Last night's Blog post entry lamented the lethargic pace and misdirected path of reforming public schools in America.
Not one to be content merely with raising concerns, I will offer proposed solutions. These suggestions are fueled by my professional experience and greatly influenced by the thought provoking words of Mary Cullinane, Director of Innovation, US Partners of Learning of the Microsoft Corporation, who delivered the closing remarks at the Fall Institute of the New York State Council of School Superintendents.
1. Move from a static, predetermined, outdated and not entirely relevant curriculum to an engaging, timely, dynamic, and fluid scope and sequence of skills and knowledge.
2. Use readily available data to personalize the path of instruction for each learner. Exploit technology to collect, store, and retrieve data with efficiency and effectiveness to tailor the rate of coverage to the individual. This represents a move from differentiate instruction, which tends to sort learners into temporary skill/work groups, to an individualized course of instruction.
3. If we adopt and sustain personalized instructional paths then the next obstacle is the archaic model of 180 days per year from September to June school calendar that recognizes seat time more than it reflects a commitment to continuous progress. Time is the currency of learning metrics.
4. Mary Cullinane referred to her personal experience as a former high school History teacher responsible for teaching a class on current events - while required to use a school adopted textbook that was three years old! Content is not static, learning is not experienced in isolation whereby subject matters do not interact. That is, disciplines are interconnected and knowledge is organic and constantly growing. Reliance on textbooks, even those less than three years old, still falls short of constructing a relevant and meaningful context in a world which is dominated by 24 hour 7 day a week access to information.
5. Along with the confines of a 180 day school year that stretches from September through June, we also experience the restriction of a methodical and predictable plodding from one grade level to another. This point is clearly related to the issue of seat time. Learning needs to become more mobile. Progress should be measured in mastery of curriculum free of the bounds of time. We have learners who could conceivably take the state regents exam on the first day of school and pass the test - yet they must endure the required seat time accumulated over the 180 days of school rather than submit evidence of mastery and move forward in the curriculum.
6. One of the more interesting points I extracted from the presentation by the Microsoft representative yesterday regarded the subject of video games. Certainly, this is a subject Microsoft is well versed in. The average failure rate in video games has been pegged at 80%. That is staggering, yet gamers play on. How long would a learner in a classroom sustain their interest and commitment if they encountered a similar 80% rate of failure????
Consider the context of video games. The player selects one that is interesting. The game level at first is fairly easy and gradually becomes more complex and difficult. There's immediate feedback and consequences for choices and decisions made by the player. The learning is mobile in the sense that the player selects his/her personal environment in which to play. The player progresses at his/her own pace. Finally, there are built in rewards for accomplishments - chiefly advancing to an even more daunting performance level of the game.
The challenge for the school is to replicate as many of these conditions as possible to promote the success of the individual.
Something to think about as we explore our future.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tried And Tried And Tried ...And Tired!
“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”
Albert Einstein
I believe there are few people who are not critical of some aspect of public school education. I say this despite many years of data collected through the annual Gallup Poll that reveals over and over that the public is more than satisfied with their local school (usually grading the school with a "B" rating) than they are of public schools across the nation (usually grading other schools with a "C" rating, or lower).
Given the overall perception that public schools are under-performing and not meeting potential - what can be done, by whom, when, and where? Missing from the equation in this series of questions is the "why" of education reform. Among the primary stumbling blocks in education reform efforts is the fact that most of us have experienced 13 years of public school. That lengthy experience leaves us a victim of a combination of familiarity and nostalgia (selective retention) that prevents us from imagining and exploring alternative perspectives.
Someone once claimed that if parents and teachers were given the chance to change education they would simply reinvent the school they attended. It often appears that those who have their hands on the levers that influence schools arrived at that status through success in schools and would therefore feel far less inclined to alter the orientation of schools than those who have been victimized by the shortcomings of the traditional educational paradigm.
Why else have we clung to a long outdated agrarian based school calendar formed so farm families can help with the crops? Why are we teaching American History in high school in the same forty minute blocks of time that we did fifty years ago - before the JFK and MLK and RFK assassinations, Viet Nam war, the Nixon resignation, Moon landing, civil rights marches, Gulf wars, 9-11, recession,...? How can we spend the same amount of time studying Science when the field of Science doubles in content every four or five years?
I listened to a very informative presentation this morning delivered by an education specialist with Microsoft. She likened our national efforts at reforming education to the same well intentioned but deceptive practice that many people indulge when deciding to lose weight. They join a gym after an earnest New year's resolution, pay monthly fees, buy new work-out clothes, attend classes regularly - then erratically, then infrequently, and then they lose interest and resolve.... and nothing changes. We have experienced an illusion of action and a facade of commitment. The structure changes, but the system remains the same.
In education we conjure up new acronyms (RTTT; APPR; RtI; CCC...) and create "innovative programs" in a rather elaborate sleight of hand but as long as the calendar and clock remain the same, as long as teachers work privately in cubicles shared with 25 learners, as long as ill conceived mandates and confining policies and misdirected accountability shackle innovation, as long as content and coverage rule over relevance and rigor, as long as success is measured in seat-time as one plods patiently through school grade by grade - not much will change.
We need a revolution of liberating ideas and opportunities not a lethargic evolution of tired practices and programs. Where is the free enterprise and market-place of ideas necessary to stimulate an otherwise over-regulated industry of teaching and learning? Why the clamor on the national level for freeing businesses of restrictive bureaucratic red-tape to spur the economy while vigorously clamping down on the creativity and experimentation needed to provoke genuine innovation in education? How can you speak of job creation and economic engines without talking about education?
Someone once claimed that if parents and teachers were given the chance to change education they would simply reinvent the school they attended. It often appears that those who have their hands on the levers that influence schools arrived at that status through success in schools and would therefore feel far less inclined to alter the orientation of schools than those who have been victimized by the shortcomings of the traditional educational paradigm.
Why else have we clung to a long outdated agrarian based school calendar formed so farm families can help with the crops? Why are we teaching American History in high school in the same forty minute blocks of time that we did fifty years ago - before the JFK and MLK and RFK assassinations, Viet Nam war, the Nixon resignation, Moon landing, civil rights marches, Gulf wars, 9-11, recession,...? How can we spend the same amount of time studying Science when the field of Science doubles in content every four or five years?
I listened to a very informative presentation this morning delivered by an education specialist with Microsoft. She likened our national efforts at reforming education to the same well intentioned but deceptive practice that many people indulge when deciding to lose weight. They join a gym after an earnest New year's resolution, pay monthly fees, buy new work-out clothes, attend classes regularly - then erratically, then infrequently, and then they lose interest and resolve.... and nothing changes. We have experienced an illusion of action and a facade of commitment. The structure changes, but the system remains the same.
In education we conjure up new acronyms (RTTT; APPR; RtI; CCC...) and create "innovative programs" in a rather elaborate sleight of hand but as long as the calendar and clock remain the same, as long as teachers work privately in cubicles shared with 25 learners, as long as ill conceived mandates and confining policies and misdirected accountability shackle innovation, as long as content and coverage rule over relevance and rigor, as long as success is measured in seat-time as one plods patiently through school grade by grade - not much will change.
We need a revolution of liberating ideas and opportunities not a lethargic evolution of tired practices and programs. Where is the free enterprise and market-place of ideas necessary to stimulate an otherwise over-regulated industry of teaching and learning? Why the clamor on the national level for freeing businesses of restrictive bureaucratic red-tape to spur the economy while vigorously clamping down on the creativity and experimentation needed to provoke genuine innovation in education? How can you speak of job creation and economic engines without talking about education?
“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”
Albert Einstein
Monday, September 26, 2011
Schools Versus Prisons
The title of this Blog entry might strike the reader as an odd combination of institutions. I have to admit, for me it has a bit of a humorous ring to it, but the subject is poignant and thought provoking.
First, I'll dispense with the humor. I attended Jefferson Elementary School in Rotterdam, New York many years ago. At that time the school was divided into two separate buildings across the street from each other. Fifth and sixth grades occupied the older brick building, sans gymnasium or cafeteria, so we had to walk across the road for physical education and lunch. Not long after I graduated from high school, the district sold the old building and it was converted into the Rotterdam Police Department and Jail. Years later, on a trip back east from our home in Texas, I toured my hometown with my son and daughter. Along the way I pointed to the Police Station/Jail and explained how I spent two years in that building. Their silence indicated that they were a little puzzled about my past - until I gave them the history of the building as my former elementary school.
Now the serious part. I have been attending the convention of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. This morning's featured speaker was Dr. John King, the Commissioner of Education for the State of New York. He presented updated information on the many different challenges facing school districts across the state. As he provided the rather grim juxtaposition of higher standards at a time when resources have become scarce during economic decline, he shared a story attributed to a principal in Michigan. King reported that the principal had apparently sent a personal letter to the governor of Michigan requesting that the state executive declare the principal's school to be a prison.
That's right; the principal wanted the school to be designated as a prison! The administrator's reasoning was sound, but tongue in cheek. His plea stated that his school receives $10,000 in state aid for each learner while the state spends $40,000 each year for each prisoner. He added that the prisoners receive free and full health care, immediate access to health care, and three square meals each day - all benefits that elude most of the learners attending the school where the principal serves as leader.
Yes, he was being sarcastic and displaying a heavy dose of irony - but the contrast in support is both startling and thought provoking. Among the most significant common denominator among prisoners in penal systems throughout the country is the lack of education. Spending $40,000 per prisoner and $10,000 per learner certainly appears to be a case of a pound of cure instead of an ounce of prevention. Investing in education is clearly not a panacea, but the return on investment is far greater than the expense of maintaining an expansive and growing prison population.
Think about it...
First, I'll dispense with the humor. I attended Jefferson Elementary School in Rotterdam, New York many years ago. At that time the school was divided into two separate buildings across the street from each other. Fifth and sixth grades occupied the older brick building, sans gymnasium or cafeteria, so we had to walk across the road for physical education and lunch. Not long after I graduated from high school, the district sold the old building and it was converted into the Rotterdam Police Department and Jail. Years later, on a trip back east from our home in Texas, I toured my hometown with my son and daughter. Along the way I pointed to the Police Station/Jail and explained how I spent two years in that building. Their silence indicated that they were a little puzzled about my past - until I gave them the history of the building as my former elementary school.
Now the serious part. I have been attending the convention of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. This morning's featured speaker was Dr. John King, the Commissioner of Education for the State of New York. He presented updated information on the many different challenges facing school districts across the state. As he provided the rather grim juxtaposition of higher standards at a time when resources have become scarce during economic decline, he shared a story attributed to a principal in Michigan. King reported that the principal had apparently sent a personal letter to the governor of Michigan requesting that the state executive declare the principal's school to be a prison.
That's right; the principal wanted the school to be designated as a prison! The administrator's reasoning was sound, but tongue in cheek. His plea stated that his school receives $10,000 in state aid for each learner while the state spends $40,000 each year for each prisoner. He added that the prisoners receive free and full health care, immediate access to health care, and three square meals each day - all benefits that elude most of the learners attending the school where the principal serves as leader.
Yes, he was being sarcastic and displaying a heavy dose of irony - but the contrast in support is both startling and thought provoking. Among the most significant common denominator among prisoners in penal systems throughout the country is the lack of education. Spending $40,000 per prisoner and $10,000 per learner certainly appears to be a case of a pound of cure instead of an ounce of prevention. Investing in education is clearly not a panacea, but the return on investment is far greater than the expense of maintaining an expansive and growing prison population.
Think about it...
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Just Say Thanks!
I am making a request. Actually, I'm asking you to do two things. Three, really.
First, please read the article I have copied and pasted from a National Public Radio news feature that was aired on the radio today.Second, listen to the audio of the article explaining the National Teacher Initiative.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=140773185&m=140783768
Third, I want you to reflect on your own experience as a learner and identify a teacher who made a positive and constructive influence on your life. Then, use available Internet search engines and the like to seek out that teacher and find a way to contact that teacher to thank him or her.
Neurosurgeon Gives Thanks To His Science Teacher
Enlarge StoryCorps After a patient told neurosurgeon Lee Buono to thank the teacher who inspired him, he called up Al Siedlecki.
StoryCorps
After a patient told neurosurgeon Lee Buono to thank the teacher who inspired him, he called up Al Siedlecki.
September 25, 2011
As a middle-school student in the '80s, Lee Buono stayed after school one day to remove the brain and spinal cord from a frog. He did such a good job that his science teacher told him he might be a neurosurgeon someday.That's exactly what Buono did.
StoryCorps
The National Teachers Initiative is a project of StoryCorps, the American oral history project. Each month this school year, Weekend Edition Sunday will celebrate stories of public school teachers across the country.
"I'm talking to his wife, and we tried to lighten up the situation," he continues. "They started asking me about myself." They asked Buono who inspired him to become a surgeon, and he told them about his old teacher, Al Siedlecki, back at Medford Memorial Middle School in Medford, N.J.
Surgery was a success. The patient's powers of speech returned. "He's just excited and happy and crying and wanted to just hug me," Buono says. "You make sure you call that teacher," the patient said. "You make sure you thank him."
So Buono did.
"I picked the phone up and you go, 'Hey, it's Lee Buono,'" Siedlecki says to his former student. "'Lee, what's goin' on man? I haven't heard from you since you were in high school,'" he said.
"'I want to thank you,'" Buono replied.
"I was flabbergasted," Siedlecki says. "I said, 'Of all the people in your entire career, you want to thank me?'
"It was the same feeling I had when ... when my kids were born," Siedlecki says. "I started to cry. It made me feel really important that I had that influence on you."
Lately, Siedlecki admits, "I almost am afraid to say that I'm a teacher to some people."
Not anymore, he tells Buono, "because you called me. I'm a teacher, and I'm going to help as many people as I can to find their passion too."
Audio produced for Weekend Edition by Brian Reed.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
In Between Here and There
Manhattan, Kansas is located approximately 1,300 miles west of Green Island, New York. Camerino, Italy is situated nearly 4,400 miles east of Green Island, New York. From Manhattan, Kansas to Camerino, Italy is almost 5,700 miles. Those two endpoints represent the farthest distance traveled by learners who enrolled in our school district during the summer break. We have two sisters from Kansas and a foreign exchange student from Italy joining us in Green Island.
Our enrollment has increased slightly compared to last year after accounting for those who have become residents of the village and those who have relocated from Green Island. We have added 18 learners at the elementary level and 9 at the secondary level. We welcome the newest members of our learning community and pledge ourselves to successfully assimilate them into the school culture.
In addition to the distance that separates these learners, there are differences as well. That can also be said about any group of learners in any classroom. General ability levels range across a spectrum in any classroom. A typical fourth grade room, for instance, may have any many different skill levels as children. Even if two members of the class tested out at the same Reading level, there would still be variance in performance levels among the many specific skills that comprise the subject of Reading. One learner may be high in comprehension and low in vocabulary, while the other may score at opposite levels - leaving them with very similar overall achievement levels.
Appropriately attending to the unique and individual needs of all learners in a class requires a teacher to be adept at diagnosing skill levels and subsequently prescribing instructional strategies designed to extend the child's learning. Flexible, skill oriented grouping that adapts to the content and coverage of concepts in the curriculum, where configurations of learners are periodically adjusted based on teaching the specific skill to learners deficient at that particular skill, and enables teachers to better accommodate the different learners that compose the class. Using data to inform instructional decisions, agility in planning lessons, versatility in delivering alternative instructional methods, and adaptability in organizing for instruction represent key attributes necessary for differentiating instruction and accommodating all learners within a class.
This challenge places the teacher in a role similar to that of an orchestra conductor. The conductor is responsible for working with many different musicians and instruments, from tuba to piccolo, and exercising the perception and insight to know how and when each instrument can contribute to the piece of music without disrupting their colleagues. Harmony results from the effective and efficient coordination of varying skills among the many different members of the orchestra. It's certainly not an easy task. However, respecting and accommodating different learners - whether stretching to reach all achievement levels, or stretching to incorporate children from thousands of miles away - is the basis for operating an organizational culture based on relationships.
Our enrollment has increased slightly compared to last year after accounting for those who have become residents of the village and those who have relocated from Green Island. We have added 18 learners at the elementary level and 9 at the secondary level. We welcome the newest members of our learning community and pledge ourselves to successfully assimilate them into the school culture.
In addition to the distance that separates these learners, there are differences as well. That can also be said about any group of learners in any classroom. General ability levels range across a spectrum in any classroom. A typical fourth grade room, for instance, may have any many different skill levels as children. Even if two members of the class tested out at the same Reading level, there would still be variance in performance levels among the many specific skills that comprise the subject of Reading. One learner may be high in comprehension and low in vocabulary, while the other may score at opposite levels - leaving them with very similar overall achievement levels.
Appropriately attending to the unique and individual needs of all learners in a class requires a teacher to be adept at diagnosing skill levels and subsequently prescribing instructional strategies designed to extend the child's learning. Flexible, skill oriented grouping that adapts to the content and coverage of concepts in the curriculum, where configurations of learners are periodically adjusted based on teaching the specific skill to learners deficient at that particular skill, and enables teachers to better accommodate the different learners that compose the class. Using data to inform instructional decisions, agility in planning lessons, versatility in delivering alternative instructional methods, and adaptability in organizing for instruction represent key attributes necessary for differentiating instruction and accommodating all learners within a class.
This challenge places the teacher in a role similar to that of an orchestra conductor. The conductor is responsible for working with many different musicians and instruments, from tuba to piccolo, and exercising the perception and insight to know how and when each instrument can contribute to the piece of music without disrupting their colleagues. Harmony results from the effective and efficient coordination of varying skills among the many different members of the orchestra. It's certainly not an easy task. However, respecting and accommodating different learners - whether stretching to reach all achievement levels, or stretching to incorporate children from thousands of miles away - is the basis for operating an organizational culture based on relationships.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Dollars Or Differences
I encountered a bit of serendipity when I discovered a quote of interest as I was searching for another quote from the same person, former television anchorman Tom Brokaw. His words grabbed hold of me and reaffirmed my decision to enter the career of public school leadership. Brokaw said, "It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference."
I am one of seven offspring born to a family headed by two adults who chose to end their formal education after tenth grade. The absence of high school diplomas severely limited the opportunity for my parents to provide the means to support such a large brood. Growing up impoverished could understandably have served as the impetus to lunge forward at any and every chance to make as much money as possible to render poverty a distant memory.
My oldest sister and I both followed our goals and chased our dreams by making the commitment of effort and energy necessary to meet admissions guidelines for college. She earned the distinction of a National Merit Scholarship and the expansive possibilities that await someone of that academic status. I experienced good fortune in school and, together with my ability on the soccer field, was invited to attend a long list of colleges. Each of us was in a position to select from a vast menu of prospective futures. Her talents in science, particularly for a female at that point in time, presented a financially rewarding career in a wide open field - science research, chemical engineering, medicine, university level teaching,... My interest in the social sciences prompted admission counselors and advisers to recommend law, government, foreign service, political science public policy, and other areas as a potential landing zone for a profession.
While both of us were confronted by rather lucrative possibilities, neither of us wavered from our decisions to invest ourselves in the education arena. After all, we arrived at that point in college where we had enticing and financially rewarding careers at our calling because we were recipients and beneficiaries of caring teachers who extended us empathy, understanding and encouragement - beyond their capacity to impart valuable knowledge and skills. Collectively, those staff members fed our dreams and supported out hopes. They were among the few who looked beyond the reality of problems slowly suffocating our family, and the confining stereotypes cast upon us by other staff members, and instead perceived the possibilities and opportunities that could unfold through our potential.
So, the decision to enter teaching was not a difficult choice or a regretful option. We wanted to serve as bridges for others who grew up like us - kids who were frustrated, inhibited by low expectations, and otherwise resigned to suffer within the firm grasp of hopelessness and helplessness. In short, we were far more compelled to make a difference than make a dollar.
We have both been rewarded over and over in untold sums of satisfaction and priceless amounts of personal pride. Neither of us would ever imagine going back in time and altering our path.
In the grips of the present economic crisis that plagues our region, state, and country it would be plausible for current graduates to follow the money to jobs presenting high salaries and substantial benefits. But, in my opinion, if we are to relieve ourselves as a nation of the burden of problems that now appear so overwhelming, the solutions will more likely be created by people who are determined to make a difference than by those who are primarily motivated by making money. I recognize I may be simplistic and I'm not inviting a lengthy debate on the long list of other factors that brought us to the brink of disaster, but think about it - wasn't the "me first" personal greed that inflated Wall Street coffers (and individual wallets) and the "hollow house built of cards" real estate boom and the insatiable "right now" consumer appetite for instant credit beyond our means - the fuel that greatly contributed to the present crisis?
Dollars or Difference?
I am one of seven offspring born to a family headed by two adults who chose to end their formal education after tenth grade. The absence of high school diplomas severely limited the opportunity for my parents to provide the means to support such a large brood. Growing up impoverished could understandably have served as the impetus to lunge forward at any and every chance to make as much money as possible to render poverty a distant memory.
My oldest sister and I both followed our goals and chased our dreams by making the commitment of effort and energy necessary to meet admissions guidelines for college. She earned the distinction of a National Merit Scholarship and the expansive possibilities that await someone of that academic status. I experienced good fortune in school and, together with my ability on the soccer field, was invited to attend a long list of colleges. Each of us was in a position to select from a vast menu of prospective futures. Her talents in science, particularly for a female at that point in time, presented a financially rewarding career in a wide open field - science research, chemical engineering, medicine, university level teaching,... My interest in the social sciences prompted admission counselors and advisers to recommend law, government, foreign service, political science public policy, and other areas as a potential landing zone for a profession.
While both of us were confronted by rather lucrative possibilities, neither of us wavered from our decisions to invest ourselves in the education arena. After all, we arrived at that point in college where we had enticing and financially rewarding careers at our calling because we were recipients and beneficiaries of caring teachers who extended us empathy, understanding and encouragement - beyond their capacity to impart valuable knowledge and skills. Collectively, those staff members fed our dreams and supported out hopes. They were among the few who looked beyond the reality of problems slowly suffocating our family, and the confining stereotypes cast upon us by other staff members, and instead perceived the possibilities and opportunities that could unfold through our potential.
So, the decision to enter teaching was not a difficult choice or a regretful option. We wanted to serve as bridges for others who grew up like us - kids who were frustrated, inhibited by low expectations, and otherwise resigned to suffer within the firm grasp of hopelessness and helplessness. In short, we were far more compelled to make a difference than make a dollar.
We have both been rewarded over and over in untold sums of satisfaction and priceless amounts of personal pride. Neither of us would ever imagine going back in time and altering our path.
In the grips of the present economic crisis that plagues our region, state, and country it would be plausible for current graduates to follow the money to jobs presenting high salaries and substantial benefits. But, in my opinion, if we are to relieve ourselves as a nation of the burden of problems that now appear so overwhelming, the solutions will more likely be created by people who are determined to make a difference than by those who are primarily motivated by making money. I recognize I may be simplistic and I'm not inviting a lengthy debate on the long list of other factors that brought us to the brink of disaster, but think about it - wasn't the "me first" personal greed that inflated Wall Street coffers (and individual wallets) and the "hollow house built of cards" real estate boom and the insatiable "right now" consumer appetite for instant credit beyond our means - the fuel that greatly contributed to the present crisis?
Dollars or Difference?
Friday, September 16, 2011
Apart And Together
I normally do not generate Blog post entries during the school day. There's very little uninterrupted time available to sit down and contemplate a subject or issue during a typical school day full of people and activities. However, I made the time this morning when two separate incidents occurred within a couple of hours of each other that produced an epiphany of sorts - and the decision to make the time to sequester myself in the office to create this Blog entry.
Early this morning, while I was watching television and using exercise equipment at home, there was a commercial touting the benefits of wireless service in your home. This feature enables family members to access cable TV and the Internet from any area of the house. There was an image of dad watching football on cable in the living room, mom shopping on-line via the Internet in another room, and kids in their respective bedrooms playing video games or listening to music. There are clearly advantages to having connections like that throughout the home so everyone has access to information and entertainment, but the images reminded me of how inviting it can be for each individual in a family to retreat to separate rooms and, even though they may enjoy their experiences, live separate lives.
We now have a menu of over 100 television channels; the means of electronically connecting with virtually anyone anywhere via email, Skype or cell phone; selecting merchandise from thousands of options at huge food markets and mega malls; and many, many other opportunities to exercise choices. The focus on individual choices (it echoes the Burger King commercial - "Have it your way!") may at some point promote independence and empowerment, but it also can also serve as a barrier as well.
Former television newscaster Tom Brokaw once reflected poignantly on the impact of technology. I will paraphrase his message. "We now have the means of instantly connecting to people half way around the world, but many of us know little about the people around our neighborhood."
Those words remained with me as I drove to school. It was an amazing coincidence to find that today's schedule at school included a "Morning Program" for the elementary grades. This is a new opportunity at school this year. The elementary staff developed an activity to offer at the start of the day on Mondays and Fridays to focus attention on togetherness and community. Parents and community members are invited in as all of the elementary learners assemble in the gymnasium to recite the pledge of allegiance, hear announcements, acknowledge birthdays, share good news, learn about the day's weather, and experience time together.
I inserted myself into the program during announcements and spoke of the effect the wireless commercial had on me. Then, as I looked around the gymnasium at all of the elementary learners and a number of parents who invested their time in attending the event, I reiterated the importance of the Morning Program and the need to share information and work together. It was a great opportunity to contrast the wireless commercial and the real need we all have to foster a sense of community. I ended by suggesting that many of the problems that plague our world can only be successfully addressed by people banding together and cooperatively creating solutions.
In fact, the National Department of Labor once asserted that the number one reason that people lose their jobs (outside of a terrible and depressing economy) is the "inability to get along with others." There is no better reason to justify our Morning Program at a time when too many schools hold out hope that the most effective method of improving achievement levels is to spend every available minute of the school day with learners devoted to preparing for tests. The Heatly School is preparing children for tests - but more than academic tests - we are preparing them for a world beset by issues that require social skills, cooperation and creativity to find fair and equitable solutions.
Early this morning, while I was watching television and using exercise equipment at home, there was a commercial touting the benefits of wireless service in your home. This feature enables family members to access cable TV and the Internet from any area of the house. There was an image of dad watching football on cable in the living room, mom shopping on-line via the Internet in another room, and kids in their respective bedrooms playing video games or listening to music. There are clearly advantages to having connections like that throughout the home so everyone has access to information and entertainment, but the images reminded me of how inviting it can be for each individual in a family to retreat to separate rooms and, even though they may enjoy their experiences, live separate lives.
We now have a menu of over 100 television channels; the means of electronically connecting with virtually anyone anywhere via email, Skype or cell phone; selecting merchandise from thousands of options at huge food markets and mega malls; and many, many other opportunities to exercise choices. The focus on individual choices (it echoes the Burger King commercial - "Have it your way!") may at some point promote independence and empowerment, but it also can also serve as a barrier as well.
Former television newscaster Tom Brokaw once reflected poignantly on the impact of technology. I will paraphrase his message. "We now have the means of instantly connecting to people half way around the world, but many of us know little about the people around our neighborhood."
Those words remained with me as I drove to school. It was an amazing coincidence to find that today's schedule at school included a "Morning Program" for the elementary grades. This is a new opportunity at school this year. The elementary staff developed an activity to offer at the start of the day on Mondays and Fridays to focus attention on togetherness and community. Parents and community members are invited in as all of the elementary learners assemble in the gymnasium to recite the pledge of allegiance, hear announcements, acknowledge birthdays, share good news, learn about the day's weather, and experience time together.
I inserted myself into the program during announcements and spoke of the effect the wireless commercial had on me. Then, as I looked around the gymnasium at all of the elementary learners and a number of parents who invested their time in attending the event, I reiterated the importance of the Morning Program and the need to share information and work together. It was a great opportunity to contrast the wireless commercial and the real need we all have to foster a sense of community. I ended by suggesting that many of the problems that plague our world can only be successfully addressed by people banding together and cooperatively creating solutions.
In fact, the National Department of Labor once asserted that the number one reason that people lose their jobs (outside of a terrible and depressing economy) is the "inability to get along with others." There is no better reason to justify our Morning Program at a time when too many schools hold out hope that the most effective method of improving achievement levels is to spend every available minute of the school day with learners devoted to preparing for tests. The Heatly School is preparing children for tests - but more than academic tests - we are preparing them for a world beset by issues that require social skills, cooperation and creativity to find fair and equitable solutions.
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