The popular trend in education is testing and somehow increased testing and accountability is going to magically improve our schools. Education was better twenty years ago than it is now. We were able to enrich all students more with less Federal and state intervention. Federal and state programs that have been forced upon schools by legislators fully in bed with the testing industry have not brought increased achievement. They have instead driven students from schools. They are hell bent on removing teachers and now administrators from those schools too. A basic education is a fundamental American right and value. All of our citizens need to be able to read, write and calculate. Some of those students need to be bi-lingual or even multi-lingual in areas where that is becoming necessary. They do not need to be tested. My daughter, a recent graduate of St. Bonaventure University shared that one of her professors, Dr. Joseph Zimmer said, “an object gains no weight by being measured.” What a profound statement that is made even more meaningful by the asinine testing regimen forced on all schools by myopic legislators who are following lock step without much thought to the consequences of too much testing.
Concentric anachronism
This morning I sit in a library that I used to frequent 41 years ago. The books may have changed, the shelves may be rearranged, but the the place looks much the same. Inside this room is a circle of educators examining how the 1970 model still works today. I feel like I’m at a living museum. Education is a living museum. These are very good people perpetuating an anachronism. How can we change the paradigm to reflect the post-information/post-industrial age in which we live? How do we prepare today’s learners for careers that don’t even exist today? What are the skill sets that we should be emphasizing? Does teaching global studies in an age of Wikipedia and Twitter still make sense? I don’t mean to pick on global studies either. You substitute another subject and ask yourself the same question.
Post information age education
Today I spent an enjoyable day at a neighboring school district listening to a staff development specialist speak to a distinguished group of area school administrators that included mostly building principals, curriculum directors and district superintendents. The focus of the day was on preparing these educational leaders to assess their instructional staffs in the most effective manner and at the same time comply with the new New York State APPR standards for teacher & administrator evaluation that is now mandated by New York State law. There was only one other technology director in this august group of administrators. I’m also a recent graduate of St. Bonaventure University’s Educational Leadership program and earlier this week I spent a day with St. Bonaventure faculty and some of my former classmates reviewing for our upcoming school certification assessments which are now also required by law for credentialing.
Much of what I’m going to write here comes from a great deal of thinking and some conversations with other career educators over the past six months or so. In short I can tell you that what I observed today and over that time span is that our current model is badly broken and that the much heralded Common Core and the assessment model it brings is doomed to failure and ironically will “kill” schools and students in the process. It likely will lead to higher drop out rates and a work force less prepared for the rigors of the 21st century. We live in a much different age. Forty years ago when I graduated from Pioneer Central School information was relatively inaccessible. Teachers and schools could claim to be the purveyors and protectors of knowledge. Today as I sat in the Pioneer Central School library surrounded by books and a few “newspaper racks” I remembered how I loved to have a library pass so I could come here to read and learn. Today, school libraries are an anachronism and schools themselves are anachronistic. Today’s students have a mother-lode knowledge at their fingertips thanks to ubiquitous internet connections. These students need help deciphering, decoding and critically thinking about that knowledge. The teacher can point children to those knowledge sources but we are no longer in control of the dissemination. To the extent that we or our school districts are foolish enough to believe that we are in control of that information we do irreparable damage to our communities and our students.
We need a new model and not one crafted at state houses by legislators influenced by PAC money paid by testing company lobbyists. We need another American Revolution and this among serious educators, students and their parents who demand the end to NCLB and Race to the Top. The Common Core amounts to a “Common Bore.” It is a travesty perpetuated by testing companies and those who carry water for them. Enlightened 21st century education will be best effected by school districts, parents, students and teachers bold enough to look for a new model of education and one that respects that we are post information age and post industrial age and that our current metaphors for education are badly broken.
We need the Three R’s, reading, writing and ‘rithmetic and after that we need a curriculum that acknowledges that we don’t have all the answers and that access to the knowledge centers of the world can be found on smart phones, iPads and PCs connected to the world’s greatest library. It is ironic too that I have greater access to educational resources when connected to Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, or Aunt Mary’s Diner’s wireless network which is unfiltered and friendly to learners. How’s that for irony?
Sharing technology
Here’s a great initiative that just came to me in an email. Take time to follow the link to Civic Commons. Visit Civic Commons!
The Leader in Me
I’ve been reading “The Leader in Me,” by Steven Covey today as I sit in a boat rocking gently on the shores of Lake Murray in steamy South Carolina. It’s been quite a year and just prior to the ISTE Conference I went on retreat. Retreats are restorative. Prior to the retreat I had been burned out. In fact I was so singed I was considering staying home and just giving up. Well, I’m glad I went on retreat. I got the catharsis I needed and then I went to the conference. I prayed that I would keep a beginners mind at the conference and remain open to the spirit. On Monday morning the spirit began to move in me as I listened to the words of Dr. Covey and students from A. B. Combs Elementary School speak of how they applied the principles of the book, “The Leader in Me.”
I’m a person who lives from my heart. In the past two years I’ve taught and worked with children whom I love and for whom I’ve taken some responsibility. Earlier this year I worked directly with our superintendent, studied data and demographics and looked for ways to change the school culture while uplifting students and teachers. Now, thanks to Dr. Covey’s book and the leading of the spirit I have some answers and more importantly a direction in which to move. I already wrote our superintendent who could hear the change in my “voice.” I’m grateful the spirit didn’t give up on me even though I had given up on it. I’m grateful to all who pray for me each day including the wonderful people at Gratefulness.org. I’m grateful to for all the people who sustain me each day with their thoughts and prayers. Namaste!
A nerd a geek or what?
In a few hours I’ll be traveling to ISTE 2011 with my wife and two other teachers. Four of us with over hundred years experience in the classroom. We’re veterans. Diane , Kim & Dave are real classroom teachers. I’m just a wannabe. I’m a full time technology coordinator and I teach half of the time. I think its safe to say that we’re all lifelong learners. Each of them is a technology pioneer. Kim, Diane and I cut are teeth on Commodores and the Apple II and IIe. I taught Kim & Diane’s regular classroom students how to use Apple LOGO as we explored the relationship between LOGO, geometry and critical thinking. David came along a bit later and he and I explored “on-line” political simulations and at one time were in a pilot program with the University of Connecticut.
The three of them are technologically savvy teachers. They’ve done it all. Some of my colleagues refer to me as a geek and I frequently have deflected that and sought to downplay it. In the past I sought to separate my personal and professional life. I’ve been writing this blog since 2006 and attempting to keep a business or professional blogs separate. Recently I decided to blend everything together. I was afraid that if people really found out that I’m a Secular Franciscan and that I enjoy visiting monasteries and reading the psalms that they’d think I was eccentric. Truth be told I am eccentric and I do enjoy teaching, learning, educational technology, contemplative spirituality and host of other things. I am a geek. I can program computers and I do speak Mac, Windows and Linux and I do build file servers, web servers and virtual machines. I actually enjoy those activities as much as I enjoy visiting monasteries and other holy places. I enjoy sitting alone in the woods, taking long walks and listening to Gregorian chant. I am no longer trying to live a divided life. I see my life and interests as complementary. I’m praying that we have a safe journey to Philadelphia and that we arrive refreshed and ready to learn.
Peace makers
Teachers are peacemakers. That may or may not be a no-brainer to you. Recently I’ve been reexamining that after a conversation with a colleague. It’s difficult if not impossible to teach someone who is resistant. You can’t fill a jar with the lid on.
Therefore teaching is more about relationships than anything else. it follows too that leadership is about relationships too. Force causes resistance. There is a Tao of leadership and teaching.
“Hence the sage is able to accomplish his great achievements. It is through his not making himself great that he can.”
The Peace Pole pictured above at St. Bonaventure University reminded me once again of the centrality of relationship and peace to the educational process.
The Good Journey
Saturday will be my last official class at St. Bonaventure University. It has been twenty months since my first class which actually occurred at St. Bonaventure’s Buffalo Campus at Hilbert College in late August of 2009. In that period of time I have completed a Master of Science in Education in Educational Leadership. I was nervous at that first class and I’ll be a bit nervous on Saturday too. No matter how old I get I still have those jitters that some students get. I’ve done my work well this semester. I was enrolled in 8 credit hours. Two of them were in a Practicum and that is complete now. The other six have been in School Finance and Supervision. I thought I would enjoy the finance class and I have but I never had any idea how much fun the supervision class would be.
These last twenty months have been full of surprises and new opportunities for learning. I would never have guessed that I would have completed over 830 hours of internships and learned so much in the process. More than the learning though has been the growth of the Franciscan charism within me and my love for the University itself. This has been a wonderful experience and one that has been such a blessing in my life. Words cannot adequately express the sum total of all that I have experienced. I have gained new friendships from my classmates and from the professors too. Saturday will be bittersweet.
Metanoia and mindfulness
In a few weeks I’ll be a graduate of St. Bonaventure University. I’ll have my degree in hand and I’m looking to make a difference in the lives of children. I’ve got some ideas of applying Franciscan spiritual principles to the education of students. I think you can do it in any setting whether public or private. St. Francis kissed the leper and that was a metanoia for him. In the past almost two years I’ve had a metanoia too. I think it’s time for a change in education. We need to re-humanize the process. Too much emphasis on testing and more testing. I recently read a book called “The Fourth Way” by Andy Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley. I’m also a devotee of Parker Palmer and I think that we need to re-create community in our schools and specifically authentic learning communities to guide our communities and our students into the years ahead. I’m hoping this blog ignites some new thinking. I’m looking for others who are like-minded.
Sit finis libri, non finis quaerendi
The Latin phrase, “Sit finis libri, non finis quaerendi,” comes from the end of Thomas Merton’s, “Seven Storey Mountain.” Merton’s books and thinking have animated much of my adult life. In a couple of weeks I’ll be officially finished with my studies at St. Bonaventure University but it won’t be the end of my journey. The last nearly two years since I decided to enroll at St. Bonaventure University have slipped by quickly and in that time I have met many interesting people and learned a great deal about educational administration.
One of my goals two years ago was to see if Franciscan principles could be applied to the world of education and in my case public education. The good news is that they can and that they might in fact point a new way forward. If not a new way, then a road less traveled. Our social fabric as a nation has been torn asunder by economic change that has seen the near death of an American middle class, the exploitation of the poor and the disenfranchised in our midst. While there are pockets of wealth and abundance in our country there are also pockets of poverty and disillusionment. Teachers, doctors, and other professionals stand in this gap on behalf of those we serve.
As I close the book at St. Bonaventure University I can’t help but think how I can use this Franciscan education and principles to serve the world around me. I am praying for God’s will and direction and I covet your prayers too. This is a link to my recently completed leadership portfolio at St. Bonaventure University.