What’s wrong with education?

Everyone has an answer to the question. Here are some I hear regularly, depending on who is answering:

“Teachers are lazy”

“Teachers don’t care”

“Adminstrators don’t understand the realities of the classroom”

“Administrators don’t provide support to struggling teachers”

“District Office Staff are out of touch – they have been out of the classroom too long”

“Educational reform is always top-down”

“Education is underfunded by the government”

Lately I’ve been thinking about this question, and the implications of the various answers. It is easy to blame – it is easy to complain. And I regularly do this. However, in an effort to be productive, I’m going to stop blaming other people, stop looking outward for the problems and solutions, and start looking inward. While sitting in a meeting yesterday, a colleague who is now an administrator (my former cooperating teacher during my internship, actually) commented that while the meeting we were at was all about bringing innovative structures to schools in order to increase student outcomes, the most positve change she feels she ever made as an educator was working in her classroom with her students. How true. How better to have a positive impact in young people’s lives? Be a good teacher. And the only person who can do that, the only person who can control that, is me. So, I’m letting go of the blaming, and doing my best to do my best in my class, everyday, with my students. Nothing could be more powerful and empowering.

Back at school

I hypothesize that there is a correlation between my lack of posts, and the speed with which I’ve hit the ground running since the school year begun. Sorry for the lack of updates! Here’s the quick and dirty, so far:

We are doing a Hip Hop project with our students, partnering with the local University. We go out two mornings a week for the students to work in two studio labs – one with turntables and one with Imacs and MPCs (machines that musicians use to make electronic music from hip hop beats to drums to, well, basically, anything you can record and import.) As well, future dance teachers from the University are working with us, exploring the role of dance in society, and giving workshops on break dancing (or B-Boying or B-Girling, depending on how cool you are.) In addition, while at school, students are learning about the history and aspects of hip hop culture. We are integrating only two curricula, offering two credits – grade 11 English and grade 11 Arts Ed. We’re finding this much more manageable than the Dinner Theatre.

In addition to this project, I’m sitting on a committee working to develop a structure for the learning model for the new shared facility being built in the core of our city. This is fascinating work, as we’re being given lots of freedom to be creative. I feel so lucky to have landed back here when I did, and in the school that I did – I could have just as well landed in another school, or another city, and wouldn’t be learning as much as I am now!

In other education related news, I finished my literature review this summer. 55 pages of glory — a draft of what will be included in my thesis. Now I have some work to do around finding a theoretical framework, as well as completing my final 2 classes. I am taking one this fall — however, the final class may have to wait, as I am not keen to take it in January, with our first born coming some time near the end of that month. We are quickly preparing for his or her arrival, and working to ensure her or his entrance is as natural as possible – but more on that in a later post.

You want a longer school year? For real?

There has been some vigorous debate at The Faculty Room about lengthening the school year in order to meet the ever rising standards demanded by standardized testing and universities. Some people are in favour of lengthening the year – others share a different point of view. Before I comment, here’s a little story I want to share:

When I was a young boy, the only thing I wanted to do was pitch in the major leagues. If I had been put into a classroom where I spent mornings learning about pitching technique, spent afternoons throwing a ball 1-on-1 with a coach, and did this every day, there is a chance that I would have become a major league baseball pitcher. However, I am only 5′10″ and on a good day hit 155lbs – not exactly the frame of a pitcher. So, most likely, regardless of how much I practiced (and I did practice a lot – though not to the extreme described enough) I wouldn’t have achieved my goal. If I spent all day, every day, most of the year, practicing baseball, I wouldn’t have acquired the skills that I did – I wouldn’t have been a farmer, working the land like my father and grandfather, I wouldn’t have discovered my love for improvisational theatre, helping found a local theatre company that continues on, 11 years later, I wouldn’t have become active in the labour movement, and I wouldn’t have known how much I love working with people – I wouldn’t have become a teacher.

If we lengthen the school year, there’s a chance our students will experience more success. But for our students who experience little success with traditional schooling, doing more of the same thing and expecting a different result is tantamount to torture. For everyone.

So, instead of asking if the school year should be longer, we should ask two questions: What are the standardized assessments really measuring? and Instead of doing more of what we’re doing and expecting a different result, why aren’t we doing something different?

Like project-based learning.

Project Planning Again?

Well, it’s been a long time since I wrote, but not for lack of fodder – just lack of time. It is June, after all. (School here goes until the last week of June.) This week, a couple staff and I met with Farley Flex of Canadian Idol fame to plan “Project Hip Hop” (not my choice in names). Apparently while Farley was in a neighbouring city he saw the racism that First Nations people in our province face, and noticed the similarities to his experience growing up in Toronto. He decided he wanted to be involved with a school, and got in touch with our principal. The rest is, as they say, history.

The goal of Project Hip Hop (I remind you, not a name I chose) is to create an environment that simulates working in the music industry. Students will choose roles that fit their specific personalities and skill sets – from artist to producer to dancer to graphic designer to record label executive. Now, before you immediately write off Project-Hip Hop as being a lame simulation (something I wanted to do after reading that last sentence) let me clarify – the students will be DOING all of the things associated with these roles. Performers will be putting out tracks. Graphic designers will be creating their album art. Managers will be working with the performers on their projected image. There will be a show at the end of the project, highlighting the skills learned.

Our students really connect with the whole Hip Hop culture. There are many similarities between their experiences and those of the people who started Hip Hop. The challenge will be to help students see how they can adapt Hip Hop culture to fit with their personal backgrounds, and not just blindly adopt it.

All of this is possible because of some partners – the local University has $2 million “Interactive Media and Performance Studio Labs” where students will spend two mornings a week. As well, the Arts Education students from the University will be out at our school one morning a week working on the dance side of things. Farley will come to our city five times during the year to work with students – this is made possible by support from a large provincial organization. All of this has fallen together quite nicely, and we are excited for the possibilities.

Now, if you’re a teacher, and like me, you’re probably having this dialogue in your head.

“Gee, that sounds neat. And like it has nothing to do with any curriculum, except maybe arts education. Seems like a lot of time and energy for an arts ed credit.”

Well, we are giving an Arts Ed 20 credit. In addition, as students will be writing songs, press packages, press releases, etc, and reading autobiographies, histories, information on the industry, etc, we are tying in a grade 11 English Language Arts credit as well. We have spent two mornings coming up with our list of critical outcomes for English, and are correlating those to activities. I am working on the project with two other English teachers (each of us allotting 0.5 of our teaching time to the project) and our job will be to ensure that all the skills necessary for students to experience success in grade 12 English are being taught. Actually, that will mostly be there job – I am coordinating contact with the University, Farley, etc.

We will limit the project to around 30 students (though we’ll probably push upwards of 40 if we have space for the students.) Already, we had a couple young men who have been out of school for more than 5 years approach the school to ask if they can come back for the project. While the project won’t address the years of systemic racism, and rampant poverty, hopefully it will help some students connect with
school, build some skills, and make meaningful connections and memories.

Now, to sort out the logistics…

Where’s that update? Oh, here it is!

Well, looks like I haven’t finished the updates from Minneapolis yet. Last week was busy, and this week is shaping up to be similar. Such is life as a teacher and student, I suppose. On the thesis front, I have lined up eight students to participate in my qualitative study of the Dinner Theatre Project. I am excited to see what I find out about students perceptions of the project, and how their experience in the project compares to their past experiences in schools. Hopefully the data I collect will help inform future project-based learning endeavors at our school. I have my first interview tomorrow after school, and so I spent some of the weekend reading up on Case Studies and interviewing techniques. Not exactly intriguing reading, but purposeful.

On the personal side of things, B and I spent Saturday afternoon and evening on a scavenger hunt co-ed pre-wed (the name courtesy of her cleverness, not mine) for close friends of ours who are getting married May-long weekend. We went for a long bike ride today, met up with some good friends from out of town for lunch, visited some other friends in their new house a few blocks away, distracting them from the painting they were doing, shaved our cats (sorry, no photos) and rounded out the day with family supper at my in-laws. I must admit that though I spent the winter cursing the cold weather and wishing for the tropical sun of Cambodia, it sure is nice to be close to friends and family again.

Minneapolis Reflection: Cristo Rey Jesuit High School

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is part of the Cristo Rey Network of schools that was started in Philadelphia. It is in the area of Minneapolis affectionately known as Murder-opolis. Fielding-Nair International, the same company contracted to design our new shared facility, designed Cristo Rey. It has a massive shared gymnasium on the north side with room for 8 basketball courts. Apparently on Friday nights all courts are used and the place is electric. Check out the physical layout of Cristo Rey.

The neighbourhood has a lot of Spanish speaking students, and all promotional material for the school is in both English and Spanish. Cristo Rey is a private school, with the students working one day a week (job-sharing with other students) in order to pay for their schooling. On any given day, 20% of the school population is at work. Local corporations and organizations hire students, however, because of this all students must be in the USA legally and have the paperwork to prove it. This precludes many vulnerable students from attending Cristo Rey. (This is a problem we’re tackling here, as many students only have a health card – no SIN, no photo ID, no Birth Certificate – and can’t have their SIN reissued.) Students and  staff follow a dress code.

The learning model at this Cristo Rey wasn’t fully developed, but it was still interesting to see the allocation of space on the inside. There were many informal learning spaces and wide corridors with sitting areas as opposed to traditional classrooms. Where there were separate rooms, there were garage doors to open them up if a space needed to be larger.

As we toured around once again it struck me how important it is to have collaboration on staff. A building like Cristo Rey wouldn’t be functional if staff didn’t have a shared vision of education, and weren’t planning together to enact that vision. So, as we move on with creating a new community learning centre here, the question remains – how do you ensure all teachers (and partners in the building) are on the same page? If I had the answer, I sure wouldn’t be writing a blog entry – I’d be speaking to millions of people.

Minneapolis Reflection: “Zoo School”

Over the next few days, I am going to be doing some reflecting on my trip from last week. I went down to Minneapolis with a team of teachers to look at some alternative learning models. I say alternative just because they are different ways of looking at how we can engage students – not to marginalize what is being done.

School of Environmental Studies – “Zoo School”

The first school we visited was the School of Environmental Studies. Since it is located on the grounds of the Minnesota Zoo, it is affectionately known as “Zoo School.” Students are drawn from four neighbouring high schools – they are actually still technically students at those schools, and return for some classes and extra-curricular. All students in those schools have the option to apply to come to Zoo School for their grade 11 and 12 years. Students are chosen based on a lottery, however, due to the neighbourhoods that feed Zoo School, most students are middle class.

Though it is over ten years old now, and starting to show its age, the physical layout of Zoo School was striking. You enter into a large, open space with massive south-facing windows is used as a whole school meeting space, the theatre, the cafeteria, and to dry out tents (to name just a few uses.) While we were there, tables were being set up with displays students created for Earth Day.

Organizationally, the students are broken down into 4 houses – each with about 100 students. The houses are on the second floor, and are broken down into a large meeting space (which can be divided smaller as needed) and a workspace for each student, including a lockable cabinet (to avoid the need for lockers.) Off the larger space is a computer lab, a teacher-work area (there are no teacher’s desks in the other spaces) as well as one Science lab shared by two houses.

What was most interesting about Zoo School was the collaborative, project-based approach to learning. Each house has a group of teachers dedicated solely to that house. This creates a smaller school environment within the larger school. Teachers use the State standards and outcomes to decide upon big questions to be answered by the students – mostly, they relate to the environment and Science. These questions then inform everything the students do in the curricular areas. Teachers representing all core subject areas work together in a house, and each teacher is responsible for making sure that the standards and outcomes in their area are being covered. The students are very independent (they are grade 11 and 12) and have a lot of say in how they attack a specific question. One question one house was exploring was “What is the relationship between water and organisms?” Students were given the freedom to consider the question from many different angles, using different sources and media along the way.

One thing that really struck me as powerful was the way that staff members are placed at Zoo School. If a member of a specific house staff leaves, the other team-members are involved in choosing of a replacement. What a great way to ensure that staff will work well within a learning model.

You can read more about the program and school design here or check out their website here.

From this visit, I started to see how space can be used differently to meet student needs. I also am starting to see that for success in engaging students in a learning model, you need to have staff members who have a shared vision and work well together. The principal of Zoo School has been there since it opened – this longevity has helped create a culture of collaboration at the school.

Feedback on Dinner Theatre

Emails have been pouring in from people who attended the show. We’re putting together a display to share the comments with our students, but you get a sneak peek. The first three are from people from the community with no direct tie to the school — the last is from a parent of a student involved:

May I add my voice of praise to the many that have no doubt flooded your school in response to the dinner theatre project, “Eat Your Words” last evening. From the moment I stepped in the door until I left several hours later, I had to remind myself that the gracious young women and men who where guiding, serving, organizing and performing were in grade ten. What did I experience? I was moved to tears, laughed heartily, ate a fabulous meal and enjoyed the company of equally enthralled audience members. Congratulations to everyone involved!

Just wanted to let you know that the evening was absolutely fabulous! It was very evident that you all put in a lot of work and from the ‘guest’ perspective – it was smooth as silk. All of the details were noticed and appreciated!!! Everyone praised the event as “excellent”!! Just wanted to let you know that….

Just wanted to congratulate all of you on the great job you did on Thursday night. The evening was amazing…top notch production values, swanky and classy dinner, a very thought provoking play. The kids were all so professional and were justifiably proud of themselves. The close bond between students and teachers is evident. I was so happy to be part of it and look forward to it again next year. Congrats, again!

Hello, this message is for the staff and students who worked on the dinner theatre project that I had the very immense pleasure of seeing April 10th. I sincerely enjoyed the evening. I was extremely impressed by the work of the children. The talent was amazing (but we know they are very talented anyway), and the devotion to the project was evident. It really came across how much effort, work and enjoyment the kids put into this dinner theatre. Please let the kids know how wonderful they were and I hope they receive many more accolades that they so rightfully deserve. And to the teachers supporting this project–wow–what a lot of work on your part as well–thank you for the time and effort. The writing, acting and singing was wonderful, it brought tears to my eyes. The food was delicious. The mc’s, servers, and entertainment were great. The artwork for the silent auction beautiful. I hope everyone is very proud of themselves–thank you for such an awesome experience!!!
Sincerely,
Proud parent

Dinner Theatre: The Night

Well, if you’re a regular reader, you probably know that our Dinner Theatre Project came to an end on Thursday night. By 11:00 the five main staff involved were sitting in the cooking lab, eating left-overs, feeling a sense of great satisfaction, but also great loss at the end of such an amazing, engaging, enraging, tiring, exhilarating ride. We had a great time working together with the students, and aren’t too anxious to return to our separate, isolated classrooms, which we will the week after next. I’d imagine the students feel the same.

Wednesday was the dress rehearsal for the collective, entitled “Looking In, Looking Out.” The show was a compilation of the students stories and reflections on life in their neighbourhood, one that is regularly vilified by local and national media outlets – but more on the show later. The students were very nervous, and it showed at times. The audience wasn’t hostile, but they weren’t particularly supportive – Middle Years students are notoriously hard to please. One student videotaped the show, and students were quite proud, spending time after school watching the show on the little viewfinder on the camera.

At the same time, the gym was being converted into a dining space for 260 people. Thirty-two round eight person tables were crammed in, leaving just enough room for the two stainless steel bars, silent auction tables, podium, and buffet lines. It was tight. Table settings were picked up (donated by a local performance/banquet venue) as well as a deep fryer, heat lamps, and linens, to name just a few things. The Commercial Cooking students were cooking up potato lasagna, and preparing to take it to a different high school to be chilled, as we didn’t have space. When the five staff left the school at 6:00, we were tired, but excited for the next day. (*note: I chose Wednesday as the first day I’d ride my bike to school. What was I thinking? It was +2 in the morning, and the 8km ride was brisk. On the return ride, it was +5 but I was pushing a headwind. It wasn’t a particularly fast ride home, but I made it. I drove on Thursday and Friday.)

Thursday was a go-go-go day. Silent auction items were arranged, lamps set up in the gym so we wouldn’t have to use the overpowering fluorescent lighting, tables set and double-checked (saucers look remarkably like bread plates to grade 10 students, we learned), hand-written thank-you cards were placed on each plate, chocolates lined up on each table, waiting for the guests, tables numbered, and hosts and hostesses changed into tuxes. And probably 39 things I forgot. The drama students watched the show from the day before, did a quick run-through, and a thorough sound check. Next thing we knew, people were piling into the gym, and the actors were waiting nervously in the basement green room.

The show begins (began, I suppose) with the theme music from Mr. Rogers (minus the station identification, and plus random gunfire and dogs barking.) Our Mr. Rogers entered from the door beside the stage, unfazed by the gunfire, gladhanded with the audience, waved, smiled, and made his way onstage to a coat rack and chair, where he changed from a buttoned jacket into a zippered sweater, and from his outside shoes to inside slippers. The audience laughed at his antics, and this just spurned him on more. He welcomed everyone to his neighbourhood, and with a sweep of his arms, the curtains opened as he said, “Let’s show you around!”

Upstage right was a 8′ by 8′ flat with a map of the neighbourhood painted on it. The name of the neighbourhood was graffitied around the map. Students came out and introduced the audience to parts of the neighbourhood. For example, “This is Bonanza, where I work to help my mom pay bills.” or “This is the library, where I use the computer.”

After a few minutes of this, Mr. Rogers returned, saying “Now that you know a bit about my neighbourhood, let’s see what the evening news has to say about it.” From here, the newscasters took over. Two brilliant young women read found poems created from newspaper articles about the neighbourhood. They told the stories in a factual manner at first. After one about a youth who committed many arsons, the lights dimmed and an actor stepped forward and spoke from the point of view of the young man. This was in an effort to give a voice to someone whose voice went unheard in the local media. The show continued like this, monologues offered in response to the stark facts presented by the media. As they went along, the newscasters became more and more animated, and, well, almost ridiculous in their reading of the news. For example, when telling a story about the increase in break and enters and property crimes, the newscasters stand up, and dance, singing, “Break and enters, property crimes! Break and enters, property crimes!” They then sing “Robberies, robberies, robberies!” each word being an octave higher than the one before, and the final being sung in unison. For a particularly graphic description of the living conditions in the neighbourhood, there is a blackout, and the newscasters pull out flashlights, as if telling a ghost story. The audience, those from the neighbourhood and those not, responded with laughter in some spots, and stunned silence in others. There was some more mapping, but this time with more stories attached to the locations: “This is B’s Convenience Store, where my friend was attacked by the clerk. He still works there.” or “This is where I wanted a better bond with my dad, and sometimes no bond at all.” From here, the newscasters returned and bemoaned the lack of positives about the neighbourhood in the news. They then highlighted some positive things that are going on, but aren’t in the news. The show ended with three of the actors performing a rap song they wrote addressing the attitudes people have about their neighbourhood. They got a standing ovation, which continued through Mr. Rogers final words: “Remember, we don’t get to choose where we were born or where we grow up, but we get to choose where we’re going.” All in all, the show was a blur of laughter, applause, sighs, and stunned silence. I couldn’t be more proud. I’m working on editing the video of the show, and will hopefully at some point put it on youtube.

We received very positive comments on the show — many people told me they cried the whole time. Two parents were being interviewed by a University who is doing a documentary on changing education in the 21st century, and they were so proud as they described their child’s role in the show. The response was moving.

After the show, the students knew they had nailed it. They were so excited in the green room. Later that night, one actress confided that she didn’t know she could do it – and actually asked a teacher, “Is it alright that I feel so proud of myself right now?” I didn’t hear the comment, but as I related the story, a friend came up with the perfect response: “What isn’t right, is that you’ve never had the chance to feel proud of yourself like this before.” I basically have been on a permanent high since the show – we still have four more days with our students to wrap up their classes, and I can’t wait to see them tomorrow. I think we’ll all go through some withdrawl come the end of the project. Hence, we spent lunch of Friday planning what projects to begin next year with. We’ll do something to re-engage these grade 10s (who’ll be 11s by then!) I can’t wait.

Dinner Theatre Update…better late than never?

Well, I haven’t written about our Dinner Theatre project lately — and it’s not for lack of things to write. We have been rather rushed since coming back from the spring break. However, on Thursday night it will all come to an end. At 5:30, there will be appetizers for the 250 people who bought tickets; 6:30, the curtain parts and our collective hits the stage; 7:30, it’s suppertime and we’re almost done. By 9:30, no doubt the staff will all have collapsed in a heap on the floor somewhere, and the students will be out having a big party.

One thing this project has taught me: It doesn’t matter what you do in order to engage students with school – you still only have them for 5.5 hours a day, and for the other 18.5, they are back in their lives, dealing with the things they have to deal with. Until these students most basic needs are met, school will always come second. And it has to come second!

This is where I have some hope — we are looking at building a new school in our inner city, with the goal being that it meets the needs of the students. It won’t look like a traditional “cells and bells” factory-model antiquated building. This week an architectural and educational consulting company is coming up from Minneapolis to meet with community members, to try to figure out how to best meet the diverse needs of the students and the larger community. I feel very lucky to have started on at this school just as staff embark on this daunting but exciting mission. I’ll have the opportunity to see some of the other schools this company has worked on when I go with our admin to Minnesota in two weeks. Now, all we have to do is finish the Dinner Theatre, collect some data, and reflect on how project-based-learning will fit into our new learning model, and our new building. Not a small task, but an exciting one.

To start, I have received ethics approval from the University to collect data (quantitative and qualitative) on some students involved in the dinner theatre. The thought right now is that this will form the basis for my thesis, however, we’ll see what I get. At the very least, the data will help us as we move forward with improving learning for our students. Now, all I have to do is get through a day of rehearsals, and two days of shows…I’ll let you know how it goes.