RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Things that may help along the way.
The Teacher As Shaman
In this lovely 1995 paper from the Journal of Curriculum Studies, author Clifford Mayes suggests that a “shamanic” orientation towards the work (capacity to travel to other worlds, in part borne out of our own suffering) may be helpful to teachers in understanding how complicated their work is.
Teachers have a “vocative wound,” (calling to be a teacher), “interpretive wounds,” (capacity/incapacity to see what they don’t know), and “transferential wounds” (capacity/incapacity to “see” students due to our own psychic and spiritual journeys).
Getting at the soul-level complexity of the work, Mayes writes, “Teachers who ‘touch’ most deeply are also those who seem to have suffered...” (p. 4).
Download teacher_as_shaman.pdf
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What Is Intelligence? by John Holt
What Is Intelligence?
"When we talk about Intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get a good score on a certain kind of test, or even the ability to do well in school; these are at best only indications of something larger, deeper and far more important. By intelligence we mean a style of life, a way of heaving in various situations, and particularly in new, strange, ad perplexing situations. The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do.
The intelligent person, young or old, meeting a new situation or problem, opens himself up to it; he tries to take in with mind and sense everything he can about it. He thinks about it, instead of about himself or what it might cause to happen to him; he grapples with it boldly, imaginatively, resourcefully, and if not confidently at least hopefully; if he fails to master it, he looks without shame or fear at his mistakes and learns from them. This is intelligence. Clearly its roots lie in a certain feeling about life, and one's self with respect to life. Just as clearly, unintelligence is not what most psychologists seem to suppose, the same thing as intelligence only less of it. It is an entirely different style of behavior, arising out of an entirely different stet of attitudes."
-John Holt, How Children Fail
(originally published in 1964, revised in 1982)
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The Wounded Healer
Ó
THE WOUNDED HEALER
“Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not ‘How can we hide our wounds?’ so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but ‘How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?’ When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.
Our own experience with loneliness, depression, and fear can become a gift for others, especially when we have received good care. As long as our wounds are open and bleeding, we scare others away. But after someone has carefully tended to our wounds, they no longer frighten us or others.
When we experience the healing presence of another person, we can discover our own gifts of healing. Then our wounds allow us to enter into a deep solidarity with our wounded brothers and sisters.
To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own pain is seldom helpful for someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen with great attentiveness and love to a depressed friend without mentioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a suffering person’s attention to ourselves. We have to trust that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to others with our whole beings. That is healing.”
-Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, 1979
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Herb Kohl on "Not-Learning"
Not-Learning
"Learning how to not-learn is an intellectual and social challenge; sometimes you have to work very hard at it. It consists of an active, often ingenious, willful rejection of even the most compassionate and well-designed teaching...It was through insight into my own not-learning that I began to understand the inner world of students who chose to not-learn what I wanted to teach. Over the years I've come to side with them in their refusals to be molded by a hostile society and have come to look upon not-learning as positive and healthy
in many situations."
-Herb Kohl, "I Won't Learn From You," 1994
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Empowering Learners Can Be Frightening
Empowering Learners Can Be Frightening
"Empowering learners can be a very frightening proposition to those who feel that part of their role in a school is to maintain a tradition of institutional order. Often the need to control...is not seeded in an overt need for power, but rather a fear of chaos, a fear of not achieving stated goals and objectives, and a fear of not upholding perceived transitions within schools. Our fears need to be confronted and we should take comfort in the fact that even empowered learners need guidance and direction. By allowing students to make genuine choices about their learning and what happens to them in schools, we bring them a step closer to becoming productive members of this society. This does not mean we should cast students to the wind in an anything goes fashion. Rather, it means giving students guidance and a realm of possibilities and choices within guidelines they can handle."
-Karen Colucci, in "Stories Out of School" (James L. Paul and Terry Jo Smith, Eds.), 2000
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School Climate Survey
An excellent comprehensive school climate survey created by researchers at the Charter College of Education at CSULA. Please go to their website directly for more information about administering the survey in your school. This survey allows school team members to focus on critical elements of "unwounding" school environments immediately and directly.
http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/schoolclimate/school_survey.html
School Climate
Quality Analytic Assessment Instrument
Secondary Student Version (2004)
(created by the Western Alliance for School Climate Assessment System
Charter College of Education,
California State University, Los Angeles)
http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/schoolclimate/assessment.html)
Use of the Scale:
This analytic trait instrument is intended to help school teams (or individuals) confidentially self-assess their school climate. Team members should use this assessment protocol to discuss perceptions of their school climate, with the intention of generating awareness and initiating collective action. The scale should not be used to assign blame to other faculty, put down kids, indict leadership or promote the perception that some individuals are the problem. School climate is most often improved as a result of raising collective faculty awareness of systemic patterns of relationship and attitudes that affect life in school. This exercise should help the learning community collectively address and act on areas of concern to promote collective change and a sense of accomplishment.
Assessment Protocol:
As a team, examine each of the items in each of the 8 sub-scales and then, as individuals, rate the current level at your school 1, 2 or 3. Please mark your rating for each item on the form. Then, team members share their ratings with each other. Individuals can make assessment judgments at any of the three levels. In team sharing, if there are disagreements, please discuss using examples (evidenced-based talk) and non-blaming language. This is the purpose of the exercise!
After completing your ratings for each item, average the rating in each area to produce a sub-category mean score. (It may be helpful to discuss each area with team members before making an assessment judgment. This discussion is also central to your later plan of action.) Create a score for each of the 8 subscores.
Finally, use the rubric holistically so that the entire school can be assessed at one of the three performance levels. Remember that the rubric is not intended to provide a quantifiable rating for purposes of comparison, but to offer an overall qualitative sense of current school climate, and specific aspects of that climate at faying levels of development.
• What picture of your school does this present?
• As a team, on what did you most strongly agree? Disagree?
• What did you learn from your colleagues about the school you did not know before?
• What two (or three) actions are most critical for your team to commit to to improving school climate?
Directions: Please mark the circle below the item that best describes the current state at your school in general. For each of the three performance levels there are three sub-levels (high, middle and low). Optional: When you have completed your ratings, average your score at the base of each subscale.
1. Physical Appearance
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Welcoming to outsiders, the school projects an identity to visitors. Some signage for visitors as they enter the building, but images compete for attention. Little concern for the image of the school.
Purposeful use of school colors/symbols Some use of school colors/symbols but mostly associated with sports. Students associate school colors with losers.
Staff and students take ownership of physical appearance. Staff regularly comments on school appearance, but students do not feel any sense of personal ownership. "That is the janitor's job"
No litter Litter cleaned at the end of day People have given up the battle over litter
Current student work is displayed to show pride and ownership by students. Few and/or only top performances are displayed Decades old trophies and athletic records in dusty cases
Things work and/or get fixed immediately Things get fixed when someone complains enough Things might get fixed when the work order goes through the district office.
Staff and students have respect for custodians Most staff are cordial with custodians Custodians are demeaned
Graffiti is rare because students feel some sense of ownership of the school. Graffiti occurs occasionally, but is dealt with by the staff. Graffiti occurs frequently and projects the hostility of students toward their school.
2. Faculty Relations
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Faculty commonly collaborate on matters of teaching Faculty are congenial to one another, and occasionally collaborate Faculty see other faculty as the competition.
Faculty approach problems as a team/collective Faculty attend to problems as they relate to their own interests. Faculty expect someone else to solve problems.
Faculty use their planning time constructively and refrain from denigrating students in teacher areas Faculty use time efficiently but feel the need to consistently vent displaced aggression toward students. Faculty look forward to time away from students so they can share their "real feelings" about them.
Faculty are typically constructive when speaking of each other and/or administrators. Faculty wait for safe opportunities to share complaints about other teachers and/or admin. Faculty commonly use unflattering names for other faculty and/or administration in private.
Staff feels a collective sense of dissatisfaction with status quo, and find ways to take action to improve. Faculty give sincere "lip service" to the idea of making things better. Faculty are content with the status quo and often resentful toward change minded staff.
High level of respect for one another. Respect for a few prominent staff members. Show little respect for self or others.
Faculty meeting are attended by most all and address relevant content. Faculty meetings are an obligation that most attend, but are usually seen as a formality. Faculty meetings are seen as a waste of time and avoided when possible.
Staff and all-school events are well attended by faculty There are the few regular attendees at school events. Staff do absolutely the minimum investment in school related matters
Leadership roles are most likely performed by faculty with other faculty expressing their appreciation. Leadership roles are accepted grudgingly by faculty, and other faculty are often suspicious of motives Leadership is avoided, and those who do take leadership roles are seen as traitors.
Faculty have the time and interest to commune with one another, and feel very little isolation. Faculty congregate in small cordial groups, yet commonly feel a sense that teaching is an isolating profession. Faculty typically see no need to relate outside the walls of their class.
3. Student Interactions
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Students feel a sense of community and "school" is defined by the warm regard for the inhabitants of the building Students feel like they have friends and are safe, but the school is just a place to take classes. Students feel no sense of affiliation with the school or community
Various cultures and sub-groups blend, interrelate and feel like valid members of the community Various sub-groups avoid each other and have varying degrees of sense of validity Various sub-groups are hostile to one another
Students readily accept the purpose of zero tolerance for "put downs." Students think put downs are just part of their language Put downs lead to violence
Many students attend school events A few regulars attend school events It is un-cool to attend school events
Popular students feel a an obligation to serve the school, not a sense of entitlement Popular kids treat the other popular kids well. Popular kids use their political capital to oppress those less popular.
Most students feel safe from violence. Most students don't assume much severe violence but accept minor acts of harassment almost daily Most students do not feel safe from violent acts large or small.
Leaders are easy to find due to the wide range of gifts that are validated and harnessed Leaders come from a small clique of students Students avoid leadership for fear of being labeled as "goody goodies"
Athletes are valued as quality community members and approach their role with a humble sense of honor. It is assumed that some athletes are just "jerks" and jocks are not "real students" Athletes band together to oppress the weaker and more academically gifted element in the school
Most students expect to be given ownership over decisions that effect them Most students are upset when rights are withdrawn, but typically take little action Most students assume that they have no rights
Most students expect to engage in "authentic learning" activities and to be taught with methods that make them responsible for their own learning. Most students adjust their expectations to each teacher and focus mainly on doing what it takes to get "the grade." Most students' expectation of school is that little of value is learned in there and real world learning happens somewhere else.
4. Leadership/Decisions
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
School has a sense of vision, and a mission that is shared by all staff. School has a set of policies, a written mission, but no cohesive vision School has policies that are used inconsistently
Vision comes from the collective will of the school community Vision comes from leadership. Vision is absent.
School's decisions are conspicuously grounded in the mission. Policies and mission exist but are not meaningful toward staff action Mission may exist but is essentially ignored.
Vast majority of staff members feel valued and listened to. Selected staff members feel occasionally recognized Administration is seen as playing favorites.
A sense of "shared values" is purposefully cultivated Most share a common value to do what's best for their students. Guiding school values are in constant conflict.
Staff understands and uses a clear system for selecting priority needs, and has a highly functioning team for "shared decision-making" There is a SDM committee but most real power is in a "loop" of insiders/decision makers Decisions are made autocratically or accidentally
Most of the staff has a high level of trust and respect in leadership Some staff have respect for leadership Most staff feel at odds with the leadership
Leadership demonstrates a high level of accountability, and finds ways to "make it happen." Leadership is highly political about how resources are allocated and often deflect responsibility. Leadership seems disconnected to outcomes and find countless reasons why they "wish it could happen, but are sorry that it can not."
Leadership is in tune with students and community. Leadership has selected sources of info about the community and students. Leadership is isolated from constituents.
Leadership is in tune with others' experience of the quality of school climate. Leadership makes pro forma statements about wanting good school climate. Leadership does not see school climate as a necessary interest.
5. Discipline environment
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
School-wide discipline policy is consistently applied School-wide discipline policy is used by some staff School-wide discipline policy exists in writing only
Individual classroom management plans feature consistency, clear expectations, sensible related consequences and refrain from punishment, shaming and humiliation. Most teachers use some form or positive or assertive discipline but accept the notion that punishment and shaming are necessary with some students. Most teachers accept the notion that the only thing the students in the school understand is punishment and/or personal challenges.
Classrooms are positive places, and teachers maintain a positive affect, and follow-through with consequences in a calm and non-personal manner. Most teachers maintain a positive climate, but some days they just feel the need to complain about the class and/or get fed up with the "bad kids" Classrooms are places where teachers get easily angered by students and there is a sense of antagonism between the class and the teacher
Maximize the use of student generated ideas and input. Occasional use of student generated ideas. Teachers make the rules and student should follow them.
Consider teaching and discipline within the lens of basic student needs that must be met for a functional class. Some sensitivity to student needs, but the primary goal of classroom management is control. All student misconduct is viewed as disobedience.
Teacher-student interactions could be typically described as supportive and respectful. Teacher-student interactions could be typically described as fair but teacher-dominated. Teacher-student interactions are mostly teacher-dominated and reactive.
When disciplining students teachers typically focus on the problematic behavior not the student as a person. When disciplining students teachers are typically assertive yet often reactive, and giving an overall inconsistent message When disciplining students teachers are typically personal and often antagonistic.
Teachers successfully create a sense of community in their classes Teachers successfully create a working society in their classes Teachers create a competitive environment
6. Learning/Assessment
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Assessment targets are clear and attainable for learners. Most high achieving students can find a way to meet the teacher's target. Grades are given for what students see as personal or accidental purposes.
Instruction/Assessment promotes student locus of control, sense of belonging and sense of competence Instruction/Assessment is most often focused on relevant learning, yet mostly rewards the high-achievers. Instruction/Assessment is focused on bits of knowledge that can be explained and then tested
Student-controlled behavior (effort, listening, attitude, etc) is rewarded and even assessed when possible. Student controlled behavior is verbally rewarded. Only countable academic and athletic outcomes are rewarded.
Teachers have some form of making sense of, and being responsive to, varying learning styles Teachers are aware of learning styles as a concept, and make some attempt in that area. Teachers expect all students to conform to their teaching style.
Instruction is dynamic, involving, learner-centered, and challenging. Instruction is mostly based on relevant concepts but often appears to be busy work Instruction is mostly "sit and get"
Students learn to work cooperatively, and as a team Some teachers buy into the idea of cooperative learning Cooperative learning just leads to chaos and cheating
Students are given systematic opportunities to reflect on their learning progress. Mostly higher-level students are given occasional opportunities to reflect on their learning in some classes. Teaching is seen as providing maximum input and little opportunity for reflection exists.
Students are seen as the primary users of assessment information, and assessment is used for the purpose of informing the learning process and is never used to punish or shame. Assessment is seen as something that occurs at the end of assignments. Grades are used primarily for student-student comparison. Assessment is used to compare students to one another and/or to send a message to the lazy students.
School-wide rewards often focus on student effort and contribution and sparingly on being the top performer. School-wide rewards honor a variety of top performance-based achievements. A competitive climate exists for the scarce supply of school-wide rewards given only for performance.
7. Attitude and Culture
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Students feel like they are part of a community. Students feel like they are part of a society. Students feel like they are visitors in a building.
Students self-correct peers who use destructive and/or abusive language. Students seek adult assistance to stop blatant abuse. Students accept abuse as a regular part of their day.
Students feel as though they are working toward collective goals. Students feel as though they are working toward independent goals. Students feel as though they are competing with other students for scarce resources
Students speak about the school in proud, positive terms. Students speak of the school in neutral or mixed terms.Students speak of the school in neutral or mixed terms. Students denigrate the school when they refer to it.
Most students feel listened to, represented, and like they have a voice. Most students see some evidence that some students have a voice. Most students feel they have very little voice when at school.
Most students feel a sense of belonging to something larger. Most students see some evidence that efforts are made to promote school spirit. Most students feel alone, alienated and/or part of a hostile environment.
Students feel as though they owe their school a dept of gratitude upon graduation. Graduates feel like they had an acceptable school experience Students cannot wait to get out of the school.
Students feel welcome and comfortable in talking to adults and/or designated peer counselors. Some students have a few staff that they target for advice. Students assume adults do not have any interest in their problems.
School maintains traditions that promote school pride and a sense of historical continuity. School maintains traditions that some students are aware of but most see as irrelevant to their experience. School has given up on maintaining traditions due to apathy.
8. Community Relations
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
School is perceived as welcoming to all parents. School is perceived as welcoming to certain parents. School is suspicious of why parents would want to visit.
School sends out regular communication to community including invitations to attend key events. School sends out pro forma communication that is may be plentiful but is not created with the consumers' needs in mind. School sends out pro forma communication only.
Community members are regularly invited to speak in classes. Inconvenience leads to few community members speaking in classes. The vast majority of community members have not seen the inside of the school since they went there.
Service learning efforts are regular ñ promoting student learning and positive community-relations Service learning is done, but very infrequently due to its inconvenience Service learning is seen as just a glorified field trip and therefore not worth the expense.
Parents and Coaches all work for the best interest of student-athletes. Parents support the coaches and teams if things are going well. Parents feel free to question coaches, coaches mistrust parents.
Volunteer efforts are well coordinated, volunteers are plentiful, and conspicuously appreciated Volunteers are willing, but are often unaware of the events and/or feel a lack of guidance. Volunteers are hard to find or unreliable.
Athletic events and Fine Arts performances are well attended due to deliberate efforts toward promotion and crowd appreciation Athletic events and Arts performances are attended by a die-hard following and/or only when things are going well. Games and performances are poorly attended and as a result progressively less effort is made by participants.
The WASSC Climate Survery is Copyrighted © 2004. Permission from WASSC to reproduce
this survey is required.
© 2004 Western Alliance for the Study of School Climate, Charter College of Education, CSULA
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Classroom Climate Survey
An excellent classroom climate survey created by researchers at the Charter College of Education at CSULA. Please go to their website directly for more information about administering the survey in your school.
http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/schoolclimate/classroom_survey.html
Classroom Climate
Quality Analytic Assessment Instrument
Secondary Student Version (2004)
(created by the Western Alliance for School Climate Assessment System
Charter College of Education,
California State University, Los Angeles)
http://www.calstatela.edu/centers/schoolclimate/assessment.html
The Western Alliance for School Climate Assessment System is characterized by:
• A process driven by the school's own steering/vision team
• A transparent definition of school climate
• Prescriptions for change generated by the participants who work in the school.
• An analytic-scale based instrument (example item shown below)
Please mark the circle below the item that best describes the current state at your school in general. For each of the three performance levels there are three sub-levels
ls (high, middle and low). Optional: When you have completed your ratings, score at the base of each subscale.
1. Student Interactions
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Students feel a sense of community and the classroom is defined by a positive feeling among class members. Students generally like the teacher but the class is just another place to learn some content. Students feel little or no sense of affiliation with the teacher or the other students in the class.
Various cultures and sub-groups blend, interrelate and feel like valid members of the classroom community Various sub-groups avoid each other and do not share the same sense of legitimacy. Various sub-groups are hostile to one another
Students readily accept the purpose of zero tolerance for "put downs." Students think put downs are just part of the common use of language. Put downs are common and lead to conflict.
Most students feel a responsibility to promote the collective success of all the students in the class. Most students feel a sense of personal responsibility for their own learning. Students feel little responsibility for their own success and/or see other students as competition.
Popular students feel obliged but not entitled to act as leaders. Popular kids treat the other popular kids in the class well. Popular kids use their social capital to oppress the less popular students.
It is readily apparent that an effort is made by the teacher to promote positive interactions among students, and there is evidence that it is making a real difference. The teacher has made a sincere effort to promote positive interactions among students, and it has made some difference. The teacher has made little or no deliberate effort to promote positive interactions among the students in his/her class.
Most students in the class take on leadership roles willingly and regularly. Leaders in the class come from a small clique of students. Students avoid leadership for fear of being labeled as "goody goodies" or teacher's pets.
Students in the class believe their gifts are validated and recognized in a meaningful and systematic way. Students in the class believe there is some validation of uniqueness and individual recognition, but it is not a clear priority. The class structure promotes the recognition of the smarter and more talented students.
Most students expect to be given ownership over classroom decisions that affect them Most students are upset when classroom rights are withdrawn, but typically take little action Most students assume that they have few or no rights in the class.
2. Discipline environment
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Teacher's classroom management features consistency, clear expectations and sensible related consequences The teacher uses some form or positive or assertive discipline. The classroom management is inconsistently applied and the classroom expectations are unclear.
The teacher refrains from the use of punishments, shaming and humiliation. The teacher accepts the notion that punishment and shaming are necessary with some students. The teacher believes that students in the class only respond to punishment and/or personal challenges.
The classroom is a positive place, the teacher maintains a positive affect, and follows through with consequences in a calm and non-personal manner. The teacher maintains a positive climate, but some days they feel the need to complain about the class or become fed up with the "bad kids" The teacher gets easily angered by students and there is a sense of antagonism between the class and the teacher
The teacher incorporates maximum use of student generated ideas and input even in the area of management and classroom rules. The teacher incorporates occasional use of student generated ideas. The teacher makes the rules and student should follow them.
The teacher considers teaching and discipline within the context of basic student needs (freedom, belonging, competence, power, etc.) that must be met for a functional class. The teacher shows some sensitivity to student's basic needs, but the primary goal of classroom management is control. All student misconduct is viewed as disobedience.
Teacher-student interactions could be typically described as supportive and respectful. Teacher-student interactions could be typically described as fair but teacher-dominated. Teacher-student interactions are mostly teacher-dominated and reactive.
When disciplining students the teacher typically focuses on the problematic behavior not the student as a person. When disciplining students the teacher is typically assertive yet often reactive, and gives an overall inconsistent message When disciplining students the teacher is typically personal and often antagonistic.
Teacher successfully creates a sense of community in their classes Teacher successfully creates a working society in their classes Teacher creates a competitive environment
Because the work is meaningful and engaging, there are few if any behavior problems. Because the students are active and involved, there are a limited number of behavior problems. Because the work is seen as just "busy work," there are many students who feel the need to make their own fun by being disruptive.
3. Learning/Assessment
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Assessment "targets" are clear and attainable for learners. Most high achieving students can find a way to meet the teacher's target. Grades are given for what students see as personal and/or accidental purposes.
Instruction/Assessment promotes student locus of control, sense of belonging and sense of competence Instruction/Assessment is most often focused on relevant learning, yet mostly rewards the high-achievers. Instruction/Assessment is focused on bits of knowledge that can be explained and then tested.
Student-controlled behavior (effort, listening, attitude, etc) is rewarded and even assessed when possible. Student controlled behavior is verbally rewarded. Only countable academic and athletic outcomes are rewarded.
Teacher uses some form of making sense of, and being responsive to, varying learning styles. The teacher is aware of learning styles as a concept, and makes some attempt to respond to them. Teacher expects all students to conform to his/her teaching style.
Instruction is dynamic, involving, learner-centered, and challenging. Instruction is mostly based on relevant concepts but often appears to be busy work Instruction is mostly "sit and get"
Students learn to work cooperatively, and as a team. There is some attempt to incorporate the idea of cooperative learning. Teacher views cooperative learning as leading to chaos and cheating.
The content of lessons/units is meaningful, relevant and promotes the social, personal and intellectual growth of students. Content of lessons/units is often relevant and interesting for most students, but does little to promote personal growth. Content of lessons/units is not seen as relevant to the real lives of students.
Students are given systematic opportunities to reflect on their learning progress. Mostly higher-level students are given occasional opportunities to reflect on their learning in some classes. Teaching is seen as providing maximum input and little opportunity for reflection exists.
Students are seen as the primary users of assessment information, and assessment is used for the purpose of informing the learning process, never to punish or shame. Assessment is seen as something that occurs at the end of assignments. Grades are used primarily for student to student comparison. Assessment is used to compare students to one another and/or to send a message to the lazy students.
Class rewards often focus on student effort and contribution and sparingly on being the top performer. Class rewards honor a variety of top performance-based achievements. A competitive climate exists for the scarce supply of class rewards that are given only for performance.
4. Attitude and Culture
Level - 3 Level - 2 Level - 1
High Middle Low High Middle Low High Middle Low
Students believe they are part of a classroom community. Students believe they are part of a classroom society. Students believe they are just putting their time in the class.
Students respond assertively to peers who use destructive and/or abusive language in the class. Students seek adult assistance to stop blatant cases of verbal abuse in the class. Students accept abuse as a regular part of what takes place in the class.
Students believe they are working toward collective goals. Students believe they are working toward independent goals. Students believe they are competing with other students for scarce resources
Students speak about the class in proud, positive terms. Students speak about the class in neutral or mixed terms. Students denigrate the class.
Most students feel listened to, represented, and believe they have a voice. Most students see some evidence that some students have a voice. Most students feel they have very little voice in what happens in the class.
While in the class, most students feel a sense of belonging to a larger cause. While in the class, most students see some evidence that efforts are made to promote a cohesive class. While in the class, most students feel alone, alienated and/or part of a hostile environment.
Students feel safe expressing their ideas and feelings in front of the entire class. Students feel safe expressing their ideas and feelings, but only with the teacher and/or a few trusted peers. Students do not feel safe expressing their ideas and feelings in the class.
Students feel welcome and comfortable talking to the teacher. Some students feel comfortable talking to the teacher. Students assume the teacher does not have any interest in their problems.
The class includes rituals, games and/or traditions that give the members a sense of identity. The class includes some time spent on games or activities that keeps class from being all work. The class includes only activity related to schoolwork. There is nothing special about the class.
The WASSC Climate Survey is Copyrighted © 2004. Permission from WASSC to reproduce
this survey is required.
© 2004 Western Alliance for the Study of School Climate, Charter College of Education, CSULA
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Healing School Practices-A "Thinking" List of Resources
Healing School Practices
A Thinking List for Educators Working in Schools
1. Moving from, "I felt like no one knew me, or cared about me" to, "For the first time, someone saw me as me."
• Students often feel unknown and anonymous in school, especially as they move to middle school and high school.
• 1 in 3 high school students report they do not have a significant relationship with an adult in their building year to year or day to day (HSSSE, Indiana University, www.indiana.edu/~ceep/hssse)
• A single caring relationship with an adult can mean the difference between chronic underperformance or dropping out, and successful academic outcomes
Resources:
Olson, K. (2009). Wounded By School. New York: Teachers College Press.
Olson, K. (2008). The Wounded Student, Educational Leadership, March 2008.
Willis, J. (2007). The Neuroscience of Joyful Education, Educational Leadership, Summer 2007, Vol. 64.
Wolk, S. (2008). Joy in School. Educational Leadership, September 2008, Vol. 66, No. 1.
McDonnell, S. N. (2009). The Art of Caring Confrontation, Educational Leadership, Vol. 66 Online July 2009.
Sornson, R. and Scott, J. (1977). Teaching and Joy. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Fried, R.L. (2001). The Passionate Learner. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Hooks, B. (2003). Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Routledge.
2. Examine tracking and labeling practices, "fixed ability" theories embedded in grouping norms.
• "Open choice may not actually be open."
• "I felt barred from enrolling in AP because I had to get 2 teacher's signatures."
• "We created barriers to academic success without being aware we were doing it."
Resources:
Burris, C.C. and Garrity, D. (2008). Detracking for Excellence and Equity Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Williams, B. (2003). Closing the Achievement Gap: A Vision for Changing Beliefs and Practices. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Noguera, P. and Wing, J. (2006) Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Turner, R. (2008). Greater Expectations: Teaching Academic Literacy to Underrepresented Students. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
Tough, P. (2008). Whatever It Takes. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin
3. Banish "smart" characterizations. Language practices are incredibly shaping of how we see students.
• Never use words like "bright" and "dumb"
• We don't know what kids are capable of
• Our professional responsibility is to hone our language practices as they relate to student performance
Resources:
Fennimore, B. (2000). Talk matters: Refocusing the language of public schooling. New York: Teachers College Press.
Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.
Levine, M. (2002). A mind at a time. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Murdoch, S. (2007). IQ: A smart history of a failed idea. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
4. Moving to collective responsibility of every adult for every student. "There are no ‘thems' here."
• "When I drive around the neighborhood, these are all my kids."
• "I saw what an impact I had on that girl, and it changed my teaching forever."
Resources:
Howard. G.R. (2006). We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
Michie, G. (1999). Holler If You Hear Me. New York: Teachers College Press
Kohm, B. and Nance, B. (2009). Building Collaborative Cultures. Educational Leadership, October 2009, Vol. 67, No. 2.
Kohl, H. (1994). "I won't learn from you": And other thoughts on creative maladjustment. New York: New Press.
5. Look for legitimate ways to shift responsibility and choice to students.
• Anything a child can do, a teacher shouldn't
• "Our increasingly rule-bound, objectives-controlled schools do present an opportunity for including students in the authority structure."
• Survey all controls exercised by adults in a school day and see what can be shifted to students.
• "Distributing authority helps reduce extreme passivity and minimal engagement that are encouraged by schools' rigid routines."
Resources:
Goodman, J. (2009). "Anything A Child Can Do, A Teacher Shouldn't," Education Week, September 22, 2009
Beaudoin, N. (2008). A School for Each Student: High Expectations in a Climate of Personalization. New York: Eye on Education Press.
Mitra, D.L. (2008). Student Voice in School Reform: Building Youth Adult Partnerships That Strengthen Schools and Empower Youth. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
A short, incomplete list compiled by:
Kirsten Olson, Oldsow Consulting (September 2009)
www.oldsowconsulting.org
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Richard Russo's Advice on Having A Good Life
Text of Richard Russo's 2004 Commencement Address
Colby College, May 2004
http://www.colby.edu/news/detail/488/
Before I begin my talk today, I'd like to step out of my role as Commencement speaker and Colby faculty member and speak for a moment as a Colby parent. As most of you know, one member of the class of 2004, Dawn Rossignol, is not here today. Her family has been living every parent's worst nightmare since her tragic, senseless loss last autumn. This day, so full and pride and joy for us, must be particularly difficult for them, and our hearts go out to those good people.
A couple years ago I was talking to a man whose son had graduated the year before from Stanford University. He was proud of the boy, who'd done well there, and proud too that his son had received the kind of education he himself had never dreamed of. But he had misgivings as well. I could tell he had something on his mind that I, as a former college professor, might be able to help him understand. It took him a while, but he finally came to the point, which was, "Why do you have to mess with them?"
"Mess with them," I repeated.
"Right," he said. "I sent my son off to Stanford a good Republican, and four years later he comes home and tells me he's voting Democratic. You should hear some of the things he says."
"Well, he learned to think," I explained. "If it makes you feel any better, I sent my daughter off to Colby College a good liberal, and by the end of her junior year she was dating the president of the College Republicans."
"Let's swap kids," he suggested. "Yours got smart."
"Not on your life," I told him, though I knew his son well and was fond of him. "What happened," I went on, "was supposed to happen. I mean, think about it. It cost you 35,000 dollars a year for four years at Stanford. That's 140,000 dollars. The kid thought just like you before he left. If he came back thinking like you, you'd have done better to put the money in your pocket and lock the kid in the house."
But he was not convinced. He still wanted to swap kids, I could tell. Weirdly, the whole conversation was vaguely familiar, and after a while remembered why. In a novel of mine called Straight Man, a professor named William Henry Devereaux Jr. remarks that it is the vain hope of middle class parents that their children will go off to college and later be returned to them economically viable but otherwise unchanged. Hank understands what many parents never quite seem to grasp--that sending their kids off to college is a lot like putting them in the witness protection program. If the person who comes out is easily recognizable as the same person who went in, something has gone terribly, dangerously wrong. Indeed, these young men and women we're returning to you today have been so thoroughly messed with (not to say messed up) you may not recognize them, especially dressed as they are.
On behalf of Colby's faculty, I'm pleased to report that it's been fun making their heads spin these last four years. For the most part we're rather pleased with the results, and we hope you will be too.
But here I am talking to your parents instead of you, the class of 2004. I can tell you can't wait to hear what I have to say and for it to be over, so I'll try to be brief. In my 54 years I've learned very little that I can pass on to you with confidence, so brevity shouldn't be a problem. Virtually nothing in my life has gone according to plan, and that's the good news, because I'd have settled for far less than I've been blessed with at every turn. With that in mind I have two things to offer today: first, a story, and second, some advice about the rest of your lives. If you're only able to pay attention to one, listen to the story, because I am by profession a storyteller. I've come to a point in my life where I think almost exclusively in narrative, and as my own fiction writing students this semester can attest, about the only reliable advice I have to give is on how to make stories more plausible, more moving, more true--in other words, how to lie better. On life, I'm not so reliable.
Anyway, the story. About ten years ago I was teaching at a large Midwestern university while I waited for the opportunity to teach at a small, eastern liberal arts college, which came in due course. One Friday night my wife and I went to a party given by one of my graduate students in a house that, if it had been a car, would have been a Studebaker up on blocks. The keg had run dry half an hour earlier, a collection had been taken up to buy another, and it had only just dawned on the people at the party that nobody knew the guy who'd volunteered to go get it. In the living room the rickety furniture had been moved out onto the porch to create a dance floor, and Grace Slick was singing "Somebody to Love," a song I've never been able to resist, especially when the volume on the stereo is set on stun, as it happened just then to be. "When the truth is found to be lies," Grace wanted us to understand, "you know the joy within you dies."
Across the room, dancing with a kind of free-spirited abandon that I happened just then to admire, was a good-looking young professor of religious studies with whom I'd had a couple of run-ins and never particularly cared for, though she was far too attractive to dislike entirely. She approached life, it seemed to me, with the kind of bitter cynicism that I associate with academics who have come to believe, rightly or wrongly, that they will not be granted tenure. Is it even necessary to add that she lacked a sense of humor? Anyway, at the moment, the young religious studies professor's face was lit up from the inside with something I'd never witnessed before--joy, unless I was mistaken--which made me wonder if I'd misjudged her. I hope this might be true. Did I say she was attractive?
It was maybe an hour later when we professors, perspiring and red-faced from our exertions, and unused to being up after ten o'clock, began to take our leave, so that our grad students could begin the real party. My wife and I left through the kitchen so we could thank our hostess, and there we encountered an intimate and utterly unexpected scene. The professor of religious studies was sitting at the kitchen table, her head in her hands, sobbing pitifully, over and over again, "All I ever wanted was to sing a little rock and roll." Staring at the chipped, beer-soaked Formica tabletop, she'd had a revelation, you could tell. Thanks to Grace Slick she was beginning to see her life in a whole new way. To this point she'd imagined that her problem was that she wasn't going to get tenure, whereas she now saw, to her complete horror, that of course she would. Whatever had lit her face on the dance floor had been extinguished, and it was hard to imagine it would be rekindled any time soon. In this, her moment of terrible truth, I found myself liking her better than I ever had before, though, with her defenses down, she wasn't nearly so good-looking. Seeing her sitting there, so despondent, you could imagine the effort it took to present herself to the world each morning.
I don't tell you this story today in order to encourage all of you in the class of '04 to find careers in the music business, but rather to suggest what the next decade of your lives is likely to be about, and that is, trying to ensure that you don't wake up at 32 or 35 or 40 tenured to a life that happened to you when you weren't paying strict attention, either because the money was good, or it made your parents proud, or because you were unlucky enough to discover an aptitude for the very thing that bores you to tears, or for any of the other semi-valid reasons people marshal to justify allowing the true passion of their lives to leak away. If you're lucky, you may have more than one chance to get things right, but second and third chances, like second and third marriages, can be dicey propositions, and they don't come with guarantees. This much seems undeniable. When the truth is found to be lies, you're still screwed, even if you're tenured in religious studies.
The question then is this: How does a person keep from living the wrong life? Well, here are Russo's Rules For A Good Life. Notice that I don't say "for a happy life." One of the reasons the novelist Graham Greene despised Americans was that phrase "the pursuit of happiness," which we hold so dear and which ensured, to his way of thinking, we'd always be an infantile nation. Better to live a good life, he believed, than a happy one. Happily, the two may not always be mutually exclusive. Keep in mind that Russo's Rules for a Good Life are specifically designed to be jettisoned without regret when they don't work. They've worked for me. Your mileage may vary.
Rule # 1: Search out the kind of work that you would gladly do for free and then get somebody to pay you for it. Don't expect this to happen overnight. It took me nearly twenty years to get people to pay me a living wage for my writing, which makes me, even at this juncture, one of the fortunate few. Your work should be something that satisfies, excites and rewards you, something that gives your life meaning and direction, that stays fresh and new and challenging, a task you'll never quite master, that will never be completed. It should be the kind of work that constantly humbles you, that never allows you to become smug-in short, work that sustains you instead of just paying your bills. While you search for this work, you'll need a job. For me that job was teaching, and it's a fine thing to be good at your job, as long as you don't confuse it with your work, which it's hard not to do.
Rule # 2: Find a loving mate to share what life has in store, because the world can be a lonely place, and people who aren't lonely don't want to hear about it if you are. At some point you're going to tire of yourself, of the sound of your own voice (if you haven't already), and you're going to need someone whose voice you never tire of, someone who'll know you better, in some ways, than you know yourself and who'll remind you who you are when you forget and why things matter. After thirty years, my wife Barbara and I continue to delight in each other's company, and that's astonishing given the number of other people we've grown weary of. I have to tell you that the odds of finding the right person to spend an entire life with are not great, and if you get it wrong, badly wrong, your good life will morph in abject misery. In which case, go back to Rule # 1 and concentrate on your work. Maybe she'll go away. Or he.
Rule # 3: have children. After what you've put your parents through, you deserve children of your own. Next time you're back home, get out the old photo albums and take a good look at some pictures of your parents when they were your age. Talk about the witness protection program. But don't let these snapshots of your parents when they were happy and carefree dissuade you. Have kids. Don't worry that you can't afford them, though it's true, you can't. Don't worry too much about the world they'll be born into, which will suck, because that's what the world mostly does. You won't be a fully vested citizen until you have someone you love more than life to hand this imperfect world over to. And don't worry that you may have poor parenting skills, which you will. Just remember this: everything you say and do from the time your children are born until the day they move out of the house should be motivated by the terrible possibility that your son or daughter could turn out to be a writer, a writer with only one reliable subject: You. When my father, whom I loved dearly, died over a decade ago, I'm sure he rested easy in the belief that most of the evidence had died with him. There was no way he could have predicted that there would one day be over a half a million copies of The Risk Pool and Nobody's Fool floating around, not to mention a major motion picture. Had this possibility occurred to him, I can't help thinking he'd have done one or two things differently. So, as Carrnela Soprano says, "Watch your step." But by all means have children. No one was more aware of the danger inherent in reproduction than I, and I have two beloved daughters, one of whom graduates here today. They are the pride and joy of my life, and neither of them would ever, ever write about their father, would you, Kate?
Rule # 4. If you have one, nurture your sense of humor. You're going to need it, because, as Bob Dylan has observed, "people are crazy, the times are strange." Just as importantly, remember that in an age as numbingly earnest as this one, where we're more often urged to be sensitive than just, where genuinely independent thought is equally unwelcome to fundamentalists on both the left and right, it's laughter that keeps us sane. Indeed, the inability to laugh, at the world and at ourselves, is a sign, at least to my way of thinking, of mental illness. Mark Twain, overcome by loss and bitterness and despair near the end of his life, stopped laughing, but he never stopped believing in the power of laughter. The angel Satan in "The Mysterious Stranger" fragments, which were among the last things he ever wrote, reminds humans that, "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand. You [humans] are always fussing and fighting with your other weapons. Do you ever use that one? No, you leave it rusting... you lack sense and courage." Or, as critic Kathleen Powers puts it, "We Americans worry about humor, confusing it with a lack of seriousness. [But] Look here. Along with art and immorality, it is humor that distinguishes human beings from animals. It is, furthermore, a truly civilizing force, nemesis to the big battalions, and a vexation and puzzlement to the purveyors of mediocrity." And speaking of the big battalions and lethal mediocrity, keep in mind that we are unlikely to vote anyone out of public office who hasn't first been the subject of private hilarity.
Okay, that's pretty much it. It's all I know, and then some. Four simple, deeply flawed rules to live by. Go to it. Be bold. Be true. Be kind. Rotate your tires. Don't drink so much. There aren't going to be enough liver transplants to go around.
Good luck.
Sun 23-May-2004
Contact: Stephen Collins (sbcollin@colby.edu)
Phone: 207-872-3549
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Making Minority Staff Feel Welcome
Making Minority Staff Feel Welcome (American School Journal, September 2009)
http://www.asbj.com/MainMenuCategory/Archive/2009/September/Making-Minority-Staff-Feel-Welcome.aspx?css
By Linda Noel-Batiste and Tiffany Toledo
When new teachers make decisions about where and why they want to teach in certain school districts, salary often drives their final choice. But as they continue in their careers, what becomes important is the attention that the district pays to professional development and how the rest of the staff contribute to a positive school environment.
Unfortunately, those concerns rarely are considered until problems start, particularly for minority teachers. Their struggle to exist in culturally homogeneous school environments is often overshadowed by the quest to raise test scores. Many suffer in silence while others simply go through the motions.
Through our research at Virginia State University, we have examined how minority teachers view where they work and how it affects their ability to grow professionally. By examining some of the social and cultural factors that obstruct and hinder learning for minority teachers in culturally homogenous environments, school boards and administrators can assess how to help them develop professionally and deepen their content knowledge.
From our experience, administrators have limited knowledge of the needs of minority teachers. The statement is not an indictment, but an area where educators have not devoted considerable time or effort. Until we do, it is our belief that many minorities will not actively and fully engage in professional development opportunities. They will hold back a vital part of themselves -- their cultural identities -- because they fear rejection and feel their colleagues will be insensitive to their educational experience and pedagogical practice.
In our view, minority teachers are at risk of being left behind because professional development opportunities are overshadowed by school environments that are not as inclusive as they initially thought. When school administrators fail to observe that minority teachers are not fully engaged, they contribute to those feelings of isolation and frustration.
Daily social interactions
Simply stated, it's the little things that count. Daily interactions tend to determine how much teachers invest of themselves in the school. Smiles, greetings, and brief conversations convey a level of acceptance and an attempt to make a connection. More broadly, these behaviors help tear down invisible barriers to communication.
In our research, an African-American teacher we interviewed reported that a white colleague greeted her every day and offered assistance without being asked. The pleasant attitude the colleague displayed made the teacher feel welcomed, and she shared this story with us to emphasize her point.
"One day, I decided to thank a colleague and I shared with her how much I appreciated her kindness. My colleague became so overwhelmed with emotion and began to cry. I asked her why she was crying. She told me how much she appreciated that I was there, and what a pleasure it was to work with me. My colleague had no idea how her simple acts of kindness went a long way in a place where I was only recognized by my race."
When we asked other minority teachers to share additional examples of positive behaviors, they gave us a long list. We shortened it to five items:
• Respecting their cultural identities;
• Acknowledging suggestions instead of dismissing them;
• Assigning them roles as teacher leaders;
• Supporting them in parent-teacher conferences; and
• Responding to concerns and requests for help.
We also asked the teachers to identify negative behaviors that obstructed learning and participation. The top five were:
• Confusing their names frequently;
• Minimizing their achievements;
• Questioning their ability to teach;
• Addressing parental concerns about them with department members or team members; and
• Failing to acknowledge their student success.
Although these subtle acts seem trivial at first glance, some minority teachers magnified these negative behaviors when they occurred in conjunction with more blatant acts. Shavone, a high school biology teacher and a minority in her school, told us she tried to get constructive feedback from her department chair about her syllabus. The department chair instead gave the syllabus to an assistant principal.
Before the day ended, Shavone was summoned to the assistant principal's office and was reminded that the community, which was predominately white, would perceive the syllabus as unresponsive to the needs of their children. Later, Shavone stated neither the department chair nor the assistant principal tried to help her refine the syllabus. She was not provided any specific suggestions and felt both missed an opportunity to build a collegial relationship with her. Her frustration only increased.
To illustrate further the damaging effects of this perceived negative behavior, here are some additional comments minority teachers shared with us:
• "I could feel the tension whenever I walked into a room where they were, and I felt like I didn't belong."
• "I was tired of the constant battling, so I transferred to a school where there was more of a racial balance."
• "During a conference with a white parent, I was bullied and disrespected while my white administrator sat there and offered little support."
Still others pointed out spikes in phone calls, conferences, and e-mails about their classroom policies and practices once they were hired. They questioned whether the spikes were based on their race or if the parents were genuinely concerned. The frequent challenges often left them feeling exhausted and unsupported, and they were not interested in anything more than surviving and protecting themselves from future attacks.
Cultural influences
Culture has many definitions, so we used it to define a school's established practices, norms, and values. A school's culture affects learning for teachers just as it does for students. Some boards have adopted policies to hire minorities in schools where they are underrepresented, but we believe they are failing to provide useful and effective training to help these teachers transition into the school settings.
Moreover, administrators need more training on how to facilitate the transition process for their existing staff as well. All too often, administrators adopt a laissez-faire approach toward the challenges that minority teachers face.
For minority teachers to navigate the established school culture, they must have support systems that nurture and empower their cultural identities, which are tied to the learning process. Even a support system that provides them a forum to discuss their concerns and to answer their questions is better than no support system at all. One minority teacher wrote:
"Being a minority teacher in a nonminority environment can be difficult. It is so hard to get an accurate or clear picture of school beliefs, assumptions, norms, and practices. The manner in which minority teachers are handled is unbalanced. It's as if the parents realize the race issue, the students realize the race issue, but the administration acts as if there is not an issue at all.
"We are constantly asked to keep in mind how the community may perceive us," the teacher continued. "However, there is never any support for our perceptions of what is going on in the school environment. We are thrust into an environment that is not accepting and are expected to deal with it. When we deal with it according to our culture, we are labeled as difficult to work with or aggressive. But, in fact, it is a coping mechanism."
Much of the frustration emanates from the hidden norms and practices of the schools and communities. Minority teachers do not know how to tap into this existing knowledge base. To assist them in giving meaning to what they see and how the information can be useful, they need help in understanding community and school norms, interpreting school policies, establishing student expectations, and interacting with parents.
This remains a challenge for school boards and administrators. But without support systems, minority teachers feel frustrated and isolated. The frequent challenges to their teaching ability and the indifference from administrators leave them feeling like they made the wrong choice.
Linda Noel-Batiste (lnoel-batiste@vsu.edu) is an assistant professor of educational administration and supervision at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va. Tiffany Toledo is a teacher at James River High School and a graduate student at the university.
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Children Full of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armP8TfS9Is
A friend sent me a link to a 2003 documentary called Children Full of Life, now viewable in its entirety on YouTube (also embedded in this post). The film features a very unique 4th grade class in Kanazawa, where the teacher encourages students to keep journals, read them out loud in class, and then share deep, ordinarily inaccessible emotions with the rest of the students. For example, in the first section, they talk about death. Most teachers would shy away from talking about such subjects in class - they might deem it inappropriate, or opt to spend the time doing other stuff, or maybe it's just not customary to talk openly about such deep emotions in school. I certainly don't know that many classrooms, even in the US, where this is actively encouraged. But this teacher, one Mr. Kanamori, tells the children that their primary goal is to be happy, and that sharing feelings is part of the path to happiness.
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St Francis and the Sow
This poem, by American-born poet Galway Kinnel, is about reteaching things their loveliness.
St. Francis and the Sow
The bud
stands for all things
even for those things that don't flower
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on the brow
of the flower,
and retell it in words and in touch,
it is lovely
until it flowers again, from within, of self-blessing;
as St. Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow,
and told her in words and in touch,
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and the slops to the spiritual curl of her tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the blue milken dreamliness spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing
beneath them
the long perfect loveliness of sow.
- Galway Kinnell
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