Reflection on Practice

My session went pretty well today. One of the challenges of this particular group is time. We met for two hours today, and we have just 5 more one-hour sessions scattered throughout the year. That makes it tough to build a community around writing, but it seems unthinkable to leave that piece out of a Writing Project continuation group. How can 12 teachers share our writing, talk about our practice, and read and respond to professional literature in an hour?

The only solution I could see to this dilemma was if we wrote about our practice and shared that. Even so, these could not be full-length drafts-- an hour wouldn't be enough time for three people to workshop their writing, and, let's be realistic, if you know you won't have to share, how likely is it that you will write? One of the things most people appreciate about being in a writing group is the accountability; it makes you write. So, I proposed that we all commit to keeping a teaching journal, recording and reflecting on our practice 2-3 times a week, and then choose an entry to share with a group of three each time we meet. Each teacher will give and receive feedback on three points: the craft of their writing, its content-- i.e. their practice, and their process.

"Where does the professional literature piece fit in?" you wonder. Why, I'm so glad you asked! Ultimately, in addition to the very worthwhile tasks of using writing to be more reflective practitioners and soliciting peer input on our practice, the objective of the teacher writers in this group might be to identify and develop an idea that could become a published piece. (Who knows? We might do this again next year.) So the other thing we're doing in the time we have together is to define what "publication" means to us. In the 21st century, publishing is undeniably an evolving concept, and we're going to share examples of teacher-written publications that may be outside the traditional. Who knows? Eleven new edu-bloggers may be born.

PDTR-OCP

Tomorrow I'm facilitating the first session of the Professional Learning Community that I mentioned earlier in the summer (twice, actually, here and then here). I'm a little anxious, I confess, but the ELA Department ordered a book I recommended, I've been reading a lot of articles in search of the best material for our group, and I think I've found an angle worth pursuing. The book calls it "professional development through reflection-oriented communities of practice." Kind of a mouthful, no? Basically it involves writing about what goes on in our classroom, sharing it with others to get their input, all the while reflecting upon it ourselves. It's kind of like "write to learn" for teachers, but the best thing about it to me is that it includes key elements of the Writing Project, of which this PLC is supposed to be a continuation: teachers as writers, sharing practice, writing groups, and self-directed professional development.

We're going to hammer out the details when we meet, but I wanted to get the idea in written form, because that is the idea. (And, I'll let you how it goes tomorrow, because that is also part of the concept.)

What They're Reading in Edgecomb

Who could miss the big article on the front page of the NY Times this morning about reading workshop? The piece profiles a teacher from Georgia who spends a week with Nancie Atwell at her school in Maine. (Full disclosure: I did that too!) Afterwards, she goes back home and reorganizes her reading program, basing it on student-selected texts. The reporter, Motoko Rich, summarizes the rationale behind the reading workshop, and she gives a round-up of several schools and systems that are using it, either in whole or in part, in order to motivate their students to read more and more thoughtfully.

I use a reading workshop in my sixth grade English class, and I have since I started teaching in 1993. Atwell's In the Middle was a required text in my graduate program, and her argument for engaging student agency resonated with me from the first. I wanted my class to be like hers: a place where kids really cared about what they were reading and writing and actively worked to improve their literacy skills and knowledge because it was important to them. Choice and accountability within a predictable structure are the keys to creating such a dynamic climate. Sixteen years later, I find it's still an ongoing process, which only makes sense, right?

Anyway. Like the Memphis article I posted about a few days ago, the comments on this one are fascinating to read, especially those written by non-educators. Many people are against such an approach on the grounds that we can't trust kids to choose quality literature. In their minds, it is the teacher's job to coerce and motivate kids to read texts of value. I must say I appreciate Ms. Rich's thoughtful and well-reasoned responses to several of these comments. She does an excellent job clarifying and extending the discussion while addressing the questions and concerns raised.

AND it's kind of cool that this conversation is happening in such a high profile place.

Heroes v. Humans

"What are these two coming over tonight- are they Republicans or Democrats?" So asked my friend's 86-year-old dad before we arrived for dinner this evening.

"They're Independents, Dad," my friend replied, and that seemed to mollify him. Seems they had been watching Edward Kennedy's funeral all day, and he was in a bit of a lather about it. He suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and so day to day, even minute to minute, working memory is a challenge for him, but, believe me, he knows he despises Ted Kennedy. A retired USAF general, he told us several times tonight about an altercation he had with Senator Kennedy in a washroom in the capitol over thirty-five years ago. Harsh words echoed off tiled walls as the two men disagreed.

I am nowhere close to an Independent, but the older I get, the more interested I am in the opinions of people who disagree with me, especially in a safe situation like this evening. There was no chance of a confrontation; we were content to listen to an old man rant. "What really gets me," he told us more than once, "is that I've known a lot of people who have given as much or more to this country as he has." He tilted his chin toward the television where the funeral procession was crossing Memorial Bridge on its way into Arlington Cemetery. "I was there at the end for them, and they got nothing near all this." He waved at the TV in exasperation. "I'm sorry he's dead, but the guy was a son of a bi..." Here he lowered his voice and looked at us meaningfully. "Pardon my language, but he was. I knew him, you know." We nodded politely.

I thought about it, and I wondered if maybe it wasn't the memorial events themselves that he objected to, but rather their broadcast on TV. People die, funerals happen, but sometimes the press coverage makes it seem that some deaths are more important than others. The corollary, of course, is that some lives are more valuable than others, which seems counter to democracy. How glaring that discrepancy must be to one who lost respect for the fallen in, of all places, a restroom.

21st Century Buzz

We met with our financial advisor the other day. The guy is a stitch. Originally from Australia, he found his way to financial planning via a career in the Air Force. A retired colonel, he's not yet 50. All of these elements combine to create quite a character. For example, the guy is big on empirical data. He takes his observations and spins them around in that hopper of a brain of his and then presents them, shiny, but undeniably a tad dizzy. He carries a yellow legal pad and is perfectly willing to diagram and chart his theories.

These ideas of his are not limited to investment, oh no, and that accent will charm you and carry you right along with him. I especially appreciated his skepticism about the rise of the multi-tasker. He reckons it's impossible for so many to be so proficient at several simultaneous pursuits. He bases this on his own experience. According to him, he is a good multi-tasker, but this simply must be a rare talent, because he is of above average intelligence and very hard-working, and he knows how tough it is for him to juggle so many considerations at once.

I thought of him yesterday, when we kicked off our first big meeting of the school year with a couple of YouTube videos describing the world our students are growing up in, contrasting it not only to the one in which many of us came of age, but also to the way things were just five years ago. Information and technology are growing exponentially. (Hello? We watched YouTube in a staff meeting...)

I'm guessing my money guy would make an argument for adaptation without disregarding the value of the basics-- those things that do not change or lose value; he is definitely a pragmatist. But in such a fast-paced climate, how do we determine what those are? To me, the take away was that we must prepare our students for the world that they will live in in the future, not the world we grew up in, or even the world today. Multi-tasking is the least of it. We have to think beyond our personal experience, and (now I'm doing my own empirical thing) that's really hard.

Home-School Communication: Can We Talk?

I read an article about a change in the grading system in Memphis Public Schools. Basically, they've decided not to retain any kids in kindergarten through 4th grade, and they're replacing letter grades for the same group with spreadsheets for each student indicating mastery of content knowledge and skills. This checklist will follow the student from grade to grade. In addition, students who are not meeting grade-level benchmarks will receive targeted support.

To me, a teacher, this does not seem like such a radical plan, and to be honest I was a little disappointed that it wasn't more innovative. When I finished the main article, though, my eye fell upon the comments. There were over 300! I skimmed through the first few and then slowed down. I couldn't believe the outpouring of emotion from the citizens of Memphis. This comment sums up the general feeling:

This is absolutely, positively, ridiculously, bar-none the STUPIDEST God blessed thing I have ever heard of.

Let's not worry about fixing the problem, no! Let's just continue to lower standards and worry about children's "self esteem" rather than educating them to be able to function in the real world. We have employers who talk about how this generation of employees have the worst case of "gimme" they have ever seen, and we wonder why?? PATHETIC

I was shocked. Reading through several of the subsequent remarks showed me how little average citizens know about what happens at school and what an overall negative opinion they have of education in Memphis and in the U.S.

Gosh. Maybe I ought to rethink my Back-to-School-Night presentation.

Yay! Meetings

There's nothing like an all day meeting to really get you in the mood for a new school year. It may sound like I'm being sarcastic, but I assure you, I am not. Although I can't say I'm looking forward to those six hours or so tomorrow, I know it will get my head back in the game, and I do love the game.