May 6th Journal

So many things to talk about! First, I wanted to touch on the article by Mara Sapon-Shevin regarding “Building a Safe Community for Learning”. I really loved this article – how much we, as the teacher, can affect the learning environment for the children. I intrinsically knew some of how important this is for teachers, but I really learned a lot from this article. Some special lines for me were:
‘Creating a space in which people can be proud of themselves should be a central organizing principle of classrooms.’
And
‘… it has become clearer to me that we must help students see both the ways in which they are different and the characteristics, needs, fears and skills they share.’ She goes on to talk about how it’s not good to focus too much on children’s differences (they feel very lonely) or their similarities (their uniquenesses become invisible) – but a balance of the two.

In the first quote, I love the word ‘proud’! I think it is so important to instill pride in the children – in themselves and their school and their work. Pride is a self-fulfilling prophecy in many ways – if they are proud of themselves, they take time to do good work (and vice versa) and respect their peers and their school. Pride is so important. I think along with pride, comes respect. If we focus on these two things for each student – pride and respect - many of the other things fall into place and real learning can take place.

The second quote is interesting - people learn different things at different times and they come with a unique set of talents and interests. It helps the children focus on the fact that they are unique, yet they also all share many things. They can use these things they have in common as a starting point to build relationships and friendships. And once these relationships are in place – the learning they can do from each other in regards to their differences begins to happen – with much respect for each person’s individuality.

Which is why I really loved the ‘Help Offered’ and ‘Help Wanted’ yellow pages concept. This could be used at all levels of teaching – from young children to middle school kids even to adults. As I was talking about above, each person is unique. What a great way to let each child focus and share the areas in which their talents and interests lie. And at the same time, show them that it is ok to have areas where they might need help. And that a ‘trade’ of these gifts is in the best interest of all involved! Even as adults (or sometimes even more as adults) we are afraid to admit areas where we need assistance. What a ‘win-win’ for everyone to share and use the yellow pages idea!

And my last thought on this topic is how it lets the children deal with the varieties of learning levels in school. For the child that is struggling in math – if the ‘yellow pages’ concept is used – they can easily find the help they need. But, then they can also show their talents in teaching another child how to juggle or draw or play the drums. In this way, the focus is shifted over to what they can do well – not on the subject with which they are struggling. I know in our family, my sister cannot do math – she just never ‘got it’ and to this day as an adult it is not something that comes easy, but it was always easy for me. Yet – she is an immensely talented artist. I can’t draw a stick figure! Does that make her abilities any less or more than mine or mine less than hers – no, just different!

The next article I wanted to talk about was the “Only for my kid: how privileged parents undermine school reform”. Our daughter is at a parochial school – I grew up in them as you know from our autobiographies – my husband attended public schools in Edmonds. When we debated where to send our daughter – we were guilty of some of the thinking that was portrayed in the article. Our focus was ‘where is the best school for her’ – not, ‘how is our decision going to impact the ability of schools to continue getting better’. I wouldn’t change our decision for anything – and I don’t want to discuss parochial vs public schools – but I do see the points of the article. For me, the question is – I don’t know how you get individual parents to make the school decision (if they have any choice) for any reason other than what is best for their child. Yet, I understand how the system is inherently unfair – and I hope it can be improved. I know so many of these inequalities are part of our society and need to be addressed. There were a lot of good points in this article – especially in how the list of goals for our children (fulfilled, self-reliant, kind) do not necessarily agree with the ‘nonstop rat race’ we inflict on them both at school and in their extra curricular activities.

I did very much enjoy also the discussion of ‘how much better is my child doing than other kids in the class?’ We have always made it a point to our daughter to say – do your best and it doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing. You are not living up to any other standard than doing your own personal best. It is often tempting to see how her ‘grades’ or other assessments compare with other children – but I loved the comments about how the better ‘window’ for how a child is doing is something other than a letter grade. And if all children are ‘getting it’ equally well – isn’t that really a wonderful thing! I see all the time, the parents who do live through their child/children’s achievements and need their child to be the best at everything. I think that puts way too much pressure on the children! And I think this is almost worse in sports than in schools – but that’s a whole different topic!

Lastly, when I was in class today, I watched the children be introduced for the very first time the equation of a line and slope and all that. It was a fascinating lesson in teaching. Liz presented the material, and then let the kids work with it. A few of them ‘got it’ right away – there’s a lot to this concept. Some of them were getting it – and some really didn’t get it at all. Sadly, a few of those just weren’t even working on trying to get it – they had all sorts of opportunities to work with either their teacher, the helper (me) or the other students – but chose to do none of these – and I still wonder how best to help this student. But, I digress – that was not the point of this. The point was how this was definitely a time when the ‘concept’ was stretching their knowledge. They knew pieces of this – but had never put it all together. And the real lesson was how Liz didn’t stand in the front of the room and keep ‘teaching’ them. She presented it – then backed off and let them ‘work it out’ on their own. The learning that comes from this is much more ‘real’ – not told to them, but figured out by them. Anyway – a powerful lesson in how sometimes ‘less is more’ in teaching.

Summary –
A main them for a classroom should be to create a space in which people can be proud of themselves. Focus on ‘pride’ and ‘respect’ – individual, for classmates, school, community, etc.
Use the yellow pages concept - Help Offered’ and ‘Help Wanted’. This allows each child to shine in the areas they can help and get help in the areas they need it. Balance my focus on the children’s differences (which make them feel very lonely) and their similarities (don’t lose sight of their uniquenesses).

Sometimes ‘less is more’ in teaching. The best way might
be to
present a topic – then let the kids ‘work it out’ on their own.
The
learning is
then much more real to them.