure in addressing both sides of this issue further perpetuates a system that fails to "awaken impact" within students. It's worth noting again...a seed cannot grow to it's richest potential unless it is planted in rich soil. So, let's address what rich soil looks like, sounds like, feels like within education. What are we doing to create "rich soil" learning environments for ALL students. Does our motivation, and engagement around this promote a positive and impactful learning environment that promotes successful behavior, deepens self-efficacy, and enriches the mindset that "all students can succeed here...".

It Begins...

In education, they are the outliers...the ones that come from a place that few truly understand. They are not the "normal" student...whatever that is.  They are the ones that come from a place of challenge, of trauma, of fears, of hopelessness, of labels placed on them since the day they were born by ones that have not walked in their path, and lack understanding, compassion, and the mindset that these are the students that actually have the capacity to overcome obstacles that few can even understand or comprehend. They have the intellect, and the drive for that which they see as important, as relevant, as critical in the survival of their world, but do they have the hope that who they are can challenge the labels, the assumptions, the words that have attacked their being since the day they arrived...do they believe that their journey is one that has the potential to create the greatest impact that could in the end...change their lives.

They are the outliers...the ones with the greatest potential for impact...if we give them the opportunity to see themselves as such....not as trouble, not as the least likely to suceed, not as hopeless, but as change agents in their world...thus, it begins...