THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
TOPIC: Corporal Punishment in Georgia
A
student teacher at Nazareth College was a partner teacher in our
"Targeted
Instructional Staff Development" grant. Recently she
participated in an
internship at a school in Georgia. She sent me an
e-mail with the following
observation:
"Things are very interesting in the South. Did you know that
their number one source of behavior management is still corporal
punishment?
"So far I have had to witness children being paddled because
of not
bringing in homework for a period of time, speaking when not spoken
to, getting out of their seats, touching other students, and basically just
being a child. It is really amazing."
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
TOPIC: Modeling, Culminating Events, Administrative Support
More
than 1000 teachers and students converged on the St. Lawrence Centre Mall from
10 am until 9 PM this past Friday and Saturday to display student work at 46
booths throughout the center aisle from one end of the Mall to the other as well
as in the main exhibit room.
My next few newsletters will extract from
this two day exhibit some thoughts on:
Administrative Support (and lack
thereof)
Modeling
Culminating Events
Reflective
Practice
Parental Involvement
After briefly describing the event,
I will offer some observations on administrative support at the end of today’s
newsletter.
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE TWO DAY EVENT:
In
addition to 46 booths demonstrating work by students in 22 schools throughout
Northern New York, Rochester, Syracuse and New York City (ALPs in Far Rockaway
and IS 204), student performances of poetry, music and drama rotated
continuously in a main area of the Mall. Students from the ALPS
program performed plays they had written, students from several schools
performed songs they had written with singer Peggy Eyres, and singer-song writer
Roy Hurd worked with students from Ausable Valley and Brushton-Moira writing
songs about the standards (which will be completed at our summer
conference). They performed their first “Song of the Standards
(including a rap verse)” several times throughout the two days.
More than
500 parents visited the displays during the weekend.
Students were
standing by their booths ready to explain their work distribute information, and
dialogue with passers by.
While this was an outstanding exhibition of
student work, there have been displays of student projects since I was in school
many centuries ago. What distinguished this display from other outstanding
exhibitions of student work?
1. All of this work addressed New York State
standards and the displays had clearly visible explanations of the standards,
which were addressed.
2. In most cases, teachers used the projects to
teach curriculum required on standardized tests - rather than viewing the
projects as “something extra as long as it doesn’t interfere with the
curriculum.”
3. The staff development utilized to bring about this major
undertaking modeled the interactive, authentic strategies that were utilized by
teachers with their students.
4. The event was the “culmination” of a
year of training for teachers and administrators and, similarly, it culminated a
major activity for participating students.
What pleased me most is the
feedback I received that students were able to explain what they had done and
what they had learned from their experience with the
exhibit.
ADMINISTRATIVE INVOLVEMENT and SUPPORT
Of the 22
schools represented at the Mall, administrators from approximately ten stopped
by sometime during the two days and nights to visit the displays and be seen by
their teachers. These administrators are to be commended for realizing the value
of letting the teachers know of their support by being visibly
present.
Some administrators were out of town during the exhibit and I’m
sure others had pressing commitments. Some were from schools too far away to be
expected to make the trip. Unfortunately, however, I’m sure some of the absent
administrators just didn’t see the value of taking a few minutes from their busy
schedules to reinforce their hard working teachers who gave up time after school
on Friday and throughout Saturday (without compensation, in many
cases).
Why do I dwell on this? When I do staff development workshops, my
ability to be successful is often dependent on the role the administrator does
or does not play. Some administrators want to hire me and take the attitude
“It’s Don’s job to prepare my teachers for the standards.” Some administrators
never put in an appearance throughout an entire day I will spend with their
staff. Some make it a point to stop by for at least a few minutes. Others may be
with me the entire day, roll up their sleeves and participate with their
teachers.
Administrators have very busy schedules. I am not suggesting
they should be present for every second when they bring in a staff developer.
Sometimes, I realize, they may not be able to be physically present at all. But
administrators should take every opportunity to be visible to their staffs, to
get involved to the degree possible, to send written messages when their
physical presence is not possible.
The single most significant factor in
whether my staff development workshops are successful is the staff’s sense that
they will (or will not) receive administrative support for their efforts. If a
staff feels they lack administrative support, their resistance to my efforts can
be insurmountable. On the other hand, when a staff feels supported by its
administration, I can quickly get to the content for which I was
engaged.
I’ve been at this long enough that I can tell in the first five
minutes whether a staff feels its administrator will support it. If a staff
doesn't belief it will be supported, the attitude is “Why get excited about new
information, it will just mean extra work, no support, and no
appreciation.”
At our summer conference, the teams that have accomplished
the most and had the most follow-through are those that were joined for the week
by their administrator or, at least, had an administrator who spent time with
them immediately before and immediately following the conference.
Yes, an
administrator’s time is valuable and administrators are spread thin. That’s why
administrators must choose the moments when they can get the most bang for the
buck. For an administrator within reasonable driving distance, I think a visit
to the Mall this past weekend offered a large bang for the buck. I thank all of
you who were able to make the trip.
We also thank Regent James Dawson and
Helen Branigan for their long drives and meaningful contributions during the two
day exhibit. Their interest and, particularly, their dialogues with the
students, were quite reinforcing for all of us.
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
Topic: Modeling, Culminating Events, Administrative Support
I have had quite a response to my article on Professional Development Plans (PDPs) - Newsletter #15..
Before I share the observations of one respected staff developer, I want to emphasize that it is not my intent to be critical of anyone at the state level or anyone who is in any way involved in the education reform movement. I think what the State of New York (along with other states) is trying to accomplish through the standards-based approach to student learning is revolutionary, necessary and wonderful. My suggestions are in the context that bringing about reform is extremely difficult and we must all be in a “continuous improvement” mode in order to make this work.
Here is what one staff developer said in response to newsletter article #15 on Professional Development Plans (PDPs):
“I agree wholeheartedly that accountability for PDPs by SED will very definitely determine how soon goals related to raising student achievement standards will be met. . . . .Should not the State have considered putting out a draft rubric for evaluation of the PDP process (as well as to guide the development of the plan itself), from the ONSET? In this manner, the rubric might have been utilized as an instructional tool for those developing the PDPs, as suggested by Heidi Goodrich Andrade in her excellent article, "Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning", Educational Leadership, February 2000. (Wow, what a CONCEPT!! Tell them what is expected so that they might know what it is they are supposed to learn!!!).”
These blunt observations are from a person who is informed on the goals and strategies for good professional development. I have also received numerous calls from teachers who have been thrown onto committees to design PDPs with little guidance from anyone within their school district.
It is also becoming apparent that the attitude of many beleaguered administrators is “Just write a PDP that will keep us out of trouble with the State and I don’t care what it says.” This is a heck of a way to run a railroad, but there is an “under siege” mentality overtaking professional educators. They are so overwhelmed with CDEPs, PDPs, AISs, and other alphabet plans (most of which they don’t understand) that they are looking for shortcuts that will keep everyone out of their hair regardless of the outcome for student learning.
No one has disputed my call for a rubric to define expectations for districts designing a PDP. But no one has stepped forth to provide that rubric. I guess I will have to begin development of such a rubric. I welcome any thoughts you may have for what should be in a rubric for a Professional Development Plan. Please send ideas. This should be our rubric - not mine.
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
Topic: Modeling, Culminating Events, Administrative Support
In
the past two newsletters I’ve focused on modeling, and culminating events as
reasons for bringing more than 1000 teachers and students to the St. Lawrence
Centre Mall, May 19 & 20, to display student work, as part of our “Targeted
Instructional Staff development” grant?
Now I’d like to reflect on the
significance of Reflective Practice and Parental
Involvement.
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Few of us would deny the
importance of “reflection” as a valuable tool for students. But how many
teachers actually build in Reflective Time to their lessons? How many teachers
have specific strategies for teaching Reflective Practices to
students?
In future newsletters, I will share some strategies I’ve
learned and utilized. But, today, I want to focus on the value of a good
culminating event as a strategy for student reflection.
As
teachers prepared their students to explain what they were displaying at the St.
Lawrence Centre Mall, it required students to address a number of ELA standards.
It also caused students to reflect on what they had learned and how they had
learned it.
Many teachers brought about this “Reflection”
without consciously focusing on it - simply as a by-product of preparing for the
culminating event, the mall presentation. However, those teachers who were
consciously seeking to focus their students on Reflective Practices were able to
get a great deal more mileage out of Reflection by building in specific
strategies.
For instance, one teacher handed out copies of the New York State
standards and asked her students to identify those standards which the students
felt they had addressed while participating in the project. This not only caused
the students to reflect on what they had learned, but it also helped prepare
them to decide how they would explain their work to passers-by at the
Mall.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
Last week I referred to Fred
Neumann’s definition of “Authentic Task” as “Having an audience other than
the teacher for a grade.”
A major success of the Mall exhibit was that
hundreds of parents showed up at different times during the two days. The
Clifton-Fine School District was represented at the Mall by 17 student choral
performers, all of whom were chauffeured more than 50 miles by their parents or
other adults.
What a terrific experience for the children and their
parents!
The hundreds of parents who came to the Mall, along with the
general public, and students and teachers from other districts were “The
audience other than the teacher for a grade” for all of the students who
exhibited their work.
But when you have students engage in classroom work
and you don’t have an event of the magnitude of the Mall exhibit, how do you
provide “an audience other than the teacher for a grade?”
How does a
teacher provide students with an “audience” for their work?
Parents are a
natural. Last night I attended my ninth grade daughter’s cello/vocal
performance for the fourth time in the past two months. Music departments in
schools are constantly showcasing their student work. But why not English,
science, social studies, foreign language, math, etc.?
A teacher can
extend an invitation to parents to visit class on a particular day when students
will exhibit their work, give a speech, perform a skit, demonstrate an
experiment, engage in a debate, display a project, or explain a
theory.
You don't have to invite every parent for every demonstration,
performance, or exhibit. You could invite three parents at a time - perhaps for
a time when their children are going to present or perform.
The key is
that the task becomes authentic as long as there is any audience other than the
teacher for a grade. The audience doesn't have to be large. It can be two or
three people. It can be other students or teachers. But parents are a terrific
source for making an assignment authentic:
The teacher can tell the
class: “Next week we will be visited by Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Phillips, and Ms.
Engstrom when we have our mock trial of Socretes (or when we tell the story of
Little Red Riding Hood).”
Early in the year parents could be given a list
of dates for culminating events and could be asked to sign up, three or four for
each date. For each parent it might mean just one or two visits during the
entire school year.
Will every parent avail him/herself of this
opportunity? Of course not. However, there are enough parents who would love the
opportunity to be more involved and this is a way that enables the parent to
learn more of what is happening in the classroom, generates more support for the
teacher, and provides an authentic learning experience for the child.
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
Topic: Modeling, Culminating Events, Administrative Support
What
constitutes evidence that a teacher is being successful and that students are
learning?
Last Wednesday, five teachers who have been engaged in our
pilot project to construct learner centered classrooms met for with project
evaluators Jim Waterson and Tim Schwob, along with Dick Horwitz and myself. Our
purpose was to gain an assessment of what had been learned and accomplished
through our work on the Targeted grant.
We posed the question “How do you
know when you and your students are being successful?
The consensus
of the teachers was that they feel successful when:
students take
“ownership” of their work and when students act “responsibly.”
This
prompted the question:
What would you regard as evidence that students
are taking Oownership’ or acting more responsibly?”
The
five teachers brain stormed the following as evidence that a student is taking
“ownership” of an assignment:
When students come into class, when not
required, stay overtime, etc.
When students take pride in their work -
when they want to polish it and/or show it.
Feedback from parents of
student comments about their work or student involvement in a school project at
home.
Student “reflections:” on their accomplishments elicited through
journal writing or some other teacher initiated reflective
activity.
What constitutes “evidence” that a student is acting more
responsibly?
Here are the brain stormed responses of the five
teachers:
When students ask questions to confirm their understanding of
an assignment.
When students are able to monitor themselves and to work
independently (as appropriate for their age).
When students are able to
analyze what they (or their peers) are doing
Feedback from parents of
work students are doing that goes above and beyond what was assigned or is
required.
Student reflections (journals, class comments) on how they
perceive their accomplishments.
If success for a classroom teacher is
evidenced by students who feel “ownership” of assignments and act “responsibly,”
then isn’t the on-going question for a good teacher: “Am I providing
opportunities for students to take “ownership” of their work and to demonstrate
they can act “responsibly?”
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
Topic: Student Motivation
Between
the time he ended his record setting hockey career and when he assumed his
current position as General Manager of the Toronto Mapleleafs, Ken Dryden wrote
an excellent book based on a year of shadowing students at an Ontario, Canada
High School. Thanks to the efforts of Syracuse University Professor Diana Straut
(then with Cornell), I was able to engage in several lengthy telephone dialogues
with Mr. Dryden.
Frequently, he emphasized that schools could better
motivate students if we only realized that what holds students’ attention and
motivates students to learn are the same things which motivate all of us as
adults. “Students react in the same ways the rest of us react,” he
repeated.
What does motivate us to take an interest in what someone has
to say or wants to teach us? What motivates us to learn?
I would submit
that we learn because either of two factors is present:
1. We see the
need for what we are being taught. This doesn’t mean we are interested in it,
But if we really believe we need to learn something, we are more likely to
retain what is being taught.
2. Or, we may engage in something
simply because it is fun or challenging and the learning may be a
by-product.
I was reminded of Ken Dryden’s observations when I read an
article in the June 5 issue of Newsweek entitled “Math = Fun.” The article
discusses the recent success of Williams College in attracting students to its
math program.
According to the article, “In the 70’s and 80’s Williams’s
math department was like that of most schools: arrogant and uncompromising.”
However, “in the late 80’s a new generation of faculty arrived and made intro
classes less intimidating.” The article continues, “In classrooms, teachers
began assigning more group projects to combat the image of math as a solitary
pursuit.”
The article contains examples of the degree to which professors
extended themselves to make their courses interesting and challenging, and it
also indicates that Williams has begun to accumulate accolades for some of its
individual professors and for its program.
As I perused the article, I
couldn’t help thinking of Ken Dryden’s observation that we could improve our
schools if we would just recognize that students react to the same strategies
and stimuli that motivate those of us who try to teach them. The initiative at
Williams College provides an excellent example.
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
Topic: A TEAM FROM INDIA -
Standards, Indicators, Constructivism, and Eating Habits
We are excited that Steve Rudolph,
Educational Director, Jiva Institute, India, will be bringing a team of
seven people to our summer Constructivist conference. Two of the teachers and
Steve will identify standards and indicators as a focus for Indian education and
will design a constructivist-based framework for Indian schools.
Two more
social studies teachers will work with Judy Deyo of Franklin BOCES and Carol
Amberg of Gouverneur designing a curriculum, which will have Indian and American
students teaching each other.
A 14-year-old student will work on the
daily newsletter committee and the seventh member of Steve’s group will
join our registration/networking team that will coordinate conference
activities.
What is the Jiva Institute?
Its goal is to use
technology and constructivism as vehicles for reforming education in
India. In the next newsletter, I will provide more information about the
Jiva Institute directly from Steve’s own writings. However, in this issue I
thought I’d share some of Steve’s observations that might help us learn a little
more about Indian customs and culture.
I had asked Steve to share
information that might enable us, as hosts, to be sensitive to the needs of his
team members. Because Steve is so articulate, I think his observations about
“eating habits” also enhance our understanding of the culture and history of his
colleagues. Here is what he said:
We eat what is called in India a pure
vegetarian diet. Let me start with the "not OK to eat" things first.
NOT
OK TO EAT:
Meat
Fish
Eggs
Anything with meat, fish or eggs
in it (soup stocks - meat base).
The following items very often have eggs in
them: ice cream, pancakes,
waffles, mayonnaise, cakes, muffins, cookies,
chocolate, pasta, bread.
Also, we don't drink alcohol.
OK TO
EAT:
All fruits, grains, rice, vegetables, potatoes, beans, breads
(without
eggs), pasta (eggless), cereals, juice, soft drinks, milk, coffee,
tea,
chocolate (without eggs).
FRINGE ITEMS:
The following are
items which we prefer not to eat, but in circumstances
where there is no
choice, we are flexible:
Onion
Garlic
Mushrooms
Cheese (cheese
often has rennet in it--made from animal enzymes). Kosher
cheese is always
OK, as it has no rennet.
REASONS:
First of all, you might be wondering
how we survive. Actually, the palette
of items that we do eat can be combined
into a huge variety of dishes.
Second, being in India makes it easy to be
vegetarian--there are many vegetarian restaurants, and companies are careful to
ensure their products do not have non-vegetarian items in them (India is still
90% vegetarian).
Third, we don't travel or eat out a lot. In India, it is
still customary for people to cook their meals (rather than eat out or on the go
as we frequently do in the US). We eat 2-3 home cooked meals per day,
7 days
a week.
(The concept of leftovers is not common. People cook what they
know that they will eat.) Things like refrigerators are mainly used to
keep
butter, milk and yogurt fresh, and soft drinks cold. You will not
likely find
some pasta salad made 4-5 days back that you reheat in the microwave. It might
sound utopian in some sense, but that is the way things are.
Once, I made
a comment to some teachers that their work was so good on a project that they
should hang it on their refrigerator. They looked at me with this bizarre
expression-- like, "What are you talking about?" I then realized how relatively
unimportant the refrigerator is culturally here.
When I explained how
Americans open the fridge door an average of 22 times per day, they started to
laugh like anything and finally understood my compliment.
At this point,
you must be wondering why these eating habits developed as they are. My mom
always asks, (and in many cases, still can't "buy it").
Regarding meat
and fish, Indians (those who are vegetarian) don't eat meat mainly for reasons
of non-violence. Regarding eggs, it is considered a food that is not eatable due
to its quality (i.e., being an ovum).
So regarding these items, we are
very strict, and do not eat them (or foods that contain them) in any
case.
As far as onions and garlic go, there are two essential reasons for
not eating them: they create a bad smell in the breath, and they make the mind
and body slightly agitated. If you do meditation and want to control the mind,
certain foods (like these) make it more difficult.
As mushrooms are a
fungus, they are considered not appropriate to eat.
Even from the Indian
standpoint, this "pure vegetarian diet" is not the most common. Most Indians,
even the ones that are vegetarian, do eat garlic and onions. In our case, we try
to avoid them, but if it is unavoidable due to the circumstances, we can eat
it.
This is a short summary of our eating habits. If you ever have any
questions, you do not have to feel awkward in any way--feel free to
ask.
I'm not sure what kind of challenges this will pose, but we are very
accommodating people and can adjust accordingly. Ultimately, our job is to come
to Potsdam to work on our ICOT and CIC projects (not just eat!).
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.
THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER
TOPIC: Teaching for the Test through Performance Based Learning
Our
8th summer constructivist conference will begin in three weeks. I would like to
explain an aspect of the conference that will address what I view as the single
major challenge that confronts New York State in its effort to raise student
achievement.
The challenge is to encourage professional educators to use
hands-on, performance based teaching and assessment strategies to teach for the
tests. Many of the standards require student demonstration of understanding and
application. This cannot be accomplished in the traditional style classroom with
the teacher directing instruction from the front of the room. However, most
teachers use performance based instruction only as an occasional means for
reinforcing what is being taught, but not as the primary means for teaching what
has to be taught.
How often do you hear a teacher, after engaging students in
a good hands-on activity, say "Now I have to get back to teaching the
curriculum?" It is my hypothesis that teachers will only create more frequent
opportunities for students to apply their knowledge when they are confident they
can teach the curriculum through performance-based activities.
In order
to address this "challenge" we will use a strategy of "immersion." How
will we "immerse" conference participants in strategies to use performance-based
tasks to teach required curriculum?
As you read thorough the following
activities that will occur at the conference, keep in mind that the key is we
will go beyond social and cultural exchanges among students and require that
teachers actually identify and teach what the students need to know for
standardized assessments through each of these projects:
1. A team from
India consisting of a social studies teacher and a technology teacher will work
with Carol Amberg of Gouverneur (Grade 12 world literature) and Judy Deyo
of Franklin BOCES, to design an Internet exchange in which students from each
country teach students in the other country what they, themselves, need to know
for standardized tests.
2. Three students from Gouverneur will research a
particular style of music in preparation of a technological presentation they
will make prior to our Thursday evening banquet entertainment. However, what is
significant is that they will address standards in ELA, social studies, and/or
MST so that we can demonstrate how an event such as a musical performance can be
used to help students learn what they need to know for the
Regents.
3.Students on the daily newsletter crew will publish which NYS
standards they address in the process of working on the newsletter. We will show
how the newsletter publication can be used as a learning activity to address
Regents and 8th grade assessment requirements in academic subject areas other
than ELA as well as ELA.
4. Students producing a daily TV cast will,
similarly, address NYS standards in several areas and will include their
progress (and assessments) as part of their daily telecasts.
5. Thirty
teachers and parents from six schools will begin a one-year initiative
to design their own learner-centered classrooms and to rollout the process
to at least ten teachers on their faculties through the design of tailored
Internet courses.
Each of these teachers will use technology to
have students in one of their classes teach students in another district. They
will also create a culminating event that will require use of technology by
themselves and their students.
6. High School biology teacher Mark Manske
will coordinate with project evaluators Tim Schwob and Jim Waterson as he
teaches two biology regents courses - one using performance based strategies and
the other using more traditional strategies.
7. First grade teacher
Laurie Harper will continue efforts begun a year ago to teach literacy through
performance based/learner centered strategies.
8. Staff Developer Jeff Reed
of Liverpool will be available to
demonstrate his process for aligning
curriculum (in any discipline), a process which is being utilized throughout the
Liverpool School District. An aligned, well articulated curriculum makes it
easier for teachers to identify what needs to be taught and to focus performance
based activities on the knowledge students will need for the tests.
What
each of the eight initiatives has in common is that performance based strategies
will be utilized to teach what teachers need to teach, not as ways of augmenting
instruction, not as ways of changing the pace before the teachers get back to
the curriculum they need to teach.
Please feel free to forward this
message to a friend or colleague. If
you know someone who would like to be
put on the list, please send a
message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com.